The Unexpected #2 Features A Surprising DC One Million Cameo

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The Unexpected #2 by Steve Orlando, Cary Nord, Wade von Grawbadger, Jeromy Cox and Carlos M. Manguel, on sale now.

If you love the deepest, weirdest pockets of the DC Universe, then The Unexpected is the comic for you. Writer Steve Orlando already has a reputation for rehabilitating or revitalizing forgotten aspects of DC continuity; he’s the guy that brought back Extrano from New Guardians, Freedom Beast from Animal Man, The Mawzir and The Ace of Winchesters from Hitman and more. But The Unexpected is letting him cut loose in a way that really lets him stretch his love for the DC Universe while doing perhaps the best thing a creator can do within superhero comics… add something new to the mix.

The first issue of The Unexpected introduced us to Firebrand, Neon The Unknown, Viking Judge, The Ascendant and their archenemy Alden Quench aka The Bad Samaritan, and then killed off everyone except Firebrand and Neon in the forging of a new Nth Metal isotope. Now, the unlikely pair have one of the most dangerous, indestructible objects in the DC Universe on their hands and that puts a big target on their back and their search for sanctuary takes them to a familiar location with a very unexpected (excuse the pun) resident from the furthest reaches of DC's vast cosmic timeline.

The Sin Eater

Right now, Firebrand and Neon The Unknown are being hunted by Onimar Synn, a Hawkman enemy first introduced by David S. Goyer, Geoff Johns and Stephen Sadowski in 2001’s JSA #23. One of the seven demons of Thanagarian myth, he was the deadliest, and spent much of Thanagar’s recent history trapped in a cage of Nth Metal until a war led to his accidental freedom, allowing him to once again enslave Thanagar and its people until he was brought down by the returned Carter Hall. Most recently, he was seen in the pages of Dark Nights: Metal, where he hoped to use Plastic Man’s unique properties to power a weapon which would save his world, should the rest of the universe sink into the Dark Multiverse. His plan, however, was foiled by Mister Terrific, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter.

Now in the wake of the destruction of the Source Wall, Onimar Synn has a much more pressing mission: To acquire any remaining sources of Nth Metal, which he uses to feed off souls of the living. Without more Nth Metal, Onimar Synn will starve, which is why he’s so interested in the Nth Metal isotype created in the battle between Neon The Unknown’s team and The Bad Samaritan. With his agent on Earth dead, he sends General Phade — a character only seen in the three-issue “Return Of Hawkman” arc which introduced Synn — to track down Neon The Unknown and get that isotope, by any means necessary.

Phade arrives on Earth with an army of Manhawks, twisted to Synn’s purpose due to extensive exposure to the astral realm. The Manhawks date back to some of the earliest adventures of the Silver Age Hawkman, Katar Hol and it was their reign of terror on Thanagar which led to Thanagarians learning how to harness Nth Metal into flight-capable wings in order to combat their enemies. Firebrand is able to hold off the attack thanks to her Conflict Engine, but with Synn still on their tail, it’s up to Neon The Unknown to get the pair of them and the Nth Metal isotope to safety.

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Blackhawks

Neon manages to scramble Synn’s tracking by quickly teleporting the pair of them to various cities in DC’s America, each of which have some significance with Orlando’s past DC work. Penn City was the home of the weapons maker Xenos, Vanity was the home of Aztek, the Ultimate Warrior, Ivy Town is where both Atoms (Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi) live, and National City is the adopted home of Supergirl. The pair take a quick breather in Slaughter Swamp — the Gotham marshland famous for giving birth to Solomon Grundy — before heading to their final location, Blackhawk Island.

Blackhawk Island is, as its name suggests, the one-time home of the Blackhawks, but recently it has become almost DC’s version of the Savage Land. Slightly hidden away from the rest of the world and home to (scientifically accurate feathered) dinosaurs, Blackhawk Island is where Neon and Firebrand find not a Blackhawk but June Robbins, one of the original Challengers of the Unknown.

June reveals that The Ascendant was one of her students and that she had felt something bad had happened to him -- but the real story here is the robot she’s working on. She refers to it as “a robot sidekick marooned from the 853rd Century," but fans of DC One Million will recognize it as Robin, The Toy Wonder from the classic Grant Morrison helmed event of the late nineties.

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Welcome Back, Toy Wonder

DC One Million is an event which took place in late-1998. The series saw several members of the Justice League travel forward to the 853rd century to take part in a ceremony honoring the Prime Superman, who was returning from his millennia-long exile to the heart of the sun.

The reason the 853rd century was chosen was because if Action Comics was published regularly from April 1938 through to its millionth issue, that issue would come out in the year 85300. While the core DC One Million series dealt with a plot to destroy Superman across two-timelines, every DC Comics published during this time released a special #1,000,000 issue featuring the characters from that era... including the Robin of the 853rd century.

Robin, The Toy Wonder is the robot sidekick of this far future era’s Batman, who serves as the warden of Pluto, which has become a prison planet. Batman One Million saw his parents die during a jailbreak when he was a child and became Batman to avenge them. His Robin is a robot programmed with his own personality from when he was a child, prior to the tragedy which caused him to become the latest incarnation of the Dark Knight. Just like how Robin works with Batman in the modern era, The Toy Wonder serves as a conscience for his Batman, reminding him not to go too far in his quest for justice.

How the robot sidekick ended up in the modern day is a mystery, and could well be the sort that may not be solved. It may instead exist to provide a bit of extra flavor to the scene while being a cool Easter egg for fans who love to see old stories referenced. However, Justice League #1 did just recently feature a cameo from Justice Legion A of the DC One Million time period, so there may be some larger plans with these characters that may present themselves as we get deeper into the post-Dark Nights: Metal status quo currently being established in the “New Justice” and “New Age of Heroes” titles.

The Unexpected #2 also features more concrete references to Mandrakk, The Dark Monitor, as well as a nod to the God Garden of Orlando’s origin run on Midnighter, so there’s plenty going on in this title to keep continuity nuts more than satisfied. Upcoming solicitations for The Unexpected hint at Monster Valley, Castle Frankenstein and a deeper look into the Dark Multiverse, making this the comic you need to be reading for the hidden secrets of the DC Universe.