A major DC element introduced by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons just reappeared – and captured the entire Justice League.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Justice League #51 by Jeff Loveness, Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, Romulo Fajardo Jr, and Tom Napolitano, on sale now
There are lots of invasive forms of life all across the DC Universe, ranging from terrifying armadas and formidable creatures to more deceptively dangerous forces beings such as the Black Mercy. But the Justice League just got a major reminder of how dangerous the Black Mercy can be.
The largest version of the Black Mercy yet just lured the Justice League to its world – and quickly has the entire team in its grasp.
WHAT IS THE BLACK MERCY?
The Black Mercy first appeared in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ “For The Man Who Has Everything” from Superman Annual #11. The issue – released in 1985, a year before the release of Moore and Gibbons’ other collaboration, Watchmen – focused on Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman arriving at Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. There, they find him under the thrall of the Black Mercy, an invasive and psychic plant-life. Unleashed by Superman’s foe Mongul, the creature had trapped the hero in a false reality within his head – where Krypton never exploded and Kal-El lives a mundane but largely happy life on the alien world. The heroes were barely able to defeat Mongul and strip the Black Mercy from Superman – leading Robin to drop the Black Mercy onto Mongul, catching him within his own mental trap.
The Black Mercy has been a frequent element in the DC Universe since it was first introduced. Multiple heroes have ended up trapped within a mental prison by the plant-life. Matris Ater Clementia – a member of the Green Lantern Corps in the Pre-Flashpoint DC Universe – created the Black Mercy as a means to aid people who were suffering slow and agonizing deaths, only to see her creations stolen and corrupted by Mongul.
That may not be the case in the current DC Universe – especially given the version of the plant that the Justice League just encountered. While on their way back from Earth after helping bring peace to an alien world, the Justice League find themselves brought off-course and towards a seemingly dead planet. Overrun with sprawling black roots, Superman is able to use his enhanced senses to confirm that there are beings alive on the planet and that they are all acting as one.
In fact, they’ve been trapped in the trunks of massive Black Mercy trees. It doesn’t take long for vines to grow off of the trees and reach out to grab the various members of the Justice League – Flash is the first one to be absorbed, caught while trying to reach out to someone trapped within the trunk. It’s not long before Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman are also all caught by the roots and trapped within the confines of their own minds.
It’s even revealed that this Black Mercy is sentient and that it was responsible for dragging the Justice League to its world in the first place so it could invade their own minds. Quickly trapping the entire team underneath its spell, the Black Mercy has never been shown to be this powerful – or this autonomous. Hopefully, the Black Mercy will be as it was in the Post-Crisis Universe and has the chance to be more helpful than threatening force. But the bodies trapped within the trees don’t speak to an entity that’s all that concerned with the safety of other species – meaning this might become a far more difficult challenge to overcome for the Justice League.
