In the DCeased Universe, a crazed Black Adam attacked DC’s heroes, and he severely injured one of the most famous faces in the DC Universe.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for DCeased: Hope at World’s End #11 by Tom Taylor, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Rex Lokus, & Saida Temofonte, on sale now
The digital-first series DCeased: Hope at World’s End has been clearing up many of the minor elements of the DCeased universe that weren’t explored in the original series — with one longstanding mystery of DCeased: Hope at World’s End being revealed.
During a battle with Superboy and the other survivors, the Blighted-Black Adam unleashed a massive electrical blast that, among other things, permanently scarred Jimmy Olsen and cost him one of his eyes in DCeased: Hope at World’s End #11.
During the assault on the small island town, the few heroes and villains left include Superboy, Wonder Girl, the new Batman and Robin (Damian Wayne and Stephanie Brown), Blue Beetle, alongside the former villains Talia Al Ghul and Black Manta. Before them advances the Blighted-Black Adam and his Army of Anti-Life, including the corrupted versions of Hawkman and Atom-Smasher. The young heroes do remarkably well given the circumstances, with the group successfully saving some civilian lives and seeming to hold back the Blighted-Ones at bay. But when Atom-Smasher is knocked over, his massive size creates a massive tidal wave that washes the island with water, sending infected and uninfected all over the place in a heap.
In the following chaos, the Blighted-Black Adam unleashes a torrent of lightning down onto the surviving humans, which could fry them all given the water lapping at their feet. But Superboy is able to fling himself in front of the blast, tanking the electric blast to the chest. But in the process, sparks and bolts blast off his chest, far weaker than the initial blast by Black Adam but still powerful enough to seriously hurt someone — like Jimmy Olsen, who takes one of the lightning bolts to the face. This blast actually blinds him in one eye, finally revealing the origins of the injury he was revealed to have back in the first issue of DCeased: Hope at World’s End.
Although the blast came as a result of Black Adam unleashing his powers against the survivors, it’s unlikely that Jon Kent won’t be able to keep himself from blaming his own actions for Jimmy’s injury. Jon has too much of his father in him, and will likely see the loss of Jimmy’s eye — especially considering Jimmy’s close relationship with his family — as a personal failing on his own fault. Other scenes have hinted that Jimmy will make peace with his one eye and continue to tell the stories of the heroes and villains who sacrificed themselves to keep the Blighted-Ones at bay during the end of the world as we know it.
But what Jon should be considering is how easily he withstood the lightning blast from the Blighted-Black Adam. The mystical lightning is usually one of the few things capable of felling Superman, due to his lack of immunity against magical forces. But while it still hurt Jon to take the blast, he was able to quickly shake it off and resume his fist-fight with Black Adam. Perhaps Jon’s half-human side comes with even more perks beyond his enhanced strength, like a natural resistance to magic.
