The Justice League were believed dead in the DC Universe thanks to Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. And along with a serious gap in Earth's superhuman defenses, the absence of the League left behind their former headquarters, the Watchtower, and the resources to run a global team - Justice League or not.
And now, as of November 29's Wildstorm 30th Anniversary Special #1, a much more edgy new team has taken up residence in the Watchtower: a new incarnation of the classic Wildstorm team Stormwatch.
So who's on the new team, which combines heroes from DC and Wildstorm, and what are they up to? We've got the hardcore, bloodthirsty answers right here.
Spoilers ahead for Wildstorm 30th Anniversary Special #1
The Stormwatch portion of the Wildstorm 30th Anniversary Special #1 from writer Ed Brisson, artists Mike Henderson and Hi-Fi colors, and letterer Troy Peteri kicks off with Director Bones of the DEO convincing Winter, a founding member of the original Wildstorm Stormwatch team to lead a new version of the brutal superhuman strikeforce.
As Bones lays it out, the Watchtower, former headquarters of the Justice League, will become a new version of the team's Skywatch base, with a new, off-the-books black ops superhero team taking up residence there, with a mission to violently take out villains and threats with lethal force, doing what the Justice League would never do.
Winter agrees, and a new Stormwatch is formed consisting of both DC and Wildstorm characters with killer pedigrees, including Winter, Flint, and Eminence of Blades from the Stormwatch team's original run, along with Ravager (Deathstroke's daughter) and Peacekeeper 01 (a cybernetic super-soldier who once fought Batman) from the DC Universe, and finally a new hero named Core, a Ukrainian hero with nuclear abilities.
In a hardcore first mission, the team strikes against a cadre of Nazi villains known as the Fourth Reich. Though the Fourth Reich are themselves bloodthirsty and ready to kill, the new Stormwatch dispatches every member of the group - though Eminence of Blades is killed in action.
With their first mission finished, the team seizes a device they call the Darkness Engine, which absorbs the radiation of a yellow sun - meaning they can use it to kill Superman if they ever find him (or another Kryptonian) to be a threat.
DC hasn't announced when the new Stormwatch will reappear, but we'll be sure to keep you posted.
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