Warning: contains spoilers forZero Hour: Crisis in Time 30th Anniversary Special!
An unbelievable superhero from the 1990s just returned toDClore, with his original powers and costume intact. Nostalgia for the comics of the 1990s is currently riding high, and DC’s newZero Hour: Crisis in Time 30th Anniversary Specialtaps into this trend, showcasing some of that decade’s biggest stories and heroes–-including the super powerful Waverider. Now,Waverider has returned to the DC Universe, raising questions about his future.
Many of the heroes seen in theZero HourAnniversary Special are icons of DC in the 1990s, including the Jack Knight Starman, the Ray and Azrael.
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time 30th Anniversary Specialwaswritten by Dan Jurgens and drawn by a team of 90s DC artists, including Kelley Jones and Tom Grummett. Kyle Rayner discovers that during the originalZero Hour, Hal Jordan, under the influence of Parallax, created a pocket Earth. The Earth is unstable, and slowly coming undone. As Kyle and Earth’s heroes fight to save existence, they learn that Parallax had captured and enslaved Waverider when he came to investigate the villain’s “Earth.” Theheroes liberate Waverider, and he in turn helps Kyle Rayner return home.
Waverider’s DC Universe Origins, Explained
Waverider Played a Prominent Role in the DC Universe of the Early 1990s
Dan Jurgens, the primary architect ofZero Hour, created Waverider for 1991’sArmageddon 2001crossover event. Originally a human named Matthew Ryder, he lived in the year 2030, at which point the Earth was under the thumb of the despot Monarch. Ryder used time travel technology to attempt to prevent Monarch’s rise. While he failed to kill Monarch outright, he did keep the villain from seizing power. AfterArmageddon 2001, Waverider would join the time-traveling Linear Men, helping them keep the timestream intact.
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Later, when Jurgens was tapped to write and drawZero Hour,he grounded Waverider front and center. Waverider was one of the first to learn of Extant and Parallax’s plot to destroy the timestream. He brought together a team of heroes to oppose Parallax, and played a key role in his defeat. Waverider never again achieved the heights he did duringZero Hourand the early 1990s, and, up until this one-shot, was largely forgotten. Given the number ofCrisis-style events that have swept the DC Universe over the past 30 years, his absence should come as a surprise.
Waverider Has Returned to the DC Universe
What’s Next for Waverider and the Linear Men?
Now,theZero Hour: Crisis In Time 30th Anniversary Specialsettleswhere Waverider has been all this time: under the thumb of his old enemy Parallax–but now he is free to roam the timestream once again. The DC Universe has changed considerably since Waverider’s heyday, giving him new heroes and villains to meet, and the aforementionedCrisisevents will no doubt pique his curiosity too. TheZero Hourspecial also shows the full extent of Waverider’s powers, which helps elevate him into a very elite class of DC heroes.
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time 30th Anniversary Specialis on sale now from DC Comics!
