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Waverider is a comic book superhero in the DC Comics universe. Created by Dan Jurgens, he first appeared in Armageddon 2001 #1 (1991).
Character History
Character Creation
Waverider was created as a character for the 1991 DC Comics event Armageddon 2001. This series had the premise that in the then future year of 2001 that one of the heroes of the fictional DC Universe would turn evil and take over the world, adopting the identity of Monarch in the process.
The series consisted of two bookend chapters and a series of annual editions of regular titles. In the first bookend, the premise for the series is outlined and the fictional history and rationale for the Waverider character is outlined.
Set in 2030 AD, it is explained that the world has been ruled for 20 years by an armored despot known only as Monarch, who has destroyed all of Earth's super-heroes. Scientist Matthew Ryder has memories of being rescued as a child from a collapsing building by an unknown superhero and is inspired to fight back by those memories. He volunteers as a time travel test subject in hopes of travelling to the past and preventing Monarch from ever coming to exist. Though previous test subjects have died, Ryder was able to enter the timestream and was transformed into a being able to travel freely through time.
As Waverider, Ryder is capable of seeing a person's most probable future by temporally merging with them. Waverider uses this power to try and learn which hero would become Monarch, and this ability was used as a plot device for stories to be told about the possible futures of many of the then current DC Universe characters. Those stories were told in the 1991 DC annuals.
This power was also used as an explanation for a last minute change to the Armageddon 2001 storyline. Originally, DC Editorial had planned for Captain Atom to become the villainous Monarch, when this was leaked to the readership, his identity was changed to that of Hawk. Within the story, when Waverider attempts to read Captain Atom's future, the interaction of their powers resulted in a massive amount of quantum energy being unleashed. This creates an opening in the quantum field which allowed Monarch (who had been monitoring Waverider's actions the whole time) to travel back in time to ensure his own existence.
1990s to 2004
The character was next seen in the Armageddon 2001 spin-off series, Armageddon: Inferno. In this series, the character and many other DC heroes attempt to stop the incursion of a demonic figure into the fictional DC Universe. The series is notable for providing an in-universe explanation of where the Justice Society of America had gone and for providing a springboard for a series about their modern day adventures.
Following this, the character was seen to join other time themed characters in the Linear Men, a group that contained a Matthew Ryder from a future not ruled by Monarch. This group of supporting characters were used heavily in the work of Dan Jurgens during the 1990s. In Legacy of Superman #1, the character wrestles with his ability to change time and his responsibility to allow events to progress as history intended - in this case, the death of Superman.
The character is next seen in an a prelude to the Dan Jurgens written Zero Hour event, where his interference in an event is seen as pivotal to the character Monarch evolving into Extant. During the Zero Hour series, Extant kills Waverider and absorbs his energy.
The alternative timeline Ryder (known as "Matt" rather than Matthew) was told by Metron that to save the universe, precise time travel of which only Waverider is capable, was needed and he was transformed into a new version of Waverider.
2006
- See also: 52 (comic book)
During Week 26 of the weekly event 52, the villanious offspring of Doctor Sivana, Junior and Georgia, are seen rebuilding their missing father's sphere of Suspendium, currently able to let them travel in time and change their unpopular past for the better. Able to open a gateway in the past, but having to suspend their experiment, they were able to see Waverider in the timestream, but failed to recognize him before shutting down the machine. On the second day of week 27, at 05:25:20, an anxious Waverider is seen talking with the dying Time Commander, one of the former timetravelling villains he tried to recruit in his efforts to save the timeline, shortly before Skeets, infected and controlled by Mister Mind, finds out they're hiding and kills the Time Commander. He then questions Waverider, trying to extort the whereabouts of his enemy, Rip Hunter. When Waverider refuses, Skeets brutally tortures him. Skeets asks questions that indicate the golden alloy of Skeets body, impervious to time portals, was taken from a 500 year-old corpse, implying it to be Waverider's own skin.
Other media
Waverider as seen in "Initiation."
Waverider has appeared recently in animated form on the cartoon series Justice League Unlimited as a member of the super-sized, post-Thanagarian-invasion Justice League of the DC Animated Universe.
The character has made only very brief cameos throughout the first 26 episodes of the series, most notably at the beginning of "Initiation" (2004) and the end of "Hunter's Moon" (2005) and "Divided We Fall" (2005).
Although no explanation has been given for the DCAU Waverider's origin or powers, they are presumed to be the same as his comic book counterpart. As the pre-Crisis Hawk and Dove (Hank and Don Hall) are also members of the JLU, there was speculation that the Armageddon 2001 storyline would be adapted; however, the producers have since revealed that the character was included simply because he was visually striking, and to play with fans' expectations.
Even more surprising than Waverider's inclusion in the JLU was that the character, despite limited screen time, made his action figure debut in Mattel's Justice League Unlimited toy line in the summer of 2005.
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