Upside-Down Man
The Upside-Down Man is a comic character who features in DC Comics.
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Biography
The Upside-Down Man was a member of supernatural race of magical beings known as the Otherkind. (Justice League Dark v2 #3) At the dawn of creation, magic existed in its raw form within the plane that would become the Sphere of the Gods. It was promising and pure, as it surrounded the forming Multiverse. From that energy, the first magical being shaped herself out of the cosmos. Before long, she sensed that beneath the Sphere was a darker font of magic similar to her, one which was tied to the Dark Multiverse. This font would later become known as the Upside-Down Man who existed in a dark realm that would become the Other Place. Frightened by this evil, Hecate created a barrier between her realm and the Other Place, so that her realm of possibility could not be ruined by darkness. (Justice League Dark and Wonder Woman: The Witching Hour v1 #1)
For many years, they came to watch the mortals of Earth from the other side of the veil. At some point, Zatara fell into their realm where the Otherkind had enjoyed torturing him where they ripped him apart and re-stitched his body again in an endless cycle. (Justice League Dark v2 #3)
Nabu came to believe that widespread use of magic was a stain on the world and wanted to remove it from existence. Thus, he opened the door that attracted the Otherkind with the Upside-Down Man eventually manifesting at the Tower of Fate. Once there, he encountered the Justice League Dark who sought to stop him from consuming the world's magic. (Justice League Dark v2 #3)
He then secretly watched Kirk Langstrom in the Hall of Justice when the scientist looked to study the Otherkind. (Justice League Dark v2 #7) The Otherkind continued feeding on magical beings and the Upside-Down Man came to track a gathering of them to the Oblivion Bar. Traci 13 came to warn Detective Chimp who told everyone to run away but they were cornered leading to many magical beings getting killed by the Otherkind who fed on their essence. The Justice League Dark members present at the scene delayed the Otherkind whilst Bobo used the Nightmaster's sword to open a doorway to Myrra in order to them to all escape from the Upside-Down Man. (Justice League Dark v2 #8)
With the heroes gathered, Wonder Woman came to empower herself with Hecate's magic where she was joined by Doctor Fate and Swamp Thing. The Upside-Down Man initially attacked Wonder Woman where he knocked her to the side but was then restrained by Doctor Fate allowing for Diana to pierce his body with sword though the monstrous being was still alive. Swamp Thing then sacrificed his body to sprout life in the lifeless realm in an effort to weaken the Otherkind's leader. Kent Nelson then took the Helm of Nabu where he sacrificed his life so that the Lord of Order could fire a powerful blast at the Upside-Down Man which damaged his body. Even then, the Otherkind still survived with Zatanna coming upon the means of defeating him where she merged her body with him. (Justice League Dark v2 #27) Thus, the two battled one another over the possession of the form where initially it seemed that the Upside-Down Man had the advantage. He managed to take control of her body and started to reshape it into his own where he continued his battle against the Justice League Dark. However, Zatanna managed to subvert control by introducing the concept that magic had a cost for its use. Such a view was an anathema to the Otherkind's existence and as a result the Upside-Down Man was defeat where his body disintegrated and the threat posed by him to the world was eliminated. (Justice League Dark v2 #28)
The Great Darkness eventually took control of the Upside-Down Man's mind, alongside many other cosmic forces of evil who had sought its power. (Justice League Incarnate v1 #5) The Darkness' forces invaded the Multiverse, and Justice League Incarnate and the Justice League of Earth 0 tracked the origin point of the invasion to the ruins of the pre-Crisis Multiverse. Doctor Multiverse teleported the teams to Multiverse-2 where Pariah was modifying his antimatter chamber from the first Crisis to allow the Darkness to enter reality. The heroes attempted to reason with Pariah but he refused to listen and summoned the Upside-Down Man and the other possessed villains. However, Green Arrow was able to destroy the chamber, cutting the Darkness' link to reality and causing Upside-Down Man and the rest of the Darkness' forces to dissipate. (Justice League v4 #75) The Upside-Down Man and the rest of the Dark Army later invaded Earth 0. (Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths v1 #5) The heroes managed to banish Pariah to a pocket universe but Upside-Down Man and the others remained possessed as the corrupted Darkness transferred to Deathstroke. (Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths v1 #6) Black Adam used his lightning again to purge the Darkness from Deathstroke, freeing Upside-Down Man and the other possessed villains. (Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths v1 #7) Some time after the Dark Crisis, the Upside-Down Man is seen attending to Nocturna's party in the IV club in New York City where he tried to feed himself on Luke Fox's life energy. (Outsiders v5 #5)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He came to consider mortals to be little more than thieves and killers who had stolen the art of magic. In fact, he considered them children who did not understand the depths of the power they had taken from the Otherkind. (Justice League Dark v2 #3)
The Upside-Down Man claimed that the Otherkind represented horror itself and were a reminder to mortals to fear the dark. (Justice League Dark v2 #3)
Powers and abilities
The Upside-Down Man was said to be a predatory entity made of pure magic. (Justice League Dark v2 #2) As one of the Otherkind, the Upside-Down Man was said to be a being that was composed of living magic. Bodies were a new concept to his kind and they had to assemble the flesh and bones in a form to interact with the mortal planes. Fatal wounds inflicted on his body could easily be repaired with the Upside-Down Man not really being harmed. (Justice League Dark v2 #3) According to Nabu, the Upside-Down Man's magic was potent as it drew its power from the Source. (Justice League Dark v2 #27)
His senses were shown to be able to determine the kind of magic wielded by a person through their blood. From the Other Place, it was said that he could watch over events on Earth. (Justice League Dark v2 #2)
Any injuries the Upside-Down Man sustained could be regenerated within moments. (Justice League Dark v2 #2) He was capable of altering his form at will with him stating that he took the form he does in order for human minds to comprehend him. (Justice League Dark v2 #25)
It was shown that he wielded a form of telekinesis where he could drain blood from a person. (Justice League Dark v2 #2)
Such was his mystical powers that he could re-order reality with but a gesture. This could see him to cause the ground to turn into liquid tentacles to entangle his targets or he could cause a living being to melt into a puddle yet still remain alive. The Upside-Down Man was powerful enough to easily repel an Avatar of the Green and cause its body to become decayed. (Justice League Dark v2 #3)
He could project powerful eldritch blasts of force that could destroy the body of an elemental being. (Justice League Dark v2 #26)
The Upside-Down Man was a member of a race of demonic-like beings called the Otherkind. (Justice League Dark v2 #3) It was shown that he was able to generate the other members of the Otherkind from his own body. (Justice League Dark v2 #26)
It was shown that the Upside-Down Man resided in a realm within the Dark Multiverse that was called the Other Place that was a source of all dark magic. (Justice League Dark and Wonder Woman: The Witching Hour v1 #1)
Notes
- The Upside-Down Man was created by James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martínez where he made his first appearance in Justice League Dark v2 #1 (September, 2018).
- Writer James Tynion IV on DC Comics Blog in an interview commented, "I’ve created the most terrifying character that I’ve ever written, called the Upside Down Man. I think the artist on the book, Alvaro Martinez, who was my collaborator on DETECTIVE COMICS and whose art is absolutely phenomenal, has designed one of DC’s scariest characters. So, I’m very excited to give Justice League Dark a villain really worthy of the title."
- Tynion IV in an interview on CBR said, "I'm taking all of these kind of disparate elements of DCU magical history and finding the connections -- particularly through the, of the villains of the series, the Otherkind, and the Upside Down Man. They are beings of pure magic. They are the original owners of magic from whom magic was stolen. And Hecate may have been involved with that. The original Lords of Order may have been involved with that. Nabu definitely has his own opinions on all of this."
Appearances
- Justice League Dark v2: (2018)
- Justice League Dark and Wonder Woman: The Witching Hour v1:
- Justice League v4:
External Links
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