Spearheaded by author Geoff Johns, Infinite Disaster was a psuedo-sequel to Disaster on Infinite Earths that noticed the survivors of the famed 1985 crossover—the Golden Age Superman and Lois Lane, a younger and benevolent Lex Luthor from an alternate actuality, and a variation of younger Clark Kent referred to as Superboy Prime—return to the mainline actuality to place issues proper. In a myopic little bit of meta-commentary, Johns makes use of these characters to sentence the darkish and violent high quality of the then-current DC Universe. Regardless that Johns himself wrote (and would proceed to jot down) many of those darkish, violent tales, the Disaster survivors discover proof for the disagreeable state of the DC Universe in two tales written by Rucka, each of which contain Bordeaux.
In a oft-referenced second throughout Rucka’s acclaimed run on Surprise Girl, one-time Justice League ally Maxwell Lord makes use of his now-amplified mind-control powers to take management of intelligence company Checkmate, kill Blue Beetle, and switch Superman into his personal private weapon. To cease him and free Superman, Surprise Girl should break the neck of Maxwell Lord.
Earlier than his dying, Lord additionally gained management over Brother Eye, a highly-intelligent AI surveillance program that Batman designed in his most paranoid state—assume the climax of The Darkish Knight occasions 100. Due to her connection to Wayne, Bordeaux, now a Checkmate agent unknowingly doing Lord’s soiled work, turns into the means by which Lord accesses Brother Eye. Quickly, Lord begins utilizing Brother Eye to envelope harmless individuals in nanobots and switch them into senseless troopers referred to as OMACs (One Man Military Corps—don’t giggle, OMAC and Brother Eye are Jack Kirby ideas they usually rule … at the least when Kirby’s the one working with them). Bordeaux turns into probably the most notable sufferer.
After the occasions of Infinite Disaster are settled and the whole lot’s good once more, Bordeaux is cured, however solely partially. She retains her OMAC talents, at the same time as she returns to her kind of human kind. With these powers, Bordeaux serves on the reconstituted Checkmate, alongside different Gunn favorites similar to Mister Terrific and Amanda Waller.
Given the espionage qualities of the character, it’s simple to see why Gunn would have added Bordeaux to Peacemaker‘s line-up. But, one can not assist however assume that Gunn isn’t going to fully repeat the Infinite Disaster beats, if solely as a result of he’s forged his brother Sean as Maxwell Lord and appears to be drawing inspiration from portrayals of the character within the sitcom-like Justice League America by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire. Then once more, anybody who noticed Tromeo and Juliet is aware of that Gunn has no drawback visiting horrific on-screen violence on characters performed by his brother, so perhaps we are going to see Surprise Girl twist Lord’s neck.
No matter course they go, it’s clear that Gunn is following components of Bordeaux’s comedian e book origin. And if he follows that plot all the best way to Gotham, then we’re going to get a grouchy, paranoid Batman, somebody much more disagreeable than another live-action tackle the Darkish Knight.
