Up until now, the books in DC Comics‘ Absolute Universe line have stayed separate. Absolute Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter are all telling their own stories, in their own ways. And while DC’s Free Comic Book Day special had a classic “gazing through the universe” type “crossover,” it also included the Mirror Master of the mainline DC Universe meeting his Absolute Universe counterpart. But that’s pretty much been it… Until today’s Absolute Flash #4.
Spoilers for the issue past this point, but we get not one, but two references to another Absolute title. Specifically, Absolute Superman. The first moment comes as Wally West and his psychic monkey friend Grodd walk around the city of Iron Heights. Right before they meet this universe’s version of Linda Park, the woman who is married to Wally in the main universe, there’s some graffiti on the wall: “Omega Man.”
It’s a neat little Easter egg for the story that’s ongoing in Absolute Superman, where a group of radical revolutionaries called the Omega Men are fighting the global, all-powerful Lazarus Corporation. It makes logical sense that graffiti supporting them would be everywhere, but it’s also thrilling to see this sort of element cross over into another book.
It gets more intriguing, though, and seems like it might be more than an Easter egg, when later in the issue we head back to the wreckage of the lab that gave Wally his powers… And killed Barry Allen. There, Wally’s father is approached by Dr. Thawne — likely a genderbent version of Eobard Thawne, aka The Reverse Flash, but we don’t get clarity on her first name. When Wally’s father asks what was going on in the lab, Thawne says, “We have a contract with Lazarus Corp. Dr. Allen was the point man on our augmented weapons program, West.”
And we get teased on more of those augmented weapons, including Projects Heatwave, Wizard, Firestorm, and one designated XXXXX, which is likely the most extreme porno ever made. Just kidding. But unlike the Omega Men reference, this is full-on tying the plot of Absolute Flash to the plot of Absolute Superman, where Lazarus Corp — run by Ra’s al Ghul, no less — is the big, overarching villain.
So is this leading to a full-on crossover between the two titles? Or more of them? If a crossover does come from a Flash title, the character most associated with crossing over DC universes, it would make a lot of sense. Or perhaps it’s simply writer Jeff Lemire layering in some fun teases to the rest of the fabric of the universe, and nothing more than that.
Whatever is happening, we are heading to some sort of event this Fall, after Superman battles Darkseid’s Absolute Legion of Super-Heroes in his own title. Whether that will be an Absolute Universe crossover, a crossover between the DC All In universe and the Absolute Universe, or something else? We’ll likely know more as we get closer to San Diego Comic-Con next month.
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