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The Quintessence are a group of the highest order of beings within the multiverse, who bear witness to all events that did happen, are happening, and will happen.
History
Since its first glance, they bore witness to the arrival of Perpetua. Upon witnessing it, they knew what it meant for the future of the universe, yet did not act, stating that it was not up to them to change its course. "It never has been."[2]
Following the victory of Perpetua over Earth and casting the Justice League out, the Quintessence return, telling a defeated J'onn that they also witnessed this outcome happening. They claimed it to be the faith of the Justice League. They revealed that Perpetua's final attack was meant to destroy the League, but the Quitessence brought them back. They claimed they stayed out of the fight because they were protecting something important.[3]
They give the Justice League a path to everything; the past, present, and future. All actions and all events. They give the League a choice to witness it for themselves; an offer they accepted.[3]
After her defeat of The Darkest Knight and the multiverse being restored by The Hands, Wonder Woman was chosen to ascend to a higher plane of existence by the Hands and was afterwards approached by the Quintessence and asked to join them. She was wary of this offer because she was warned that there would be a great cost by the Hands for what has been done to restore the multiverse. While the Quintessence claimed they sensed no cost they actually trapped said threat in the center of the multiverse on what is now called Earth Omega. After showing Diana the changes brought about by the new multiverse, she humbly declined their offer in order to experience this new Infinite Frontier for herself. After this they returned to Earth-Omega and were seemingly killed by the very threat they claimed did not exist: Darkseid reborn.[4]
Since then, it had become apparent, that the Quintessence were reanimated and fully under the control of Pariah, leading to the downfall of the Justice League.[5]
Notes
- Quintessence was created by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, first appearing in Kingdom Come #3. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Quintessence first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Justice League (Volume 4) #1 by Scott Snyder and Jim Cheung.
- The Wizard's appearance differs from his other Prime Earth appearance, most likely to maintain a similar design from the Kingdom Come storyline.
- Hera replaces Zeus as a member of this version of the Quintessence.
Trivia
- While the team has once been bested by Darkseid with ease and killed[6], it has also been stated by Ganthet each member of the Quintessence is powerful enough to kill Darkseid, a notion Darkseid confirmed himself.[7]
- However, Spectre confirmed moments later that it was because Darkseid could not tap into his dormant power in that moment, which led to him being reborn in the Absolute Universe so that he could access all of his power.
See Also
- 9 Appearances of Quintessence (Prime Earth)
- 3 Images that include Quintessence (Prime Earth)
- Team Gallery: Quintessence (Prime Earth)
Links and References
Footnotes