The Death of Magog

Yeah, spoiler alert. And sorry to anyone who had the ruined and also cared. I can't imagine there are all that many of you.

Yes, in last week's Generation Lost Maxwell Lord killed Magog. I figured it would be safe to talk about it after a week. I'm assuming that is the case. If you're angry at me and don't want me to spoil further then go away.

The death of Magog wasn't something I was expecting. But in hindsight it's not so surprising. After the failure of his solo series DC didn't seem to know what to do with him. The only person who seemed to have liked Magog was Geoff Johns anyway.

Magog was originally a symbol in Kingdom Come of all that was bad about the superhero fare of the 90's. Shoulderpads. Pouches. Angry glares from someone other than Batman. And as a symbol of that era and why it was wrong Magog served his purpose. His presence and mistakes allowed Superman to step in and show us what a real hero was.

But I'm not here to talk about that Magog (I didn't even like Kingdom Come all that much). I'm here to talk about the in continuity Earth Zero Magog. And on "New Earth" Magog never fit. As a symbol of a very non-DCU type of heroism he was always out of place. So I suppose he was always fated to die.

After all, if Magog had lived he would -- as the White Lantern warned -- have led the DCU down the dark path that led to Kingdom Come on that other Earth. In killing him Max Lord has indeed saved his universe from that fate.

That is not to say I agree with what Max Lord did. There are always ways, and perhaps this iteration of Magog could have been led down a brighter path. Nothing is predestined or predetermined.

Still, we'll never really know what might have happened. Max Lord took away any hope for redemption Magog might have had. And in the process he pulled himself further into the dark hole of villainy. Maxwell Lord may well be beyond redemption.