What's Monarch's issue with the Monitors

[The Cool Thatguy]

I remember reading Countdown writers saying, again and again, that Monarch's willing to sell his soul to deal with the Monitors' supposed threat. That yes, what he's doing might be evil but he's willing to sell his soul to stop them.

Now, I haven't been watching Countdown that closely, but have they explained why he opposes the Monitors so strongly? Why he's destroying worlds (he had all of Earth 51's heroes killed) and such? From what I've read of interviews, he's strictly anti-Monitor (sue me) but his depiction hardly seems consistant with that.

[Sean Walsh]

I haven't kept tabs on COUNTDOWN: ARENA at all but I think it may have something to do with Captain Atom going rather insane due to some altering exposure while travelling around the Bleed.

[Choppa]

Dude, just add that to teh long list of questions that we all have for Countdown that haven't been answered.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Dude, just add that to teh long list of questions that we all have for Countdown that haven't been answered.

...really?

I don't mean to be snarky, but I kinda thought that, given Monarch's huge role in the series, it would have been established.

[Sean Walsh]

...really?

I don't mean to be snarky, but I kinda thought that, given Monarch's huge role in the series, it would have been established.

They're just now getting around to explaining (I think) why the New Gods dying is so important to the coming Final Crisis - something that Didio and others have said "is INTREGAL to the COUNTDOWN story."

For some reason, DC's been taking the "take your time" route in explaining things...

[Surtur]

He might not need that big of a motive. Monitors are destroying those who they deem should not rightfully "exist" right?

Almost any superhero would have a problem with that, and probably risk their lives to fight such a threat.

Now imagine if Monarch has gone insane, that's just gonna make him get flat out obsessive about catching them.

There might not be some deep dark secret explanation. Sometimes "crazy" is all the explanation one needs.

[MWGallaher]

He might not need that big of a motive. Monitors are destroying those who they deem should not rightfully "exist" right?


Are they? I've honestly lost track of what any of these characters' motivations are supposed to be. At first it was only the "bad" Monitor, a.k.a. Solomon, who was acting the rogue and killing off world-hoppers; then he convinced the rest of the Monitors to go along, except for one ("Bob"), who was actually working with Solomon in order to...uh...what was Bob getting out of this again? Something about some Monitor mythology about a Prime Monitor, becoming the source, Solomon being the only Monitor, something like that? And then the rest of the Monitors change their minds about Solomon...Oh, and I forgot, the Monitors also had Forerunner's Earth wiped out, because, uh...let's see, they'd engineered the entire race over millenia to be their personal army...or was it to develop a single soldier rather than an army? And then have them all wiped out because one Forerunner defected to Monarch? Or was it because the race they'd created proved to be superior to the Monitors?
Ah, scrubbit, I don't see any evidence that there's been consistent motivation for the Monitors, Monarch, or Forerunner. It's either been obliterated by changes in the story, or it existed but it's jumbled in incompentent story-telling, or it was never really well thought-out to begin with and they're making it up as it goes along.
Which leads me to my personal perception of what's really wrong with the way this aspect of COUNTDOWN has been executed:
At this point, I can think of absolutely nothing that either Monarch, the Monitors (or any particular individual Monitors), or Forerunner might do which would seem like a violation of the character. Forerunner could turn on Monarch, or actually be a pawn of Darkseid, or start slaughtering superheroes. Solomon could kill all the other Monitors, or start a process to destroy all the universes, or recruit the JLA to save the multiverse. Monarch could ally with the Monitors against Darkseid, or team up with Solomon, or revert to being a hero, or kill Forerunner, etc.
Some of this might surprise us ("I didn't see that coming!") but we couldn't say "Solomon/Monarch/Forerunner/The Monitors would never do that!" Because they're doing whatever the hell the writer decides they're doing this month. The readers have no basis on which to expect any particular behavior or response, and hence they are not really "characters" at all: they are simply puppets, dancing out whatever "twist" is called for this week.

[Dorsai]

I read only a few DC titles so don't have the benefit of a deep knowledge of continuity. However, I have been pulling Countdown since it started. Personally, I can't tell why Monarch has such a grudge against the Monitors. I had to Wiki Monarch just to find out who he was because there was very little of that in Countdown itself. From my reading of Countdown, I got the impression he was more power-hungry than specifically antagonistic towards the monitors. I got the impression the Monitors were just in the way but not Monarch's primary fixation.

When it comes to the New Gods, that storyline is also a bit unclear. Nothing has quite coalesced into a cohesive story although it looks like it should coming together soon. Darkseid is involved and that has caught my interest but it seems that story boils down to "Darkseid plays games, New Gods are killed, and Jimmy Olsen gets powers and falls in love."


Although I have enjoyed some of the storylines, it has been disappointing that it has been almost 40 weeks and it feels like we are barely getting to the meat of any of the stories. I may be missing many nuances but this weekly book wasn't quite as new-reader friendly as 52. I was really enjoying the Piper and Trickster storyline but I don't think that even made an appearance in a few weeks.

Once this is done, I'll sit down one weekend and read through all the issues again and see if rises to the level of 52. I read 52 in trade and really enjoyed it. Countdown seems to not quite hit the mark.

[Choppa]

Okay....how does Monarch even know that the monitors exist and what their motive is in the first place?

[botch]

They're just now getting around to explaining (I think) why the New Gods dying is so important to the coming Final Crisis - something that Didio and others have said "is INTREGAL to the COUNTDOWN story."

For some reason, DC's been taking the "take your time" route in explaining things...

and people thought I was crazy because I said the New Gods would play an important if not the most important part in Final Crisis along with the main heroes.

[Ian J.N.]

Hi, I've only been reading the synopses, so I'm a little unclear: Did Monarch's war against the Monitors amount to anything? Did any of them die?

[The Batman]

I always assumed that Monarch's issue was that he could run the multiverse better and more justly than the Monitors every could. They were, in his eyes, weak and corrupt and disorganized and they've made a bungle of things and needed to be replaced for the good of the multiverse.

[PatchMadripoor]

Maybe the Monitors control what is in their resepctive 52 universes, and Monarch controls that which they all inhabit, The Bleed in between the multiverse and he is striving for dominance for control of the multiverse.

[Will.S]

Hi, I've only been reading the synopses, so I'm a little unclear: Did Monarch's war against the Monitors amount to anything? Did any of them die?
Not really.

The narration gave off a vibe that the Monitors while incredibly powerful can still die by concentrated effort by Monarch if they didn't fight together. I didn't see any on panel deaths from what I recall so Monarch and his army was inadvertently destroyed by his own hand ironically thanks to Superboy.

As for the question in the topic, Monarch was just another pawn of Darkseid. Captain Atom's transformation into Monarch really only makes sense if the armor slowly corrupted him (which isn't that great of an explanation) or if Darkseid was all behind that with the use of the anti-life which is why he's probably able to control so much of the board.