The Monitor

Few characters in DC's Bronze Age carry as much cosmic weight as The Monitor, who made a quiet but fateful debut in The New Teen Titans #21 in 1982, conjured into existence by the legendary team of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. What began as a mysterious background presence would crescendo into one of comics' most ambitious universe-reshaping sagas, with Crisis on Infinite Earths standing as the centerpiece of The Monitor's legacy — a series so significant it redrew the map of DC storytelling entirely. Keeping rarefied company alongside Superman, Green Lantern, Harbinger, and Lyla Michaels, this enigmatic figure has earned two key-issue appearances that collectors rightly prize, and a presence stretching across more than four decades into 2025 speaks to an enduring grip on the DC imagination. If you want to understand how DC's multiverse was built — and rebuilt — The Monitor is essential reading.