WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Shadow War: Alpha #1, on sale now from DC Comics.
Talia al Ghul has been gaining ground again recently, as DC has been building the character up for their Shadow War event – which takes place in Batman, Deathstroke Inc. and Robin. After her adventures with returning DC Universe team Checkmate, Talia has regained control of her empire from the clutches of Leviathan, Mark Shaw. However, with the running of her reclaimed empire, it seems that she’s neglected her other super-team – one that’s crucial to the survival of the multiverse.
Ra’s al Ghul attempted to turn himself in before his shocking murder in Shadow War: Alpha #1 (by Joshua Williamson, Viktor Bogdanovic, Daniel Henriques, Mike Spicer, and Troy Peteri). This had major implications for his entire family, including Talia who was made to turn herself in alongside him. As the moment played out, there were reactions from a number of individuals across the DCU. Those related to the al Ghuls or affected by the news. One group in particular was notably left out of the loop.
Vandal Savage, Hawkgirl and Mr. Terrific, three members of the multiversal team the Totality, all watched on as Ra’s and Talia gave themselves up. Talia is a member of this group, along with these three and the two members not with the team in this issue, Lex Luthor and Martian Manhunter.
The Totality was created as part of the new status quo of DC’s Infinite Frontier. They first appeared in the final issue of Dark Nights: Death Metal (by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo) as a new team dedicated to fighting threats from the newly discovered omniverse. With all of their universe’s history restored, the Totality was formed to ensure it never was altered again and prevent any Crisis events before they ever occurred. As this issue affected everyone, the team was made of three heroes and three villains.
Talia was among the villains on the team and her reasons for joining were explained in Infinite Frontier: Secret Files #4 (by Brandon Thomas, Joshua Williamson, Inaki Miranda, Nick Filardi and Tom Napolitano). She believed that Damian’s rejection of her in favor of his father, Batman, wasn’t the natural order of the universe. Therefore, her time with the Totality was all about ensuring that never happened to any other mothers.
However, Damian recently returned to his mother’s side and has seemingly cut ties with his father altogether after their tragic reunion this issue. In Talia’s opinion, that would mean that the “natural order” has been restored. This may explain why she didn’t tell the Totality about her father’s radical plan, something that would impact her place in the Totality. As far as she’s concerned, order is restored and there’s no need for the multiversal team anymore.
This sudden shunning of her place on the Totality comes at the worst time. Two of the team’s heroic members, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl, are about to meet their end in “Death of the Justice League” and, with Manhunter being the leader, that would leave the team rudderless. Even worse is that Lex Luthor is starting up the Legion of Doom again and working with Henry Bendix. Showing that he’s seemingly abandoned the team’s goals in favor of petty villainy once more.
The Totality has been largely ignored since their introduction. Aside from their introduction and their story in Infinite Frontier: Secret Files, their only other appearance was in the Infinite Frontier limited series (by Joshua Williamson and Xermanico) and that was only briefly. The team has disappeared until now and upcoming events look to wipe the team out for good. With Dark Crisis just around the corner and the Justice League gone, this is the worst time to leave behind this forgotten DC team.
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