Summary
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Absolute Power #2!A beloved character from theArrowversehas made good after making the worst decision of her life. Dreamer was faced with bad and worse options and in her darkest moments, agreed to work with Amanda Waller and stand by as she brought the world to heel.
Nia Nal is a good and virtuous hero. But her uncanny ability to see into the future made her a target by Waller,who wanted to use Dreamerto secure victory over DC’s metahumans. As things continue to get worse for the heroes, Nia makes a stand and risks everything important to her to be the hero the world needs right now.
Dreamer Risks Her Life and Her Family to Save the Day
InAbsolute Power #2by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sánchez, and Ariana Maher, Waller is winning her war against the DCU’s metahumans. As de-powered humans are ushered into Waller’s prison on Gamorra Island, Waller gives her team their next order andinforms Dreamer she’s to transport a special asset. At the same time, every available hero has gathered at the Fortress of Solitude to form a counterattack. Nightwing takes command and begins relaying orders to his allies. Unfortunately, before the heroes disperse, the Fortress is attacked by the Brainiac Queen anda brainwashed Jon Kent.
…Dreamer uses her powers to send Superman through the portal while she stays back to handle the Queen.
All hell breaks loose in the Fortress as Jon’s cybernetic augmentations have turned him into Waller’s weapon of war. The Brainiac Queen also uses her powers to upend the heroes’ plans, destroying their tech and gear. In the middle of the chaos, Dreamer comes through, bringing Global Guardian, one of the Task Force VII agents to siphon the remaining heroes’ powers. Nia panics and tells Waller she’s leaving, butWaller orders Dreamer to engage or her family will face the consequences.
With no other options, Superman chooses to self-destruct the Fortress and usher everyone they can out of a temporary portal. However, Brainiac Queen attacks Clark and prepares to kill him. However, Dreamer uses her powers to send Superman through the portal while she stays back to handle the Queen. Furious at what Waller did to Jon, Dreamer uses her power to keep the Queen trapped in the explosion. Nia thinks about her family one last time asan explosion tears the Fortress apart, with no sign of Dreamer left behind.
How Waller Blackmailed Dreamer into Working for Her
Dreamer first came to Waller’s attention during “Beast World”, when she and Jon helped keep Metropolis safe from several animal-human hybrids. Intrigued at the idea of having a powerful precog under her command, Waller approached Nia, threatening to reveal her hometown, Parthas, a secret community of alien refugees, to the world. Dreamer agreed and helped Waller capture a rogue precog. While Nia was successful, this was just the first of many missions she’d end up doing forWaller, who began to build a new Suicide Squad around Dreamer.
Needing the island nation of Gamorra to house her metahuman prisoners, Waller assembled her new squad and sent them to depose its leadership. Dreamer reluctantly helped, until she had a vision that showed her what Waller was planning. Nia escaped and Waller made good on her threat, doxxing Parthas and its residents. The small community was attacked, forcing Dreamer to return and protect her people. Unfortunately, Waller was counting on that andshe had the Suicide Squad reacquire Dreamer and bring her back to Gamorra.
Read about Dreamer’s struggles with Amanda Waller inSuicide Squad: Dream Team (2024)!
En route to Gamorra, Dreamer convinced her old teammate Bizarro to free her, which worked. While it wound up costing Bizarro his life, Dreamer was free to make Waller pay for what she did. But when Nia finally confronted Amanda, the precog had a vision that revealed a horrifying truth: Waller had linked her heartrate to bombs in Nia’s father’s and sister’s heads. If Waller dies or Dreamer does anything to displease her, Waller could have them killed in an instant. With no other option,Dreamer continued to act as Waller’s asset.
Dreamer Proved She’s a Hero…But What’s Next?
Dreamer was placed in a very difficult decision. She never wanted to work for someone as evil as Waller, but at every turn, Amanda has threatened something incredibly important to Nia. First, it was her community, and then it was her family. While her friend Jay Nakamura didn’t understand (rightfully so, as Waller killed his mother), fans have seen just how much Waller has threatened the young woman. Anyone would likely make the same choicesif, like Dreamer, their family’s very lives were at stake.
…Dreamer could have easily done this to fake her death and get off Waller’s radar.
But despite the clear and present danger to herself and her family, Dreamer still chose to do the right thing in the end. Did Nia know if she was powerful enough to take on the Brainiac Queen or if an explosion would actually kill her? Likely not. But Dreamer couldn’t stand being complicit in the abject horror Waller was bringing into the world. Too much blood was being shed andDreamer was willing to sacrifice everything if it meant putting a stop to this insanity.
But it must be asked if Dreamer is actually dead or not. There wasn’t a body and as any comic book fan will say ‘No body, no death’. Nia does have transportation powers that Waller hasn’t seemed to block off, so Dreamer could have easily done this to fake her death and get off Waller’s radar. Plus Dreamer appearing to be dead disincentivizes Waller to kill Nia’s family, so this keeps them safe for the moment. But whether she’s dead or not, Nia risked everything and provedWaller hasn’t crushed Dreamer’s heroic spirit.
Dreamer is the Unsung Hero ofAbsolute Power
When faced with such adversity, not many people could rise to the occasion and risk everything to do the right thing. But Dreamer has always been a strong hero, even when Waller did everything to break her. The DC Universe is far from being okay right now, but with Dreamer out from under Amanda Waller’s control, there’s a very real chance things could turn around and that the heroes could ultimately win. Dreamer’s been through hell, but theArrowversehero is almost certainly about to be the hero no one saw coming.
Arrowverse
The Arrowverse is a shared universe centered on multiple television series airing on The CW and web series based on characters from DC Comics. It began with Arrow in 2012 and expanded to include shows like The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow, creating a vast interconnected narrative that includes numerous crossovers and parallel universes.
