A Deep Cut DC Team To Make Their Official Return to Continuity

Warning: contains potential spoilers for The Outsiders #2!Soon, a deep cut team from DC’s history will make its official return to continuity. Later this year, DC will unveil a new incarnation of the Outsiders, with a decidedly new mission—to investigate the secret history of the DC Universe. Now, in The Outsiders #2, one of the publisher’s oldest teams, popular in their heyday but largely forgotten now, will make their exciting return.

DC revealed its December and January solicitations, including The Outsiders #2. The book will be written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Robert Carey. The solicitation for the book reads:

“Monsters of the Unknown.”

What hidden tragedies lie inside the Forever Storm of the Enlil Triangle?

On January 1, 2000, a storm kicked up near the Enlil island chain in the mid-Atlantic. And it never stopped. As a West Point cadet, Kate Kane encountered something monstrous in those turbulent waves…and now, she is returning to face it alongside the Outsiders! But can she control her desire for revenge in the service of Luke Fox’s mission of understanding? What secrets will they discover deep beneath the monster-filled waves of the Enlil Triangle? And how will the Outsiders survive their encounter with the monster-hunting specialists of the DC Universe: the New Challengers of the Unknown?

This new, boundary-breaking dive into the secret history of the DC Universe is just beginning!

The Challengers of the Unknown Are a Classic DC Team

The Challengers of the Unknown have a long and storied history at DC Comics. While who exactly created the Challengers is up in the air, nearly all sources give a lion’s share of the credit to Jack Kirby; the team first appeared in 1957’s Showcase #6. After a brief run in that title, the Challengers were awarded their own ongoing series. The Challengers of the Unknown were four people, the best in their respective fields, who were in an accident that should have killed them but did not.

Believing they are now living on “borrowed time,” they name themselves the Challengers of the Unknown and set out to confront supernatural menaces. While the team never caught on with the public, they remain a cult favorite, having appeared in a noteworthy early 1990s miniseries from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, as well as New Challengers, which was part of DC’s “New Age of Heroes.” The Challengers have been absent from the DC Universe since then. However, the Challengers are too great a concept to sit on the shelves, and now Lanzing, Kelly, and Carey are set to bring them back in a huge fashion.

What Brings the Challengers of the Unknown Back to the DC Universe?

DC did not reveal what role the Challengers of the Unknown will play in the issue, but some clues can be gleaned from the solicitation. The “incident” that puts the Outsiders and the Challengers on a collision course happens in the year 2000—which, given comics’ sliding timescale, was likely before the modern heroic age began. In DC continuity, the Challengers of the Unknown predate the arrival of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. DC’s timeline has often been altered, so when exactly the Challengers are operating could be changed as well.

The Challengers of the Unknown Should Stick Around

Regardless of where the Challengers now fit into the DC Universe, their return is a cause for celebration. They are one of DC’s oldest teams, a product of the Silver Age that still has relevance today. Their deep ties to the DC Universe make them the perfect allies for the Outsiders. Their forthcoming return could mark the beginning of a new era of greatness for the Challengers of the Unknown.

The Outsiders #2 is on sale December 12 from DC Comics!