Arak (Prime Earth)

Just as the master was singularly unique in all the universe--a universal God Machine--as he was unique, so I must be as well. The cities, taken from different universes and doomed timelines, have qualities all their own. One is a failed experiment. An Injustice. My path is clear. I know what I must do.
Eliminate my master's mistake. Determine which shall return to the universe--and which shall perish. Let only the strong survive.

— Telos ^src

Telos was an artificial intelligence being created by the Brainiac to aid him in bringing about the Convergence of the Multiverses.

History

Origin

Telos was created by the first Brainiac that he installed into the Blood Moon to run the day to day operations of the experiment when he wasn't around. Since his inception, Telos has worked for every version of Brainiac that has ever existed in every incarnation of the Multiverse, faithfully carrying out the task. His most recent master was the Brainiac of the Futures End timeline, who he served until his master mysteriously disappeared while trying to acquire the Metropolis of his native timeline.

Convergence

Main article: Convergence (event)

In the wake of Brainiac's absence, Telos came to the conclusion that since Brainiac is unique, so it must be unique. Based on this premise, Telos decided to judge that Brainiac intended to have the captive cities of the Multiverse into fighting each other to deem the survivors worthy. To ensure the cities' inhabitants of their cooperation, Telos threatened to have them destroyed. Telos enacted his competition when several denizens from Earth 2 unprecedentedly arrived on his world.^[1]

After briefly capturing the Earth 2 natives, Telos was confused by their sudden appearance until he was temporarily weaken by Green Lantern Alan Scott and allowing his prisoners to escape. Telos soon recovered and attempted to locate the Earth 2 natives in which he found and rescued the Earth 2 Dick Grayson.^[2] He eventually located his wards in Skartaris, where the evil sorcerer Deimos had absorbed the powers of the time travellers that Brainiac had imprisoned.^[3] Deimos took the opportunity of summoning Brainiac, who is trapped in a T-Sphere, and peered into his mind to reveal the shocking truth to Telos's identity: he was not a planet created by Brainiac, but rather he was once a man - a man with a family. In the past, his world was threatened by Brainiac and then forced into eternal servitude for him in exchange for the lives of his wife and children. The revelation deeply traumatized Telos and at this moment of weakness allowed Deimos to take control of the Blood Moon.^[4]

During the duration of Deimos' takeover, Telos retreated and remained at a complete loss over the life that he once had. He was soon tracked down by Dick Grayson, who convinced him that he is freed from Brainiac's conditioning and that he can make his own decisions to correct the mistakes he had wrought, and the possibility of using his powers to finding his family. Compelled, Telos agreed with Grayson to help stopping Deimos and saving every captive on the planet.^[5] Telos joined Grayson's group of heroes from disparate worlds in battling Deimos and fully regaining control of the planet from the sorcerer. However, Parallax killed Deimos and unwittingly released the unstable temporal energies the sorcerer acquired from the time travellers and causing the imminent destruction of the Multiverse.^[6]

Telos was not powerful enough to undo the damages, but foresaw who can: Brainiac. The hero Waverider summoned Telos' master despite vocal oppositions from his former captives. Brainiac, regrettable of his actions, helped in saving the Multiverse by sending a group of heroes to prevent the First Crisis and returning the captive cities and its inhabitants back to their realities. With this task finished, Brainiac relinquished Telos' bondage and vanished. Telos transported the Blood Moon to the Earth 2 reality and granted the planet to the Earth 2 survivors as their new home world. Soon afterward he departed for parts unknown in search for his family that he now fully remembers.^[7]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Unique Physiology: After the events of Convergence Telos was given a portion of Brainiac's power which enhanced him to superhuman levels.
- Superhuman Strength: Telos posseses enough raw strength to easily overpower beings like Validus and Computo.
- Invulnerability: Telos was impervious to many forms of harm.
- Superhuman Stamina
- Metamorphosis: Telos can reshape part of his body to create claws or blades.
- Flight
- Teleportation
- Energy Projection
- Energy Transference: Telos has the ability to absorb Validus' electric attack and to redirect it against him.
- Matter Manipulation

Abilities

Archery^[9]
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)^[9]
Shamanism: As the eldest son of the king of his tribe, Arak learned the shaman's way, inheriting Mother Earth's powers after his father's death.^[9]
- Omniscience: By inheriting the powers, he became one with every living atom around him.^[9]
- Enhanced Senses: For the same reason, he felt his senses explode.^[9]
- Electrokinesis: Arak, Son of Thunder, gained the power to create and manipulate lightning.^[9]
Swordsmanship^[9]

Weaknesses

Power Loss: Each use of his teleporting abilities causes him to weaken for a period of time.

Notes

Like Mogo and Raga, Telos is interchangeably referred to as both a person and a location. Unlike them, he has an avatar of his presence on the planet that is spoken with, rather than speaking with the planet itself directly.
Arak Red-Hand was created by Roy Thomas and Ernie Colon, first appearing in Warlord #48. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Arak Red-Hand first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Convergence #0 by Dan Jurgens, Jeff King, and Ethan Van Sciver.