Paradise Lost (Prime Earth)

Paradise Lost was an Amazo android created by Failsafe and used by the Bureau of Sovereignty to steal Wonder Woman's powers.

History

Failsafe created Paradise Lost and the other members of Task Force VII to store the consciousnesses of the Batmen of Zur-En-Arrh of the Multiverse.^[1][2] Failsafe was foiled by the Batman Family and destroyed beyond repair before the Amazos could be activated.^[3] However, the Bureau of Sovereignty raided Failsafe's base in Blackgate Penitentiary and seized all the robotic shells. When their scientists could not repair them, Amanda Waller forced the captured Time Commander to reverse their timelines and restore them.^[4] The androids were each implanted with a duplicate of the Time Commander's Hourglass, which caused their personal timelines to automatically reverse and rapidly "heal" them from any damage. This made them effectively invincible and immune to any weaknesses of the heroes they drained.^[5]

When other captured weapons such as the Justice Buster suit proved inadequate to the task of capturing superheroes; Waller ordered Task Force VII into the field.^[6] The Bureau of Sovereignty flooded the media with A.I. generated footage of superheroes seemingly rampaging and slaughtering civilians, creating a nationwide wave of anti-metahuman hatred and several violent attacks on superheroes by angry mobs. To counter the narrative the superheroes went out in force to rescue people, gathering into groups for protection; however, this was just what Waller had intended. Paradise Lost ambushed Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark in Georgetown, where they not only drained Wonder Woman's powers but also stripped the members of Justice League Dark of their magical abilities and stole the majority of the Shazam Family's powers.^[7] As a result of this they also took on some of the heroes' personality traits, most notably archaic speech patterns.

Paradise Lost was dispatched to capture Cyborg, who was attempting to hack into the Bureau's systems from Titans Tower. They fought both Cyborg and Batman, who had come to Cyborg for information. During the fight Batman noticed that, although all the members of Task Force VII were supposedly linked in a hive mind and controlled by Failsafe, Paradise Lost appeared to have an individual personality and spoke in an unusual, archaic dialect. Paradise Lost captured Cyborg, but was recalled by Failsafe and Waller before they could arrest Batman, allowing him to escape.^[8]

The surviving superheroes eventually fled to Themyscira, where the Bureau's initial attack by the Brainiac Queen and mind-controlled Jon Kent failed, resulting in Jon being freed of the Queen's control and the queen being teleported away to Pluto. Although the heroes left the island shortly after, Waller dispatched Paradise Lost to Themyscira to launch a retaliatory strike on the Amazons. As Paradise Lost was flying to Themyscira they became distracted by the memories they had absorbed from Wonder Woman; meanwhile Waller and Failsafe noticed that Task Force VII were operating at slightly less than peak efficiency, and so Failsafe ran a remote diagnostic on all of them. He realised that they had absorbed some of the heroes' personalities and rebooted them to restore their baseline programming.^[9]

This reboot stripped Paradise Lost's mind back to their core programming, but they retained their archaic speech patterns. Paradise Lost reached Themyscira and easily broke through the Amazon's patrols to reach the Well of Souls. Queen Nubia and her council came out to stop them, but Paradise Lost defeated them too by calling down the Shazam's lightning on them. They entered the Well and absorbed the souls of several dead superheroines including their primary target, a mystic known as Whisperia. Paradise Lost destroyed the Well and then sealed Themyscira off from the rest of the world with a force field created using Whisperia's magic.^[10]

Waller recalled all her forces, including Task Force VII, to Gamorra Island to repel a full assault from the depowered heroes. The androids formed the second line of defence after the Bureau agents. The heroes used a device built by Time Commander and Green Arrow to deactivate their "chrono-healing" ability and reverse their timelines to just before they stole all metahuman powers. The stolen powers generally returned to their original owners, although in some cases people swapped powers, or powers were granted to random people around the world. Without their powers or ability to regenerate, Task Force VII were quickly destroyed by the heroes.^[11]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Android Body
  • Chrono-Healing: Each member of Task Force VII is fitted with a duplicate of Time Commander's Hourglass. This causes their timeline to automatically reverse and repair them if they suffer any damage, making them effectively invincible.^[5]
  • Power Absorption: Paradise Lost stole all of Wonder Woman's powers and almost completely drained The Captain and Mary Marvel.^[7] They also stole magic from the members of Justice League Dark.^[12] They can even drain the power from the souls of dead superheroes.^[10]
    • Enhanced Hearing^[11]
    • Flight^[7]
    • Superhuman Durability^[8]
    • Superhuman Strength^[7]: Paradise Lost possesses vast superhuman strength and could easily overpower Cyborg.^[8]
    • Magic:
      • Electrokinesis: Paradise Lost can control lightning like the Shazams.^[7]
      • Energy Construct Creation^[12]
        • Force Field^[10]
      • Pyrokinesis^[12]
      • Teleportation^[12]
        

Paraphernalia

Weapons

• Lasso of Truth: Paradise Lost stole the Lasso of Truth as well as Wonder Woman's powers.

Notes

• Paradise Lost is implied to house the consciousness of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh of Earth 19.^[12][8]

Related

• 16 Appearances of Paradise Lost (Prime Earth)
• 17 Images featuring Paradise Lost (Prime Earth)
• Quotations by or about Paradise Lost (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: Paradise Lost (Prime Earth)

Footnotes

Wonder Woman Villain(s) This character has been primarily an enemy of Wonder Woman and the Amazons in any of her various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Wonder Woman Villains category."

Marvel Family Villain This character is or was primarily an enemy of Captain Marvel, the Wizard Shazam, or any of the extended members of the Marvel Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Marvel Family Villains."

Cyborg Villain(s) This character, team, or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of Cyborg. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Cyborg Villains category."

Suicide Squad member This character is or was a member of the Suicide Squad, a team of imprisoned super-villains who perform high-risk missions for the U.S. Government in exchange for commuted sentences, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Suicide Squad members" category.