| Character Name: | Harbinger |
| Species: | Metahuman |
| Publisher: | DC Comics |
| Debut: | (as Lyla Michaels) The New Teen Titans Annual #2 (July 1983) (as the Harbinger) Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (April 1985) |
| Creators: | Marv Wolfman George Pérez |
| Real Name: | Lyla Michaels |
| Alliances: | New Guardians Black Lantern Corps |
| Powers: |
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The Harbinger is a superheroine appearing in publications by DC Comics. She has a supporting role in the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline.
The character appeared as a recurring character in The CW television series Arrow and The Flash television series, portrayed by Audrey Marie Anderson.
Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, she first appeared in The New Teen Titans Annual #2 (July 1983) before taking on the Harbinger mantle in Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (April 1985).
Lyla Michaels was an orphan whose ship sunk during a violent storm before she was rescued from certain doom by the Monitor, a cosmic being locked in an eternal war against his anti-matter counterpart, the Anti-Monitor.[1] Raising Lyla as an assistant, the two monitored the multiverse's heroes and arranged for weapons and super-powered henchmen for various villains, to test heroes that the Monitor would recruit for an impending final battle against the Anti-Monitor.
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, she assumed the "Harbinger" identity after entering a womb-like chamber which energized her and allowed her to create a series of doppelgangers in her new costume. These doppelgangers recruited a wide variety of heroes and villains to fight the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons and protect a series of vibration towers, designed to protect Earth 1 and Earth 2 from the wave of Anti-Matter destroying the DC Multiverse.[2]
However, while recruiting the hero Arion, a shadow demon merged with one of the Harbinger's duplicates, allowing the Anti-Monitor to control her once her various doubles merged into a single entity. Under the Anti-Monitor's control, the Harbinger killed the Monitor. The Monitor foresaw the Anti-Monitor's gambit and arranged to have his life force be the fuel to power up the vibration towers, saving Earths 1 and 2 from doom. The shock of what she did caused her to revert to a version of her normal form, which then sacrificed all of her powers to save the last three alternate universes (home of the Freedom Fighters, the Charlton heroes, and the Marvel family) from annihilation.
When the five remaining universes merged, the Harbinger suddenly regained her power in the process of time and space merging to create a new single DC Universe. Afterwards, the Harbinger recorded the history of the Post-Crisis DC Universe into a computer satellite,[3] which the Manhunters use as part of a greater plan to infiltrate the superhero community. Afterwards, the Harbinger joined the New Guardians. She reunited with fellow Monitor allies Pariah and Lady Quark during the War of the Gods crossover, after which she was offered membership with the Amazon tribe of Themyscira as the Amazons' official historian.[4]
Kara Zor-El (the original Supergirl) was discovered to exist in the post-Crisis DC Universe, arrived on Earth and was given shelter and lodgings on the island of Themyscira, so the Harbinger befriended Kara. Remembering Supergirl's sacrifice during the original event, the Harbinger willingly died protecting Kara in a failed bid to prevent Darkseid from kidnapping Kara.[5]
During the events of the "Return of Donna Troy" miniseries, it was revealed that Donna Troy's arch-enemy (and temporal doppelganger) the Dark Angel served a similar role to the Harbinger during the original event before severing ties with the Anti-Monitor. Furthermore, the Titans of Myth revealed that Donna was a temporal anomaly, thanks to the Crisis changing her and Wonder Woman's histories. The Titans, seeing potential in exploiting Donna's unconscious knowledge of the Pre-Crisis universe, rescued her as a child to manipulate her into being their own version of the Harbinger. Afterwards, Donna recorded a new version of the "History of the DC Universe" reflecting the changes in the timeline following Infinite Crisis. Meanwhile, a genetically altered being called the Forerunner (a new incarnation of the Harbinger) was introduced that was tasked with killing anyone who crossed over between universes for the Monitors.[6]
The original Harbinger was reanimated as a Black Lantern during the Blackest Night crossover. She uses her knowledge of history to provoke her targets by bringing up emotional memories, but is destroyed with the other Black Lanterns.[7]
An artificial intelligence of Harbinger who bears a resemblance to the original version is part of the House of Heroes, the Monitor's watchstation.[8]
Lyla Michaels / Harbinger appears in the Arrowverse series Arrow and The Flash, portrayed by Audrey Marie Anderson.[9] [10] This version is an agent, later the director, of A.R.G.U.S. and the estranged wife of John Diggle who secretly works for Mar Novu before becoming the Harbinger in the crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths".
Lyla Michaels / Harbinger received an action figure in DC Direct's Crisis line in 2005.