Publication history

The Presence first appears in More Fun Comics #52, by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily, as "The Voice", responsible for turning Jim Corrigan into the Spectre.

Throughout the early development of comic books, writers typically used surrogate names and abstract concepts rather than referring to The Presence directly as God or any his traditional biblical names. This approach was largely shaped by the Comics Code Authority, a collection of ethical guidelines established in 1958 to address anti-comic book sentiment. The Comic Code Authority stated, "ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group is never permissible." Later revisions emphasized the importance of respecting religious beliefs and institutions.

DC Comics was willing to bypass the Comics Code Authority's guidelines by publishing under Vertigo Comics. This shift granted writers and artists greater creative freedom and the ability to produce more mature content, which ultimately paved the way for seminal works like The Sandman and its unconstrained depiction of religious entities, such as Yahweh.

Fictional character biography

The Creator

The Presence is the supreme deity of the DC Omniverse. Multiple entities, including Lucifer Morningstar, Michael Demiurgos, Gabriel Hornblower, the Spectre, Destiny, Dream, John Constantine, Wally West, Zauriel, and The Presence himself have attested that he is an uncreated, eternal entity who is solely responsible for the whole of creation. Michael Demiurgos, Zauriel, Destiny, and Dream have stated that The Presence is a part of everything and his "Word" serves as the foundation sustaining all of reality.

Various mythological gods from other pantheons coexist alongside The Presence. A notable example of this is found in Wonder Woman: Godwar storyline where the Greek Titans clashed with angels and Hindu gods. However, unlike The Presence, these other gods were created through a wide array of cosmic factors, such as such as the godwave or the collective belief of humanity. Due to the other gods' nature, these deities occupy a lower hierarchy than The Presence, existing only as subordinate elements within a reality that he alone fundamentally authored. According to Greg Rucka, the writer of Final Crisis: Revelations, "The sort of unspoken rule in the DCU is that God sits above all others."

The Voice

The disembodied "Voice of the Presence" that spoke to and empowered Jim Corrigan as the Spectre in More Fun Comics #52. When the Voice uttered the first word, it created "The Word", and it was already being tracked by Destiny in his book. In Crisis on Infinite Earths #10, the Hand was turned into a predestination paradox as the hand of the villainous Anti-Monitor, who tried to rearrange all existence at its starting point but failed. The Hand was later seen reaching down from Heaven to embrace the invading Great Evil Beast, and stated to be the Hand of God by Etrigan.

This idea was visually called back to in DC Rebirth when a hand was seen reaching through time to change history. The true identity of the one manipulating this timeline was later revealed to be Doctor Manhattan.

The Source

The Source is a universal spirit from Jack Kirby's Fourth World cosmology. According to Grant Morrison, the author of many DCU comic books, confirmed that The Presence, the Overvoid, and The Source are all the same entity.

The Panentheos

In the Justice League of America series, Zauriel frequently references The Presence, though the deity is never physically depicted. During Asmodel's defeat during the attempted coup of Heaven, Zauriel clarifies the nature of the divine, explaining that The Presence doesn't merely occupy a throne in the Primum Mobile, but resides within everything in reality and beyond the DC Omniverse.

Wally

A being named Wally claiming to be a manifestation of God who appears in the form of a young boy wearing a baseball hat. He first appears in Peter David's Linda Danvers/Supergirl series. A similar character later appears in the same author's Fallen Angel series.

Supporting characters

Agents

The Presence utilizes various agents to execute his divine will throughout history. For instance, Eclipso, the original manifestation of God's wrath, was responsible for unleashing the great flood to punish humanity for their transgressions, sparing only Noah and a few chosen others. The Spectre, a subsequent agent of God's wrath, inflicted the ten plagues upon Egypt and parting the Red Sea for Moses.

Angels

At the beginning of time, Lucifer Morningstar, Michael Demiurgos, and Gabriel Hornblower were created to forge various parts of the universe. Lucifer Morningstar seeks true freedom and wants to escape The Presence's omniscience. Gabriel Hornblower was known for performing acts of kindness for humanity but also committing atrocities such as the slaughter of Sodom and Gomorrah. Zauriel is a former angel who became a mortal on Earth to protect humanity and serve as a member of the Justice League.

Humanity

Humans worships The Presence. He is the central figure in Judeo-Christianity of DCU.

Abel begins to reveal that while the Garden of Eden was a literal event, it occurred on another world rather than on Earth. Humanity emerged physically through evolution and yet The Presence shaped the blueprint of life. By hushing Abel, this shows that humanity's origin is a deliberate mixture of natural selection and divine craftsmanship.

Successor

The Presence vacated his creation and his granddaughter, Elaine Belloc, has taken his place.

Powers and abilities

  • Omnipotence: The Presence is truly omnipotent, wielding infinite power over all aspects of existence. He designed all laws that govern reality and his "word" acts as the fundamental blueprint for the DC Omniverse. Given that The Presence has complete dominion over his creation, he has empower various angels and entities, including the Spectre, Lucifer Morningstar,
  • Omnipresence: The Presence is omnipresent, existing everywhere as an inherent part of every aspect of his creation, unbound by any physical or metaphysical world, and simultaneously in the past, present, future, while remaining entirely beyond it.
  • Immortality: The Presence is truly immortal and self-existent. He has no beginning and no end, subsisting eternally regardless of the state of the multiverse.