Presence (comics)
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The Presence is a name for the supreme being in the fictional DC Comics Universe, believed to be the God of Judeo-Christian (and other) beliefs. The Voice is a aspect of The Presence, it is the "Voice" of God. (The Presence should not be confused with the atomic-powered being with the same name from Marvel Comics (see Presence (Marvel Comics).) The name was coined to avoid referring to this character as God, despite its obviously being intended to be that being. It would not be until the Comics Code Authority began to lose its influence that DC Comics would allow it to be referred to as God, mainly in its Vertigo line of comics.
In the Silver City is only 2 towers in which the angels can talk to God. One is the Tower of Unendingly High. At the top is the Primum Mobile (also known as the Throne of Light) where the Presence stays. The only way for the angels to come before the Presence and not just the Word/Logos is to be summoned here, which is a very rare occurrence. The second tower is not as tall as the first. Inside is a room where the Logos can be found. When the Presence chooses to speak this is where his voice sounds. Although the room is unguarded as well very few angels would willingly seek it out.
There have been numerous references to God or the Voice in DC Comics over its 75 years of publication, however not all of these have turned out to be the same being. For example, the voice that gave powers to the heroes Hawk and Dove was revealed years later to actually belong to a Lord of Order and a Lord of Chaos. Only those stories that involve the Spectre or Judeo-Christian characters such as Lucifer should be considered to feature official appearances by the Presence. Thus, its first appearance would be in More Fun Comics #52 (by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily, February 1940) as the voice that granted the powers of the Spectre to the spirit of detective Jim Corrigan. Note that the Presence has never been shown completely; at most an image of a hand has been seen, for example during the creation of the universe (Green Lantern Vol. 2 #40.)(Note that this hand has also been attributed as being the Anti-Monitor's, in Crisis on Infinite Earths #10.)
It must be noted that the cosmology of the DC Universe does not follow any actual religious doctrine exactly, and in fact involves elements from multiple religions, mythologies, and even fabricated concepts, such as the entities known as the Endless. Biblical events are assumed to be fact in the DC Universe, but often involve variations; for example: it was Eclipso (who was the original agent of God's Wrath) who caused the Great Flood without permission, which caused him to be imprisoned into a black diamond as punishment. The Spectre was his replacement, and it was the Spectre who unleashed the ten plagues on Egypt and later parted the Red Sea for Moses.
The Presence is presented as rather passive, very rarely getting involved in events in the DC Universe, even when it is faced with total destruction. On one occasion, it raised several members of the Justice Society from the dead just because the Spectre pleaded him to (Justice League vol. 1 #124). In the Lucifer series, God allowed the fallen angel to create his own universe where he could be the Supreme Being. In the Day of Vengeance limited series, it did not get involved in the Spectre's rampage after it had lost Hal Jordan as a host until the Spectre killed Nabu, the last Lord of Order.
He is the father of Lucifer and Michael Demiurgos as shown in Lucifer #26 (July 2002). He also created the Word (also known as the Logos) which is the first Archangel as shown in Swamp Thing #167 (June 1996).
The cosmic force known as the Source is believed to an aspect of the Presence.
Powers
The Presence is omnipotent.
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