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A longtime DC hero now has their own version of the Danger Room — and the hero’s sidekick is already getting some great use out of the facility.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Aquaman: The Becoming #1, now on sale from DC Comics.
Every hero needs practice before they go out into the field, otherwise, they risk the dangers of their superheroic lives catching up to them and delivering them a surprise defeat. It’s an especially important element for young heroes to take on, and now one of them might have the best technology for doing just that.
In Aquaman: The Becoming #1 by Brandon Thomas, Diego Olortegui, Wade Von Grawbadger, Adriano Lucas and Andworld Design, Jackson Hyde — aka the current Aqualad — gets the chance to try out Aquaman’s own variant of Marvel’s Danger Room — and it might be even better than the original.
Since finding out about his own Atlantean ancestry and amazing abilities, Jackson Hyde has been growing into a formidable hero in his own right. Under the direct tutelage of Aquaman and Mera, he’s become a fast and skilled fighter — and his time with the Teen Titans helped him cement bonds with the rest of the hero community. But it turns out some of his training is a bit more extreme than others — such as using the Well, a private training grotto for the Curry family to utilize. Effectively working as an automated training simulation, the Well is located in the heart of Atlantis and in many ways functions quite similarly to the X-Men’s Danger Room in the Marvel Universe.
Both utilize advanced technologies to create new scenarios for heroes to practice against, giving them the chance to take part in some intense simulations. While the Danger Room was designed with physical challenges and then hard light constructs, the Well is a mental challenge, with a headpiece seemingly creating the scenario for them to overcome on their own. Notably, it’s also through these simulations that the heroes can confront dark possibilities and figure out how they’d respond. There are plenty of X-Men stories from over the years where the Danger Room was used to create wild and dark possible scenarios. The Well is no different, especially going by the Apokolips simulation that Jackson spends some time in.
In his most recent run on the simulation, Jackson finds himself taking part in an Apokolips test. He finds himself on the hellish world of Apokolips, fighting against numerous Parademons. By the time he lands, he’s seemingly greeted by Aquaman — who explains the rest of the Justice League have been defeated and killed in battle against Darkseid. There’s no hope for Jackson to win the day, but if he can reach a Mother Box at the bottom of an acidic lake, he could make it to Earth in time to warn them of Darkseid’s coming. It’s a dangerous mission, but one that Jackson succeeds at. He even manages to earn a new high score in the process, finally succeeding at the “Apokolips Campaign.”
Aquaman even jokes that Batman has already taken on that campaign — and even considers it one of his favorite training programs. It’s a fun concept to see on display and one that Jackson clearly enjoys testing his skills with — especially considering how he keeps trying to find new ways to beat his high scores in the simulations. It’s also a potentially safer technology than the Danger Room’s literal threats, as well as likely far less expensive. The Well technology is perfect for a young hero like Jackson, and would make a perfect tool for organizations like the Titans Academy to embrace more openly.
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