HISTORY

During the Crisis in Time called Zero Hour, (See Zero Hour #3) Extant mercilessly killed Hourman, Atom and Dr.Midnight while stripping Kent and Inza of their power. Extant aged the JSA back to their correct age, reversing any effects that Ian Karkull had bestowed upon them while the Nelsons lost the power of fate that had kept them young. This increase in age made the Nelsons unable to become Doctor Fate again. A new fate was needed to chosen, and he was Jared Stevens, the Grave Robbing Adventurer who would be destined for greatness. After reluctantly accepting a contract from "old jackass Marsh", his father in-law to recover the artifacts of order, his life would soon change. Marsh told Stevens that these items of power once belonged to Nabu, the Lord of Order, the power behind Doctor Fate. Stevens took Marsh's words with a grain of salt and found it hard to believe in cosmic beings and Lords of Order. After searching the Sahara desert for the Temple of Nabu, Jared Stevens discovers the temple by mistake but little did he know that Fate had plans for him.

Jared is greeted by a "crazy" and old Kent Nelson who has been expecting him for three months, seven days and sixteen hours. Kent leads Jared into the Temple of Nabu where an old Inza Nelson sits near the artifacts of Doctor Fate. Inza is in her own little world, the pressure of Order has weighed upon her and the lack of training as Doctor Fate has caused her to shut away the world. Kent introduces himself to Jared Stevens as Jared cannot believe his luck as spies the artifacts of order. As he collects the items, Jared Stevens is instantly taken to the realm of Nabu where a huge statue of the Lord Order stands on an island, surrounded by a dark blue lake. The statue of Nabu tells Jared Stevens of Order and that he was chsen above all men to take the mantle of Doctor Fate. Jared finds himself engulfed in the giant hands of Nabu as he tries desperately to escape his hold. Jared "politely" asks Nabu to release him and he appears back in the temple of Nabu with Kent and Inza. The items of Doctor Fate have now changed into a cloak, knife and throwing ankhs. [#: During the last series of Doctor Fate, the items of order would change to the personality of the new host of Fate]

The items of Doctor Fate are no longer bound to the Nelsons and in a brilliant light, Kent and Inza are reborn into young energy beings and prepare to receive the wonders, promised to them. Inza is speechless and in an instant, they both disappear. Jared Stevens believes that he has been drugged by Kent and collects the items of order and prepares to leave the temple. However, he is intercepted by an unknown Lord of Chaos and Nabu. Nabu and the Lord of Chaos wish to battle for total control over Jared Stevens. Half his body is transformed into chaos and the other half into order. As the Lords calmly talk about the victor, Jared rejects them both and the Temple explodes with both the power of order and chaos. Jared Stevens is scarred from the awesome power, his body is totally burned and he now has a red ankh over his right eye. Jared recovers the cloak of destiny (cape of Doctor Fate) and uses it as a bandage. To his amazement, his body is healed but he feels different, he can sense the power dwelling inside him. Jared Stevens has become Fate!

Reasons for the new Origin of Fate;

John Francis Moore was never fully comfortable writing the new series of Fate and with the backlash against Doctor Fate and the Zero Hour problems, Fate never really took off until the end of the series. However, by then, it was far too late. DC tried to do something different and with Keith Giffen under the Editorial Office of Dan Thorsland, they have decided to rewrite the entire FATE history. Thus anything John Francis Moore wrote appears to be void and null. Only some links to the old character remain.

In the BOOK OF FATE, Jared Stevens has just recently became "FATE" and the Nelsons were not killed by KINGDOM. As Jared Stevens retells his origin, Kent Nelson leaves a vital clue about the effects of Zero Hour. In Zero Hour, Doctor Fate was forced to split by the power of Extant. Extant then used his chronal energy to revert the JSA to their correct ages. Thus Kent and Inza are now in their 70's. Kent and Inza retreated to the Temple of Nabu after Zero Hour where they waited for Jared Stevens to come take the mantle of FATE. This was two years after Zero Hour (1996) and that is when Jared Stevens became FATE, not in 1994. The downside to this is that some of the work(s) of Steven Grant and especially Len Kaminski may have been allocated to the area where the golden age Batman and Superman now exist.

As Fate became more and more distant from the DC Universe, it was discovered that Fate watches certain nexus' where demons and supernatural beings visit Earth. Although most of the time, these beings are harmless, sometimes they must be set straight. (See JSA #1 Secret Files #1) However, recently, the Dark Lord called Mordru has been seeking out mystical artifacts on different worlds and killing agents of Order and Chaos. Jared Stevens was the first victim of the Dark Lords rampage and was killed with his own knife. (See JSA #1)

COVER GALLERY

PRINCIPLE ADVERSARIES

• Four Horsemen of the Apokolips
  
• Lords of Chaos