Page - 71 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

The Problem of Evil | 71www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 59–74 ego, who has followed him in order to stop him. Owlman explains to his nem- esis, and double, the nature of Earth-prime, where they now find themselves: Before there was thought, there was this place, one earth with a single history. But with the coming of Man came the illusion of free will, and with that illusion came cha- os. With every choice we make, we literally create a World. history branches in two, creating one earth where we made the choice, and a second where we did not. that is the secret of the Universe. Billions of people, making billions of choices, creating infinite earths. Some so similar to each other you could spend a lifetime searching for any distinction, other so radically different they defy comprehension. … The source of the cataclysm was the same as it always is: Man32. the character’s explanation of the Multiverse’s functions reminds us of the place of free will in Leibniz’s system. emile Bréhier, a french historian of phi- losophy, summarizes this system as follows: in this system where only individual substances exist, where everything arises from their spontaneity, nothing is considered that is not linked to the whole universe; those substances are already universes and there is nothing they do not include, at least virtually: each of these substances, that seems to include everything, is in fact defined by its relation to all the others, and by a fixed place in a hierarchy that com- prises doomed beings as well as angels and chosen ones.”33 In a way, Owlman’s assertion is rather Leibnizian, since it afflicts humankind with all the evils of the universe. In his theodicy project, where the initial idea was that evil had corrupted the relations between God and humankind, Leibniz found himself in a quandary as he sought to justify God’s actions, for he was unable to exonerate one without holding the other guilty, “oscillating between the temptation of forgiving himself by accusing God, and pardoning God by ac- cusing himself”.34 Like Leibniz, the Owlman character locates evil solely in human action and re- sponsibility. But unlike for the philosopher, for the Owlman every possibility of optimism or empathy is then erased, for humankind and humankind’s free will are a cancer from which the world must be delivered, even if to do so means the destruction of the world and of himself – for, by his own admission, he himself is as imperfect as all the others. A physical and verbal confrontation ensues, dur- 32 Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (sam Liu/Lauren Montgomery, Us 2010). 33 “Dans ce système où seules existent des substances individuelles, où tout découle de leur spontanéité, il n’est pas fait la moindre part à rien qui ne soit fonction de l’univers tout entier, c’est que ces substances sont déjà des univers et qu’il n’est rien qu’elles ne contiennent au moins virtuellement : chacune de ces substances, qui paraît être tout dedans, n’est en réalité définie que par ses rapports avec toutes les autres, et par une place fixe dans une hiérarchie qui comporte des damnés aussi bien que des anges et des élus” (Bréhier, 1994, 306. My translation). 34 Brunschwig 1969, 9–10 (my translation).