Chapter Summaries

David defeated Karasen and claimed the Trident of Poseidon, then prepared to bring Mera back to Atlantis to help secure his rule. He left Atlanna behind in Hollow Earth as he flew through a teleportation vortex with Mera.

• David crushed the First Atlantean King's Remnant Soul, took the Trident of Poseidon, and confirmed Karasen could no longer fight.
• Mera and Atlanna joined David on a broken island, where Mera asked what he planned to do with the Trident.
• David said he would give the Atlanteans a chance to submit, but would defeat their king and army if they resisted.
• David tested the Trident and discovered it could summon and command storms at sea.
• David opened a teleportation vortex and lifted Mera toward it, but left Atlanna behind after Mera called out that the queen was still there.

David brought Mera to Atlantis and confronted Orm and the assembled rulers and armies, who were preparing to wage war on the surface. He released Mera from his gravity field and let her father call to her while the Atlantean forces surrounded him.

• After defeating Karasen, David spared it and flew toward Atlantis with Mera.
• Orm, Nereus, and the Fishermen king agreed to wage war on the surface over Mera’s abduction and the Land dwellers’ pollution.
• A guard reported that David had appeared above Atlantis with Mera, and Orm ordered the troops to mobilize.
• David tore open the palace dome and appeared above the city holding the Golden Trident, with Mera beside him.
• Orm and the other kings confronted David as the Atlantean army surrounded him.
• David released Mera from his gravity field, and Nereus called for his daughter to come to him.

David used the Trident of Poseidon to rout the armies of Atlantis, while Mera urged her people to surrender and testified that David had defeated Karasen to win the trident. Orm rejected the trident’s claim to kingship and charged at David.

• Mera urged Nereus and Orm to surrender, declaring David the chosen King of the Seven Seas with the Trident of Poseidon.
• Orm dismissed the trident as fake and ordered an attack, joined by Nereus and the king of the Fishermen Kingdom.
• David swept the trident and unleashed a powerful current that shattered the three armies’ formation.
• Mera told the assembled Atlanteans that David had won the genuine trident by defeating Karasen, prompting the king of the Fishermen Kingdom and Nereus to hesitate.
• David hurled Orm’s elite warriors away with another sweep, and Nereus demanded that Orm lay down his weapons.
• Orm struck Nereus aside, charged at David, and insisted that he should be king of the Seven Seas.

David killed Orm, claimed the Atlantean throne, and left Mera as regent while allowing rumors about his outsider status to spread. Elsewhere in the universe, Parallax attacked Abin Sur, who escaped in a pod and ordered the Green Lantern rings to find successors.

• Orm charged David, but David overpowered him, stopped him from killing Mera, and snapped his neck with gravity.
• David declared himself ruler of the Atlanteans, and the kings of the Fisherman Kingdom and the Brine submitted to him.
• David appointed Mera regent and allowed rumors questioning his legitimacy to spread, then announced he would leave the kingdom for a while.
• Abin Sur learned that Parallax had destroyed Ventara and attacked his starship before he could reach the planet.
• Abin Sur fought Parallax, recovered a fallen comrade's ring, and escaped after being gravely wounded.
• Abin Sur ordered his rings to warn the Guardians and seek successors on the nearest living planet.

David returned to Earth and received a Green Lantern Ring, while Clark was chosen by another ring after David saved him from a powered attacker. The brothers were taken to the dying Abin Sur, who realized that the ring had selected a living Kryptonian and an unknown, equally powerful life-form.

• David returned home and accepted a Green Lantern Ring that had selected him, then noticed another ring streaking toward Metropolis.
• Clark rescued a construction worker from a collapsing crane, but Clay Ramsey attacked him with powers gained from fluorescent paint.
• David stopped Ramsey from continuing his assault on Clark and hurled him into space, where he froze to death.
• David brought Clark the Green Lantern Ring, which chose Clark and removed the radiation weakening him.
• David and Clark followed the rings to Abin Sur, who recognized Clark as a living Kryptonian and David as an unknown cosmic life-form.

After Abin Sur died, David and Clark accepted Green Lantern Rings and learned conflicting accounts of Krypton’s history. As Clark planned to travel to Oa, a Green Lantern arrived at the farm, just as David sensed danger approaching Earth.

• David and Clark found Abin Sur dying, and he chose them as successors to two Green Lantern Rings before passing away.
• David explained the Green Lantern Corps, and both brothers recited the oath and activated their rings.
• Clark learned from the ring’s records that Krypton had once been a powerful colonial empire, but David reassured him that the Corps’ account was biased and that Krypton’s people were not inherently cold-blooded.
• David and Clark told Jonathan and Martha about the rings, while Clark decided to visit Oa and David warned that Earth faced an approaching threat.
• David sensed a Green Lantern flying toward the farm and told his family that someone had arrived.

After learning that Parallax had escaped and was growing stronger by feeding on fear, Sinestro received a Yellow Lantern Ring and set out to stop him. On Earth, Tomar-Re met David and Clark, the new ring-bearers, and began explaining the Green Lantern Corps and their rings as Parallax headed toward the planet.

• Sinestro challenged the Guardians of the Universe to explain their secrecy, and they revealed that Parallax was a former Guardian corrupted by fear who had escaped imprisonment.
• The Guardians gave Sinestro a Yellow Lantern Ring and sent him to confront Parallax, while privately arranging for others to guide David and Clark.
• David stopped Tomar-Re outside the town, and Tomar-Re discovered that Clark was a sun-powered Kryptonian while David was an unknown life-form with exceptional potential.
• David and Clark declined to join the Corps, but Clark asked about the crisis, prompting Tomar-Re to explain that Parallax was consuming life through fear and might attack Oa.
• Tomar-Re demonstrated the Lantern Ring's abilities and the Corps' history, while David considered the power he might draw from his ring.

David and Clark rushed to Coast City to confront Parallax before the arriving Green Lantern Corps could help. David’s overwhelming power let him withstand Parallax’s attacks and batter the monster, while Tomar-Re watched in shock.

• David quickly mastered the power ring’s constructs and demonstrated a stronger will than Tomar-Re.
• Tomar-Re received orders to take David and Clark to fight Parallax, but David sensed the monster had already reached Coast City.
• David and Clark flew ahead and attacked Parallax as it drained the life energy of Coast City’s terrified residents.
• David protected people in buildings from Parallax’s attacks, while Clark and Tomar-Re tried to defend against the monster’s counterattack.
• David drew on Fear Power and the planet’s gravity to unleash repeated blows against Parallax, leaving Tomar-Re stunned by his strength.

David and Clark fought Parallax in space as it tried to return to Earth, while David developed a plan to use the gravitational fields of Earth and the sun against it. The chapter ended with David trapping Parallax between the two forces and opening a path toward the sun.

• Bruce watched the battle from the Wayne estate and resolved to upgrade Batman's equipment and prepare for threats from space.
• David, Clark, and Tomar-Re drove Parallax out of Earth's atmosphere, but Parallax shrank and grew more agile and powerful.
• David and Clark battled Parallax in space for tens of minutes, unable to overcome its ability to absorb fear and regenerate.
• David told Clark to drive Parallax into the sun, but Parallax tried to escape back to Earth and threatened the people they cared about.
• David connected Earth's and the sun's gravitational fields, trapping Parallax between their opposing forces, then struck it and called the passage a path to death.

David killed Parallax by driving it into the Sun, then faced Sinestro and more than a hundred Green Lanterns after the Guardians of the Universe ordered them to take back David and Clark’s power rings. David defeated the Corps forces and drove Sinestro into a wormhole, but the Guardians appeared to confront him and demanded that he stop.

• David punched Parallax into the Sun, where its body was destroyed, and told Clark and Tomar-Re that it would eventually revive from the source of Fear Power.
• Sinestro arrived with more than a hundred Green Lanterns, and the Guardians of the Universe ordered them to confiscate David and Clark’s rings because Clark was a Kryptonian.
• The Guardians’ order disabled Clark’s ring, but David kept his ring active by overwriting its program and refused to surrender it.
• The Green Lanterns attacked David and Clark, but Clark broke free of their chains while David fought off the rest and defeated Sinestro’s simulated Parallax form.
• David used the Sun’s gravity to send Sinestro toward it, but Sinestro escaped through a wormhole; David then overwhelmed the remaining Green Lanterns.
• The Guardians of the Universe appeared in giant projections and warned David to stop.

David refused to return the Green Lantern Rings, forcing the Guardians to withdraw after he seized more rings and threatened Mogo. As news named him Transcendent, Lex Luthor studied a possible weakness in the heroes, while Zod rallied his surviving Kryptonians to retrieve the Codex and rebuild Krypton.

• David rejected the Guardians' demand for the rings, tore the arms from more than a dozen Lanterns, and took their rings.
• David warned the Guardians that he could use the sun's gravity to throw Mogo into it, and they ordered the Green Lantern Corps to retreat.
• David planned to alter the rings and give two to Jonathan and Martha, while the public began calling him Transcendent.
• Lex Luthor concluded that meteorite radiation weakened Superman and wondered whether it could also affect Transcendent.
• Zod rallied his officers to reclaim the Codex from Jor-El's son and restore Krypton to power.

After returning from the fight with Parallax, David gave his parents Green Lantern Rings and told Clark about a Kryptonian ship in the Arctic. Clark eventually activated it and met an AI modeled on his father, while David returned to Atlantis and ordered Mera to have its scientists study the rings.

• David gave Jonathan and Martha Green Lantern Rings, and they used them to create farm tools while he explained the rings’ abilities.
• Clark asked David about Krypton, and David told him that a Kryptonian reconnaissance vessel had landed in the Arctic.
• After several days, Clark flew to the Arctic, while David returned to Atlantis and asked Mera to organize research into the rings’ charging method.
• Mera warned David that the Green Lantern Corps was powerful, but he dismissed her concern and ordered her to proceed with the research.
• Clark activated the frozen spacecraft with his Kryptonian seal, and an AI modeled on Jor-El appeared and identified himself as Clark’s father.

Clark learned from Jor-El that Krypton had been destroyed and his biological parents had sent him to Earth, but General Zod arrived and demanded his surrender. As Clark and David waited above Metropolis to face the Kryptonians, Faora arrived and asked whether David was an Earthling.

• Clark met Jor-El's projection and learned that Krypton had exploded, killing his biological parents, who had launched him to Earth to save him.
• Clark told Jonathan and Martha about his origins, and David reassured them that he would not leave them.
• General Swanwick learned that an unresponsive spacecraft had entered Earth's orbit and ordered preparations for a possible threat.
• Zod hijacked electronic displays worldwide, identified Clark as Kal-El, and gave Earth twenty-four hours to surrender him.
• Clark and David waited above Metropolis as Zod's ship approached, while people around the world argued over whether Earth should hand Clark over.
• Faora arrived in a spacecraft and asked David whether she was an Earthling.

David diverted Zod’s ship to the Moon and fought the Kryptonians while Clark battled Zod, who demanded the Codex needed to rebuild Krypton. The chapter ended with David asking Clark where Zod intended to rebuild Krypton.

• Faora allowed David to board Zod’s ship with Clark, where Zod explained that only a few dozen Kryptonians remained after their homeworld’s destruction.
• David used a force field to divert the carrier toward the Moon, and Zod ordered his warriors to attack him.
• David and the Kryptonians fought across the lunar surface while Zod attacked Clark and demanded the Codex, which Clark said he had never seen.
• Clark gained the upper hand and offered to help rebuild Krypton, but David interrupted the fight and asked where Zod intended to rebuild it.

Lex Luthor prepared to enter the conflict as Clark and David fought Zod and his Kryptonian forces on the moon. David weakened the warriors with Kryptonite solution, but Zod activated the World Engine, whose gravity beam blasted David away.

• Lex Luthor completed the Typhon Project, gained hundreds of abilities, and flew toward the moon to take advantage of the battle.
• Zod revealed his plan to transform Earth into a new Krypton, and Clark fought him while David was held back by the Kryptonian warriors.
• Faora wounded David with a dagger, but David used gravity to overpower the warriors and then weakened them with Kryptonite solution.
• Zod ordered the spacecraft to activate the World Engine, which attacked David with a gravity beam and hurled him several miles away.
• Clark charged at Zod in fury after seeing the World Engine strike David.

David and Clark pursued Zod to Metropolis, where Zod used civilians as leverage while searching for the Codex. As the battle caused casualties, Faora joined the fight, and Bruce Wayne arrived in the Fenrir Armor to help David.

• Zod directed the World Engine's gravity beam at David, then gained new abilities in sunlight and raced toward Metropolis while David and Clark chased him.
• Zod threatened civilians and demanded Clark's ship and David's Meteorite Solution, so David gave up one vial and Clark brought him the ship.
• Zod found no Codex in the ship and unleashed Heat Vision, killing hundreds; David stabilized several damaged buildings while Clark fought Zod.
• Faora arrived and attacked David, preventing him from reaching Zod, while Clark tried to draw Zod away from the city.
• Bruce Wayne appeared in the Fenrir Armor and pulled Faora toward him with a grappling hook.

David killed Zod, and he, Clark, and Batman defeated Faora before imprisoning the surviving Kryptonians under Red Sun light. After discovering that two Kryptonians had been taken from the moon, David and Clark asked Jor-El to help investigate the theft.

• David used Kryptonite to weaken Zod and killed him with a punch, while Clark grappled with the loss of the Kryptonian leader and his people’s hopes.
• Faora escaped Batman’s Fenrir Armor, but David, Clark, and Batman worked together to defeat and capture her.
• Batman reminded Clark that people had died during the battle in Metropolis, and David and Clark discovered that two Kryptonians had vanished from the moon.
• David and Clark brought the mothership and remaining Kryptonians to the North Pole, reassured Jonathan and Martha, and arranged to imprison the captives under Red Sun light.
• Jor-El agreed to guard the imprisoned Kryptonians, and Clark asked him to examine another mothership’s surveillance records to find who had taken the two missing Kryptonians.

After discovering that Luthor had abducted the unconscious Kryptonians to use in his cloning experiments, David and Clark tracked him to an underground bunker. David attacked Luthor despite his threat to broadcast their actions, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Jor-El used the mothership's records to reveal that Luthor had stolen the unconscious Kryptonians and helped David and Clark locate his bunker.
• Luthor prepared to use Superman's blood and the captured Kryptonians for his Superman Servant Project, and he cut off one Kryptonian's arm before trying to escape.
• David and Clark broke into the bunker and confronted Luthor, who claimed his treatment of the alien prisoners violated no human laws.
• David pinned Luthor beneath crushing gravity fields, but Luthor revealed that a camera was broadcasting the confrontation to the world.
• David ignored Clark's warning and squeezed Luthor with an invisible force.

David killed Lex Luthor after Clark chose not to intervene, then suspected Luthor had prepared a clone as a backup. David and Clark took leave from university, but Jor-El warned that someone in the universe had detected the Kryptonian ship’s signal and was heading for Earth.

• Luthor transformed into living electricity, enlarged himself by absorbing power, and attacked David and Clark, but David drained his energy and overwhelmed him.
• David reminded Clark that Luthor had used innocent civilians as bait before, and Clark stopped himself from intervening as David killed Luthor and destroyed his body.
• David and Clark speculated that Luthor might have left behind a clone, which they planned to eliminate if it appeared.
• David and Clark told Martha and Jonathan they wanted to take leave from university, and their parents agreed.
• Jor-El warned David and Clark that powerful technology had detected the Kryptonian ship’s signal and that someone was heading for Earth.

The Mechanical Kryptonian, acting on Brainiac’s orders, arrived at Earth and sent Skull Robots to seize Metropolis as a civilization sample before destroying humanity. As the city’s defenders and residents came under attack, people desperately called for Superman and the Beyonders.

• The Mechanical Kryptonian ordered Zod-El to eliminate surviving Kryptonians and collect worthy cities for Brainiac.
• Jor-El told David and Clark that an unknown force was repeatedly searching the Universe for Kryptonian ships, and David suspected Brainiac was responsible.
• The Mechanical Kryptonian reached Earth, learned about Superman, Zod, and the Beyonders, and decided to destroy Kryptonians and humanity while capturing the Beyonders.
• The Mechanical Kryptonian sent hundreds of thousands of Skull Robots to Metropolis and ordered its people to return home as the robots attacked the city.
• The Skull Robots overwhelmed Metropolis’s responders and stormed a television station, while the city’s frightened residents called for Superman and the Beyonders.