Chapter Summaries

Victor used heat from a Luthor Corp undersea pipeline to activate the Mother Box and resurrect Hal, then Hal drove Parallax into space and returned to help the Justice League fight Steppenwolf. The heroes awakened and joined the battle, where Hal and Arthur helped sever Steppenwolf’s left arm.

• Victor remembered that intense heat had activated the Mother Box when it resurrected him, and Lex Luthor directed him to an undersea thermal pipeline.
• Victor cut open the pipeline and carried Hal into the heat; the Mother Box repaired Victor and resurrected Hal, who flew them to the Justice League base.
• Hal returned to the beach and used his Green Lantern energy to drive Parallax beyond the atmosphere while Steppenwolf tried to stop him.
• Hal reached the beach first and cleared away the Yellow Lantern power, waking the Justice League members.
• The heroes attacked Steppenwolf; he wounded Ron, but Hal and Arthur created an opening for Hal to sever Steppenwolf’s left arm.

Bruce Wayne used a Golden Apple to restore his youth and powered the Hell Bat armor with Golden Apple concentrate, arriving in time to defeat Steppenwolf and destroy the Parademons. After the Justice League learned that Bruce had been their most powerful ally, he stopped them from leaving and pointed out the spacecraft as spoils to collect.

• The Justice League coordinated their attacks until Diana’s God of Fire Sword pierced Steppenwolf, prompting him to summon a spacecraft and an army of Parademons.
• Bruce ate a Golden Apple, regained his youth, and prepared the Hell Bat armor with an injection of Golden Apple concentrate to sustain its power.
• The Parademons overwhelmed the exhausted Justice League, and Steppenwolf taunted them as they struggled to survive.
• Bruce arrived in the Hell Bat armor, hurled Steppenwolf into orbit, shattered his body in the Atlantic, and carried his still-living head to Darkseid aboard the spacecraft.
• Bruce questioned Darkseid about the Dark Force, warned him of an approaching Multiverse-scale disaster, then destroyed the Parademons and reunited with the Justice League.
• Diana recognized that the Golden Apple had restored Bruce, and Bruce told the team to collect the hovering spacecraft as spoils.

The Justice League explored a preserved Martian city, and Bruce proposed turning it into a base while studying Martian civilization. He revealed his plan to fabricate evidence of a dangerous Martian civilization to provoke a new Cold War on Earth, while Hal called Carol and told her the space station was progressing.

• Bruce had Victor disable nearby electronics, then led the Justice League aboard Darkseid's abandoned ship and flew it to Mars.
• Ron guided the League to the preserved Mars City, and Bruce proposed using it as a Justice League base and asked Ron about Martian civilization.
• Bruce recorded Ron's account and questioned him about Martian society while the League discussed how to investigate the city.
• Bruce told Victor he planned to make Earth believe an advanced, hostile civilization existed on Mars, using the League to simulate its inhabitants and the space station as apparent alien evidence.
• Hal woke, called Carol using Victor's communications equipment, and told her the space station was progressing and would soon be finished.

Bruce used Martian paintings to learn about Ron’s daughter and her artwork, while Batman’s larger plan began moving forward. Schiller persuaded Diana to sign an article linking an Egyptian artifact to Martian civilization, leaving her alarmed and holding Schiller responsible if the plan failed.

• Victor sent Bruce photographs of paintings in a Martian art museum, and Ron explained that their strange colors expressed the spiritual world.
• Ron told Bruce that one of his daughter’s paintings had been displayed at the Mars City Museum, and he recalled visiting the exhibition with her.
• On a winter morning, Diana learned that the Serpent of Phryne would be exhibited again and told Ron that the painting was tied to Pharaoh’s curse.
• Schiller arrived and took Diana to discuss an article claiming that a mysterious spaceship pattern on an Egyptian artifact might point to Martian civilization.
• Diana realized Batman and Schiller had been coordinating a plan, then signed the article after warning Schiller she would hold him accountable if anything went wrong.

Arthur and Mera read reports linking Mars to the recent alien invasion, while the Federal Government mistakenly connected the Cube, Steppenwolf, and other extraterrestrial events to Martians. Bruce’s launch of an alien-looking space station sparked a political witch hunt that turned deadly, leaving Clark Kent alone beside a corpse.

• Arthur and Mera discussed reports of a possible Martian civilization, then Arthur saw rover photos showing Mars City and Steppenwolf’s ship.
• Federal officials concluded that Steppenwolf had come from Mars to retrieve the Cube, based on the invasion and Victor’s connection to it.
• After Bruce launched a strange space station beside the International Space Station, politicians accused one another of being Martians to influence the coming vote.
• The accusations spread into a government-wide witch hunt, and the first murder pushed the crisis out of control.
• Clark Kent arrived to interview a Metropolis official and found a dead man, leaving him alone at the scene as an alien suspected of targeting aliens.

After learning how Krypton destroyed itself, Clark accepted that Earth was where he belonged and returned to Metropolis. He kept his job despite being berated for his absence, then went to interview Director Farnsworth at a banquet at Luthor Manor.

• Clark learned that Krypton's reckless technological development, resource depletion, and social failures led to its people being wiped out by weapons.
• Clark concluded that humanity's struggles and mistakes still left hope for civilization, and reaffirmed that he was Earth's guardian rather than Krypton's.
• Clark returned to Earth, but hesitated to see Lois because he feared she had seen him at his most vulnerable.
• The editor-in-chief reprimanded Clark, canceled his annual leave for five years, and kept him employed.
• Clark went to interview Director Farnsworth, learned he was attending a banquet at Luthor Manor, and worried he might run into Luthor.

Clark returned to work and went to Luthor Manor to interview Farnsworth, but their conversation revealed that Farnsworth was probing him about aliens and a possible Martian infiltration. Clark found a corpse in the reception room, as guests in the ballroom discussed when aliens would start killing people.

• Clark slipped into the banquet at Luthor Manor and persuaded Farnsworth to meet him for an interview.
• Farnsworth answered Clark's questions about municipal management, then pressed him for details about his alien origins and whether other aliens might be on Earth.
• Clark searched the news and discovered reports of a possible Martian invasion, realizing Farnsworth might suspect Martians were among the guests.
• Clark examined the ballroom guests but could not identify anyone who appeared alien.
• Clark returned to the reception room, where he found Farnsworth's corpse fallen from the second floor, while his super hearing caught guests discussing when aliens would begin killing people.

Clark hid Farnsworth’s corpse after finding him dead, then faced suspicion when the body could not be found. As the investigation stalled, Clark decided Schiller was behind the murder and confronted him.

• Clark froze Farnsworth’s corpse and made it vanish by drawing out its heat.
• Guests found blood in the banquet hall, and Lex Luthor questioned Clark after security discovered him upstairs.
• Clark denied killing Farnsworth and suggested a Martian might be responsible, unsettling the banquet guests.
• Police and agents searched the estate and attendees but found no corpse or useful evidence.
• Clark concluded the killer was likely a powerful guest or staff member and spotted Schiller speaking with Lex.
• Clark decided Schiller was the culprit and strode over to confront him.

Clark, Schiller, and Lex uncovered how a murder at Lex’s banquet was meant to manipulate a list of suspected Martians and keep Clark from interfering. Schiller warned that the Black Hand might kill again to prove Martians existed, leaving the group alert to a possible second attack.

• Clark accused Schiller of killing Farnsworth, but Schiller denied it and revealed he was the head of Sky Eye’s Superpower User division.
• Clark admitted he had destroyed Farnsworth’s body, preventing anyone from confirming a murder and disrupting the plot to frame him and Schiller.
• Schiller explained that the Black Hand wanted leverage over Sky Eye’s list of suspected Martians, while keeping Clark too occupied to expose any fabricated names.
• Clark, Lex, and Schiller reasoned that the banquet murder was designed to pressure Clark into identifying aliens and potentially reveal whether he could recognize Martians.
• Schiller warned that the Black Hand could kill again under surveillance to make a superpowered murder seem proof that Martians existed.

Clark realized Schiller had manipulated him into failing to stop a second murder, then questioned why Schiller wanted Martians’ existence exposed. The Earth began shaking, and Clark saw a colossal pin pierce the Atlantic Ocean, leaving Metropolis facing an unknown catastrophe.

• Clark suspected the police would kill someone and asked Schiller where they might strike, but Schiller directed his attention to the atrium.
• A woman was killed outside the banquet hall’s restroom while Clark was delayed, and he concluded Schiller had deliberately misled him.
• Clark realized Schiller had made him believe the plan to expose Martians was merely a backup, though he could not identify Schiller’s reason for doing it.
• Schiller told Clark that everything he had done in the universe revolved around him, while Clark remained confused about the direct impact.
• Clark sensed the Earth trembling, then a violent quake struck Metropolis, and he saw a gigantic pin pierce the Atlantic Ocean.

Clark discovered that Martians had activated three towers to increase their reproduction rates and threaten humanity, then flew to the Metropolis coast to confront a Kryptonian environmental device embedded in the ocean. Bruce, Zod, and the Justice League had secretly arranged the launch as part of a plan to stop the Martian invasion, but Clark’s return had disrupted their timing.

• A Martian broadcast revealed that three Reproductive Gene Activation Towers were operating and that Martians planned to take Earth and enslave humanity.
• A Coast Guard officer and officials urged Clark to remove the device embedded off the Metropolis coast, and Clark flew to investigate.
• Bruce explained that pulling out the device would split the East Coast, while Arthur struggled to hold back the resulting tsunami.
• Ron, Bruce, Diana, and Zod watched as Bruce revealed that he had received the Kryptonian environmental devices from Zod and used the murder cases and other distractions to delay Clark.
• Bruce’s plan had been meant to launch the devices before Clark returned, but Clark came back sooner than expected and could have intercepted them in flight.

The discovery of Mars City, a Martian space station, three indestructible nails, and a suspected Martian murder convinced humanity that Martian infiltration posed an existential threat. While Eastern countries cautiously investigated, the United States plunged into a frantic effort to remove the nails and ended the week with its politicians and military overwhelmed.

• Photographs of Mars City and the Martian space station alarmed the public and convinced political leaders that Martians had deeply infiltrated human society.
• Three nails that even Superman could not remove and the Luthor Manor murder case shattered hopes of peaceful coexistence with the Martians.
• Martian revelations that Earth could solve their reproductive difficulties made politicians fear replacement and enslavement, while Eastern countries began cautious research and communication efforts.
• The United States entered a state of total war and demanded that the activation towers be removed before they accelerated Martian reproduction.
• Military attacks, missiles, nuclear warheads, engineering equipment, and the Justice League all failed to damage or remove the nails.
• After a week of frantic efforts, Congress members and generals were hospitalized, the two parties set aside voting disputes, and the bloodied Atlantic coastline foreshadowed rebirth.

Humanity realized it had only one generation to remove the Martian nails and debated how to organize the effort while protecting its leaders from Martian interference. Schiller proposed Superman as humanity’s leader, and the politicians concluded that his strength, influence, and opposition to injustice made him their best hope.

• Humanity accepted that removing the nails would require long-term research, with excavation, cutting, and space-lifting technologies developed in parallel.
• Congress and other influential groups argued over leadership and security, unable to tell whether participants were Martians or humans.
• Schiller proposed choosing Superman to lead humanity’s resistance against the Martians.
• Politicians reasoned that Superman’s refusal would leave humanity helpless, while his agreement would signal that he opposed the Martians’ plans.
• The politicians concluded Superman could rally humanity and use his authority to redirect resources from the wealthy toward production and the lower classes.

Clark learned that he had been elected president and arrived at the White House, where Schiller guided him through old policy documents and plans for taxes, farm subsidies, and city reforms. Clark agreed to use superpowered allies to collect taxes and address crime, then discovered that Lois would be interviewing him.

• Clark failed to remove the nail despite exhausting his abilities, and Schiller arrived to tell him the election results were out.
• Schiller revealed that Clark had been elected president and took him to the White House, where he explained that he would serve as Clark’s secretary.
• Clark signed old tax documents and explained how earlier tax-funded subsidies had supported farms and factories, then asked for documents to restore agricultural subsidies.
• Schiller warned that collecting taxes could provoke resistance, and Clark agreed to enlist Sky Eye’s superpowered agents and the Justice League to collect them.
• Clark approved plans for homeless shelters and action against drugs and guns, then learned that Lois had arrived to interview him.

President Clark Kent addressed the public about Martian infiltration and his plans to improve society, while Schiller and Arthur Curry enforced the new tax law against wealthy families. Schiller realized the old industrial elite were surrendering assets strategically and ordered Victor to investigate their holdings and negotiate for shipyard shares.

• Clark Kent delivered a televised Christmas address, urging people to prepare for social change and help humanity advance against the Martian threat.
• Schiller discussed Mrs. Fapas’s inheritance and her sister’s death with her, then Arthur Curry arrived with the Justice League Tax Special Operations Team to demand 95% of her assets.
• Arthur used financial records from overseas banks to force Mrs. Fapas to authorize the transfer of her cash, while Schiller negotiated to spare her European physical assets.
• Schiller learned that Mrs. Fapas’s husband had voluntarily surrendered cash and shares in hundreds of factories, and concluded that the old industrial families were protecting themselves by cooperating with the President.
• Schiller told Arthur he would have Victor investigate the families’ overseas assets and negotiate for shares in major shipyards.

Clark secretly traveled to Mars to investigate the Martians and entered their enormous flagship, where its strange design made him question whether it was built for humans. He found the ship’s brightly lit hall decorated for Christmas, where Bruce greeted him after the startled occupants ruined their preparations.

• The United States returned to state capitalism under policies shaped by the threat of Martian war and the Justice League’s evidence about Mars.
• Clark decided to investigate Mars in secret, using magical energy to conceal himself because he feared the Martians’ weapons and the political consequences of being defeated.
• Clark reached Mars City and entered the flagship through a deployment-bay hatch, then made his way through its dark lower levels and enormous facilities.
• Clark followed sounds of activity into a brightly lit hall and found a group preparing Christmas decorations, food, and gifts.
• The group’s preparations fell into disarray when Clark appeared, and Bruce turned to greet him.

Clark joined the Justice League’s Christmas preparations aboard a Martian spaceship and learned that Bruce’s plan had forced humanity to unite and save itself. Bruce revealed that Clark had restored his hope, and Clark recognized that the hopes and love people placed in Superman had helped him change the world.

• Clark arrived aboard the Martian spaceship and was pulled into the Justice League’s chaotic Christmas preparations, where Lois kissed him.
• Bruce explained that the Martian threat was part of a deliberate plan to push humanity to unite and develop.
• Clark reconsidered his desire to be humanity’s savior and realized Bruce believed humanity could save itself.
• Bruce told Clark he had waited for him because Clark restored his hope after Damian died and became the reason he tried to change the world again.
• Clark understood that his persistence had answered the hopes of people who looked to Superman, and he recalled Schiller telling him he loved his stories.
• The Justice League continued preparing for Christmas as Clark felt the love between Superman and the people who believed in him.

Hal sought Bruce’s help to return to flying after a serious test-flight accident, and Schiller arranged a path for him to regain his license and seek reinstatement. Hal left to retrain, with his application still ahead of him.

• After Carol told Hal that his former position was no longer available, he called Mr. Rodriguez and decided to discuss his options.
• Hal asked Bruce to use his influence to help him return to flying, and Bruce agreed to have Schiller mediate.
• Schiller told Hal that the Air Force and airline had withdrawn their lawsuit and removed him from the blacklist, but Hal still had to regain his license and excel in an interview.
• Hal said he would return to Earth to retrain and submit his application again, and Schiller gave him the remaining wine from the Christmas banquet.

Hal struggled with declining fitness and distress over his plane crash and death, then gave up on returning to test-pilot work and took a fast-food kitchen job. The chapter ended with Carol receiving a newly made Justice League Special Tax Team ID and a mountain of Hal’s Green Lantern-cooked fries.

• Hal failed at retraining and worried that his balance, fitness, and confidence had deteriorated because memories of his crash and death kept resurfacing.
• After Carol said returning to test-pilot work would be difficult, Hal told Schiller he was giving up and would look for other work.
• Hal found a job preparing food at a fast-food restaurant and used Green Lantern energy to cook French fries.
• Hal told Carol about his job and asked Bruce for an ID for the Justice League Special Tax Team so he could have a respectable job title for her social circle.
• Barry delivered a pile of fries and the new ID to Carol, who tasted the fries and was surprised by the ID’s authority.

Carol realized that Hal’s worsening behavior might stem from delayed trauma after the accident and persuaded him to seek help. Bruce’s examination revealed that Hal was technically dead but still conscious and moving, so Hal chose to leave his condition unchanged while Carol decided to stay by his side.

• Carol suspected that Hal’s accident and the loss of his ability to fly had triggered delayed trauma, and she drove to the restaurant to check on him.
• Carol noticed Hal was distracted and staring at the beach, booked him a medical appointment, and agreed with Bruce to bring him to the Batcave instead.
• Bruce examined Hal and concluded that Hal was a moving corpse because his resurrection had not fully succeeded.
• Bruce advised leaving Hal’s condition unchanged while he investigated the Mother Box, and Hal hurried away to return to frying French fries.
• Carol decided to put company matters on hold and stay with Hal, while Bruce and Schiller discussed a bottle of wine in the Batcave.