Chapter Summaries

Diana confronted the mayor over his claims that the government had fabricated the alien invasion and challenged his arguments about homelessness and social protections. Damian Wayne then revealed himself and accused Batman of masterminding the crisis, before having a man brought out whose blue eyes Diana recognized.

• The mayor argued that the Kent government had fabricated an alien threat and wrongly used tax money to support homeless people, while Diana rejected his claims.
• The mayor demanded that Diana expose the government’s supposed conspiracy, and she challenged his explanation of how humans had obtained the alien artifact.
• Damian Wayne emerged from another room and accused Batman of fabricating the Martian invasion to control the world.
• Damian challenged Diana about trusting Batman and asked whether she had come because she thought he would not harm her.
• Damian clapped, and security guards escorted a man into the room; Diana recognized his blue eyes.

Diana confronted Damian over Steve’s apparent resurrection, fought her way through the mansion, and was struck by a decaying black line. Schiller then arrived with agents, uncovered a new version of The Serpent of Phryne depicting Martians, and publicly cast Diana as the hero who exposed their scheme.

• Diana challenged Damian’s claims about Steve and attacked him, fighting past his guards while asking Steve about his resurrection.
• Diana pursued Damian through the mansion, saw through his attempt to use Steve as a hostage, and was hit by a black line that began decaying her left arm.
• Schiller arrived with agents, who searched the mansion and found a newly altered The Serpent of Phryne.
• Diana recognized that the mural depicted Martians among Egyptian figures, and Schiller claimed they had switched the artifact to hide their presence.
• Schiller praised Diana as a hero who had thwarted the Martians’ conspiracy, leaving her dismayed by his public narrative.

Diana helped expose the Martian conspiracy behind the switched mural, while Schiller shaped the public narrative to clear her and protect the Justice League. The president then revealed that he was Clark, a Kryptonian survivor, and explained the mural’s history as he declared his opposition to the Martians.

• Agents captured Damian, who accused the Justice League and the president of deceiving the public.
• Diana told reporters that Martians had framed her and warned that they were trying to divide humanity and the Justice League.
• News coverage spread images of the mural, prompting speculation about Martians, Tutankhamun, and a second alien race from Krypton.
• The president addressed the public and revealed that he was an alien from Krypton who had grown up on Earth as Clark.
• Clark explained that the mural depicted a Kryptonian officer killed by a Martian disguised as Tutankhamun, and said he would stand with humanity against the Martians.

Diana and Hal discussed the resurrection army’s infiltration and their corpse-like injuries while working at a fast-food restaurant, and Hal argued that he could resist the Grim Reaper’s power. Their conversation turned to possible plots against Hal and the danger to Clark’s family, leaving Hal to warn Clark to check on his father.

• Diana reviewed the fallout from Schiller’s scheme, including the arrests of the Metropolis mayor’s allies, the revelation of Kryptonians, and the capture of Damian and Steve.
• Diana learned that her injured arm had become a corpse and joined Hal at his fast-food job to discuss their matching symptoms.
• Hal and Diana suspected the Grim Reaper’s followers were using their bodies to gain a foothold in the Multiverse, while Hal insisted he could control the power inside him.
• Diana raised the possibility that Hal’s test-plane crash had been arranged, and Hal agreed to investigate despite the lack of evidence.
• Hal wondered whether Clark’s deceased father had been resurrected and decided to text Clark to warn him.

Clark investigated ways to resist the god of death’s power after learning that his father might have returned from the dead. His magic helped Diana’s injury, but the chapter left Clark wondering how Ron could protect himself.

• Clark asked Bruce to watch the Kent farm after Hal reported that Clark’s father might have been resurrected.
• Clark met Hal and Diana at a fast-food restaurant to discuss how to counter the Power of Death.
• Hal explained that Green Lantern power let him resist the worsening effects, while Diana’s divine power had failed to protect her.
• Clark used magical energy to improve Diana’s injured arm until it recovered to roughly Hal’s condition.
• Clark asked about the Justice League members’ whereabouts and whether the Speed Force could resist death power.
• Clark worried about Ron’s ability to defend himself.

Clark prepared to contact Arthur about the threat of Death power while Diana and Hal investigated the stolen museum records and recognized Schiller’s clues as bait. Hal concluded that Schiller was targeting someone desperate enough to bite, but they had not yet identified who it was.

• Diana reminded Clark that Ron’s phasing made him difficult to hit, while Victor’s completed Mother Boxes could make him a weapon against Death power; Clark decided to contact Arthur in Atlantis.
• Diana and Hal discussed the stolen Serpent of Phryne and museum records, concluding that the records’ buyer likely wanted to confirm something through genuine history.
• Diana realized the legend’s green gem and Clark’s television speech connected to details Schiller had planted, including the story of Tutankhamun defeating the serpent.
• Diana concluded that Schiller used historical documents and Clark’s speech as bait for someone curious or vulnerable enough to investigate.
• Hal said Schiller was waiting for his target to become hungry enough to bite, and asked who was most desperate.

Clark visited Arthur in Atlantis, warned him to stay alert for the mysterious power that had injured Diana, and helped him choose seafood dishes. On his way to the Presidential Palace, Clark stopped a traffic dispute and thwarted a kidnapping, then let a Kryptonite dagger pierce him and pretended to be badly wounded so he could expose the people behind the attack.

• Clark warned Arthur that the strange power that injured Diana might attack without passing through seawater, and advised him to remain in the ocean and call Batman if trouble arose.
• Arthur and Clark sampled Atlantis's deep-sea seafood, and Clark helped Arthur select dishes suited to inland visitors.
• Clark flew toward the Presidential Palace, stopped to settle a chain-reaction car accident, and intervened when one driver took a little girl hostage.
• Clark rescued the girl at super speed, but the kidnapper stabbed him in the chest with a Kryptonite dagger.
• Clark realized the dagger did not hurt him, tossed the kidnapper to the police, and pretended to collapse so the people behind the attack would believe he was injured.

Clark survived a carefully coordinated assassination attempt and pretended Kryptonite had harmed him to conceal his immunity. After learning the attack was linked to stolen museum records about a green gemstone, he realized the Assassin had sought Kryptonian weaknesses, but he could not explain why they trusted a legend tied to a fake artifact.

• Clark avoided a Kryptonite-tipped arrow, was struck in the neck by a Kryptonite bullet, and pretended to remain gravely injured as the Assassin escaped.
• At the hospital, Clark revealed to his medical team that he was unharmed and explained that he wanted the Assassins to keep believing Kryptonite could hurt him.
• Police found a timed compound-bow device, and Clark deduced that one Assassin had used the arrow to steer him into a sniper’s carefully planned shot.
• Clark ordered a nationwide investigation into the Assassin while worrying that the attacker might use powers other than Kryptonite.
• Diana told Clark that thieves had stolen Metropolis Museum records describing a green gemstone in Tutankhamun’s scepter, which the Assassins may have sought to uncover his weakness.
• Clark connected the museum thefts to the attacks but wondered why the Assassins still relied on a legend after discovering The Serpent of Phryne was fake.

Clark and Diana traced the Kryptonite information used against Superman to Lex Luthor and confronted him at Luthor Tower. Lex denied involvement in the presidential assassination but revealed that he planned to send Clark back to Krypton and imprison him there.

• Clark and Diana concluded that Lex Luthor could have supplied the mastermind with evidence that Kryptonite harmed Clark.
• Diana went to Luthor Tower with Barry and Ron to question Lex, and she caught him with the Lasso of Truth.
• Lex denied helping with the presidential assassination or sharing his Kryptonite research with anyone.
• Lex admitted he planned to obtain a Kryptonian starship’s coordinates, send Clark back to Krypton, and keep him there until he lost his powers.
• Barry punched Lex after hearing his plan to imprison Clark on Krypton.

Lex Luthor explained how he planned to lure Superman to Krypton and trap him, while Diana and Barry challenged his scheme. As Diana called Clark to warn him, Clark received a message claiming to be from his biological father, inviting him home.

• Lex proposed using a fake message from Superman’s biological parents to lure him back to Krypton, then delaying him until his powers weakened and building a prison with the Kryptonian ship.
• Lex revealed that he had learned Kryptonian by studying surveillance footage of Clark speaking it, and argued Batman had created the nail that Superman could not pull out.
• Lex said his plan might fail because Superman’s belief in himself could let him escape, but he still wanted to frighten him and prove the danger of opposing Lex.
• Diana decided to warn Clark and called him to explain Lex’s scheme.
• Clark, aboard the Kryptonian flagship in low Earth orbit, read a message claiming his father had returned to Krypton and wanted to see him.

Clark and the Justice League investigated a message that appeared to lure him to Krypton, only to realize multiple groups might be targeting him. As they narrowed down who could have stolen Kryptonite research files, Lex proposed that the sniper may never have intended to kill Clark.

• Diana explained Lex Luthor's plan to Clark, who showed her a Kryptonian message calling him back to Krypton.
• Lex recognized the plan as a copy of his own and insisted he had not created it; the Lasso of Truth supported his claim.
• Clark and the others concluded that the message and the assassination likely came from different groups, then traced the sniper's knowledge of Kryptonite to stolen Metropolis Museum files.
• Clark suspected the resurrected Dr. O'Dell had stolen and deciphered the files, but Ron said the scholar could not have fired or arranged for such a skilled sniper.
• Lex argued that the attacker might never have intended to kill Clark, challenging the group to reconsider the apparent contradiction.

Clark and the others debated the failed assassination and concluded it was likely tied to a larger scheme. Clark suspected Amanda Waller had been resurrected and ordered the attack, but had entrusted it to Schiller.

• Barry confronted Lex over his claim that he had not intended to kill Clark, and Lex described a more ruthless plan using a car-bomb attack to trap Clark among civilians.
• Lex argued that the compound-bow assassination attempt was either the work of an inexperienced attacker or someone who did not truly intend to harm Clark or the bystanders.
• Clark realized the attacker might have known Kryptonite could not kill him and suspected Schiller and Batman were behind another scheme.
• Diana, Ron, and Barry proposed possible motives for the attack, but Clark rejected their theories and concluded that the attacker had wanted to escape.
• Clark suddenly suggested Amanda Waller might have been resurrected, and then concluded that she had ordered the assassination but likely handed it to Schiller.

Clark, Diana, and Barry discussed Amanda’s apparent return and her failed attempt to assassinate the president, realizing Schiller had manipulated events to expose her. They concluded that forged Kryptonite information had baited Amanda into acting, leaving them aware that she had been resurrected and was plotting in the shadows.

• Clark explained that Amanda had hired someone to assassinate the president and that Schiller had once succeeded her as head of Sky Eye.
• Diana and Clark discussed Schiller’s habit of ruining unwanted assignments through conspicuous, mismatched effort while pursuing his own goals.
• Clark realized Schiller’s failed assassination scheme had exposed Amanda, who had likely returned long ago and remained hidden.
• Diana deduced that stolen Metropolis Museum files had contained bait for Amanda, and Clark identified the supposed Kryptonite instructions as the key.
• Clark and Diana concluded that Schiller had fabricated the Kryptonite information to draw Amanda out and warn them of her return.

The Justice League concluded that Amanda and Dr. O'Dell's cooperation proved the resurrected loved ones were impostors, but Lex warned that the mastermind would push them further. After the captives escaped and headed toward Metropolis, Clark realized the plan might be designed to drive him into a deadly confrontation.

• Ron argued that Amanda's cooperation with Dr. O'Dell showed the resurrected were impostors because the real Dr. O'Dell would never have worked with her.
• Clark and the Justice League accepted that altered personalities meant the resurrected were not truly their loved ones.
• Lex warned that the mastermind would expose the impostors' evil sides and asked where they were being held.
• Clark learned that a scientist had helped the captives escape by leaving identification inside their holding site, and officials reported they were heading toward Metropolis.
• Clark connected Lex's warning to Schiller's plan and realized the mastermind might be trying to make Superman die and return as a weapon against the Justice League.

Schiller maneuvered Damian and Amanda’s group into inviting Bruce, disguised as the assassin Mr. Nevi, to join their plot against Superman. The chapter revealed that Bruce had made the fatal shot and began explaining how Schiller recruited him on Battleworld.

• Clark realized Schiller had steered the panicked mastermind toward an attempt to kill Superman and gathered his friends to watch what would happen.
• In the Massachusetts base, Damian and Amanda argued with Schiller about bringing a skilled assassin into their plan to attack Superman.
• Schiller introduced Bruce, disguised as Mr. Nevi, and Amanda welcomed him despite Damian’s suspicion that he was connected to Batman.
• Bruce agreed to join for Schiller’s sake and began discussing the assassination route with Amanda.
• Schiller revealed that Bruce had fired the earlier precise shot, then recalled meeting him in Batman’s empty Battleworld domain on Christmas night.

Schiller and Bruce planned to use a staged opportunity to bring Bruce into Death God's Team as a deadly Assassin. Meanwhile, Damian mistakenly concluded that Bruce was Batman’s favored son, and he returned to Wayne Manor to confront Batman, ending in a surge of fury.

• Schiller told Bruce that he would create an opportunity for Bruce to join Death God's Team, and Bruce agreed to pose as an Assassin.
• Schiller’s scheme brought Bruce favorable attention from Amanda, who made him the team’s Main Attacker for the assassination attempt.
• Damian grew jealous of Bruce, believing he was Batman’s other son, and left the meeting to confront Batman.
• Damian reached Wayne Manor and asked Batman whether Neville was his son; Batman identified the young man as Bruce.
• Damian learned that Bruce shared Batman’s name, and the revelation overwhelmed him with anger.

Batman told Damian that the Black Hand had manipulated his emotions and rejected him as the real Damian because he believed Damian would become a monster. Unable to understand Batman’s certainty, Damian sought Schiller’s help and asked what was wrong with him.

• Batman explained that the Black Hand had amplified Damian’s resentment to turn resurrected loved ones against superheroes.
• Damian challenged Batman’s reasoning, but Batman said he would not treat him as the real Damian and went upstairs.
• Damian returned to the base, ignored Amanda, and struggled to understand why Batman had shown him no affection.
• Damian realized Batman had spoken to him like a stranger even during their first meeting and went to Schiller for answers.
• Damian asked Schiller why Batman was certain he was not Damian and whether his anger after suffering was truly abnormal.

Schiller helped Damian realize that someone had revived him after deleting his loving feelings and leaving his resentment intact, and that other resurrected people may have suffered similar emotional changes. Damian was left understanding why he could remember events with Batman but not the warmth he had felt.

• Schiller told Damian that Batman’s affection depended on receiving love in return, and Damian questioned whether that meant Batman loved the Joker.
• Damian recalled working with Batman but described their adventures without emotion, leading Schiller to suspect that his feelings had been removed from his memories.
• Schiller asked Damian to remember Batman coming to save him, and Damian realized he could not recall how he had felt at that moment.
• Schiller suggested that Damian’s positive emotions had been erased while resentment remained, preventing him from rebuilding his love for Batman.
• Damian questioned why other resurrected people resented the world, and Schiller attributed their feelings to the circumstances of their deaths and past trauma.

Damian resisted Schiller’s explanation of his erased memories and became absorbed in watching Batman defeat Steppenwolf, while Batman’s influence distracted him from the group’s assassination plan. The group launched its attack on the hospital, but their plan began to unravel as they entered.

• Damian decided he could rebuild the emotions missing from his memories and searched online for Batman, becoming engrossed in the Hell Bat armor video and its debates.
• Amanda woke Damian and prepared the group for their plan to assassinate the president, while Damian ignored the briefing and decided to coast.
• Schiller and Bruce observed that the group’s old attachments were returning: Steve fell for Diana again, and Damian was being drawn back toward Batman.
• Amanda drove the group through checkpoints toward the hospital, where they were spotted by authorities.
• Schiller sped through a parking barrier and crashed the car through a hospital side entrance, but the group encountered trouble almost immediately.

Amanda led the team’s assault on the hospital, but poor coordination and Schiller’s manipulation scattered the group before they reached the president’s suite. After Amanda and Damian engaged Wonder Woman and Arthur, Schiller triggered an explosion that blew apart half the hospital.

• Police gunfire wounded Dr. O'Dell and the Allen couple as Amanda led the team into the hospital.
• Amanda climbed into the second floor while Damian grappled onto the roof, and Steve, Schiller, and Bruce split off through an air duct and stairwell.
• Schiller and Bruce joined the defenders, and Schiller told them to avoid casualties and withdraw when he gave the signal.
• The team regrouped outside the president’s suite, where Schiller warned Amanda that Justice League members might be guarding the president.
• Amanda and Damian attacked Wonder Woman and Arthur while Bruce raised his gun, and Schiller pressed a button on his phone.
• An explosion blew apart half the hospital.