Chapter Summaries

Amanda transformed into a vessel for Death power and fought the Justice League, who combined their abilities to weaken and trap her beneath the sea. They realized the force behind her could not be permanently killed and might raise more corpses.

• The demolition exposed the hospital room, and Amanda’s group attacked the weakened Clark until Hal and Victor arrived to protect him.
• Victor’s Mother Box displaced Amanda, while Hal’s Green Lantern energy partially suppressed her; Barry could not send her into the Speed Force.
• Schiller and Bruce directed the group to move Amanda to the sea, where Arthur used his trident and life power to restrain her.
• Bruce found that holy power harmed Amanda, and Superman’s heat vision stripped away her remaining flesh as Arthur dragged her into the seabed.
• Arthur explained that Amanda was already dead and merely a moving corpse, while Bruce warned that destroying her would only cause another corpse to appear.

Schiller and Batman confirmed that the undead’s Death power could be restrained by several forces, and Batman assembled Green Lanterns at Battleworld to prepare for a larger fight. Aran revealed that the Guardians had imprisoned the First Lantern, Huo Rong, while Schiller learned that Steppenwolf was involved in the coming attack.

• Schiller returned to the Batcave and told Batman that Arthur had trapped Amanda, while their monitoring equipment gathered data on the undead’s Death power.
• Batman’s gathered allies concluded that Holy Power, Green Lantern energy, and Victor’s Mother Box could restrain Death power to varying degrees, and Batman summoned Green Lanterns to Battleworld.
• Main Universe Batman told the Green Lanterns to train and asked Emerald Prince Hal to help lead them as they prepared to confront the threat.
• Aran revealed that Huo Rong, the First Lantern, had taught the Guardians of the Universe about the Emotional Spectrum before they stole his knowledge and imprisoned him.
• Schiller warned Clark that the mastermind would soon attack directly, then learned that Steppenwolf was involved.

The Justice League fought Steppenwolf after he returned from the dead, wielding a Death power that corrupted the beach and harmed anyone who approached him. Superman shattered Steppenwolf’s skull, but the headless body kept moving and released a burst of black light.

• Steppenwolf returned to the beach as a decaying monster, and the Justice League arrived to confront him.
• Diana’s life force began to decay when she approached Steppenwolf, and Barry rescued her through the Speed Force but had his hand contaminated.
• Hal attacked Steppenwolf with Green Lantern energy, while Arthur’s seawater assault and Victor’s Mother Box modification failed to stop him.
• Steppenwolf battered Hal, and Victor warned that modifying him further could destabilize the Mother Box and the universal system.
• Barry kept Hal out of danger as Hal’s attacks failed, until Clark arrived and smashed Steppenwolf’s skull with his fists and heat vision.
• Steppenwolf’s headless body stood back up, and Diana shouted a warning as black light flashed.

Clark destroyed Steppenwolf, but the heroes discovered that resurrected Atlan was spreading the Power of Death through Earth’s oceans. Batman revealed a plan to slow the contamination with Kryptonian environmental reconstruction devices and Green Lantern energy, and the heroes set out to seek help from the Guardians of the Universe.

• Clark carried Steppenwolf into the Sun and destroyed him, prompting the heroes to celebrate.
• Atlantis rose from the sea, and Arthur recognized the resurrected Atlan as he began fighting for control of the ocean.
• Atlan’s Power of Death corrupted the waters, and the heroes failed to find him underwater before retreating to the Justice League base.
• Batman warned that the contamination would spread through the global water cycle within a day and revealed that the Kryptonian devices embedded in Earth could slow it.
• Batman explained that Hal’s Green Lantern energy was needed, so Clark and the others decided to ask the Guardians of the Universe for support.

Clark led the Justice League to the Green Lanterns to obtain Emotional Spectrum energy for Earth, but they found Oa destroyed and its power batteries missing. After returning to Earth, they learned that undead enemies had formed an organization and declared war under Black Hand.

• Clark forced Hal Jordan to take the Justice League to Green Lantern Headquarters, where Clark fought the Green Lanterns until Sinestro agreed to take him to Oa.
• Clark explained that death power was contaminating Earth's seas and that Lantern energy was needed to stop a Multiverse-level invasion.
• Sinestro took Clark and the others to Oa, where they found the planet in ruins and its power batteries gone; Sinestro suspected Darkseid had taken them.
• Sinestro said the imprisoned original master of the Emotional Spectrum might be the key to using its energy, and sent Clark back to Earth to retrieve the power batteries at Green Lantern Headquarters.
• Arthur recognized signs at Oa resembling the ashes left by Batman's Hell Bat armor but kept his suspicion to himself.
• After the Justice League returned to Earth, resurrected Steppenwolf, Atlan, and other undead enemies announced a war in Metropolis and pledged themselves to the Black Death Emperor.

Schiller and the Justice League learned that Batman had seized Oa’s Lantern batteries and was using the Golden Apple to power a device that purified the Atlantic around the embedded nail. As Batman worked in secret, the League confronted the Black Death Day threat, while Superman rushed to help and split the ocean open.

• Schiller and Batman discussed the Black Death Emperor, the Lantern powers, and their plan to use the stolen Central Power Batteries against the crisis.
• Hal told the Justice League that Sinestro’s Lantern Corps had attacked Apokolips to recover the batteries, while the League prepared to defend the Atlantic nail from Black Death Day.
• Schiller revealed that Batman was using life force from the Golden Apple to power the seawater purification device, and the Justice League hurried to the Atlantic.
• The Justice League saw the device begin purifying the polluted water, and Clark silently promised Batman he would wait for him before flying away.
• Batman removed the Hell Bat armor and left it as a battery, then Superman returned at tremendous speed and split the Atlantic, exposing Atlantis below.

Batman and the other Batmen investigated Black Death Emperor’s attack while the Justice League fought Black Death Day in Batman’s universe. After Diana and Barry were forced into the Speed Force to contain their corruption, the undead returned, and the League planned to target their rings.

• Batman met the other Batmen on Battleworld, where Bruce revealed that Black Death Emperor had targeted his universe and the group discussed finding White Lantern energy.
• Batman returned to find the Justice League had defeated Atlan and Steppenwolf, but Diana and Barry were being corrupted by the Power of Death.
• Barry discovered that the Speed Force could halt the corruption and took Diana inside it, leaving both unable to help the League directly.
• Hal reported that the battle on Apokolips was at a stalemate and that Green Lantern energy slowed his own corruption.
• Black Death Day returned after the League’s victory, and Clark, Arthur, and Ron concluded that stealing the undead’s rings might prevent their resurrection.

The Justice League returned to the nail, where Atlan and his allies ambushed them with disguises and the Power of Death. After Arthur and Victor were injured, Hal drove off the attackers and joined Clark in searching for the source of the ocean’s contamination.

• Arthur led the Justice League through the sea toward the nail, where the disguised Queen of Atlantis and Atlan appeared with a captive they claimed was Arthur’s father.
• Amanda the Undead stabbed Arthur while Victor teleported the disguised attackers away, and Clark discovered the captive was an impostor.
• Atlan’s control of the death-tainted water forced the group to retreat, and a water arrow wounded Victor as he opened a Boom Tube.
• Victor returned to Justice League Hall for treatment, while Hal confronted the Black Lanterns and rejected their offer to join them.
• Hal drove the Black Lanterns back, then told Clark that the Power of Death’s flow might lead them to its source, and they set out to investigate.

Schiller explained to Hal that Batman and he had secretly poisoned him to fake signs of contamination by the Power of Death, keeping the Black Death Day Corps from suspecting him. He then revealed that they were seeking a White Lantern host, while Hal considered how the Black Death Emperor’s limited communication with his followers might help their plan.

• Hal saw the seven Lantern batteries, and Schiller told him not to reassure Clark that Batman had survived because Clark needed a concrete goal to strengthen his conviction.
• Schiller told Hal that the Black Lantern wielded the Power of Death and that he and Batman were searching for a White Lantern whose life-force power could oppose it.
• Schiller revealed that he and Batman had poisoned Hal’s wine at the Christmas banquet, causing symptoms that helped Hal believe he had been contaminated by death’s power.
• Schiller explained that Hal’s apparent contamination was meant to mislead the Black Death Day Corps and draw their attention away from him.
• Hal reasoned that the Black Death Emperor might not be able to communicate directly or constantly with his followers, leaving delays that Schiller and Batman could exploit.

Hal and the Justice League uncovered and destroyed a source of the Power of Death beneath the Atlantic, then headed for the Pacific source near Seaside City. Meanwhile, Damian sought Schiller’s help to avoid becoming a monster, and the chapter left Batman’s plan advancing as the Black Death Emperor’s forces lost ground.

• Hal used the lingering traces of the Black Death Emperor’s power to mislead its followers and buy time before the next wave of fighting.
• Clark cut open an undersea hot spring and found bones wrapped in concentrated Power of Death that was contaminating the Atlantic Ocean.
• Hal moved the bones with Green Lantern energy, and Clark carried them to the sun to destroy them, keeping one bone for Batman to study.
• After the ocean began to recover, Clark led the group toward Seaside City to find and remove the Pacific source of contamination.
• Damian asked Schiller for help, and Schiller explained that Amanda had chosen to unleash her power and that Damian risked the same transformation if he used his own.
• Damian revealed that Steve had gone to Amazon, while Schiller noted that the team’s preparations had weakened the Black Death Emperor by turning its scattered forces against it.

Steppenwolf, Atlan, and Black Hand shifted their focus from Green Lantern to Superman, while the Justice League fought to hold back the Black Death Emperor’s forces. Clark severed Steppenwolf’s arm to get at his ring, but the detached limb wounded him and let the Power of Death enter his body.

• Atlan and Steppenwolf drained the Allen couple and Dr. O'Dell of the Power of Death, then agreed with Black Hand to focus on infecting Superman.
• Superman battled Steppenwolf and Atlan over the Pacific while Ron, Hal, and Victor supported him and searched for the hidden source of the Power of Death.
• Ares arrived at the shore wielding a death-infused axe, forcing Superman away from his allies as Hal intercepted Ares.
• Clark spotted the black rings and lured Steppenwolf into exposing his hand, then severed Steppenwolf’s arm with a laser beam.
• Clark grabbed the severed arm to remove its ring, but its claw tore through his upper arm and allowed the Power of Death to infect him.

The Justice League fought to destroy Black Death Day’s contamination sources while Clark and Hal battled Steppenwolf, Ares, and Atlan. After defeating Steppenwolf and Ares, they headed for the last source in the Indian Ocean, where Kalibak and a Parademon army appeared, leaving Earth under a new threat.

• Ron rescued Clark from the sea, while Victor seized Steppenwolf’s Black Lantern ring and was badly wounded.
• Hal treated the wounded as best he could, then Clark joined him in returning to the ocean to find and kill Steppenwolf.
• Clark killed Steppenwolf with a concentrated laser blast, and Hal dismembered Ares, but Atlan escaped with Ares’s ring.
• Clark and Hal cleared the contamination source beneath the Pacific and flew to the Indian Ocean to find the last one.
• Kalibak appeared on Earth, and a Parademon army descended on a nearby city; Clark told Hal to deal with the ocean source first, trusting Batman to handle the invasion.

As Earth’s armies drove back Darkseid’s Parademons, Schiller and Batman prepared to expel the Black Death Emperor so they could focus on Darkseid. Hal and Clark uncovered Batman’s plan to awaken White Lantern energy within Earth’s core, and a White Lantern ring appeared above the Pacific as the chapter ended with Hal sending Clark to retrieve it.

• Batman mobilized Earth’s forces to funnel the Parademons into sparsely populated regions, where artillery and missiles destroyed them.
• Schiller told Batman to prepare the final plan and contacted Hal, who was helping Clark remove the last contamination source when Kalibak attacked them.
• General Zod, transformed into Doomsday, and the other Kryptonians joined the fight, allowing Hal and Clark to resume purifying the Indian Ocean.
• The nails absorbed the oceans’ Power of Death and fired it into Earth’s core, awakening the White Lantern energy hidden there.
• The surge of Life Force began purifying the undead, while Kalibak searched for something and a White Lantern ring appeared above the Pacific Ocean.
• Hal recognized the ring and told Clark to retrieve it.

Hal became a White Lantern, revived Clark after Darkseid’s Omega Ray killed him, and learned that the Life Force came from the Spirit of Existence. Back at Wayne Manor, Batman and Schiller warned that Darkseid might resurrect another Superman, but Clark’s immunity to Kryptonite and magical power could foil the plan as the group prepared to enter Schiller Universe.

• Hal reached for the White Lantern ring while Clark fought Kalibak, then caught Clark after Darkseid’s Omega Ray killed him.
• Hal used the ring’s Life Force to resurrect Clark, who dreamed of meeting the Spirit of Existence.
• Clark returned to Wayne Manor and told Batman, Diana, Ron, and the others that Darkseid’s Omega Ray had killed him.
• Batman explained that the Omega Ray could resurrect its victims, and Schiller brought in Lex Luthor to help prepare for the possibility of another Superman.
• Diana and Schiller reasoned that Darkseid planned to control a resurrected Superman with Kryptonite, but Clark revealed he was immune to it and could move freely in Apocalypse’s Domain.
• The group toasted Schiller Rodriguez and prepared to enter Schiller Universe.

Schiller left his psychology lecture to help Victor deal with Chick, a student threatening suicide after a laboratory mistake. Schiller suspected the incident had a more embarrassing cause than Victor’s reprimand, and Chick remained too upset to explain himself.

• Victor told Schiller that Chick had threatened to hang himself after leaving a cryostat without power and being scolded.
• Schiller dismissed his class and questioned Victor about Chick’s background as they crossed campus.
• Mrs. Edson led Schiller and Victor to a warm reception room where Chick was waiting.
• Schiller suggested Chick might have been stood up by a Christmas ball dance partner, but Chick denied that was the reason.
• Schiller warned Chick that Brainiac could check his phone records, and Chick grew more agitated while Mrs. Edson tried to comfort him.
• Schiller told Victor that Chick seemed to consider him an easier target and urged him to reflect on his mild manner.

Chick blamed Professor Freeze for his breakup with Milos and threatened suicide unless Victor apologized publicly, while Victor and Schiller tried to manage the crisis. Jena revealed that Chick had repeatedly stood Milos up, and Schiller left Victor worrying that the situation might last until the Christmas dance.

• Victor and Schiller questioned Chick about his suicide attempt and learned that he was upset because Milos had found a new dance partner.
• Chick demanded a public apology from Victor for reprimanding him in the laboratory and threatened to die if Victor refused.
• Schiller warned Chick that he could face a large bill for the damaged equipment, then pulled Victor away and said Brainiac was monitoring Chick.
• Jena told Schiller that Milos's new partner was her roommate and that Chick had repeatedly been late and stood Milos up.
• Victor and Schiller discussed the crisis at the library, where Victor worried about Chick and Schiller said it might continue until after the Christmas dance.

Schiller and Shivan tried to contain the scandal surrounding Chick’s threats and Victor’s damaged equipment, but Chick was later found dead in a South Side villa. Schiller joined the investigation and reassured the distraught Victor, while suspecting Chick’s death was not suicide.

• Schiller told Shivan about Chick’s threats, and Shivan agreed to speak with Chick’s mother to resolve the dispute with Victor.
• Schiller returned home during a break in the snowfall, but Nora called later to report Chick’s death and Victor’s loss of control.
• Brainiac directed Schiller to the South Side, where police had found Chick hanged in a surveillance blind spot and Victor had frozen the body.
• Victor blamed himself for letting Chick go home, while Schiller recalled that Chick had been angry but had never seemed suicidal.

Schiller examined Chick’s apparent hanging and concluded that the unusual method was further evidence of murder, while Victor recorded their investigation as if writing a Sherlock Holmes story. They headed to the Federal Shield Gotham Office on Green Street to pursue the case before the evidence could be dismissed as suicide.

• Schiller found that Chick’s rope knots were ordinary but reasoned that combining a fall with hanging was an unlikely suicide method, supporting the possibility of murder.
• Brainiac informed Schiller that the residents would return to the villa after evidence collection and Chick’s body would be moved to the morgue, while Gordon said the suspicious case would still receive a thorough investigation.
• Schiller and Victor left for Green Street, and Victor continued writing a fictionalized account of their investigation as they traveled.
• Victor gained inspiration to portray Schiller as a reluctant detective and rewrote his account of the case.
• Schiller and Victor arrived at the Federal Shield Gotham Office.

Schiller discussed Chick’s suicide with Jena, Barry, and Victor, arguing that Chick’s behavior imitated the manipulative emotional outbursts of his controlling mother. The conversation ended with Victor realizing Schiller had involved Principal Shivan, while Jena hinted that the principal had his own trauma around coercion.

• Jena told Schiller that Bruce had asked Amanda to arrange the restoration of his parents’ graves, and that Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel would accompany the ceremony.
• Barry joined Schiller and Jena, and they discussed Chick’s death and Milos’s possible role despite Brainiac’s surveillance and records showing he had stayed in his room.
• Jena described Milos and Pelota as having mistreated Chick, while Schiller identified Chick’s mother’s strict control as the deepest source of his behavior.
• Schiller explained that Chick’s dramatic outburst and suicide threat were imitations of the tactics his mother had used to control him.
• Schiller revealed that he had gone to Principal Shivan, prompting Victor to worry about his annual evaluation and Jena to say the principal would not tolerate coercion.

Schiller and the others examined Chick’s family history and narrowed the likely suspects in his murder, concluding that his mother and biological father were unlikely killers. Just as Schiller began to explain why Chick had been hanged outside a window, Scotland Yard called to report another student dead in a dormitory.

• Jena explained that Shivan reacted badly to threats and attempts to dominate him, making a clash with Chick’s mother likely to end badly for her.
• Schiller reasoned that Chick’s mother’s behavior came from feeling abandoned by a wealthy biological father, and concluded that she would not have killed Chick because she depended on their blood ties and her hopes for him.
• Schiller and the others ruled out Chick’s biological father and questioned whether his father’s lawful wife could have had a motive.
• Barry, Jena, and Schiller focused suspicion on Milos and discussed how the unusual hanging outside the window might have concealed the killer’s identity.
• Scotland Yard called Schiller and reported that a student had died in a dormitory.