Recaps

The thirty Oa Pan-Stellar Domain Alliance powerhouses remaining above Oa Star faced He-El after sixty-five survivors pledged allegiance to him. He-El killed a powerhouse who begged to leave, while the others secretly urged the Guardians of the Universe to unleash their contingency.

• The thirty remaining Alliance powerhouses realized their forces had been decisively defeated and that fleeing or resisting He-El was dangerous.
• One Alliance powerhouse apologized to He-El and offered to pay for permission to leave the battlefield.
• He-El killed the apologizing powerhouse with Heat Vision, making clear that surrender without pledging allegiance would not save them.
• Several terrified Alliance powerhouses secretly contacted the Guardians of the Universe and demanded that they use their hidden contingency.

The Guardians of the Universe decided to release Volthoom, the First Lantern, as their last resort against He-El. His power swept across the battlefield, making dozens of Stellar-class powerhouses kneel and halting the fighting, while seven-colored light erupted from Oa Star.

• The Oa Pan-Stellar Domain Alliance's Stellar-class powerhouses urged the Guardians of the Universe to use their trump card against He-El.
• The Guardians ordered the guardian watching Volthoom, the First Lantern, to release him.
• A crushing pressure spread from Oa Star, and sixty-five Stellar-class powerhouses knelt before New Krypton's Honor Marshal-class Battleship.
• A bewildered Stellar-class powerhouse realized that only 107 of the Alliance's original 144 Stellar-class powerhouses remained, with thirty-seven missing.
• New Krypton's forces regrouped around the Honor Marshal-class Battleship as He-El watched Oa Star.
• Seven-colored light imbued with seven emotions erupted from Oa Star.

The seven emotional lights spread from Oa Star and drove the alliance forces into rage, fear, despair, greed, hopelessness, compassion, and destructive love. The Oa Star System descended into chaos, while the stellar-class powerhouses remained unaffected and the Guardians could do nothing to save their troops.

• The red light made soldiers turn their guns on their own allies, triggering widespread destruction among the forces it reached.
• The yellow light caused troops to panic and flee, while the green light stripped others of their will to resist.
• The orange light drove commanders and soldiers to kill one another for power and survival.
• The blue light made troops lose all hope and commit mass suicide aboard their warships.
• The cyan light made commanders try to stop the fighting, while the violet light drove some to sacrifice themselves and others to attack everyone in the name of peace.
• The emotional lights plunged the Oa Star System into chaos, but they did not affect the stellar-class powerhouses, and the Guardians of the Universe could not save the forces.

Volthoom emerged from Oa Star and unleashed the Emotional Spectrum, giving the Oa Pan-Stellar Domain Alliance hope that he could hold off He-El. He-El trapped Volthoom in an endless sequence of mirrors, leaving the Alliance’s powerhouses frozen in shock.

• Emotional Spectrum energy swept through the Oa Star System, while New Krypton's army resisted its effects.
• Volthoom, the First Lantern, rose from Oa Star and absorbed the system’s extreme emotions, prompting the Guardians of the Universe to recognize that he remained insane.
• The Oa Pan-Stellar Domain Alliance’s Stellar-class powerhouses hoped Volthoom could distract He-El and help them escape.
• He-El remained seated aboard the Honor Marshal-class Battleship and struck Volthoom with an enormous transparent hand.
• He-El imprisoned Volthoom in layers of mirrors, cutting him off from outside emotional energy and making him vanish into darkness.
• The Oa Pan-Stellar Domain Alliance’s Stellar-class powerhouses froze in shock without taking a step.

He-El sealed the First Lantern, Volthoom, inside a black-hole-like mirror, leaving the Guardians of the Universe and the Oa Pan-Stellar Domain Alliance in despair. As chaotic violence resumed across the Oa Star System, two Alliance Stellar-class powerhouses pledged loyalty to He-El.

• Volthoom's emotional contamination ended, but soldiers aboard the warships broke down, killed themselves, or resumed fighting in a chaotic war.
• The Guardians of the Universe realized He-El had defeated Volthoom with a single slap and that their plan to use him as a last resort had failed.
• The Oa Pan-Stellar Domain Alliance's Stellar-class powerhouses abandoned hope of escape after seeing He-El seal away Volthoom.
• A Stellar-class powerhouse from the Zhiyuan Star System knelt before He-El and swore lifelong loyalty to the Emperor of New Krypton.
• Another Alliance Stellar-class powerhouse hurried to kneel and pledged, "Me too!"

After He-El defeated Volthoom, the Oa Pan-Stellar Domain Alliance’s surviving stellar-class powerhouses surrendered and turned against the Guardians of the Universe. He-El rejected their assumption that he would accept their surrender, declaring that only those who survived Quasar Flare had the right to surrender.

• The alliance’s stellar-class powerhouses knelt to He-El, and he killed one with Heat Vision after the man had urged Volthoom to attack.
• Several surrendered powerhouses blocked the Guardians of the Universe from returning to Oa Star and surrounded them.
• The surrendered powerhouses accused the Guardians of leading them astray and urged them to surrender.
• One powerhouse claimed victory and asked He-El to leave the Guardians to them, but He-El said he had never accepted their surrender.
• He-El declared that only those who survived Quasar Flare had the right to surrender.

He-El used a Quasar Flare to test the surrendering stellar-level powerhouses and the Guardians of the Universe. After about ten minutes, the flare faded, revealing that they had survived, though Oa Star was nearly destroyed.

• The stellar-level powerhouses accepted the Quasar Flare as punishment for joining the war and pledged to endure it as a trial of surrender.
• A stellar-level powerhouse demanded that the Guardians of the Universe face the flare too, while both groups prepared their defenses.
• New Krypton withdrew its legions into the Quantum Ghost Base and fired a Quasar Flare three times the size of the sun toward Oa Star.
• The Quasar Flare engulfed the Oa Star System and obliterated the invading armies as the stellar-level powerhouses and fifteen Guardians resisted its energy.
• After about ten minutes, the flare's fuel burned away and the energy cooled, revealing the surviving powerhouses and Guardians alongside a nearly destroyed Oa Star.

After the Quasar Flare destroyed the Oa Star System’s forces, He-El accepted the surrender of the remaining stellar-level powerhouses and captured the Guardians of the Universe. New Krypton began securing Oa Star, and He-El declared the universe would bear his name.

• The Quasar Flare vanished after destroying the armies and celestial bodies in the Oa Star System, leaving its surviving defenders nearly drained of energy.
• The stellar-level powerhouses acknowledged their defeat, and He-El ordered them to recover before kneeling to him; some stayed to join New Krypton.
• The Guardians of the Universe wept as they admitted defeat, and He-El ordered New Krypton’s forces to take them into custody.
• New Krypton’s legions captured the fifteen Guardians and found and imprisoned the last Guardian beneath Oa Star.
• Scarface began cataloging Oa Star’s remaining records while He-El declared that the universe would be named He-El.

He-El and New Krypton's leaders planned the occupation and administration of the universe, assigning the Zeroers and stellar-class rulers to build infrastructure and integrate conquered regions. Zero began preparations to test New Krypton's rule in the Milky Way, while the scale and diversity of the universe's inhabitants posed a vast management challenge.

• Zero reported that the Zeroers had agreed to build intergalactic gates, citizen IDs, and cosmic highways through dual-layer dark space.
• He-El approved the Zeroers' infrastructure work, confident that New Krypton retained control over their access to the universe.
• Zero reported that 160 stellar-class powerhouses had returned to their regions to dismantle local powers and prepare them for New Krypton's management.
• Zero arranged for administrative artificial intelligences to be converted into mechanical administrators to maintain order across the universe.
• Zero announced that his Mechanical Corps would conquer inhabited planets in the Milky Way and test New Krypton's policies there.
• New Krypton's leaders considered the varied galaxy types and lifeforms they would have to manage.

He-El learned that New Krypton’s meticulous plan to establish centralized rule across the known universe would take thirty-eight sextillion years, and he accepted the long project as a way to consolidate his power while exploring other worlds. Father Izaya proposed broadcasting New Krypton’s policies ahead of its expansion to reduce resistance and bloodshed.

• Zero estimated that establishing complete control across the known galaxies would take approximately thirty-eight sextillion years.
• He-El accepted the immense timeline, believing his near-eternal life left him time to rule the universe and seek other worlds that could make him stronger.
• He-El reflected that his mastery of cosmic logic let him kill Stellar-class beings with ease, despite their disbelief that he could defeat so many at once.
• Father Izaya proposed multiband broadcasts to introduce New Krypton’s governance to distant galaxies and lessen resistance when its forces arrived.
• Father Izaya said he preferred to reduce slaughter but would use force against anyone who obstructed New Krypton’s rule.

He-El set New Krypton’s plans to rule the universe in motion while considering ways to reach other universes. As Zero and New Krypton’s leaders coordinated the expansion, Scarface asked how they would deal with the Guardians of the Universe.

• He-El decided to announce New Krypton’s existence and prepare the universe for its rule, while postponing any risky attempt to travel to other universes.
• He-El left the details of universal rule to Zero and New Krypton’s leaders, who planned to expand their administration, infrastructure, and military forces outward from Earth.
• Father Izaya’s policies called for peaceful, orderly governance but allowed New Krypton to destroy those who resisted its rule.
• He-El listened as Zero and the legions coordinated their deployment in the conference room.
• Scarface accepted orders to take the Seven Lantern Corps back to Oa Star and establish a second garrison, then asked He-El how the Guardians of the Universe would be handled.

Scarface asked He-El how he would deal with the sixteen imprisoned Guardians of the Universe and argued that their knowledge and commitment to peace could benefit New Krypton. He-El agreed to let them continue protecting the universe named after him if they swore loyalty and obeyed his orders, and Scarface offered to persuade them.

• Scarface explained to He-El why she believed New Krypton's rule would bring peace and why the Guardians of the Universe were worth preserving.
• He-El said the sixteen captured Guardians were valuable as potential administrators and stellar-level fighters, then asked Scarface for her proposal.
• Scarface argued that the Guardians' knowledge was valuable, but their devotion to protecting peace was even more important.
• New Krypton's stellar-level powerhouses reflected that they trusted the Guardians more than the other forces that had surrendered.
• He-El said the Guardians could protect the universe named after him if they first swore loyalty and obeyed his orders.
• Scarface happily agreed to persuade the Guardians to submit.

Scarface visited the imprisoned Guardians of the Universe and argued that, although New Krypton might not be right, it was still exploring a path to peace while the Guardians had become unable to change. The Guardians fell silent, and Scarface had not yet explained why she had come.

• Scarface entered the underworld prison, where sixteen Guardians of the Universe were trapped in crystalline energy pillars.
• The Guardians accused Scarface of coming to gloat and warned that New Krypton's rule would erase the universe's diversity and growth.
• Scarface said winning did not make New Krypton right, but praised its willingness to seek a way to safeguard peace.
• Scarface argued that the Guardians had lost their sensitivity to a changing universe and had fallen behind Darkseid by refusing to adapt.
• The Guardians fell silent, then asked Scarface again what she had come to see them for.

Scarface forced the Guardians of the Universe to question whether they protected the universe or their own authority. As they reconsidered their history and their control of the Green Lantern Corps, one Guardian insisted that they protected the universe.

• Scarface asked whether the Guardians protected the universe itself or treated it as their private property, leaving them silent and reflective.
• The Guardians recalled their origins on Maltus, Krona’s experiment and exile, and the factions that became the Guardians, Zamarons, and Controllers.
• The Guardians recognized how their policies had concealed their mistakes, suppressed opposition, and prioritized their own power while claiming to protect the universe.
• They recalled sacrificing Green Lanterns in their failed attack on Apokolips and imposing restrictions that kept the Corps under control.
• One Guardian of the Universe firmly declared, “The universe!”

Scarface urged the imprisoned Guardians of the Universe to serve He-El and continue protecting the universe under New Krypton. Though they resented and feared He-El, one Guardian accepted that they should assist him.

• The chapter explained why the Guardians of the Universe had stripped away their emotions and chosen the Green Lanterns to protect the universe.
• Scarface asked the Guardians whether they were still willing to protect the universe and offered them a chance to resume their duties under New Krypton if they declared loyalty to He-El.
• The Guardians grew angry at Scarface’s offer, but she rebuked them for letting fear and resentment overwhelm their reason.
• Scarface reminded the Guardians that the universe itself remained unchanged, and they began to recognize that their duty to protect it remained.
• One Guardian said they should assist He-El in protecting the universe better.

On New Krypton’s 120th National Day, Kara announced that He-El had won the Third Cosmic War and become ruler of the universe. He-El appeared before the celebrating citizens, received the allegiance of powerful beings and the Guardians of the Universe, and declared that New Krypton would expand into the universe, which he named He-El.

• New Krypton celebrated its National Day as Earth’s population gathered before the palace and Kara delivered the government’s address.
• Kara announced New Krypton’s victory in the Third Cosmic War and declared He-El the universe’s ruler.
• He-El arrived aboard the Marshal-class Battleship Honor as citizens cheered and knelt before him.
• Kara presented 144 stellar-level powerhouses who had been defeated by He-El, and they knelt in allegiance.
• Scarface brought sixteen Guardians of the Universe before He-El, and they declared their allegiance and vowed to protect the universe.
• He-El announced that New Krypton would advance into the universe and named the universe He-El.

New Krypton expanded across the universe, absorbing alien civilizations and collecting Lantern Rings as He-El ordered the Guardians to prevent the Blackest Night prophecy. The chapter ended with New Krypton encountering a group of powerful Sun-Eaters.

• New Krypton sent Harmony to demand the Zhiyuan Insectoids surrender, then Zero ordered their command broodmothers exterminated and absorbed the species into New Krypton.
• Zero rejected the Zamarons' proposal that one of them marry He-El, and New Krypton forcibly took the Violet Lanterns and disbanded their corps.
• New Krypton's forces defeated an elemental spirit wielding a First Green Lantern Ring and recovered the ring.
• New Krypton found the Daxamites, Durlans, and living planets, while the Guardians seized the Red Lantern Ring from Atrocitus and New Krypton took the Orange Lantern Ring from Larfleeze.
• He-El ordered the Guardians to collect all seven Lantern Rings to prevent the prophesied War of Light and Blackest Night.
• New Krypton's explorers encountered a group of powerful Sun-Eaters.

New Krypton trapped and sealed the Sun-Eater species after He-El rescued a star-level powerhouse and pursued the swarm into B Space. As New Krypton expanded and recovered the Lantern Rings, a vast azure face appeared at the universe’s frontier, saw how Earth had changed, and declared that the future was wrong.

• New Krypton and the Guardians of the Universe lured a Sun-Eater into three-dimensional space with a star-level powerhouse, but discovered that a swarm dragged the bait into B Space.
• He-El rescued the star-level powerhouse, followed the Sun-Eaters into B Space, forced them out of their dimensions, and sealed them in his Inner Universe away from Volthoom.
• New Krypton found a planet with a Blue Lantern Ring and brought its Lantern Beast and energy source under its command.
• New Krypton recovered the seven Lantern Rings, carefully controlled them, and expanded to include more than a hundred thousand cosmic races.
• An enormous azure face appeared at the universe’s frontier, looked toward Earth, and said, "This future... is wrong!"

He-El discovered that Doctor Manhattan had been observing him and traced the encounter through residual ionization reactions. As He-El identified Manhattan, the being’s manifested head connected to him and greeted him.

• He-El sensed a distant gaze examining his existence and followed it to a barren region of space.
• He-El gathered traces of azure ionization and found signs that a powerful consciousness had possessed them.
• He-El reversed time in the region and saw Doctor Manhattan’s enormous azure face appear.
• He-El recognized Doctor Manhattan and considered the vast scope of his powers.
• He-El tried to erase the temporal image, but Doctor Manhattan’s Power of Connection linked to him and Manhattan said hello.

He-El confronted Doctor Manhattan, who explained that he had restarted the universe during the Second Cosmic War by changing Ancient Krypton’s development. Doctor Manhattan said this universe was one of many Parallel Universes, and He-El’s changes had made its future strangely different even though Superman remained its origin and center.

• He-El stayed wary as Doctor Manhattan greeted him and admitted he could not read He-El’s memories.
• Doctor Manhattan explained that his altered lottery result had created countless quantum possibilities and Parallel Universes.
• Doctor Manhattan said restarting the universe never changed Superman’s role as its origin and center.
• Doctor Manhattan revealed that he restarted this universe during the Second Cosmic War after secretly empowering Ancient Krypton.
• He-El reacted with shock as Doctor Manhattan described how He-El had changed the universe while Superman remained its beginning.

He-El learned that Doctor Manhattan had created the fifty-two Source Universes and was repairing and converging their countless Parallel Universes. Doctor Manhattan revealed that He-El’s existence was an abnormal distortion spawning more universes, leaving He-El aware that he was the cause of Manhattan’s growing workload.

• He-El asked Doctor Manhattan who he was and heard how he had become a being able to command fundamental particles and observe and alter universes.
• Doctor Manhattan explained that his observation of Superman’s origin had produced fifty-two Source Universes, which gave rise to countless Parallel Universes he was now repairing and converging.
• Doctor Manhattan told He-El that only a few factors could cause universes to depart from their original paths and generate further Parallel Universes.
• He-El realized that his arrival and survival across altered timelines had made him the distortion causing countless universes to form around him.
• He-El understood that his existence was abnormal because it spawned more Parallel Universes than ordinary variations did.

Doctor Manhattan explained that He-El’s Inner Universe was an extraordinary existence that made He-El its own origin, and asked him to help converge the Parallel Universes. He-El withheld his answer, and Doctor Manhattan gave him information so he could first study converging the universes created by his own aberration.

• Doctor Manhattan told He-El that he could see an initial universe within him, unlike anything he had encountered among the Parallel Universes.
• He-El realized his Inner Universe could contain and operate according to different universal models, and recognized that it was the foundation of his power.
• Doctor Manhattan asked He-El to help converge the Parallel Universes into the final fifty-two Source Universes.
• He-El said he needed time to consider the consequences of convergence, and Doctor Manhattan urged him to begin with the Parallel Universes caused by his existence.
• Doctor Manhattan placed information about converging Parallel Universes into a mass of blue ionized energy and gave it to He-El.

He-El studied the Marvel Universe’s operational logic and experimented with creating particles inside his own universe, only to discover that its growth required an energy source. He realized his next goal was to make his universe circulate energy perpetually and took out the Ionized-Particle Information Cluster Doctor Manhattan had given him.

• He-El entered seclusion and examined the six Infinity Stones and the Marvel Universe’s operational logic recorded in his universe.
• He-El dissolved into his universe and created faster-than-light particles and many kinds of particles, but could not sustain their spread without more energy.
• He-El realized that his own universe was the true source of his power and that it needed an external energy supply to keep developing.
• He-El concluded that he should make his universe a perpetual motion machine, where matter and energy cycled without end.
• He-El took out the Ionized-Particle Information Cluster Doctor Manhattan had given him.

He-El absorbed Doctor Manhattan’s information about the Source and Parallel Universes and considered whether to help consolidate them. Wary of Doctor Manhattan’s motives and the unknown consequences, he decided to proceed slowly while strengthening his own universe, then summoned Athena.

• He-El absorbed the Ionized-Particle Information Cluster and learned more about the 52 Source Universes and countless Parallel Universes.
• He-El recognized that helping Doctor Manhattan could provide energy for his universe, but suspected the consolidation might strengthen Doctor Manhattan or trigger unknown effects.
• He-El considered Superman’s connection to The Source and wondered whether being He-El’s son had placed him under its protection.
• He-El decided to consolidate the Parallel Universes slowly until his own universe could support New Krypton’s inhabitants and part of its circulation.
• He-El remained wary that Doctor Manhattan might sacrifice himself and try to take He-El with him, then summoned Athena to the meditation room.

Athena explained to He-El that the universe and its living beings were not perpetual-motion systems, and that Heavenly Blood from the Blood Domain supplied the universe’s fundamental energy. The chapter left He-El considering what lay beyond the universe, with Athena suggesting Zeus might know more.

• Athena left Hera in command of the Olympian Gods’ southern expansion and returned to Earth after He-El summoned her.
• He-El asked Athena about the universe and its nature, while she described how her avatar came from her true body and was destined to return to it.
• Athena told He-El that neither the universe nor a self-cycling system could operate forever without consumption.
• Athena explained that Heavenly Blood in the Blood Domain supplied the universe’s fundamental energy.
• Athena said her knowledge of the Blood Domain was limited and suggested Zeus might know more.