Chapter Summaries

Steppenwolf arrived at the negotiations over Earth and tried to claim a seat, but He-El and Zeus dismissed him as Darkseid’s subordinate. Steppenwolf invoked a loophole in the agreement and attacked He-El, leaving the confrontation about to begin.

• Steppenwolf arrived at the conference table with Parademons and recognized the gathering as negotiations over Earth.
• Steppenwolf mistook Superman for a Kryptonian vanguard and announced that Apokolips would join the meeting.
• He-El destroyed the skull throne before Steppenwolf could sit, while Zeus declared that Darkseid’s subordinate was not worthy to sit with them.
• Ganthet reminded Steppenwolf that the agreement between Apokolips, the Green Lantern Corps, and the gods forbade attacks on Earth and on one another.
• Steppenwolf claimed the agreement did not cover He-El and swung the Earthbreaker Axe at him.

He-El drove Steppenwolf into space, bent his Earthbreaker Axe, and forced him to flee through a Boom Tube. He-El then crushed the remaining Parademons and returned to the negotiations with Zeus.

• Steppenwolf attacked He-El, who blasted him across Earth and into outer space with Heat Vision.
• Steppenwolf grew to enormous size and raised his Earthbreaker Axe to split Earth, but He-El slapped the axe aside and bent it.
• Steppenwolf fled through a Boom Tube after calling for Desaad, and He-El's Heat Vision struck him as he escaped to Apokolips.
• He-El crushed the Parademons pouring through the Boom Tube over Metropolis and caught Steel Bone's fallen body before the portal closed.
• He-El returned to the atmosphere and resumed the negotiations while Zeus sat with a blackened expression.

He-El negotiated with Zeus for the return of Apollo, Artemis, and Athena, demanding magical and mechanical authorities and territory in the Divine Realm. Zeus ultimately accepted the terms, and the three gods were exchanged for the agreed payment.

• Zeus offered basic magical knowledge for the three gods, but He-El rejected the offer and warned that he would kill Apollo.
• He-El demanded the Magic God's Authority and all related authorities in exchange for one god, and Zeus agreed to hand over Hera’s authorities.
• He-El then demanded the Mechanical and Energy Authority and its related authorities in exchange for another god, which Zeus accepted.
• When He-El demanded one-tenth of the Divine Realm, Zeus refused, but Ganthet argued that He-El qualified to reside there as a god.
• Zeus haggled over the territory, and the Olympian Pantheon ultimately paid the two sets of authorities and 1,558 light-years of Divine Realm territory to regain the three gods.

He-El announced that New Krypton had secured Australia as its territory and ordered the Kryptonians to take control of the continent and begin building a new home. He then told Athena she had a chance to break free by working with him and assigned her to select Divine Realm land for New Krypton's magical facilities.

• Ganthet returned to Oa Star to discuss plans with the Guardians, while Zeus began preparing Divine Realm territory and authorities for He-El's exchange.
• He-El lowered the extinction alert, declared the war over, and announced that Australia would become New Krypton's territory.
• He-El ordered Nia to prepare citizenship offers and benefits, directed Kal-El to control Australia's leaders, and assigned departments to take over and develop the continent.
• Athena entered the command room, and He-El told her she had a chance to break free from Olympus by working beside him.
• He-El said Zeus had exchanged three gods, two authorities, and 1,558 light-years of Divine Realm territory, then ordered Athena to choose land for magical facilities and training.

He-El used the AllSpark to create new mechanical successors from the fallen warships and Green Lantern Rings, then assigned the rings a mission to investigate Oa’s Central Power Battery. He also planned to find and control Doomsday, and left for the prison holding Scarface and the gods.

• He-El revived the remains of the Marshal-class Battleships Valiant and Mercy and other warships as new mechanical beings who inherited their predecessors’ memories.
• He-El told the new warship bodies to contact Zero and claim resources at the Three-Body Universe Logistics Base to improve themselves.
• Little Green confirmed that the confiscated Green Lantern Rings had been inspected, and He-El transformed them into mechanical bodies with the AllSpark.
• He-El ordered the new ring mechanical bodies to investigate the structure of the Green Lantern Central Power Battery on Oa Star.
• He-El resolved to find and control Doomsday, then headed toward the Planetary Turbine where Scarface and the gods were imprisoned.

He-El found Scarface imprisoned in the Planetary Turbine and implanted a psychic power-borrowing channel in her, making himself a hidden fear she could invoke by calling his name. He left after telling her that Ganthet had agreed to trade basic Will Technology for her, while Scarface trembled alone.

• The Planetary Turbine repeatedly drained Scarface, Apollo, and Artemis with high-energy particles until He-El arrived and ordered the machines to release Scarface.
• He-El confronted Scarface and discovered that her fear of Kryptonians stemmed from genetic experiments performed on her during the Ancient Cosmic War.
• He-El planted a hidden fear of himself in Scarface and told her she could call his name to borrow his energy when facing a hopeless enemy.
• Scarface vowed to erase He-El's influence, while He-El explained that Ganthet had agreed to trade basic Will Technology for her and assured her that her life was safe.
• After He-El vanished, Scarface curled up and trembled.

New Krypton conquered Australia with overwhelming force, then announced that the continent would be renamed New Krypton. At STAR Labs, Batman, Black Adam, Luthor, and The Flash watched the takeover as The Flash said the completed Cosmic Treadmill would let them change everything.

• Two Marshal-class Battleships arrived over Australia and deployed twenty thousand warships toward its cities, while their systems disabled Australian communications and weapons.
• The Honor Marshal-class Battleship and Radiance Marshal-class Battleship transformed into towering mechanical bodies and entered Canberra.
• Nia offered Australia's leaders the choice to surrender their power and leave or become civilians of New Krypton; most leaders departed, while a few cooperated with the takeover.
• New Krypton soldiers suppressed resistance in some towns, and Nia announced in a globally broadcast press conference that the continent would be renamed New Krypton.
• At STAR Labs, Batman, Black Adam, Luthor, and The Flash watched the news, and The Flash said the completed Cosmic Treadmill would change everything.

New Krypton established itself in Australia, renamed the land New Krypton Continent, and offered residents citizenship, generous benefits, and a chance to leave with one million Australian dollars. Its policies and technology inspired admiration across Earth, while fleeing Australian leaders regretted abandoning the country.

• New Krypton gave Australian residents one week to accept citizenship or take one million Australian dollars and leave, while promising extensive benefits to citizens.
• New Krypton announced it would recruit exceptional talent from around the world and provide advanced medical care, restored limbs, superpower serums, and longevity serums.
• Most residents embraced New Krypton, while a small number accepted the money and departed.
• New Krypton transferred administrators from the Three-Body World, renamed the territory New Krypton Continent, and opened advanced fields of knowledge to visitors and students.
• People around Earth envied New Krypton's benefits and called for it to conquer Earth or open immigration.
• Australian leaders who had fled with their assets regretted leaving after seeing the benefits they had missed.

He-El returned the Green Lantern prisoners and four and a half million soldiers to Ganthet, then exchanged the three gods for two spheres of authority from Zeus. Athena chose to leave Zeus’s chariot and return to He-El.

• He-El inspected the foundational Emotional Spectrum knowledge in Ganthet’s ring and accepted it as genuine.
• He-El returned the bodies of Scarface and Ark, along with seventeen Green Lantern prisoners, to Ganthet, who departed with them and the unconscious soldiers.
• Zeus gave He-El two spheres containing the authorities over magic and machinery and energy in exchange for Athena, Apollo, and Artemis.
• Athena urged Zeus to let her stay with He-El, and Zeus eventually accepted her choice and told her to go.
• Athena stepped off Zeus’s chariot and flew back toward He-El.

New Krypton celebrated its official founding as He-El planted its flag on Mount Kosciuszko, then withdrew to the Zero Mothership with Ciri. As they watched a movie together, He-El began to turn transparent and disappear.

• He-El appointed Athena Minister of Magic and dean of the New Krypton Magic Academy, where she took charge of building its magical system and training its forces.
• At New Krypton's founding ceremony on September 6, Nia presented the nation's history and plans for its academies, including Athena's Magic Academy.
• He-El grew to two thousand meters tall, planted New Krypton's flag on Mount Kosciuszko, and declared the nation founded.
• After the ceremony, He-El returned to the Zero Mothership, where Ciri joined him to watch the celebrations and a movie.
• Ciri's hand slipped through He-El's as his body turned translucent, and she cried out his name.

Batman prepared to travel with The Flash, Lex Luthor, and Black Adam to Krypton, bringing equipment adapted to its extreme gravity and retrieving his long-sealed M9 pistol. He told Alfred he would not let The Flash dirty his hands, then joined the others as The Flash activated the Cosmic Treadmill and transported them away.

• Batman hacked the security cameras at STAR Labs and entered a container holding his equipment and armor modified for Krypton's gravity.
• Batman opened a box containing the M9 pistol from his early days, recalling how he had once killed criminals before adopting his no-killing rule.
• Alfred warned Batman that the pistol represented his willingness to kill, but Batman said he would not let The Flash dirty his hands and told Alfred not to wait if he failed to return.
• Batman reassembled the M9, changed into new armor, armed himself with weapons made for Kryptonians, and went to the underground workshop.
• Batman found The Flash preparing the Cosmic Treadmill, Lex Luthor wearing Kryptonite-composite armor, and Black Adam watching a broadcast celebrating New Krypton.
• The Flash activated the Cosmic Treadmill, and Batman, Luthor, and Black Adam disappeared with him in a burst of electricity.

The Flash brought Batman, Luthor, and Black Adam to Krypton in the past, where they identified the young He-El in Kandor City. Batman shot He-El at school, leaving his fate unresolved.

• The Flash transported Batman, Luthor, and Black Adam to Krypton’s frozen dark side and brought them into Kandor City.
• Kandor City’s defenses detected the group, so The Flash took them to the slums to hide.
• The Flash visited Jor-El and searched Kandor City’s schools to confirm that a young student was He-El.
• Batman approached the boy, distracted The Flash, and shot He-El in the temple.

Jor-El hid Superman in an Oregon bunker and used energy from a Parallel Universe to strengthen him, believing Kal would defeat He-El. On the moon, He-El began disappearing after sensing that someone could kill him in the past without creating a Parallel Universe, and he connected to Jor-El’s mind to learn what had happened.

• Jor-El carried a biological instrument into a hidden fortress beneath a nuclear-blasted base in Oregon, where Superman lay undergoing a procedure to develop his potential.
• Jor-El recalled how he had spent time fleeing He-El, then realized He-El had never pursued him and had established New Krypton instead.
• Jor-El concluded that Superman alone represented the true Krypton and vowed that He-El’s achievements would ultimately serve Kal.
• Ciri tried to grasp He-El in the Zero Mothership’s command room on the moon, but he had become intangible and was fading away.
• He-El sensed that an attack aimed at killing him in the past would create no Parallel Universe because he had never existed in this universe.
• As he continued to disappear, He-El connected to Jor-El’s psychic power and saw Jor-El’s recent experiences and thoughts.

He-El used the psychic power hidden in Jor-El’s Amazo body to extract the Speed Force and travel through time toward Krypton. After Batman killed a boy he believed would cause the Justice League’s deaths, The Flash was struck by a burst of information and warned that the danger was not over as a terrifying figure emerged from spacetime.

• He-El withdrew the psychic power and Speed Force from Jor-El, then used them to travel toward Krypton in the past.
• Jor-El recovered from the extraction and vowed that Kal would kill He-El.
• Batman shot and killed the boy while The Flash, Luthor, and Black Adam watched.
• The Flash was overwhelmed by yellow lightning and a flood of information, then recovered and said the danger was not over.
• The sky darkened, the surroundings turned black and white, and an imposing figure began emerging from spacetime.

He-El tracked Batman, Luthor, The Flash, and Black Adam to Krypton's past after Batman killed Little Boy, though the temporal disruption left him unable to leave. He-El overwhelmed Black Adam and destroyed him, leaving the others facing the Kryptonian Emperor.

• Batman killed Little Boy, but He-El did not disappear and instead followed The Flash's Speed Force to Krypton's past.
• He-El found Batman, Luthor, The Flash, and Black Adam inside an isolated space where the world beyond them appeared in black and white.
• Black Adam charged He-El with magical lightning, but He-El trapped his mind and caused his body to slide to He-El's feet.
• He-El cut off Black Adam's connection to the six Egyptian gods and blasted him into a mist of blood.

He-El killed Black Adam and Luthor, then nearly crushed Batman until The Flash offered to reverse time and revive Little Boy. After The Flash restored the timeline, He-El saw his own childhood loneliness in Little Boy and killed him again.

• He-El killed Black Adam with a touch, while Luthor unleashed Kryptonite virus fog and warned that it threatened Krypton.
• He-El dragged Luthor from the fog and crushed him into a sphere.
• Batman attacked He-El with his weapons while The Flash tried to escape, but He-El seized Batman and began crushing him.
• The Flash promised to reverse time and restore Little Boy, so He-El stopped crushing Batman and ordered him to begin.
• The Flash reversed time, bringing Little Boy back to life and restoring the playground to the moment before his death.
• He-El recognized Little Boy's envy as his own childhood loneliness, then killed Little Boy again with a sweep of his palm.

He-El discovered that he was The Nonexistent One and could not return to the future he had built. Determined to establish his own origin, he created a child version of himself and sent him back to the playground to repeat his life.

• He-El killed Little He-El, and The Flash tried to escape with Batman but was stopped by He-El's time-dilation space.
• He-El captured The Flash and Batman, then tortured Batman while demanding to know what they had done.
• The Flash explained that the Speed Force had called He-El The Nonexistent One and had granted him the ability to rewind time in the area.
• He-El searched Batman's memories, crushed Batman to death, and left The Flash unconscious.
• He-El concluded that he did not exist in the universe's past and feared he could never return to his future.
• He-El tore off his arm, transformed it into a child with his pre-transmigration memories, and sent the child back onto the playground.

He-El traveled back to Krypton’s past and began the closed loop, keeping The Flash alive so he could eventually return to the future. As Little He-El grew into a gifted scientist, his ambition to challenge Krypton’s ruling elite diverged from He-El’s own past.

• He-El reconnected with Little He-El, confirmed that their shared actions were binding his existence to the universe, and began the closed loop.
• He-El concluded that the Speed Force was trapping him in repeated time reversals, but kept The Flash alive because he needed the Speed Force to return to his future.
• He-El concealed The Flash in Krypton’s slums and observed Jor-El, Zod, and the spread of the Ebola Kryptonite Virus while exploring the Genesis Chamber and studying the Life Codex.
• Over the next three years, Little He-El excelled in his studies, became a renowned young scientist, and rejected Jor-El’s offer to adopt him.
• Little He-El vowed to break the Central Academy of Sciences’ monopoly, and He-El intervened as he questioned the boy’s confidence and plan.

He-El found that Krypton's core was healthy, contrary to the history he remembered, and secretly disrupted it so Little He-El and Jor-El would discover signs of danger. Jor-El began investigating the core, restoring history's expected course while He-El remained uneasy about what the normal readings meant.

• He-El took control of Little He-El's mind, made him join the House of El, and guided him toward helping Jor-El gain influence.
• Little He-El's inventions helped Jor-El become deputy director of the Central Technology Institute, and Jor-El authorized an inspection of Krypton's core.
• Little He-El and his team found no core problems, even after he received permission to inspect the inner core.
• He-El examined the core himself, found it normal, and altered its gravity and gravitational attraction to create an apparent disturbance.
• Little He-El escaped the core and sent his findings to Jor-El, who led researchers on further inspections as He-El repeatedly induced abnormal reactions.

After Jor-El exiled Little He-El into space, He-El watched General Zod’s failed rebellion and Jor-El’s plan to preserve Kryptonian civilization. He-El then secretly replaced Jor-El’s semen inside Lara with his own, intending to create Superman.

• Jor-El grew disillusioned with Krypton’s leaders, discovered Little He-El’s cloning operation, and sent him into space with a copy of his own consciousness to ensure his death.
• He-El watched General Zod learn of Little He-El’s plans and launch a rebellion that Jor-El quickly crushed.
• Jor-El and Lara began preparing a counterfeit Life Codex and chose to conceive a natural child to carry Kryptonian civilization into the future.
• After Jor-El and Lara mated, He-El secretly replaced Jor-El’s semen inside Lara with his own and conducted experiments to create Superman.