Chapter Summaries

Orm confronted Arthur Curry after the council learned Arthur had arrived in Atlantis, while Duchess Carlson recognized his claim to the throne and tried to enlist him against the Mother Box threat. Meanwhile, Diana decided to take the Amazonian Mother Box to Downton’s city, hoping his power would protect it and Earth.

• Orm learned Arthur Curry had come to Atlantis and hurried to confront him, but Duchess Carlson ordered the guards to bring Arthur before the council.
• Duchess Carlson argued that Arthur’s birth was not his fault and that Atlanna’s exile and death had settled the matter, then used Arthur’s succession claim to pressure Orm.
• Orm punched Arthur after Arthur mocked his family, and Arthur insisted he would not change his surname or abandon the father who raised him.
• Duchess Carlson questioned Arthur about breaking into the First Temple, and Arthur explained he had followed a disturbance while looking for a dolphin’s mother.
• Duchess Carlson told Arthur that an enemy had stolen Atlantis’s Mother Box and asked him to help protect the sea and land; Arthur did not know what a Mother Box was.
• Diana strapped the Amazonian Mother Box to her back, told Hippolyta she would take it to Downton’s city, and flew away before her mother could stop her.

The Kryptonians failed to find the Life Codex aboard their ship, and Zod concluded that Jor-El had encoded it in Clark. As Atlantis’s Mera and Vulko arrived with warnings about the Mother Boxes, Diana and Downton returned to Gotham as the city’s gathered factions prepared to hear what had happened.

• Fiona reported that the Kryptonians had found no Life Codex, and Zod reasoned that Jor-El had encoded it in his naturally born son, Clark.
• Alfred, Zatanna, Victor, and the others waited with the Kryptonians until Vulko and Mera crashed their van and asked to speak with Gotham’s leaders.
• Mera explained that the enemy who stole the surface Mother Box had also stolen Atlantis’s, and urged the group to contact the Amazons.
• Diana arrived carrying a Mother Box and the Lasso of Truth, then asked for Downton’s help before Downton returned and greeted her.
• Downton asked Alfred to explain why Kryptonian refugees and Atlanteans had gathered in Gotham.

Downton took the Mother Box from Diana and revealed that it had signaled Apokolips, then claimed it for himself after surviving a strike against it. He confronted General Zod and blasted him through the Kryptonian warship and toward Mars.

• Downton questioned Diana about the Mother Box, took it from her, and mocked her and Mera while demonstrating his speed.
• Downton struck the Mother Box, accused it of calling Apokolips, and added it to his collection after it remained undamaged.
• Downton joked with Mera, startled Vulko, and told Diana that he planned to deal with the Kryptonian refugees.
• Downton confronted General Zod, saying the Kryptonians had caused trouble in Gotham and that he needed to answer to his people.
• Downton unleashed a shockwave that demolished nearby buildings and sent Zod through the warship toward Mars.

After Downton effortlessly sent Zod and the other Kryptonians flying to Mars, he confronted Fiona while Clark tried to calm the situation. In Atlantis, Orm learned the last Mother Box remained on the surface and rallied the army to war, while Arthur warned them about Downton’s strength.

• Zod recovered on Mars after Downton’s slap and decided to return to Earth to stop a larger conflict before searching the universe for Kandor.
• Downton subdued Fiona and slapped away the Kryptonian soldiers who charged to defend her, then released Fiona when Clark objected.
• Fiona insulted Clark’s gentle smile, while Vulko secretly sent his observations to Atlantis.
• Nereus gave Arthur a small axe instead of a gun while Atlantis prepared for war.
• Orm announced that the last Mother Box was in human hands and urged Atlantis to protect it and demonstrate its power to the surface world.
• Arthur warned the Atlanteans that Downton was exceptionally strong and that they should prepare to face him.

Orm led Atlantis’s forces toward Gotham to conquer the surface, while Downton, Lex, and Bruce discussed building a communication system between universes. Atlantis’s invasion reached Gotham before they could act, leaving the heroes to defend the harbor.

• Orm denounced Arthur’s sympathy for surface dwellers, rallied the Atlantean soldiers, and led them aboard a massive warship bound for Gotham.
• Arthur followed the Atlanteans aboard and realized they were approaching Gotham, where he had grown up.
• Downton reassured Lex and Bruce that Gotham was safe, but Lex argued they needed a way to communicate across universes and Bruce proposed using faith and shrines.
• Downton and Lex agreed to pursue Bruce’s religious communication plan, while Bruce chose to stay in Gotham and search for Steppenwolf.
• An Atlantean warship arrived at Gotham’s harbor, where its forces clashed with the Wraith Party and began seizing the port.
• Bruce flew to the harbor in his armor, and Clark, Lex, and Zod’s Kryptonians followed to fight the Atlanteans.

Arthur tried to end the slaughter, but Orm struck him down and continued the attack on Gotham’s harbor. As Orm targeted Falcone, General Zod intervened, knocked Orm unconscious, and left him waking in a shattered council chamber beneath Zod.

• Arthur begged Orm to stop the massacre, but Orm pinned him to the deck with his trident and dismissed him as pathetic.
• Fish called in weapons and reinforcements for Gotham while telling Falcone she would protect her territory without becoming Downton’s subordinate.
• Falcone called Downton about the invasion, and Orm decided to shoot him to weaken the harbor’s resistance.
• Clark intercepted Orm’s water projectile and rescued Falcone, then said someone else was handling the sea attackers.
• General Zod struck Orm unconscious, and Orm later woke in a shattered council chamber surrounded by unconscious Atlantean senators.

Zod defeated Orm and killed Duchess Carlson, forcing the surviving Atlantean councilors into a temporary ceasefire under a new chairwoman. At Gotham Harbor, Downton arrived as Fiona questioned the captured soldiers and Arthur remained pinned to a ship, leaving Downton to ask who had impaled him.

• Orm tried to negotiate with Zod, punched him, broke his hand, and was knocked unconscious.
• Zod killed Duchess Carlson and ordered the remaining councilors to stay quiet until he left the planet; the little mermaid took over as council chairwoman.
• Atlantean soldiers pointed to the impaled Arthur as their leader, and Fiona demanded to know who commanded them.
• Fiona discovered that Nereus was the only other royal commander and threw him through the warship onto the seabed.
• Downton arrived, dismissed Fiona's questioning, and approached Arthur, who asked him to stop making the trident hurt.
• Downton began pulling Arthur off the wall and asked who had shot him there.

Downton defeated the Atlantean invasion and punished its leaders, making Orm pay for the attack while sparing Nereus worse torture because of his daughter. He ordered the Kryptonians to count Gotham’s dead and execute twice as many sea folk in retaliation.

• Downton mocked Arthur’s attempt to bargain for his freedom, punched his wound, and kicked him away.
• Fiona woke Nereus and brought him before Downton, while Zod returned with the unconscious Orm.
• Downton pulled out Orm’s left eye, then forced him to swallow it as punishment for invading his territory.
• Downton spared Nereus from having an eye removed but shoved Orm’s eyeball down his throat as a meal.
• Downton ordered the Kryptonians to count his dead and kill twice as many sea folk, hanging their ears at the harbor.

Downton ordered the execution of captured Atlantean soldiers, but Clark stopped the massacre and challenged his reasoning. Downton admitted he had spared Orm because he wanted to pursue Orm’s mother, leaving Clark, Orm, Arthur, and Nereus confused about the family relationships involved.

• Downton rejected Orm’s offer to sacrifice his remaining eye and ordered the Kryptonians to execute Atlantean soldiers as Fiona counted Gotham’s dead.
• Orm watched his soldiers die and said he understood the cost of war, while Clark landed and urged Downton to punish only the commanders.
• Downton explained that he wanted Atlantis to fear war and blame Orm, and Clark suspected he was hiding his real motive.
• Clark pressed Downton until he admitted he wanted to pursue Orm’s mother, prompting Orm and Arthur to defend her and reveal they were half-brothers.
• Nereus clarified that the woman was his sister, and Zod asked why she seemed so appealing to people who reproduced naturally.

Downton and Clark ended the Atlantean invasion of Gotham without wiping out the retreating soldiers, while Diana confronted Mera over Atlantis’s betrayal. Bruce and Lex then focused on finding Steppenwolf, who was hiding near Earth’s core and panicking after sensing the Mother Boxes’ signals.

• Downton teased Fiona about her personal life before Clark urged him to spare the Atlanteans and ordered Orm, Arthur, and Nereus to leave Gotham.
• Orm apologized and agreed to return to Atlantis to prepare compensation, while Arthur left separately and Zod criticized Clark before the Kryptonians returned with Downton.
• Downton reunited with Bruce, Lex, and Diana at the manor, where Diana accused Mera and Atlantis of betraying their allies and Mera insisted she wanted cooperation.
• Bruce and Lex revealed they had built a program to scan global satellites and monitoring systems for the stolen Mother Boxes and Steppenwolf.
• Lex reasoned that Steppenwolf was hiding somewhere difficult to detect, and Steppenwolf was revealed to be near Earth’s core, panicking as he sensed the Mother Boxes’ signals.

Steppenwolf worried that Superman would thwart his invasion as he built a Parademon army beneath Earth. In New York, Hank Henshaw joined America’s High Council to discuss the alien arrivals and whether Downton’s absences from Gotham could be exploited.

• Steppenwolf considered how difficult it would be to conquer Earth with Superman present, but took comfort in the prospect of a major war earning Darkseid’s favor.
• Hank Henshaw arrived at America’s High Council, where legislators showed him footage of Zod fighting Steppenwolf and asked him to explain his emergency response plan.
• Hank remembered helping protect Clark when his spacecraft first reached Earth and realized Kryptonians could be more formidable than he had expected.
• The legislators recalled Downton’s slaughter of Amanda Waller and Gotham’s elites, and admitted they feared even speaking his name.
• The High Council set two agenda items: Hank’s response to the aliens and whether Downton’s frequent trips away from Gotham presented an opportunity.

Hank persuaded the councilmen to use Downton’s absences for their own indulgences rather than challenge him, while Bruce decided to focus on protecting Gotham. Clark offered Zod the Codex of Life, but Zod instead invited him to join an operation to save Kryptonians; meanwhile, Diana and Mera talked about visiting Themyscira.

• Hank warned the councilmen that they could not defeat Downton and advised them to enjoy themselves while he was away, which delighted them.
• Downton returned to his manor with the Kryptonians, arranged their lodging, and ignored Selina’s attempts to distract him while playing a game.
• Lex told Bruce they could not locate Steppenwolf with their current technology, and Bruce decided to return his attention to Gotham’s defenses.
• Clark offered to give Zod the Codex of Life, but Zod refused and invited him to join an operation to save hundreds of thousands of Kryptonians.
• Diana told Mera about life and activities on Themyscira, and Mera accepted her invitation to visit.

Mera asked Diana about Downton, and Diana warned her that he was a cruel man while privately wrestling with her feelings for him. Later that night, Downton sought Diana out for a drink, but their intimate moment was interrupted by Selina, who joined them and revealed she had been hoping to get close to Diana too.

• Diana reassured Mera that she would not blame her for her homeland’s attack, then warned her to stay away from Downton.
• Downton left Selina asleep and headed to the laboratory, but Bruce and Lex were too absorbed in their experiments for him to interrupt.
• Downton found Diana guarding the Mother Box and sat beside her, removing her leg armor and touching her bare foot.
• Downton kissed Diana and shared a mouthful of liquor with her, prompting Diana to flee when she spotted Selina watching.
• Selina said she had hoped to spend time with Diana and invited her to sit beside her.

Bruce chose to pursue a faith-based experiment in Gotham rather than join Downton’s trip to Atlantis, while Victor reflected on how the city had changed and showed Bruce its violent underbelly. Victor learned Bruce planned to print sculptures of Downton for people to pray to and concluded that Downton was a god.

• Bruce returned from the laboratory, found Downton and Selina sneaking out of the study, then went to bed beside Rachel, who told him she wanted a child.
• Downton invited Bruce to visit Atlantis, but Bruce declined so he could test a contact method based on faith and incense offerings in Gotham.
• Bruce rejected Downton’s suggestion that he undergo super-soldier enhancement, explaining that the serum magnified desires and cravings.
• Bruce drove Victor to the club, and Victor described Gotham’s changing gangs, government, and police before an armed confrontation with a driver escalated into a beating.
• Bruce told Victor he planned to print sculptures of Downton and find people to pray to them, prompting Victor to declare that Downton was a god.

Bruce and Victor planned to build an altar to help Downton become a god, while Downton teased Mera and prepared to meet Atlantis’s king. Downton transported his companions underwater, where Selina realized they had arrived somewhere unexpected after SpongeBob drove past them.

• Bruce and Victor agreed to consult Falcone and Eastern mystics about building an altar for Downton.
• Mera invited Downton and his companions to Atlantis, and Downton joked with her about Atlantean hygiene.
• Downton hosted a lawn party and chose Diana, Clark, Lex, and Selina to accompany him beneath the sea.
• Downton teleported the group underwater, where Mera felt at home and the others adjusted to the ocean.
• Selina spotted SpongeBob speeding by in a car and realized they were somewhere unexpected.

Downton’s group stumbled into SpongeBob’s undersea world, then teleported into the One Piece world above Marineford. As they fell toward the battlefield, Mihawk attacked them with a powerful slash, and Downton rushed to meet it.

• Mera rescued SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff after their boat crashed, while Downton and the others realized they had landed in the world of SpongeBob SquarePants.
• Downton bid SpongeBob and Patrick farewell and teleported the group away from the seafloor.
• The group appeared high above an island where a vast sheet of ice had formed, and Clark recognized the world as One Piece during the Marineford battle.
• Downton agreed to let Clark intervene, then tossed Mera and Vulko to Diana and Clark as he accelerated toward Marineford.
• Mihawk drew Yoru and unleashed a massive slash at the descending newcomers, and Downton charged forward to confront it.

Downton and his allies arrived at Marineford to save Ace, and Downton defeated Mihawk with one blow. Diana freed Ace from his Seastone shackles, while Garp sent him flying to Whitebeard; as the three admirals charged, Clark stepped into their path.

• Downton stopped Mihawk’s slash with his neck, then shattered Yoru and knocked Mihawk unconscious with the Ruyi Staff.
• Sengoku ordered the Marines to protect the execution platform and execute Ace, while Whitebeard led his forces toward the platform.
• Downton told his group to rescue Ace, and Diana rushed to the platform as the executioners swung their scythes.
• Diana blocked the scythes and broke Ace’s Seastone chains, then Garp struck her shield and sent Ace flying to Whitebeard.
• Kizaru, Akainu, and Aokiji charged toward Whitebeard and Ace, but Clark smashed through the ice and blocked their path.

Clark defeated Sakazuki with one punch and stopped the resulting shockwave from killing the battlefield’s combatants. Downton then destroyed Mary Geoise with the Ruyi Staff, leaving Clark and Kuzan to contain the damage as the Red Line began to collapse.

• Clark’s punch shattered Sakazuki and Kuzan, and Clark used his breath to stop the blast from wiping out the people below.
• The Five Elders decided to seek an audience with Lord Imu after witnessing Clark’s power and learning Mihawk’s black blade had been destroyed.
• Downton announced that he would leave a lasting mark, then aimed the Ruyi Staff toward Mary Geoise.
• Sakazuki re-formed and warned the battlefield that Downton was targeting Mary Geoise, but Downton swung the staff and blasted an enormous gap through the Red Line, killing the Five Elders and the people there.
• Downton sent Clark and Kuzan to freeze and seal the gap, telling Kuzan to maintain the ice after the others left.

After Downton destroyed Mary Geoise, Clark and Kuzan sealed the Red Line breach with ice while survivors struggled to comprehend the devastation. Downton and his companions vanished from Marineford and arrived in a sulfurous, magma-filled place where a voice challenged them for trespassing on the Dragon Palace.

• Clark told Kuzan that Mary Geoise had been destroyed, then worked with him to freeze and repair the gap in the Red Line.
• Shakky and other Sabaody survivors escaped the tsunami and learned from Kuzan that Downton had destroyed Mary Geoise with one strike from over seven hundred nautical miles away.
• At Marineford, Downton carved a vast trench through the sea, while Garp and Ace exchanged a smile amid the chaos.
• Clark returned to Downton, confirmed that the Red Line was temporarily secure, and urged him to limit harm to people and animals.
• Downton gathered his companions, warned the Marines and absent Four Emperors, and vanished with his group in flames.
• Downton and his companions arrived in a magma-filled place, where a voice accused them of trespassing on the Dragon Palace.

Downton’s group encountered dragons and demons imprisoned beneath the sea, and Downton struck the Golden-Hooped Rod, shaking the creatures loose and overpowering the dragons Ao Run and Ao Guang. He turned Ao Run into his attendant and ordered her to massage him, while she warned that an Enlightenment Sect Daoist might arrive.

• A white dragon confronted Downton’s group as demons beneath the lava argued about the newcomers in Chinese, which Clark quickly learned by listening.
• Downton dismissed the dragon’s threat and struck the pillar with the Ruyi Jingu Bang, shaking dragons, demons, and monsters out of the lava.
• Ao Run rushed toward Downton, but he grabbed her mane and slammed her head into the ground, leaving Vico, Mera, and Lex pinned beneath her body.
• Downton pulled Ao Guang headfirst into the ground when the white dragon demanded that he release Ao Run.
• Ao Run transformed into a woman and warned Downton that her eldest brother’s three-year-old child and an Enlightenment Sect Daoist might come to investigate.
• Downton ordered Ao Run to massage his shoulders, back, waist, legs, and feet.