Chapter Summaries

Dane’s Nth Metal blast devastated Apokolips but failed to kill Darkseid, who used the Mother Boxes to enslave Doomsday Batman with the Anti-Life Equation. As the war loomed, Kalibak attacked Black Robe Superman, beginning a fight between them.

• Justine opened Kalibak’s prison and told him Darkseid needed his strength for the coming war.
• Dane found Big Barda beneath the blasted wasteland, learned she had completed her task, and warned her that Darkseid might return.
• Darkseid emerged unharmed, discovered that Superman had likely escaped his control, and considered Dane’s threat and his stolen death authority.
• Darkseid used the Mother Boxes to transmit the Anti-Life Equation to Doomsday Batman, who became his puppet.
• Kalibak ambushed Black Robe Superman, who answered with Heat Vision and blasted him into the air.

Superman defeated Kalibak by driving him into Apokolips’s core, but the planet’s upheaval led Darkseid to resurrect Kalibak and send him after Jessica. As Dane and Big Barda noticed another earthquake, Big Barda worried that their mission against Darkseid might destroy her homeworld.

• Superman adapted to Kalibak’s Neural Laser Waves, seized the Beta Trophy, and turned its attacks against him before breaking the weapon and continuing their fight.
• Superman drove Kalibak into Apokolips’s core and used Heat Vision to engulf him in its energy, then was buried as the expanding core shook the planet.
• Darkseid stabilized Apokolips with the Mother Boxes and Omega Effect, resurrected Kalibak, killed him again, and resurrected him once more.
• Kalibak admitted he had lost to a Kryptonian, and Darkseid ordered him to return to prison and kill Jessica for releasing him.
• Darkseid promised to consider Kalibak’s wish to help conquer worlds if he brought Earth back under Apokolips’s rule, and Kalibak flew off to hunt Jessica.
• Dane and Big Barda noticed another earthquake, and Big Barda questioned whether their plan to target Darkseid would destroy Apokolips.

Dane restored an exhausted Superman with sunlight and concluded that Darkseid had survived their battle. On Earth, Doomsday Batman activated the Cosmic Treadmill while trying to sabotage it, allowing Reverse-Flash to arrive from another point in time and confront him.

• Dane used the Sun God's power to revive Superman, who said his opponent had been one of Darkseid's subordinates and had apparently been destroyed.
• Doomsday Batman learned from Cyborg that the Cosmic Treadmill was aboard the Watchtower and found it in the energy room.
• Doomsday Batman used a virus to distract Cyborg and charged the treadmill, intending to overload and destroy it.
• The empty treadmill began operating and a speedster appeared, catching the Batarang Doomsday Batman threw at him.
• The speedster introduced himself as Reverse-Flash and thanked Doomsday Batman for bringing him to this world.

Reverse-Flash arrived on Doomsday Earth and was poisoned by Doomsday Batman, but Darkseid used Batman to control him with the Anti-Life Equation. After agreeing to help Batman keep the Cosmic Treadmill from aiding the Justice League, Reverse-Flash disguised himself as Barry Allen and attacked Cyborg.

• Reverse-Flash used the Cosmic Treadmill to reach Doomsday Earth and recognized something unusual about Doomsday Batman.
• Doomsday Batman poisoned Reverse-Flash with a neurotoxin, but Reverse-Flash offered to help destroy the Flash users instead of the treadmill.
• Darkseid ordered Batman to use the Anti-Life Equation to control Reverse-Flash, who then received the antidote and pledged to kill the Flashes.
• Batman left the Cosmic Treadmill, and Reverse-Flash disguised himself as Barry Allen to approach Cyborg in the Watchtower.
• Reverse-Flash drove his vibrating hand into Cyborg's chest and seized his heart.

Dane sent Apokolips into a dream, weakening Darkseid’s control and bringing Yuga Khan into the planet’s memories. Darkseid fought the apparent return of his father, and Yuga Khan dragged him back into the fight after Darkseid struck him with an Omega-powered punch.

• Cyborg survived Reverse-Flash’s attack long enough to help Deathstorm injure him and force him to flee into the Speed Force.
• Deathstorm used his power to repair Cyborg’s mechanical body, leaving Cyborg to decide whether he would remain human or become a machine.
• Dane scattered Sand of Dreams at Apokolips’s key nodes so the planet’s ley lines would carry it to the core and put Apokolips to sleep.
• Darkseid noticed his control weakening, and Desaad discovered that Apokolips’s power was flowing to a familiar being before a glance from that being killed him.
• Yuga Khan appeared before Darkseid as Apokolips’s remembered former ruler and overpowered him with a crushing blow.
• Darkseid blasted Yuga Khan backward, seized his horn, and struck him with an Omega-powered punch, but Yuga Khan retaliated with an energy field and pulled Darkseid back with a whip.

Dane’s push sent Apokolips into a chaotic dream of overlapping eras, while Darkseid fought apparent versions of Yuga Khan and Steppenwolf and unleashed a devastating energy clash. On New Genesis, Highfather discussed Darkseid’s marriage alliance and the danger it posed, then noticed something approaching in the sky.

• Darkseid fought Yuga Khan and Steppenwolf, whose attacks became dangerous as Darkseid’s power drained away.
• Darkseid unleashed his destructive divine power, discovered that Yuga Khan had no soul or consciousness, and destroyed Steppenwolf in the ensuing blast.
• Big Barda watched Apokolips’s landscapes and inhabitants from different eras appear and clash, while Dane explained that he had only nudged the planet’s dream.
• New Genesis’s observers reported Apokolips’s upheaval to Highfather, who worried that Darkseid’s marriage alliance was a scheme to invade.
• Highfather told Vaira why he had allowed New Genesis’s younger gods to decide on the alliance and explained his effort to separate divine authority from governance.
• Highfather began to share an idea for dealing with Darkseid, then spotted a small black dot approaching in the sky.

Orion infiltrated Apokolips to investigate Darkseid’s plans, but ran into his hostile brother Kalibak amid a war caused by Apokolips’s spreading dream. As Dane revealed his plan to cripple Apokolips, Big Barda confronted him over the planet’s fate, leaving their alliance on the verge of breaking apart.

• Highfather sent Orion to Apokolips alone to discover Darkseid’s intentions, and Orion accepted the mission.
• Orion found Apokolips engulfed in battles between Parademons and New Gods, then fought off Kalibak and escaped on his Star-Board.
• Kalibak recognized Orion as his brother and pursued him, while the dream’s returning figures and shifting timelines expanded the fighting across Apokolips.
• Big Barda questioned whether helping Dane had been the right choice as she witnessed the devastation and learned that Dane considered Darkseid’s defeat insufficient.
• Dane said Apokolips needed to be crippled so it could no longer threaten Earth, and Big Barda drew her staff and demanded to know what he planned to do with the planet’s Destiny.
• Dane told Big Barda that his plan was his alone and that the Justice League did not know about it.

Dane confirmed that weakening Apokolips could loosen Darkseid’s connection to the planet, but he continued searching for a way to sever it and make Darkseid mortal. After Big Barda left him, Grail attacked her, extracted her memories, and discovered that Dane was someone she could not clearly perceive; Dane sensed something unusual from afar.

• Big Barda refused to help Dane weaken Apokolips and left, while Dane told Superman that killing Darkseid remained their priority.
• Grail confronted Big Barda and defeated her in battle using her trident and superior strength.
• Grail marked Big Barda’s forehead with an Omega symbol and used her power to read Big Barda’s memories.
• Grail learned what Dane was doing on Apokolips but found his face obscured, and her attempt to see him clearly triggered a backlash.
• Dane stopped while walking with Superman and looked toward the distant place where Big Barda and Grail were.

Dane and Superman crossed Apokolips’s shifting dreamscape and encountered Orion, who was fleeing Kalibak. Dane killed Kalibak by seizing his soul, then sensed a connection between Orion and Darkseid.

• Grail found herself trapped on Apokolips and used her remaining strength to place Big Barda under mind control.
• Dane and Superman navigated Apokolips’s distorted spaces, where battles and shifting terrain repeatedly disrupted their journey.
• Superman clashed with Orion, and Dane saved Orion from being swept into a spatial rift.
• Kalibak arrived and attacked, but Dane used the Black Racer’s death power to seize Kalibak’s soul and kill him permanently.
• Dane told Superman and Orion that he could seize New Gods’ souls, then asked Orion whether he was connected to Darkseid.

Dane and Superman recruited Orion to investigate Apokolips, while Doomsday Batman planned to use Firestorm’s Storm Matrix against Deathstorm. On the Watchtower, the Justice League investigated Cyborg’s attack and summoned The Grid to help restore deleted surveillance footage.

• Dane introduced himself and Superman to Orion, learned that Orion came from New Genesis, and offered to cooperate in investigating Apokolips.
• Orion accepted Dane’s offer, and the three flew off together toward another space.
• Doomsday Batman restored Reverse-Flash with Speed Force energy and planned to retrieve Firestorm’s corpse to combine its Storm Matrix with Deathstorm’s.
• Deathstorm briefed the Justice League on Reverse-Flash’s attack, while Batman discovered that someone had deleted Watchtower surveillance footage.
• Batman asked Flash to bring The Grid from another world to help recover the footage, and Deathstorm explained that Cyborg’s survival depended on his sense of self.

The Justice League restored the Watchtower footage and discovered that Doomsday Batman had tampered with the surveillance and likely overloaded the Cosmic Treadmill to let Reverse-Flash enter. They turned to Constantine for help finding him, while Constantine arrived in New London and asked a vampire about a Dragon's Tooth.

• Batman used The Grid to restore the Watchtower footage, which showed Reverse-Flash revealing his true identity after attacking Cyborg.
• Batman found footage of Doomsday Batman tampering with the surveillance network, and the League deduced that he had activated the Cosmic Treadmill while it was unattended.
• Batman suspected Doomsday Batman had overloaded the treadmill and asked Superman to search for him, but Superman could not find him.
• The League decided to seek Constantine, who was in New London among gathered supernatural survivors.
• A vampire confronted Constantine over an old promise, but his consecrated cross burned her when she touched it.
• Constantine asked the vampire whether a Dragon's Tooth was in New London.

Constantine joined the Justice League as they tracked down Doomsday Batman, who had stolen Firestorm’s powers and prepared to raise the buried heroes as an army. The League was overwhelmed as the cemetery’s dead began to awaken.

• A vampire woman trapped Constantine in a sacrificial summoning circle, but Superman interrupted and brought him to the Watchtower.
• Constantine located another Batman, and Cyborg warned that Batman’s behavior might be controlled by the Anti-Life Equation.
• The League traveled to the Wayne cemetery, where Batman realized Doomsday Batman might use the buried heroes’ bodies and DNA.
• The League found Doomsday Batman with Firestorm’s corpse, and he revealed that he had claimed Firestorm’s powers.
• Doomsday Batman used Firestorm’s powers to repel the League, while a yellow speedster struck Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.
• Doomsday Batman unleashed the Storm Matrix, and the buried superheroes began to awaken.

Doomsday Batman used the Storm Matrix to revive and restore dead Justice League members, forcing the heroes to fight both the resurrected corpses and Reverse-Flash. As the battle overwhelmed the team, Queen Super and other allies arrived through a teleportation portal.

• Doomsday Batman sent dead Shazam after Green Lantern while he flew out of the underground base and fought Superman and Wonder Woman.
• Batman deduced that the corpses were controlled by reconstructed brains, then helped the Flashes capture Reverse-Flash with a Speed Force-absorbing restraint suit.
• Reverse-Flash revealed his Negative Speed Force, shattered the restraint, and destroyed the underground base with a shockwave.
• Doomsday Batman restored more dead Justice League members, who attacked Superman and Green Lantern as the collapsing hill crushed Wayne Manor.
• Queen Super and other Justice League members arrived through a teleportation portal to support the heroes.

Dane and his allies reached Darkseid’s palace on Apokolips and prepared to kill him before he could awaken the planet, while Dane arranged for Deathstorm and The Grid to finish a Quantum State Bomb. On Earth, Doomsday Batman’s zombie army faced the Justice League as Satan invaded through a gate opened by a zombie Constantine, leaving the League overwhelmed by demons.

• The Justice League fought Doomsday Batman’s zombie army while Batman pursued Doomsday Batman, and Constantine discovered that a zombie version of himself had opened a gate to Hell.
• Satan emerged from the gate, revealed that he wanted Constantine’s soul, and sent a swarm of demons to attack Earth as the Justice League called for Dane.
• Dane, Superman, and Orion reached Darkseid’s palace, where Dane explained that Darkseid could restore Apokolips if he discovered the planet was dreaming.
• Dane contacted The Grid and Deathstorm, ordered them to finish calibrating the Quantum State Bomb, and The Grid joined Deathstorm’s final tests.
• Grail arrived at the palace and questioned what was happening to Apokolips, while Big Barda regained control of her mind but remained physically controlled by Grail.

Grail revealed that she was Darkseid’s daughter and sought the Power Ring to reach and kill Darkseid’s true body, but her search was interrupted by a battle near the palace. Meanwhile, Dane and his companions entered Darkseid’s palace, where Dane examined the furnace that powered Apokolips and considered testing its effect on Superman.

• Grail told Big Barda that an Amazon had given birth to her after Darkseid’s first invasion of Earth, raising her to kill him.
• Grail compelled Big Barda to take her to Darkseid’s trophy warehouse, but she did not find the Power Ring there.
• Grail used her Omega Ray to control the Female Furies and searched their memories, learning nothing about the ring.
• Grail explained that she needed the ring to travel between parallel universes and find Darkseid’s true body, then sensed someone fighting Darkseid.
• An unseen fighter’s Omega Ray killed Granny Goodness, and Grail protected Big Barda from the blast.
• Dane and his companions entered Darkseid’s palace, where Dane inspected the furnace that channeled Apokolips’s core energy and considered testing its power on Superman.

Dane descended into Apokolips’s core, where Orion awakened a violent power and attacked Superman. At the core, Dane confronted Darkseid and learned that Yuga Khan’s shadow was breaking free and threatening to become real.

• Dane persuaded Superman and Orion to enter Apokolips’s furnace so they could gain power, while he studied the planet’s connection to Darkseid.
• Superman stopped at a deep chamber to absorb Apokolips’s energy, while Dane continued toward the core and Orion endured the furnace’s heat.
• Orion awakened a powerful rage-fueled ability, healed his injuries, and charged at Superman, who fought back.
• Dane reached the core and learned that Apokolips’s weakened connection had reduced Darkseid’s Omega Effect and left him unable to fully suppress the presence below.
• Yuga Khan’s shadow emerged from Apokolips’s inner core, and Darkseid warned Dane that it was growing stronger and could become real.
• Dane set aside his plan to kill Darkseid and decided Yuga Khan was the greater threat.

Dane and Darkseid fought Yuga Khan as he emerged from Apokolips’s core, while Superman and Orion joined the battle on the surface. Zeus’s lightning struck Yuga Khan, and Cortana helped Big Barda escape Grail’s control; the lightning exposed the core inside Yuga Khan’s body.

• Yuga Khan emerged from Apokolips’s core, grabbed Dane and Darkseid, and began draining their energy, but Dane escaped and freed Darkseid.
• Dane fought Yuga Khan inside the planet until Yuga Khan struck him through the crust and sent him past Orion and Superman.
• Yuga Khan caught Superman and overpowered Orion, while Darkseid blinded Yuga Khan with his Omega Ray and called down Zeus’s lightning.
• Cortana entered Big Barda’s mind and helped her break free from Grail’s control, and Big Barda struck Grail with the Million-Ton Staff and fled.
• Zeus’s lightning burned away the outer substance of Yuga Khan’s body, revealing its core, while Superman was hurled away.

Dane attacked Yuga Khan as he tried to drain Darkseid and draw power from Apokolips, but Yuga Khan used the planet itself to resist. Dane opened the Abyssal Gate and transformed Apokolips into a demonic battlefield, while Grail captured Orion and Darkseid began absorbing her power.

• Yuga Khan trapped Darkseid in a cocoon-like form and drained his power, but Dane struck Yuga Khan with the Power of Death and helped Darkseid break free.
• Yuga Khan wrapped himself in Apokolips and drew on the planet’s power, so Dane opened the Abyssal Gate and unleashed demons across the world.
• Yuga Khan rebuilt his body from Apokolips’s rocks and fought the abyssal demon god as their clash sent destructive infrasound across the battlefield.
• Grail hit Superman with her trident, bound Orion with the Lasso of Truth, and burned Superman with Omega Rays when he returned to pursue her.
• Darkseid confronted Grail, seized her, and began absorbing the divine power within her despite her continued Omega Ray attack.

Darkseid drained Grail’s Omega Power, but she stole Orion’s Star Power and triggered his berserk transformation before Superman intervened. As Dane and Darkseid fought Yuga Khan on Apokolips, Dane unleashed the Seven Deadly Sins across the planet, while Yuga Khan grew stronger by gathering the souls of those killed in the chaos; the battle continued as Dane’s invasion gradually weakened Apokolips’s resistance.

• Darkseid absorbed Grail’s Omega Power and left her near death, then passed over Orion without attacking him.
• Grail used sorcery to take Orion’s Star Power, but Orion broke free of the Lasso of Truth and attacked her until Superman’s Heat Vision forced him to release her.
• Superman and Orion charged into battle and collided in midair as Dane’s demon god body fought Yuga Khan above Apokolips.
• Dane merged his God of Death body with the demon god body, entered Yuga Khan’s soul-filled form, and fought through the spirits attacking him while Yuga Khan battled him outside.
• Dane sent the Seven Deadly Sins to corrupt Apokolips’s inhabitants, while Yuga Khan encouraged deaths to gather more souls and strengthen himself.
• As Apokolips’s resistance weakened, Dane used openings caused by Darkseid’s havoc inside Yuga Khan to batter him, while spatial disasters killed people across the planet.

Dane and Yuga Khan fought for control of Apokolips while Grail survived the battle and resolved to grow stronger. On Earth, Constantine summoned Paimon to confront Satan as demons poured from Hell.

• Apokolips backed Yuga Khan as he fought Dane, but Dane used spatial power to slash Yuga Khan and continued trading blows with him.
• Superman and Orion fled the giants’ battlefield after Orion regained his sanity amid the devastating aftershocks.
• Grail escaped the ruins without the Omega Power, assessed her remaining abilities and equipment, and set out to plunder New Gods so she could eventually kill Darkseid.
• Satan opened the gates of Hell through Constantine’s corpse and released countless demons, forcing Constantine and the Justice League into battle against demons and the zombie army.
• Constantine summoned Paimon, a demon noble of the Gethia Family who served Dane, and Paimon cut Satan’s throat with a single swipe.