Chapter Summaries

Chen Tao returned the displaced heroes to their timelines with Time Master and Golden Pioneer, who erased their memories to prevent catastrophic timeline damage. After the heroes began experiencing echoes of Chen Tao’s unsettling laugh, he visited the awakened Justice League, who said they had a surprise for him.

• Time Master explained that the heroes’ absence was creating unstable timelines and begged Chen Tao to send them back quickly.
• Chen Tao vomited and poured more than three thousand heroes from his body, marking them before Time Master and Golden Pioneer erased their memories and returned them to their proper eras.
• When Old Batman resisted having his memories erased, Chen Tao subdued him, healed the back he had broken, and frightened him with a Batman Who Laughs routine before he was sent home.
• The heroes returned to their timelines and heard echoes of Chen Tao’s deranged laughter, while Golden Pioneer and Time Master watched Superman weaken Doomsday with Kryptonite powder.
• Chen Tao entered the Justice League’s ward and found the awakened heroes smiling as they announced that they had a surprise for him.

After undoing the Purple Lantern transformations and restoring the people affected by them, Chen Tao discovered that the Joker had returned and begun a massacre in Metropolis. The Justice League revealed they had rebuilt Fiji so Chen Tao could retire, and they insisted on handling the Joker themselves.

• Chen Tao freed the people from the Purple Lanterns, repaired the damage caused by their transformations, and returned to Earth to check on the Justice League.
• At a funeral in Metropolis, the Joker resurrected the dead wife as a zombie, infected mourners, and used Laughing Gas on the grieving little girl before fleeing with her.
• Chen Tao found Clayface posing as the Justice League and learned from a recording that the real League was in Fiji.
• Chen Tao traveled to Fiji and discovered the Justice League, Lex Luthor, and over two thousand Green Lanterns rebuilding the islands as a surprise retirement retreat for him.
• After Superman reported the Joker's massacre in Metropolis, Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern Hal, and Lex Luthor told Chen Tao that they would handle him.

The Justice League discussed Joker’s hostage and bomb threat while Batman relaxed on Fiji, then Wonder Woman proposed disguising the team as Batmen and infecting themselves with an improved Joker-Man virus to foil Joker’s plan. Diana injected herself first, leaving the League poised to follow her risky strategy.

• Batman relaxed on Fiji with Alfred while the Justice League watched him on a screen.
• The Martian Manhunter briefed the League that Joker had kidnapped an eight-year-old girl, revealed his location in Gotham, and planted four bombs.
• Wonder Woman persuaded the League to disguise themselves as Batman and confront Joker without using their powers.
• Diana theorized that Joker intended to infect the League with Laughing Gas Virus and make them attack Batman.
• Diana revealed an improved Joker-Man virus and injected herself to prevent Joker from controlling her.

Wonder Woman led the Justice League in taking a temporary, weakened Joker-Man virus to prepare for an investigation in Gotham, while Chen Tao struggled to trust them to handle the threat. In Gotham, Batgirl Barbara Gordon investigated a comedian’s murder and opened her door to a group of grinning visitors.

• Diana revealed that Batman’s files had briefed the Justice League on the Dark Knights, then injected herself with a temporary Joker-Man variant prepared by Luther and Lucius.
• Wonder Woman showed the League footage of the Joker creating a zombie through reality warping, and Zatanna confirmed the threat’s nature before warning them to be cautious.
• Diana ordered the League to take their doses and head to Gotham to find Batwoman, while Alfred urged Chen Tao to trust his companions.
• Barbara Gordon learned that the Joker had murdered comedian Kealani Apal and recalled the Joker’s attack that had left her paralyzed.
• Barbara prepared to investigate Apal’s death, heard eerie laughter outside her apartment, and opened the door to several grinning figures.

The Justice League investigated a Joker killing spree in Gotham and deduced that three Jokers were behind the crimes and that Joker venom was being stored at the aquarium. Meanwhile, Criminal brought Batwoman Barbara Gordon to the Jokers’ hideout, while Chen Tao remained unaware of the danger as he watched Gotham from Fiji.

• A raccoon licked green liquid spilled by a tanker truck and became manic, while The Jester and The Comedian waited at a cabin for Criminal.
• Criminal arrived at the cabin carrying Batwoman Barbara Gordon and joined the other Jokers to discuss their plans.
• At Ace Chemical Factory, Harvey Bullock and Jim Gordon found three Joker-like corpses, including a decoy dressed as Batwoman, and the Justice League arrived to investigate.
• The Justice League reasoned that three Jokers had committed the separate crimes and that the missing tanker truck had carried Joker venom.
• Chen Tao watched from Fiji as his companion urged him to leave for a surfing trip, while the Justice League deduced that Joker venom was at Gotham City Aquarium and headed there.

Barbatos recovered from his battle, accepted the Anti-Monitor's Celestial Brain, and negotiated with Emperor Joker, who promised to help him invade the Prime Universe. After learning Emperor Joker intended to enter reality, The Batman Who Laughs decided to contact the Dark Multiverse Batman who had thwarted Barbatos.

• Barbatos recovered his forces after driving away Parallax Hal and Supreme Superboy, then accepted the Anti-Monitor's Celestial Brain from The Batman Who Laughs.
• Barbatos ordered The Batman Who Laughs and the Dark Knights to prepare for an attack on the Monitor, then teleported them out of the World Forge.
• Emperor Joker contacted Barbatos and offered to help him invade the Prime Universe in exchange for fresh universes to play with.
• Barbatos agreed to cooperate with Emperor Joker if he could enter reality without Barbatos's help.
• The Batman Who Laughs eavesdropped on their conversation and decided to contact the Dark Multiverse Batman who had thwarted Barbatos, hoping to disrupt Emperor Joker's arrival.

The Batman Who Laughs prepared for Emperor Joker while the Three Jokers planned to create a better Joker and target Batman. Chen Tao received a message from the Batman Who Laughs, as the Joker-infected Justice League confronted The Jester at the aquarium.

• The Batman Who Laughs turned a kidnapped boy into a Robin Dog and sent a Robin Dog to deliver information to Chen Tao.
• The Criminal assigned The Comedian to build a factory and The Jester to find actors for their plan to create a perfect Joker.
• Chen Tao realized the Joker had evaded surveillance, opened his fortress to a Robin Dog, and heard it claim it had information from the Batman Who Laughs.
• Wonder Woman warned the Joker-infected Justice League not to kill the Joker, while Aquaman examined the smiling sharks at the aquarium.
• The Jester entered with a crowd of strange creatures, then faltered when the smiling Justice League turned to face him.

The Justice League defeated the Jester’s horde of magically enhanced Jokers at the aquarium, but Diana concluded that he was only a decoy and that the other Jokers were preparing a trap for Batman. She arranged for Superman to pose as Batman and planned to use the Joker-Man virus and its antidote to fool the enemy, while Chen Tao watched from Fiji and wondered why the Justice League was becoming so shameless.

• Hal and Diana recognized that the Jester was a decoy and warned the Justice League that his staff’s reality-warping power could affect them.
• The Jester created hordes of powerful laughing Jokers, and the Justice League fought them as Gaggy and Joker-infected fish attacked Aquaman.
• The Justice League struck down the Jester, and Diana deduced that the real Jokers were recreating cases from Batman’s early career while holding Barbara hostage.
• Diana ordered Shazam and Aquaman to stand by in Gotham’s sewers and chose Superman to impersonate Batman for at least half a year.
• Diana prepared an antidote and another dose of Joker-Man virus for the plan, while Chen Tao watched from Fiji and questioned the League’s growing shamelessness.

Batman learned that Joker had taken over Arkham Asylum and was turning it into a home for him, so he left Alfred to respond to the threat. At Gotham Reservoir, Clark, disguised as Batman, discovered that Joker had recreated their earlier confrontation, poisoned the water, destroyed the bridge, and killed civilians.

• The Penguin told Batman that Joker had visited him, claimed Arkham was being transformed into Batman’s castle, and warned that the Justice League might not be able to stop him.
• Batman explained that Joker could have used reality-altering powers to deceive the Penguin, then decided to leave Alfred and return to the fight.
• Alfred helped Batman prepare by bringing him his Batsuit and sandwiches.
• Diana deduced that Joker’s next move would be at Gotham Reservoir, and Clark went there disguised as Batman.
• Joker used a hologram to confront Clark and described how he had repeated their earlier reservoir encounter.
• Joker revealed that the reservoir water was poisoned, the bridge was destroyed, and civilians had been killed.

Chen Tao tried to resurrect three Joker victims by rewriting reality, but Death struck him down, so he planned to seek Zatanna’s help against the Joker. Meanwhile, Clark disguised as Batman confronted the Joker, who revealed that Barbara Gordon was part of a deadly celebration and moved to restrain Clark again.

• Chen Tao attempted to restore three victims’ lives, but each resurrection failed and a girl who appeared to be Death knocked him through the morgue window.
• Chen Tao abandoned his plan to use resurrection to thwart the Joker and decided to find Zatanna while the Justice League kept the Joker occupied.
• Clark let the Joker bind him and questioned him about Barbara Gordon’s location while pretending to be Batman.
• The Joker taunted Clark, explained his fixation on being beaten by Batman, and revealed that Barbara was far away as part of a special feast.
• Clark broke free and struck the Joker, but the Joker used poison and then summoned chains and tentacles to restrain him again.

The Justice League fought Joker after he used reality-altering power to transform them and their counterparts, while Wonder Woman kept attacking despite becoming a pig. Chen Tao then asked Zatanna how to counter the magic and decided Faust would sacrifice his power to contact Mister Mxyzptlk.

• Superman destroyed Joker's reality-altering club, but Joker revealed he could still transform the Justice League and their counterparts.
• Joker turned Hal and Carol Ferris into each other, transformed Superman into Condiment King, changed Shazam into female Bane, and turned Aquaman into an octopus.
• Joker transformed Wonder Woman into a pig, but she picked up her sword and continued fighting him.
• Zatanna explained that only a Five-Dimensional Being could counter Joker's altered reality and that a mage would have to permanently sacrifice his power to contact Mister Mxyzptlk.
• Chen Tao offered himself as the sacrifice, but Zatanna said he was not a mage, so he chose Faust instead and declared that Faust would contribute to saving the world.

Zatanna warned Chen Tao that Faust was a dangerous mage and helped him prepare to invade Faust’s lair. Chen Tao’s ambush failed when Faust revealed Black Lantern power, and Zatanna was trapped by a spell that prevented incantations as Chen Tao prepared to fight back.

• Zatanna stopped Chen Tao from rushing ahead, explained the dangers of Faust and the magic world, and warned him to dismiss Ion Shark and Parallax before entering the lair.
• Chen Tao sent away Ion Shark and Parallax, then traveled with Zatanna to Faust’s magical fortress.
• Chen Tao smashed into Faust’s palace, stabbed him through the heart, and used The Green to keep him alive as leverage.
• Faust revealed Black Lantern power, broke free of Chen Tao’s hold, and attacked him and Zatanna.
• Zatanna discovered she could not cast incantations inside Faust’s fortress, while Chen Tao grabbed Faust again and secretly drew a Black Lantern Ring.

The Batman Who Laughs devised a plan after torturing and killing two Dark Multiverse Batmen, then left to act on Emperor Joker’s movements. Emperor Joker approached the Black Death Emperor to propose a partnership, while a stone figure of The Batman Who Laughs appeared before Chen Tao and claimed he was a hero there to help.

• The Batman Who Laughs tortured two Dark Multiverse Batmen, killed the older one, and maimed the younger one after making him laugh.
• The Batman Who Laughs killed the younger Batman outside the Laughing Batcave, then vanished in a flash of blue light.
• The Batman Who Laughs detected movement from Emperor Joker on the Over-Time Stream and set off to put his plan into action.
• Emperor Joker appeared before the Black Death Emperor in the Land of the Dead and proposed a partnership.
• After capturing Faust alive, Chen Tao saw stones assemble into a figure of The Batman Who Laughs, who introduced himself as a hero and offered to help.

The Batman Who Laughs disguised his motives while warning Chen Tao that Emperor Joker and Black Death Emperor had allied against his world. Chen Tao proposed forming the Dark Multiverse Resistance and unexpectedly nominated The Batman Who Laughs as its leader.

• The Batman Who Laughs used a stone puppet and a carefully crafted half-truth about his past to earn Chen Tao's sympathy and trust.
• He warned Chen Tao that Emperor Joker had escaped his timeline and allied with Black Death Emperor, and explained that the Three Jokers were evidence of timeline monsters interfering with the present.
• The Batman Who Laughs secretly planned to lure Chen Tao into confronting Emperor Joker and then send him to his death in the Over-Time Stream.
• Chen Tao agreed that the alliance posed a serious threat and proposed establishing the Dark Multiverse Resistance.
• Chen Tao asked The Batman Who Laughs to lead the resistance.

Chen Tao kept The Batman Who Laughs from steering their conversation and secured a method for finding powerful worlds in the Dark Multiverse. The Batman Who Laughs revealed that Barbatos was behind Black Death Emperor and Emperor Joker’s new plan, while Chen Tao remained focused on expanding their organization.

• Chen Tao decided his Justice League had only uncovered the first layer of the information he had left behind and did not need its memories erased.
• The Batman Who Laughs confronted Chen Tao about his distrust, but Chen Tao claimed to be a loyal underling and pitched expanding their organization.
• Chen Tao repeatedly promoted making the Dark Multiverse great again until The Batman Who Laughs offered him a method to travel quickly between, and filter, Dark Multiverse worlds.
• The Batman Who Laughs explained that Black Death Emperor had planned to use Faust to forge Black Lantern Rings, but Chen Tao had killed Faust.
• The Batman Who Laughs revealed that Emperor Joker would use his Joker avatars in Faust’s place and identified Barbatos as the hidden force behind the scheme.

Chen Tao asked The Batman Who Laughs how to stop Black Death Emperor from entering his world and thwart Emperor Joker's plan. In the Land of the Dead, Black Death Emperor faced a growing group of mysterious black-clad figures demanding that he release Huo Rong.

• Chen Tao asked The Batman Who Laughs for a way to block Black Death Emperor's descent and stop Emperor Joker's scheme.
• Black Death Emperor reflected on his alliance with Emperor Joker and his plan to use William Hand to expand his power.
• Several dozen dead, black-clad figures appeared before Black Death Emperor and demanded that he release Huo Rong.
• A First Lantern from a Batman universe arrived and made the same demand, though he did not know the black-clad figures.
• Countless portals opened behind Black Death Emperor, and more black-clad figures emerged as he demanded to know who they were.

The Batman Who Laughs explained how Black Death Emperor could descend, while steering Chen Tao toward a choice that would help the plan. Chen Tao saw through the manipulation and decided to team up with the Joker, leaving his next move uncertain.

• The Batman Who Laughs described three conditions for Black Death Emperor's descent: an agent, enough Black Lanterns, and a powerful corpse to serve as a battery.
• The Batman Who Laughs claimed Emperor Joker was manipulating the Three Jokers and that the Justice League's struggles would help forge the Blue Lantern Corps.
• Chen Tao realized that either saving his teammates or letting them die could advance Black Death Emperor's plan.
• Chen Tao recognized that The Batman Who Laughs had been lying and manipulating him from the start.
• Chen Tao decided to team up with the Joker, reasoning that The Batman Who Laughs wrongly assumed he was Batman.

The Batman Who Laughs explained Emperor Joker’s plan to use the Justice League’s hope to create a Blue Lantern Ring and help Black Death Emperor invade their world. The ring formed during the League’s battle, but flew toward Joker instead of Barry Allen.

• The Batman Who Laughs told Chen Tao that all three Jokers had to stay alive and that the Justice League’s hope would trigger the Blue Lantern Ring’s creation.
• Chen Tao and Zatanna prepared to find Faust and counter the reality-altering power while keeping The Comedian and Criminal from becoming Black Death Emperor’s agents.
• Wonder Woman and the Justice League fought The Comedian’s altered monsters, while Diana revealed she had been magically monitoring Batman.
• Barry Allen arrived as reinforcements and knocked The Comedian unconscious, but the Emotional Spectrum’s blue light began gathering around the League.
• Barry forged a Blue Lantern Ring and reached for it, but the ring flew toward Joker.

The Black Death Emperor demanded that Emperor Joker make one of the Three Jokers die, while Batman captured the Comedian Joker and asked him to help create a murder. The chapter ended with Batman naming the Joker as the intended victim.

• The Black Death Emperor fought off Shadow Hordes and demanded the First Lantern of the Prime Universe as the price of their deal.
• Zatanna stopped the Criminal Joker from killing himself and, with Bane's help, captured him.
• Batman forced a blue ring onto the Comedian Joker, blocked the Batman Who Laughs's surveillance, and asked the Joker for help.
• The Black Death Emperor learned that all three Jokers were alive and warned Emperor Joker that their deal would end unless one died.
• Batman showed the Comedian Joker information about the Batman Who Laughs and said he intended to create a murder with the Joker as its victim.

Chen Tao killed and revived The Comedian Joker with both Blue and Black Lantern rings, then planned to use him to address the Justice League’s problems. Meanwhile, Shadow Hordes negotiated with Black Death Emperor for First Lantern and began a deceptive alliance with him.

• Chen Tao’s upgraded Crystal Coffin killed Joker, and Chen Tao checked the body before using an incomplete Black Lantern Ring to revive him as a Blue-and-Black Lantern.
• Saint Walker sensed the new Blue Lantern Corps Master and hoped the unknown senior could help save Astonia’s failing sun.
• Chen Tao told the altered Justice League that they had captured all three Jokers and that Joker would help them.
• Shadow Hordes stopped Black Death Emperor’s attack by offering to find a Black Lantern Central Power Battery and negotiated to take First Lantern from the Prime Universe.
• Shadow Hordes met First Lantern’s ghost, claimed to be his Dark Multiverse counterpart, and showed him Third Army members he could not control.
• First Lantern accepted Shadow Hordes’s explanation and began discussing their next move as the disguised face beneath a Third Army hood changed.