Chapter Summaries

Eobard Thawne revealed to Thomas Wayne that he had repeatedly reset the timeline, but Bruce Wayne always died and the world still collapsed. After accepting that he could not prevent the apocalypse, Eobard lived through each cycle until a mysterious voice persuaded him to break from his empty routine, and he accepted its proposal to inspect Mohair.

• Thomas Wayne held Eobard at gunpoint and demanded that he restart the world to bring Bruce back, while Victor Stone protested and Superman lay dead.
• Eobard anticipated Thomas's words, revealed he had endured many cycles, and explained that Bruce and the world's disasters always returned despite his efforts to change events.
• Eobard described dying and being revived by the timeline, then admitted he had settled for enjoying brief moments with Thomas and young Bruce before each inevitable apocalypse.
• A mysterious voice challenged Eobard to confront the lie of his repetitive existence and urged him to be brave for himself.
• Eobard accepted the voice's proposal and asked what it wanted him to do; it replied, "Inspect Mohair."

Chen Tao drew the Speed Force’s attention in Reverse-Flash’s universe, but before Reverse-Flash appeared, The Grim Knight arrived to kill him. Chen Tao found the hostage The Grim Knight was using and shot her, declaring that he was a villain.

• Chen Tao synchronized his legs with Red Death’s Speed Force, entertained the civilians with a performance, and left golden Reverse-Flash lightning flickering in his tracks.
• The Batman Who Laughs welcomed The Grim Knight and The Merciless, then ordered The Merciless to kill Batman Dragon.
• The Grim Knight emerged through a portal before Chen Tao and claimed his life was magically linked to an innocent girl’s.
• Chen Tao disarmed The Grim Knight, tore off a piece of his flesh, and used Bat-Brainiac’s psychic power to search his memories for the hostage.
• Chen Tao found the little girl and shot her in the head, telling The Grim Knight that he was a villain, not a superhero.

Reverse-Flash Albert Swann realized repeated timeline resets had weakened his universe and that the time cops had vanished. When someone else began reversing time, he raced to stop them from damaging the timeline further.

• Reverse-Flash returned from the Speed Force with clear memories of the previous timeline and collapsed from a severe headache.
• He used the Speed Force to reduce the injuries caused when he crashed into the street, then realized the Time Wraiths and Black Flash were gone.
• Reverse-Flash concluded that his repeated reboots had weakened the Speed Force and left the timeline too fragile to endure many more resets.
• As Reverse-Flash resolved not to reboot the timeline again, someone began reversing time to resurrect the dead.
• Reverse-Flash sensed the unauthorized timeline reversal and ran toward its source to stop whoever was responsible.

Bane gathered Hecate’s magicians to prepare them for Emperor Joker and gave Wonder Woman a special Joker potion to drink early. Meanwhile, Chen Tao reversed time to save a little girl, fought The Grim Knight, and sensed that The Merciless had arrived on Paradise Island.

• Bane explained that the green potion was Joker venom meant to protect the magicians from Emperor Joker’s reality-altering power.
• Bane persuaded Wonder Woman to drink a blue mixture of Joker venom and violet-light energy so she could unsettle an unexpected enemy.
• Chen Tao moved through shattered timelines and rewound events to restore a little girl after The Grim Knight had killed her.
• Chen Tao dragged The Grim Knight into an alley, impaled him with rebar, and recognized the divine power of the God of War in his body.
• Chen Tao wondered why The Grim Knight had been sent to fight him, then sensed Reverse-Flash approaching.
• The Merciless stood on Paradise Island in Reverse-Flash’s timeline.

Inside the Metal Spirit, Chen Tao continued provoking the captive Bruces through Bat-Mite to harvest their emotions. Meanwhile, The Batman Who Laughs recruited King Robin by forcing him through a Joker Venom transformation, then prepared to use Mister Mxyzptlk to summon Bat-Mite.

• The captive Bruces argued over how long they had been imprisoned, received lunch from Bat-Mite robots, and one Bruce repeatedly failed to reach a human representative.
• Chen Tao gathered the Bruces’ emotions across the seven-color Emotional Spectrum and smelted the energy in a furnace beneath their cells.
• King Robin slaughtered heroes in his collapsing Dark Multiverse world, and The Batman Who Laughs persuaded him that another world offered more meaningful violence.
• The Batman Who Laughs brought King Robin to Earth-22 and showed him the caged children being converted into Robin Dogs.
• King Robin fell into the Joker Venom pool and secretly preserved part of his consciousness, while The Batman Who Laughs left carrying King Robin’s belt with Mister Mxyzptlk trapped inside.
• The Batman Who Laughs planned to use Mister Mxyzptlk and the information he had gathered to summon Bat-Mite.

The Batman Who Laughs explained how King Robin acquired a weakened Five-Dimensional imp and planned to keep Batman Dragon occupied with The Merciless. Vintage Wonder Woman arrived on Earth in a confused state, while The Merciless slaughtered Amazons and fought Wonder Woman Queen on Paradise Island; he sensed another Diana’s arrival.

• The Batman Who Laughs recalled that Doctor Manhattan’s manipulation erased the Justice Society’s history, and reasoned that King Robin had split Mister Mxyzptlk and bound the weaker half to his belt.
• The Batman Who Laughs expected The Merciless to draw Batman Dragon’s attention and leave him free to carry out his plan.
• Bane told the mages that Batman had changed the assignment and sent Vintage Wonder Woman through a portal with a new batch of potions.
• Vintage Wonder Woman arrived in the street, accidentally tossed a car into the air, babbled incoherently, and ran toward a bat-shaped cloud.
• The Merciless slaughtered the Amazons on Paradise Island and overpowered Wonder Woman Queen while preaching that weakness caused her defeat.
• The Merciless prepared to crush Wonder Woman Queen’s head, then sensed another Diana arriving.

Batman questioned Reverse-Flash Swann’s plan to escape the doomed universe by freezing Earth in stolen time, while Swann insisted the apocalypse could not be stopped. After Batman saved a city from a sudden tsunami, he recognized that Swann had grown detached from ordinary lives and relied on world resets instead of facing failure.

• Reverse-Flash Swann found Batman on a billboard and explained that he planned to reboot the universe because the Atlantean-Amazon war would soon destroy it.
• Swann described his Ark Plan to trap Earth in stolen Speed Force time and move it to another universe, asking Batman to provide propulsion.
• A sudden tsunami surged toward the city, and Batman used his speed and nanobots to freeze the wave and prevent casualties.
• Swann dismissed Batman’s rescue as meaningless because time would eventually reset, while Batman said the survivors would remember being saved.
• Batman asked Swann whether he had ever bled and concluded that Swann had lost empathy, depending on resets rather than risking failure.

Bane gave the mages Batman’s supposed protective medicine, which made them laugh uncontrollably and left them vulnerable to an unseen attacker. The Batman Who Laughs revealed himself with Mister Mxyzptlk, took control of the ship, and began examining the captives’ memories; elsewhere, Batman learned the mages had disappeared.

• Bane persuaded the mages to drink the green mixture, claiming it would protect them from Emperor Joker’s power.
• The mages began laughing uncontrollably, and the hidden attacker disabled them before they could organize a counterattack.
• Clayface armed himself with Metal Spirit components, seized Hawkman’s hammer, and was hurled against the wall by an invisible force.
• Vixen entered the room and transformed into The Batman Who Laughs, who stopped the laughter and ordered the captives to join his faction.
• Mister Mxyzptlk stood beside The Batman Who Laughs as he took control of the ship and prepared to examine the mages’ memories, especially Clayface’s.
• In Reverse-Flash’s world, Bane told Batman that he could no longer contact the mages, and Batman calmly acknowledged that they had gone missing.

The Batman Who Laughs believed Batman Dragon’s attempt to summon Bat-Mite would help him capture the Fifth-Dimensional Being, while Chen Tao confronted Reverse-Flash’s perfect Ark World. Chen Tao exposed the trap and met Parallax Hal, who wanted him to bring a perfect reality into existence, but Chen Tao said he lacked the power and hinted that another ally might be able to help.

• The Batman Who Laughs reasoned that Batman Dragon would gather emotional energy from ordinary Bruces to summon Bat-Mite, unknowingly providing bait for his own trap.
• Reverse-Flash showed Chen Tao a flawless Ark World and offered him the chance to meet his parents and power the timeline.
• Chen Tao refused to enter Reverse-Flash’s energy-absorbing building, which transformed into a mouth and swallowed a Clayface decoy.
• Chen Tao revealed that he had been waiting for the hidden master and demanded that Reverse-Flash bring him out.
• Parallax Hal appeared on the building and asked Chen Tao to bring him into reality, but Chen Tao said he could not do so and claimed that a teammate might be able to help.

Chen Tao manipulated Parallax Hal into joining him by appealing to Hal’s dream of a perfect world and his desire to escape the Over-Time Stream. Upstream, Emperor Joker noticed a magical summons and mistook the caller for The Batman Who Laughs.

• Chen Tao suspected The Batman Who Laughs had guided his earlier actions, then reasoned that the plan might be to force him into a confrontation with Emperor Joker.
• Chen Tao posed as Batman and urged Parallax Hal to help create a perfect world by eliminating villains, while presenting himself as an exhausted hero who wanted to retire.
• Chen Tao showed Parallax Hal The Batman Who Laughs’ severed head and described his own burdens, persuading Hal to ask what he should do.
• Emperor Joker watched Superman fight villains while worrying about escaping the fixed timeline and his approaching defeat.
• Emperor Joker sensed a magical communication from downstream and answered it, believing The Batman Who Laughs had summoned him.

Chen Tao tracked down Bat-Mite after he escaped the Batman Who Laughs, but Bat-Mite turned their meeting into a chaotic series of attacks and then abruptly arranged a wedding for Chen Tao and Diana. The chapter ended as The Merciless attacked during the ceremony.

• Bat-Mite escaped the Batman Who Laughs, and Chen Tao realized his plan had succeeded and called out to him in Gotham.
• Bat-Mite controlled a group of robbers and conjured armed thugs and Doomsdays to attack Chen Tao, who defeated them and demanded that Bat-Mite reveal himself.
• Bat-Mite appeared on Wayne Tower, celebrated Chen Tao as his favorite Batman, and ignored Chen Tao's warning not to summon Mister Mxyzptlk.
• Bat-Mite transformed Chen Tao into a groom, brought Diana and their friends and allies to Gotham, and announced their wedding.
• The Merciless saw Diana in her wedding dress, roared, and pounced as Bat-Mite began officiating the ceremony.

Chen Tao struggled to hold off The Merciless while Bane gathered allies and a counterattack plan. Wonder Woman Queen joined the fight and left The Merciless reeling by forcibly kissing Chen Tao.

• Chen Tao called Bane for help after The Merciless unexpectedly attacked him, while Wonder Woman Who Laughs wandered among the dead Amazons.
• Bane collected Wonder Woman Who Laughs and Dread Lantern, but unstable spacetime sent them to random points in history when they tried to travel through The Red.
• Bane met the injured Wonder Woman Queen on Paradise Island, and she offered a way to weaken The Merciless with the group's cooperation.
• The Merciless freed The Grim Knight from Chen Tao's prison, and The Grim Knight attacked Diana while Chen Tao protected the others.
• Bane sent Wonder Woman Queen through a portal, and she kissed Chen Tao before ordering the next Diana to attack, unsettling The Merciless.

Chen Tao and three versions of Wonder Woman teamed up to defeat The Merciless, but Bat-Mite refused to let the fight end and interfered with reality again. The chapter left Chen Tao facing an unknown new complication as he tried to imprison The Merciless.

• Alliance Diana fought The Grim Knight in her magical wedding dress, which made her trip while protecting her from bullets.
• Wonder Woman Queen used Chen Tao as cover and sent the drugged, laughing Wonder Woman against The Merciless.
• Wonder Woman Laughing attacked The Merciless unpredictably, then kissed Chen Tao to distract him.
• Wonder Woman Queen stabbed The Merciless from behind, allowing Chen Tao and Dread Lantern to restrain him with vines, flesh, nanorobots, and insectoid limbs.
• Bat-Mite complained that The Merciless had been defeated too easily and snapped his fingers as Chen Tao prepared to imprison him.

During Chen Tao’s chaotic wedding battle, Bat-Mite empowered The Merciless with the ability to summon characters to marry Batman, and The Merciless brought in the real Doomsday. Chen Tao faced the escalating monster as The Merciless prepared to summon someone else.

• The Grim Knight summoned Amazonian ghosts from a giant gold coin, scattering Chen Tao’s friends and family into battles with their dead adversaries.
• Bat-Mite broke The Merciless free from Chen Tao’s elemental restraints and transformed him into the Merciless King.
• Bat-Mite gave The Merciless the ability to summon any character to marry Batman, and The Merciless summoned Doomsday in a wedding dress.
• The real Doomsday appeared during Superman’s battle upstream in the Over-Time Stream, leaving Superman confused when the monster vanished.
• Doomsday grew stronger and sprouted bone spurs as he fought Chen Tao, while The Merciless snapped his fingers to summon another character.

The Grim Knight used Bat-Mite’s power to summon villains in wedding dresses and overwhelm Chen Tao, while Bat-Mite pressured Chen Tao and Alliance Wonder Woman to advance their relationship. The chapter ended with Bat-Mite offering to send the brides home if they kissed, leaving The Grim Knight stunned.

• The Grim Knight summoned Wedding Dress Doomsday and other villains from the Over-Time Stream to attack Chen Tao, while Bat-Mite claimed he could repair any timeline damage caused by his power.
• More brides joined the chase, including Brainiac, Penguin, Darkseid, and Sinestro, as Chen Tao fought them and complained to Bat-Mite.
• Bat-Mite linked Chen Tao and Alliance Wonder Woman together and asked how far their relationship had progressed; they said they had only arranged a first date.
• Bat-Mite proposed that they sleep together or have a baby, but Chen Tao and Alliance Wonder Woman refused both suggestions.
• Bat-Mite offered to send the brides back if Chen Tao and Alliance Wonder Woman kissed, and The Grim Knight reacted with confusion.

Chen Tao and Diana were trapped by Bat-Mite, who demanded they kiss before he would end his farce. After Chen Tao hesitated over the responsibility a relationship would bring, Diana kissed him first.

• Bat-Mite trapped Chen Tao, Diana, The Merciless, and the villainous brides behind barriers while their allies fought the Amazon Ghosts.
• Bat-Mite dressed Chen Tao and Diana as a groom and bride and demanded they kiss, threatening to have the Doomsday bride kiss Chen Tao instead.
• Bat-Mite discovered that Chen Tao and Diana had little romantic experience and complained that they were rare blank slates across the multiverse.
• Chen Tao considered what committing to Diana would mean and began to tell her she need not go along if she found it difficult.
• Diana kissed Chen Tao before he could finish speaking.

Chen Tao and Wonder Woman shared a kiss, but Bat-Mite’s meddling kept them from discussing their relationship for long. After releasing the villains and forcing Chen Tao into another absurd choice, Bat-Mite pushed Batman to the brink of anger.

• Wonder Woman kissed Chen Tao, then struck Bat-Mite to show that she was neither a weakness nor a burden.
• Wonder Woman reassured Chen Tao that the team would support him, while Bat-Mite complained that they had retreated back into comradeship.
• Batman reminded Bat-Mite that he had promised to release them, and Bat-Mite removed the barrier around Chen Tao.
• Bat-Mite also released the villains and challenged Chen Tao to sleep with Wonder Woman or marry Doomsday's bride and kiss Doomsday.
• Chen Tao confronted Bat-Mite for going too far and threatened to blow up at him.

Chen Tao persuaded Bat-Mite to become Batman’s trial opponent, then learned how to use the Dark Multiverse Dragon’s power to interfere with Fifth-Dimensional magic. He used that trick to reach the Doomsday bride and kiss him, forcing Bat-Mite to surrender rather than watch.

• Chen Tao showed Bat-Mite how the gathered Batman brides were being defeated by his allies, then argued that Batman needed a stronger opponent.
• Bat-Mite nearly summoned Emperor Joker, but Chen Tao convinced him to serve as Batman’s trial instead.
• Bat-Mite taught Chen Tao how to use the Dark Multiverse Dragon’s power to interfere slightly with Fifth-Dimensional magic.
• Chen Tao used the technique to pass Bat-Mite’s barrier and move in to kiss the Doomsday bride.
• Bat-Mite could not bear to watch Batman kiss the Doomsday bride, so he went berserk and surrendered.

Chen Tao repeatedly tried to lick Doomsday’s villain brides while Bat-Mite sent them back and repaired the disrupted timeline. After Chen Tao persuaded Bat-Mite to join him against the real enemy with an autographed Batarang, Bat-Mite heard Chen Tao’s thoughts and grew furious.

• Bat-Mite consulted Fifth-Dimensional Batman fans, then intervened to stop Chen Tao from kissing Doomsday’s bride and returned her to her original timeline.
• Chen Tao realized the brides’ memories had not been erased and began breaking Bat-Mite’s barriers to chase and lick them.
• Bat-Mite sent the brides back as Chen Tao attacked them, including Darkseid’s bride, who burned away part of his tongue with Omega Beams.
• Chen Tao ended his spree, leaving Bat-Mite lamenting the ruined wedding venue and script.
• Chen Tao offered Bat-Mite an autographed Good Laughing Batman Batarang to persuade him to help deal with the real enemy.
• Bat-Mite agreed, then heard Chen Tao’s thoughts and angrily confronted him.

Chen Tao used a method obtained from Bat-Mite to prepare to take control of the Fifth-Dimensional being, while The Batman Who Laughs secured Emperor Joker’s cooperation for Brainiac’s coming war. Chen Tao left Bat-Mite furious and told Parallax Hal to wait for him to obtain Bat-Mite’s power and pull him from the Over-Time Stream.

• The Batman Who Laughs confronted Emperor Joker, whose remaining power was trapped in a Joker-Robin robot, and persuaded him to cooperate in exchange for Batman.
• The Batman Who Laughs revealed that Brainiac was preparing a war across the Over-Time Stream’s ended timelines to gather power and become a god.
• Emperor Joker attacked The Batman Who Laughs as soon as his restraints were lifted, but Black Death Emperor’s incarnation appeared to keep him in check.
• The Batman Who Laughs planned to lure Batman into a trap and promised Emperor Joker that Batman would be handed over to him.
• Chen Tao used Bat-Mite’s trust and The Batman Who Laughs’s misjudgment to obtain a method for overcoming a Five-Dimensional Being’s power.
• Chen Tao faced the furious Bat-Mite and told Parallax Hal to wait while he obtained Bat-Mite’s power and pulled him out of the Over-Time Stream.