Chapter Summaries

Clayface unknowingly absorbed a dormant mutation through contact with the green gel, while Harley Quinn sought a way to resurrect Joker and began a ritual with the Worm Prophet. The chapter ended as a violent storm struck the church where the ritual was about to begin.

• Clayface felt an unusual affinity for plant-related substances after touching the green gel, then left the sewers to search for nutrients.
• A mutated rat saw Harley Quinn grieving over Joker's corpse at the sewage treatment plant and retreated underground to report what it had witnessed.
• Harley hid Joker's body and searched Gotham for resurrection methods, gathering occult objects and information from black-market dealers and practitioners.
• The Worm Prophet offered Harley a ritual to transfer Joker's imprint into a living vessel in exchange for compensation.
• Harley and the Worm Prophet placed Joker's corpse in a church basement and prepared a magic circle, but a thunderstorm broke out as the chanting began.

Harley Quinn used a ritual to bring Joker back in a young vagrant’s body, but Worm Prophet was killed by Harley and the resurrected Joker was immediately shot by an unseen attacker. Harley was left grieving and firing wildly at the empty basement, while the shooter’s identity remained unknown.

• Harley poured her memories and feelings for Joker into Worm Prophet’s ritual, and the vagrant awoke with Joker’s personality and recognized her.
• Harley embraced the new Joker as Worm Prophet prepared to leave with his payment and gilded revolver.
• Harley shot Worm Prophet as he tried to leave, killing him for knowing Joker’s secrets and possessing Joker’s things.
• An unexplained shot pierced the new Joker’s heart, and he died after accusing the Supreme Alliance.
• Harley screamed, searched the basement for the unseen shooter, and fired wildly into the shadows without finding anyone.

Harley Quinn blamed Batman and Gotham for Joker’s death, unaware that a future version of Joker had killed the resurrected Joker with a shot fired across time. In the Batcave, Batman woke after Ian’s treatment, only for Ian to tell him the operation had made him a Batwoman.

• Harley Quinn ran out of bullets, then blamed Batman and Gotham for Joker’s death and vowed to destroy them.
• A future Joker used the Eldest Son of God’s wings to fire through time and kill the resurrected Joker, thwarting The Batman Who Laughs’ scheme.
• The future Joker revealed that he planned to reshape the world using the Ian Virus and became intrigued by Ian, whom he watched in the Batcave.
• Batman woke in the Batcave after Ian’s treatment and found that the dangerous energy in his body had weakened.
• Ian told Batman that the operation had made him a healthy Dark Knight, then declared that he was now a qualified Batwoman.

Ian explained that he had to remain in Gotham as the Joker to fill the historical gap left by Batman killing the original Joker, while Batman reluctantly agreed to help send Damian and the two Kryptonian boys back to their time. The chapter ended with Ian asking Batman to build a Speed Force time-jump device overnight, and Batman insisting that he was not God.

• Ian joked that Batman had become Batwoman because his treatment had left him unable to have children, then revealed that he had covered a blinking device on a console.
• Batman recognized Ian and demanded that he take Damian and the two Kryptonian boys back to their timeline and leave Gotham.
• Ian said he could not leave because the Joker's disappearance would create a dangerous gap in history, so he had to remain and fulfill the Joker's role.
• Ian offered to send the three children back while staying in Gotham, and Batman reluctantly accepted the plan and asked what Ian needed.
• Ian asked Batman to build a device for precise Speed Force time jumps in one or two nights, and Batman said he was not God.

Ian and Batman searched for a way to send the children back to their proper time, but Batman ruled out building a time machine or relying on the Flash. Ian proposed using the time-shifting power of the Weeping Angels and left to retrieve a spaceship while Batman investigated their appearances.

• Batman explained that constructing a safe time machine would require years of research, and that the Flash could not yet travel through time reliably.
• Ian considered using Reverse-Flash, but Batman warned that two identical Speedsters appearing together had already distorted the timeline.
• Ian proposed capturing a Weeping Angel and using its ability to send people into the past to return the children to their future.
• Batman questioned Ian about finding the Angels and obtaining a spaceship, and Ian said he would handle the spacecraft while Batman searched for reports of moving statues and time-displaced victims.
• Ian used the Speed Force to leave for a frozen polar wasteland, where he planned to claim and repair a family spaceship.

Ian visited the Fortress of Solitude to borrow Superman’s old ship so he could send three displaced men back to their own times. After Jor-El recognized Ian as a future family member and warned him about powerful cosmic enforcers, Ian froze when he learned they were called the Land of Light.

• Ian reached the Fortress of Solitude and opened its door using Clark’s password.
• Jor-El identified Ian as an unauthorized non-Kryptonian, and Ian showed him gifts and photos proving his bond with Superman.
• Jor-El concluded Ian came from the future, and Ian explained that he needed a ship to return three displaced men to their own times.
• Ian examined the Kryptonian escape pod and sent Batman images of its damaged parts while planning to seek out a civilization capable of spacetime displacement.
• Jor-El warned Ian that the Land of Light monitored temporal anomalies, and Ian froze at the name.

Ian ignored Jor-El’s warning about the Land of Light and justified taking a Kryptonian ship by declaring himself Ian Ultraman and the Weeping Angels cosmic pests. He sped off toward Gotham, while Clark, listening from Central Hospital, heard everything and reacted to the name Ian Kent.

• Jor-El warned Ian that the Land of Light could intervene if he stole technology or manipulated space-time, potentially endangering Earth and Carl.
• Ian reasoned that his knowledge of the Land of Light might relate to changes in the DC Universe and declared himself Ian Ultraman.
• Ian labeled the Weeping Angels cosmic super-beasts and called taking their space-time technology righteous requisition.
• Ian stored the ship, dismissed Jor-El’s warning, and used the Speed Force to leave the Fortress of Solitude for Gotham.
• At Central Hospital, Clark heard Ian’s conversation from the Arctic while waiting for Martha’s examination, and the name Ian Kent unsettled him.

Clark told Lois that the intruder at the Fortress of Solitude was Ian Kent, who claimed to be their future child. Ian returned to Gotham with the Kryptonian spaceship, but Jonathan began aging rapidly in the Batcave as the timeline changed.

• Clark worried over the intruder’s identity, then told Lois that someone had broken into the Fortress of Solitude and taken his Kryptonian spaceship.
• Lois realized the intruder might be Clark’s child, and Clark confirmed that Ian Kent had mentioned both of them as his parents.
• Ian ran back to Gotham and entered Bruce Wayne’s new Batcave, where Bruce had been investigating the Weeping Angels and their ancient records.
• Ian pulled the Kryptonian spaceship into the Batcave and told Bruce that it belonged to him.
• Jonathan Kent began groaning in his cryo-pod as his body rapidly grew older, and Ian and Bruce blamed the timeline’s influence on Superman.

Ian watched Jonathan rapidly age after his actions altered the timeline, then helped Batman repair the Kryptonian ship while seeking a way to stabilize Jonathan. At the Fortress of Solitude, Ian was ambushed by a furious man who introduced himself as Uclifre Kent, Superman’s brother.

• Jonathan underwent a sudden transformation in the Batcave, aging until he looked about twenty, and Batman identified the change as a temporal anomaly.
• Ian blamed the altered timeline for Jonathan’s accelerated growth and urged Batman to repair the damaged Kryptonian ship so they could return to their own time.
• Ian gathered wreckage from Zod’s ship and Batman’s warehouse, and Batman used it to repair Superman’s ship while monitoring Jonathan.
• Ian decided to ask the artificial intelligence based on Jor-El for help slowing Jonathan’s development and rushed to the Fortress of Solitude.
• A man struck Ian from behind at the Fortress, then identified himself as Uclifre Kent, Superman’s brother.

Ian confronted Uclifre Kent, who claimed to be Clark’s biological older brother, and learned from Jor-El that Uclifre was indeed part of this timeline’s history. Ian left Jor-El to devise a way to prolong a human pregnancy, then carried the unconscious Uclifre to a church and called for God to appear.

• Ian accused Uclifre of being Lucifer in disguise, but Uclifre insisted he was the Kents’ son and attacked Ian with a strange energy device.
• Ian dodged Uclifre’s attacks with the Speed Force and knocked him unconscious.
• Jor-El told Ian that Uclifre was Martha and Jonathan Kent’s biological son and had once claimed to gain unusual abilities through a contract with Angels.
• Ian insisted Lucifer was behind Uclifre’s existence and ordered Jor-El to derive a way to extend a pregnancy from nine months to five years.
• Ian picked up Uclifre and sped from the Fortress of Solitude to a church, where he called for God to appear.

Ian confronted a priest in a Gotham church while trying to get answers about Lucifer and Uclifre, but the priest’s exorcism prayer forcibly banished him. Ian found God waiting for him at a table in the woods, where God questioned his temper.

• Ian carried the unconscious Uclifre into a church and demanded that God explain Lucifer’s schemes.
• The priest confronted Ian with a shotgun, but Ian insisted Uclifre was Lucifer’s clone and refused to leave him behind.
• A mysterious breeze extinguished Ian’s Speed Force arcs, and the priest’s gunshot failed to harm him.
• The priest recited an exorcism prayer that summoned holy power and banished Ian from the church because of his Satanic essence.
• Ian appeared in woods near Gotham and cursed God before discovering God seated at a table with steak and wine.

Ian met God, who explained that Lucifer had reincarnated as Uclifre Kent and that Ian’s death and resurrection had shaken an unknown prison. God vanished before explaining what was imprisoned, and a mysterious woman entered a Metropolis bar asking the bartender whether he had free will.

• Ian complained to God about Lucifer changing the timeline, and God revealed that Lucifer had used true-spirit reincarnation to become Uclifre Kent, Ian’s uncle.
• God confirmed that Uclifre had lost his memories and most of his powers, and said he had further entangled Lucifer in his human identity to help him grow.
• Ian sought compensation for his family, but God said Lucifer had already paid them and pointed to a disaster Ian had caused through his death and resurrection.
• God told Ian that his resurrection had shaken a prison that should not yet have been disturbed, but he refused to reveal what was inside before disappearing.
• A black-haired woman entered the Midnight Echo bar in Metropolis and asked the bartender whether he had free will.

Amara introduced herself as the Great Darkness after hinting that Westmore Manor was ill-omened, while Ian returned to the Batcave and offered Bruce a compact fusion reactor to power the repaired Kryptonian ship. The prison mystery remained unresolved, but Bruce gained a possible solution to the ship’s energy problem.

• Amara told bartender Tom she had come from Westmore Manor and suggested its ill-omened reputation was true.
• Amara claimed she had crawled out from underground and introduced herself as the Great Darkness.
• Ian searched Earth for clues about the prison God had mentioned, found nothing, and returned to the Batcave.
• Bruce reported that the Kryptonian ship was mostly repaired but lacked enough power for flight or space travel.
• Ian produced a miniature fusion reactor and changed its Stark branding to “Ian Tech,” leaving Bruce speechless.

Bruce analyzed Ian's Micro Reactor and began adapting it to power the Kryptonian ship, but discovered that the ship still needed a vastly more capable control system. Ian summoned a greater Demon, intending to use its brain as the ship's AI core.

• Bruce tested Ian's Micro Reactor, studied its output, and designed adapter components for the Kryptonian ship's power system.
• Bruce explained that Earth's computers could not safely control the ship, and Ian rejected the idea of personally handling its complicated calculations.
• Ian decided to find a super brain and summoned a greater Demon in the Batcave.
• Ian declared that the greater Demon had arrived to pay respects to him as the new Lord of Hell.

Ian ordered a great Demon to turn itself into a biological intelligence core for the Kryptonian ship, and Bruce began designing an interface for it. Ian then fell asleep in the Batcave and entered Schrödinger’s sleep again, beginning another journey through Marvel.

• The great Demon recognized Ian as Satan and knelt before him in the Batcave.
• Ian ordered the Demon to convert its head into a biological computer to control the Kryptonian ship, promising to make it General of Hell.
• The Demon transformed itself into a biological intelligence core, and Bruce accepted it and began designing a safe adapter.
• Ian went to sleep in the Batcave while Bruce worked on the core and checked Jonathan’s hibernation pod.
• Bruce noticed that light and sound behaved strangely around Ian, approached his bed, and discovered Ian had entered Schrödinger’s sleep and traveled to Marvel again.

Ian returned to the Marvel Universe after crossing the multiverse and meeting the God of Stories, Loki, in passing. He scavenged powerful artifacts at the End of Time, then entered a city where the TVA stood where Stark Tower should have been.

• Bruce discovered that his hand could not reach Ian, scanned the spatial anomaly, and requested more advanced instruments and supernatural collectibles.
• Ian gained Mutation Overlord experience and leveled up after Batman became one of his dependents.
• While crossing the Multiverse Sea, Ian briefly encountered Loki, the God of Stories, and recognized him as Asgard's adopted son.
• At the End of Time, Ian found his damaged spaceship and collected unusual artifacts, weapons, devices, and other objects for God's Treasure Island.
• Ian used Lucifer's Angel Wings to break out of the End of Time and enter the Marvel Universe.
• Ian looked for Stark Tower and instead saw a TVA building dominating the city skyline.

Ian arrived in New York, where the TVA had established a towering headquarters, and responded to a monster attack as the celebrated superhero Superman. He destroyed the Sludge Monster with his Reverse Evolution Ray, though he admitted he had used more power than intended.

• Ian saw the TVA Headquarters standing prominently in the center of New York and questioned how openly the authority operated.
• After hearing screams nearby, Ian put on his Mimicry Armor and flew toward the commotion as crowds recognized him as Superman.
• Ian landed between the Sludge Monster and a trapped mother and daughter, told them to escape, and reassured the watching crowd.
• Ian inspected the monster, learned from a staff member that it was made of corpses, and joked about its possible origins.
• The Sludge Monster attacked Ian, who erased it by firing his Reverse Evolution Ray and reducing it to protein dust.
• Ian realized he had overdone the attack after intending to turn the monster into tadpoles.

Ian, wearing Superman’s armor, turned a monster into harmless powder and basked in the public’s praise before reporters interviewed him about his powers and year-long absence. His celebration was interrupted when a mysterious black-uniformed team arrived to secure the remains and silence witnesses, leaving Ian wondering if they worked for the Time Variance Authority.

• Ian used a beam from his eyes to turn the monster into harmless powder, and the crowd celebrated him as Superman while a homeless man played the violin.
• Reporters rushed Ian, and he described his beam with a fabricated scientific explanation before claiming he had spent the past year protecting civilizations across the universe.
• Ian enjoyed the public’s admiration and gave the reporters more chances to praise him.
• Black vans smashed through the police cordon, and a team in black uniforms collected the monster’s remains, questioned witnesses, and offered compensation and nondisclosure agreements.
• The team’s bald leader showed the reporters his ID, quieting their protests, while Ian angrily wondered whether the newcomers were from the Time Variance Authority.

Ian challenged the Men in Black’s attempt to suppress news of the monster attack, then discovered that this universe’s United States had a king and a president called Trump III. As the crowd began calling for Ian to become king, a bald supervisor identified his agents as S.H.I.E.L.D., whose credentials also bore the label “Serpent Division.”

• Ian backed reporters and citizens who demanded information about the monster attack, forcing the Men in Black to explain their attempt to control the story.
• The bald supervisor said the agents were protecting America’s international image and the king’s reputation, while the crowd rejected his explanation and cursed the king.
• Ian searched public records and found that the United States was ruled by a Grand President named Trump III, then blamed the strange political reality on the multiverse’s distortion.
• Ian criticized the authorities’ cover-up, and the crowd rallied behind him and began chanting for him to become king as his cape changed into the American flag.
• The bald supervisor approached Ian and showed him his credentials, revealing that the agents belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D. and that the badge was marked “Serpent Division.”

Ian confronted a Serpent S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, learned that Steve Rogers led the agency as Captain Hydra, and refused to register as a superhuman. He searched New York’s information to understand the altered universe and discovered that Steve had gone undercover in Hydra to spread Ianism.

• Ian questioned a bald Serpent S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and learned that Steve Rogers was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. under the title Captain Hydra.
• Ian refused the agent’s demand to register under the Superhuman Registration and Responsibility Act, reassured New York’s civilians, and flew away.
• Ian scanned the city’s records and people’s shared memories, finding that his influence had caused strange changes in the universe’s history.
• Ian learned that supernatural crises had increased and that the heroes, including Quantum Spider Gwen, Thor, Doctor Strange, and Captain America, had formed the new Justice League he founded.
• Ian discovered that Steve had infiltrated Hydra and begun converting its members to Ianism, the faith devoted to Ian Kent.