Chapter Summaries

Donnie considered the coming Spectrum War and the danger Blackest Night Emperor posed, while Starscream returned to Cybertron with an Orange Lantern Ring. Megatron praised Starscream, then took the ring for himself.

• Donnie reviewed the Lantern Corps and considered how Cybertron could prepare for the Spectrum War and Blackest Night.
• Donnie told Wanda that Blackest Night Emperor was a far greater threat than the coming Lantern conflict, and he wondered how to exploit the crisis without risking his life.
• Larfleeze spotted the Infinity Stones in Megatron’s hand and begged Starscream to help him take them.
• Starscream claimed he had completed his mission and tried to keep the Orange Lantern Ring.
• Megatron seized the Orange Lantern Ring from Starscream and declared that it would be his.

Sinestro accepted the Guardians’ offer of freedom in exchange for serving them, deciding he needed more warriors to win. As Laira was imprisoned for opposing his release, Donnie sensed a spreading darkness and hurried toward its source.

• Sinestro told the Guardians he believed an unseen force was driving catastrophes and accepted their offer to free him in exchange for his service.
• Sinestro demanded more warriors and took a Green Lantern Ring after leaving prison.
• Laira attacked Sinestro over his release, but the Guardians disabled her ring and sentenced her to a month in prison.
• Sinestro mocked Scarface over his antimatter corruption, while an unnoticed black gleam flashed in Scarface’s eyes.
• On Cybertron, Donnie sensed darkness spreading and vanished toward an unknown region of the main universe.

Donnie left Cybertron and followed Blackest Night Emperor’s call into a hidden realm of Black Light. He learned that the entity wanted to use him as a Central Power Battery, but Donnie intended to capture its power and claim a Black Lantern ring instead.

• Donnie slipped away from Cybertron and flew into the universe, following the scent of death toward Blackest Night Emperor.
• Donnie broke through barriers into a pitch-black realm filled with Black Light and sensed the entity watching him.
• Donnie reflected that Blackest Night Emperor had awakened early and wanted a Unique God as a Central Power Battery.
• Blackest Night Emperor explained that it sought to destroy the Life Entity and return the multiverse to darkness.
• Blackest Night Emperor declared that Donnie was qualified to be its container, and Donnie said he would turn it into a ring.

Donnie resisted Blackest Night Emperor’s attempt to turn him into a Central Power Battery, but found no core or Emotional Spectrum and escaped through a Boom Tube. Blackest Night Emperor began searching for another energy core, while Hela fought three old women at a secret Asgardian stronghold.

• Donnie fought through the darkness as Blackest Night Emperor tried to compress him into a Central Power Battery.
• Donnie used ordinary yellow and orange rings to provoke the darkness and studied Blackest Night Emperor’s presence as the battery formed around him.
• Finding no Emotional Spectrum or core of death, Donnie used Mother Boxes to open a Boom Tube and escaped before it collapsed.
• Blackest Night Emperor’s unfinished Power Battery was left empty, and he vowed to keep looking for an energy core.
• At a secret Asgardian stronghold, Hela fought three old women who had targeted Asgard.

The Fates’ attack on Asgard was interrupted when Scarface used the Black Lantern Ring to turn them into the first zombies, then Hela was captured and transformed into a black lantern. Scarface planned to seek out Malekith and the Dark Elves.

• The Fates attacked Hela after trying to abduct Asgardian civilians, but their battle was interrupted by a vast darkness that seized all four of them.
• Scarface appeared, revealed his allegiance to the Black Lantern, and used a ring to drain the Fates’ life force and turn them into zombies.
• Scarface split the Black Lantern Ring into three and placed the rings on the Fates, reviving them as the first Black Lantern zombies.
• Hela demanded to know what Scarface was doing, but the Black Light swept her away and transformed her into a lantern.
• Scarface picked up Hela’s lantern and decided to find Malekith and the Dark Elves.

Donnie ordered Cybertron’s full wartime mobilization to prepare for Blackest Night, while directing its forces to treat the Spectrum War as a cover and avoid becoming too deeply involved. The Guardians plotted to destroy the other Lantern Corps, and Sinestro began to suspect that Scarface had powerful backing.

• Donnie ordered Cybertron to mobilize fully, warning that Blackest Night threatened the multiverse and could not be escaped.
• Optimus Prime reported that the Blue Lantern Tribe would cooperate but had refused to hand over its Blue Lantern Rings; Donnie ordered him to coordinate Cybertron’s forces and limit their involvement in the Spectrum War.
• Red Lantern Hulk began forging a red Central Power Battery so Cybertron could produce Red Lantern Rings, while the Lantern Ring Corps began organizing.
• The Guardians blamed Donnie for the coming Spectrum War and planned to eliminate the other Lantern Corps, then kill Sinestro to preserve the Green Lantern Corps’ dominance.
• Scarface said Cybertron could be dealt with later, leading Sinestro to suspect that the Guardians had powerful military backing; Sinestro then taunted Laira about her inability to kill him without being expelled from the Green Lantern Corps.

Atrocitus launched the Red Lantern Corps against Oa and a Green Lantern squad escorting Sinestro, igniting the Spectrum War. Sinestro summoned the remnants of his Corps, and the battle escalated as he suspected Scarface was hiding something and anticipated another force’s arrival.

• Atrocitus formed the Red Lantern Corps from his fury and led its forces from Ysmault, determined to attack Oa and avenge Sector 666.
• Atrocitus targeted a Green Lantern squad escorting the imprisoned Sinestro, but Green Lanterns emerged from ambush and attacked the Red Lanterns.
• Sinestro broke out of his cell and watched the battle, while Atrocitus turned on him over his past role in the Legion of Doom’s defeat.
• A Guardian ordered Sinestro to fight, but Scarface urged the Lanterns to face their common enemy first, making Sinestro suspect Scarface was concealing something.
• Sinestro signaled his loyal followers, and the remnants of the Sinestro Corps joined the Green and Red Lanterns in battle.
• Sinestro blocked Atrocitus’s attack and looked into the distance, expecting another force to make its move.

Laira abandoned the Green Lantern Corps for the Red Lanterns as Atrocitus fueled the battle among the Corps. Meanwhile, Starscream and Larfleeze arrived at Odym to fight the Blue Lanterns and advance the Spectrum War toward Blackest Night.

• Laira rejected Atrocitus's offer at first, then took his Red Lantern Ring and attacked Sinestro.
• Atrocitus slaughtered a Green Lantern and declared the Guardians responsible for the Spectrum War as the battlefield descended into greater chaos.
• Sinestro avoided Laira and waited for others to exploit the fighting.
• Starscream and Larfleeze argued over their Orange Lantern Rings as they traveled to Odym to stir up the war.
• Starscream revealed he had created Orange Lantern soldiers by killing criminals across the Cybertronian Galaxy, while Larfleeze had none.
• Starscream kicked Larfleeze away as blue lights rose over Odym, where the Blue Lanterns prepared for battle.

Starscream and the Blue Lantern Corps fought as the Blackest Night approached, while Donnie ordered Cybertron’s forces to capture every Lantern Beast before the Corps could claim them. Donnie then attacked Oa to seize Ion Shark and took the Central Power Battery, leaving the remaining Green Lanterns facing his assault.

• Starscream created an army of Orange Lantern constructs and sent it against Ganthet and the Blue Lantern Corps, while Larfleeze complained that most of the constructs were his soldiers.
• The arrival of the Blue and Orange Lantern Corps made five Corps part of the war, and a sudden pressure across the universe signaled that the Blackest Night Emperor was awakening.
• Donnie ordered Cybertron’s forces to capture every major Lantern Beast, sending demigods, warships, and legions across the universe.
• Donnie decided to attack Oa first and seize Ion Shark before the Lantern Beasts could join their respective Corps.
• Donnie appeared before Oa’s Central Power Battery, overcame its defenses, and carried the enormous battery away as the remaining Green Lanterns confronted him.

Donnie seized the Green Lantern Central Power Battery and captured Ion Shark after devastating Oa and overpowering its defenders. He brought Ion Shark to Parallax and began preparing to gather the remaining Lantern beasts for the next stage of his plan.

• Donnie fought off the Green Lanterns on Oa, shattered their commander, and took the Central Power Battery.
• Ion Shark emerged from the battery, but Donnie beat it into submission before it could bond with a Green Lantern.
• Donnie devastated Oa, captured Ion Shark, and left with the battery while Cybertronian forces hunted the other Lantern beasts.
• Donnie brought the battered Ion Shark to Parallax and fed it willpower energy so it could recover and serve him.
• After Parallax complained about never receiving energy, Donnie poured a large amount of willpower energy over him.

Donnie left Parallax and Ion Shark to fight while Cybertron's forces hunted the remaining Lantern Beasts to use as catalysts against Blackest Night Emperor. The hunt found several beasts, and battles broke out across the main universe.

• Parallax and Ion Shark began brawling as spectators watched, and Donnie left to consider the Emotional Spectrum.
• Donnie reflected that the Lantern Beasts had to be captured before the Spectrum War's peak awakened Blackest Night Emperor, and he explained why he was building a Cybertron-controlled Lantern Corps.
• Red Lantern Hulk found Blood Butcher Bull and beat it apart in a clash of rage.
• Yellow Lantern Hal found Greedy Desire Python and led Yellow and Red Lantern warriors in an attack while reporting that he could suppress it.
• Wanda, White Phoenix Jean, Iceman Bobby, and Elizabeth cornered Radiant Phoenix and began fighting it.
• The Fallen and Scorponok found Ravagers, and the Thirteen Primes transformed into swords and attacked the violet Lantern Beast.

Hant captured the Proselyte Octopus, completing Donnie’s collection of the seven common-spectrum Lantern Beasts. As Donnie considered using them to sense the Life Entity’s energy, he recalled how Genesis Light had awakened the seven from primordial darkness and how each had become tied to an emotion.

• The Proselyte Octopus preached compassion to the Kryptonian Legion and struck a soldier with a tentacle, frustrating Hant and his troops.
• Hant ordered his soldiers to drag the Octopus back to Cybertron, completing the mission.
• Donnie learned that Hant had captured the last Lantern Beast and confirmed that all seven were in his hands.
• The seven Lantern Beasts reunited on Cybertron, brawling and scattering Emotional Energy.
• Donnie considered using the Lantern Beasts to sense the Life Entity’s energy and recalled how Genesis Light had freed them from Blackest Night Emperor’s darkness.
• Genesis Light awakened the seven beings, and each escaped the darkness through events that connected it to its respective emotion.

Donnie gathered the seven Lantern Beasts to extract what he wanted from them while Starscream’s manipulations drove the Spectrum War to a multiversal scale. The resulting upheaval awakened the darkness, and Blackest Night began.

• The seven Lantern Beasts reunited on Cybertron, where their tangled grudges and uneasy relationships resurfaced.
• Donnie confronted the Lantern Beasts and demanded that they give him what he wanted.
• Starscream and Larfleeze stirred conflict among the Lantern Corps, and Starscream drew the Violet Lantern Corps into the war.
• The Spectrum War spread across the multiverse, awakening the darkness and causing Scar to abandon the other Guardians.
• Ganthet ordered Saint Walker to gather the Blue Lantern Corps as Donnie watched the sun dim and declared that it had begun.

The Blackest Night Emperor awakened and spread darkness through the multiverse, while Scarface helped him seek a medium to enter the world of the living. The Emperor chose William Hand, whose collapse was recorded by the Sky Eye Society and sent to Donnie on Cybertron.

• Darkness spread across the multiverse as the gods watched in fear and hoped the White Light would defeat the Blackest Night Emperor.
• Scarface released the Black Lantern Ring, and the Blackest Night Emperor awakened and took shape.
• The Blackest Night Emperor said he needed a medium, and William Hand began convulsing as death energy poured from him.
• The Sky Eye Society recorded William Hand's collapse and transmitted the footage to Cybertron, where Donnie watched and nodded.

Klein watched William kill himself, then put on his Yellow Lantern Ring as Scarface revived William as the Black Lanterns’ spokesman. Across the multiverse, the Blackest Night Emperor drained Death’s power, leaving her to hope that forces in the main universe would oppose him.

• Klein monitored William’s suicide and put on his Yellow Lantern Ring as Blackest Night began.
• Scarface placed a Black Lantern Ring on William, whose body revived and whose soul heard death’s whispers.
• Death raged as the Blackest Night Emperor siphoned her authority and weakened her avatars throughout the multiverse.
• Death asked the cosmic beings for help, but Eternity and Infinity said the Blackest Night Emperor could not be replaced, while Annihilation refused to fight him.
• Annihilation told Death to wait for the multiverse’s lifeforms to resist and reminded her that she had prepared for this day.
• Death watched her power fall below the threshold between Level Eight and Level Seven and hoped the main universe would repay her.

Black Lantern Rings revived the dead across Earth, turning them into an unstoppable army that overwhelmed the living and awakened the Celestial Final Judgment Master. As the Blackest Night threatened to spread across the multiverse, Donnie sent seven colored rings to allies and unleashed countless more to rally the living.

• William put on a Black Lantern Ring, tore out his own eye, and sent countless rings across Earth to revive the dead.
• The Black Lantern zombies multiplied, tormented the living, and began killing them to feed on their hearts while heroes and villains struggled to hold them back.
• A Black Lantern Ring awakened Final Judgment Master beneath Earth, and the Celestial killed the Cosmic Locusts before emerging onto the surface.
• Stephen rushed to Kamar-Taj and ordered Mordo to find Black Bolt while he used Spatial Magic and Mirror Magic to hinder Final Judgment Master.
• On Cybertron, Donnie gave seven colored rings to the seven people present and sent countless other rings across the galaxy and into the universe.

Donnie unleashed the Emotional Spectrum across the universe, creating lantern rings to arm the living against Blackest Night. As Earth’s new Lanterns entered a brutal battle with the Black Lanterns, Donnie turned his attention to the Death Star, where trillions of black rings were spreading outward.

• Donnie used the Power of the Unique God to create countless lantern rings on Cybertron and send them across the universe.
• Rings chose Earth users including Tony Stark, Clark Kent, Diana, Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne, Savitar, and Stephen Strange, matching them to different Lantern Corps.
• Donnie’s message gave the new Lanterns knowledge of Blackest Night and urged them to choose resistance, while rings continued seeking users among the living.
• Earth’s Lanterns fought the attacking zombies, and Donnie told them that a Green Lantern combined with another emotion could destroy Black Lanterns before severing his connection to the rings.
• Donnie kept creating rings and saw trillions of Black Lantern Rings pouring from the Death Star in Sector 666, home of their Central Power Battery.

The Black Lantern invasion reached Oa, where Scarface betrayed the Guardians and helped the Black Lanterns overwhelm the Green Lantern Corps. As the Lantern Corps began uniting against the spreading darkness, Black Lantern Rings resurrected powerful dead figures across the main universe.

• Scarface returned to Oa, attacked a Guardian, and revealed his allegiance to the Black Lanterns as Dark Elf ships bombarded the planet.
• Black Lanterns reached Oa, resurrected the Green Lanterns buried there, and overwhelmed the living Lanterns defending the planet.
• Scarface gave Malekith a Black Lantern Ring, killing him and turning the other Dark Elves into zombies as well.
• Qing Nü returned to Oa with Green, Blue, and Yellow Lanterns and called on the living to unite against the Blackest Night.
• Black Lantern Rings spread throughout the main universe, resurrecting powerful dead figures including Odin, Zeus, and Mephisto as emotionless zombies.

The Jade Emperor returned to Da Luo Tian and found the Heavenly Court under attack by Black Lanterns, who had already killed or transformed many immortals. After driving off the invasion and sealing the gates, he warned the high-ranking immortals that they might have to abandon the main universe.

• Ego the Living Planet was overwhelmed by Black Lanterns, and a ring encircled him, killed him, and turned him into a zombie.
• A Black Lantern zombie infiltrated Da Luo Tian and released Black Lantern Rings, starting an assault on the Heavenly Court and its immortals.
• Sun Wukong, Guan Yu, Nezha, Queen Mother, and the other immortals fought the Black Lanterns and their newly transformed companions.
• The Jade Emperor returned, destroyed the Black Lanterns inside Da Luo Tian, and sealed its gates against the attackers outside.
• Queen Mother reported that the Heavenly Court had lost twenty percent of its immortals, while Guan Yu questioned the Jade Emperor about his newfound power.
• The Jade Emperor told the high-ranking immortals that the Blackest Night was beyond their ability to resist and that they should prepare to leave if the main universe fell.

Donnie studied the Emotional Spectrum by combining parts of the seven Lantern Beasts and sensing its immense store of information, concluding that the rumored Emotional Spectrum Pool beyond the Origin Wall likely existed. Afterward, he faced the Radiant Phoenix’s angry protest over having part of its body taken.

• Donnie noticed a powerful outsider in the main universe and observed that the Blackest Night Emperor was still absorbing energy and could not yet move freely.
• Donnie decided to use the remaining time to investigate the Emotional Spectrum rather than try to stop the Blackest Night Emperor.
• Donnie extracted part of each of the seven Lantern Beasts and used the pieces to touch the Emotional Spectrum, where he encountered memories and emotions gathered from countless lives.
• Donnie emerged from the spectrum and told the seven Lantern Beasts they were fortunate, prompting the Radiant Phoenix to angrily challenge him.
• The other Lantern Beasts retreated while the Radiant Phoenix was left facing Donnie alone.