Recaps

Pamela’s attempt to poison Chu Men failed, while Luthor’s forces crushed a civilian protest and stripped resources from Texas for the Divine Temple. In Chicago, Hoy and six powered allies infiltrated the Temple, melted through its defenses, and reached a passage near the corner of the fortress.

• Pamela filled the flower bed with lethal red mist, but Chu Men showed no harm and she submitted to him.
• Luthor ordered his mechs to run over protesting civilians, then directed them to collect oil and rare metals for the Divine Temple.
• Hoy and six other powered people planned to kill Chu Men and take control of the world.
• The group used a timed shutdown and a light-bending field to enter the Temple through an exhaust duct.
• Hoy melted a titanium grate, and the seven reached a passage near the Temple’s corner.

Hoy and six other awakened rebels attacked Chu Men in his opulent hall, but Chu Men’s forces overwhelmed them almost immediately. The surviving intruders were left at the mercy of Chu Men’s followers.

• Hoy led the seven rebels to the hall, where they saw Chu Men being served by Pamela while Selina told him a story.
• Hoy burst through the door and attacked Chu Men with fire, while Lark countered with Mr. Freeze’s Freeze Gun.
• Pamela summoned a giant Man-Eating Flower that devoured one assassin and attacked the intruders.
• Powered people rushed into the hall, and Scarecrow stabbed a tall assassin with a poisoned dagger.
• A camouflaged rebel surrendered and offered intelligence, but Riddler tortured her with an electric cane.

Chu Men killed a fleeing assassin and turned his blood into a carpet while Luthor broadcast the massacre as a warning to the world. As frightened powered people sought the Justice League in Kansas, Luthor reported that three streams of red dots were moving toward the Kansas border.

• Chu Men trapped the wind-controlling assassin, drained his blood, and shaped it into a carpet leading into the temple.
• Luthor filmed the blood carpet and the wounded assassins, then broadcast his threat to cities around the world.
• An old man in London watched the broadcast and recognized Chu Men’s power as a violation of the laws of life.
• In a Detroit safe house, a marked man urged three powered people to abandon their hiding place and seek the Justice League in Kansas.
• Luthor brought a battle report to Chu Men’s temple as a hologram showed three streams of red dots approaching Kansas.

Chu Men discovered the resistance’s refuge and plans, but chose to let them pursue Barry’s recovery before crushing their hope. In the underground mine, the survivors planned to restore Barry’s legs and divided their search for outside help.

• Luthor reported that fugitives and magic practitioners had gathered at a Kansas shelter, and Chu Men destroyed the holographic projector rather than order an attack.
• Bruce led the resistance to an abandoned Wayne Enterprises mine, where Alfred warned that Barry’s injuries and neural Patches had left him near death.
• Bruce revealed that Atlantis’s life-restoration engine could regenerate Barry’s legs, and Arthur woke and offered to lead them into the royal vault.
• Chu Men watched the resistance through a hidden camera and learned their plan to use the life-restoration engine.
• Hal Jordan left to return to Oa for reinforcements, while J’onn set out to seek allies in other dimensions.

Bruce, Diana, Victor, and Arthur descended into Atlantis to investigate the ruined city, where mutated sea creatures attacked and forced them out of their submersible. As the team fought underwater, Arthur finally moved to attack a giant Crab Man threatening Bruce.

• Bruce sent Clark into space to recover while Alfred stayed behind to care for Barry and secure the underground facility.
• Victor checked the submersible, and Bruce, Diana, Arthur, and Victor set out for the Trench.
• The group reached Atlantis and saw its ruined buildings and the dried bodies of its people.
• Sea King Dragons attacked the submersible, and Victor triggered its emergency ejection as seawater flooded inside.
• Diana, Bruce, and Victor fought the Sea King Dragons while Arthur remained motionless in the water.
• When a giant Crab Man lunged at Bruce, Arthur rushed in and pulled at the seam between its shells.

Arthur killed his former guard and led Bruce, Diana, and Victor into the Atlantis Royal Treasury, where they became trapped while Victor tried to decrypt its controls. Chu Men sent sixteen acid-spewing bio-androids into the Mariana Trench, and the group fought them as Diana was badly burned and Bruce called for Arthur to cover the left flank.

• Arthur killed his former guard and opened the Atlantis Royal Treasury gate with his blood, but it shut behind the team as they entered.
• Chu Men ordered Luthor to drop sixteen Type III Strong-Acid Bio-Androids into the Mariana Trench after learning that Bruce and the others had found the treasury.
• Victor connected to a ruined console and struggled to decrypt its Mother Box-powered system while Bruce and Diana guarded him.
• The bio-androids broke into the corridor, and Bruce's shot failed to pierce the lead unit's armor.
• Diana stabbed a bio-android but suffered severe acid burns before crushing its faceplate and warning the others about the acid.
• Bruce disabled two bio-androids with a Sonic Batarang and called for Arthur to cover the open left flank.

Chu Men sabotaged Arthur and the others during their battle in the One God Temple, but they opened the Atlantis Royal Treasury and secured the Life-Reconstruction Engine for Victor to carry. The group escaped through an underwater cemetery, where Bruce’s armor failed and a powerful presence awakened beneath them.

• Chu Men manipulated Arthur’s reflexes, allowing a cyborg to wound him, while Bruce’s Neural Activator Patch caused his vitals to crash.
• Arthur smashed through the cyborgs long enough for Victor to break the treasury’s firewall and open the Seastone doors.
• Arthur gave the Life-Reconstruction Engine to Victor, who sealed it inside his chest armor, and Victor found an escape route through the Trench Breeding Ground Cemetery.
• Bruce led Arthur, Diana, and Victor into the deep cemetery, where pressure ruptured his armor and Diana carried him toward shallower water.
• Arthur sensed a vast power awakening beneath the cemetery.

Arthur briefly resisted Chu Men’s control after sensing a golden trident in the Mariana Trench, but Chu Men reclaimed him and brought the group to safety. In the underground mine, Victor began using the Life-Reconstruction Engine to rebuild Barry’s legs as Bruce and Diana restrained him.

• The golden trident severed Chu Men’s Spiritual Imprint on Arthur, briefly restoring Arthur’s clarity before Chu Men forced control over him again.
• Arthur carried Bruce, Diana, and Victor to the surface and swam them to the underground mine, while Chu Men recognized the trident’s power from afar.
• Bruce urged Alfred to help Barry, and Victor connected the Life-Reconstruction Engine to his motherboard and prepared it for surgery.
• Victor warned that the procedure would be agonizing, then used the engine to vaporize Barry’s dead tissue and begin rebuilding his bones, nerves, and muscles.
• Bruce and Diana held Barry down as he endured the procedure, while Arthur watched silently from the edge of the medical area.

After Barry regained his legs, he raced into the River of Time and discovered that Chu Men watched across time, forcing the Justice League to retreat deeper underground. One month later, LexCorp’s new order was enforced as the Biochemical Legion attacked a Carado border garrison.

• Chu Men watched Barry from a giant black eye embedded in the Spacetime Barrier as Barry entered the River of Time.
• Barry was hurled back into the mine, where he told Bruce and Diana that Chu Men had locked down the past and future.
• Bruce ordered the Justice League to seal the routes to the surface, cut communications, and hide deeper underground.
• One month later, LexCorp’s laws played across holographic screens above Gotham as the new global order took hold.
• The Biochemical Legion destroyed a Carado watchtower and advanced on the garrison, where the Bio-Tyrant smashed through a sandbag barricade.

Luthor ordered the invasion of Carado to seize its Violet Alien Metal ore, while international leaders abandoned the country and the Biochemical Army slaughtered its people. As refugees faced extermination in Central Square, Chu Men lounged in One God Temple and ate shrimp served by Selina.

• A Bio-Tyrant crushed Carado's defenses as the United Nations ignored the country's plea for help.
• A U.S. general sent Luthor Carado's underground arsenal plans in exchange for a chance at ore, but Luthor deleted the agreement and denied the Americans any share.
• Luthor ordered the First Armored Division to seize Carado's Violet Ore Vein and clear away anyone in its path.
• The Biochemical Army poisoned underground shelters, mined the ore, and advanced toward Central Square, where tens of thousands of refugees were trapped under their weapons.
• Chu Men reclined in One God Temple as Selina peeled a deep-sea sweet shrimp and fed it to him.

Chu Men rejected Carado's president's plea and gave Luthor control of the country, while LexCorp extracted its ore to build a powerful shield around the One God Temple. As Luthor activated the shield by draining power from five states, Biochemical Legion troops prepared to execute tens of thousands of refugees in Carado.

• Carado's president begged Chu Men to spare him and offered the country's people and resources, but Chu Men cut off the transmission.
• Chu Men gave Luthor Carado as a toy, and Luthor ordered LexCorp drills to rip out the country's violet ore, destroying buildings as it was shipped to Gotham.
• Luthor used the ore to build a defensive array around the One God Temple and activated it by diverting power from five states, cutting electricity across the East Coast.
• Biochemical Legion troops surrounded more than fifty thousand refugees in Carado's capital and received Gotham's order to execute them.

Clark protected the crowd from the Biochemical Legion in Bruce’s black armor, but Luthor ordered a nuclear strike on Carado Central Square. Chu Men stopped the warheads and immobilized the battlefield with his Bio-electric Field, leaving Clark trapped beneath him.

• Clark shielded the crowd from the Biochemical Legion’s explosive barrage and then destroyed several Bio-Tyrants.
• Luthor ordered two nuclear warheads launched from LexCorp’s low-Earth-orbit station at Carado Central Square.
• Clark prepared to intercept the warheads, but Chu Men froze them and the battlefield with his Bio-electric Field.
• Chu Men mocked Clark’s black armor as Clark struggled against the field and told him to stop.

Chu Men crushed Clark while attacking Carado’s refugees, then left after Clark escaped. Luthor withdrew the Biochemical Army, leaving the survivors to flee from the falling, harmless warheads.

• Clark held back Chu Men’s Force Field to protect the refugees, but many begged Chu Men to punish him and threw stones at him.
• Chu Men struck Clark into a vast crater, and the shock wave killed hundreds of nearby refugees.
• Chu Men pierced Clark’s armor and chest with Heat Vision, but Clark used his remaining strength to flee.
• Chu Men left Carado, and Luthor ordered the Biochemical Army to withdraw.
• The empty nuclear warheads fell into the mud, and the surviving refugees fled in panic.

After Superman returned gravely wounded from the failed assault on Carado, the Justice League regrouped as Chu Men watched their despair from the temple. J'onn arrived with Shazam and Doctor Fate, who warned that attacks from the mortal dimension could not harm Chu Men.

• Superman crashed through the ceiling of the Justice League base, badly wounded, and Diana and Victor placed him in a medical pod.
• Chu Men watched the League's distress through a feed and mocked them while Pamela and Selina attended him.
• Barry urged the others to stop waiting, and J'onn arrived with Shazam and Doctor Fate.
• Victor reported that Superman was out of danger and would recover soon.
• Shazam described the devastation at Carado Square, and Diana said Chu Men used fear to crush hope of resistance.
• Doctor Fate warned the League that attacks from the mortal dimension would not work on Chu Men.

Bruce and the heroes planned to lure Chu Men away from the Divine Temple so Doctor Fate could exile him to another dimension. Chu Men overheard the plan, while Clark recovered and the team prepared for the operation scheduled for midnight the next day.

• Doctor Fate explained that the heroes could combine their powers to open a dimensional passage and sever Chu Men's connection to their universe.
• Bruce revealed a plan to have Shazam destroy LexCorp's Number Seven Nuclear Arsenal, drawing Luthor's reserves away from the Divine Temple while the others entered through underground exhaust ducts.
• J'onn offered to shield the infiltration team from Chu Men's senses, and Bruce assigned the heroes their roles in the midnight operation.
• Chu Men overheard the plan at the top of the One God Temple and laughed.
• Barry spoke with Shazam at the hideout as Clark rested and Diana sat across from him.

Bruce secretly prepared a backup plan against Chu Men, arranging international weapons support and carrying devices to counter mental control and seize orbital platforms. He kept the plan from the Justice League and left Arthur suspicious as Chu Men anticipated Bruce’s surprise.

• Bruce entered a concealed room and contacted Alfred, who confirmed that the Seventeen-Nation Secret Alliance had supplied bombers, electromagnetic pulse warheads, and orbital kinetic-energy penetrators.
• Bruce questioned whether to tell Clark and the others, saying he distrusted how smoothly their trip to Atlantis had gone.
• Bruce took a Divine Frequency Emitter to shield against mental control and an Orbital Weapons Invasion Module that could seize control of orbital platforms.
• Arthur confronted Bruce after discovering him near the secret passage, but Bruce dismissed his questions and told him to meet the others in the main hall.
• Atop the One God Temple, Chu Men reclined with Pamela and said he hoped Bruce had a surprise for him.

Arthur convinced Bruce and the others to retrieve the First Trident from the deep-sea trench to strengthen their chances in the coming battle. As they arrived, Chu Men had ordered Luthor to withdraw the trench defenses, setting the stage for the retrieval.

• Arthur asked for a new weapon, identifying the First Trident in the deep-sea trench as a way to amplify his power.
• Clark, Diana, Barry, and Shazam supported the risky mission, and Bruce agreed to lead everyone except Doctor Fate to retrieve the trident.
• Bruce assigned Doctor Fate to maintain the Exile Formation and ordered the team to retreat if they encountered Chu Men's main force.
• Chu Men told Selina to have Luthor pull every defensive unit out of the Atlantis deep-sea trench, describing the mission as fetch training.
• Victor opened a Boom Tube, and Bruce's team traveled to the North Atlantic trench, where Arthur swam ahead into the darkness.

Arthur retrieved the First Trident from the ruins of Atlantis, while Bruce secretly analyzed his reaction to it and prepared a contingency plan. The team then outlined their plan to set the Causality Array during an attack on the Divine Temple.

• Arthur broke the golden force field and took the First Trident, releasing a surge of power.
• Victor sent Bruce an analysis suggesting an external force was suppressing Arthur's emotions, and Bruce filed it under "Contingency Plan—The Deep."
• Bruce told Diana to follow the plan for midnight, but refused to explain what he was hiding.
• Diana and Doctor Fate confirmed that the First Trident carried the power and will of Atlantis's first king, and Doctor Fate said it strengthened the Causality Array.
• Victor explained that the array would let the team set its nodes at the Greenhouse before Luthor's Biochemical Legion returned.
• Clark, Shazam, and the others agreed to carry out the attack, with Clark keeping Luthor occupied and Shazam destroying the Nevada Nuclear Arsenal.

Bruce prepared the Justice League and a Seventeen-Nation Coalition for a coordinated attack on Chu Men, while Chu Men learned of the plan and ordered Luthor to clear the area around the temple. With twelve hours remaining, Bruce gave the team Neural Activators that could leave them permanently damaged, and Clark accepted the risk.

• Bruce confirmed with Alfred that the orbital platforms and coalition were ready to disrupt the temple's defenses, and explained that the attacks would conceal Doctor Fate's magic array rather than harm Chu Men.
• Chu Men overheard Bruce's plan and told Luthor to clear everything outside the temple before nightfall so nothing would spoil the battle he wanted to watch.
• Bruce gave Diana, Barry, and Clark Neural Activator patches that would intensify their abilities for fifteen minutes but cause severe neurological backlash afterward.
• Clark placed a patch against his neck and accepted the potential consequences of using it.

Diana gave Barry a keepsake from Artemis and urged him to keep moving forward despite his fear that he could not escape the River of Time. The team launched its assault on LexCorp’s Nevada Number Seven Nuclear Arsenal, where Shazam began battling the Biochemical Corps.

• Diana gave Barry Artemis’s carved Blue Stone and told him the warriors of Themyscira passed treasured objects to the young in hopes they would survive to see tomorrow.
• J’onn warned Victor to evacuate the team if his Psychic Barrier broke, but Victor insisted they would all leave together.
• Bruce briefed the team on the arsenal’s defenses, and Shazam flew ahead to attack it before the others followed through Victor’s Boom Tube.
• Shazam smashed through the arsenal’s bunker dome and destroyed a conventional ammunition warehouse, triggering a massive explosion.
• The Biochemical Corps fired plasma beams and armor-piercing rounds at Shazam, but his suit deflected them without damage.

Shazam destroyed the Seventh Arsenal’s defenses and disabled its nuclear missiles, but a sudden warning left him sensing danger. Meanwhile, coordinated electromagnetic and orbital strikes hit Gotham’s Dark Purple Shield, disrupting the energy supply to its northern pillars.

• Shazam tore through the Seventh Arsenal’s defenses and disabled its nuclear missile launch system.
• Luthor ordered the arsenal isolated and the nearby radar station shut down, while civilians were evacuated from the Divine Temple’s perimeter.
• As the underground facility collapsed, Shazam escaped using Bruce’s jammer and sensed an approaching danger.
• Russian stealth bombers, an Anglo-French fleet, and disguised satellites launched simultaneous strikes toward Gotham.
• Electromagnetic pulses struck Gotham’s Dark Purple Shield and disrupted the energy flow to the two northern pillars.

Bruce and his allies used an orbital strike to breach the Divine Temple’s defenses and infiltrated Gotham through an exhaust duct. Chu Men welcomed the coming assault, while Alfred’s drone revealed three heat signatures in the Greenhouse.

• A kinetic weapon and electromagnetic pulse damaged the Northern Shield, reducing its coverage to sixty percent and exposing the Dark Tower.
• Chu Men dismissed Pamela and told Selina to keep the Exhaust Shaft clear so he could welcome the intruders.
• Bruce’s team advanced through the underground duct, and J’onn and Doctor Fate concealed them with protective barriers.
• Alfred confirmed the breach and sent a drone to survey the Greenhouse, where it detected three heat signatures.
• Pennyworth sent Bruce the drone’s thermal image as the team continued through the exhaust duct.

Bruce's team used Victor's Trojan Protocol to prepare a sixty-second shutdown of the Biochemical Legion while planning to reach Chu Men and form Doctor Fate's banishment array. The array would take ninety seconds, leaving the team exposed to full enemy fire for thirty seconds, and they prepared to proceed with no backup plan.

• Pennyworth reported that Chu Men was on the top floor, with twelve heavy mechs and five hundred biochemical guards blocking the routes.
• Bruce ordered Victor to activate the Trojan Protocol, which installed a backdoor in the guards' and mechs' control chips and could disable them for sixty seconds.
• Bruce assigned Clark and Barry to carry the team through four blast doors to the greenhouse's top floor during the shutdown.
• Doctor Fate explained that the banishment array would take ninety seconds to form, leaving thirty seconds of exposure after the enemy rebooted.
• Clark, Diana, and Victor offered to help endure the gap or provide an escape route, while Bruce said retreat was not an option and ordered everyone into position.

Bruce and the Justice League disabled the Divine Temple’s defenses and reached the Greenhouse to confront Chu Men. Chu Men revealed that he had anticipated their plan, leaving the team with less time than Doctor Fate’s array needed to form.

• Bruce initiated a full-system overwrite, disabling the Biochemical Infantry, Bio-Tyrants, and the Divine Temple’s internal defenses.
• Luthor ordered his legion to prepare an airborne landing around the Divine Temple.
• Barry and the others raced through an exhaust duct and ventilation shaft to reach the Greenhouse antechamber.
• The team found the Greenhouse door ajar and heard Chu Men chuckle from within as their remaining time dwindled.
• Barry pushed open the door, and Chu Men welcomed the team while identifying their plan and pointing out its timing gap.

Chu Men crushed the Justice League’s counterattack after revealing that Arthur had been spying for him. He left the team pinned beneath his Bio-electric Field as Bruce’s countdown to the Biochemical Legion’s reboot continued.

• Victor targeted Chu Men with the particle emitter, but Bruce told the group not to fire while Doctor Fate prepared a formation.
• Barry charged Chu Men and was hurled into a blast door, badly injured.
• Chu Men revealed Arthur’s betrayal, stopped Arthur from stabbing Bruce, and watched Arthur take his place at his side.
• Bruce admitted defeat, and Chu Men explained that Arthur had been his camera and that he had let the Justice League’s month-long preparations unfold for his amusement.
• Chu Men released his Bio-electric Field, forcing Clark, Diana, Barry, and the others to struggle under its crushing pressure while Bruce’s countdown reached thirty-one seconds.