Recaps

The Justice League fought Chu Men in the Greenhouse while Luthor’s forces closed in, then Doctor Fate assembled the team to power a banishment circle. The Dimensional Rift opened beneath Chu Men, and the chapter left him feeling its pull as his mockery faded.

• Diana, J'onn, Victor, Doctor Fate, and Clark attacked Chu Men, but his force field repelled or absorbed their strikes and Clark was hurled through the floor.
• Luthor regained control of the Biochemical Infantry, and more than three hundred troops and eight Bio-Tyrants surrounded the Greenhouse.
• Bruce ordered the team to force the circle through, and Doctor Fate formed a six-pointed magic circle across the floor.
• Clark, Barry, J'onn, Diana, and Victor each powered a node while Doctor Fate bound their energies together.
• The circle opened a Dimensional Rift beneath Chu Men, and its universal repelling force began pulling him out of reality.

Clark, Barry, Diana, Victor, and Doctor Fate pushed Chu Men to the brink of banishment while Bruce watched the ritual reach its final stage. Just before the banishment could finish, Chu Men spoke, and the dimensional vortex abruptly stalled.

• Doctor Fate guided the ritual as Clark, Barry, Diana, and Victor poured their power into the magic circle, making Chu Men increasingly transparent.
• Victor reported that Chu Men’s mass was being removed from the dimension as the banishment progress passed seventy-eight percent.
• Bruce watched the team reach ninety-five percent and believed they had won while Arthur attacked the circle from outside.
• Chu Men chuckled, questioned whether Doctor Fate’s helmet was the banishment, and caused the magic circle and dimensional vortex to freeze.

Chu Men shattered the array and the multiverse’s attempt to erase him, then overwhelmed the Justice League with the backlash and his restored power. As Bruce accepted their defeat, a golden streak crashed through the remaining glass wall.

• Chu Men broke the causality array with a full-force punch, destroyed the vortex, and restored his body.
• The backlash severely wounded J'onn, Barry, Diana, Clark, and Doctor Fate, whose Helmet of Nabu lost its light.
• Chu Men dismissed Doctor Fate’s appeal to order and mocked the defeated heroes.
• Bruce accepted that the Justice League had lost as Arthur stood behind Chu Men.
• A figure arrived in a burst of golden lightning, smashing through the hall’s remaining glass wall.

Shazam spent the power of the six gods in a desperate attack that wounded Chu Men before Chu Men killed him as Billy Batson. Clark and Diana then attacked Chu Men’s Force Field, and Diana opened a small breach as she called for Barry.

• Shazam unleashed the six gods’ power and struck Chu Men thirty-one times, burning his palm and drawing blood.
• Chu Men backhanded Shazam across the hall, and Shazam’s power faded, revealing the dying Billy Batson beneath his shattered armor.
• Clark, Diana, and Barry reacted to Billy’s death as rain fell through the broken Greenhouse dome.
• Clark fired Heat Vision at Chu Men’s Force Field while Diana bound sword fragments to her hand and charged the barrier.
• Diana cut a three-centimeter gash in the Force Field and pressed her hand against it as she called to Barry.

The Justice League’s combined assault failed to seriously injure Chu Men, leaving its members incapacitated. J'onn then unleashed the memories and anguish of Mars’s destruction against Chu Men’s mind.

• Barry, Victor, Doctor Fate, and J'onn joined Clark and Diana in attacking Chu Men, destroying the temple’s upper layer.
• Chu Men emerged with only minor scratches that healed, then crushed Clark’s hand and threatened to kill the defeated League.
• J'onn rose in his fading spiritual form and told Chu Men that Mars had been destroyed and he was its last survivor.
• J'onn struck Chu Men’s mind with the memories and suffering of tens of billions of Martians, making Chu Men recoil as he defended his consciousness.

Chu Men broke J'onn's psychic assault and stood over the defeated fighters, but Diana launched a final attack with the broken Magic-Breaker. Her blade cut Chu Men's neck before shattering, and he struck her down.

• Chu Men severed J'onn's psychic link, and J'onn disintegrated after telling Bruce that the last warrior of Mars had done his duty.
• Clark and Barry grieved as J'onn's green motes faded, while Chu Men challenged the fallen fighters.
• Diana pulled herself from the ruins, bound her wounded thigh with the Lasso of Truth, and took a broken fragment of the Magic-Breaker.
• Diana charged Chu Men from behind and pierced his Bio-electric Field, cutting his neck before the blade shattered against his strength.
• Chu Men struck Diana through her armor and sent her crashing into the ruins, then examined the blood on his fingertip and frowned at the pain.

Diana climbed out of the pit and fought Chu Men despite her grave injuries, but his Force Field stopped every attack. Bruce identified Arthur’s First Trident as a possible way to break through Chu Men’s defenses and quietly alerted Barry, while Diana was left kneeling in exhaustion.

• Bruce reasoned that the First Trident of Atlantis might pierce Chu Men’s Force Field and briefly free Arthur from Chu Men’s control.
• Bruce secretly told Barry to watch the trident in Arthur’s hand, and Barry acknowledged him while gripping the Artemis Blue Stone.
• Chu Men prepared to kill Diana, but Diana climbed out of the pit and faced him despite her wounds.
• Diana attacked Chu Men repeatedly, but his Force Field blocked her blows and the impacts further injured her.
• Diana’s strength failed, and she fell to one knee before Chu Men.

Chu Men beat Diana until she fell unconscious, then Clark attacked his Force Field to avenge Billy. Chu Men stopped Clark and taunted him as the shield repaired itself.

• Chu Men offered to spare Diana if she knelt and called him Master, but she refused and said she would rather die than kneel.
• Chu Men struck Diana through the Divine Temple wall, and she crashed into a crater in the streets of Gotham City before losing consciousness.
• Clark arrived and attacked Chu Men's Force Field, using Bruce's instructions to target a weak point below the right side of Chu Men's neck.
• Clark landed 117 punches on the same point, damaging the Force Field but severely injuring his own arms.
• Chu Men pinned Clark in midair, touched his chest wound, and watched the shield's fatigue pattern disappear as he taunted him.

Bruce confronted Chu Men in the ruins and exposed that Chu Men had deliberately allowed the heroes’ plans to unfold because he craved resistance. Chu Men admitted Bruce had understood him, but spared him for last, leaving Clark and the other heroes defeated as he moved toward the crater.

• Bruce emerged from the ruins and told Chu Men that he had won from the beginning.
• Bruce revealed that Chu Men had used Arthur as an informant and deliberately let the heroes carry out their plans to create a spectacle.
• Bruce accused Chu Men of needing opponents so he could enjoy crushing their hope, striking at Chu Men’s buried emptiness.
• Chu Men admitted Bruce saw through him and decided to spare him until last, promising he would watch Clark die and the world fall into despair.
• Clark remained pinned and bleeding while Diana, Victor, Billy, Barry, and Kent Nelson lay wounded or defeated, and Chu Men walked toward the crater with Arthur standing beside him.

Barry used the Neural Activator and tried to travel through time, but Chu Men caught him and hurled him back into the present. Chu Men gathered the defeated heroes at the temple and addressed the world, leaving his announcement unfinished.

• Barry injected himself with the Neural Activator and charged into the River of Time.
• Chu Men seized Barry through the River of Time, tore him back into the present, and left him incapacitated.
• Chu Men released Clark from the air and used his Force Field to gather Diana, Victor, Barry, Arthur, Kent Nelson, and Bruce among the ruins.
• Chu Men addressed the global audience through holographic screens and began speaking about the guardians and the strategic reserves of seventeen countries.

Chu Men used his Spiritual Imprint to enslave Barry and Victor before turning his attention to Diana. Diana resisted him and declared she would rather die than kneel.

• Chu Men lifted Barry and crushed his memories with the Spiritual Imprint until Barry knelt and called him master.
• Chu Men planted his foot on Victor's chest and corrupted Victor and the Mother Box, making Victor kneel and await his command.
• Chu Men approached Diana and taunted her about Amazon warriors kneeling.
• Diana spat at Chu Men, then said she would rather die than kneel.

Chu Men broke Diana’s will with the Spiritual Imprint, forcing her to kneel and call him Master, then turned the same attack on Clark. Clark resisted as his memories of Kansas began to surface.

• Chu Men sent dark red psychic energy into Diana and tore through her memories as she resisted for twelve seconds.
• On the thirteenth second, Diana’s resistance ended, and she knelt before Chu Men and awaited his orders.
• Chu Men released Clark from the force field, dropped him onto the rubble, and declared it was his turn.
• Chu Men attacked Clark with the Spiritual Imprint, and Clark collapsed to his knees as his Kryptonian Cells fought back and memories of Jonathan Kent appeared.

Chu Men broke Clark’s resistance and forced him and the other Justice League members to kneel, leaving Bruce alone as the world watched its last defenders fall. He confronted Bruce and asked whether he liked the spectacle.

• Clark’s memories and will were overwhelmed by the Spiritual Imprint, and he knelt before Chu Men, pledging his loyalty.
• People around the world watched Superman surrender and fell into despair, while the president and world leaders believed humanity had lost its last hope.
• Victor repaired his severed arm under Chu Men’s control and joined Barry, Diana, Clark, Kent Nelson, and Arthur in kneeling.
• Chu Men taunted Bruce by describing the fallen Justice League members as his servants and released the force field holding Bruce in place.
• Chu Men approached Bruce, patted his damaged armor, and asked whether he liked this final act.

Chu Men publicly revealed that he had enslaved six Justice League heroes and assigned them roles serving the Divine Temple. He spared Bruce and dropped him from the sky, leaving him to survive in the transformed world.

• Chu Men addressed the world and declared the show over, then assigned Clark, Diana, Barry Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry, and Kent Nelson to serve him.
• Chu Men told Bruce that he would let him go so Bruce could watch the enslaved heroes conquer lands and kill people he had sworn to protect.
• Bruce vowed that he and the surviving people would resist Chu Men, who challenged him to find a new cast of heroes.
• Chu Men carried Bruce high above Gotham and released him, telling him to stay alive and see the new world.

Bruce survived his fall after Chu Men defeated him and subdued the Justice League, but he believed his allies were lost and his plans had failed. Alfred rescued him from a Pennsylvania field and drove him toward a place where they could survive, while Bruce remained gravely injured and silent.

• As Bruce fell, memories of Clark, Diana, Barry, J'onn, and Billy played through his mind, followed by the realization that his allies had been defeated and Billy had died.
• Bruce's armor slowed his descent, and he crashed into a wheat field in Pennsylvania as Gotham burned in the distance.
• Alfred found Bruce forty minutes later and dragged him from the crater after Bruce said his allies were gone and he had no Plan B.
• Alfred took Bruce away in an unmarked sedan and said they were going somewhere they could survive.

After the Justice League’s defeat, Alfred stopped at an abandoned gas station as Bruce confessed that he had led his allies to disaster. Alfred drove on with Bruce into the night, while Gotham remained beneath the One God Temple’s watchful red glow.

• Alfred pulled over at an abandoned gas station and saw Bruce sitting in silence in the back seat.
• Bruce recalled watching Clark, Diana, Barry, and J’onn kneel before the Tyrant, and said that he had led them there.
• Bruce admitted that he had been wrong from the beginning and shed a tear as Alfred watched without interrupting.
• Alfred told Bruce they still had a long road ahead and that he would find his feet again.
• Alfred drove onto the highway, leaving Gotham beneath the red glow of the One God Temple.

After Chu Men crushed the world's resistance, governments surrendered power and recognized the One God Temple as Earth's supreme authority. The new Divine Temple rose in Gotham, where Chu Men ruled over the defeated heroes and his pleased new order.

• The Russian foreign minister knelt at the Divine Temple ruins and was dragged inside to meet Luthor.
• The British and French leaders argued over surrender, while the Chinese delegation withdrew from the Shadow Alliance and recognized the One God Temple's authority.
• The United States dissolved the Supe Control Bureau and transferred its assets to LexCorp after its leaders rejected further resistance.
• Representatives of 193 countries signed a declaration surrendering global diplomacy, military deployments, and resource allocation to Chu Men.
• Luthor oversaw construction of a fortified new Divine Temple in Gotham, where propaganda screens replayed the heroes' defeat.
• Chu Men sat on his throne as Clark, Diana, Barry, Victor, Arthur, Kent Nelson, Pamela, and Selina served or knelt before him.

Seventeen national delegations surrendered their military assets and sovereignty to Chu Men, making him the sole ruler of Earth. Unimpressed by how easily the world had fallen, he reflected that Bruce Wayne had been his only interesting opponent and had almost no options left.

• The Russian foreign minister knelt before Chu Men and offered Russia’s nuclear arsenal, orbital weapons access, and biochemical facilities in surrender.
• Luthor collected surrender documents from the United Kingdom, France, and the other delegations, reporting that all 197 political entities had pledged allegiance to Chu Men.
• Chu Men ordered the leaders removed, and Bio-Tyrants dragged the seventeen kneeling officials out of the temple and dumped them in the mud.
• Chu Men watched the repaired defense array and holographic displays, then said the conquest had been too easy and that Bruce Wayne had been the only opponent to interest him.

In a Pennsylvania basement, Bruce watched the One God Temple’s broadcast and blamed himself for Clark’s enslavement until Alfred reminded him that he had survived past defeats. Bruce regained his resolve, prepared a letter for Lois, and ordered Alfred to contact Hal Jordan for reinforcements from Oa as he vowed to return and fight Chu Men.

• Alfred stitched Bruce’s wounds while Bruce watched Clark and the others serving Chu Men on the broadcast.
• Bruce blamed himself for leading the Justice League to defeat, and Alfred urged him not to give up by recalling how he had endured past tragedies.
• Bruce turned off the broadcast and looked toward the dark-red glow over Gotham, then wrote a letter for Lois.
• Bruce told Alfred to contact Hal Jordan and stress that reinforcements from Oa were necessary.
• Bruce vowed to return and bring a force Chu Men could not imagine.

Hal Jordan asked the Guardians for help after Chu Men enslaved Earth, and the council approved an advance team to investigate the threat. Thirty elite Green Lanterns assembled on Oa as Hal prepared to return to Earth and Bruce.

• Hal Jordan arrived at Oa and told the Guardians that Chu Men had enslaved Earth and defeated the Justice League and Apokolips' forces.
• The Guardians debated whether Chu Men threatened cosmic order or whether intervening would violate the Corps' noninterference principles.
• Chief Guardian Gantser approved an advance team to assess Chu Men and warned Hal that he would face exile if he had exaggerated the threat.
• Thirty elite Green Lanterns assembled outside the Council Hall after the Central Power Battery sent out a summons.
• Hal joined the assembled Lanterns and vowed to return to Earth for Bruce.

Clark, Diana, Victor, and Arthur enforced Chu Men’s rule across the world by destroying resistance and strengthening the Divine Temple’s defenses. With the planet subdued, Chu Men grew bored and wondered when Bruce or Darkseid would make a move.

• Clark massacred more than two thousand Resistance fighters in Africa and flew toward the next purge coordinates.
• Diana struck a dissenting soldier with the Lasso of Truth and ordered Chu Men’s troops on a punishing run.
• Victor used the Mother Box’s processing power to accelerate the Divine Temple’s defenses and Bio-Tyrant cultivation.
• Arthur crushed three former-nation submarines and sealed the world’s sea routes against escaping resistance forces.
• Chu Men reviewed reports of worldwide production and resistance crackdowns, then asked Selina about Bruce and Darkseid before declaring that he needed entertainment.

Hal Jordan and thirty elite Green Lanterns arrived at Earth to confront Chu Men, only to discover that the planet had fallen under his control and Superman had become his enforcer. As the Corps descended toward Gotham, Chu Men prepared his former guardians to meet them at the One God Temple.

• Luthor warned Chu Men that thirty-one unidentified objects were approaching Earth, and Chu Men recognized them as Green Lanterns.
• Hal Jordan found Earth’s networks overwritten and saw Superman slaughter Resistance fighters in Africa before flying toward Gotham.
• Hal told Captain Tomar-Re that Chu Men had defeated Superman and could move while time was stopped, but Tomar-Re dismissed the warnings.
• Tomar-Re led the Green Lanterns in a vow to drive out darkness, and the thirty-one members descended toward Gotham.
• Chu Men watched their approach and ordered Clark, Diana, and Barry to get ready for the guests.

Chu Men and his corrupted allies defeated the Green Lantern force sent to Gotham, broke their Emerald Cage, and turned the survivors into his servants. Hal’s ring sent a corrupted signal through the Solar System, alerting Darkseid, who prepared to act from four light-years away.

• Tomar-Re led thirty Green Lanterns in an attack on the Divine Temple, but Clark shattered their giant emerald blade and killed two attackers while Diana and Arthur struck down others.
• The Green Lanterns trapped Clark, Diana, Arthur, and Barry in an Emerald Cage, while Bruce watched the battle from an abandoned factory basement.
• Chu Men crushed the Emerald Cage, and Barry used the opening to seize eight Green Lantern Rings as their owners were injured.
• Chu Men immobilized Tomar-Re and corrupted him and the remaining Green Lanterns, making all thirty kneel before him.
• Chu Men corrupted Hal and forced him to raise his ring, sending a dark red energy signal toward a Parademon fleet, where Darkseid reacted to Steppenwolf’s death.

Darkseid's forces analyzed Steppenwolf's final footage and discovered an unknown Earthling had also transformed thirty-one Green Lanterns. Darkseid identified the being as a possible fragment of the Anti-Life Equation and focused his attention on Earth.

• DeSaad reported that the Earthling had crushed Steppenwolf's battle axe with power beyond the known limits of an individual life-form.
• A communications officer reported that thirty-one Green Lantern signals had turned dark red and formed a ring around the coordinates of Steppenwolf's final transmission.
• Kalibak offered to lead his Furious Female Furies to Earth, while Granny Goodness warned that brute force would not defeat the being.
• Darkseid silenced Kalibak and Granny Goodness, called the being an interesting pebble and a fragment of the Anti-Life Equation, and said the three Mother Boxes were the keys to finding it.

Darkseid ordered a massive fleet to Earth and demanded that Chu Men be brought to him alive. In Gotham, Chu Men prepared to greet the invading forces by turning the captured Green Lanterns into a public spectacle, leaving Hal Jordan straining to light the Greenhouse dome as the fleet approached.

• Darkseid crushed his throne's armrest and ordered all fleets to target Earth, destroy its inhabitants, and bring Chu Men before him alive.
• Luthor warned Chu Men that a fleet of at least ten thousand warships was making a faster-than-light jump toward the Solar System.
• Chu Men mocked the thirty-one enslaved Green Lanterns and ordered Clark and Diana to make them patrol the Divine Temple for all to see.
• Chu Men forced Hal Jordan to drive his ring's power to its limit and cover the Greenhouse dome with a brilliant green canopy edged in dark red.
• Chu Men admired the canopy and looked forward to facing Darkseid, hoping the invader would prove harder to defeat.