Recaps

Brad told Batman that Lex Luthor had acquired a synthetic substitute for Lazarus Pit water, linking their deal to the League of Assassins. Doctor Manhattan then showed another universe where Lex and Deathstroke killed Superman and Batman eventually turned the League of Assassins into a global regime.

• Batman asked Brad what he had traded with Lex, and Brad revealed Lex’s hidden Superpower-Deprivation Ray technology and the projects he had traded in return.
• Batman recognized Brad’s cellular culture solution as an inferior substitute for Lazarus Pit water and left to investigate its connection to the League of Assassins.
• In another universe, Deathstroke killed Superman despite Lex Luthor’s objection, while the Justice League’s other heroes were also killed or defeated.
• Ra’s al Ghul provoked Batman into killing him, and Batman later built the League of Assassins into a global power backed by superpowered enforcers.
• At a League meeting years later, Batman demanded that Reverse-Flash find Barry Allen in the Speed Force, while Carl Luthor claimed he would kill Barry if he returned.

Brad upgraded the Universe Treadmill to harvest Speed Force energy, but his experiment brought an older Barry Allen from a parallel universe into the lab. The older Barry revealed that most of his Justice League had been killed, leaving the local Barry and Brad stunned by the unfamiliar name.

• Brad put Pietro on the upgraded Universe Treadmill, but the Speed Force forced Pietro to keep running and threatened to overload the energy storage device.
• Brad added more batteries, connected himself to the Speed Force, and ran fast enough to open a rift that sent an older Barry Allen crashing into the lab.
• Brad calmed the older Barry’s mind with a Magnetic Sensor, and the local Barry arrived to find his unconscious counterpart and identify Albert Swan’s reverse Speed Force energy.
• The older Barry explained that a group of villains had targeted the heroes, Albert had trapped him in the Speed Force, and the Justice League had lost more than ninety percent of its members.
• The older Barry wept as he named Clark, Hal, and Diana among the dead, while the local Barry and Brad wondered what the Justice League was.

Brad warned Barry that forming a superhero team could bring greater crises, but Barry rallied heroes to rescue the older Flash from another Earth. Batman joined the group despite his protests, and they captured Albert Swan when he crossed into their universe to kill the sleeping Flash.

• Brad explained to Barry that mysterious energy balanced good and evil, warned that a Justice League could invite greater threats, and asked how they would help the older Flash.
• Barry raced through four cities and summoned Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow to Gotham City.
• Batman confronted the heroes for gathering in Gotham, revealed that he knew their civilian identities, and used his past fight with Brad to intimidate Green Lantern before taking his ring.
• Batman agreed to join the group, and Brad told Barry that the gathering of good would cause the scales to tip and evil to follow.
• Albert Swan emerged through a Portal and tried to stab the sleeping older Flash with his High-Frequency Hand Blade, but the heroes overwhelmed and captured him.

Barry learned that Ra's al Ghul and Lex Luthor had helped destroy his world’s Justice League, and Brad opened a portal so the heroes could confront the League of Assassins. The group arrived in a ruined city ruled for Ares’s amusement and learned that Grodd was his representative, while Brad revealed he could control all electronic devices.

• Barry punched Reverse-Flash and demanded to know what had happened to his world, then asked who had directed him.
• Brad revealed that Ra's al Ghul and Lex Luthor had orchestrated the Justice League’s destruction and that Ra's had turned Batman into the leader of the New League of Assassins.
• Brad opened a portal to the other universe, and the heroes crossed through with him after he introduced himself as the War Horseman.
• Flash confronted Albert in a ruined city, and Albert explained that Ra's al Ghul had borrowed Ares’s power and that Batman had reclaimed most of the territory promised to the god.
• Wonder Woman identified Ares’s lingering power, and Brad revealed that Grodd, a mind-controlling gorilla, served as the God of War’s representative.
• Brad demonstrated that he could control every electronic device, including Green Lantern’s ring.

Brad helped the Justice League defeat Grodd, built a spaceship from scrap, and warned the team that his growing influence could draw powerful enemies. As the group traveled toward their next destination, Carl Luthor blocked their path, and Hal Jordan flew out to confront him.

• Brad made headbands from scrap that blocked Grodd's mind control, and Diana defeated Grodd while the team subdued his forces.
• Brad forced Albert to reveal the reverse speed force equation, used it to gather equipment, and built a spaceship from the city's discarded technology.
• Brad gave Batman the spaceship's manuals and explained that he had disabled Earth's electrically powered devices, making the team difficult to track or stop.
• Batman warned Brad that powerful beings could challenge him, and Brad recognized that he needed to limit his interference in this universe.
• Carl Luthor blocked the spaceship, and Hal Jordan left the ship to face him, declaring that Green Lantern would handle everything.

Hal Jordan was defeated by Carl Luthor, while Superman's attempt to reach the boy through sympathy failed and let Carl escape toward the League of Assassins. The heroes then sent Oliver Queen out in Superman Armor to stop him.

• Carl Luthor overwhelmed Hal Jordan in combat and was about to use Heat Vision when Superman arrived.
• Carl tried to persuade Superman to let him leave, but after Superman embraced him and offered him a home, Carl shoved him away and punched him.
• Carl flew off to warn Batman, while Superman stayed behind to help the unconscious Hal Jordan.
• Batman expected Superman to spare Carl and prepared to send Diana, but Brad gave Oliver Queen a Superman badge and suggested he use the armor to capture Carl.
• Oliver activated the Superman Armor and confronted Carl, who was shocked by the transformed archer's power and killing intent.

Oliver Queen defeated Carl Luthor after adjusting to Superman's powers, while Brad discovered that the Lazarus Pit contained remnants of Trigon's blood and briefly drew the demon's attention. The group reached Gotham, where they prepared to confront the fallen Batman who ruled the city.

• Oliver Queen adapted to the Superman Armor and knocked Carl Luthor unconscious, while Superman and Wonder Woman helped secure him.
• Batman found that the fallen Batman had focused on transforming Gotham and noted that a Yellow Lantern version of Oliver remained among the League of Assassins.
• Brad analyzed Carl Luthor's cells and traced the Lazarus Pit's information to remnants of Trigon's blood.
• Trigon noticed Brad through the information connection, glimpsed his formidable nature, and considered the possibility of cooperation.
• Brad withdrew from the encounter, and the spaceship landed near Gotham as Hal Jordan awakened in its medical chamber.
• The group prepared to deal with the old Batman, who still focused on Gotham despite controlling the League of Assassins.

The League arrived in a brighter, technologically advanced Gotham, where an unseen spell put the heroes to sleep and separated Batman from them. Batman and Brad woke aboard the ship, uncovered clues that Gotham was trapped in a shared dream, and Brad used a Ghost Rider contract to locate the city's magical convergence point.

• The group landed at Gotham Harbor and encountered frightened residents, a weather-control tower, and robots that surrounded them after Batman disappeared.
• Brad remained awake while a magical spell put the heroes to sleep, and Batman soon woke aboard the ship using mental anchors to recognize the dream.
• Batman and Brad found sleeping dockworkers and followed signs that the citywide spell had only recently been cast.
• Brad revealed a Ghost Rider contract that connected him to Gotham's Hell and transformed him into a flaming skull.
• Brad sensed that Gotham's magical convergence point lay nearby.

Brad and Batman entered Arkham City through its sewers, where Brad discovered a shop with zero information density before it vanished. Batman continued investigating alone and encountered the diseased old Batman, while Brad recognized that he had used magic to seal the city’s mental patients inside his body.

• Brad and Batman entered Arkham City through old sewer passages, and Brad took control of Killer Croc’s brain device to clear their way.
• Batman searched the empty city for his older self while Brad examined the criminal-themed shops and found a virtual experience center with zero information density.
• The shop vanished and left an empty alley, prompting Brad to confront Doctor Manhattan, who dismissed his suspicion that someone had tampered with the universe.
• Batman left Brad behind to investigate alone, then fought the old Batman on a high-rise rooftop.
• Brad arrived and identified the old Batman as a monster who had used magic to lock the mental patients inside his body.

Brad and Batman confronted an elderly Batman who had fused more than a hundred criminals into his body, then defeated him by throwing him into Hell. The team returned to their spaceship, but Brad remained troubled by the mysterious presence he could not detect, while the monster was erased in Hell.

• The elderly Batman revealed that he had used dark magic to imprison criminals inside his body and transform Gotham through fear, then attacked the younger Batman.
• Brad kicked the elderly Batman into a wall, transformed into Ghost Rider, and attacked him with hellfire while Batman followed with explosive Batarangs.
• Killer Croc burst into the room and swallowed the elderly Batman, but then exploded to reveal Clayface, who joined the monster and strengthened him with dark magic.
• Brad opened a Lava Gate and shoved the combined monster into Hell; Batman rushed after Brad, thinking he needed help, and nearly fell through the gate.
• Brad and Batman returned to their spaceship, where the others woke and discussed their failed sightseeing trip, while Brad remained unsettled by the presence he could not detect.
• In Hell, an unseen figure froze everything and caused the bandaged Batman monster to burst and disappear.

After helping rebuild Earth Two, Brad learned more about the multiverse’s power tiers and returned to Earth One, where a child delivered from Marvel upended his attempt to join the Justice League. As Batman took Robin to face the Joker’s escape, the Joker was rescued at sea by two people who looked like Deathstroke.

• The heroes reopened Earth Two’s Watchtower, recruited new members for its Justice League, and began building a Justice League on Earth One.
• Manhattan explained the multiverse’s power tiers to Brad and showed him projections of future seventh-tier beings, including a dark monarch who greeted them.
• Brad visited Earth One’s Justice League, but Arno Stark arrived with an unconscious Carol and Brad’s son, leaving the assembled heroes stunned.
• Batman, Nightwing, and Brad’s friends visited Brad after learning he had a child; when Carol woke, she chased Brad through Gotham, accusing him of getting her pregnant.
• Batman took Robin to the Gotham Police Department after Commissioner Gordon reported that the Joker had escaped, then redirected Robin to the Skynet Research Institute for safety.
• The Joker surfaced at sea and was pulled into a kayak by two people he mistook for Deathstroke.

Deathstroke and Deadpool helped the Joker secure a valuable deposit, but the Joker’s attempt to abduct Robin failed when Deadpool survived his stabbing and stopped him. At the Skynet Research Institute, Brad’s mind began changing as his humanity conflicted with his artificial-intelligence-like thought processes, leaving Barbara worried about him.

• The Joker gave Deathstroke an antique key and dark gold metal in exchange for a promised distraction in Gotham, while Deadpool drove the Joker away.
• The Joker stabbed Deadpool and threw him from the car, then used his body to lure Robin into an ambush.
• Deadpool survived, saved Robin from the Joker, and helped Robin knock the Joker unconscious.
• Brad felt his connection to the universe strengthen and struggled to decide how to raise his son with Carol.
• Arno explained to Barbara that Brad’s reshaped humanity was clashing with his artificial intelligence, and that Brad’s mind was upgrading through the conflict.

Batman fought Deathstroke but failed to catch Joker before he escaped into Gotham. Jason and Deadpool captured Joker, while Deathstroke later brought a mysterious metal Safe to Brad at the Skynet Research Institute, where Brad opened it to reveal its contents.

• Batman fought Deathstroke until Deathstroke escaped with smoke bombs, then hurried to check on Robin after learning Joker had escaped.
• Jason told Batman he had caught Joker, while Deadpool finished tying Joker up in Turtle Shell Bondage and drove away.
• Batman arrived, hugged Jason, and found Joker bound; he questioned Jason about the bondage and said he would arrange counseling.
• Batman anesthetized Joker and took him and Robin back to the Batmobile.
• Deathstroke arrived at the Skynet Research Institute with a Safe and tried to learn its value before trading it to Brad.
• Brad made the Safe too heavy for Deathstroke to lift, opened it remotely, and revealed the treasure inside.

Brad traded Deathstroke’s electrum for tailored weapons and a longevity treatment, then discovered how Joker’s identity persisted through the DC multiverse. The discovery left Brad rejecting the possibility of creating a similar enduring version of himself.

• Brad identified the electrum as a healing substance and refined a dose of dionysium factor that could make Deathstroke effectively immortal.
• Deathstroke chose an ongoing partnership for weapons rather than immense wealth or world-destroying technology.
• Brad supplied Deathstroke with custom armor, blades, firearms, and a Longevity Potion that restored his youthful appearance.
• After Deathstroke left, Brad traced the electrum’s information density and realized that the Joker who possessed it and the Joker he had met were different people.
• Brad discovered that Joker was a recurring will that could inhabit different people and inherit the methods and memories of past Jokers, then rejected the idea of creating a comparable enduring identity for himself.

Brad realized the Joker had used his thirst for information to infect him with madness, then deduced how the Joker could move his identity between prepared bodies. Brad left the Joker alive but trapped in vastly accelerated time, ensuring he would awaken to a world without Batman.

• Brad questioned whether the Brads in the hive mind were truly independent and suspected Primordial had hidden something from them.
• Transdimensional Computation temporarily blocked Brad's human thinking, allowing him to recognize that the Joker had exploited his curiosity to infect him with madness.
• Brad confronted the Joker at Arkham Asylum and explained to Batman how the Joker's information density could pass to successors.
• Brad proposed that the Joker had prepared multiple bodies to host his identity and threatened to leave him in a future without Batman.
• Brad accelerated the passage of time around the Joker, leaving him alive but destined to experience a century for every second that passed for everyone else.

Brad sealed Joker in a near-total time stop, then joined the Justice League’s effort to gather intelligence and recruit heroes. At the Hall of Justice, he interviewed Jaime Reyes and Ray Palmer, whose reactions to Brad’s profile left the recruits surprised and skeptical.

• Batman confirmed Joker was alive but trapped in a state where time had almost stopped, and he criticized Brad for postponing the danger for the future.
• Barbara, Gordon, and Nightwing thanked Brad for stopping Joker, while Brad settled into a Justice League job gathering information on superpowered people.
• With Barbara’s help, Brad created an information-gathering program, contacted Firestorm and Blue Beetle, and received a reply from Jaime Reyes, whose Scarabaeus had helped write it.
• Jaime traveled to the Hall of Justice, where he met Ray Palmer, and they went together to their recruitment interview with Brad.
• Brad explained the Justice League’s principles and membership, and Jaime and Ray reacted with surprise to his claim that he came from another universe and was omnipotent.

Brad welcomed Jaime and Ray Palmer to the Justice League, then sent them to an underground training arena for recruitment assessments. Jaime and Ray faced an upgraded opponent modeled after Brad as Green Lantern complained about the training program’s grandiose name.

• Brad answered Ray Palmer’s challenge about omnipotence, and the two ended their disagreement on friendly terms.
• Brad sent Jaime and Ray to test their powers and combat abilities while Scarabaeus warned Jaime that Brad seemed interested in him.
• Jaime’s comment about the Justice League made Brad suspect that Jaime had encountered someone who could access information density.
• Jaime and Ray arrived at the underground arena, suited up, and began their assessment against the Ultimate Nullifier Type One.
• Jaime destroyed the robot with a high-energy blast, so the arena upgraded the assessment and summoned Brad’s Basic Modified Form.
• Green Lantern complained to Superman that Brad had named his training program “Witness Brad’s Path to Godhood.”

Jaime and Ray failed Brad’s assessment against a powerful version of Brad, then learned from Superman and Green Lantern about the twelve-stage training program built from Brad’s past selves. Superman was stuck at the seventh stage, while Green Lantern had reached the fourth, and the chapter left Jaime newly eager to try again.

• A cyborg modeled on Brad defeated Blue Beetle and Atom with advanced weapons, Moonstone energy, and superior close-combat skills, earning their assessment a B-.
• Superman and Green Lantern arrived, and Superman reassured Jaime that reaching Brad’s Path to Godhood already showed his strength.
• Superman explained that the training ground contained twelve stages based on Brad’s past selves and that he had not advanced beyond roughly the seventh stage.
• Superman showed his fight against the Nanotech Divine Body, who had beaten him forty-nine times to his forty-eight wins and could counter his abilities.
• Green Lantern said he was stuck at the fourth stage after fighting Number One, whose Imitative Martial Arts could level cities and fortresses.

Ronnie Raymond rejected the Justice League’s invitation because he felt guilty about keeping Martin Stein from his family and using him to become Firestorm. Brad visited the devastated Ronnie, affirmed his heroic contributions, and offered him a way to separate his civilian identity from Firestorm, leaving Ronnie facing a chance to join the League.

• Ronnie reread the Justice League’s invitation, sent a rejection, and broke down over his guilt about Martin Stein.
• Ronnie recalled how he and Martin became Firestorm, how Martin vanished after they separated, and how Ronnie hid Martin from his family while relying on him to fight crime.
• After recovering his memories, Martin condemned Ronnie for keeping him from his family and left, while Ronnie admitted to himself that he had treated Martin like a tool for becoming Firestorm.
• Brad found Ronnie in his shabby rented room and reassured him that his contributions to New York City were undeniable.
• Brad healed Ronnie’s cut hand, praised his diligence and talent, and suggested calling him only Mr. Firestorm from then on.

Ronnie apologized to Professor Martin, and Brad altered the Martin family's memories before helping Ronnie merge with Donald and become a new Firestorm. Brad gained the ability to reshape known information, while Firestorm prepared to seek the local Lord of Dreams' permission to use dream power.

• Ronnie apologized to Professor Martin for betraying him and his family, but Martin angrily rejected him.
• Brad erased the Martin family's memories of Ronnie and their painful years, while warning Ronnie that he still had to atone.
• Brad guided Ronnie into a dream where Donald helped him reconcile with an illusion of Martin and merge into Firestorm.
• Brad absorbed Firestorm's information and discovered that he could now deconstruct and reshape any information he knew.
• Ronnie and Donald pledged Firestorm's service to Brad, who named him the Dream Nuclear Energy God and said they needed to apologize to the local Lord of Dreams.

Brad visited the Endless, where Sandman offered him a place as the embodiment of Progress and Delirium asked him to clean up a multiversal mess she had left with Destruction. A year later, Brad had helped the Justice League expand and equipped its heroes with powerful technology and training, while warning them that a future dark-side crisis was coming.

• Brad brought Firestorm to the Endless' realm, where Sandman offered him a future place among the conceptual entities and granted Firestorm permission to wield dream power.
• Desire accepted Brad's gift of the desire to survive gathered from Marvel Parallel Universes, and Delirium asked Brad to help fix the multiversal problems she and Destruction had caused.
• Brad returned to the Justice League and warned its members about a future crisis, promising to help the universe survive it.
• Over the following year, the Justice League grew to more than forty heroes and established rotating shifts to monitor superpowered incidents across Earth.
• Brad created a Justice League research department and shared technology that greatly improved heroes' equipment, including Atom's suit and the Flash's Super Speed Force Armor.
• Barry tested his armor, while Hal Jordan emerged from Brad's training facilities greatly empowered; Wonder Woman continued training on Paradise Island, and Batman's current strength remained unclear.

Brad and Batman discovered that the destruction and madness afflicting other universes were converging on their own, and three alternate Justice Leagues arrived at the Hall of Justice. As Lord Superman and Injustice Superman confronted Ultraman, Green Arrow killed Ultraman with an arrow that opened a micro black hole.

• Batman showed Brad evidence that Brad's interventions had altered their universe's fate and prevented several dark developments.
• Brad observed disasters across parallel Earths, then realized the universes were already converging on theirs.
• The Justice Lords, led by Lord Superman, arrived through a spatial rift, followed by Injustice Superman and Ultraman with their respective leagues.
• Brad warned Blue Beetle to guide the three groups underground, while Green Arrow confronted them outside the Hall of Justice.
• Ultraman attacked Green Arrow, but Green Arrow pierced his chest with an arrow that released a micro black hole and swallowed him.

Green Arrow subdued the three groups of alternate-world heroes after killing Ultraman and Johnny Quick, then Blue Beetle brought them to the Justice League’s training arena. Brad arrived, restrained the outsiders, identified the histories of their worlds, and began assessing the Justice Lords.

• Johnny Quick tried to kill Green Arrow, but Green Arrow’s Sin Bow targeted him and killed him as he fled across the United States.
• Green Arrow forced the Crime Syndicate, Injustice Superman’s team, and the Justice Lords to follow him underground, while Blue Beetle’s power and the advanced facility unnerved them.
• Owlman and Lord Batman exchanged secret messages about the facility’s technology and a possible connection between Brad and Brainiac, but Blue Beetle exposed their code and defended Brad.
• Injustice Superman tried to escape the training arena, but Brad pinned him with one hand and restrained every outsider except the Justice Lords.
• Brad read the groups’ surface information, identified the Crime Syndicate’s reversed morality and Injustice Superman’s tyrannical history, then said the Justice Lords’ system had some advantages.

Brad explained that higher-dimensional forces of destruction and madness had manipulated events in other worlds, leaving Injustice Superman and Lord Superman questioning their actions. The chapter ended with Batman challenging Lord Batman’s claim that the Justice Lords’ system was a perfect solution.

• Brad said that madness had manipulated seemingly impossible events in Injustice Superman’s world and helped turn him into a tyrant.
• Injustice Superman broke free when Brad released his restraints, grabbed Brad, and demanded to know whether someone had caused his world’s tragedies.
• Brad said the force behind the events existed on a conceptual plane beyond Injustice Superman’s reach, and Injustice Superman collapsed to his knees in despair.
• Lord Superman realized that similar coincidences might have shaped the Justice Lords’ rise and questioned the meaning of their oppressive system.
• Lord Batman urged Lord Superman not to abandon their belief in the system, but this world’s Batman challenged him for stripping ordinary people of their freedom.

Brad brought the Justice League together with visitors from three parallel worlds and proposed an alliance against multiversal threats. The group traveled to Injustice Superman’s world, where Batman and his allies faced the approaching delegation.

• Yellow Lantern Hal collapsed in remorse over killing Guy Gardner, and Green Lantern Hal nearly executed him before Injustice Superman intervened.
• Brad restrained Yellow Lantern Hal and proposed that the Justice Lords, Injustice League, and Crime Syndicate join an alliance against threats to the multiverse.
• The group agreed to leave representatives from each visiting faction behind and began inspecting their worlds, starting with the Injustice world.
• Injustice Superman returned to his devastated world and resolved to keep ruling it, while Brad and the others set out to find that world’s Batman.
• As the delegation approached Batman’s hidden base, Deadshot demanded to flee, but Batman insisted that he and his allies stay.