Chapter Summaries

Su Ming planned to use the Rock of Eternity and Poison Ivy to strengthen Earth’s magical defenses and secure the Parliament of Flowers. Meanwhile, the Joker assembled a mercenary squad in Gotham, ordering them to bring him Batman while warning them not to interfere with his personal claim on him.

• Su Ming planned to build a planetary barrier from the Rock of Eternity and use The Green to replace the missing Tower of Fate node.
• Su Ming intended for Poison Ivy to negotiate with Queen of May and the Parliament of Flowers, with Harley helping keep Ivy’s ambition in check.
• The Joker’s new squad arrived at a room in Gotham, where he laughed over a monster’s severed head and announced that their game had begun.
• Chelicerae Butterfly began eating the bodies while Bane offered to break Batman’s back, prompting the Joker to threaten him and insist that Batman was his.
• The Joker left the room dancing in the rain with the monster’s head as an umbrella and ordered his mercenaries to bring Batman to him.

Tarantula and Copperhead fought over Mohammed, the former Nightwing, whom the Joker had hired Copperhead to capture. Tarantula escaped with him, while Batman arrived to confront Copperhead, who suspected the Joker had arranged their encounter to deliver a warning.

• Tarantula entered the hospital room and poisoned the immobilized Mohammed, but Copperhead broke in and challenged her.
• Copperhead revealed that the Joker had hired her to capture Nightwing, and she and Tarantula fought until both were poisoned.
• Tarantula injected the antidotes, took Nightwing, and escaped through the window after warning Copperhead not to reveal their encounter to Batman.
• Copperhead suspected the Joker had deliberately arranged the clash to send Batman a message about his return and coming plan.
• Batman appeared over Copperhead and struck her with a huge fist.

Luthor watched J'onn and his companions on Thanagar from the Fortress of Eternity and planned to seize the intelligence they uncovered. He intended to ambush J'onn on Mars when he returned to verify it.

• Luthor told Brainiac that their plans had been disrupted and blamed the Batman Who Laughs and Joker for interfering.
• Brainiac urged Luthor to focus on the Totality and explained that Thanagar held secrets, including a White Martian Keeper who served as a living archive.
• Luthor reasoned that J'onn would bring the Keeper's intelligence back to Earth and then travel alone to Mars to verify it.
• Luthor decided to prepare an ambush at the Martian Grand Cemetery and capture the intelligence from J'onn.
• Brainiac left to build devices against the Justice League, while Luthor watched J'onn's group on Thanagar and Cheetah quietly relayed the conversation to Grodd.

Su Ming secured the Rock of Eternity as a hideout and assigned Damian to lead its defenses while he pursued the Door Handle. Meanwhile, Batwoman struggled to coordinate a depleted Justice League as monsters attacked around the world and communications remained down.

• Su Ming brought the Teen Titans and Shadowpact to the dusty Rock of Eternity, where he planned to establish the Three Sanctums and sent Ivy to contact the Parliaments of Trees and Flowers.
• Su Ming told Bobo that his priority was finding the Door Handle, not The Totality, and ordered Damian to oversee security while he went to meet Diana and Green Arrow.
• Su Ming explained that Black Alice and the others could counter the Legion of Doom's likely attackers, then assigned Damian the challenge of defending the refuge.
• Batwoman tried to restore global surveillance from the Hall of Justice while Clark reported that Kryptonite dust and destroyed satellites had trapped him on Earth.
• Barry reported fighting monsters across several locations, while M'gann learned Atlantis could not spare support because its forces were battling creatures rising from the sea.

Batwoman coordinated the response to Diana’s disappearance while Su Ming and Bobo searched Star City and found Diana fighting waves of monsters. After helping her clear the swarm, Su Ming sent Cloak to locate whoever was powering the Magic Circle.

• Barbara returned with Copperhead, and Batwoman ordered him held beneath the Hall of Justice while the team prepared to return to Gotham.
• M'gann reported that Deathstroke had disrupted contact with Diana, and Starman urged Bruce to come help a friend.
• Su Ming and Bobo waited in Star City for trouble, then spotted a disturbance among the trees and flew toward it.
• Su Ming and Bobo found Diana fighting monsters, and Diana said she had not yet been able to search for Oliver.
• Su Ming used a Yellow Lantern construct to shoot down a swarm of monsters, then sent Cloak to find the person powering the Magic Circle.
• Cloak returned from the woods carrying a figure inside him.

Deathstroke interrogated a hooded sorcerer who had summoned monsters, but the man died before revealing anything useful beyond that he came from Earth -22. Su Ming, Diana, and Bobo then set out to find Green Arrow, suspecting he was at home after the many disasters he had endured.

• Deathstroke restrained the hooded sorcerer and questioned him about The Batman Who Laughs, while Diana and Bobo confirmed they did not recognize him.
• The sorcerer killed himself, and Su Ming used a black tentacle to consume his head and learn that he came from Earth -22.
• Su Ming warned that Earth -22 might still exist and could be a trap, so he chose to find Oliver before returning to the temporary base.
• Diana suggested checking Green Arrow's base, but Su Ming and Bobo recounted Oliver's recent failures and hardships, leading Diana to conclude he was probably at home.
• Su Ming admitted he did not know where Queen Manor was, so Diana led the group toward Green Arrow's home.

Su Ming, Diana, and Bobo recruited Oliver after finding him brooding over Dinah’s abrupt departure and Star City’s devastation. Oliver agreed to join them for five million dollars, and Su Ming promised to restore his standing in the Justice League.

• Oliver reflected on his betrayals and losses as he sat alone after Dinah had left him following their night together.
• Su Ming, Diana, and Bobo arrived at Oliver’s bedroom, where Diana told him monsters were attacking Star City and asked him to join their team.
• Oliver questioned why Batman had not summoned him, and Su Ming explained that the team needed him despite his exclusion from recent Justice League crises.
• Su Ming offered to return Oliver to the Justice League’s core and secure him voting rights for five million dollars.
• Oliver accepted the offer and signed Su Ming’s prepared contract.

Su Ming’s group planned to restore communications from Green Arrow’s Safehouse while J’onn rescued the Martian Keeper on Thanagar. The Keeper revealed that Thanagar’s apparent world was an illusion concealing a ruined planet and warned that the creator of an earlier Multiverse was returning, but J’onn had not yet learned who it was.

• Su Ming explained that The Batman Who Laughs was the main threat, and Green Arrow agreed they should find an off-world refuge and restore intelligence and communications.
• Oliver opened his equipment cache, and the group prepared to follow him to a way to restore surveillance and communications.
• J’onn, Kendra, and John fought their way to the prison after discovering that Hy'siarra had captured the Martian Keeper.
• J’onn found the Keeper shackled in an Nth Metal chair and learned that the Absorption Unit was using its records and Psionic Abilities to make a false Thanagar appear real.
• The Keeper told J’onn that Thanagar was actually ruined and that an earlier Multiverse lay hidden beneath their reality, with its creator coming back.
• J’onn asked the Keeper who the returning creator was.

Batwoman questioned Starman about the Totality and learned that he had seen the story of Perpetua, while Deathstroke demanded payment for saving him. Meanwhile, Su Ming and Diana accompanied Green Arrow to Seattle, where Oliver’s painful past with Dinah shaped their arrival at Queen Industrial Port.

• Deathstroke told Batwoman that he had stopped Starman from hurting anyone and demanded gold or jewels as payment.
• Batwoman asked Deathstroke what he had done with Diana, and he said Diana had left to handle personal business with a device to shield her mind.
• Starman told Batwoman that the Totality had connected him to the universe and revealed that the story of Perpetua could destroy the multiverse.
• Diana, Su Ming, Bobo, and Green Arrow landed at Queen Industrial Port in Seattle, where Oliver explained how Queen Industries had invested in the city.
• Bobo brought up Oliver’s divorce from Dinah, and the group continued toward a place tied to their separation.

Su Ming, Diana, and Bobo accompanied Green Arrow through a torrential storm in Seattle as Oliver tried to scout a route through the flooded city. Su Ming used his magical cloak and supplies to protect and comfort the team, turning their tense operation into a sheltered picnic as Oliver led them onward.

• Su Ming and Bobo worried that the storm and the dangers ahead could prove fatal to the ordinary Green Arrow, while Diana trusted Su Ming to keep him safe.
• Oliver struggled against the rain and wind as he led the group through Seattle's flooded docks.
• Su Ming expanded the Cloak of Levitation into a protective tunnel that shielded everyone from the storm.
• Su Ming made the cloak grow large and transparent so Oliver could see the docks and get his bearings.
• Su Ming handed out hot coffee, roasted quail, and boar meat, and Oliver accepted the food as the operation turned into a picnic.

Joker sent Barbara to lure Batwoman with a bloodied letter while preparing a trap, as Batwoman and Starman learned that Luthor’s keys could awaken Perpetua and erase their universe. J’onn discovered he had been marked for a role in Perpetua’s plan, and Batwoman led the team through a portal to Thanagar.

• Joker shot Barbara in the shoulder, smeared her blood on a letter, and sent her to deliver it to Batwoman while another Barbara remained chained beside Red Detonators.
• Starman told Batwoman that Luthor possessed the Dark Power of Creation and that merging the Beyond and Destruction keys would awaken Perpetua.
• The Keeper warned J’onn that Perpetua had marked him and explained that humans and Martians had inherited different parts of her Great Legion.
• Batwoman ordered M'gann to summon Barry and Clark, then assigned Deathstroke to take Diana’s tactical position.
• Starman opened a portal to Thanagar, and the team left after he revealed that he had died in 1968.

Su Ming, Diana, Bobo, and Oliver reached Green Arrow’s hidden underground base through a cramped tunnel, where Su Ming forced open the dead-powered hatch. After blocking psychic signals to protect the group, Oliver realized the Justice League might not even remember him.

• Oliver led the group through a doghouse entrance and a winding tunnel to his hidden base beneath the dock district.
• Oliver discovered the hatch battery was dead, so Su Ming turned into black sludge to pass him and cut through the steel door with Godslayer.
• Diana hid her soreness while Su Ming explained that he had lent out his Nth Metal greatsword and made Tenth Metal discs to disrupt psychic contact.
• Su Ming gave Tenth Metal discs to Bobo and Oliver to block mind control and telepathy, and Oliver worried their teammates would not be able to reach them.
• Bobo told Oliver that Batwoman probably did not remember him, leaving Oliver painfully questioning his place in the Justice League.

Su Ming and the others found Oliver’s hidden Safehouse and took its satellite, while J’onn’s group uncovered the truth behind Thanagar’s illusion. The Keeper died, the illusion faded, and Hy'siarra warned that their revelation had alerted Perpetua to the multiverse.

• Oliver showed Su Ming, Bobo, and Diana his isolated Safehouse and revealed the satellite he had stored there.
• Su Ming lifted the satellite and made it vanish, leaving Oliver stunned.
• The Keeper died after telling J’onn that the symbol had two meanings and that he had to choose which form the multiverse would take.
• Hy'siarra tried to use the Absorption Unit to revive the Keeper, but J’onn pulled it away before it killed her.
• Hy'siarra admitted that Thanagar’s people were illusions, and the Hawkmen and Carter’s previous life faded away as the illusion disappeared.
• Hy'siarra warned John and J’onn that their discovery had signaled Perpetua and could lead to the multiverse being erased.

The Justice League escaped the Keeper’s Chamber, and Starman restored Kendra’s lost soul while leaving Hy'siarra to lead Thanagar’s survivors. Back at the Hall of Justice, Batwoman received a message from Joker and announced that she would face him alone.

• The Stone Tablet’s light trapped J'onn, Kendra, John, and Hy'siarra in the Keeper’s Chamber, where Nth Metal blocked their escape.
• Batwoman and Starman arrived through a Teleportation Portal, and Starman reunited Kendra with the soul she had lost as Hy'siarra.
• Starman brought the group out of the chamber and told Hy'siarra that Thanagar’s survivors needed her to lead their rebuilding.
• J'onn confirmed that he had learned some things he wanted to investigate, and the group returned to the Hall of Justice.
• Barbara gave Batwoman a bloodstained letter reading “Do you miss me?”, and Batwoman identified it as a message from Joker, who had returned to Gotham.
• Batwoman refused the Justice League’s offer to help, warning that Joker could turn everyone into Jokers if he died and citing The Batman Who Laughs as evidence of the Joker Virus.

Su Ming returned to the cave with news that Joker and Luthor had split up and that Batwoman had gone to Gotham alone to meet Joker. He reassured the group that preparations against the Batman Who Laughs were underway and urged them to wait while the Earth Protection Spell Formation was completed.

• Su Ming placed a satellite in synchronous orbit above the United States and returned to the cave.
• Su Ming told Oliver, Bobo, and Diana that Joker had left the Legion of Doom and that J'onn, Hawkgirl, and John had returned from Thanagar with intelligence.
• Su Ming revealed that Batwoman had gone alone to Gotham to keep an appointment with Joker, and Diana and Bobo discussed the danger she faced.
• Diana said she had limits on which missions she could join, while Su Ming encouraged her to rest and played cat's cradle with her using the Lasso of Truth.
• Oliver asked what the group should do, and Su Ming said they would focus on the Batman Who Laughs after the Earth Protection Spell Formation began operating.

The Joker tormented Barbara and revealed his fixation on Batwoman, then fled to prepare another show. Meanwhile, Su Ming and his team used Oliver’s faulty satellite footage to plan their search for The Batman Who Laughs and prepare to move their supplies to the Rock of Eternity.

• The Joker questioned Barbara about Batwoman’s smile, and Barbara told him Batwoman had smiled at everyone but him.
• The Joker insisted that only he understood Batwoman, disabled one bomb beneath Barbara, and ran off to prepare a show.
• Su Ming, Bobo, Diana, and Oliver reviewed Oliver’s blurry satellite footage and began sorting supplies for the Rock of Eternity.
• Diana estimated that around twenty Dark Knights might join The Batman Who Laughs, while Oliver recalled returning to the island with his father’s ashes.
• Su Ming and the others set out to find The Batman Who Laughs, whose geographic advantage left the Justice League unable to act against him.

Cyborg's team confronted Darkseid after discovering he had deceived them while searching the Spectre Sector for a way out. Darkseid claimed his plan was meant to save the multiverse, but Cyborg refused to believe him.

• Cyborg, Starfire, Deathstroke, and Jessica crashed in the Spectre Sector and found Darkseid, who told them the locals worshipped them as gods and offered to work together to escape.
• The team spent months helping their worshippers across the sector while Darkseid secretly made a deal with Blackfire on Tamaran and obtained an Anti-Mother Box.
• An Anti-Matter monster nearly killed Darkseid, and Cyborg's team arrived in time to destroy it and realize Darkseid had deceived them.
• Cyborg pinned the wounded Darkseid down and interrogated him, accusing him of using the team to build a New Apokolips.
• Darkseid denied Cyborg's theory and said he had acted to save the multiverse, but Cyborg declared that he did not believe him.

Batwoman monitored Gotham as she prepared to track down the villains who had escaped Arkham and Blackgate, while Alfred worked to complete the city’s camera network. She spotted Chelicerae Butterfly in flight and pursued him, leaving the city’s wider threat unresolved.

• Batwoman told Alfred that they lacked reliable records to determine how many Arkham inmates had escaped, while he used Brother Eye to check her list against the city’s surveillance.
• Alfred estimated that over a hundred Arkham patients had escaped, not counting Blackgate fugitives, and Batwoman suspected Joker was waiting for her to finish preparing.
• Batwoman spotted a flying figure and pursued it across Gotham using her Bat-Grapple and cape.
• Batwoman identified the creature as Chelicerae Butterfly, the demon-mutated former Killer Moth who had escaped Arkham.
• Batwoman recalled that she had previously trapped Chelicerae Butterfly with a light-based lure but had been unable to decide what to do with his human body.

Batwoman tried to capture Chelicerae Butterfly but was ambushed by Bane, who revealed that he knew her identity as Bruce. Meanwhile, Su Ming and Diana discussed Batwoman's actions and waited for the satellite network and Ivy's meeting to yield progress.

• Batwoman pursued Chelicerae Butterfly through Gotham and planned to intercept him from a rooftop.
• Batwoman nearly caught Chelicerae Butterfly, but an explosion struck the rooftop and sent him flying away.
• Bane emerged from the stairwell, used Venom to grow stronger, and overpowered Batwoman.
• Bane grabbed Batwoman by the throat and called her Bruce.
• Green Arrow went to speak with Emiko, while Bobo led Shadowpact to work on connecting Earth-0's satellites through the Rock of Eternity.
• Su Ming and Diana discussed Batwoman, the Joker, and the delay in restoring satellite surveillance.

Su Ming prepared to use Harley as bait to draw out the Joker while arranging for the Shadow Pact Squad to build a powerful Defense Magic Circle. He left the team beginning work with Nightshade as its principal wizard and Poison Ivy’s mission completed.

• Damian warned Su Ming that the Joker had to be taken seriously, and Su Ming explained that Batwoman was already dealing with him.
• Su Ming told Damian he planned to send Harley back to Gotham as bait and have the team follow her secretly.
• Bobo reported that Poison Ivy had completed her mission, and Su Ming revealed his standing as the Sorcerer Supreme from another world.
• Su Ming ordered Bobo to gather the Shadow Pact Squad so they could prepare a Defense Magic Circle against outside threats.
• Su Ming asked Nightshade to create a huge Violet Light Formation linked to three locations in the Main World.