Chapter Summaries

The Justice League discussed Barry's encounter with regenerative human–White Martian hybrids and sent the Teen Titans to retrieve samples for study. J'onn decided to return to Mars alone and asked to borrow Batwoman's Jar-ro.

• Barry told J'onn that the hybrids survived after Deathstroke chopped them into pieces during their underwater mission.
• J'onn ordered the Teen Titans to retrieve the hybrids or their remains for the Hall of Justice's Science Team to study.
• John voiced doubt that Earth technology could identify the enemy's nature, while Hawkgirl argued against giving the samples to the Guardians of the Lantern Corps.
• J'onn decided to investigate matters on Mars and asked to borrow Batwoman's Jar-ro.

Batwoman fought Bane on a rooftop, wounded him by cutting his Venom tubes, and watched him escape before continuing her pursuit through a chaotic Gotham. She then spotted Edgar celebrating a secret invention, leaving her with another disturbance to investigate.

• Bane choked Batwoman and punched her in the abdomen, but she used the blow to kick at his Venom tubes.
• A tracking Batarang cut several tubes, weakening Bane, and Batwoman attacked before he knocked her from the rooftop and escaped.
• Batwoman contacted Alfred about the biohazard and her injuries, refused to return for treatment, and pursued Bane as violence spread across Gotham.
• Batwoman heard a familiar laugh and found Edgar hopping around a conspicuous invention with Dynaman and lighting.

Batwoman confronted Doctor Egghead on a Gotham rooftop and cut power to his rainbow egg invention, but a lightning strike reactivated it. Egghead announced that the egg contained a terrifying creature combined with his genes, leaving Batwoman and Trench Coat Fighter facing its awakening.

• Batwoman found Doctor Egghead powering a giant rainbow egg and recognized his plan to unleash another world-threatening invention.
• Batwoman cut the generator cable, stopping the machinery, while Egghead choked on his laughter and recovered with a soda.
• Trench Coat Fighter arrived and declared that he would arrest Egghead, but Batwoman refused to hand the villain over.
• Lightning struck a rooftop rod and surged through the machinery into the giant egg, making it shake and glow.
• Doctor Egghead declared that the egg held an invincible weapon made from his genes and Earth's most terrifying creature.

Batwoman and Trench Coat Fighter confronted Doctor Egghead’s newly hatched Biomonster, a grotesque chicken-headed creature assembled from human limbs. Egghead fainted from disgust, while Batwoman knocked the rampaging monster off its feet with lubricating oil.

• Batwoman and Trench Coat Fighter prepared to fight as cracks spread across the giant egg and a claw burst through its shell.
• The creature emerged with a chicken-like head and a bizarre body of seven mismatched limbs, and Doctor Egghead claimed that chickens were the world’s most terrifying monsters.
• Doctor Egghead tried to command his creation but vomited and fainted before he could control it.
• Trench Coat Fighter drew a Switchblade and asked Batwoman if they could kill the creature, while Batwoman assessed its unusual limbs.
• Batwoman threw a glass sphere of lubricating oil at the monster, causing its feet to slip and its seven legs to splay as it crashed onto the rooftop.

Batwoman teamed up with Trench Coat Fighter after learning that the mysterious vigilante had intelligence on dozens of Arkham escapees. They set out to pursue The Dissidents, a team of Arkham Anti-Heroes who believed in killing their enemies.

• Batwoman and Trench Coat Fighter burned the oil-covered monster, and Batwoman tied up Egghead for Alfred to take to Arkham.
• Trench Coat Fighter offered Batwoman his coded notebook and claimed to have leads on dozens of Arkham fugitives.
• Batwoman questioned why Trench Coat Fighter wanted to join him, then accepted the offer because he needed the intelligence.
• Trench Coat Fighter suggested they start with The Dissidents, a team of Arkham Anti-Heroes who followed a must-kill doctrine.

Batwoman recalled why she had imprisoned the Shame Squad and why their mission to kill criminals made them dangerous in Gotham. As acid rain approached, she followed Trench Coat Fighter’s car and prepared to confront the squad, still unable to identify her mysterious companion.

• Batwoman remembered that the Shame Squad had rejected her offer to restrain their killings, so she had defeated all four and sent them to Arkham, where they continued killing inmates and staff.
• Batwoman considered how Gotham’s fugitives and the Shame Squad could endanger innocent people if she failed to stop them quickly.
• Batwoman told Trench Coat Fighter to go ahead while she followed secretly, then watched him parkour to a used car and drive away.
• Batwoman asked Alfred to identify Trench Coat Fighter, but Alfred found no match in Brother Eye’s database.
• Batwoman refused to give others access to Brother Eye and told Alfred that subjective judgments could be wrong, before dismissing his remarks about Damian and Talia.
• Batwoman followed Trench Coat Fighter through the rain and set her next target as the Shame Squad.

Batwoman reviewed the backgrounds of the Shame Squad, whose members had been shaped by Gotham’s violence and Arkham’s treatment. The chapter ended with Brick Michael’s history as a gifted chemist who killed his captors and was sent to Arkham, where Dr. Harleen Quinzel treated him.

• Batwoman recalled how Charise Carnes was framed for her family’s murder, learned from James Gordon Jr. in Arkham, and became the brutal crimefighter Knightfall.
• Sally Sarasota became Bonebreaker after killing the drunk driver who had run over her twin daughters, then left Arkham with Charise’s help.
• Krap VLSK became Catharsis after castrating a former teacher who had molested her, and joined the Shame Squad after Charise bailed her out.
• Brick Michael used his chemical genius to kill the gang members who had imprisoned him and forced him to make drugs, then turned himself in and became Arkham’s youngest patient.

Sharice and the Shame Squad hunted It-Things in Gotham, then prepared an ambush after spotting Batwoman approaching. Batwoman diverted before reaching them, and Harley and Poison Ivy appeared beside Sharice, leaving the squad unexpectedly poisoned and confronted by Harley’s return.

• Sharice ordered Bonebreaker to dispose of a criminal while the Shame Squad cleaned up after fighting It-Things.
• Sharice used a hacked satellite feed to spot Batwoman approaching and ordered her teammates to set traps, then led them east toward her underground fortifications.
• Batwoman and the car guiding her turned south before reaching the alley, prompting Sharice to call off the threat and have the squad dismantle its traps.
• Poison Ivy’s vines surrounded the buildings, and Catharsis realized the squad had been exposed to Ivy’s toxins.
• Harley appeared beside Sharice, kissed her golden mask, and greeted her as she returned.

Su Ming used the satellite as a honey pot to locate hostile groups while Shadowpact prepared magic defenses at the Pillars of Magic. He then worked in the Amazon Rainforest disguised as Zorro, keeping his identity hidden as the team set up a spell formation.

• Su Ming sent Harley and the Teen Titans to watch the bait while Shadowpact prepared to activate the Earth Protection Spell Formation if The Batman Who Laughs appeared.
• Billy Wu traced hackers who had accessed Green Arrow's satellite, and Su Ming teleported Harley's group behind Fallen Knight and the Shame Squad.
• Cindy reported from the Hall of Justice that J'onn had flown to Mars and the rest of the Justice League was taking a break, while Batwoman kept Cindy's identity secret.
• Su Ming, Diana, Green Arrow, and Shadowpact worked in the Amazon Rainforest to inscribe magical runes on a walking tree.
• Diana questioned Su Ming's Zorro disguise, and Su Ming explained that it could conceal him from surveillance and help him catch enemies off guard.
• Su Ming told Diana and Green Arrow a joke about Zorro carving Zs until he fell asleep, and they reacted with discomfort.

Batwoman and Trench Coat Fighter hunted Arkham escapees through Gotham, where Batwoman defeated Facade and his crew but found the jewelry store owner dead. After Alfred restored the city surveillance network, Trench Coat Fighter reported that Catwoman was planning to steal from Gotham Museum, and Batwoman wondered why Selina still wanted to steal.

• Batwoman and Trench Coat Fighter found Facade and his men robbing a jewelry store, and Batwoman took them down with a surprise attack.
• Trench Coat Fighter discovered that the shop owner was dead, while Batwoman restrained Facade and his crew.
• Batwoman and Trench Coat Fighter continued tracking escapees, but many of the people they found had tragic fates or were not especially heinous criminals.
• Alfred told Batwoman that Gotham's surveillance network had been rebuilt, and she allowed Trench Coat Fighter to go home.
• Trench Coat Fighter reported that Catwoman planned to steal from Gotham Museum, then asked Batwoman for a ride after his car broke down.

Batman and the Trench Coat Fighter searched Gotham Museum for Selina and found signs that Joker had attacked and taken her. As Batman realized Selina was in danger, Copperhead began using a hidden escape plan in the Justice League prison.

• Batman learned that Selina had vanished after Joker and her friends convinced her not to marry Bruce, and he decided to find out why she had left.
• Batman took the Trench Coat Fighter to Gotham Museum, where they found that the building still had power.
• Batman entered through the roof and discovered dead guards, Joker’s bloody message, and evidence that Chelicerae Butterfly had attacked the museum.
• Batman found a piece of Selina’s uniform on a clown-dressed statue and realized Joker might be threatening her.
• In Washington D.C., Copperhead escaped his cell by locating a concealed contingency in the Justice League prison floor.

The Batman Who Laughs escaped the Hall of Justice and opened a portal to bring an armed Dark Multiverse team, including Brutal Knight, to Earth-0 with a nuclear bomb. In Gotham, Batwoman and Trench Coat Fighter investigated Joker’s museum crime scene, while the League remained unaware of the threat below its headquarters.

• The Batman Who Laughs discovered Joker’s plan to use Jane Doe as a fake Barbara and disguised himself as Copperhead to be taken into the Hall of Justice.
• He escaped his cell with an Nth Metal nail, erased evidence from the Hall’s computers, and entered Green Arrow’s unused underground quarters.
• The Batman Who Laughs used metals and Barbatos’s flesh to open a portal, through which Robin Hounds and several Dark Multiverse allies arrived.
• Brutal Knight brought a custom nuclear bomb through the portal, and The Batman Who Laughs asked whether it could destroy the Justice League.
• Harley persuaded the Shame Squad to set aside its hostility and go for ice cream, while Batwoman met Trench Coat Fighter at Joker’s museum crime scene.
• Trench Coat Fighter questioned whether Joker was more dangerous than the aliens the Justice League had faced, and Batwoman silently followed Joker’s neon-lit trail.

Batwoman entered Joker’s trap-filled museum to rescue Catwoman and sent the Trench Coat Fighter outside before encountering the mercenary Ms. Vick. Batwoman assessed her opponent and prepared to negotiate or use tear gas, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Batwoman and the Trench Coat Fighter advanced through Joker’s museum traps as Alfred reported Joker’s messages announcing that he had captured Catwoman.
• Batwoman told the frightened Trench Coat Fighter to wait outside, then continued alone through the corridor.
• Batwoman smelled blood and was ambushed by Ms. Vick, who exchanged blows with her before the two paused to talk.
• Batwoman offered to pay Ms. Vick double, but Ms. Vick said she would not betray her employer for money.
• Batwoman prepared a tear-gas plan in case negotiations failed, knowing that defeating Ms. Vick could leave her injured or allow the mercenary to escape.

Su Ming, Diana, and Oliver held a tea party in Shangri-La while the Shadowpact worked on a protective Magic Circle, and Batwoman received news that a nuclear blast had destroyed the Hall of Justice. Batwoman suspected The Batman Who Laughs had used the attack to scatter the Justice League and planned to exploit the chaos.

• Su Ming explained that the Shadowpact needed to finish the Magic Circle while the Justice League drew Luthor's attention elsewhere.
• Su Ming served Oliver spider meat disguised as crab cake and gave Diana ice cream as they watched the desert sunset.
• Batwoman defeated Ms. Vick, learned that Luthor had sent her, and received footage showing a nuclear explosion destroying the Hall of Justice.
• Alfred confirmed a powerful earthquake near Washington, and Batwoman ordered him to activate defenses at the manor and Batcave.
• Batwoman reasoned that The Batman Who Laughs had timed the blast to divide the Justice League and might next restore global communications and power.

Batwoman found Joker’s staged game, in which he forced her to choose whether to save two criminals tied to electric chairs. Joker ended by warning that saving them would lead to something very bad, and Batwoman demanded the rules.

• Batwoman followed Joker’s clues to a room where a gift-box controller activated a television showing Joker and a photograph of an unconscious Luthor in chains.
• Joker revealed two people bound to electric chairs and described how the poor man’s family had died after Batwoman sent him to prison.
• Joker explained that the wealthy councilman ran drug and human-meat factories and had embezzled medical funds meant for Gotham’s civilians.
• Joker asked whether Batwoman would save people who wanted to kill her and warned that saving them would bring a terrible consequence.
• Batwoman asked Joker to explain the rules.

Batwoman rejected Joker’s first forced choice by destroying the television, keeping Catwoman and Barbara alive, but Joker moved on to a second test involving hundreds of poisoned Smiling Men. Batwoman hid from the crowd and contacted Alfred as the five-minute deadline continued.

• Joker gave Batwoman ten seconds to choose which of two captives would be electrocuted, but she tossed aside the remote and destroyed the television.
• Batwoman reasoned that Joker would keep both captives alive while she refused to play his game, and she moved into the next room.
• Joker announced the second stage and showed hundreds of Smiling Men who needed Batwoman’s blood as an antidote within five minutes.
• Batwoman left the room, climbed onto the ceiling to evade the crowd, and contacted Alfred from a hiding place.

Batwoman neutralized Joker’s laughing gas and rescued the Smiling Men before entering the third house. On Mars, J’onn persuaded Luthor to lower his weapon by claiming they had known each other as children, while Barry’s group argued over how to respond to the attack on the Hall of Justice.

• Batwoman used Joker’s speakers to lure the Smiling Men into a sealed hall, where she released antidote gas that made them collapse safely.
• Batwoman returned to the third house and prepared to face the next stage of Joker’s game.
• On Mars, Luthor confronted J’onn at the tomb entrance, but lowered his weapon after J’onn said they had been friends as children and offered to restore his memories.
• Earlier, Deathstroke urged Barry to keep the group together, and Cindy warned that the Hall of Justice’s destruction was likely a trap meant to split the heroes up.

Su Ming and his companions discovered that The Batman Who Laughs had destroyed Washington D.C. with a nuclear bomb, leaving the city too radioactive to enter. As the heroes prepared to repair the Source Wall, Starman revealed that their goal involved the Eternal Universe beyond it.

• Bobo reported that the Shadow Pact Squad had connected the spell array to the Rock of Eternity, and suggested placing the final Sanctum Sanctorum at the Fortress of Solitude instead of old Olympus.
• Su Ming, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow teleported to the waters off Washington D.C. and saw that a nuclear blast had reduced the city to a crater.
• Su Ming identified The Batman Who Laughs as the likely culprit and said the radiation made entering Washington D.C. impossible for now.
• In the earlier events, Barry Allen and Superman evacuated the heroes from the Hall of Justice, while Su Ming secretly took an item that looked like a drawing board.
• Starman told the assembled heroes they had to begin repairing the Source Wall immediately, then explained that their destination lay beyond it in the Eternal Universe.

Su Ming doubted Starman’s plan and sent Cindy to keep watch while he waited for information from J'onn. On Mars, J'onn and Luthor fled a pack of Quinals and uncovered the forgotten history that had made them childhood friends and enemies.

• Su Ming told Cindy to stay undercover, monitor the Justice League, and contact the Waverider if anything went wrong.
• Su Ming decided to pressure the Batman Who Laughs with Green Arrow and Diana while hoping J'onn would bring back useful intelligence from Mars.
• J'onn and Luthor ran from dozens of Quinals after Luthor’s electromagnetic pulse exposed them and his armor disabled J'onn’s powers.
• J'onn explained that his memories, desires, and regrets attracted the Quinals, and Luthor agreed to hear his story as they escaped.
• J'onn revealed that Luthor’s father had imprisoned him for research, that young Lex had freed him, and that the Veterans Club later erased both Luthors’ memories.

Luthor rejected J'onn's plea and escaped to the Fortress of Eternity, while J'onn returned to the Justice League. In Gotham, Su Ming's group searched for The Batman Who Laughs and chose Green Arrow as their secret weapon against him.

• Luthor recovered his memories, refused to join J'onn, and escaped through a portal to Brainiac and the Legion of Doom.
• J'onn flew through the portal to Earth, where the Justice League planned to seek help from powerful cosmic allies.
• Su Ming, Green Arrow, and Diana used satellite imagery to locate the Batplane outside Gotham Natural History Museum, where Batwoman and Joker were playing their game.
• Su Ming warned Diana and Green Arrow that Batwoman might have a way to counter his abilities, so they needed to be cautious around the other Batwomen.
• Su Ming named Green Arrow their secret weapon, explaining that The Batman Who Laughs had overlooked him during Barbatos's invasion.