Chapter Summaries

Hal Jordan fought Dawnbreaker in a dark cave, using Flash Mode and a giant robot to counter his enemy’s light-absorbing ring. Dawnbreaker overwhelmed Hal with an army of nightmare-like Lanterns, but Hal faced them ready to keep fighting.

• Dawnbreaker ambushed Hal Jordan in the darkness and repeatedly struck him while mocking him.
• Hal activated Flash Mode to reveal Dawnbreaker and used a giant robot to land a series of blows.
• Dawnbreaker matched the ring’s flashing frequency, extinguished Hal’s light, and disappeared among the displayed corpses of Lanterns.
• Hal unleashed the full power of his ring, declaring that his own will had forged it, but Dawnbreaker absorbed his attack.
• Dawnbreaker sent nightmare versions of dead Lanterns to attack Hal, who raised his glowing ring and prepared to face them.

Su Ming and Barry rescued Hal from Dawnbreaker while Su Ming’s gunfire and Diana’s attack kept the enemy at bay. After Dawnbreaker plunged Coast City into darkness, Hal restored a faint Green Lantern light, and Su Ming injected himself with Fear Toxin to confront the resulting visions; he found himself alone in a white space, wondering what was wrong with him.

• Su Ming shot Dawnbreaker from the surface, interrupting the Green Lantern Ring’s power and sending Hal falling to Barry and Diana.
• Su Ming kept firing at Dawnbreaker while Diana flew after him, but Dawnbreaker activated Blackout Protocol and plunged Coast City into darkness.
• Hal recited the Green Lantern oath and made his ring glow, though its depleted energy left him unable to fly.
• Su Ming asked Barry for Fear Toxin, injected himself, and entered a featureless white space in his mind.

Su Ming recovered Slade Wilson’s buried memories, escaped the Fear Toxin’s consciousness space, and rejected a Yellow Lantern Ring. Sinestro arrived in Coast City and turned his attention to Hal, threatening to show him the power of fear.

• Su Ming realized the blank consciousness space embodied his fear of becoming ordinary, and absorbed memories of Slade’s past lives.
• Su Ming learned that Slade had escaped a video-game world, been trapped in repeated lives across DC Parallel Worlds, and expected his arrival to disrupt an enemy’s plans.
• Su Ming reunited with Barry and Hal in Coast City and explained that overcoming the Fear Toxin had led him to an enemy.
• A Yellow Lantern Ring invited Su Ming to join the Sinestro Corps, but he split it in two with his greatsword.
• Sinestro arrived, offered Su Ming another ring, and taunted Hal by promising to make an enemy he could never defeat fall to fear.

Sinestro used the universe-wide surge of fear to overpower Dawnbreaker, allowing Su Ming and Barry to ambush him as he tried to teleport away. Su Ming cut Dawnbreaker in half and destroyed his lower body, then the group fled before the other Dark Knights arrived.

• Sinestro joined Diana's battle with Dawnbreaker and used his fear-powered attacks to overwhelm him.
• Sinestro unleashed Parallax, whose attack knocked Dawnbreaker toward the ground.
• Barry carried Su Ming and Deathstroke through the Speed Force as Dawnbreaker tried to teleport away.
• Su Ming struck Dawnbreaker with the Nightfall Greatsword, cutting him in half and destroying his lower body.
• Su Ming, Diana, and Barry retreated with the injured Hal while Sinestro carried him away, and more figures emerged through a passage after they left.

The Batman Who Laughs returned to the Dark Knights’ base after declaring Dawnbreaker dead, then had the Robin Hounds kill the badly injured Lantern. He ordered The Murder Machine to destroy Dawnbreaker’s ring before it could find a successor.

• The Batman Who Laughs mistook Dawnbreaker’s remains for a corpse and laughed that this Earth had killed him, while The Murder Machine, The Devastator, and The Drowned discussed their losses.
• The Batman Who Laughs discarded a paper flower, gathered the Robin Hounds, and led the others through a portal to Challenger Mountain in Gotham.
• Dawnbreaker begged The Batman Who Laughs to return his legs, but The Batman Who Laughs called him useless and ordered the Robin Hounds to attack him.
• Dawnbreaker died, and his Lantern Ring detached and flew away seeking a successor.
• The Batman Who Laughs told The Murder Machine to stop the ring, and The Murder Machine shot it apart before joining the others in laughter.

The Batman Who Laughs reported to Barbatos, who sent him to hunt the heroes hiding in Limbo. In Siberia, Su Ming changed the heroes’ plans, sent the gravely wounded Hal away with Sinestro, and headed with Diana and Barry for Blackhawk Island to search for Tenth Metal and another hidden resource.

• The Batman Who Laughs told Barbatos that the worlds were under control, and Barbatos ordered him to attack the heroes hiding in Limbo.
• Su Ming activated Plan B in Siberia, deciding to regroup with Batwoman and Superman, find Tenth Metal, and prepare for a final battle.
• Diana and Barry examined Hal’s severe injuries, and Sinestro took Hal away to treat him.
• Su Ming ruled out rescuing Aquaman, believing The Drowned had already captured him.
• Su Ming told Barry to take him and Diana to Blackhawk Island, then questioned Diana about who the Blackhawks worked for.

Su Ming explained that the Council of Eternity had surrendered to Barbatos and secretly controlled the Blackhawks through their leader, Hawkgirl Kendra. He took Diana and Barry toward Blackhawk Island to steal the Ultima Thule’s Dark Multiverse coordinates, while rejecting the idea of using the ship and leaving Barry to infer his role in the alternative plan.

• Su Ming told Diana and Barry that the Council of Eternity funded and controlled the Blackhawks, and that its members had sided with Barbatos.
• Su Ming revealed that Vandal Savage had joined the immortal Council of Eternity and that Kendra was the only Blackhawk leader aware of their connection.
• Diana and Barry agreed to stand with Su Ming if the mission turned into a fight.
• Su Ming explained that they needed the Ultima Thule’s stored coordinates but could not use the conspicuous spacecraft to travel into the Dark Multiverse.
• Su Ming, Diana, and Barry continued toward Blackhawk Island, and Su Ming and Diana silently prompted Barry to take part in their alternative plan.

An elderly Bruce began reading The Chemical Company Mystery to his granddaughter Janet, but the story shifted between his memories and a strange vision of a war between birds and bats. He recognized that he was trapped in a dream and faced a choice between climbing up or down a ladder.

• Bruce sat in Wayne Manor with his granddaughter Janet, who asked him to tell her a true story.
• Janet chose The Chemical Company Mystery, and Bruce began recounting his first Gotham case as Batwoman, in which he investigated a father's murder and bloodstains on a window.
• Bruce's memories shifted to a vision of a devastated Earth, where a white-haired woman described a war between the Batman Tribe and people dressed as birds.
• Bruce returned to the chemical company case and recalled Batwoman and Gordon escaping a glass dome while the murderer fled.
• Bruce saw a second ladder leading underground and said he needed to find a way upward, but Janet insisted that he climb down.

Trapped in the Dark Multiverse, Bruce recognized the shifting scenes as illusions and searched for a way out. When he found a clue in the murder scene and refused to keep following the story, Janet revealed her horrifying true form and promised to show him the truth.

• Bruce relived visions of a Bat Ritual, a citywide hunt for Batwoman, and his grandfather Alan Wayne discovering Amber Gold in Gotham’s buildings before the Court of Owls attacked him.
• Bruce heard Diana’s voice through metal resonance as she promised that she and the others were coming, then fell into another illusion aboard a spaceship with Harley Quinn.
• Bruce refused Janet’s false ending and identified the Chemical Plant murder scene as the real story, using the blood and shattered glass to find a path out.
• Janet snatched the storybook away, but Bruce insisted on finding the truth, prompting her to transform into a horrifying figure and promise to show it to him.

Bruce resisted Barbatos's claim that he had shaped Batman's life, then escaped his nightmare when Su Ming and the others broke his chains. The rescuers freed Bruce and Superman from a Dark Multiverse anchor point and prepared to flee as hostile patrols approached.

• Bruce confronted Barbatos, who claimed to have created Batman's history and showed him powerful Nightmare Batmen from destroyed worlds.
• Bruce tried to break through the window, but a greatsword glowing with Black Light shattered Barbatos's reflection and opened an escape route.
• Bruce leaped from Wayne Manor and flew toward a strange battle cry.
• Su Ming, Diana, and Barry freed Bruce and the aged Superman from chains on a Dark Multiverse spire.
• Su Ming ordered the group aboard their plane to escape as hostile lights approached.

After escaping Barbatos’s minions, Su Ming’s group reached the Dreaming and asked Daniel for a route to the World Forge. Daniel offered to tell them the origin story behind Barbatos, but Su Ming urged him to send them straight to the Forge instead.

• Barry used the Speed Force to carry the group into a destroyed part of the Dark Multiverse, where they escaped Barbatos’s searching minions.
• Su Ming explained that they needed the World Forge and Tenth Metal, and Batwoman summoned Daniel to guide them there.
• Daniel transported the group to the Dreaming, a vast library containing the histories of all worlds.
• Batwoman confronted Daniel for leaving her trapped in nightmares, but Daniel said he could not fight in the real world and offered them a story as a weapon.
• Daniel began recounting the universe’s origin, but Su Ming interrupted and asked him to take them directly to the World Forge.

Su Ming led the Justice League to the World Forge and found its dwindling supply of X Metal beneath the cooled surface. He entered the pool alone and began using the metal to alter his body, while the others waited above.

• Batwoman agreed with Deathstroke that the team should travel to the World Forge immediately, and Dream God opened a passage for them.
• Su Ming explained that the Forge still burned beneath the rock, and Superman cut a hole in the ground to reveal its magma.
• Barry volunteered to jump in first, but Su Ming stopped the discussion and dove into the magma himself.
• Su Ming found a small pool of X Metal and saw that the Forge’s supply was nearly exhausted.
• Su Ming cut deep wounds into his wrists and ankles, lay in the X Metal, and called for it to replace all his bones.

Su Ming replaced his skeleton with Tenth Metal, upgraded his weapons and armor, and watched the Justice League arm themselves for the fight against Barbatos. The Blood Domain ruptured far earlier than expected, revealing an upside-down Gotham as a gigantic figure landed behind them.

• Su Ming replaced his bones with weightless Tenth Metal, coated his greatsword and grenades, and repaired his chest armor.
• Su Ming told the Justice League to use the remaining Tenth Metal to restore their energy and preserve some as a future power source.
• Su Ming practiced bending and softening his new skeleton while the Justice League returned wearing Tenth Metal armor and weapons, with Diana heavily armed.
• The sky split open to reveal an upside-down Gotham, and Bruce recognized that the Blood Domain had ruptured.
• Su Ming blamed Constantine for the early collapse and reconsidered the plan as a fifty- or sixty-meter-tall black figure landed behind the group.

The heroes fought Dark Hawkman, the giant, mindless Carter, while trying to keep him alive and prevent his hammer from destroying the World Forge. Su Ming devised a plan to subdue him, and as Superman was knocked into a rock wall, Su Ming charged toward Hawkman to begin it.

• Dark Hawkman attacked the heroes with the World Forger's colossal hammer, and Barry carried Diana and Su Ming out of its path.
• Superman punched Hawkman but held back, while Batwoman stopped Su Ming from joining the fight because Carter had to survive.
• Su Ming warned that Hawkman's blows would destroy the World Forge and whispered a plan to Barry.
• Barry brought Diana down, and she relayed Su Ming's tactic to Superman and Batwoman.
• Hawkman struck Superman into a distant rock wall, and Su Ming pulled out his greatsword and sprinted toward Hawkman's legs.

Su Ming, Diana, Barry, and Superman defeated the giant, darkened Hawkman and restored him to human form. With Aquaman and Cyborg still missing and the universes nearing collision, Su Ming urged Diana to take the team through the rift to Gotham for the final battle.

• Su Ming dodged Hawkman's hammer and cut off his toenails until Hawkman took flight to attack him.
• Diana severed Hawkman's wing harness with Vulcan's Sword, sending him crashing to the ground.
• Barry bound Hawkman's hands with the Lasso of Truth, and Superman struck him unconscious with his Tenth Metal hammer.
• Su Ming stabbed Hawkman to dissipate the dark energy, causing him to shrink back to human size.
• Batwoman grew more suspicious of Su Ming as he considered the missing Cyborg and the forces Hal could bring to bear.
• Su Ming urged Diana to lead the group through the rift to Gotham, but she hesitated over the missing League members.

Su Ming led Diana, Barry, Superman, and Batwoman toward Gotham and organized their forces for a battle against Barbatos, his villains, and the Dark Knights. They landed on Challenger Mountain, where Superman held off the enemy horde and Diana struck her Tenth Metal bracers to signal the multiverse that the Justice League had joined the fight.

• Diana carried Su Ming and Barry toward the Main World as they saw the multiverse’s Earths gathered around the growing rift.
• Su Ming assigned the team to restrain Barbatos’s villains, defeat the Dark Knights, and attempt to rescue Cyborg and Aquaman from the Cosmic Tuning Fork.
• The group landed on Challenger Mountain and faced a massive crowd of villains from across the multiverse.
• Superman’s Tenth Metal armor withstood Kryptonite and red-sun attacks, and he froze dozens of charging enemies.
• Su Ming told Diana to strike her silver bracers, sending a Tenth Metal signal across the multiverse to announce the Justice League’s battle.

Su Ming summoned Satan with Zha Kang’s scroll to help him reach The Devastator, but the demon offered him a deal in exchange for his soul. Su Ming stalled while Satan shielded them from the battlefield’s attacks.

• Su Ming pushed through the enemy ranks under Clark’s cover and advanced toward The Devastator.
• Su Ming used Zha Kang’s scroll, which summoned Satan instead of the warrior demon he had expected.
• Satan recognized that Su Ming was not Constantine but agreed to consider a deal after seeing the cosmic crisis.
• Satan sealed off the enemies with a wall of fire that redirected their attacks to the Hell Plane.
• Satan asked Su Ming whether he wanted to make a deal, and Su Ming pretended not to know what the demon wanted.

Su Ming tricked Satan into taking The Devastator to Hell by making their contract conditional on Satan killing the seemingly unstoppable monster. After escaping the battlefield’s immediate danger, Su Ming searched the crowd for The Murder Machine.

• Su Ming offered Satan his soul if Satan killed The Devastator, and Satan agreed to the deal.
• Su Ming rejected Satan’s deceptive contract and drafted a clear version that required Satan to take The Devastator to Hell if he could not kill him.
• Satan repeatedly killed The Devastator, but the monster revived and adapted until Satan took him away through a rift in the earth.
• Su Ming evaded an attacker and continued searching the battlefield for The Murder Machine, watching for Alfred-like butlers in the crowd.
• Su Ming recalled how Batwoman’s Alfred Protocol transformed Bruce into The Murder Machine and led him to destroy Gotham, the Justice League, and his world.

Su Ming located The Murder Machine and sent Vulcan its position, allowing Zeus and the Olympian Pantheon to destroy it with a massive divine lightning strike. The battlefield was left shaken by the gods’ public intervention, which Su Ming suspected would win them influence.

• A swarm of Alfred robots attacked Su Ming, who fought them while waiting for Vulcan to arrange Zeus’s lightning.
• Clark froze the enemies near Su Ming and used his X-ray vision to reveal The Murder Machine hiding in a shell crater.
• Su Ming sent Vulcan a screenshot marking The Murder Machine’s location while keeping his distance.
• Zeus and the Olympian Pantheon unleashed a huge bolt of lightning that disintegrated The Murder Machine and nearby enemies.
• Su Ming survived the blast and saw Zeus and the other gods in the sky, suspecting their intervention would bring them new followers.

Su Ming helped Barry defeat The Drowned as the battle on Challenger Mountain shifted into the Dark Multiverse. Reinforcements arrived aboard the Ultima Thule and through Doctor Fate’s portal, giving the heroes a temporary advantage while Barbatos watched calmly from the Cosmic Tuning Fork.

• Su Ming left Superman to find Barry, who was fighting The Drowned on the mountain plateau.
• Su Ming pointed out The Drowned’s vulnerable nerve points, and Barry struck them until The Drowned could no longer move.
• Su Ming killed The Drowned with his Tenth Metal-coated greatsword, and Barry vomited after witnessing the strike through the Speed Force.
• The Ultima Thule arrived carrying Justice Leagues and heroes from across the Light Multiverse, while Doctor Fate brought the Gotham Resistance survivors, including Zha Kang.
• The reinforcements joined the battle and gave the heroes the upper hand in combat strength, while Barbatos watched from atop the Cosmic Tuning Fork.