Chapter Summaries

After the battle, Chen Mo brushed aside Batman’s attempt to assess him and turned the group’s attention to food. He rescued civilians and cleared the rubble with his tendrils, then joined the others for a feast in a damaged barbecue restaurant.

• Bruce confronted Chen Mo and tried to gauge his motives, but Chen Mo joked about Batman’s suit and imitated him.
• Barry and Hal teased Bruce, while Clark and Barry urged the group to rescue civilians before celebrating.
• Chen Mo sent tendrils into the rubble, carried trapped civilians to safety, and cleared debris from the streets.
• Chen Mo led the group to a nearby Arab barbecue restaurant after completing the rescue and cleanup.
• Barry, Hal, Clark, Diana, Bruce, and Chen Mo gathered around a cramped table and ate together.

Amanda Waller approached Chen Mo with offers of power, money, and access to secret facilities, but he dismissed them as worthless. She offered him an intact alien spacecraft and its technology in exchange for one promise: that he would not destroy Earth on a whim.

• Amanda Waller arrived at the barbecue restaurant and humbly offered Chen Mo a high-ranking government role, unlimited funds, and access to classified sites.
• Chen Mo rejected Waller’s offers, saying that human money and weapons were worthless to him.
• Bruce observed that Chen Mo cared nothing for worldly power and wondered what he wanted after devouring the monsters.
• Clark stepped between Waller and Chen Mo and urged her to let him finish his meal before discussing proposals.
• Waller offered Chen Mo the crashed alien spacecraft and everything in Area 21, including its technology and mineral deposits.
• Waller asked Chen Mo only to leave Earth intact, saying he could otherwise do as he pleased on the planet.

Amanda Waller secured Chen Mo’s promise not to destroy Earth, then left the barbecue restaurant. Clark asked what to do with the captured Kryptonians, and Chen Mo offered to remove their superpowers.

• Amanda Waller submitted to Chen Mo and offered scrap metal and promises in exchange for his compliance.
• Chen Mo mocked Waller’s offer but promised not to harm humanity unless people made more mutant creatures to disgust him.
• Waller thanked Chen Mo and left with the tactical agents in three SUVs.
• Bruce silently studied Chen Mo and decided he needed a more comprehensive intelligence network.
• Clark asked Chen Mo how to contain the unconscious Kryptonians, and Chen Mo offered to shut off their powers completely.

Chen Mo disabled the Kryptonians’ powers, resolving Clark’s immediate problem, and Bruce proposed a permanent defense alliance. Chen Mo agreed to a makeshift team but mocked the idea of inviting the suspected Atlantean, while Faora woke on the streetlight.

• Chen Mo used the Blacklight Virus to remove the Kryptonians’ powers, and Clark confirmed Faora had lost her superhuman strength and protection.
• Bruce proposed that the heroes establish a permanent defense alliance after Earth’s conventional forces proved inadequate.
• Clark agreed with the proposal, while Hal and Diana showed no objection, and Chen Mo accepted the idea of a makeshift team.
• Chen Mo pointed out that the lineup lacked someone who talked to fish, then mocked the suspected Atlantean’s usefulness in an alien attack.
• Faora opened her eyes while still suspended from the streetlight.

Faora woke powerless after Clark confiscated the Kryptonians’ superpowers, and the new heroes debated how to punish the invaders. Chen Mo proposed executing them and displaying their heads on the moon, but the group quickly settled on prison instead, then considered what to call their new defense alliance.

• Faora regained consciousness and tried to attack Clark, but her weakened body left her unable to move properly.
• Clark told Faora that the Kryptonians had lost their superpowers and now had ordinary human strength.
• Bruce proposed that the new defense alliance vote on how to punish the Kryptonians, and Clark, Barry, Diana, and Hal offered different suggestions.
• The heroes turned to Chen Mo, who suggested beheading the Kryptonians and displaying their heads on the moon.
• Clark and Barry rejected Chen Mo’s proposal and agreed to imprison the Kryptonians, while Bruce noted that the alliance had established its basic decision-making process.
• The heroes asked what they should call their new alliance.

The heroes argued over what to name their new team until Chen Mo proposed the Justice League, and Bruce distributed private satellite communicators to its members. The group left with its name agreed upon and a way to contact one another during future disasters.

• Hal proposed several grand names, while Barry suggested the Lightning-Speed Rescue Team and Diana advocated for the Olympus Avengers Vanguard.
• Clark suggested the Earth Friendly Mutual Aid Alliance, and Chen Mo teased him before proposing the Justice League.
• Barry, Diana, Hal, and Clark approved Chen Mo’s name, and Bruce tacitly accepted it.
• Bruce handed out miniature communicators that connected to his private satellite so the team could stay in contact.
• Chen Mo accepted his communicator despite suspecting Bruce had built tracking and data-collection features into it.

After the battle, the heroes went their separate ways, and Chen Mo persuaded Batman to take him to Gotham. The Batplane headed toward the city with Chen Mo aboard, leaving Bruce to keep an eye on his dangerous passenger.

• Hal flew back to Oa to report the events on Earth, and Diana left after saying goodbye.
• Clark carried the weakened Kryptonians toward the Metropolis police station and thanked Chen Mo for his help.
• Barry invited Chen Mo to visit Central City, but Chen Mo declined and told him to get back to work.
• Chen Mo asked Bruce for a ride to Gotham, joking about the city and offering to ride on the plane's wing or Bruce's lap.
• Bruce let Chen Mo into the Batplane's spare compartment, and Barry sped off toward Central City.
• Bruce took off for Gotham with Chen Mo aboard.

Chen Mo visited the Batcave and learned that Batman was Bruce Wayne, then joined Bruce and Alfred at Wayne Manor. Bruce invited Chen Mo to attend a City Hall charity dinner where Penguin’s shell foundation and several councilors would be present.

• Chen Mo arrived at the Batcave and teased Batman about his private collection of dinosaur models.
• Bruce removed his helmet, revealed that he was Bruce Wayne, and explained that he wanted to build long-term trust with Chen Mo.
• Alfred welcomed Chen Mo to Wayne Manor, served tea and cookies, and joked about Bruce’s habit of recording his friends’ weaknesses.
• Chen Mo pointed out that Bruce had tracked him with satellites and other equipment, and Bruce admitted he was wary of his power.
• Bruce told Chen Mo about the City Hall charity dinner and asked whether he wanted to see Gotham’s high society.

Chen Mo and Bruce Wayne attended a Gotham charity banquet, where Bruce played the frivolous heir and Chen Mo focused on the food. The party was interrupted when several uninvited figures entered the ballroom.

• Alfred dressed Chen Mo for the banquet while Bruce prepared to play the part of a wealthy playboy.
• Bruce arrived at Gotham City Hall and entertained reporters and business leaders with absurd remarks about his wealth and Wayne Enterprises.
• Chen Mo ignored the socializing, piled food onto a plate, and ate while observing the guests.
• A woman approached Chen Mo to ask about his connection to Bruce, and he joked that he was Wayne Manor’s newly hired cook.
• Several figures forced their way through the ballroom doors, stopping the music and drawing the guests’ attention.

Mr. Freeze, Heat Wave, and Deadshot attacked a city hall banquet and searched for Bruce Wayne, who secretly summoned the Batplane and Batmobile. Chen Mo remained relaxed amid the chaos and pointed the villains toward Bruce’s hiding place, giving them a false story about him being in the restroom.

• Mr. Freeze froze the exits while Heat Wave set the banquet hall on fire and Deadshot demanded to know where Bruce Wayne was hiding.
• Bruce hid in a serving room, sent a coded signal, and assessed the villains and their weapons as the Batplane and Batmobile headed toward city hall.
• Bruce spotted Chen Mo calmly eating lobster and drinking wine beside a Roman column while the assistant crouched nearby in fear.
• Deadshot, Heat Wave, and Mr. Freeze noticed Chen Mo and questioned him about Bruce.
• Chen Mo warned them not to damage his steak and falsely claimed Bruce had gone to the restroom to touch up his makeup.

Bruce Wayne pretended to be a terrified hostage so Deadshot and his crew would kidnap him, while Chen Mo stayed behind and suspected the abduction was staged. As Bruce secretly tracked the van, Chen Mo followed it through Gotham’s rainy streets.

• Bruce acted panicked and offered Deadshot money, then insulted Chen Mo to maintain his cover.
• Deadshot knocked Bruce unconscious and carried him to the getaway van while Heat Wave set the corridor ablaze and Mr. Freeze blocked the pursuers with ice.
• Chen Mo told Bruce’s assistant to call Batman, then decided to follow the suspicious kidnapping.
• Bruce secretly transmitted the van’s route to the Batcomputer and wondered who had arranged the abduction.
• Chen Mo followed the van through the streets, keeping to its blind spot as it sped into the rainy night.

Deadshot, Mr. Freeze, and Heat Wave delivered Bruce Wayne to an abandoned factory and accepted a new contract to ambush Batman. Chen Mo appeared in a terrifying Batman disguise, leaving Bruce stunned and Deadshot challenging the impostor.

• Deadshot brought the supposedly unconscious Bruce Wayne to the factory, where Mr. Freeze demanded his payment to save Nora.
• Deadshot's employer confirmed the payment and offered the criminals another fifty million to ambush Batman.
• Deadshot accepted the new job, while Bruce realized the criminals had no idea he was lying beside them.
• Chen Mo watched from a beam, transformed into a massive Batman-like figure, and crashed through the roof.
• Bruce recognized the near-perfect Batsuit as Chen Mo declared, "I'm Batman!" and Deadshot accused him of being a fake.

Chen Mo, posing as a towering Batman, defeated Heat Wave and Mr. Freeze while Deadshot surrendered, then answered their employer over a communicator. He insisted he was Batman, but the employer identified him as an impostor because he failed to trill the end of “man,” and Chen Mo made a note of the detail.

• Deadshot and Mr. Freeze noticed that Chen Mo looked like Batman but seemed far more imposing, while Bruce Wayne lay unconscious beside a pillar.
• Heat Wave attacked Chen Mo with a flamethrower, but Chen Mo tore through the fire, crushed the weapon, and knocked Heat Wave into a fuel tank.
• Deadshot's armor-piercing bullets bounced off Chen Mo, and Mr. Freeze's freezing stream failed to stop him; Chen Mo cracked Freeze's helmet and threw him into Heat Wave, knocking both unconscious.
• Deadshot surrendered and told Chen Mo that Bruce Wayne was beneath the pillar, while Chen Mo took Mr. Freeze's communicator.
• Chen Mo told the mysterious employer that he was Batman, but the employer called him an impostor because he did not trill the end of “man,” and Chen Mo wrote down the tip.

Chen Mo captured Mr. Freeze, Deadshot, and Mick, then took Bruce Wayne back to Wayne Manor, where Bruce wondered who had funded the attack. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure contacted Joker, Penguin, and Riddler to discuss Gotham’s new Batman.

• Chen Mo defeated Deadshot, subdued him, and called the Gotham City Police Department to report the three captured criminals.
• Chen Mo carried Bruce Wayne to Wayne Manor, where Bruce checked the manor’s security systems.
• Bruce speculated that someone had paid eighty million dollars to recruit Mr. Freeze, Deadshot, and Mick and target Wayne Enterprises.
• A shadowy figure activated encrypted screens and summoned Joker, Penguin, and Riddler to discuss the new Batman in Gotham.
• Joker responded to the figure with a vicious grin and an intrigued, "Oh?"

Penguin, Riddler, Joker, and a shadowy figure watched footage of an impostor Batman and debated why the real Batman had not appeared in Gotham. Joker knew the real Batman was Bruce Wayne, who had been captured and left unconscious in a chemical plant.

• Penguin and Riddler criticized the impostor Batman's brute strength, fighting style, and lack of intelligence.
• Joker condemned the impostor for disrupting Batman's bond with him and complained that Gotham's muscle-bound criminals were boring.
• Penguin vowed to have informants track the impostor and punish him if he revealed his identity.
• Penguin questioned why the real Batman had not appeared during the chaos at city hall, where Mr. Freeze and Deadshot had kidnapped Bruce Wayne.
• Riddler and the shadowy figure speculated that Batman had been injured in Metropolis or captured by Amanda Waller's agents.
• Joker privately recognized that Bruce Wayne was the real Batman and had been knocked unconscious by the villains' men and left in a chemical plant.

Bruce Wayne uncovered that money from a Wayne Enterprises charitable trust had funded the attempt on Batman, and he headed to Gotham Police Department to question the captured villains. Chen Mo stayed at Wayne Manor, where he showed Alfred a live view of Batman infiltrating the station.

• Commissioner Gordon arrived to find Mr. Freeze, Deadshot, and another villain unconscious, while Bruce claimed a gigantic Batman had defeated them.
• Bruce traced the eighty-million-dollar payment to the Third Subsidiary Trust of the Wayne Enterprises Global Charitable Foundation and suspected a high-ranking mole.
• Bruce armored up and drove the Batmobile to Gotham Police Department to interrogate Mr. Freeze and Deadshot.
• Chen Mo stayed behind eating fries and showed Alfred a supernatural live image of Batman sneaking into the police station.

Bruce broke into the GCPD’s underground interrogation area and found Deadshot, Mr. Freeze, and Heat Wave mentally incapacitated, leaving him with no clues. A trap then exposed him to Commissioner Gordon and a SWAT team, and the standoff ended with a gunshot.

• Bruce used a decoder to enter the GCPD’s underground interrogation area, where he found two guards unconscious.
• Bruce discovered Deadshot, Mr. Freeze, and Heat Wave strapped into their chairs with their minds severely damaged.
• Chen Mo told Alfred that several kinds of powers or technology could have caused the criminals’ condition.
• An alarm sounded, and SWAT officers surrounded Bruce as Commissioner Gordon accused him of incapacitating the guards and criminals.
• Bruce realized the events had been arranged to target Batman, but a SWAT officer shouted that he would not put down his weapons, and a gunshot rang out.

Bruce escaped the police station by disguising himself as a SWAT officer, but the mayor’s office issued a citywide wanted notice ordering officers to shoot Batman on sight. Chen Mo and Alfred recognized the attack as part of an effort to isolate and frame Bruce.

• A SWAT officer fired at Batman, and Gordon seized the officer’s gun while demanding to know why he had shot.
• Bruce filled the interrogation room with tear gas, incapacitated the SWAT officers, and escaped by taking a riot officer’s uniform and equipment.
• Gordon ordered the police station sealed and called for backup and infrared scans as he suspected Batman had been trapped and framed.
• At Wayne Manor, Chen Mo and Alfred discussed how the staged attack was meant to leave Batman without help in Gotham.
• Bruce left the police station disguised among retreating officers, but a mayor’s office broadcast declared Batman wanted and ordered officers to shoot him on sight.