Chapter Summaries

Barry struggled against Doomsday Kara, James Olsen, and Lucy Lane until Diana, Arthur, and Mera used the serum to restore them. With Hal Jordan freed and the Devastator and Dawnbreaker defeated, Hal declared that Thomas Wayne would have made Gotham a model city if he had survived instead of Bruce.

• Barry tried to evade Doomsday Kara, James Olsen, and Lucy Lane while looking for a chance to apply the antidote.
• Kara's Freeze Breath made Barry slip and crash into rubble, leaving him surrounded as her Heat Vision began to glow.
• Diana ensnared Kara with the serum-coated lasso, Arthur struck James with his trident, and Mera overwhelmed Lucy with seawater, restoring all three.
• Diana arrived with the captured Hal Jordan as the group saw Thomas Wayne's Godkiller Armor overpower the Devastator and the Dawnbreaker.
• Hal broke free with his Green Lantern Ring and said Gotham would have been a model city if Thomas Wayne had survived instead of Bruce.

Thor and the Justice League defeated the Dark Knights in Metropolis, then rescued the transformed citizens and sent the survivors through a portal to Thor's world. As the group considered their next move, Thor revealed that another universe had been destroyed by its Superman and the Justice League.

• Barbatos pulled The Devastator and The Dawnbreaker through a portal, and Death gave Thor the souls of three Dark Knights.
• Thor reunited with Diana, Hal Jordan, and Barry Allen, then said they would rescue Metropolis before trying to enter the Dark Multiverse.
• Barry used the golden serum to restore the citizens transformed into miniature Doomsdays and gathered the survivors in a square.
• Thor opened a portal to his world and appointed Lois Lane to organize the refugees, who crossed through before the portal closed.
• Hal asked Thor about the Mobius Chair, and Thor explained that a Superman from another universe had destroyed Earth alongside the Justice League.
• Aquaman Arthur remarked that Superman had never seemed to use his intelligence.

Thor explained whom the heroes should rely on in different levels of crisis, then used the Batcomputer to locate surviving heroes after the Dark Knight's invasion. He led the group toward Star City to regroup and confront those who had watched events unfold from behind the scenes.

• Kara defended Superman's intelligence, while Arthur mocked the Kryptonians for relying on their strength instead of their brains.
• Thor described a hierarchy of allies: Superman in good times, Batman when things turned bad, The Flash in desperation, and Constantine when there was no way out.
• Thor told Diana that if none of them could help, the universe was doomed, but offered to come if they called his name.
• Thor reported that Earth's communications and defense systems were paralyzed and that his scan had found surviving heroes.
• Diana asked where they would go first, and Thor selected Star City on the Batcomputer.

Emiko Queen, Mia Dearden, Roy Harper, and Rose Wilson fought their way through nightmare monsters in burning Star City while searching for survivors. They encountered Nightmare Deathstroke on the twelfth floor, and Rose charged at him, beginning a battle between father and daughter.

• Rose Wilson and Emiko Queen argued about whether to fight, until Mia Dearden stepped between them and urged them to focus on rescuing survivors.
• Emiko Queen led the group across to a nearby building, where Roy Harper, Mia, Emiko, and Rose quickly destroyed the nightmare monsters surrounding them.
• The four descended to the twelfth floor in response to a distress signal and found Nightmare Deathstroke waiting in the corridor.
• Rose recognized Nightmare Deathstroke as her archenemy and charged at him, launching the fight between father and daughter.

Ross fought Nightmare Deathstroke but was stabbed with her own katana, and he defeated her teammates before The Flash and the Justice League arrived. Nightmare Deathstroke addressed Thor as Thomas, then a black portal swallowed both of them.

• Ross fought Nightmare Deathstroke alone, disarmed him, and briefly drove him back before he seized her katana and stabbed her with it.
• Emiko, Mia, and Arsenal attacked Nightmare Deathstroke, but he escaped their trap, knocked Emiko and Mia unconscious, and disarmed and defeated Arsenal.
• The Flash Barry Allen struck Nightmare Deathstroke and arrived with Wonder Woman Diana, Aquaman Arthur, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Supergirl Kara, Guardian James, Superwoman Lucy, and Thor.
• Nightmare Deathstroke told Thor that the Batman Who Laughs sent his regards to Thomas, then threw a razor-edged black metal card at him.
• Thor fired his energy cannon, but a black portal swallowed both Thor and Nightmare Deathstroke.

After Thor and Nightmare Deathstroke vanished, the wounded Justice League regrouped and decided to return to their Star City base. Grail arrived with a baby Darkseid and offered to help stop Barbatos, and Diana accepted her temporary alliance.

• Kara healed Thaddeus Ross while Mia and Emiko helped the badly wounded Roy.
• Hal and Arthur argued, but Diana stopped them and the team discussed finding more allies.
• Mia explained that their other heroes were unavailable, so Diana ordered everyone back to the Star City underground base to plan against Barbatos.
• Grail landed before the group carrying a baby Darkseid and said she would not let the multiverse be destroyed before she achieved her goal.
• Grail warned that she would remain their enemy after Barbatos was defeated, but Diana accepted her help.

Diana and the surviving heroes reached Queen Industries with Grail and baby Darkseid, only to discover that the Batman Who Laughs and three Dark Knights had destroyed the underground base. The Batman Who Laughs revealed that his fallen counterparts had helped him study the heroes, then ordered Devastator to attack.

• Hal teased Grail and nearly got struck by her scythe, then provoked Arthur until Diana stopped their argument.
• The group reached Queen Industries and sensed blood near the factory entrance.
• The Dawnbreaker, Murder Machine, Devastator, and the Batman Who Laughs emerged from the shadows with Doctor Fate’s helmet and four chained Robin Hounds.
• Barry realized Doctor Fate’s death had left the underground survivors without magical defenses.
• The Batman Who Laughs said the three fallen Dark Multiverse counterparts had revealed the heroes’ limits and weaknesses, then called on Devastator to fight.

Diana, Hal, Kara, and the others fought The Dark Knights while Barry guarded the heroes facing The Batman Who Laughs. The Batman Who Laughs tricked Barry into triggering a Kryptonite blast that badly wounded Kara, leaving her in need of sunlight.

• Diana blocked The Devastator's charge, while Barry recovered the Helmet of Fate and Hal drove The Dawnbreaker away with Green Lantern light.
• Kara joined Diana against The Devastator, while Guardian and Lucy fought the Murder Machine and the remaining heroes faced The Batman Who Laughs and his Robin Hounds.
• Mia, Emiko, Arthur, and Roy destroyed the Robin Hounds as The Batman Who Laughs slipped into the shadows.
• The Devastator weakened Kara with a spore-filled breath, and The Batman Who Laughs attacked her with a Kryptonite sword.
• Barry kicked The Batman Who Laughs away and caught Kara, but the sword exploded, sending Kryptonite fragments into her.
• Kara asked Barry to remove the fragments and said she needed sunlight.

Barry rescued Kara, and the Justice League turned the battle around before The Batman Who Laughs unleashed a vast nightmare army. Diana teleported the group to Themyscira, where she collapsed from a cursed Helmet of Fate, and Constantine arrived with news that Thomas Wayne had been dragged into the Dark Multiverse.

• Barry pulled the Kryptonite shards from Kara, healed her in the sunlight, and Kara returned to the fight to rescue Diana from the Devastator.
• Hal, James, Lucy, Arthur, and Mera overwhelmed their opponents, but The Batman Who Laughs opened a portal and sent nightmare villains, monsters, and the Teen Titans against the heroes.
• Grail slaughtered the monsters attacking the baby Darkseid, and Diana used the Helmet of Fate to teleport everyone to Themyscira as the nightmare army overwhelmed them.
• The helmet's hidden dark magic made Diana collapse, and Hippolyta took her to a temple while the heroes realized they lacked their magic advisers and could not contact their Nth Metal search team.
• Constantine emerged from the sea and revealed that his prediction had been right, but when he learned Thomas Wayne had been teleported away, he concluded Thomas had been dragged into the Dark Multiverse.

Thor entered the World Forge, destroyed Nightmare Deathstroke, and freed Batman and Superman from their nightmare prison. He posed as Bruce Wayne's dead father, Thomas Wayne, and told Bruce he had come to save him.

• Thor arrived in the World Forge and disintegrated Nightmare Deathstroke with a wave of golden light.
• Thor found Batman and Superman bound to a device draining their energy, and Death Tetiyu appeared to talk with him about her work and mortality.
• Thor fled from Tetiyu after she suggested he die and keep her company, then erased the Nightmare Supermen guarding the platform.
• Thor slapped Batman and Superman awake, and Bruce recognized him as his father, Thomas Wayne.
• Thor took Bruce's hand and claimed he had come to save him.

Thor rescued the imprisoned Bruce Wayne and Clark, but Bruce tested Thor’s claim that he was Thomas Wayne before hearing how Thomas had become Batman in another universe through a deal with Death. Bruce remained wary and summoned his secret ally Daniel, whose portal opened on the platform.

• Bruce questioned Thor about private memories from his childhood, and Thor answered both questions by entering Bruce’s mind and retrieving the details.
• Bruce asked why Thomas had become a bat, and Thor explained that Death had made a deal with him to become Batman in another universe in exchange for Martha’s return.
• Thor told Bruce that he would become Death’s representative and leave once Barbatos was defeated, and Bruce fell silent at the prospect of losing him.
• Bruce, still unsure whether to trust Thor, silently called on Daniel, opening a white portal that began pulling him and Clark toward it.
• A voice from the portal asked his big sister what she was doing there.

Dream God Daniel explained the origins of the Dark Multiverse and revealed that Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent could defeat Barbatos by claiming the Tenth Metal in the World Forge. Bruce, Clark, Thor, and Tetiyu entered the golden portal to reach it.

• Dream God Daniel arrived through a portal and told Bruce Wayne that his family included seven beings who each presided over a fundamental concept, including Tetiyu, who governed death.
• Daniel explained that Barbatos had killed the World Forger, seized the World Forge, and allowed failed universes to become the Dark Multiverse.
• Daniel revealed that the Tenth Metal could defeat Barbatos, but the group would need to free the guardian dragon from dark shackles and reach the metal through hope.
• Daniel opened a portal to the World Forge, and Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent supported each other as they entered the golden sea.
• Thor and Tetiyu followed Bruce and Clark through the portal, leaving Daniel behind.

Bruce and Clark reached the World Forge but were attacked by the corrupted Carter Hall, and Thor rescued them before preparing an enormous sniper rifle. With Bruce and Clark nearly powerless, Barbatos’s reinforcements arrived, leaving them badly outnumbered.

• Bruce and Clark entered the World Forge, where the corrupted Carter Hall emerged and attacked them with his hammer.
• Thor used the Lasso of Truth to pull Bruce and Clark out of Carter’s strike, then began assembling an Nth Metal anti-materiel rifle.
• Clark argued that Carter could still be saved, while Thor deployed nanobots to distract him and took aim from behind a rock.
• Thor agreed to hold his fire after Bruce objected, but Kendra Saunders, Vandal Savage, and Black Adam arrived through a fissure.
• Clark saw the new enemies and Carter closing in while he and Bruce remained weakened, and warned that they were in big trouble.

Thor killed Black Adam and Vandal Savage, then subdued the corrupted Kendra without killing her. After revealing his Super Soldier Serum to Bruce, Thor suggested he had a way to wake Kendra and Carter.

• Thor shot and killed Black Adam with a single nth-metal bullet.
• Thor shot Vandal Savage, then erased his body and existence with water imbued with the power of laws.
• Bruce stopped Thor from shooting the corrupted Kendra, and Thor knocked her unconscious with three punches.
• Thor gave Bruce a vial of Super Soldier Serum and warned that studying it could lead to super soldiers overrunning Gotham.
• Bruce refused to use the serum immediately and asked how they could wake Kendra and Carter, while Thor hinted at a better solution.

Thor used the Lasso of Truth to free Carter Hall and Kendra from Barbatos’s dark corruption, then violently punished Kendra after she blamed and mocked Bruce. The group remained in the World Forge as Thor confronted Kendra over her words.

• Thor purified Carter with the Lasso of Truth, restoring him to his normal size and senses.
• Thor dispelled Kendra’s dark aura while preserving the power Barbatos had added to her Nth Metal equipment.
• Bruce told Carter and Kendra that they were at the bottom of the Dark Multiverse in the World Forge, while Thor examined the lava below.
• Kendra blamed Bruce for Barbatos’s invasion, and Thor threatened her before Clark tried to intervene.
• Kendra mocked Thor as another Batman, so Thor beat her, broke her jaw, and tore one of her Nth Metal wings from her back.
• Thor pinned Kendra beneath his foot and demanded to know why she had dared to mock Bruce.

Thor stopped Bruce from killing Kendra, then told Bruce that his teammates had been in danger and comforted him about his personal life. The chapter ended with Thor kicking Bruce toward the lava at the World Forge to retrieve Element X.

• Carter begged Thor to spare Kendra, and Bruce stopped Thor from shooting her.
• Clark explained that Thor had killed Black Adam and had also tried to kill Kendra and Carter while Barbatos controlled them.
• Thor told Bruce that Diana and the others had been alive when he last saw them and explained how the Batman Who Laughs had become an evil Batman.
• Thor reassured Bruce about finding happiness, then confronted him about the person he liked and told him to take care of Martha.
• Thor kicked Bruce toward the lava at the World Forge to retrieve Element X.

Thor forced Bruce and Clark into the World Forge’s magma to make their lights of hope resonate with the Tenth Metal, while he healed Kendra and considered the dangers of confronting Barbatos in the Dark Multiverse. As the forge began to rumble, a bright glow rose from the magma, signaling that something was emerging.

• Thor knocked Bruce and Clark into the World Forge’s magma, then stripped the light of hope from each of them and sent the glowing spheres after them.
• Thor tossed Carter a healing potion for Kendra, and Carter used it to heal Kendra’s severed wing.
• Thor considered the Tenth Metal and worried that Barbatos’s home-field advantage made the Dark Multiverse too dangerous for him to explore.
• The magma churned, a brilliant white glow appeared, and a metallic rumble sounded from deep within the World Forge.

Clark and Bruce emerged from the World Forge restored and empowered by Element X, and Thor secretly began plotting to acquire the metal. With Barbatos’s forces threatening the Prime Universe, Bruce led the group toward the portal to confront him.

• Clark and Bruce burst from the magma transformed, wearing armor formed from Element X, while Thor analyzed the metal and planned to obtain it.
• Clark apologized to Thor for doubting him, and Bruce decided to keep Thor close while postponing questions about his motives until after the fight.
• Bruce sent Element X to armor Thor, who secretly used the opportunity to begin analyzing and assimilating it.
• Carter and Kendra approached the group, and Carter resolved to follow Thor after witnessing his power and the others’ transformation.
• Bruce, Clark, and Thor flew toward the portal, with Carter and Kendra following them into the vortex.

The heroes gathered on Themyscira faced failing magic, dwindling supplies, and Barbatos’s spreading darkness, while Grail refused to surrender the infant Darkseid. Oliver Queen’s group brought Nth Metal and Atlantis’s smelting equipment, but as the heroes forged weapons, Roy spotted a bank of black fog approaching.

• Barry proposed using his speed to keep moving, but Hal and Zatanna explained that Barbatos’s influence made escape and magic too dangerous.
• Constantine suggested awakening Darkseid to fight Barbatos, but Barry objected and Grail refused to hand over her infant son.
• Oliver Queen arrived with Nightwing, Damian, Mister Terrific, Plastic Man's egg, and Martian Manhunter, bringing Nth Metal and Atlantis’s smelting equipment.
• The heroes used the equipment to forge Nth Metal arrowheads, bullets, and blades, with Mister Terrific explaining that the metal could fatally disrupt Dark Multiverse monsters.
• Roy spotted black fog advancing across the sea and warned the others that trouble was approaching.

Barry Allen, Arthur, and Mera created a massive tsunami that swept away the invading nightmare monsters and black fog. The Dark Knights then emerged through spatial rifts, and Damian Wayne confronted the Batman Who Laughs outside the temple.

• Constantine and Oliver lamented that they had forged only a few Nth Metal weapons before the invasion began.
• Barry Allen asked Arthur and Mera to help him make a Speed Force storm, and they joined their powers to raise a colossal tsunami that destroyed the advancing monsters and black fog.
• The Batman Who Laughs, the Devastator, the Murder Machine, and the Dawnbreaker emerged through four spatial rifts with corrupted villains and rogues from other universes.
• The Batman Who Laughs sent the Murder Machine and a team of corrupted villains to attack the defenders on the beach, then flew toward the temple while calling for Diana.
• Damian Wayne blocked the Batman Who Laughs at the temple steps, rejected his offer to join him, and charged with a newly forged Nth Metal sword.
• The Batman Who Laughs drew a blood-red longsword and met Damian's charge with a clash of blades.