Justice League #33

Issue Details

Synopsis

BATS OUT OF HELL, FINALE  The Justice League is defeated and carried by Murder Machine to the Cosmic Tuning Fork, where many other heroes have already been tied up. Cyborg, dismembered, has his Mother Box flooded with energy from the Dark Multiverse by The Batman Who Laughs, who's trying to extract out of him something called "Element X": this results in Victor seeing over and over again ways in which he could lose and his worst nightmares could win over him. Suddenly, an intermittent sound from inside him stops, and a voice announces: "You are ready, Victor Stone".   Victor finds himself floating in his own mind, with his Mother Box in front of him. It explains to him that he's ready for his true programming, which comes from the Element X at its core, "the purest, brightest metal in the cosmos, from the World Forge itself". It tells Victor that there are many like him (i.e. many creatures who connected to a Mother Box), but he's the only one who resisted from achieving his perfect form, which would delete his original programming: in other words, it would cancel his own identity to get him to his fullest potential. To convince him it is the right choice, Mother Box shows Victor the Multiverse, with its 52 Universes and countless life-forms, who would die if he didn't do anything. Only if he becomes one with the Multiverse will he be able to defeat Barbatos and his Dark Knights. Victor is almost convinced, when a faraway voice stops him. In the form of a glowing Raven, she tells him she's been watching him and that his heart is what's special in him, not his Mother Box, so he shouldn't leave his consciousness. Victor seems persuaded to do what Mother Box says, though, so he starts making an intermittent sound, merging with it.   As the Alfred Protocol leads the Justice League to be strapped to the Tuning Fork in order to start the descent into the Dark Multiverse, its connection to Murder Machine suddenly stops, as Cyborg transforms into his final form: Cyborg One Million. With his renewed powers, he's able to cut the Justice League loose of Murder Machine's tentacles, as the evil Bruce explains that Cyborg used his Mother Box connection to the Element X to draw power directly from the Multiverse. The League takes on the Dark Knights, and they manage to liberate the holders of Nth Metal from their confinements. At the same time, Cyborg locates Raven, who explains that The Batman Who Laughs wanted her darkness and she was going to give up, when she felt Cyborg's will to fight on. Cyborg frees her, hugging her and telling her they are stronger together. As Cyborg explains he now sees the Dark Knights for what they truly are, ghosts of dying worlds, he says that Barbatos wanted to separate the League, but he only succeeded in bringing them together and connecting them to the Multiverse in new ways. The truth, Cyborg explains, is that the Dark Knights regret what happened in their worlds, so they struck a deal with Barbatos: if they help him destroy this world, he'll give them theirs back.   The Batman Who Laughs is tired of this, so he calls for Barbatos himself to make his entrance. Cyborg immediately teleports the League and Raven away from there, as Barbatos notices that Cyborg's transformation brings an unknown into play. The Batman Who Laughs reassures him: as long as they have the Teen Titans and the Task Force X, the League will be back.   Cyborg teleported the League to the Hypertime, the web of time-streams outside the Multiverse. As they see other realities unfold around them, Cyborg starts struggling with his identity, starting to feel he's losing control of it. Raven manages to calm him, as he takes the lead and asks The Flash and Raven to follow him: they need the Nth metal to defeat Barbatos, so they're going to hack the Multiverse.   The other League members break up into teams themselves, all teleported in different places to find the metal: Hal Jordan is paired with Mister Terrific and Plastic Egg; Wonder Woman with Doctor Fate and Kendra Saunders; Aquaman with Deathstroke.   As all this unfolds, The Batman Who Laughs tells Barbatos that he's glad he could be the beacon of hope Batman always represented for the League: now they think they have a chance at winning, but all they're really doing is to unknowingly spread Barbatos's darkness across the galaxy.