Justice League #42

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE DARKSEID WAR, PART TWO: THE NEW GOD Lex Luthor has been shot by his own sister Lena, and Superman, despite his feelings about it, helps to close the wounds with his heat-vision. As Lex comes to, he explains what happened and reveals that the bullets were made from a metal he has never seen before. What's worse is that they appear to have been transported to Apokolips.   Though he is aware of it already, Darkseid's lackeys, DeSaad and Steppenwolf warn him of Superman's presence on their planet, and vow to torture and kill him. Stonily, Darkseid warns that he has no desire to simply kill the Kryptonian. His mortal death means nothing. Darkseid seeks his soul. He orders that the camps be opened and the slaves be told that he who kills the Kryptonian will be spared further servitude. He knows well enough that none of them will succeed. Their failure will demonstrate the hopelessness of those who oppose the will of their master. In the meantime, with the Anti-Monitor already on Earth, Darkseid calls for his armies to be assembled under the Furies, Mantis, and his first-born, Kalibak. Kanto and Lashina are already on Earth seeking out Myrina Black, and DeSaad is eager to punish her for what she did to Darkseid's daughter. Despite obediently following orders, Steppenwolf wonders what Darkseid's cause in this war is. Does he seek to capture his daughter, destroy the anti-monitor, or revenge the Justice League? DeSaad eagerly reminds him that the thing they fight for is Darkseid, and the reason is not theirs to know.   The League, meanwhile, has been defeated by a mysterious grey-skinned warrior woman called Grail, who claims to be of Amazon blood. Having stolen the Ring of Volthoom from Power Ring, she called the Anti-Monitor to this world, and now Wonder Woman - the only among the League who is still fit to fight - steels herself for a war that has already begun. Grail welcomes her attack, but their battle is not to occur, as the Anti-Monitor slams his fist down into the Earth. In wonder, Diana asks just who he is. He responds that he is desperate, reaching out to destroy her. In that instance, a Boom Tube erupts, and Metron appears, admitting that while Grail plays the game well, he does too. In another instant, he is gone, and he has taken the League with him. Grail insists that she will get the trophies she seeks in killing the League, but the Anti-Monitor reminds that she will only get them after she delivers her father to him. She assures him that her mother promised that the war they seek would come to pass.   Mister Miracle, meanwhile, has been delivered straight to the feet of Myrina Black, having stolen the coordinates from Kanto and Lashina's Mother Boxes. With the knowledge that Darkseid has never singled anyone out besides him, Scott suspects that Myrina is somebody of great significance. She responds that she is humanity's savior. she had once been the Amazons' chosen assassin until they abandoned the great mission they were given by the old gods. They were meant to save the world from war, and she has been doing so for a long time. While Queen Hippolyta had chosen to hide the Amazons away on Paradise Island, Myrina had refused to hide, knowing that the dark god would one day come to enslave all of the Earth's inhabitants.   In preparation for this day, she created a weapon against war by giving birth to Darkseid's own daughter. She sent Grail to traverse reality in search of a being with the power to kill Darkseid, and she found the Anti-Monitor. The war against Darkseid will now take place with Earth as its battleground. Incredulously, Scott reminds that billions of innocents will die. Unmoved, Myrina responds that war always comes at a cost - and Darkseid must die at any price. Scott's insistence that innocent lives are more important than her cause leads Myrina to turn on him. She thrusts her spear into his side. Emitting a bright light from his hand, Scott manages to blind her long enough to order his Mother Box to take him to friends.   Recovering, the League find themselves at the feet of Metron and his Mobius Chair. Shazam recognizes their surrounds as the Rock of Eternity, and Metron explains that he brought them to it because it is hidden from the view of the New Gods. Warily, Green Lantern claims that Metron cannot be trusted, having dealt with him once in the past. Metron insists that he was only observing the attack on Oa, as he has observed the League save the world many times. This time, though, he states, there is no saving it. He warns the League to go to their loved ones, and then leave the Earth, if they wish to survive. Wonder Woman reminds that he should already know by observing them that they will not do that, and demands to know who the monster she saw was. Casually, Metron responds that this was the Anti-Monitor, but his story is forbidden to them. Frustratedly, she wraps her Lasso around him and asks to know how she can get the information she needs to stop the Anti-Monitor. Metron resists the Lasso's power, but her force of will causes him to let slip that the only way to get the answers to her questions is to take the Mobius Chair from him.   With that knowledge, Diana yanks Metron from his seat, and the unstable chair begins preparing to Boom away. Without hesitation, Batman sits on the chair to stop it from doing so, but the power that surges through him as a result is greater than expected. Finally, the surge calms, and Batman realizes that he can hear the answers to everything. Testing it, he asks who killed his parents. The answer is, as he already knows, Joe Chill. As another test, he asks the Joker's real name - but the answer he receives troubles him. Worriedly, Green Lantern points out that Batman can barely master a power ring, and the chair is surely worse. Diana asks if Batman is alright, and he response assuredly that he is fine. After all, he's a god, now.