Justice League United #9

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE INFINITUS SAGA: PART 5 The world-destroying Infinitus has manifested in the 21st Century, and the Legion of Super-Heroes has allied with the Justice League United to stop it. Brainiac and Sardath have put their heads together to design a kind of bomb that will trap Infinitus within a perpetual big bang outside of space and time, sparing every time-period from his destruction.   Supergirl, meanwhile, flew into a rift in space-time after Byth Rok and the kidnapped Ultra the Multi-Alien just as Infinitus appeared in this timeline. After catching up, she demands to know what Byth intends to do with Ultra, and the madman explains that Ultra has been shown a future that he has embraced. Time and space are folding around him, and soon they will collapse, allowing Byth to reshape the universe. He urges Kara to stop struggling against him - she could be his queen. Naturally, Kara refuses.   The Infinity Wraiths are well on their way to Thanagar, and Martian Manhunter begs Sardath to send a team to the planet to fend off the attack. A combined group of Leaguers and Legionnaires are sent down to Corvis, the most populated city on the planet. Unfortunately, in the battle, Wildfire is killed.   Meanwhile, the defenders are under attack by one of their own. Hawkman was brainwashed by Byth, and Martian Manhunter insists that he will find a way to find Katar's true mind. He successfully manages to retrieve Katar's memories and restore them. In the mean time, Brainiac 5 and Sardath are successful in creating their bomb, but the only way to get the bomb within range of Infinitus is to use a practical rocket - which means the area around him must be evacuated. This is impossible, as far as J'onn is concerned, because Kara is still trapped in the rift with Byth and Ultra. Brainy responds that by coming back in time to stop Infinitus, the Legion has apparently accelerated Infinitus' birth. There may only be minutes before he is as powerful as he was in the 31st Century. Still, J'onn refuses to abandon Supergirl, and Dawnstar, Hawkman, and Mon El agree to go with him to get her.   Byth, meanwhile, is crushing Supergirl in his monstrous grip when Hawkman and the others arrive, and club him back with the Nth Metal mace. Uncaring, Byth reminds that if a Kryptonian can't stop him, a Thanagarian surely can't either. Hawkman responds that he is only acting as a distraction, as Dawnstar relays their exact coordinates to Gates, who then opens a portal for Colossal Boy to reach through and grab Byth in his giant fist. Finally, Phantom Girl thrusts her intangible hand through Byth's head and warns that his brain will explode if she goes tangible again.   While Kara is free of the rift, thanks to them, J'onn stays behind to try to talk Ultra out of whatever is driving him to become Infinitus. The boy responds that whatever he was when he befriended J'onn, he has become something else. Byth connected him to all space and time, and he can now see it all. Byth had thought he could exploit Ultra to give himself power, but all of the power belongs to him - and J'onn would have him give it up. Ultra has no desire to go back to being a child freak. He is Infinitus.   Brainiac 5 grows impatient, worrying that they will all die if they don't move now. Against Stargirl's protests, he launches the rocket.   Assured that Ultra will not concede to him, J'onn admits that he has abused the boy's trust. He entered his mind, and laid the seeds necessary to take it. Infinitus must be stopped at any cost, and J'onn must make do what he hoped he wouldn't have to, reaching into the boy's mind.   Soon, Infinitus begins collapsing on himself, and the Infinity Wraiths begin falling apart. At last, J'onn emerges from the rift with Ultra in his arms, regretful, but assured that he did what he had to do. Unfortunately, Brainiac 5 warns that their worries aren't over. Because Infinitus is gone, there is nothing to absorb the payload of the bomb he launched. Now, its detonation will open a black hole.