Warning: SPOILERS for Justice League #34
The Justice League is getting a helping hand from some of the Multiverse’s finest heroes: their own older selves from DC’s Kingdom Come future. Together they’ll be taking on the forces of the new and improved Legion of Doom, along with their chilling leader… Apex Lex.
In Justice League #34, the team recruits some outside help for dealing with their latest threat, and at the front of the charge is none other than the Superman and Green Lantern of Mark Waid and Alex Ross’s classic miniseries. But why bring out the big guns? Lex Luthor, determined to usher in an era of doom, ascended to become the Apex Predator and began the Year of the Villain, powering up some of the League’s deadliest foes. Luthor’s plan to restore the full power of Super-Celestial Perpetua, mother of DC’s Universe (along with the Monitor and Anti-Monitor) has the Legion of Doom and the Justice League racing through time and space. And now, alternate realities.
They’ve found friends in the World War II-era Justice Society of America and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, but bold new threats have emerged, such as the far future’s Brainiac One Million. To deal with the ultimate Brainiac, Kamandi left the fray to get help from the Justice League Unlimited, best known from Batman Beyond. He didn’t just find the JLU, however—he came back with an army plucked from the entire multiverse. There’s a plethora of familiar faces: Red Son’s Superman of the Soviet Union, the Wonder Woman of the 853rd century, and even Watchmen’s Nite Owl. Most prominently featured, though, is the Superman and armored Green Lantern of Earth-22… better known as the Kingdom Come universe.
Released in 1996, Kingdom Come tells the story of the DC Universe’s far future, where modern vigilantes and villains run unchecked, and a tragic accident pulls Superman out of retirement. Written by Mark Waid and hand-painted by Alex Ross, the miniseries has long been a fan favorite. The upcoming Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths, even features Brandon Routh in Ross’s iconic take on the Superman costume.
Kamandi’s recruitment drive through the multiverse is a welcome surprise, but it’s far from just a shocking splash page. Justice League writer Scott Snyder’s been tinkering with the cosmic mechanics and mysteries of the DC universe since Dark Knights: Metal, taking cues from Grant Morrison’s mind-bending Multiversity and even introducing the Dark Multiverse. What Year of the Villain and Lex Luthor’s master plan means for the future is anyone’s guess, but whatever happens, it promises to be a wild ride.
Justice League #34 is available now from your local comic book shop, or direct from DC Comics.
“The Justice Doom War” part five! All Hypertime is breaking! If it blows, all of reality will follow after-which would be just fine for Lex Luthor, who is ready to prove to the evil goddess Perpetua that he’s the bad man for her. The Justice League is attempting to do what they can, chasing the Legion of Doom across the time-sphere. If the Totality is put back together, the whole Multiverse will tip toward Doom…and have consequences that reverberate throughout the DC Universe-assuming it’s not destroyed in the process.
