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"World War III":  Main article: World War III

Quote1 Send soldiers. Send armies. Send them all. Quote2
Black Adam

52 #50 is an issue of the series 52 (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 2007. It was published on April 18, 2007.

Synopsis for "World War III"

 Main article: World War III

Day 2
Black Adam's war against humanity begins in earnest. He fights Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr., and Mary Marvel in Cairo, Egypt and defeats them all, damaging the surroundings as he goes. Captain Marvel tries to reason with him, but Adam is insane with rage.

Day 3
The Justice Society of America coordinates their actions in Australia. Atom-Smasher briefly returns to the team. He tries to explain Black Adam's actions, but the others think that he's trying to defend him.

Day 4

52 50 Black Adam Doom Patrol

Black Adam fights the Doom Patrol

Black Adam fights the Doom Patrol in Italy.

Day 5
The Justice Society of America arrive in Italy to lend a hand. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is toppled onto the ground. Mister Terrific gets word from Checkmate that Black Adam was spotted in China.

Day 6
Black Adam fights members of the Great Ten in the skies over Beijing. He kills Immortal Man in Darkness. Ghost Fox Killer and Seven Deadly Brothers attempt to stop him, but their efforts barely even slow him down.

Day 7
The Justice Society leads a large assemblage of Earth's heroes to the Chinese border. The Chinese government refuses outside intervention, and the heroes reluctantly concede, for fear of a nuclear retaliation. Black Adam defeats Seven Deadly Brothers and Ghost Fox Killer and destroys the Shaolin Robot. Back at the Great Ten's command center, Thundermind and Accomplished Perfect Physician convince the reluctant August General in Iron to invite the American superheroes to come to their defense. The superheroes attack en masse, but not only does Black Adam hold his own, he dominates the battle. Atom-Smasher still tries to reason with Adam, but he will not relent.

At the Rock of Eternity, Captain Marvel crash lands to where the Phantom Stranger, Madame Xanadu, Zachary Zatara and Zatanna are waiting. His petition to the Egyptian Gods to remove Black Adam's powers failed; evidently, they support his rampage and laughed at Captain Marvel's request. They engage upon a new course of action.

Back in China, Steel and his niece, also wearing her Steel armor, arm a thunder missile and aim it at Black Adam. The missile is filled with A.I. nanites that they hope will shut down his motor functions. Suddenly, Booster Gold appears from out of the time stream and snatches the thunder missile, saying he needs it and it would not have worked anyway. The Steels' then join the battle.

The JSA finds members of the new Infinity, Inc. and ask them to help out. The amateur heroes are terrified however, and turn to run away.

Flash receives a mystical communiqué from Zatanna and coordinates with Green Lantern on a new strategy. Green Lantern and Power Girl snatch up Black Adam in an energy wave and begin pulling him upward into the sky.

Captain Marvel meanwhile flies downward towards Adam's location. He shouts "Shazam", and channels the power of the mystic lightning bolt into Black Adam, and in a brilliant explosion of energy, Black Adam is transformed back into Teth-Adam. Falling from the sky, he frantically screams "Shazam!" to no avail, but a giant hand catches him as he falls. When everyone regains their senses, Black Adam is nowhere to be found. Captain Marvel tells Flash that he changed the magic word, so Adam can no longer tap into his super-powers. He swears that he will never tell another living soul what the new word is. World War III is over.

Later, Teth-Adam is seen wandering the streets in Kahndaq, muttering various words that might hold the key to his powers.

Later that evening, Professor T.O. Morrow pilots Doctor Sivana's Omniship to the Rocky Mountains. He brings the head of the Red Tornado into a small lab facility, and the robot is still repeatedly droning, "52". Deciding to see what it is talking about, he puts on a pair of goggles to access its memory files—and is struck speechless by what he sees. Rip Hunter and Booster Gold suddenly appear in his lab, startling him. Rip says to Morrow, "Get your ass in gear, Prof. 'Cause we're already way outta time".

Appearing in "World War III"

Featured Characters:

Teams

Antagonists:

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Notes

  • The events from this issue take place concurrently with events from the four-issue World War III limited series.
  • Although it is never stated outright, it appears that to be Atom-Smasher that saves Black Adam from falling out of the sky.
  • Booster Gold's motives for stealing Steel's thunder missile are revealed in 52 Week Fifty-Two.
  • This issue is reprinted in 52 Vol. 4 of the 2007 4-volume edition, 52 Volume Two of the 2016 2-volume edition, and 52 Omnibus.



See Also

Recommended Reading

World War III
EVENT: World War III Overview: 52 Week #50 Part I: World War III #1 Part II: World War III #2 Part II: World War III #3 Part IV: World War III #4

Links and References

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