Crime Syndicate #3 is an issue of the series Crime Syndicate (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 2021. It was published on May 4, 2021.
Synopsis for "The New Deal, Part 3: Broken Ambassador"
Superwoman recounts years ago that the Starros were the enemies of the Emerald Knights, an intergalactic private police force of the ancient Overlords of Oa. After countless battles against the Knights, including Earth's Harold Jordan, which saw high casualties on both sides, the Starros survived a final battle before traveling to Earth to take control of the planet's metahuman population to oppose the Knights and their masters.
In the present, Owlman has read through John Stewart's downloaded files on the Starros and reveals that neutralizing the mother Starro will kill the entire collective. The larger Starro that Stewart took out was not the mother Starro, but rather the one over Metropolis. Owlman, Superwoman, Ultraman, the Emerald Knight, Johnny Quick and Atomica mutually work together to attack the mother Starro. At the same time Metropolis' hero Alexander Luthor is desperately coordinating with the police and fire department to evacuate the city's population from the battle.
Atomica shrinks herself and enters Starro's bloodstream, weakening its biological functions and allowing Ultraman to punch a gaping wound through its body. Stewart flies into the wound and attempt to blast Starro from the inside. However, Starro quickly regenerates its wound and forcefully removes Stewart out of its body though left badly wounded from Stewart's attack. In a last desperate attempt, Starro launch a psychic attack on every nearby metahuman and trying to get them under its control by exploiting their emotional vulnerabilities. Everyone except for Superwoman, who is resistant to Starro's psychic assault as she trained herself to suppress her emotions from taking control of her. Superwoman uses her lasso to entangle Starro and breaking the metas free from the creature.
Starro begs Superwoman and the other metas that all it wants is to seek their help to be free from the tyrannical Overlords of Oa. But Superwoman very unsympathetically tells Starro that it tried to enslave Earth and that she is offering no mercy to it. Superwoman kills the creature and causing its lifeless massive body to crush a portion of Metropolis. With Starro dead, its swarms are dying out all across the world. But the battle in Metropolis had left many people dead. Luthor lash out at the so-called saviors for not working together to save more lives before dealing with Starro. Ultraman only dismissively and arrogantly replies to Luthor that all that matters is that "he" saved the world.
The world is left in a very uncertain future as the public is now aware that there is a large population of superhumans unveiled in Starro's wake.
Appearing in "The New Deal, Part 3: Broken Ambassador"
Featured Characters:
- Atomica
- Emerald Knight (John Stewart)
- Johnny Quick (Jonathan Chambers)
- Owlman
- Superwoman (Donna Troy)
- Ultraman ("Clark Kent")
Supporting Characters:
- Alexander Luthor (First appearance)
- Clawing
- Deathstorm
- Ice (Unnamed)
- Savanna (Unnamed)
Antagonists:
- The Starro Collective (Dies)
- Star Conqueror Spores (Destroyed)
- Black Beetle (Unnamed) (Possessed)
- Black Siren (Unnamed) (Possessed)
- Doctor Chaos (Unnamed) (Possessed)
- Miss Martian (Unnamed) (Possessed)
- Sky Tyrant (Possessed)
- Star Conqueror Spores (Destroyed)
Other Characters:
- Arnold D.C. Police Department
- Daily Planet
- Cat Grant
- The Emerald Knights (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- B'dg (First appearance; unnamed)
- Harold Jordan
- Kilowog (First appearance; unnamed)
- Metropolis Fire Department (Cameo)
- Metropolis Police Department (Cameo)
- Negative Woman
- Power Tower (Unnamed) (On a TV or computer screen)
- Red Star (First appearance; unnamed) (On a TV or computer screen) (Cameo)
- Sea King (On a TV or computer screen)
- Vixen (First appearance; unnamed) (On a TV or computer screen) (Cameo)
- The Overlords of Oa/Oans (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth 3
- Earth
- South Africa (On a TV or computer screen)
- Johannesburg (On a TV or computer screen) (Cameo)
- United States of Amerika
- Amnesty Bay (On a TV or computer screen) (Cameo)
- Arnold, D.C.
- Metropolis
- Russia
- Babylon (Mentioned only)
- South Africa (On a TV or computer screen)
- Starro's Homeworld (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only)
- Oa (Mentioned only)
- Earth
- Speed Force (Behind the scenes)
- Sphere of the Gods
- Skyland
- Mount Olympus (Mentioned only)
- Skyland
Items:
- Black Beetle Scarab (Unnamed)
- Firestorm Matrix (Unnamed)
- Green Kryptonite
- Helmet of Chaos (Unnamed)
- Lasso of Submission
- Lex Luthor's Warsuit
- Nth Metal
- Oan Power Battery (Real name revealed)
- Oan Power Rings (Flashback only)
- John Stewart's Ring (Flashback and main story)
- Owl-Buds (Behind the scenes)
- Owlsuit
- Shrink Belt
- Tantu Totem (First appearance; unnamed) (On a TV or computer screen) (Cameo)
Vehicles:
- Daily Planet helicopters (Cameo)
Concepts:
Synopsis for "Tools of the Trade"
In 1945, Donna Troy is training on Demon's Island with the rest of the Warrior Women. As Queen Hippolyta's daughter, Donna was given the toughest training, pushing her to her potential. Embracing her people's code of being fearless, relentless, and merciless. In the process of her training, Donna found a downed airplane pilot Steve Trevor and instantly fell in love with him. Trevor had came to Demon's Island to seek their warriors for help in the Second World War against the other side's superhuman soldiers.
The Warrior Women and Donna declined to offer aid to Trevor, which forced him to betray Donna's trust by taking her hostage before Queen Hippolyta. He threatens to take her life unless Queen Hippolyta gives some of her soldiers to him to fight in the war. But to Trevor's surprise, Queen Hippolyta only tells him to kill Donna. She then tells her daughter that she expects more of her being stronger than, and not "soft", like her sister Diana, and that she must save herself. Donna effortlessly breaks out of Trevor's grip and impales his sword into his chest.
Queen Hippolyta regard this as Donna's final lesson: for learning that emotions and words are weapons and tools. As Trevor had manipulated Donna's emotions that had brought her guard down. After Donna finally kills Trevor by breaking his neck, Queen Hippolyta tells her daughter that she is ready to face the world that is soon to be in an age of demigods.
Donna would eventually infiltrate, rise to a position of power, find other super-powered beings, and forge them into "her" weapons. Thus she swears that she will one day return to Demon's Island with an army and overthrow her mother and take the throne, making Queen Hippolyta finally proud of her.
Appearing in "Tools of the Trade"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Amazons of Themyscira
- Queen Hippolyta
Antagonists:
- Steve Trevor (Single appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
- Atomica (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Emerald Knight (John Stewart) (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Johnny Quick (Jonathan Chambers) (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Owlman (Thomas Wayne Jr.) (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Ultraman (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Princess Diana (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- Nazis (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Crime Society (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth 3
- 1945
- Themyscira/"Demon's Island"
- Royal Palace of Themyscira
- Shores of Themyscira
- Themyscira/"Demon's Island"
- 21st Century (In a vision) (Cameo)
- 1945
Items:
- Emerald Power Ring (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Hippolyta's Tiara
- Magic Mirror
- Owlsuit (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Shrink Belt (In a vision) (Cameo)
Vehicles:
- Steve Trevor's Plane (Destroyed)
Concepts:
- Magic
- World War II (Behind the scenes)
Notes
- Black Beetle reappears (albeit with a different suit) in Blue & Gold #6-8 where his history is also explored.
Trivia
- Another fake comic named "Crime Society #0", which is supposed to show the so-called Crime Society from the World War II, is mentioned in this issue.
- Starros' homeworld, ∅-World, was originally featured on Earth 0 in Justice League (Volume 4) #29.
- Owlman's Owl-Buds is a pun on Samsung's Galaxy Buds.
See Also