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"Alpha": Fifty-two days after Amanda Waller's defeat, the reformed Justice League complete work on their new Watchtower satellite. Whereas before they had tried to limit their number of members, they have decided to invite every super-hero on Earth to join the League. Superman goes to personally

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Darkseid ends.
Darkseid

DC All In Special #1 is a one-shot with a cover date of December, 2024. It was published on October 2, 2024.

Synopsis for "Alpha"

Fifty-two days after Amanda Waller's defeat, the reformed Justice League complete work on their new Watchtower satellite. Whereas before they had tried to limit their number of members, they have decided to invite every super-hero on Earth to join the League. Superman goes to personally recruit Booster Gold, who has recently stopped his shameless self-promotion. Booster Gold is extremely honored and touched by the invitation, as he has recently been feeling out of place and has considered returning to the future. Superman hands him his new membership card and Booster recognizes the design from an exhibit in the museum where he worked, commemorating a moment where everyone came together, and realizes that he is living in that time now. Superman tells him that everyone is meeting at the Watchtower that night and that he will see him again there.

The new expanded roster meets at the Watchtower, where Mister Terrific welcomes them to Justice League Unlimited. He tells them that they will always leave a blank membership card in the main hall, the one from Booster's museum, to represent that there is always room for more. Booster arrives late just as the speech is ending, and wonders quietly to himself why he still feels so lost when he thought he would be happy.

Suddenly, violet lightning shoots through the room. Zatanna and Hal Jordan are possessed and Darkseid's voice comes from their mouths, saying that the Spectre will reveal the truth, and all the magical super-heroes start chanting "Darkseid is". Skeets tells Booster that there is no historical record of this happening. Omega Beams shoot out of the magical heroes' eyes, then a Boom Tube opens and Darkseid steps through; now wearing a black hooded cloak and with his hand replaced by an axe. Jordan says that if Darkseid has bonded with the Spectre, then he has become Death itself. The heroes charge Darkseid, who fights them off while seemingly having an argument with himself.

Skeets detects a rift in reality and Mister Terrific says that Darkseid is out of sync with reality, like he is breaking in half. Darkness gathers around the blank card and Skeets tells Booster that the future has changed, meaning that they may not be able to go home. Darkseid begins building some kind of gateway and Zatanna tells the other heroes that, if he succeeds, he will become all-powerful. She tells them to keep him occupied while she and the other sorcerers prepare the spell to separate Darkseid and the Spectre. Wonder Woman binds him in the Lasso of Truth while Zatanna charges Superman up with magic to carry the spell. Zatanna flies at Superman and yells "Eerf mih!", splitting the Spectre off from Darkseid. Darkseid says "Thank you... Darkseid ends.", then disappears in an explosion, leaving a rip in time and space in the middle of the Watchtower. Superman says that they have their first mission.

Later, the League call in Orion to consult him and ask him where Darkseid is. He says them that Darkseid is not on Apokolips and, as far as anyone can tell, is not in the Multiverse at all. Orion tells them that Darkseid represents a universal constant, so a Darkseid must always exist; if the current one is gone, then a new one will be created to take his place. He leaves for New Genesis to speak with Highfather.

Batman and Mister Terrific examine the blank card, which has absorbed some of Darkseid's Anti-Life energies. They believe that it is now a gateway to "the Elseworld", one of the two poles of the Omniverse. When Earth 0 was cut off from the Multiverse the Elseworld, also known as the Alpha World, activated. Originally it was in a primordial state, but their readings of it now detect a finished world that is radiating the same energy as Darkseid. Wonder Woman says that they need to go there and investigate, but Terrific says that the world is still in flux and the flow of time is unnatural there. The only person who could go safely is somebody who has already travelled through time and is saturated with tachyons.

Booster Gold volunteers and Terrific sets Skeets to automatically open a portal back to Earth 0 in 10 minutes so that they can return home. They jump through the portal and the League immediately loses contact with them. Booster emerges on the Elseworld without Skeets and sees that it is now a second Apokolips; with red skies, fire pits and Darkseid's Omega symbol everywhere. He is attacked by Darkseid and a corrupted Legion of Super-Heroes.

Appearing in "Alpha"

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Synopsis for "Omega"

When the Multiverse was closed off, Darkseid felt a great surge of power which awakened in him a hunger and a restlessness that he has never known before; a desire to learn some secret that he can sense but cannot understand. He seeks the only being with the power and knowledge to show him what he is missing: the Spectre. Darkseid secludes himself from his followers as he constructs a machine to aid him in his quest, severing his own hand and feeding it to the machine to ensure that it will bond to him and him alone. The machine begins to spin up but then fails, saying that Darkseid has not provided it enough blood. Suddenly his children and lieutenants, headed by Kalibak, burst into his chamber and tell him that in his absence they have developed a new breed of soldiers known as the Paradevils, created from the most warlike species in the universe. Kalibak says that it is time to take this new army and go to attack Earth while its heroes are in disarray, but Darkseid refuses, saying that he must follow his new hunger alone and orders them to leave. Kalibak refuses to go and so Darkseid sacrifices him to the machine, giving it the power that it needs.

Darkseid attacks both Hell and Heaven seeking the Spectre, but he is not at either of them. Both the demons of Hell and the angels of Heaven offer him anything that he desires if he will end his quest, telling him that he plays a critical role in the order of reality which he is imperiling, but Darkseid refuses to listen to any of them. He eventually learns that Eclipso is holding Jim Corrigan prisoner on the dark side of the Moon. He travels there and confronts Eclipso. Kaala attempts to restrain him, as he is stronger than Darkseid in the region of deepest night, but Darkseid defeats him by bathing him in sunlight from the brightest star in the galaxy. Darkseid goes down into Corrigan's dungeon and the Quintessence teleport in. They tell Darkseid that his quest is pointless, as he cannot force the Spectre to aid him, but Darkseid reveals that the machine that he built was a Miracle Machine, and wishes to bond with the Spectre. To the Quintessence's horror, Aztar is pulled from Corrigan and forced to bond with Darkseid.

Aztar resists Darkseid's control and teleports them to the Watchtower, seeking Justice League Unlimited's help. As he fights the League, Darkseid also argues with the Spectre inside his own mind. The Spectre reveals that the Multiverse is in a constant balance between two primal forces: life and hope which pushes reality outwards to expand, embodied by Superman; and constraint which holds the expansion back, embodied by Darkseid. He tells Darkseid that he is a primal and essential part of reality, which has split and spread to every new universe as first the Multiverse and then the Omniverse expanded, causing him to break up into Multiversal aspects and alternate selves. When the Multiverse was sealed, all of the power of his alternate counterparts consolidated down into him, filling him with energy and purpose. The Spectre tells him that the Multiverse will soon return and the power will dissipate again, returning him to normal. He says that Darkseid should accept his role in the way of things and simply wait, but Darkseid refuses, saying that he wants more.

Darkseid sees his entire existence all at once and realises that the Spectre is right: he will always be part of the way of things, changing as needed to fit his role in the story. He says that he is done with that; as the Spectre splits away from him again, he declares "Darkseid ends.", allowing himself to die. He awakens in the Elseworld in its primordial state and, with his newfound power, he shapes its history to be a world of conflict in opposition to the life and hope that drives Earth 0. In this new world the heroes are few and battered, lacking their greatest strengths and shaped by a much darker world. In this world, he can grow to his greatest possible extent and eventually return to crush the world that he left behind. When Booster Gold arrives, Darkseid leads his corrupted Legion of Super-Heroes to destroy him.

Appearing in "Omega"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Legion of Super-Heroes (Absolute Universe) (Possessed) (Cameo)
    • Brainiac 5 (Unnamed)
    • Chameleon Boy (Unnamed)
    • Colossal Boy (Unnamed)
    • Cosmic Boy (Unnamed)
    • Element Lad (Unnamed)
    • Ferro Lad (Unnamed)
    • Kid Quantum (Unnamed)
    • Lightning Lad (Unnamed)
    • Phantom Girl (Unnamed)
    • Saturn Girl (Unnamed)
    • Shadow Lass (Unnamed)
    • Shrinking Violet (Unnamed)
    • Starboy (Unnamed)
    • Timber Wolf (Unnamed)
    • Triplicate Girl (Unnamed)
    • Ultra Boy (Unnamed)
  • New Gods of Apokolips (Post-Flashpoint)

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Events:

Concepts:

Notes

  • The events on Earth 0 from the "Alpha" story take place 52 days after the events of Absolute Power #4.
    • Absolute Power takes place over July/August 2024, which implies that this story takes place around mid-October 2024.
    • The beginning of Darkseid's Multiversal journey from the "Omega" story takes place a few days after the final battle from Absolute Power #4.
  • The issue is made in a flip book format, where each side tells a different perspective of the story.
  • Darkseid's true role in the Multiverse was revealed by the Spectre as being the opposite force of Life, holding it back and defying it, and whose energy scattered into all universes as Life expanded to form the Multiverse and divided further when the Multiverse expanded into the "Omniverse".
    • The Spectre confirms that Superman embodies Hope, which he described as the primordial energy of Life in the Multiverse that expands and multiplies against all odds, emerging from the darkness and racing onward.
  • There are various continuity errors in this issue:
    • Both the Spectre and Darkseid states that the Multiverse has been "sealed", but this is not actually true, as just Earth 0 was stated to have been cut off from the rest of the Orrery of Worlds[3] and it is still to be confirmed in other stories;
      • Furthermore, Apokolips exists outside the Orrery of Worlds, so he should be able to access every other reality from the Orrery;
    • The Spectre implies that there is currently one Darkseid in the Multiverse, but this is also false because, in the wake of the creation of the "Omniverse",[4] Darkseid was only merged with his Pre-Crisis and Pre-Flashpoint selves,[5] but his counterparts from the Orrery of Worlds still exist;
    • Deadman is shown at the Watchtower when his spirit was previously stated[6] to be confined to Nanda Parbat;
    • Robin is seen in the Batcave which, however, should be owned by Vandal Savage by the time that this issue takes place;
    • The Wizard Mamaragan's appearance in the "Omega" story is very different from his common Post-Flashpoint appearance.

Trivia


See Also


Links and References

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