Dark Crisis: Young Justice #1 is an issue of the series Dark Crisis: Young Justice (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 2022. It was published on June 21, 2022.
Synopsis for "Save Your Generation"
At the memorial service for the Justice League, Wonder Girl encounters her former Young Justice teammates Robin, Impulse and Superboy. She reflects that they have been displaced by a later generation of heroes and are expected to handle everything like adults despite still feeling like teenagers, and remembers how all their lives were destroyed by a previous crisis. After the ceremony they and their former teammate Cissie King-Jones, the one-time Arrowette, meet up for the first time in a long time. They all stand in awkward silence and Cassie thinks to herself how they all used to spend all their time together but now are too afraid to even tell each other what they were thinking or feeling. Impulse finally breaks the silence by asking if anyone thinks they'll get the same treatment when they die to which Superboy replies "They didn't the last time we died." Cassie is noticeably getting more angry as the boys talk and so Cissie takes her away from them to calm her down. When they turn back to face them, Superboy, Impulse and Robin have vanished from where they were just a moment ago.
Tim wakes up in his room in Wayne Manor and is greeted by a seemingly alive Alfred who notifies him about a Young Justice alert. Similarly Conner wakes up in Hawaii in the middle of a briefing by Dubbilex who cuts his lecture short because Conner is needed by Young Justice. Meanwhile Bart finds himself in the middle of a training session with Max Mercury and Wally West. Wally gives Bart some advice he's given him many times before, and when Bart tells him not to take out his worry for the missing Barry Allen on him the two older heroes tell him that Barry Allen is dead and Bart has never met him. Impulse realises that this isn't the world he was previously on and races to Happy Harbor, Young Justice's first headquarters. Along the way he checks on the world and finds that everything seems to have been reverted back to the way it was when Young Justice was first formed: Connor Hawke has succeeded his father as the Green Arrow, Kyle Rayner is the one and only Green Lantern, and Zauriel is on the Justice League. He meets up with Tim and Conner in Happy Harbour, and he speculates whether they have travelled back in time or to a parallel universe, but Conner suggests that maybe things have been put back to how they should be. Tim looks over his computer files and finds that many significant events such as the death of Superman and a huge earthquake hitting Gotham have apparently occurred fairly recently, while later major incidents such as Infinite Crisis do not appear to have happened yet. The monitor flashes and their conversation is cut short as they all rush out to help someone who is need of the Young Justice.
Back at the Hall of Justice, Cassie tries to find where the boys have disappeared to, but Cissie refuses to help her and says that she has long since retired from her role as a superhero and argues that the boys are probably just processing the loss of their mentors. Cassie tries reaching to the families and friends of her lost teammates but no one is willing to help her or knows anything about their whereabouts. Back with Young Justice, the boys reach the site of the alert and find that the whole scene is very reminiscent of their first adventure together except that the threat they are facing, Mighty Endowed, has become much more dangerous. She overpowers them but they are saved by the arrival of another Wonder Girl, seemingly Cassie Sandsmark wearing an old costume.
Appearing in "Save Your Generation"
Featured Characters:
- Young Justice (Flashback and main story)
- Impulse (Bart Allen) (Flashback and main story)
- Robin (Tim Drake) (Flashback and main story)
- Superboy (Conner Kent) (Flashback and main story)
- Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) (Flashback and main story) (Narrator)
Supporting Characters:
- Alfred Pennyworth (Mickey's World) (First appearance)
- Cissie King-Jones
- Dubbilex (Mickey's World) (First appearance)
- Flash Family (Mickey's World) (First appearance)
- The Flash (Wally West) (First appearance)
- Max Mercury (First appearance)
- Kid Flash (Ace West) (Flashback and main story)
- Superman (Jon Kent)
Antagonists:
- Mickey Mxyzptlk (Unnamed) (Behind the scenes)
- Mighty Endowed (Mickey's World) (First appearance)
- Superboy-Prime (Earth-Prime) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
Other Characters:
- Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) (Cameo)
- Batwoman (Kate Kane) (Cameo)
- Big Barda (Cameo)
- Black Lightning (Cameo)
- Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) (Cameo)
- Blue Jay (Earth 8) (Cameo)
- Booster Gold (Cameo)
- Flash Family
- The Flash (Wally West) (Cameo)
- Jesse Quick (Cameo)
- Max Mercury (Cameo)
- Godspeed (Cameo)
- Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) (Cameo)
- Justice League
- Aquaman (Arthur Curry) (Statue only)
- Batman (Bruce Wayne) (Flashback and main story) (Also as a statue)
- Emerald Knight (John Stewart) (Statue only)
- The Flash (Barry Allen) (Statue only)
- Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders) (Statue only)
- Martian Manhunter (Statue only)
- Superman (Clark Kent) (Flashback and main story) (Also as a statue)
- Wonder Woman (Diana of Themyscira) (Flashback and main story) (Also as a statue)
- Lady Shazam (Mary Bromfield) (Cameo)
- Lobo (Cameo)
- Mickey's World characters (First appearance) (Cameo)
- Bane (On a TV or computer screen)
- Batman (Bruce Wayne) (On a TV or computer screen)
- The Flash (Barry Allen) (Deceased) (Statue only)
- Green Arrow (Connor Hawke)
- Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)
- Guy Gardner (On a TV or computer screen)
- Jimmy Olsen (On a TV or computer screen)
- Jonathan Kent (On a TV or computer screen)
- "Lex Luthor II" (On a TV or computer screen)
- Lois Lane (On a TV or computer screen)
- Martha Kent (On a TV or computer screen)
- Martian Manhunter/Bloodwynd (J'onn J'onzz) (On a TV or computer screen)
- Requiem (Artemis of Bana-Mighdall)
- Superman/Superman Blue (Clark Kent) (On a TV or computer screen)
- Supergirl (Matrix) (On a TV or computer screen)
- Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark)
- Wonder Woman (Diana of Themyscira) (On a TV or computer screen)
- Zauriel
- Mister Miracle (Scott Free) (Cameo)
- Omen (Lilith Clay) (Cameo)
- Poison Ivy (Cameo)
- Power Girl/Kara Zor-L (Post-Flashpoint) (Flashback and main story) (Cameo)
- The Ray (Ray Terrill) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Red Arrow (Emiko Queen) (Cameo)
- Steve Trevor (Cameo)
- Superman/Clark Kent (Earth-Two) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Titans
- Changeling (Cameo)
- Cyborg (Cameo)
- Donna Troy (Cameo)
- Starfire (Cameo)
- Vibe (Cameo)
- Warlord (Travis Morgan) (Cameo)
- Damian Wayne (Mentioned only)
- Helena Sandsmark (Mentioned only)
- Queen Hippolyta (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- Lex Luthor (Mentioned only)
- Mighty Endowed (Mentioned only)
- Zeus (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Multiverse (Mentioned only)
- Earth 0
- Mickey's World (First appearance; unnamed)
- Speed Force (Flashback and main story)
- Hypertime
- Bart Allen's Future (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
Items:
- Batsuits
- Bracelets of Submission (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Green Lantern Ring (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Trick Arrows (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Wonder Woman's Tiara (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Zauriel's Sword (Cameo)
Events:
- The Cataclysm (Mentioned only)
- Death of the Justice League (Mentioned only)
- Death of Superman (Mentioned only)
- Funeral of Superman (On a TV or computer screen)
- Infinite Crisis (Flashback only)
- Knightfall
Concepts:
- Magic
- Time Travel (Mentioned only)
Notes
- This issue takes place during the events of Dark Crisis #1.
- Tim Drake, Conner Kent and Bart Allen end up in a world similar to New Earth around the ending of 20th Century.
- This story reveals that Godspeed is still alive in the reborn Multiverse.
- Godspeed's story is eventually continued in The Flash: One-Minute War Special #1.
- One of the people who attended the Justice League's memorial is Blue Jay, who was killed in The Sanctuary Incident, and is also seemingly alive after the rebirth of the Multiverse.
Trivia
- The alternate reality is very reminiscent of the worlds where Pariah sent the Justice League.[1][2]
- The real circumstances behind this similarity are revealed in Dark Crisis: Young Justice #5.
- Many past events are shown or referenced, including:
- Bane breaking Batman's back in Batman #497;
- Superman's death against Doomsday from Superman (Volume 2) #75 and his funeral;
- The big earthquake in Gotham City during the Cataclysm storyline which led to No Man's Land;
- Lex Luthor running for President of the United States;
- The Young Justice's fight against their first villain, Mighty Endowed in Young Justice #1;
- Bart Allen sending Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force in Infinite Crisis #4;
- Conner Kent's death in Infinite Crisis #6;
- Cassie Sandsmark kissing Tim Drake after Conner's death;
- Bart Allen's death in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13;
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Dark Crisis: Young Justice series
- Images from Dark Crisis: Young Justice Vol 1 1