My world began with pain. I can see it in my mind's eye. The gunman, my parents, the end of my childhood. Every moment. Every day. I don't need reminders. 
- — Batman
Justice League Adventures #34 is an issue of the series Justice League Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 2004. It was published on August 4, 2004.
Synopsis for "Past Tense"
Wonder Woman assembles the shrine
A mysterious hand appears in a portal at Crime Alley and picks up one of the bullet casings that Joe Chill shoots to kill Martha and Thomas Wayne. Another portal appears at the Kent Farm and rips off a chunk of Kal-El's rocket. In the present day, it is revealed that Wonder Woman was responsible for stealing the items from the timestream and a shadowy figure in a wheelchair commands her under a powerful hypnotic spell to place them on a shrine containing icons of each member of the Justice League. Once she does, she is commanded to place her tiara on it as well. Meanwhile, Batman arrives in Metropolis on a clue from the Gotham underground that Lex Luthor is planning something big. Superman confirms with his X-ray vision that Luthor is safely in jail but Batman insists on investigating the site of a derelict museum which was under construction before funding ended prematurely. The duo break into the building and are immediately overcome by a yellow energy field that saps their strength. They press forward toward a large lead-lined container which houses an elderly Luthor who has come back in time to destroy the Justice League. He has learned the power of magic as an alternative to science. This new power has also allowed him to discover Batman and Superman's secret identities and has used special totems from their lives as a way of focusing magical powers to control them. He sics Wonder Woman on the duo to kill them and Superman urges her to fight against Luthor's mind control. She throws Superman into the shrine, destroying the elderly Luthor's hold on the heroes and dissolves into nothingness asking, "Past gone. Future gone. What's left now?" The current-day Luthor sits in his cell scheming plots for how to take revenge on the Justice League and writes, "Go back in time and create MAGIC LIFE-FORCE-SAPPING SHRINE", noting to himself, "that one's a keeper". On the Justice League satellite, Superman holds up the fragment of his birth rocket and celebrates his family with The Flash, The Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, the Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman. In the Batcave, Batman disposes of the bullet casing narrating that he doesn't need the reminder.
Appearing in "Past Tense"
Featured Characters:
- Batman (Flashback and main story)
- Superman (Flashback and main story)
- Wonder Woman
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Justice League
- Flash (Cameo)
- Green Lantern (John Stewart) (Cameo)
- J'onn J'onzz (Cameo)
- Hawkgirl (Cameo)
- Jonathan Kent (Flashback only)
- Martha Kent (Flashback only)
- Thomas Wayne (Dies in flashback)
- Martha Wayne (Dies in flashback)
- Joe Chill (Flashback only)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- The appearance of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Jonathan and Martha Kent, as well as Superman's space ship, differ significantly from their appearance as established by previous DCAU shows.
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Justice League Adventures series
- Images from Justice League Adventures Vol 1 34