Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 2015. It was published on April 15, 2015.
Synopsis for "Worlds' Finest"
This story is reprinted from Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse #28 (Digital), Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse #29 (Digital) and Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse #30 (Digital).
Superman and Batman get attacked by an armored Luthor above his airship on Earth-19, and Superman soon gets smashed out of the craft. Luthor then focuses his attention on firing at Batman, who hits him with Batarangs that prove to be ineffective. As Lex grabs the vigilante by the throat, Superman returns to scene and smashes him away. Mercy Graves rushes in with a gun as Lex and Superman battle, but Batman stops her from firing, leading to a hand-to-hand duel between the two. Lex refuses to surrender to Superman, while Mercy proves quite adept at fighting. Luthor fires at Superman, but accidentally destroys one of the engines of the ship instead, before fleeing.
Batman tells Clark to go after Luthor, who engages his boosters to escape his grasp. Aboard the airship, Batman tells Graves to evacuate her people, but she states that there won't be a need since the ship is stabilized and they only lost one of the two engines. Batman then instructs her to get them to a safe port, before trying to take one of Luthor's airplanes. As Mercy tries to stop him, he tells her that she knows by now that she won't be able to, resulting in her letting him go peacefully. Luthor meanwhile reaches his headquarters in Metropolis and tries to activate the automatic defense systems, but Superman attacks him before he can. As the two fight, Batman attacks Luthor from behind, but soon gets knocked away.
Superman tries breaking Luthor's armor apart, but gets stung by a large shock. As Luthor prepares to kill the reeling heroes with his energy blast, Shayera Hol soon arrives to smash his helmet with his mace, knocking him out. She then states that she's caught up to his devious tricks and has come to take revenge. Luthor after recovering, tells the Hawkgirl Shayera, that he has no idea why she is angry, and she responds that it was due to his trickery. She strikes him with her Nth Metal mace, which Luthor's armor is unable to stand against, and accuses him of altering her mind to make her agree to his peace accord. Shayera however adds that she has realized his lies and has now come to take revenge.
Superman tells Lex to get out of his warsuit, and he reluctantly complies, before Batman tries to calm Hawkgirl down by telling her that he's contained. As she questions who they are, he introduces himself and his partner as Batman and Superman from Earth-Prime. Hawkgirl recognizes their name, but states she doesn't know of any Earth-Prime and tells them to go back. Batman states that they can't leave Luthor, with Superman telling Shayera that the fate of many worlds depends on him. She however refuses to believe them and tries to pummel Luthor, before being stopped by Batman, who states that they need to extract information from him. Though their claims since incredulous, Hawkgirl tells Batman that he seems truthful and allows him to interrogate Luthor.
Shayera becomes attracted to Superman and flirts with him, while telling Batman to do what he needs to do quickly. Bruce then brings the Catwoman of Earth-19 out and tells Hawkgirl that they were aided in the recent past by Luthor, though he had access to many things unknown to his world like magic or alien technology, or science advanced far beyond that of his own world. Selina states that she had spied on him after they returned to Earth-19 and found him drawing designs for a device, which Superman states is the Earth Engine they encountered earlier. Lex asks them to show what it looks like and upon viewing it, states he doesn't recognize it.
Lex shows them what he was actually designing, a suggestion device capable of altering thoughts, and assures he merely wanted peace and unity so his world could stand against the Infinite Crisis. Hawkgirl refuses to believe him and also doubts what others told her about the multiverse, before Selina plays the message from the Monitor about it. As she gets surprised upon learning it, Lex tells the heroes that he understands why they doubted him, and shows them his design to prove he only meant to use the device he designed for peace. Batman after checking the device, realizes that Lex is truthful and that only alters the mindset of people. Lex tells them that he believes someone replicated it on a larger and more powerful scale, and could use the Earth Engine to control an entire planet.
Hawkgirl soon comes up to tell Batman and Superman that she has finally learnt to accept that the multiverse is a fact and is under threat, assuring them help. Batman then tells Catwoman to summon the others, but she finds that Green Lantern of Earth-13 is not responding. Batman tells them that he went to Earth-44 and something must be wrong. Meanwhile, Deathstroke after defeating Hal, tells Superman of Earth-44 that he will be the next to fall before him.
On Earth-44, the fight between Mecha Superman and Deathstroke continues, while the Arcane Green Lantern lies unconscious. After firing a blast at Mecha Superman, Deathstroke realizes that the Lantern is waking up, and calls him persistent. Hal states that he is correct and captures him with the power of his lantern. As Deathstroke starts calculating counters, Hal tells K.A.L. that they can take him down together, since it will give him little time to calibrate any response to their attacks. Superman agrees and lands a hard punch at the mercenary robot, shattering him into pieces. Batman and Superman of Earth-0 soon arrive, stating they came to help, and are shown the Earth Engine found on Earth-44's Metropolis. Batman states they can't do anything about it before they learn more.
Going back to Earth-19, Batman tells his allies that they've found another Earth Engine and they need to uncover every one of them across the multiverse. He decides to go to Earth-43 along with Nightmare Robin and Hawkgirl of Earth-19, while sending Superman along with Hal and Atomic Wonder Woman to Earth-0. When Luthor of Earth-19 questions about him not being included in any team, Batman states it's because he'll stay back, under the watch of his world's Catwoman and K.A.L. Before they leave, K.A.L. tells them that he's identified the energy profile of the Earth Engines, which they can use to track them down through their orbs. Later on Earth-0, Wonder Woman tells Superman that the orb has traced one of the engines to Keystone City.
After landing in Keystone, the orb directs them to Keystone City Supermall, where they are confronted by Captain Boomerang, who runs away after being intimidated by Superman. Exploring further, the team finds another Earth Engine. Meanwhile on Earth-43, Batman's team reaches the House of Mystery and Robin tells them that it's named so because no one has ever come out alive from there. Damian gets a reading from an orb, though the necromantic field interference makes it hard to tell what exactly. As they investigate further, they come upon another Earth Engine. Soon the team gets attacked by Dhampyre bats and Batman uses ultrasonic frequency to drive them away. Robin shouts at him, telling him not to use it and states it will alert someone. Soon they find out who he was talking about - the vampiric Batman of Earth-43.
Back on Earth-19, Lex expresses his frustration about being virtually imprisoned without anything to do. He asks the Mecha Superman to show him the energy profile of the Earth Engine again. Catwoman tells K.A.L. to show it to him so he can remain distracted and while examining it, he finds a profile match. As he rushes down to the laboratory section of the building, he tells Catwoman and Mecha Superman about the match, before opening a lab door and discovering an Earth Engine. He however suddenly realizes it won't look good on him, given his reputation.
Appearing in "Worlds' Finest"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Arcane Green Lantern
- Atomic Wonder Woman
- Batman (Earth-0)
- Gaslight Catwoman (Flashback and main story)
- Hawkgirl (Earth-19)
- Mecha Superman
- Nightmare Robin
Antagonists:
- Captain Boomerang (Earth-0)
- Deathstroke (Earth-44) (Destroyed)
- Gaslight Lex Luthor (Flashback and main story)
- Mercy Graves (Earth-19)
- Nightmare Batman
Other Characters:
- The Monitor (Voice)
Locations:
- Multiverse
- Earth-0
- Keystone City
- Keystone City Supermall
- Earth-19
- Metropolis (Flashback and main story)
- LexCorp (Flashback and main story)
- Pacific Ocean
- Metropolis (Flashback and main story)
- Earth-43
- Earth-44
- Earth-17 (Mentioned only)
- The Bleed
Items:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse Vol. 2.
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse series
- Images from Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse Vol 1 10