Justice League (Volume 4) #75 is an issue of the series Justice League (Volume 4) with a cover date of June, 2022. It was published on April 26, 2022.
Synopsis for "Death of the Justice League"
Justice League Incarnate teleports the members of the Justice League of Earth 0 to the ruined Hall of Heroes, including Green Arrow who grabs onto Black Canary as she dematerialises. President Superman informs them of what has happened: the disappearance of Barry Allen, Darkseid's fall to the Great Darkness and the coming invasion. The Darkness attacks the House, and Doctor Multiverse teleports the two Leagues to Multiverse-2, where they find Pariah working on his Antimatter Chamber from the first Crisis, modifying it to allow the Darkness to enter the Multiverse.
Superman attempts to reason with Pariah but he refuses to listen and summons the Dark Army, a collection of cosmic villains who sought the Great Darkness' power and have been enslaved by it. The heroes engage the Dark Army and find that their enemies are not fighting with their usual skill but merely relying on their brute strength. They realise that Pariah is controlling them and with his focus split in multiple directions is unable to use them with any finesse. During the fight Black Adam hits Darkseid with his lightning and Darkseid is able to briefly break free of Pariah's control. He tells the Justice League they cannot win and tries to tell them how to survive the invasion, but the Darkness regains control before he can. Emerald Knight unleashes the full power of the Godstorm on the Army, but Pariah is able to counter with a horde of Shadow Demons and the Spectre, who has also fallen to the Darkness.
Batman tells the others that they need to destroy Pariah's Chamber, and Green Arrow is able to hit it with an explosive arrow from a great distance, narrowly flying past friend and foe alike. The Chamber is destroyed and the Dark Army disappear, but Doomsday smashes Ollie before he vanishes. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman try to capture Pariah, but he annihilates them with a wave of energy. He then destroys the rest of the Earth 0 League except for Black Adam and Black Canary, who is cradling Green Arrow's body. Adam attempts to fight Pariah, who flies them into the air and unleashes the same energy on him, destroying the members of Justice League Incarnate. Black Adam is able to resist the energy long enough to shout "Shazam!", causing the lightning to strike them both. Pariah falls back to the surface of the ruined Earth, and Black Adam is transported back to Earth 0.
Adam crashlands in the meeting room at the Hall of Justice. He is found by Jon Kent, Wally West and Naomi, and tells them that the League is dead.
Appearing in "Death of the Justice League"
Featured Characters:
- Justice League (Earth 0)
- Aquaman (Arthur Curry) (Apparent Death)
- Batman (Bruce Wayne) (Apparent Death)
- Black Adam
- Black Canary (Dinah Drake)
- Emerald Knight (John Stewart) (Apparent Death)
- Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) (Apparent Death)
- Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders) (Apparent Death)
- Martian Manhunter (Apparent Death)
- Superman (Clark Kent) (Apparent Death)
- Wonder Woman (Diana of Themyscira) (Flashback and main story) (Apparent Death)
- Zatanna (Apparent Death)
- Justice League Incarnate (Multiverse) (Flashback and main story)
- Aquawoman/Ariel Curry (Earth 11) (Possessed in flashback) (Apparent Death)
- Captain Carrot (Earth 26) (Apparent Death)
- Dino-Cop/Rex Stegman (Earth 41) (Apparent Death)
- Doctor Multiverse/Maya Chamara (Earth 8) (Apparent Death)
- The Flash/Avery Ho (Earth 0) (Apparent Death)
- Mary Marvel/Mary Batson (Earth 5) (Possessed in flashback) (Apparent Death)
- President Superman/Calvin Ellis (Earth 23) (Apparent Death)
- Thunderer (Earth 7) (Possessed in flashback) (Apparent Death)
Supporting Characters:
- Detective Chimp (Earth 0)
- Firestorm/Ronnie Raymond (Earth 0) (Also as a construct)
- Martin Stein (Behind the scenes)
- The Flash/Wally West (Earth 0)
- Powerhouse/Naomi McDuffie (Unknown Earth)
- The Source of All Existence/The Godstorm (Behind the scenes)
- The Atom/Ray Palmer (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Bizarro (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Cyborg (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Deadman (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Doctor Fate/Khalid Nassour (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Green Lantern/Hal Jordan (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Plastic Man (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Steel/John Henry Irons (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Starfire (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Supergirl (Earth 0) (Construct)
- Superman/Jon Kent (Earth 0)
Antagonists:
- Pariah/Kell Mossa (Pre-Crisis)
- The Dark Army (Multiverse) (Real name revealed) (Possessed) (First full appearance)
- The Great Darkness (Corrupted)
- The Quintessence (Earth 0) (Possessed) (Cameo)
- Ganthet (Earth 0) (Revealed to be alive)
- Hera (Post-Flashpoint) (Revealed to be alive)
- Highfather (Post-Flashpoint) (Revealed to be alive)
- Phantom Stranger (Earth 0) (Revealed to be alive)
- The Spectre/Aztar (Post-Flashpoint) (Revealed to be alive)
- The Wizard/Mamaragan (Post-Flashpoint) (Revealed to be alive)
- Shadow Demons (Antimatter Universe)
Other Characters:
- Aquaman/Jackson Hyde (Earth 0) (Cameo)
- Arsenal/Roy Harper (Earth 0) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Batman Incorporated (Earth 0) (Cameo)
- Clownhunter (Cameo)
- Ghost-Maker (Cameo)
- Batman/Thomas Wayne (Flashpoint Timeline) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Director Bones (Earth 0) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Donna Troy (Earth 0) (Cameo)
- The Flash/Barry Allen (Earth 0) (Flashback and main story) (Also as a construct)
- Flash Family (Earth-Flash.1) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Dawn Allen
- Don Allen
- The Flash (Jay Garrick)
- Iris West
- Kid Flash (Wally West)
- Nora Allen
- Wallace R. West
- Green Lantern Corps (Earth 0) (Cameo)
- JSA (Earth 0) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Orion (Post-Flashpoint) (Possessed) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Psycho-Pirate (Earth 0)
- The Totality (Earth 0) (Cameo)
- Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark (Earth 0) (Cameo)
- Bat-Family (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Black Lightning/Jefferson Pierce (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Blue Beetle/Ted Kord (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Booster Gold/Michael Carter (Post-Flashpoint) (Cover only)
- Changeling/Garfield Logan (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Doctor Light/Kimiyo Hoshi (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Green Lantern/Jessica Cruz (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Green Lantern/Kyle Rayner (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Green Lantern/Simon Baz (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Metal Men (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Mera (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- Superboy/Conner Kent (Earth 0) (Cover only)
- The Anti-Monitor (Post-Flashpoint) (Mentioned only)
- The Hands (Mentioned only)
- New Gods (Post-Flashpoint) (Mentioned only)
- Old Gods (Post-Flashpoint) (Mentioned only)
- Gods of Atlantis (Mentioned only)
- Gods of Egypt (Mentioned only)
- Titans (Earth 0) (Mentioned only)
- Zatara (Earth 0) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Infinite Frontier
- Multiverse-1 (Flashback and main story)
- The Bleed
- Monitor's Satellite (In ruins)
- House of Heroes (In ruins) (Flashback and main story)
- Monitor's Satellite (In ruins)
- Orrery of Worlds
- Earth 0
- Earth
- Atlantis (Cameo)
- Kahndaq
- Themyscira
- The Royal Palace of Themyscira (Cameo)
- United States of America
- Central City (Cameo)
- Gotham City (Cameo)
- Star City
- Oliver Queen & Dinah Lance's Apartment (Cameo)
- Washington, D.C.
- China (Mentioned only)
- Oa
- Battery Plaza (Cameo)
- Warworld (Cameo)
- Earth
- Earth 7/"The Oblivion Machine" (Flashback only) (Destroyed) (Cameo)
- Earth Omega (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Earth 5 (Mentioned only)
- Earth 8 (Mentioned only)
- Earth 11 (Mentioned only)
- Earth 23 (Mentioned only)
- Earth 26 (Mentioned only)
- Earth 41 (Mentioned only)
- Earth 0
- Speed Force (Behind the scenes)
- Sphere of the Gods
- Hell (Mentioned only)
- The Bleed
- Multiverse-2 (In ruins) (Flashback and main story)
- Earth-AD (Unnamed) (In ruins)
- 21st Century
- Earth (In ruins)
- 21st Century
- Earth-Flash.1
- United States of America
- Central City
- Allen House (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Central City
- United States of America
- Pariah's Universe (Unnamed) (Destroyed) (Mentioned only)
- Earth-AD (Unnamed) (In ruins)
- Multiverse-1 (Flashback and main story)
- Overvoid (Mentioned only)
Items:
- Antimatter Chamber (First appearance) (Apparent destruction)
- Batarang
- Batsuit
- Eclipso's Sword
- Eighth Metal
- Aquawoman's Trident
- Ares' Helmet
- Ares' Sword
- Bracelets of Submission
- Thunderer's Spear
- Trident of Neptune (Destroyed)
- Firestorm Matrix
- Ghost-Maker Suit (Cameo)
- Green Arrow's Bow
- Trick Arrows
- Explosive Arrows
- Trick Arrows
- Green Arrow's Chili (Mentioned only)
- Green Lantern Power Battery (Cameo)
- Hermes' Helmet
- Nekron's Scythe
- Nth Metal
- Oreos (Cameo)
- Source Battery of Oa (Cameo)
- Thunder-Lance
- Wonder Woman's Shield
- Wonder Woman's Sword
- Wonder Woman's Tiara
Vehicles:
- The Totality (Cameo)
Events:
- The Ascension of John Stewart (Mentioned only)
- The Crises (Mentioned only)
- Crisis on Infinite Earths/"The Great Crisis" (Mentioned only)
- Great Disaster (Mentioned only)
Concepts:
Notes
- Final issue.
- This story takes place moments after the epilogue of Justice League Incarnate #5.
- The story directly continues in Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis #1 and, then, in Dark Crisis (Volume 1).
- The events of this issue take place at least a couple months after the events of the previous issue as it has been three months since Superman's departure for the Warworld in Action Comics #1035.
- According to Iris West's words from Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis #1, it has been almost two months since the events of Infinite Crisis #1 which suggests that this story takes place in mid/late August 2021.
- This story also takes place after Green Lantern (Volume 6) #12, where John Stewart merged with The Source, and during the events of Aquamen #6.
- Other DC events also take place between the Warworld Revolution and this issue, including:
- The fates of the Justice League and the Justice League Incarnate are respectively revealed in Dark Crisis #1 and Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1.
- There a few continuity errors in the recap of the recent events:
- Roy Harper and Psycho-Pirate wears their classic outfits in the recap of Infinite Frontier (Volume 1) despite the two characters respectively wearing a Black Lantern suit and a grey version of the Psycho-Pirate suit;
- Darkseid is shown manipulating President Superman, Doctor Multiverse, Captain Carrot, Thomas Wayne and Avery Ho but they were never possessed during the events of Justice League Incarnate (Volume 1).
- The title of the issue is synonymous with the Death of Superman even to the issue number with 75.
- This issue is collected in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Trivia
- President Superman recalls many recent events, including:
- The Flash/Barry Allen joining the Justice League Incarnate in Infinite Frontier #0;
- Darkseid trying to take over the Multiverse in Infinite Frontier #6;
- Barry Allen being trapped by Pariah in a dream reality in the epilogue of Infinite Frontier #6;
- Darkseid "murdering" Flashpoint Batman and the Justice League Incarnate being possessed by the Great Darkness in Justice League Incarnate #4;
- The Justice League Incarnate witnessing the destruction of Earth 7 and Darkseid joining the Dark Army in Justice League Incarnate #5.
- Other past or present events are also mentioned in this issue, including:
- Pariah releasing the Anti-Monitor and causing The First Crisis from the flashback of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7;
- The Pre-Crisis Multiverse being destroyed at the climax of the First Crisis in Crisis on Infinite Earths #11;
- The Hands restoring the Multiverse after its destruction and warning Wonder Woman about the cost of doing it in Dark Nights: Death Metal #7;
- Wonder Woman and the Spectre wandering the Multiverse searching for any possible threat in Infinite Frontier #0;
- The apparent death of the Spectre and the Quintessence from the epilogue of Infinite Frontier #0;
- John Stewart ascending to Godhood after being imbued with The Source's Godstorm power in Green Lantern (Volume 6) #12.
- The "deaths" of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are visually inspired by the "death" of Pre-Crisis The Flash/Barry Allen from Crisis on Infinite Earths #8.
- Similarly, the defeat of the others Justice League and Justice League Incarnate members mirrors the defeat of the Justice League during their final clash against Perpetua from the flashbacks of Dark Nights: Death Metal #1.
- Dino-Cop tells Batman about the Flashpoint Thomas Wayne's apparent death.
- However, as of this story, the Multiversal heroes are mostly unaware about the alternate Batman having been sent back to the restored Flashpoint Timeline which was previously revealed in Flashpoint Beyond #0 that takes place just after the Dark Crisis.
- Black Adam mentions that the Justice League had already fought and "defeated" the Great Darkness which is a reference to the Justice League vs. the Legion of Super-Heroes storyline.
- Zatanna reminisces his father, Giovanni Zatara, dying during the (Post-Flashpoint) events of Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #50.
- Black Adam crashing into the Hall of Justice after being defeated by Pariah is a reference to Bruce Banner crashing into the Sanctum Sanctorum after being defeated by Thanos in the MCU movie, Avengers: Infinity War.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Justice League Recommended Reading
- Justice League of America (Volume 1)
- Justice League of America (Volume 2)
- Justice League of America (Volume 3)
- Justice League of America (Volume 4)
- Justice League of America (Volume 5)
- JLA (Volume 1)
- Justice League (Volume 1)
- Justice League (Volume 2)
- Justice League (Volume 3)
- Justice League (Volume 4)
- Justice League International (Volume 1)
- Justice League International (Volume 2)
- Justice League International (Volume 3)
- Justice League Europe (Volume 1)
- Justice League America (Volume 1)
- Justice League Task Force (Volume 1)
- Justice League Quarterly (Volume 1)
- Justice League Dark (Volume 1)
- Justice League Dark (Volume 2)
- Extreme Justice (Volume 1)
- Justice League Elite (Volume 1)
- Justice League Odyssey (Volume 1)