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"Terra Occulta": In Central Park, "technologist" Diana Prince sits on a bench writing to her mother about Man's World, revealing how she felt like a stranger to a society around her. After finishing her musings she heads to Grand Central Station to use Planetary Portals (teleportation portals) t

Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta is a one-shot with a cover date of November, 2002. It was published on September 11, 2002.

Synopsis for "Terra Occulta"

In Central Park, "technologist" Diana Prince sits on a bench writing to her mother about Man's World, revealing how she felt like a stranger to a society around her. After finishing her musings she heads to Grand Central Station to use Planetary Portals (teleportation portals) to take a first-class portal to Gotham City. She enters a glowing wall and is instantly transported to Gotham where she makes her way through the station and into the city.

Diana arrives at a party sponsored by Wayne Enterprises, where Doctor Julius Erdel is explaining his theory on the Time Track Loop. While discussing her business with several gentlemen, the party's host Bruce Wayne interrupts Diana's conversation and invites her back to his place, which Diana agrees telling him that she always wanted to see the stately Wayne Manor.

Upon arriving at Wayne Manor, Bruce's butler Alfred informs him that all of the security systems are in place and nothing inside the grounds can be seen or heard. Diana and Bruce make their way further into Wayne Manor, as Bruce chastise Diana for using Planetary Portals. Warning her that she risked being detected. Diana asks when Clark Kent would be arriving. Alfred reports that the surveillance satellite would be in conjunction in three minutes. Diana is puzzled before Bruce explains that he planned his party to coincide with an occasional phenomenon where there is a six-minute period where there is no surveillance between Gotham and Metropolis.

A few minutes later Bruce and Diana are on the balcony when Clark arrives, floating above them. After some small talk the three head to the cave underneath the manor, where Bruce reveals to his companions that he's broken through the computer security of the Planetary organization and considerable detective work into their secrets. He explains that the great technological leap that occurred for the twenty years is definitely sourced in the reverse-engineering of the spacecraft that brought Clark to Earth as an infant after Planetary murdered Clark's parents and covered up their deaths to be cause by a natural disaster. Planetary was responsible for the destruction of Diana's people when she left her home. Not only that, there had been other people with special abilities who had been captured and studied in addition to items of power being found and used to advance the technology. Finally, Bruce shows them video of the four people that were behind Planetary. Two were familiar to Clark and Diana: Jakita Wagner and Ambrose Chase, the enforcers for the system. In addition there is The Drummer, who controls the Internet and who flows through every communication on the planet. Finally there is the shadowy Elijah Snow, who runs the organization, who is over a century old and has been stealing technology since he was nineteen and killing since he was twenty.

After his explanation, Bruce asks if Diana and Clark would join with him to bring these murderers to justice. They agree and the trio head to Dr. Erdel's laboratory. Dr. Erdel is working in the field of time physics, which Bruce has funded in an effort to combat Ambrose Chase's localized physics distortion field. When they reach the lab, they discover that Erdel (who is drunk) already activating his device. He has created a time loop: where physics is bent double inside the loop and light cuts a channel into the future and comes screaming back. Bruce warns not to step into the field. He and the others then realize that Erdel has tapped into Gotham City's power grid to amplify his machine, which plunged half of the city into a blackout, and attracting the attention of Planetary from their base on the Moon. As Bruce tries to convince Erdel to shut the machine down, a green-skinned being from 75 million years in Earth's future emerges from the time loop. The alien starts choking from oxygen, as it only breathes sulfur dioxide. Clark uses his x-ray vision on the creature and says that he thought the creature was changing the shape of its lungs to compensate for the difference in the atmosphere.

As the startled group rushes to the alien in a futile attempt to help it, a Planetary Portal appears and Ambrose Chase steps out. Chase, recognizing the people assembled in the room, activates his reality-warping powers and begins to draw his guns. Clark, moving with superhuman speed, attacks Chase and crushes one of Chase's guns, with Chase's hand along with it. Clark shoves Chase into the time loop, and Bruce throws a batarang to cut power to Erdel's device. Although Chase is presumed to be dead, Erdel has died in the spray of bullets Chase had fired, and the green-skinned alien has died from the foreign atmosphere.

Despite the deaths, the three have gained Chase's Planetary Portal generator that Clark had freed from Chase with a blast of heat from his eyes. They have one chance of using the generator to reach Planetary's moon base and directly attacking the remaining members of Planetary. Bruce, Clark, and Diana open a portal and find themselves at the Planetary Watchtower. There they are immediately separated by force fields. Elijah Snow's voice is broadcast, welcoming them to the Watchtower and would like to demonstrate something. He describe the likely source of Clark's powers and his weakness; saying that if he was exposed to a weaker gravity or left bereft of his air supply it might be possible to kill him. Clark is then suddenly shunted into outer space as Bruce and Diana watches helplessly. After Clark is left to die, Snow demands the intruders to tell him what they had done with Chase and they would be "let go" as easily as Kent. If they refused their bodies would be, in Snow's words, "very hard to look at." Diana and Bruce split up, running deeper into the Watchtower in an effort to escape.

Diana comes upon the dead bodies of several Green Lanterns, which are being held in tubes. Before she can examine them further Jakita Wagner appears and taunts Diana verbally. She reveals that she was the one that destroyed Paradise Island because she didn't want Diana to try and teach the world their brand of peace. She also tells her that she wasn't going to allow Diana to try and change the world anymore and that it was time for the Amazon to die. Diana mentally activates her bracelets and her clothes change to a white uniform and various styles of swords hover around her, and battles Jakita.

While the two women engage in combat Bruce runs through the Watchtower on his way to face Snow, while Snow asks Bruce what he intends to do once Bruce finds him. Bruce replies that he knows who Snow is and that twenty years before, Bruce's parents allied themselves with like-minded individuals and discovered that certain treatments and technologies were being withheld. The group saw even then how Snow and his allies were changing the world. The group was going to form a "league of justice" to oppose this but Snow killed them before they could do so. Bruce, after donning a bat shaped mask, finally faces Snow, who not only admits that he killed Bruce's parents but made Bruce watch. He goes on to explain that he is over one hundred years old and that he hoarded away the world's secrets as his grand enterprise, as he believed that normal people would not be able to appreciate it and they would waste them like they wasted everything.

Snow attempts to kill Bruce by freezing him. However, Bruce came prepared. For the past twenty years he had investigated other murders perpetrated by Snow and has noticed ice in the victims, and so he has protected himself with an insulated costume. Thus Snow's powers are rendered useless against Bruce. Snow is forced to draw out a pair of pistols, but the bullets are deflected by Bruce's batarangs, which he then throws into Snow's chest. Bruce rushes at the older man and knocks him to the floor.

Held underneath Bruce's boot, Snow spitefully taunts Bruce that he must kill him or Bruce and everyone else will never be safe. He knows Bruce doesn't have the urge to kill him. Unfortunately for Snow, someone else does. Diana appears, having triumphed over Jakita, and plunges one of Jakita's swords into Snow's skull. With Snow dead and Planetary defeated, Diana and Bruce begin to contemplate on what they are going to do next for the world they have liberated.

In space, Clark Kent's body floats in orbit around the moon, his glasses floating deeper into space.

Appearing in "Terra Occulta"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Alfred Pennyworth
  • Julius Erdel (Dies)

Antagonists:

  • Planetary
    • Elijah Snow (Dies)
    • Ambrose Chase (Dies)
    • Jakita Wagner (Dies)

Other Characters:

  • The Drummer
  • Amazons of Themyscira (Dies in flashback)
  • Raymond Palmer (Mentioned only)
  • Barrett Allen (Appears only as a corpse)
  • Titans (Mentioned only)
  • Green Lantern Corps
    • Alan Scott (Appears only as a corpse)
    • Guy Gardner (Appears only as a corpse)
    • Hal Jordan (Appears only as a corpse)
    • Kilowog (Appears only as a corpse)
    • Kyle Rayner (Appears only as a corpse)
    • Tomar-Re (Appears only as a corpse)
  • Rex Mason (Appears only as a corpse)
  • Victor Stone (Appears only as a corpse)
  • Doomsday (Appears only as a corpse)

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Notes

  • This issue is a DC Comics/Wildstorm Comics one-shot crossover special.
  • Reprinted in Planetary: Crossing Worlds.
  • The Planetary version of Wonder Woman first appears in Planetary #10. However, in the issue it was her that was killed rather than Themyscira itself.
  • The villainous version of Planetary, and their methods and goals, are notably similar to those of their enemies The Four.



See Also

Recommended Reading

Planetary Crossover One-Shots

Links and References

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