The Terrifics #25 is an issue of the series The Terrifics (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 2020. It was published on February 12, 2020.
Synopsis for "The Adventures You Choose"
A giant ambulatory tree is rampaging through Gateway City, and the Terrifics are unable to halt its progress. In desperation, Mr. Terrific commands one of his T-Spheres to activate "T-Infinity", something he's been developing after the team's time-traveling escapade with Bizarro. It will allow him to explore different possible realities to determine the optimal solution.
Mr. Terrific orders Phantom Girl to take the lead, and she attempts to phase the team inside the tree but her attempt is foiled by the tree's magical nature. The team is then attacked by militant tengu, and confronted by a door with four monstrous knockers on its front.
The team uses the correct knocker to open the doors and escape their pursuers by entering the tree, something Mr. Terrific remembers from having seen another tengu use in another possibility. Inside the tree they find an entire city of tengu, with architecture and fashions reminiscent of feudal Japan.
In heroic fashion, the Terrifics come to the rescue of a peasant being beaten by another tengu. In gratitude, the rescued tengu gives them a flower whose fragrance allows the Terrifics to understand the tengus' language. Plastic Man notices more tengu soldiers closing in on them.
The Terrifics fights their way to the castle at the heart of the city, where they meet its ruler, Lord Shiga. He explains their city was situated in the roots of a "mother tree" in a hollow below the earth. Another civilization was destroyed by something Shiga declines to describe, and to escape, his court sorceress cast a spell. This had the unforeseen effect of bringing the "mother tree" to life as the tree monster destroying Gateway City. Shiga apologizes for this, but with his people's survival as his primary responsibility, he's unwilling to compromise: it's his city, or theirs.
Mr. Terrific brings up the T-Infinity, and says they can split the path of possibility, creating different ones where one civilization survives in each.
In the mainline reality, Shiga agrees to sacrifice his people's home to spare Gateway City. The tengu evacuate and the tree monster magically withers before it does any more damage.
In the alternate reality, the Terrifics evacuate Gateway City so the "mother tree" will destroy it and then the tengu can find a new home safely.
The danger past, Mr. Terrific is the only one who remembers the alternate possibilities they encountered, and orders the Possibility Protocol shut down. Although the sight of the city destroyed disturbs him, he thinks, "Even so, knowing that other possibilities exist alongside this one...gives me a strange, unsettling sense...of hope."
Appearing in "The Adventures You Choose"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Harley Quinn
- Justice League of China
- Poison Ivy
- Sapphire Stagg
- Simon Stagg
- Lord Shiga (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Mother Tree of Tengu City (First appearance)
- Tengu (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Catwoman (Cover only)
- Deathstroke (Cover only)
- Joker (Cover only)
- Justice League (Cover only)
- Aquaman
- The Atom (Ryan Choi)
- Batgirl
- Batman
- Black Canary (Dinah Drake)
- Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes)
- The Flash (Barry Allen)
- Firestorm
- Green Arrow
- Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
- Green Lantern (John Stewart)
- Hawkgirl
- Raven
- Shazam (Billy Batson)
- Supergirl
- Superman
- Swamp Thing (Alec Holland)
- Wonder Woman (Diana of Themyscira)
- Killer Croc (Cover only)
- Superboy (Jon Kent) (Cover only)
- Teen Titans (Cover only)
- Two-Face (Cover only)
- Outlaws (Cover only)
- Bizarro (Earth 29) (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth 0
- Tengu City (First appearance)
- United States of America
- China (Mentioned only)
Items:
- T-Spheres
- T-Infinity (First appearance)
Concepts:
- Magic
- Possibilities Protocol (First appearance)
- Time Travel (Mentioned only)
Notes
- The comic is made in the style of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. The above summary covers only the events in the successful, and thus canon, path through the story.
See Also