Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen Vol 1 1

"Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen, Part One"

Part of the "Year of the Villain" event.

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Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen Vol 1 #1

Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen, Part One

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Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen # 2

And spoilers...BATMAN WINS!

— The Batman Who Laughs

Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1 is an issue of the series Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 2020. It was published on December 18, 2019.

Synopsis for "Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen, Part One"

Lexcorp R&D. Multiverse Research Lab. Then.

After the Dark Multiverse failed its invasion of the Multiverse, the Batman who Laughs was captured by Lex Luthor. Lex was going to embark himself in a mission to lead the Multiverse towards Doom, and towards Perpetua. He could not afford to let loose a fiend like the Batman who Laughs, so Lex decided to kill him once and for all. But Bruce told him he wouldn't, and that they both knew why: first things first, he knew things about the Multiverse that Lex could never imagine, and Lex was going to need this information for his campaign of conquest. Second, Batman knew that Lex always wanted to find out a thing: if Bruce Wayne never held back, who would win between the two most intelligent minds on Earth? Well, one day he would find out...

The Present. Centropolis. Earth-3

The Crime Syndicate is trying to attract the attention of Perpetua, raising at the maximum level the murder rate of Earth 3. And soon, Lex Luthor from the Prime Universe comes to them, telling that Perpetua is ready to receive them. Once in the Godhead, Perpetua's ship, Ultraman steps up, telling Perpetua they want a cut in the conquest of the Multiverse. Perpetua then transforms all the inhabitants of Earth-3 in Apex Predators, killing Johnny Quick for speaking against this action. The Syndicate will come back, and lead those forces towards absolute Doom. If they are not killed in the process, they will prove themselves worthy of more power, and a role.

Lex is a little perplexed: he was sure several of the Crime Syndicate members were dead. Some of them he put in the grave himself, when they attacked Earth-0. Perpetua explains to him that the Multiverse has a way to heal itself, regenerating things that are perceived as stable. The Multiverse always tries to tend towards a certain form. Now, Perpetua is going to break the Multiverse in the right pieces, and thanks to the energy of Doom, she will reshape it into an existence where evil is not a dark reflection of the natural order, but it is the natural order itself.

They get back to their Earth, and Lex suggests to Perpetua he found another world that might be very useful: Earth-10. But the goddess stops him in his tracks: she has another task for him. On Earth-0, she found traces of Dark Energy, from the deranged Dark Multiverse: that place was never meant to exist, and it is a threat for Perpetua herself. It must be destroyed. Lex, of course, already knows who is causing the ruckus, and under Perpetua's suggestion, he takes a squad of Apex Predators with himself. He will stop the Batman who Laughs. Then, Lex transports himself to Metropolis.

The Sonoran Desert. Arizona

The Batman who Laughs is holding prisoner Rip Hunter: from him, he wants confirmation that Hypertime is broken. The time master tells him it is: he cannot travel on any different era, and if someone tries to mess with Hypertime now, his actions would spread in both past and future. Bruce seems satisfied by this fact, and tells Hunter that he knows he went to the future, and spied what was going to happen here, soon. And Batman will make him see everything become reality with his eyes, keeping him here. Rip prays for the Dark Knight to let him go, but then Bruce is distracted by something: Lex Luthor is back on Earth-0. It is time, then.

Inside Lex's headquarters in Metropolis

Getting inside his headquarters, Lex starts monitoring the presence of Dark Matter on Earth. It seems that Batman spread his disease, infecting some of Earth's heroes to make them creatures of the Dark Multiverse. Well, Lex just destroyed the Justice League, so he will soon deliver to Perpetua the head of this fiendish Bruce Wayne, and of all the infected.

He cannot know that the Secret Six already attacked: Scarab made impossible for the Apex Predators to shut down their invisibility, so that Deathbringer could kill them silently. And now, they reveal themselves to Lex, in all their power: Luthor is not able to hit them, because the powers of Perpetua are unable to hurt beings of the Dark. And then, Bruce appears on the screen, revealing to Lex a thing: he went to the end of the whole book, and finished it. He has a spoiler for Lex: in the fight between the two greatest minds in existence, between Lex Luthor and the free form of Bruce Wayne, Batman wins!