Interesting place, the End of Time. Entropy crushes all energy -- all Life. From here, you can look back on all that is and all that was -- and change it. Easy to do... if you know how. The cosmos is in agony. And I'm the only one who knows how it should be. The countdown has begun... the countdown to... ZERO HOUR. 
- — Parallax
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #4 is an issue of the series Zero Hour: Crisis in Time (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1994.
Synopsis for "Zero Hour (Part I)"
32 Hours Ago: At the end of time, a mysterious figure murders the Time Trapper.
30 Hours Ago: Metron unsuccessfully attempts to enlist Darkseid to help him against what he perceives to be a gigantic upcoming crisis.
29 Hours Ago: Batman and Robin are surprised to be aided in capturing the Joker by an alternate Barbara Gordon, still operating as Batgirl despite the fact that she was earlier crippled from the waist down.[1]
28 Hours, 49 Minutes Ago: Matthew Ryder alerts the rest of the Linear Men when his observations of future timelines are mysteriously completely disrupted. The team arrives at the conclusion that a wave of entropy is working its way backwards from the End of Time, destroying everything in its path. Rip Hunter and Waverider are sent to investigate.
28 Hours, 42 Minutes Ago: In the 64th Century, the Flash fights Abra Kadabra. They are interrupted with the Linear Men, and the group attempts to figure out a way to combat the quickly approaching entropy waves together. The Flash, attempting to generate a shockwave by doubling back through his own vortex at ultimate speed, is consumed by the entropy and dies.
24 Hours, 42 Minutes Ago: Batman brings the temporal problems in Gotham City to the attention of Superman. Metron appears, and enlists the two of them to help him.
23 Hours, 40 Minutes Ago: Hunter and Waverider arrive in the 58th Century, where they find a younger version of Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), before he became corrupted,[2] battling the entropy wave. Both Green Lantern and Hunter perish, although Hunter warns Waverider that this is another Crisis, and he must check the Chronoscopes.
21 Hours, 38 Minutes Ago: Hawkman battles Vandal Savage, and suddenly splits into many different temporal counterparts. Doctor Mist notes several of his own counterparts fading in and out of existence. Superman approaches the newer Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, and requests that he use his ring to help broadcast a message to all of Earth's heroes. Superman announces the coming of a gigantic new Crisis, and rallies everyone to meet him in Metropolis.
18 Hours, 35 Minutes Ago: In the Chronoscopes, Waverider reads of the original Crisis, long forgotten to all except for the Linear Men.
18 Hours, 25 Minutes Ago: The Justice Society of America converges upon Hawkman, who has summoned them to deal with the recently captured Vandal Savage. However, Savage is suddenly erased from existence. Waverider appears and explains that Savage died because the ancient period he was born in was just erased. He then informs Jay Garrick of the recent death of Wally West combatting entropy.[3]
18 Hours, 19 Minutes Ago: At Vanishing Point, Extant lords over the unconscious bodies of the Linear Men.
Appearing in "Zero Hour (Part I)"
Featured Characters:
- Linear Men
- Rip Hunter (Dies)
- Waverider
- Matthew Ryder
- The Flash (Wally West) (Dies)
- Superman
- Batman
- Metron
Supporting Characters:
- Time Trapper (Dies)
- Darkseid
- Robin (Tim Drake)
- Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)
- Doctor Mist
- Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)
- Justice Society of America
Antagonists:
- Extant (Henry Hall) (First appearance as Extant)
- Parallax (Hal Jordan) (Behind the scenes)
- Darkseid
Other Characters:
- The Joker
- Abra Kadabra
- Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
- Vandal Savage
- Darkstar
- Aquaman
- New Titans
- Superboy
- The Atom (Ray Palmer)
- The Ray
- Doctor Fate
- Outsiders
- Anima
- Green Arrow
- Liri Lee
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in:
- Zero Hour: Crisis in Time was shipped on a weekly publishing schedule.
- The reading order for this limited series counts down backwards beginning with issue #4 and ending with issue #0.
Trivia
- The Joker taunts Batman by asking him if he's not as fast as "that replacement [he] had running around." He is referring to Jean-Paul Valley, who took up the Batman identity during the Knightfall saga, which concluded shortly before the events of Zero Hour. Superman also references Knightfall when he mentions that even a broken back[4] can't dampen a Batman's resourcefulness. Batman responds by saying his injuries weren't nearly as serious as Superman's. Superman was actually killed by the monster Doomsday[5] during the events of The Death of Superman, although he was resurrected during the Reign of the Supermen![6]
- Batman mentions to Superman that he has been unable to contact him due to Metropolis and its phone lines being destroyed. This occurred during the events of Fall of Metropolis, and shortly afterwards again in Worlds Collide.
- Kyle Rayner laments over the death of his girlfriend, Alex DeWitt, which occurred in Green Lantern (Volume 3) #54.
- Wally West's death parallels that of the original Flash, Barry Allen, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.[7]
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time series
- Images from Zero Hour: Crisis in Time Vol 1 4
Recommended Reading
Links and References
- ↑ Batman: The Killing Joke
- ↑ Emerald Twilight
- ↑ Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #4
- ↑ Batman #497
- ↑ Superman (Volume 2) #75
- ↑ Superman: The Man of Steel #25
- ↑ Crisis on Infinite Earths #8
