SUPERMAN & BATMAN versus LEX LUTHOR

The World's Finest Part Five: State of Siege (DC)
Where: Superman/Batman #5 When: February 2004
Why: Jeph Loeb How: Ed McGuinness

The Story So Far...
A chunk of the devastated planet Krypton is hurtling on a collision course towards the Earth! US President Lex Luthor has declared Superman public enemy number one as the man he holds responsible for the global threat!

The President sends friends & foes alike to hunt the weakened Superman, but with Batman by his side, they've evaded them all. Not that that has stopped Luthor announcing their successful capture to the world!

Believing their mentors to be held captive in the White House, the heroes' respective protégés stage a daring rescue mission that ends in their capture. Now with the world and their charges lives hanging in the balance -- Superman & Batman storm the Oval Office to confront a President on the brink of insanity!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Superman 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Lex Luthor 6 (Genius)
Speed: Superman 6 (Mach Speed)
Stamina: Superman 6 (Generator)
Agility: Batman 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Batman 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Superman 5 (Lasers)
Total: Superman 33 (Super)

Superman and Batman generally outclass Lex Luthor in most categories, but the genius scientist and businessman has a trump card in 2004 that can instantly render them completely impotent: He's President of the United States!

For a couple of career good guys like the "World's Finest" that presents one heckuva problem. Attacking the President means publicly assaulting the very institutions they've sworn to uphold. Luthor may be a self-serving egomaniac, but the risks of forcibly removing him from office are great and many!

At another time in his life Batman actually defended Lex Luthor, from a rogue WayneTech droid, in Batman Confidential #2. He could probably find a way to dismantle Luthor's trademark powersuit, but if he really wants to take President Luthor down, he's probably best doing it as a detective, using his skills to find the necessary evidence to warrant intervention from appropriate political institutions.

Superman smashed Luthor's armor to smithereens in Justice League of America #15, but his dedication to truth, justice, and the American way isn't likely to include assaulting the Commander in Chief, either. He too may be better suited to using his skills as a journalist to expose Luthor's political misdeeds.

Of course, let's be honest: This is the Comic Book Fight Club and we're here for a battle -- not an investigation! Luthor won't go quietly and he's got the weapons to make sure he doesn't have to!

In Supergirl #3 we saw his malice unleashed with the benefit of that iconic green & purple powersuit, and intimate knowledge of synthesizing kryptonite. That's the kind of thing that can prove a real problem for Superman, too.

In 52 #40, Luthor opted for temporary super-human augmentation to torture John Henry Irons, aka; Steel. Batman might be able to watch Superman's back, but if Luthor goes down this road, he can end Batman's assistance in an instant!

Together they've brought down Bloodsport & Deadshot, tag teamed Darkseid into submission, and helped the Justice League stop the Injustice League, Ultramarine Corps, and Mongul -- but can they bring down a corrupt government? Let's find out!

History: Superman & Batman (1-0-0)
The Tape: Superman & Batman Ranking: Batman (#1)

What Went Down...

Standing over the beaten bodies of his enemies: President Luthor rolls up his sleeves and smiles gleefully. He quotes Macbeth with a green glint in his eye, "Blow, wind! Come, wrack!" A bitter call for chaos and the unravelling of order.

As if to answer: a red and gold blur swirls around him, spiriting away the young defeated heroes at the President's feet.

He stands alone in the darkened Oval Office for a moment before a mighty backlit figure confronts him!

Captain Marvel stands silently as the President quizzes him on the disappearance of two apprehended fugitives. Luthor lords his presidential title like a weapon, warning the Captain he's "nothing" as he strides confidently toward the President.

Hoisted from the ground Luthor at last realises he is not in the clutches of Captain Marvel. He tears the lightning crest from his attacker's chest and exposes the staggering truth: the man before him is one of the missing fugitives -- Superman!

The Man of Tomorrow remembers his youth spent on the farm, and an adopted father who taught him the necessity of killing a fox who enters the chicken house lest you risk the deaths of more chickens. His eyes glow red with restrained heat.

Staring death in the face, Luthor bargains for his life by preying upon Superman's better nature. He warns of grave consequences. Not only a hunt to bring down Superman, but a bitter distrust that will effect all allied super-heroes.

At that moment a shadow separates from the darkest corner of the room.

The Batman will not stop Superman if he chooses lethal force. The weight of Luthor's evil is too great. The Dark Knight Detective even offers an antidote to the President's threats: "There are ways we could make it look like an accident. Or better still -- as if he'd disappeared without a trace."

President Luthor nervously calls it a bluff. Batman sternly suggests otherwise.

Superman asks if their comrades are safe. Batman confirms the youthful heroes and Krypto have been successfully freed and evacuated. That's enough to satisfy the Man of Steel, who hurls Luthor across the tainted Oval Office.

Superman and Batman make a silent exit, but for The President of the United States the battle is not over. He snarls his title with widened furious eyes and indignant entitlement. For him, this is far from over...

The Hammer...

In review this is really more of a prelude to the battle that unfolds in the following issue. President Luthor is poised to blow his stack big time, and this incident is the trigger that finally pushes him past arrogant hubris into all-out insanity.

As soon as the heroes are out of the building he's injecting himself with a glowing green concoction of venom & kryptonite, and suiting up for a very public battle!

Does today's feature really constitute a fight? Yes & no. We clearly see Superman has Lex dead to rights almost immediately, but chooses to walk away just as fast.

It's a relatively passive outcome. Secure in the knowledge that the higher purpose of The Man of Steel's presence has been achieved. Batman confirmed the rescue of their respective youthful charges, who themselves were captured breaching the White House attempting an ill-fated, ill advised rescue of the World's Finest.

President Luthor had prematurely announced the arrest of Superman & Batman in the hopes of drawing them out. At this point Luthor had no way of knowing the duo had turned the tables on their would-be captors -- Captain Marvel & Hawkman -- some time after suffering an apparent defeat in issue #4. This allowed Superman to disguise himself when gaining entry to the White House.

Deceptive in its simplicity: Public Enemies presents a layer cake of priorities and reference throughout, offering bombastic Ed McGuinness action on the surface, in service of more intricate plotlines deeper down.

In total the story is the ultimate endgame to the Luthor Presidency, beginning with a giant kryptonite meteor hurtling towards the Earth, and Luthor's attempt to publicly & officially hold Superman accountable for the destruction it will bring.

Luthor professes to wield the truth, but is lying to the people -- manipulating the situation to pursue his own agenda & self-interests. Savvy readers knew it was always going to end something like this. It was just a matter of how far Luthor would go, and to what extent he would be allowed to abuse Presidential resources. The cost of his corruption ultimately threatens the entire world, leaving Batman & Superman to work towards an actual solution that will eventually call upon Captain Atom, and lead to the Armageddon imprint crossover series.

Nothing about this superhero story seemed overly dangerous in 2004, but when I started writing this entry in anticipation of the United States Presidential Election at the end of 2020, and continued into January, it became shockingly apparent it would take on new relevance after the attack on the United States Capitol.

I was sensitive to the fact that it had become a very serious subject. Although I'm not American, the site has a large base of American readers, so I decided to delay while we all processed what had happened. Midnight entries on a comic book blog about superhero brawls just don't strike me as a very good place for serious political discourse. Accepting that some opinions and forums simply don't matter is the kind of discerning that could probably help us all a great deal.

That said, there's also no denying the political undercurrent that runs through superhero comic books throughout history. Seminal pulp-infused heroes like The Phantom weren't entirely apolitical in their globe-trotting battles against cruelty and injustice, and if there's a single big bang event that gives us the DC and Marvel Universes: it's World War II. It was pretty much a non-stop free for all of punching Nazis from there! In fact, one of the most famous punches in comics was delivered to a very notable politician -- German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Good form, Cap!

By the mid-2000s of Public Enemies, Nazis were still evergreen punching bags, but superhero comics were also looking at contemporary concerns, exploring the political & ethical dilemmas of contentious domestic/foreign policies by President George W. Bush. Essentially 'with great power comes great responsibility' applied on a global geo-political scale.

It was that kind of thinking that informed aspects of Mark Millar's blockbuster millennium comics, like The Ultimates and Civil War, and led Warren Ellis to rather cannily make the simmering tension of domestic terror the primary antagonist of his Iron Man story: Extremis. All of these works later went on to be major influences on the Iron Man films, and Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole.

Lex Luthor actually had to defeat W Bush on his way to becoming President in the DC Universe 2000 election, but by the time it was all unravelling in '04, his efforts to vilify Superman based on a lie, and deploy heroes and villains in pursuit of violent reprisal, infused his broad comic book villainy with the subtext of Bush's war on terror, and invasion of Iraq. Both were broad mood setting influences, and common targets for critique, for a lot of American pop culture at the time.

It's become curiously common for some folks to insist that comics from this recent era, or slightly earlier, weren't "political". An unconvincing argument that usually seems to be acting as a political statement, or nostalgia for the innocence of youthful ignorance. The latter of which, admittedly, isn't entirely wrong.

Superheroes were constructed to be champions of social justice and examples for moral upstanding. Although more modern eras grew entangled in subversions, at its core the superhero is a simple premise. They adhere to selfless standards of good and decency in a world that lacks the complexities and uncertainty of reality.

We can have absolute confidence in Superman & Batman acting as heroes, and Lex Luthor a villain. The evidence for this has been provided monthly for nigh on eighty years by their creators. Our heroes' motivations are largely selfless, lacking self-indulgence or flippant enjoyment in their actions, and presumed to come with a good study of hard evidence and fact. Luthor operates on greed and spite.

Jeph Loeb appeared to dabble in extremes of superhero violence throughout this time, sometimes gratuitously, but ultimately with the thesis, as it is in Superman/Batman #5, that heroes do not kill.

Restraint is a key feature that guides them in their effort to do right. They do not enter the White House lightly. Even Batman, who is shown here flirting with lethal force in the face of dire evil, as he did in Batman #614, accepts restraint. Murder is not how you deal with a corrupt, elected official. Extreme violence is not the choice of the super-hero.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is a pretty decent work of fiction and I'm sure we'll return to some of its less contentious battles some time in the future. I would particularly like to look more at the assembly of military connected heroes, and the captured youngsters who set today's action into motion.

If you'd like to get ahead of me and see the full picture for yourself you can check out one of the available collected editions of the story. By using the Amazon purchase links provided to do any of your online shopping you'll not only find a good deal -- you'll also help support the site at no extra cost to you!

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Winner: Inconclusive
#4 (--) Superman
#134 (+6) Lex Luthor
#1 (--) Batman [+1 assist]

SUPERGIRL versus LEX LUTHOR

Power Chapter Three: Outsiders (DC)
Where: Supergirl #3 When: December 2005
Why: Jeph Loeb How: Ian Churchill

The Story So Far...
Kara Zor-El was a teenager when the planet Krypton was destroyed, but when her father sent her rocketing towards the planet Earth, she was waylaid -- arriving decades after her cousin had established himself as the last surviving son of Krypton and Earth's greatest protector: Superman!

Granted the same powers by Earth's yellow sun, she adopts the identity of Supergirl and embarks on a quest to become accustomed with her adopted home world. Batman, The Justice Society, and Teen Titans help to prepare her for the challenges ahead, but the brash young hero still has much to learn as she races to confront the watchful eye of Lex Luthor!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Supergirl 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Lex Luthor 6 (Genius)
Speed: Supergirl 5 (Super-Human)
Stamina: Supergirl 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Supergirl 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Supergirl 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Supergirl 5 (Lasers)
Total: Supergirl 30 (Super)

We've seen Supergirl face some heavy duty opponents, but today might just represent her biggest test! Few foes could be quite so motivated to do harm as the notorious Lex Luthor -- arch-nemesis of her Kryptonian cousin: Superman!

Lex Luthor is famous for his scientific brilliance and cerebral approach to battling enemies. He's as likely to manipulate a network of pawns and circumstances as he is to fight an enemy head-on. More's the better to get away scot-free!

His technological genius and financial might means he can build just about any weapon needed to level the playing field. His most famous invention is a green & purple power suit, seen being destroyed by Superman uncharacteristically easily in Justice League of America #15. It's rarely so simple!

Lex is motivated by a well-known hatred for Superman, but that obsession has also fuelled malice toward other heroes, as well. We saw him use artificially induced superpowers to torture Steel during 52 #42!

He also joined Libra and The Society during a murderous ambush of the Martian Manhunter in Final Crisis: Requiem #1. The Martian was defeated by fire-wielding members of the group, but gave them all a run for their money, using telepathy against them, including preying upon Luthor's fear of Superman.

When Supergirl fought Martian Manhunter back in Adventure Comics #450, he was disoriented, and favoured a more physical contest. Never the less, she managed to go toe-to-toe with the senior hero, before they called a truce.

She wasn't so lucky when facing Reactron and his radioactive StarSuit in The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #9. She'd matched the nuclear-powered villain blow for blow until a poorly considered plan literally blew up in her face! You don't get away with those kinds of slip-ups against a foe like Luthor!

We know Supergirl has the strength and will to fight Lex Luthor. Her battles with the Marvel Family in Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 and Final Crisis #6 show that! It's just a question of whether her inexperience will allow Luthor the opportunity he needs to steal victory through any means necessary! Lets find out.

The Tape: Supergirl Ranking: Supergirl (#72)

What Went Down...
A wafting plume of blue breaks the monotony of endless red desert. Smoldering energy - emanating from the gauntlet of a lone armored figure: Lex Luthor!

Supergirl swoops down to confront the villain and is immediately introduced to his deadliest weapon! Kryptonite radiation spews from his closed fist, bathing the Girl of Steel in its power sapping properties!

Immediately suffering its effects - Supergirl careens  toward the earth with a devastating crash! Her body smashes into the rocky surface at Luthor's feet and the young heroine considers that she could be in way over her head!

As she crawls from the impact crater, Supergirl thinks of her cousin -- but quickly shakes those thoughts from her mind, even as Luthor clutches her throat in his metallic gauntlet.

The villain hoists his victim with arm outstretched, holding her with the sky at her back. He speaks spitefully, of her extra-terrestrial origins and a prophecy of his downfall foretold by Darkseid. He wonders where Darkseid has gone - accusing Superman of some murderous rendezvous beyond the eyes of Earth.

Luthor's bitter accusations inspire retaliation! Supergirl breaks the hold with a hovering kick and unloads with heat vision!

Cold and calculating, Luthor calls upon deflective defenses design to handle the same blasts offered by Superman. He verbally prods at the insult while firing back with the deflective force shield. It knocks the Girl of Steel back!

Barely able to stand, Supergirl is held up by the length of her hair while Luthor reminisces over past glories of metropolitan industry and presidential power. Supergirl can't help but think of her cousin's battle with Doomsday as Lex busts her lip with a thuggish punch to the face!

The villain speaks distantly of the way striking a girl reduces him, as if he wasn't a hooligan deep down. He buries his reinforced fist into Supergirl's abdomen with a vile punch, then breaks her nose with a back-handed fist.

Blood sprays from the weakened Kryptonian, all too mortal. All too similar to the pictures she'd seen of Superman's loss to Doomsday. Luthor justifies his attack with the symbol Supergirl wears and delivers an uppercut.

The once brash Supergirl now considers her own mortality as she lies in the dirt.

Luthor's twisted justifications turn to the "blackness" within everyone. The "sins of flesh and power" Superman supposedly denies. A poetic flourish for the final affront: a point blank beam of black kryptonite radiation!

Supergirl feebly pleads for the villain to stop. He only delights at her suffering.

Yet, for all his brilliance, and all his preparation -- Lex Luthor has failed to consider the consequence of his actions. The effects of black kryptonite prove completely unforeseen, spawning the very dark spirit he so vividly imagined!

At first, the black clad Supergirl emerging from Kara Zor-El's beaten body speaks in alien tongues. Then, as Luthor scowls unimpressed, her words turn to English, and he learns of his folly. He just made the worst mistake of his life!

The Hammer...
Woof. I can't say I took a lot of pleasure in describing that one! We've had some one-sided battles over the years, and a lot of villains finding success recently, but nothing quite so brutal! That was downright uncomfortable!

The nearest comparison that comes to mind is Superman/Batman #15: another Jeph Loeb script from 2005, drawn by Carlos Pacheco, depicting the impaling of an alternate universe Batman, and freedom fighting Wonder Woman bruised and choked with her own lasso by a tyrannical Superman.

I wouldn't like to speculate about Loeb's writing process during what was a well publicized difficult time in his personal life. That would be overlooking the fact that the mid-2000s were a generally brutal period in DC Comics.

Some have tended to see Geoff Johns as the lead purveyor of violence around this time. He certainly roughed up Green Arrow and Kyle Rayner during the big return of Sinestro in Green Lantern: Rebirth #4. The bad guys were winning in Infinite Crisis #1 as well, savagely cutting down the Freedom Fighters.

Meanwhile, Loeb's despot Superman also claimed the life of Green Arrow in the first issue of Absolute Power, while the mainline Man of Steel was indulging in light heat vision knee-capping in the controversial pages of Action Comics #824.

To their credit: these depictions of Superman were still regarded as exceptions brought about by unusual circumstance. This certainly wasn't the relentless and fundamentally flawed Superman of Zack Snyder's miserable movie universe.

American geo-politics of the time obviously had some influence. The United States bared its fangs in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. There was a clear shift in attitude, but the delivery of violence was seeded well before the abstract "War on Terror" upped the stakes of brutality in popular culture.

The style-clash of grim 'n' gritty and xtreme comics popular in the early nineties had familiar moments of blood and guts, but were predominantly frivolous fun & games. Examples like Adventures of Superman #464 show the transposing of surface elements of Dark Knight Returns into less weighty monthly issues.

Curiously enough, the bombastic hyper-violence of the nineties was largely tossed aside at the turn of the millennium: rejected in favour of deeper, darker stories, heavy weight written-driven concepts and concerned characterization.

In shifting towards the stakes of high consequence and long-form storytelling, comics began to focus on the credibility of its villains. Single issue episodes became more scarce as villainous plots were sustained "for the trade" over lengthier period of time. Evil was no longer set up to immediately fail, with the unforeseen consequence that extreme violence would become normal.

Lex Luthor is an interesting study over this period. Here in Supergirl #3 we see him reach an apex of extreme brutality, but for much of the preceding decades he was a villain who didn't get his own hands too dirty. This is an extension of efforts in the eighties and nineties to refine Luthor into a credible adversary removed from the oafish arch-villain of Super Friends or Hostess ads.

To get him here, Luthor became the great evil of our times: a xenophobic, self-invested businessman who put aside mad science to use clout and resources to achieve his ends. He was motivated by hatred for Superman, and an unending lust for wealth and power, which culminated in his successful bid to become President of the United States in another story written by Jeph Loeb.

This all may sound like contemporary commentary, but Luthor's tenure as 43rd President lasted roughly one term in real-time, beginning at the tail end of 2000, and at last unravelling in 2004 with his exposure as a dangerous and corrupt super-villain, and inevitable removal from office. Thus, the return of the green & purple power suit, and a freedom to

The cheap stunts and routine murder of annual event comics have maintained a bloody viciousness that DC Comics has struggled to move on from. The violent credibility of villains - a catalyst for more violent heroes. This cycle: the thesis for 1996's prophetic warning Kingdom Come, and the present day proliferation of evil Superman stories, and moral fluidity in heroes & villains. Dark times.

If you'd like to experience some of this violence first hand, or see the role it played in the belated reintroduction of Supergirl into the post-Crisis DC Universe -- you can find today's featured fight collected in Supergirl Vol.1: The Girl of Steel.

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If you're a little bit more heroic than Lex and you like what we do here, you can support the site on Patreon. As a special thank you for your generosity you'll unlock various bonuses including poll options, extra updates, custom articles, and my sincerest thanks.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 650 battles and ranked more than 950 characters! You can discover more by following links throughout each post, or by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index ordered by publisher, series, and issue number. Or follow on Twitter and Facebook for daily links to smackdown inspired by the topics of the day. Be sure to like & share!

Winner: Lex Luthor
#134 (+271) Lex Luthor
#78 (-6) Supergirl

Hero of the Week 2010 #7: Lex Luthor

LEX LUTHOR (DC)
Real Name: Alexander Luthor
First Appearance: Action Comics #23 (April, 1940)
Group Affiliation: Orange Lantern Corps, New Guardians
Gaming Credentials: Superman (1978); Superman: The Game (1985); Superman (1987); Superman: Man of Steel (1988); Superman: Man of Steel (1992); Superman 64 (1999); Justice League: Injustice for All (2002); Superman: The Man of Steel (2002); Superman: Shadow of Apokolips (2002); Superman Returns (2006); Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (2008); DC Universe Online (TBR/2010)
Infinite Wars Ranking: #323

I know what you're thinking! Lex Luthor -- Hero of the Week?!
Not a hoax! Not a dream! Not an imaginary story! This week's HOTW might not be someone you want to leave your kids with, but when the Earth is in peril, he stands ready to protect it on not one, but two different Earths. Intrigued? So you should be!

It's a parallel universe Lex Luthor that joins the Justice League in DC/WB's latest DTV animated feature, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. While the name borrows from the 1985 seminal DC crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths, the story actually owes far more to Grant Morrison's 1999 heroes-as-villains graphic novel, JLA: Earth 2, which itself borrows from a mid-sixties JLA story which introduced a universe where the DCU's heroes and villains were reversed!

The Kryptonian Kal-El of this universe is Ultraman -- leader of the Crime Syndicate of America!
It's from those villains that the last hero alive, Lex Luthor, has fleed, with the hopes of recruiting a crack team of Justice League heroes who can counter the CSA and end their tyrannical reign over the Earth, once and for all. Oh, and there's also the little matter of Owlman (Batman's counterpart), who has plans to destroy all the universes. Whoops!

The story of the feature was originally conceived as a bridge between the Justice League animated TV series and it's amped-up sequel series, Justice League Unlimited. As that never eventuated, it's been dusted off and remade as a feature film unto itself, featuring a more faithful version of the DCU, rather than that of the cartoon series. You'll notice a contemporary Martian Manhunter fighting alongside fellow JLA original, Hal Jordan, Earth's feature Green Lantern and a star on the rise thanks to some incredible comics (ie; Blackest Night), and a 3D live-action feature coming next year with Ryan Reynolds in the feautre role.

What's so significant about Green Lantern?
It's in Blackest Night that Lex Luthor once again rises to the challenge of evil, joining the collective of coloured-ring baring deputies now known as The New Guardians. It was receiving an orange ring of avarice from it's principle barer, Larfleeze, that brought Luthor to the epic end game -- a battle against the guardian of non-existence, Nekron.

For those who don't know: it's Nekron that raised a Black Lantern central battery from the broken corpse of the Anti-Monitor, and spread black rings across the universe to recruit the dead as his/it's undead Corps. Yes: zombie Black Lanterns. No: it's not as silly or complicated as it sounds!

The universe's champions of light line-up as: Hal Jordan (green), Ganthet (green), Sinestro (yellow), Scarecrow (yellow), Carol Ferris (violet), Wonder Woman (violet), Atrocitus (red), Mera (red), Saint Walker (blue), Barry Allen (blue), Indigo-1 (indigo), Atom (indigo), Larfleeze (orange), and of course, Lex Luthor (orange).

As you'll already no doubt know, if you've read previous HOTW articles about the subject, the cosmic emotional spectrum that makes up the powers of life are: Will (green), Fear (yellow), Hope (blue), Love (violet), Rage (red), Compassion (indigo), Avarice (orange), Death (black). Each power in the spectrum manifests rings, most of which have abilities that somehow reflect their emotions in execution, which is possibly bad news for the New Guardians team-up -- since the greedy who wield an orange ring are only made more so!

Fortunately, Lex Luthor and other less desirable allies of the New Guardians have just as much to lose from the destruction of all life and existence in the universe, as any hero. So today, we mark Lex Luthor's two triumphs of good as our motivation for this HOTW! You'll find all the action in the Blackest Night mini-series, and in the pages of Green Lantern. For more information, be sure to check out DCcomics.com!

<< Hero of the Week 02/28: Sinestro       [Home]       Hero of the Week 02/14: Silver Surfer >>

Originally posted: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9020793

THE SOCIETY versus
MARTIAN MANHUNTER
Caretakers of Mars (DC)
Where: Final Crisis: Requiem #1 When: September 2008 Why: Peter J. Tomasi How: Doug Mahnke

The Story So Far...
When an abusive childhood ended with his father's accidental death, Justin Ballantine accepted the value of balance in all things across the universe.
His cosmic philosophy, and aspirations of godhood, would lead him to accept employment as an adult to form a group called the Injustice Gang, and attempt to construct a weapon based upon the cosmic rod of Ted Knight.

His resulting "Transmortifier" proved capable of stealing a portion of energy from it's target, making a valuable weapon when turned against the superhuman might of the Justice League. As Libra, Ballantine received the powers of the combined JLA, before turning his weapon on the cosmos itself. The resulting influx of power seemingly destroyed his physical form, but Libra was reconceived on the planet Apokolips by his mystery benefactor, Glorious Godfrey.

As a prophet of Darkseid; Libra returned to Earth after the Death of the New Gods, promising to lead evil to salvation if The Society would entrust in him their leadership. Requiring the organized hordes for his own malicious ends, Libra set about bringing doom to the Earth as part of Darkseid's plot to create the Fifth World upon his resurrection as man. To distract the Society from the detail of his goals, he offers an act of good faith to one of their lowliest number. Thus, at the request of the Human Flame, Libra promises the death of Martian Manhunter...

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: M. Manhunter 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Lex Luthor 6 (Genius)
Speed: M. Manhunter 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Vandal Savage 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Gorilla Grodd 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Talia al Ghul 5 (Martial Arts)
Energy: Libra 6 (Mass Destruction)


- The Society are: Libra, Lex Luthor, Dr. Light, Effigy, Dr. Sivana, Vandal Savage, Gorilla Grodd, Talia al Ghul, Ocean Master, & Human Flame.

The first incarnation of self-confessed "Super Villains" was gathered by the evil New God, Darkseid, in an effort to pool the group's efforts against their mutual heroic enemies. Typically rife with internal conflict, the collective rarely achieved any success in their battles with their counterparts in the Justice League.

When the revelation of a history of mind-altering intrusions perpetrated by by the JLA was uncovered, the strength of the criminal community was galvanized under the leadership of Crisis on Infinite Earths survivor Alexander Luthor Jr, who was disguised as the version of this universe's version of his father, Lex. Luthor Jr succeeded in unionizing all but a select few criminals, organizing their efforts to further his own reality-altering goals. Upon his death, members of the Society operated in smaller groups, such as the Injustice League, before the mysterious villain Libra sought leadership during the return of the New Gods on Earth and Darkseid's attempt to created the Fifth World [Final Crisis].

- Experiments with teleportation technology developed by one Dr. Erdel were, by accident, responsible for plucking J'onn J'onnz from his home on Mars. Traversing the gulf of space by unknown means, the unannounced arrival of a lurching Martian figure was enough to startle the aging scientist to his death. Alone in a strange world, the accident forced the Martian to at first adopt the scientist's identity by means of shapeshifting, before he absorbed enough understanding through the observation of television programming to assume his own identity.

Finding aspirational figures in the gumshoe detectives popular on television, the Martian adopts the fictitious identity of Detective John Jones. For a time he was to do as he had on Mars, delivering justice with unwavering moral and character, but eventually circumstances would force a reveal upon the Martian Manhunter.

Though resistant at first to expose himself to humanity's judgment, his unique Martian abilities quickly earned him status with the Justice League of America.
Along with the ability to transform his appearance and form, J'onn J'onnz also possesses fantastic super-human strength, speed, durability, energy vision, vast telepathic skill, and the ability to become invisible and intangible. While these many abilities quickly rank him among the most powerful figures in the DCU, the sole survivor of catastrophe on Mars has a single mundane weakness -- fire!

Math: The Society (Ttl) Martian Manhunter (Avg)
Ranking: Martian Manhunter (#32)

What Went Down...
The Martian Manhunter's initial defeat comes at the hands of Dr. Light and Effigy, who are deployed by Libra to retrieve their target. Specially designed "pyro-tranq darts" conceived by the mad Dr. Sivana pump the Martian's body full of paralyzing agent, while Effigy's mastery of flame ensures he remains subdued.

The dastardly duo drag the Martian's body to an elevator that takes them upstairs to their waiting master. The gathered inner-circle of the Society watch as their pledging leader, Libra, lords over the weakened hero. Noting no desire to battle the Martian in a fair fight, Libra plunges his spiked staff through the alien's chest, bathing the hero in flames once more.

The pain of the blow shocks the Martian out of his stunned state, resulting in a squirm and bending flailing of transforming limbs. He tosses Libra across the room into an abandoned bar, contorting to pull the impalement from his chest!

The Martian Manhunter's explosive atomic vision blasts the opposing villains, before he lunges at them with the strength of a madman!

He clutches Light by the throat while Gorrilla Grodd takes the brunt of his Martian vision blasts, and Sivana inconsequentially swings off of his free arm. Talia al Ghul lurks with a blade drawn while the two fire wielding villains attempt to quash the Martian's rage, but their numerical superiority inspires a challenge.

The Justice League appears to crash through the ceiling to come to their teammate's aid, a member for every villainous counterpart!

Superman drives his fist into Lex Luthor's heart; the Green Lantern encases Effigy in a liquid filled energy construct; Flash vibrates his way through Gorilla Grodd's skull; Captain Marvel crams worms into Dr. Sivana's mouth; Batman silences Talia al Ghul with a kiss and embrace; Aquaman drives Ocean Master's own trident into his chest; and Elongated Man wraps around Dr. Light's body, promising revenge for the crimes he committed against his deceased wife.

Just as the tide appears to be taking a nightmarish turn for the villains, Libra's word clears the confused minds of his Society fellows. With his staff again driven through the Martian Manhunter's gut, he pins the hero to the ground, forcing his telepathic crusade into remission.

Clinging to the staff as desperately as he does to life, the Martian Manhunter defiantly pulls himself toward Libra. Through grit teeth he maintains a brave face, even as Effigy and Dr. Light descend upon him in a swirl of flame.

His body smouldering, the defeated Martian makes a final prophecy of doom for the forces of evil. As the Society gathers in a circle around him, J'onn J'onnz sends out a final telepathic cry to the real League, giving each an opportunity to glimpse the sprawling story. It is not enough to protect them from the crisis to come, but when the heroes of Earth return J'onn J'onnz to the barren soil of Mars, they remember him fondly.

The Hammer...
Led by Libra, The Society emerge with one of the defining victories that led to the day that "evil won." Effigy and Dr. Light should be included in the win stats, for anybody playing at home.

One of the few drawbacks of focusing on the releases of the week is the many stories that are overlooked, or forgotten. Final Crisis; a story that thrilled in the early parts of the year; is a prime example of this loss. Fortunately, a slow week and impending significance grants us reprieve to go back to the event that changed the way we look at the DCU.

Martian Manhunter was a character dangling over the comics dead pool for quite some time. Though beloved as a stalwart of the JLA, the character had struggled to sustain any viability as a solo or headlining property, making him the perfect balancing act of significance and expendability in a corporate structure. Or at least, that's one interpretation of a story that managed to have much more soul than many of the recent deaths that have plagued superhero comics.

First confirmation of the death came from a brief sequence in the now classic first issue of Final Crisis. There; JG Jones (and Grant Morrison) merely confirmed the kill, alluded to with a single shot of the impaled and burning figure. Requiem, as you might have gathered, elaborates on the final plot against Martian Manhunter and the way in which the heroes mourn and remember him.

As a tie-in with an obvious purpose, Requiem excells not just for elaborating on details from the core-series, but also telling a startlingly powerful tale. Despite the bravado of the Martian Manhunter character, his death lingers as a pathetic final moment for such a powerful character. The famous fire weakness has always lent itself to this, most recently recognised for it's recent reference as a threat in DC: The New Frontier, delivered by Batman to MM's alias, Det. John Jones.

A less romantic examination of the Martian Manhunter death reveals a beloved character desperately attempting to overcome the inevitable in an effort to cling to life a little longer. His telepathic resistance is a feeble attempt against the overwhelming odds posed by The Society's powerful number -- Human Flame and Effigy qualified to rival the hero solo, let alone in the company of powerhouses like Gorilla Grodd, Lex Luthor, and Vandal Savage. Even in his final moments, Martian Manhunter tries to turn Libra's condemnation against him, "It is you... that will no longer pose a viable threat." (I know you are, but what am I?)

Granted, the latter example could be interpreted several ways, more positively as in our previous summary section as a foreboding moment of satisfaction for a character telepathically reaching out to his fellows. Ultimately, no substantial warning appears to be delivered, certainly nothing sufficient enough to inform the heroes of the coming destruction wrought by the Society and Darkseid's New Gods reborn on Earth.

This mixed interpretation shouldn't be mistaken for weakness in the writing, as Peter Tomasi delivers a respectful eulogy for the character often described as the soul of the Justice League. It might not have been the moment fans wanted to be the character's last, but that is the nature of the lives delt to men and women who choose to put themselves in the line of danger in the name of justice.

Doug Mahnke handles the action superbly, but it's his treatment of the emotional second half of the story that emphasises why he's one of the Infinite Wars' favourite artists in superhero comics. A scene featuring a mourning Hal Jordan, and Oliver Queen, maskless, is of particular sentimentality, expertly exuding the gammut of emotions, positive and negative, expressed by the pair.

The story does particularly well to deliver a brief tour through the most recent incarnations of Martian Manhunter's complicated backstory. Longtime fans might notice the glaring absence of their own favourite moments, but as a moment of sentimentality and functionality, it's a great way to induct the uninformed into some of the details that defined the otherwise undeveloped supporting character.

In a moment typically overlooked in comics, J'onn J'onnz is privvy to a funeral tailored to his unique character. Ferried by all four human Green Lanterns, almost the entire recnognisable superhero community join the core Justice League for a ceremony on Mars, complete with relocated artifacts from Martian society that had been rematerialized on Earth by the Spectre (in a previous story).

It would be hard to imagine the moxxy of the story being lost, even on the most uninitiated fan. After fifty years of publication, it's sad to say that this might just about be the most definitive publication in the character's long history.
Maybe a little sadder is that such a poignant tale will be essentially undone when the Martian Manhunter returns from the grave as one of the first confirmed Black Lanterns in Geoff Johns' upcoming space epic, Blackest Night. For critics, however, it is important to remember the machinery of the superhero universe, not just for it's creative and corporate cogs, but the in-fiction plausibility of it's constant flux. Like the ominous reference in Final Crisis to the heroes praying for a resurrection for their friend, we should appreciate the grander picture of the Black Lanterns, rather than dwelling on the moments perceived as being undone.

Confirmed thus far for the Black Lantern Corps are also deceased heroes; Earth-2 Superman, Aquaman, and former-Firestorm, Ronnie Raymond. Possible allusions also include Superboy, Mirror Master, Blue Beetle, Sue Dibny, Elongated Man, and Dr. Light, but these would only be guesses based on recently release promotional art [via DC: The Source]. For some of our early predictions (some right), check out our predictions entry from October 2008!

For more on the Martian Manhunter and his wonderful history, also consider checking out our previous Double Feature entry, Men are from Mars!

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 6.5

If somehow you missed out on the Final Crisis epic, you'll be able to catch-up in one fowl swoop with the complete collected edition. For more of the story, including Final Crisis: Requiem, you'll also want to pick-up the Final Crisis Companion, which features various connected tie-ins. Some of the best examples of tie-in issues by any company in recent years! PLUS -- by using purchase links provided on the Infinite Wars, you help sponsor future entries! You'll find plenty more on offer in the Amazon Gift Shoppe, including collections featuring most single issues reviewed in the Secret Archives!

JUSTICE LEAGUE versus
INJUSTICE LEAGUE
Unlimited Chapter 4: Unleashed (DC)
Where: Justice League of America #15 When: January 2008 Why: Dwayne McDuffie How: Ed Benes

The Story So Far...
The matrimonial union of Dinah Lance and Oliver Queen -- better known to the world as Black Canary and Green Arrow -- should have been one of the happiest occasions on the Justice League calendar. Instead, it was to initiate a new incarnation of the Injustice League into being, marking another in a long line of personal attacks suffered by the heroes in recent years.

Organized as an "unlimited" version of the team by Lex Luthor, Joker, and Cheetah; the League of criminals forms as a response to the dissolving Society of Supervillains. With motives of widespread corruption and protection of crooks, the Injustice League strikes with startling success.

Having captured the JLA, the Injustice League holds their nemesis in captivity with the intent of executing them, but despite their consumate planning they failed to take into account the legacy of an atomic hero called Firestorm!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Superman 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Lex Luthor 6 (Genius)
Speed: Superman 6 (Mach Speeds)
Stamina: Shaggy Man 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Shadow Thief 7 (Unlimited)
Fighting Ability: Deathstroke 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy Power: Green Lantern 7 (Cosmic)


- The Justice League of America are: Black Canary, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Red Arrow, Hawkgirl, John Stewart, Geo-Force, Vixen, Hal Jordan, and Firestorm.

Born of necessity; the Justice League represent a coordinated effort by the world's finest heroes to protect and serve in the many iterations of their regional representation, and on a global scale. Boasting some of the planet's most powerful humans and extra-terrestrials, the League is equipped to combat any threat that should overwhelm the individual efforts of their member, or conventional defenses of the world's nations.

The League is classically defined by the core membership of it's founding members, affectionately referred to as the big seven. Overseen by stalwarts, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, they are; Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter. Several of these members would come to be succeeded by others baring their name, Wally West and Kyle Rayner, while many other heroes would come to be prominently listed with the group; Hawkman, Atom, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Zatanna, Elongated Man, Firestorm, Captain Marvel, Red Tornado, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, and others.

- The Injustice League are: Lex Luthor, Dr. Light, Giganta, Shadow Thief, Mr. Freeze, Fatality, Killer Frost, Gorilla Grodd, Poison Ivy, Deathstroke, Cheetah, Joker, Chesire, Shaggy Man, and Volcano Man.

Formed originally by a bored alien despot, Agamemno; the Injustice League exists as a none-too-subtle counter response to the premiere superhero collective of the DC Universe, the Justice League. Their original membership consisted of Kanjar Ro, Lex Luthor, Catwoman, Sinestro, Penguin, Dr. Light, Chronos, Black Manta, Felix Faust, and Mr. Element.

Sometime after his interdimensional doppelganger galvanized the criminal community as The Society, Lex Luthor reformed the League with a large group of villains, intending to utilize their powers as a protection unit. His true motives behind the formation of the team remain secret, but when the Earth's villains are banished to the planet Salvation, Luthor is prepared to lead them to safety.

Math: Injustice League (Ttl) Justice League (Avg) Ranking: Batman (#2)

What Went Down...
Lex Luthor, armed with powersuit and kryptonite knife, looms over a battered Superman with victory seemingly imminent. That is, until Firestorm arrives to transmute the life-sapping alien shiv into a harmless carbon-based toy!

Unaware of the young hero's efforts to free an imprisoned Justice League, Luthor gloats over the numerical superiority of his collective. Killer Frost is the first to strike, firing ice that easily countered with Firestorm's nuclear heat.

Dr. Light joins the femme fatale to lend a little extra power, but Firestorm is not without his own impending back-up... Having freed himself and the team with a ballpoint pen supplied by Firestorm - Batman marches the JLA into a rematch with their sinister counterparts!

Acting team leader, Black Canary, immediately makes her presence felt, dissipating Shadow Thief with the blasting echo of her canary-cry.
She promptly turns her attentions to grappling with Cheshire, while some members of the Injustice League opt to make an escape, left to run free in favour of strategic grouping by the JLA.

Canary tosses her opponent into Cheetah, leaving Chesire to attempt an escape into the surrounding swampland of her own. Hawkgirl borrows some of Red Arrow's hollowpoints to account for the absence of her mace, suggesting the archer might be going soft on his former flame.

Told not to pursue Mr. Freeze or Deathstroke; Wonder Woman takes the initiative to swing back around to aid Firestorm with a knock-out blow to Killer Frost!

Still unconscious, Black Lightning finds himself with the talon-like fingernails of Cheetah at his throat. Seemingly out of the game, the hero awakens, responding to Cheetah's threats with an unforgiving electrical charge!

Green Lantern joins the fray, forming a green force bubble to fend off the combined attack of Fatality's yellow Qwardian powerring, and Dr. Light's light manipulations.

Red Arrow lends the assist, firing a warning arrow into Fatality's hand with the promise of a second to the forehead. Undeterred by the hero's threats, it's Firestorm who puts the Xanshian warrior down by using his matrix powers to turn the Qwardian ring's energy against her!

Wonder Woman turns her Amazonian super-strength to Gorilla Grodd, swatting him into submission with a devestating three-fist combo! Alas; the attention required by the Gorilla leaves her wide open to a sneak attack by the Shaggy Man! Meanwhile, Wonder Woman's arch-nemesis, Giganta, challenges Black Canary to a one-on-one tussle.

The Canary narrowly vaults over Giganta's giant piledriving fist, using her bodyweight to snap back on the fifty-foot woman's oversized thumb! Having the proportionate dimensions of a skyscraper turns out to be a horrible disadvantage when Black Canary unleashes her sonic scream on the giant-woman's eardrums. As she passes out, Lex Luthor narrowly avoids being crushed by his ally.

Vixen, having absorbed the powers of Superman, launches into battle with Volcano Man, withstanding the burning sear of his rocky body to deliver a two-fisted polish hammer! The Volcano Man gets a taste of the Earth as the mimicking hero uses Kryptonian power to grind his head into the ground with a super-fast boot, before returning the powers to their original vessel.

Armed with the razortips of two red arrows, she easily slices through the animated fauna at the command of Poison Ivy. Not so easy, however, is the renewed assault launched by Fatality on Red Arrow and John Stewart!

While Black Lightning and Firestorm tend to a damaged Red Tornado, Gorilla Grodd launches a charging assault spotted by the legless android. Firestorm creates a brickwall to slow the charge, but Grodd easily pounds through it. Just as the rampaging beast reaches his prey the ground suddenly opens up by the will of Geo-Force, who entraps Grodd by closing the chasm!

With the tide definitively turning, Cheetah seems to come to the aid of an unconscious Dr. Light, but as soon as he gets to his feet, it is Cheetah who rakes her claws through the doctor's back!

Light's past comes back to haunt him at the least likely of moments, but before Cheetah can deliver the killing stroke to the sex offender, Wonder Woman intervenes to deflect the slash. The Amazon talks her arch-villain down, only to have Firestorm swat her unconscious with an energy blast.

Meanwhile, with his powers restored, Superman interrupts an aerial skirmish between John Stewart and Lex Luthor, to challenge his arch-nemesis.
Hal Jordan arrives to join his fellow GL Corpsman in gripping the kryptonite gauntlets on Luthor's suit with the energy of the power rings, giving Superman the chance to deliver a knock-out blow.

The defeat of founding members, Luthor and Cheetah, puts an end to the Injustice League's antics. Batman, who had been conspicuously absent from the fight, arrives with the final member of the founders, the Joker, having ignored a direct order from the team's newest leader, Black Canary.

With the unconscious collection of the villains at their feet, the question of what to do with them becomes the JLA's most pressing concern. It's then that Amanda Waller leads her ragtag team of reformed villains into the room, waving an official warrant in the generation direction of the heroes!

The Hammer...
Okay, you probably figure it's a pretty clear case of the Justice League taking the victory here, but the end of the issue includes an additional twist. For the villains who appeared to escape, a seven-issue maxi-series earns them an off-page defeat at the hands of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad for the assist!

Unbenknownst to Bane, Deadshot, Blockbuster, Plastique, Count Vertigo, Bronze Tiger, Multiplex, and Captain Boomerang, a good number of them are slated to join the captured villains on a prison planet called Salvation. All part of the Salvation Run event that defined much of the DC villains' 2008.

For November on the belated Infinite Wars, this issue made for a great opportunity to stop in with a good many playable characters from Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. While we can't help but offer a somewhat damning assessment of the final product, we are still quite enthusiastic about the properties surrounding the game. Of the heroes and villains appearing in this issue, you can so far play as: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Deathstroke, Joker, and Lex Luthor. Downloadable characters may emerge before the end of the year.

With the Infinite Wars a horrid two weeks behind schedule once more, our unforgiving agenda quite naturally lands us with an epic battle between two mammoth teams. I'm sure there was a lot of commentary that could've made for some interesting and ponderous discussion, but as has been a bit characteristic of our second-half of 2008, you might have to make do without the best of us.

I wouldn't be quite as harsh on the heavily editorialized nature of the series, but would have to agree with some other reviewers' sentiments that the Meltzer-reboot of JLA as a series has failed to really present the A-list title you would expect. Marvel's New Avengers has suffered a similar deterioration, but holds on stronger to the focus of it's characters and an independent story.

In the end the biggest negative is the burden that seems to filter through to McDuffie's script. I'd like to think it isn't his public acknowledgment of frustration that's colouring this interpretation of the issue which feels much less inspired than other superhero skirmishes we've seen from McDuffie, or other writers. The team and adventure feels like a restrictive checklist of required beats.

At the end of the day, a sizable portion of the mainstream audience has been reacting negatively to this editorial vision. While it might not be benefitting JLA as much as one would like, Dan Didio's corporate ship feels cohesive and logical. I simply couldn't fault the issue for being connected to events that contribute to the saga of the DCU and the League as a vital component of that Universe.

Cheetah's sudden betrayal of Dr. Light reads like an awful pro wrestling plot twist, but as described in our Final Crisis #1 review, is an appreciated acknowledgment of a major event that's felt like the elephant in the room every time Dr. Light makes casual appearances in titles like Teen Titans, Green Arrow, or Superman/Batman. Light, of course, suffered a more torturous penance for his sexual assaults under the vengeful gaze of The Spectre -- a fate befitting of one of the most vile criminals DC has seen, depending on when you've read him (post-Identity Crisis). Wonder Woman's speech feels as ham fisted as Cheetah's attack, but with that vital acknowledgment of his crimes, it feels much easier to respect and enjoy Light's tumultuous career over the past few years.

The Infinite Wars will be back again with more Mortal Kombat and DC Universe features in the coming days, including the follow-up to our MK spotlight, this time with the characters from the DCU portion fo the recent game. Stay tuned!

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 4

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