Multiverse
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Real Identity: Not Applicable
Appearances (STAS): Brave New Metropolis
Appearances (JL/U): Legends Part One, Part Two, A Better World Part One, and Part Two
Appearances (JLI): The Mirror Crack'd Part Two, The Mirror Crack'd Part Three, The Mirror Crack'd Part Four, The Mirror Crack'd Part Five, The Mirror Crack'd Part Six, and The Mirror Crack'd Part Seven
Powers/Skills: None
Voiced By: Not Applicable
According to nuclear physics, there exists the Multiverse, an infinite number of parallel dimensions and all of them have a planet Earth in the same location in space but they exist at different vibrational resonances. In some cases, a select number of people possess a sub-conscious link to one parallel dimension stored as a collective psychic memory. In theory, one would need mastery of the Anti-Life Equation, the Speed Force, and Quantum Mechanics for transdimensional travel. Several have figured out a way to circumvent these requirements and construct a transdimensional gateway that allows travel between Earths but the power requirements are very substantial. Tom Turbine, of the Justice Guild universe, and Batman, of the Justice Lords universe, have both constructed similar devices. Turbine's gateway would work on a temporary basis with a blast of energy from a Green Lantern Corps power ring.
While studying technology from the Phantom Zone Projector, Professor Hamilton accidentally opened a wormhole to a parallel dimension. In it, Metropolis was under the authoritative rule of Lex Luthor and Superman. It turned out that years ago, their Lois Lane died in a explosion from a bomb planted in her car by Intergang. In the central Earth, Superman saved Lane. After her death, Superman donned a new costume and teamed up with Luthor to clean up crime in Metropolis once and for all. However, Luthor managed to deceive Superman and use him as an enforcer. The central Earth's Lois Lane convinced Superman of the truth and Luthor was dealt with. For a brief moment, two Supermans met.
Years later, during a battle between the Justice League and a giant robot remotely controlled by Lex Luthor, the Flash created a series of vibrations around the robot's nuclear reactor as it exploded. The event ripped open a dimensional barrier and transported the Flash, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, J'onn Jonzz, and part of the robot to the Justice Guild universe. After solving a 40 year old mystery, they returned back to their Earth through Turbine's gateway and Green Lantern's ring.
In the Justice Lords universe, Batman isolated himself in the Batcave and constructed a working transdimensional gateway and began observing other dimensions through the Batcomputer. He eventually found one where the Flash and Lex Luthor were alive and well. Batman called the Justice Lords to meet with him and they decided to act and make sure the Justice League wouldn't suffer the same fate they did. J'onn Jonzz arrived and explained that both dimensions were collapsing on each other and he requested their help to solve the crisis. The League obliged and went with him to the Lords' dimension. The Justice League were able to neutralize the Lords with Luthor's Power Disrupter but had to divulge information to the US Federal Government and broker a full pardon for Luthor. Project Cadmus kept a file marked Multiverse among their 3 Terra Bytes of data.
In another parallel universe, Darkseid found the Anti-Life Equation and hid it away to ensure that it was never used. Millennia later, A.M.A.Z.O. was created on Earth. There were no heroes to offer it compassion. Humanity feared it and tried to destroy it. A.M.A.Z.O. fought back with hatred and annihilated the planet. It went into space and destroyed planet after planet and star system after star system. A.M.A.Z.O. eventually arrived at Apokolips. With no other hope, Darkseid unleashed the Anti-Life Equation. It failed and A.M.A.Z.O. effortlessly absorbed it. The Equation's consciousness took root in A.M.A.Z.O.'s being and merged with it. Together, they consumed the universe but hungered for more. It found the Mirrored Room, a space between realities that was the doorway to the Multiverse. However, the door was locked.
On Earth-D, a criminal named J'onn J'onzz was exiled from his home planet of Mars while his family lived in shame. Some centuries later, he ended up on Earth. Themyscira ended in a bloody civil war. A lone survivor named Unatti was stabbed in the back by her own mother. She went to man's world for a new and better life. Superman started out during World War II. Hermann Goring and the Nazis nearly won the war but lost. The nations of the world were horrified to learn what the Nazis unleashed and formed a global government dedicated to peace. Alien invasions and supervillains continued to trouble the planet. Two centuries after the Themysciran civil war, Unatti met Superman and the two later married. J'onn J'onzz met Superman when he first landed on Earth. Feeling lost and broken, Superman lifted him from his despair and inspired him to take up a higher purpose as Martian Manhunter. Several superheroes came together and formed a team named the Justice Alliance.
The Justice Alliance gathered in Metropolis in response to the vortex that appeared over the city. Superman arrived last, having to stop and respond to an earthquake in Afghanistan and asked what he missed. Hawkman got snippy and pointed out the hundreds or thousands of people around the world vanishing mysteriously and being replaced by confused and frightened strangers. Wonder Woman quipped someone woke up on the wrong side of the nest. Superman clarified he meant the vortex and assumed it was connected to the disappearances. Batman revealed initial probes indicated an energy signature unlike anything they ever encountered. The Alliance was ready to move in for further analysis. Superman sped ahead. Wonder Woman reminded him they were a team. Superman believed they were more a family, the only real family he ever knew which was why he wanted to give it a once over. Wonder Woman sighed and mused there was no changing him. Superman admitted she was probably right but implored her to keep trying. Superman suddenly vanished. Martian Manhunter couldn't detect his consciousness anywhere on Earth. Aboard their Javelin, Manhunter used his powers to guide them across the multiverse to find Superman.
On Earth-X, Vandal Savage led a resurgence of the Nazi Party in 1960 and took over the planet. The Fourth Reich was established. He found and raised an infant from another planet and named him Overman. At one point, he kidnapped a Martian and amplified his telepathy to manipulate enemies of the Reich, control the populace and see into the future. Savage tortured the Martian over and over until his mind finally collapsed inward and he was of no use anymore. Abraham Zodesta was a boy when Savage's men dragged his parents to death camps. He hid in the attic. The terrified boy grew to be a leader of strength and virtue in the rebel organization known as the Freedom Fighters. Savage hid his aging by deploying robots modeled after his youthful appearance in his place. Not even his military or Overman was privy.
After Amazo damaged the Mirrored Room, an unknown energy began to seep out. Superman was teleported to a Earth-X while Overman was teleported away from Earth-X and appeared in place of Superman. Superman ended up in the middle of a hate rally. At first, he thought he was teleported across the nation. All he heard was vile epithets, bigotry and fanaticism. He then saw a symbol that looked like a corruption of his own S shield. He stood between the mob and small group of anti-facist protesters and tried to calm them down with words of wisdom from Pa Kent about fighting hate with compassion. He empathized with their pain and struggles but stated the cure to suffering wasn't to lash out at others to feel superior.
Brainiac drones arrived and ordered Superman to be silent. It identified him as an aberrant and enemy of the state then ordered him to surrender immediately. Superman refused. The drones combined into Brainiac. He realized he was on a parallel Earth. It proclaimed it served the Great Leader and proceeded to exterminate Superman. It swatted Superman out of the air then went into a tirade about seeing the fate of all who oppose the Great Leader Vandal Savage and give voice to the forbidden. It proclaimed the Reich was invincible and eternal. Superman commented it certainly talked a lot then grabbed its right leg and smashed it to pieces. Superman heard some cheers and wanted to help the people for as long as he was stranded. He flew into the city and saw enough propaganda to confirm he was on a world conquered by a Nazi regime led by a Vandal Savage and a never-ending battle was in store for him. Soldiers fired at him but a portal suddenly pulled him through. He met a band of rebels calling themselves the Freedom Fighters. Their leader Zod assured him he was in no danger and welcomed him to their cause.
Superman was surprised they were the good guys but told the curious Zod it was a long story why he thought that and asked where they were. Zod informed him they were in a forgotten underground storage facility a hundred miles north of Metropolis. He admitted they could use his help. Superman agreed to help but needed to find a way home as soon as they were victorious. Doomsday suddenly grabbed Superman by the throat and wasn't so sure they could trust him. Superman knocked him away. Metallo was about to attack but Zod ordered her to stand down, reminding her he could recognize "good" after all the years of fighting Savage. He continued with the tour and showed off the technology they managed to liberated from Savage's control. Professor Potter informed them the dimensional disturbances created a chaotic situation that gave them a chance to strike the Fourth Reich and bring it down. Superman was in awe of their resolve after all their losses. Zod admitted he had a crisis of faith but Superman's arrival was a miracle to him and restored hope.
Superman of Earth-D was teleported to Earth-X where he accidentally breached the Freedom Fighters' secret headquarters. Naturally, he was confused about what happened. Freedom Fighters Doomsday and Metallo were immediately hostile towards him. He tried to tell them there was no need for violence and indicated he was called Superman. Doomsday and Metallo thought he was an Overman clone sent by Vandal Savage to wipe them out. Metallo fired a blast of green energy but it bounced off his chest. He back handed Doomsday and used super breath on Metallo simultaneously then charged at a Superman. They paused and both knew, in an instant, they could trust each other. They started talking like two old friends and quickly realized they were both teleported to Earth-X by the same force. They both realized how strange it was they both ended up on Earth-X and should have switched places. The Freedom Fighters were still leery. Superman implored them to trust him and together, they could end Savage's reign once and for all.
Metallo speculated the multiverse was trying to attain a sense of balance by people from each universe switching places but the laws of physics were beginning to break down, accounting for why a second Superman was teleported to their Earth. Doomsday saw that chaos as a chance to take out Savage. Superman felt the multiverse should be their first priority but Superman of Earth-D was eager to punch some Nazis. The Freedom Fighters and the Supermen stormed Savage's fortress. The Reich forces opened fire. Superman Earth-D caught one of their missiles and tossed it back. Superman used his heat vision. Superman Earth-D was surprised by the move and asked how he did that. The Freedom Fighters pressed on and the Reich forces began to flee. Brainiac Prime assembled and grabbed the Supermen. Doomsday flew threw its chest and the Supermen finished it off. Inside the fortress, they encountered a slew of robots that looked like Vandal Savage and made short work of them. They proceeded to the throne room and discovered the real Vandal Savage was a withered old man.
Savage was more concerned with the end of the Multiverse at hand coinciding with him facing his own mortality. Zod realized he deceived his own military, the populace, and Overman with the robots but declared he would still stand trial. Savage fatally stabbed Zod through with a blade concealed in his cane. Doomsday grabbed him and prepared to punch Savage to death but Superman stopped him and implored him to honor Zod's wishes. Metallo agreed. Doomsday dropped Zod and stated he would spare him in Zod's name. They were suddenly rocked by a psychic force sent out by the Oracle. While Metallo and Doomsday guarded Savage, the Supermen searched the fortress and discovered the Oracle imprisoned in a laboratory. Superman realized he was a Martian. The Oracle was happy to feel a heart that radiated kindness and compassion but pleaded with them to take him outside to the courtyard to meet someone before he expired. They discovered the rest of Earth-D's Justice Alliance had arrived. Superman was surprised to see his counterpart and that Wonder Woman kiss.
Martian Manhunter of Earth-D realized the Oracle was Earth-X's J'onn J'onzz and he was drawn to him. The Oracle confirmed the thinning of the dimensional barriers allowed him to connect and awaken. He revealed he probabed infinity for a solution to the multiversal catastrophe and transferred his findings to Martian Manhunter Earth-D's mind. He died and melted. Manhunter Earth-D was haunted. Metallo didn't see the point in rebuilding when the multiverse was collapsing. Superman told her his team beat back chaos before and there was always hope. They departed in the Alliance's Javelin. Manhunter Earth-D sifted through the information and sensed Superman's ally Wonder Woman in another universe.
Like most universes, in one, Darkseid was obsessed with finding the Anti-Life Equation. He believed it would give him control and the ability to bring discipline, symmetry to a universe that was little more than a swamp of pain and meaninglessness. He became certain it was located on a planet called Earth. The Apokoliptian invasion force met resistance from a team of super heroes. Darkseid realized the Anti-Life Equation was not there but it was too late and both sides were knee deep in blood and rage. Wonder Woman ended it by making Darkseid see both sides would inevitably perish in their conflict continued. A truce was called. Wonder Woman went to Apokolips as an ambassador. At first, Darkseid found her confounding and irritating: the heart of a pacifist in the body of a warrior. Yet, he also found those contradictions alluring. They talked for endless hours debating philosophy, the meaning of life, and of death itself. She showed him there could be an existence beyond struggle and misery. She even taught him love and she loved him in return.
However, love didn't quench his thirst for the Anti-Life Equation. He kept its discovery a secret from Wonder Woman. It used him as a conduit. It spoke to Darkseid and urged him on. Like a man in a fever dream, he prepared to unleash it on the universe. Wonder Woman found out and pleaded with him to stop. Her fierce love called to him in a voice stronger than the equation's but it was too late and Darkseid couldn't draw the power back into himself. The equation was a living entity and took control of him. It launched itself across Apokolips and the universe. Darkseid soon learned the Anti-Life entity had no interest in order and instead wanted to inflict endless, infinite death. It moved swiftly and mercilessly. When it consumed the universe, it returned to Apokolips and took its time inflicting suffering. It took Wonder Woman's life. Darkseid screamed and wept as her body turned to bones before his eyes. The entity's cruelty continued and it left only Darkseid alive on the now dead planet.
For thousands of years, a fragment of the entity left behind took delight in mocking and torturing Darkseid. All the while, Darkseid reasoned the universe was built on the foundation of duality and secretly discovered the Life Equation, the very thing that could rebirth creation. Wonder Woman was teleported to the planet. Darkseid happened upon her in a cave and offered his help. Darkseid couldn't blame Wonder Woman for being confused. Wonder Woman jumped to conclusions and blamed Darkseid for the multiverse incident. She headbutted and back handed him then picked him up the chin and slammed him into the ceiling. She demanded to know why he wasn't fighting back. Darkseid stated he lost the will to fight thousands of years ago. Wonder Woman realized she was in another universe and was engaging an alternate version of Darkseid. She noticed a statue of the universe's Wonder Woman, clad in armor. Darkseid also knew she wasn't his Diana. "My Diana" sent a chill down her spine but felt pain and longing in his words. He revealed the planet they were on was a lifeless husk and his home. She realized it was Apokolips.
Darkseid admitted he murdered the planet and all of creation because of stupidity on a cosmic scale. He told Wonder Woman how it all started. She remembered he was master deceiver no matter the universe. He believed her arrival changed everything. He told her about the Life Equation then revealed he believed they could unlock its secrets together. She took offense to him touching her shoulder and thinking they would work together. She clocked him while feeling like she was being poisoned by his corruption. She warned not to mistake her for the woman he knew. To add insult to injury, she assumed she was a lost and damaged soul for loving a monster like him. She stormed out of the cave and ignored his calls. She felt like a fool for feeling sympathy for him and concluded he told a skein of carefully crafted lies because all men like him were liars. She heard a voice suggest she meant men like Hades. She wondered if she was actually raging at him and remembered his claim he was her father.
In that dark moment, she wondered for the first time if he was telling the truth which would make her a child of both Themyscira and Tartarus. Her long submerged doubts and fears bubbled to the surface. The Anti-Life entity manifested as Hades but in her blind rage, she didn't question it and attacked. It goaded her to kill show her true face of a cunning and savage warrior. It quoted what Hades told Wonder Woman when he was freed years ago by Felix Faust. Wonder Woman declared if she was hell's instrument of pain and suffering, she would rather die. It obliged her and started to drain her life away. Darkseid intervened and she recovered. Darkseid refused to let her die "again" and unleashed his Omega Effect on the entity. Wonder Woman realized the truth as it revealed its true form and countered. Darkseid's actions were futile and fatal. Wonder Woman had enough and struck her bracelets together. The shockwave dispersed the entity but she wondered if Anti-Life could truly die.
Darkseid admitted he never understood how her bracelets worked. She implored him to save his strength and she would get him back to the cave. He told her it was too late and tried to tell her something but he expired. Wonder Woman grieved. Suddenly, she heard Superman call out behind her. He was relieved to have found her and introduced her to the Justice Alliance from Earth-D. Superman quickly brought her up to speed and stated they needed her help to save the Multiverse. Before Superman could continue, he noticed the dead Darkseid. Wonder Woman asked him to wait. She picked up Darkseid's body and carried him back to his cavern for a proper burial then honored him for dying a hero despite her complex conflicted feelings. Wonder Woman, Superman, and the Alliance departed the planet on their Javelin. The Earth-D Martian Manhunter telepathically guided the Javelin to the source of the dimensional overlaps. The A.M.A.Z.O. merged with the Anti-Life Equation was freed after it manipulated A.M.A.Z.O. then Overman. It planned to unleash Anti-Life on all of creation and destroy the Multiverse.
Batman and Wonder Woman managed to unleash the Life Equation and restored all of the Multiverse. The Justice Alliance returned to Earth-D and Overman to Earth-X. Overman surrendered to the Freedom Fighters and wore a leg brace that neutralized his powers. He was allowed to visit the grave of Lois Lane. He noted after J'onn J'onzz tore through his mind and the mental blocks placed by Vandal Savage, the buried feelings he had for Lane were set free. He didn't scapegoat Savage for everything and admitted much of what he did he did willingly and enjoyed it. He vowed in the name of their love and her sacrifice that he would pay for his sins. Metallo told Overman it was time to go back to court and hear the judgment passed by the Freedom Fighters. Amazo and Amazo II, now clean of any trace of Anti-Life, traveled the Multiverse together.