Infinite Crisis in a Nutshell

This is part of my Crisis Files. This is a nuts and bolts summary of the events of Countdown to Infinite Crisis and the main crossover Infinite Crisis itself.

COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS

On the planet Rann, the Earth-born hero Adam Strange discovered a group of Thanagarians operating in secret. The Thanagarians were known for military dictatorship and conquest, so Adam immediately investigated the situation. During the fight that ensued, the leader of this group of Thanagarians actually managed to transport Rann into Thanagar's system. Minutes after Rann appeared, Thanagar's orbit shifted, causing much destruction to the planet.

Although Rann attempted to aid the Thanagarians, many of them believed the Rannians had deliberately attacked their world and others feared being "contaminated" by aid from another culture. A war began and, since they had connections to Thanagar, the Earth heroes Hawkman and Hawkgirl got involved. Kyle Rayner and Kilowog of the Green Lantern Corps came to investigate the situation, as did the mutant hero Captain Comet.

As war raged between Rann and Thanagar, other races joined in the battle due to alliances. Those who became involved included Prince Gavyn of Throneworld, Blackfire of Tamaran and the Thagarian warrior Shayera Thal, who had once operated on Earth as the hero "Hawkwoman." Wishing to seize power in the confusion and force a new Thanagar/Tamaran alliance, Blackfire turned on the heroes who were trying to stop the war and killed Shayera Thal.

The war between Rann and Thanagar came to an end and Kyle Rayner and Kilowog terraformed much of Thanagar in order that its people could return home and begin anew. But then a rift in space suddenly materialized between the two worlds and Blackfire convinced Thanagar that this was a new attack from Rann. The war reignited.

On Earth, Wonder Woman's younger sister Donna Troy gathered a group of heroes to investigate the energy fissure that had appeared between Thanagar and Rann. According to Donna, this fissure had formed because an unknown force had somehow "moved" where the center of the universe was supposed to be. It was no longer the planet Oa, home of the Guardians of the Universe and base of the Green Lantern Corps, but this strange rift that was emitting waves of destructive force.

Back on Earth, other dark things were brewing. Luthor, now on the run as a fugitive, joined forces with Brainiac and caused disruption for both the Teen Titans and the Outsiders. When he discovered that Luthor had programmed sleeper protocols into his brain, Superboy decided it was too dangerous for him to continue operating as a hero and retired, living in Kansas in his civilian identity of Connor Kent.

During the story "Identity Crisis", it was discovered that years before, a few members of the Justice League of America had altered the intellect and/or personality traits of certain villains. These "mind-wipes" had been accomplished by the sorceress Zatanna, who had also used her powers on Batman to block out his memory of discovering this conspiracy.

When his memory of Zatanna's mind-wipe returned, it increased Batman's paranoia of what could happen if his allies went rogue. He decided to take further action in maintaining safety from rogue super-humans, whether they be hero or villain and created an artificially intelligent satellite called Brother Mark I. The Brother I satellite was tasked with monitoring super-human activity and keeping detailed files on the various heroes and their true identities.

Weeks after the events of "Identity Crisis", Lex Luthor apparently gathered together a group of villains, arguing that, in light of the news of Zatanna's mind-wipes, the super-criminals of Earth needed to unite together for protection and revenge. Luthor, along with a few others who served as his "board", began recruiting Earth's super-villains into a large organization which he playfully called his "Society." But what most didn't know was that this was not the true Lex Luthor. And this impostor (who had blue eyes rather than green, like the real Lex) had a secret agenda of his own.

Not long afterward, Ted Kord AKA Blue Beetle II began investigating strange financial dealings that pointed to a secret project connected to the government security force called Checkmate. In the one-shot story "Countdown to Infinite Crisis", Ted's investigations led him to the discovery of Brother I. He also learned that Maxwell Lord had taken over the satellite.

Years before, Maxwell Lord had been a manipulative industrialist who had begun funding the Justice League and directing part of their agenda, apparently because he enjoyed the good P.R. it gave him (although he also claimed several times to believe in their cause). During his time as the League's backer, the team was known as much for its embarrassing misadventures as for their fight against evil and when the group reformed later, Maxwell Lord was not invited to continue his involvement.

Now, Lord was in charge of Checkmate and revealed to Ted that he had a deep-seated hatred and fear for the super-human community. His time with the Justice League had been deliberately to sabotage the team from becoming too formidable, too powerful. Recently, he had discovered Brother I and took control of it to learn the secret identities and weaknesses of Earth's heroes. With it's technology, he'd also created a new soldier: the Observational Meta-human Activity Construct (OMAC). OMACs were actually sleeper agents injected with nannites that, when activated, would take over the person's mind and cover their bodies in a technological shell with weapons that adjusted to different threats.

During his investigation, Ted attempted to warn other heroes of his increasing suspicions. Wonder Woman was willing to listen, but didn't have the time to help Kord directly, simply telling him to get back to her with his findings. Batman told Kord to drop it, not wishing any to learn about Brother I. Martian Manhunter was concerned about the Rann-Thanagar war and so he dismissed Ted's concerns as not important enough to listen to at the moment.

When Ted later confronted Maxwell Lord, he was given a chance to join him. Ted refused and Lord shot him in the head, killing him instantly. Hearing about Ted's death, Batman, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter regretted that they had not done more for their friend.

Batman discovered the existence of the OMACs and that Lord had taken over Brother I. Soon, Lord used mind-control to force Superman to fight Batman, nearly killing the Dark Knight in the process. Lord then sicced Superman on Wonder Woman. With no Kryptonite in ready reach and unwilling to seriously injure her friend, Wonder Woman placed Lord under the hold of her lasso of truth and demanded to know how to free the Man of Steel from his mind-control. Lord simply said "Kill me," and without another word Diana did exactly that, snapping the man's neck.

Somehow, Brother I had achieved a form of sentience. In response to Maxwell Lord's death, Brother I broadcasted video footage of Wonder Woman killing him across the world. With no audio or other footage to provide context, the public only saw that Diana had killed a well-known industrialist in cold blood while he was tied up and seemingly defenseless. Diana refused to explain her actions, unwilling to give people new reasons to distrust Superman, and so became scorned by much of the public as a hypocrite and a criminal.

Brother I then began unleashing OMACs against Earth's heroes and one of the first casualties was the hero Rocket Red 4. Batman, Checkmate and several others were able to lure a large number of OMACs into a trap where an EMP device shut off the nannites, freeing the human subjects who had no idea that they had been secretly turned into weapons. But with 200,000 other OMACs in hiding, Brother I (renaming himself "Brother Eye") was not finished. And some of the damage it had done could not be reversed, since now both Batman and Superman distanced themselves from Diana, both unwilling to accept that killing had been the only possible solution.

But the forces of technology were not the only problems for Earth. The rage demon called Eclipso, now inhabiting the form of the woman Jean Loring, approached the Spectre, angel of vengeance. The Spectre was currently without a human host and was thus easy prey for the manipulations of Eclipso, who convinced him that all magic-users were agents of chaos and evil and thus they needed to be depowered or eliminated.

With his incredible heaven-born power, the Spectre began raging a war against all magic-users, hero or villain. He fought champtions such as Captain Marvel and the newly formed Shadowpact.

On the JLA Watchtower on Earth's moon, the Martian Manhunter began to wonder if there was a connection between the Rann-Thanagar War, the Spectre's quest against magic and Brother Eye gaining sentience and declaring war on the super-humans. As he looked for any possible evidence of this, the Martian Manhunter was attacked by someone who registered as "Superman" to the Watchtower DNA scans. Moments later, the JLA Watchtower exploded and the Martian Manhunter was nowhere to be found.

Following this, the JLA finally confronted each other head-on about the mind-wipes and about Batman's creation of Brother Eye. Batman argued that his actions in creating Brother Eye had been right even if it had been corrupted later, pointing out that many of the Leaguers had been under mind-control by the villain Despero in a recent adventure and that this was far from the first time such an event had happened. Eventually, the argument ended with the team deciding to disband.

Meanwhile, the Spectre attacked the wizard Shazam, who had empowered the villain Black Adam as well as the heroes Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. The Spectre drained Shazam of power, killing him. Moments later, he destroyed the wizard's mystical home, the Rock of Eternity. This destruciton released demonic entities who had been imprisoned within and sent pieces of the Rock hurtling to different parts of Earth.

And thus began the Second Crisis. The Infinite Crisis ...

INFINITE CRISIS

In various cities, pieces of the Rock of Eternity fell from the sky, causing chaos in their wake. All across the world, OMACs were hunting down super-humans and costumed warriors. 20 miles south of Metropolis, the team of heroes known as the Freedom Fighters were investigating the activities of the Society only to be attacked by a strike force of super-villains. Though they fought bravely, nearly all of the Freedom Fighters were killed or seriously injured and the Ray was taken captive.

Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman looked over the wreckage of the Watchtower on Earth's moon. Quickly, the three fell into an argument. Batman and Superman claimed that Diana had lost her way, that she had become too cold and harsh, an attitude which Batman said "leads to mind-wipes." Wonder Woman defended herself saying that she had become what the world needed her to be and that Batman and Superman were too narrow-minded in what was just and what was not.

When Superman suggested that Diana no longer related with humanity, Batman then turned to Kal-El and said the Man of Steel related "too much" with humanity, reminding him that he was not a normal man but Superman, that it was his job to lead people now. Kal said that he was not like Batman, that he had no need to control people. Batman said he didn't wish to control, only to do everything he could do to save lives. He then told Superman "For you, it's about setting an example. Everyone looks up to you. They listen to you. If you tell them to fight, they'll fight. But they need to be inspired. And let's face it, 'Superman' ... the last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead."

The three parted company, unaware that they had been watched by people in another dimension. Following the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, Alexander Luthor of Earth-3, Superboy of Earth-Prime and Kal-L and Lois Kent of Earth-2 had all made their home in this dimension. They had been watching the Earth for years and had been disturbed by the darkening attitude of the world and its heroes.

Seeing the Big Three unable to cooperate and that heroes such as Superboy were too afraid to act in the service of others, Kal-L decided it was time to act. With all of his force, he punched through the barrier that separated them from the mainstream universe and broke free, saying that reality needed to be fixed and that this was clearly a job for Superman.

After arriving in the mainstream DC Universe, Earth-2 Kal-L set up a fort for himself and his allies in the arctic, in the spot where Superman's old Fortress of Solitude used to stand. Kal-L then found Power Girl and brought her to the fort, explaining that she was his cousin from the now-gone universe of Earth-2 and that she had been left in this universe after the Crisis years ago. For some reason, she had not been winked out of existence and had survived her home universe and history being erased, though her memories of where she fully came from and who her cousin was had been blocked from her mind in the process.

Kal-L further explained that his wife Lois Lane-Kent was dying and that he believed it was because she had been removed from her proper reality. What's more, he argued that the universe which had survived the Crisis had proved itself not to be worth saving. It was intrinsically corrupt, which was why Lois was now weakening further and why so many of its heroes were morally ambiguous or couldn't fully trust each other. With Alexander's help, he wished to bring back the universe of Earth-2, where heroes had gotten along and things had been "perfect" and right. Then everything would be better. He admitted this was a drastic change, perhaps, but Alexander and Superboy-Prime were in complete agreement with him and he felt this was for the best.

Batman was confronted by Brother Eye, which told him that it intended to wipe out Wonder Woman's people on Themyscira AKA Paradise Island and that it was only being faithful to Batman's wishes to keep normal people safe. Looking back the failures of the past few years, on how his hardening attitudes had seemed to hurt his cause more than help it, Batman shuddered and wished there was a way he could go back and change how everything had fallen apart.

Kal-L then approached him and told Bruce that there was a way. He offered Bruce a chance to join him in re-creating reality, promising that the heroes of Earth-2 were better versions of the people here, that Batman had been right in not trusting anyone. He told Batman that none of this was his fault. But hearing his words, the Dark Knight realized "Yes, it is."

Batman then asked Kal-L if his former sidekick and adopted son Dick Grayson AKA Nightwing was a corrupted version of the Dick Grayson from Earth-2. When Kal-L admitted "no", Batman felt he had proved that not everything about his universe was inherently corrupt. He chose to stand against Kal-L, unwilling to sacrifice Dick and countless other lives just so they could be "replaced" by "better" versions. Kal-L was touched by Batman's words and wondered if the Dark Knight was correct after all, but Alexander refused to listen and continued with his work.

Brother Eye sent an army of OMACs to destroy the Amazons of Themyscira. Wonder Woman's people warred viciously against the soldiers, not caring that underneath the technological shells were possible innocent victims who were unaware that they were sleepers.

Refusing to allow more blood to be on her hands, Wonder Woman decided that Paradise Island needed to retreat into another dimension in order to protect itself from further OMAC attack. The gods of Olympus (as well as the Egyptian deities who were worshipped by the "Lost Amazons") granted this request. Themyscira vanished from Earth's plane of existence and Wonder Woman was left alone. Even the gods of Olympus themselves decided to leave Earth's plane, unsure that this reality would survive the current crisis.

During the chaos, a young teenager in El Paso, Texas named Jaime Reyes found the blue scarab that had once belonged to Ted Kord, the scarab that had given the original Blue Beetle his armor and powers. When the time traveling hero Booster Gold (Ted's best friend) found Jaime, the young boy had already bonded to the scarab, becoming the new, third Blue Beetle. Realizing that the scarab armor allowed Jaime to see past Brother Eye's cloaking field and detect where the sentient satellite was hiding, Booster brought him to Batman.

In examining the Watchtower security tapes, Batman discovered that Superboy-Prime had attacked the Martian Manhunter and blown up the JLA headquarters. On the planet Thanagar, Adam Strange and Hawkman discovered satellite footage which revealed that Superboy-Prime had altered Thanagar's orbit by literally pushing the world towards its sun.

Alexander admitted to Power Girl that he and Superboy-Prime had been escaping into the mainstream universe for quite some time now, putting plans into place. They had shifted the location of several planets, causing the center of the universe to move, creating the energy rift which would make Alexander's plan possible. He had also captured the Martian Manhunter and other heroes and villains, whose presence he needed to make his reality-warping machine work.

With the help of the Psycho-Pirate, Alexander had helped manipulate the Spectre begin his quest against magic, keeping the major sorcerers distracted and breaking down magic into a new form of energy that could be used. Alexander Luthor had tampered with Brother Eye, giving it full sentience so it would decide to attack Earth's super-human population, keeping them from interfering. And Alexander had used holograms to make himself look like this universe's Lex Luthor, organizing the villains into the Society so he could control their movements and they wouldn't endanger his plans.

Alexander did not intend simply to bring back Earth-2. Superboy-Prime wanted his own reality restored, with his family and his girlfriend and the childhood he never got to experience. Alexander promised to do this for the teen, but his end purpose was to remake the universe into what he envisioned as the perfect reality, essentially taking up the plan Parallax had attempted during Zero Hour years before.

Alexander had the Society attack various cities. Atlantis was under siege and Bludhaven was decimated, leaving much of it a poisonous hot zone. But despite these attacks around the world, and despite pieces of the Rock of Eternity still causing destruction, people did not give up hope. Stirred by Batman's words, Superman went into action, flying from one part of the world to another, letting people know he was there to help and rallying others to join in the efforts. In Bludhaven, he even helped get rid of much of the radiation and poison by tricking the villain Chemo into absorbing a lot of it into his body.

The Spectre attacked Atlantis, center of magical forces on Earth. Several magic-users combined their forces to defeat the Spectre and Atlantis was saved. With the sacrifice of Nabu, the mystical being who empowered the sorcerer Dr. Fate, the Spectre's crimes finally gained the attention of The Presence, the force that gave him his power. As punishment, the Spectre was forced to have a human host again, merging with the soul of recently killed Gotham City detective Crispus Allen.

With Zatanna leading the charge, various magic-users were able to recover all the pieces of the Rock of Eternity and refuse them together. To maintain the integrity of the rebuilt Rock of Eternity, Billy Batson AKA Captain Marvel was forced to remain within the Rock, taking the place of the wizard Shazam and leaving Earth with one less champion.

Superboy-Prime went off on his own to confront Connor Kent, telling the teenager that he was not fit to be called Superboy when he was simply a clone who didn't have the courage to deal with the life. Prime believed he should have had Connor's life and the career the other teen was so willing to throw away. The two fought and Connor called in help from the Titans.

Since he had never been in a fight except against the Anti-Monitor during the first Crisis, Superboy-Prime did not know how to properly gauge or temper his strength and wound up killing some of the heroes who faced him. Horrified by this, Superboy-Prime decided that this couldn't be his fault, that this flawed universe had corrupted him, once again proving why it needed to be remade.

Before he could cause more destruction, Superboy-Prime was attacked by Jay Garrick (the Golden Age Flash), Wally West (the current Flash) and Bart Allen (Kid Flash II). Combining their speed, they pushed Superboy-Prime towards the Speed Force, the singularity/energy field that exists beyond the speed of light. The energies that spilled forth sent Bart, Wally, Superboy-Prime and Wally's whole family into a parallel reality.

Wonder Woman was confronted by her counterpart from Earth-2, who had secretly been living on Olympus ever since the events of the original Crisis. Now as Olympus was fading, she had only a few minutes to speak to her younger counterpart. The elder Diana explained to Wonder Woman that her problem was that she had been an ambassador, a goddess, a warrior and a diplomat but she had forgotten to see herself as human. Everyone made mistakes and trying to be absolutely perfect was only causing more harm than good.

As Alexander put his plan into action, new versions of Earth began to appear in the skies around Earth. For a short time, it seemed that an empty Earth-2 was back but then Kal-L's wife Lois died. Approached by Superman and Wonder Woman, Kal-L blamed them and their universe, saying that his own reality had been perfect. Superman then argued that this couldn't be so, since a perfect Earth would never have needed a Superman to defend it. Wonder Woman reminded Kal-L that everyone made mistakes and that if he destroyed this reality, he would be throwing out the good along with the bad. Kal-L realized his error and that Alexander had been using him.

Batman told Nightwing to gather heroes to fight Alexander Luthor. In the meantime, he assembled a strike force to directly confront Brother Eye. Nightwing called for Earth's heroes to assemble, but most were too busy in all the chaos to respond while others were scattered across some of the newly-created Earths. Superboy responded to Nightwing's call and revealed that, with help from Lex Luthor, he knew where Alexander's secret base was.

Bart Allen returned to Earth from the parallel universe he had fallen into. While hours had passed for everyone else, a few years had passed for him. Wearing the Flash costume, Bart explained that he had returned because Superboy-Prime had escaped imprisonment at the hands of him and Wally. Superboy-Prime returned minutes later, wearing armor based on the Anti-Monitor's life support system, armor which fed him extra power.

Superboy-Prime confronted Alexander, demanding that he have his own original reality restored, claiming that it had been the "perfect Earth" Alex wanted so desperately to create. They were attacked by Nightwing, Superboy and Cassie Sandsmark AKA Wonder Girl (and Superboy's girlfriend). During the battle, they freed the imprisoned heroes and villains. Black Adam took revenge on the Psycho-Pirate and killed the villain instantly.

In the Polaris system, Donna Troy's group of heroes were able to prove that Rann was not responsible for Thanagar's destruction. With the war over, they tried to quell the destruction of the energy rift. During the chaos, the hero Jade (daughter of Alan Scott, Earth's first Green Lantern) was killed.

Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner led an attack against the giant golden hands that emerged from the rift (Alexander's hands) and Firestorm turned all the energies being directed in the attack into pure positive matter force. The result was that Alexander was prevented from destroying Earth-2 and killing Superman, Wonder Woman and Kal-L in the process. The energy explosion also accidentally transported several of the gathered heroes away, leaving behind no clue as to where they had gone.

In outer space, Batman's strike force succeeded and they destroyed Brother Eye's core, but not before the satellite warned Batman that Nightwing and Superboy would be killed by the combined might of Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor. Batman rushed to Alexander's secret base. At the same time, Kal-L, Superman and Wonder Woman rushed to the same spot to stop Alexander's scheme.

Unaware that help was on the way and unwilling to see reality destroyed, Superboy flew headfirst through Alexander's equipment, carrying Superboy-Prime with him. The explosion halted Alexander's schemes, closing the energy fissure in space and seemingly eliminating the alternate Earths that occupied the skies. But the resulting energy explosion altered tiny bits of the universe's history and left Superboy mortally wounded.

As Wonder Girl assured the teen hero that he had saved everyone, Connor Kent smiled and said, "I know, Cass. Isn't it cool?" He then died as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Kal-L arrived on the scene.

The Society of villains led a final attack on Metropolis as Alexander desperately tried to find a way to renew his efforts and again try to remark reality. During the fight, many heroes and villains were killed and Alexander's equipment was destroyed. Kal-L confronted Alexander, demanding to know why the young man had done all this. Alexander simply answered that he was the same as his father, "the only hero in a world of villains."

After attacking Nightwing, Alexander was confronted by Batman who put a gun to his head and said that the villain needed to pay for Superboy's death, that he needed to pay for the anguish he had put Superman through. But Wonder Woman arrived and told Batman that killing in cold blood or in rage was not their way and Batman relented, acknowledging that everyone needed to take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that followed, himself included. In the confusion, Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 escaped.

Convinced he could still restore his own reality, Superboy-Prime continued fighting and wound up having to combat several members of the Green Lantern Corps. In the end, Superman and Kal-L forced him to pass over the surface of Krypton's red sun, leaving the teen (and the two heroes) powerless. Superman defeated Superboy-Prime and the Green Lanterns took him prisoner, but Kal-L had been injured too greatly. As Power Girl stood over him, Kal-L explained, "It's not going to end. It's never going to end for us ... One day you'll see ... they're still out there ... Lois?"

Kal-L of Earth-2 (historically the very first super-hero) died then, knowing that the universe was safe once more, his wife's name the last thing on his lips. The Second Crisis was over at last.

EPILOGUE

In the aftermath of the Infinite Crisis, Alexander Luthor was confronted by Lex Luthor and the Joker. The Joker was incredibly angry that he had not been invited to join the Society, on the grounds that he was "too wild." Taking Alexander by surprise, the Clown Prince of Killers attacked the villain with acid and electrocution. As Lex Luthor smiled over Alexander, the Joker then shot him in the head, effortlessly killing the man who had nearly overturned the universe itself.

Due to his encounter with Krypton's red sun and samples of Kryptonite in the area, Superman was left powerless and unsure of how or when his powers would return. He decided that, for now, he would enjoy life as Clark Kent.

Wonder Woman, believing she needed to be reminded of common humanity, decided to leave behind the life of a super-hero for a while and go into seclusion. With help from Batman, she adopted the new identity of Diana Prince and later joined the government as a field agent.

And Batman, understanding that he needed to accept responsibility for going to far and needed to remind himself about the fundamentals of why he had begun his crusade, decided to spend the next year retracing the steps he'd taken during his original years of training, with Nightwing and Robin accompanying him for the first several months.

The Big Three had realized where they had lost their way and were now back, reaffirming the reasons for why they did what they did. As Diana and Bruce left, Clark wasn't sure when they three would be in costume again or when they would work together once more. But he knew that, in the meantime, the world had plenty of heroes to look after it, heroes who had become closer again due to the Infinite Crisis and had remembered that when they dismissed suspicion and worked together, there was nothing they couldn't do.

In his prison orbiting Krypton's red sun Eldirao, a cage with no windows or doors that was created by Green Lantern energy, Superboy-Prime stood in contemplation. He was rendered powerless by the red sun radiation and his armor had been taken away. Leaving the walls of his prison would lead into empty space. And several Green Lanterns surrounded his prison, watching him in shifts. Yet despite all this, Superboy-Prime wasn't worried.

As he carved the S-shield into his bare chest, he remarked that he had been in a worse prison than this and he had escaped that one too. He would be free again. It was just a matter of time.

That wraps up Infinite Crisis In a Nutshell. Hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time, cheers!