Justice League – Volume 2 – 23

Synopsis

Five years ago, the Justice League fought the inter-dimensional conqueror Darkseid and fought back his forces. The result of that battle weakened the boundaries between universes, allowing two people to escape the remains of their ruined world and enter that of the Justice League. One of those two was the Outsider, and while he had escaped, his master did not. So, while the League was busy fighting other threats, he began searching for ways to save the man who had saved him. To do this, he recruited the League’s villains, and built a Secret Society, placing a mole within the League’s ranks. Since learning of Pandora’s Box, he knew what he had to do. He arranged to have Superman framed for murder, and the blame for it placed on the box. Once the Leagues fall, this world will be free to be conquered by his people.

John Constantine has brought the box back to the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, and the three League off-shoots led by Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman begin converging on that location, eager to see the resolution. As Vibe begins to sense the presence of someone from another universe in their vicinity, Madame Xanadu explains to Batman that Pandora’s box is not a prison for sin, but a doorway to another world. Knowing that the heroes will be corrupted by the box’s influence, urges Batman to clear the temple, but he is too late. All three leagues are present, and each member wants the box for his or her self.

Soon, the box is passing from hero to hero as they beat, trick, and talk their way into getting it out of someone else’s hands. The fighting culminates as Superman – influenced by the box’s corruption – jealously begins to suspect that Wonder Woman and Batman are having an affair. The three collide, and each is knocked back, and the box along with it. As the box connects with the ground, its light fizzles out for a moment, and in that moment, its corrupting influence fades, if briefly.

In that moment of clarity, Wonder Woman realises that the box can’t be what is making Superman sick, because nobody else is getting sick. Suspicious, Firestorm determines that Superman is emitting Kryptonite radiation. With Element Woman’s help, they discover that the radiation is coming from a sliver of Kryptonite that was implanted in Superman’s brain. This begs the question: how did it get there. Unexpectedly, The Atom admits readily that she put it there. In fact, she had done so at precisely the moment that Dr. Light was murdered, having triggered Superman’s heat vision at the moment that she thrust the sliver into the nerve. In the end, she had been working for neither the Justice League, nor the JLA.

Horrified, Cyborg accuses her of being a traitor. Amused, she responds that he is too. Suddenly, a voice from within Vic’s cyborg body explains that it has been hiding within him for ages, and decides that it’s time to be rid of its human encumbrance. Green Lantern is forced to suspend Vic’s human remains in green energy as the Cyborg body reforms as a complete humanoid, and introduces itself as Grid before unleashing heavy artillery blasts on everyone.

In the confusion, the Outsider strides straight into the middle of the temple, and plucks the box from the floor. As Pandora reacts with confusion, he explains that the Gods thought the box was an object of magic, but it is truly one of science. Initially, it had been created on his world, and was then placed on this one. Pandora had searched and searched for someone on this world who could open the box, but in truth, only someone from his world – the birthplace of evil – could open it. And once opened, it would become a gateway to that universe. Smirking, he informs her that despite all of her efforts to figure out who was behind the turmoil going on, the answer was a cliché: the butler did it.

With that, he opens the portal, and from it, emerges a man resembling Aquaman. Moments later, he falls to the ground, dead. He is followed then by what appears to be another Superman. As Pandora discovers that Pandora’s Box has been destroyed, Madame Xanadu realises that the “Trinity” she had envisioned had nothing to do with the three Leagues or the Trinity of Sin, but the number 3. Pandora’s Box is a doorway to Earth 3. And, through that door have come that world’s versions of the Justice League: the Crime Syndicate.

Given the weak position of the Justice Leagues, the Crime Syndicate is quite prepared to conquer their world.