Darkseid War is underway in the pages of Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok's JUSTICE LEAGUE. The story has been building and building with each chapter. This is like a big comic book event contained to a single series. You can check out our review for the issue HERE.
Because so much happens in this one issue, we need to delve into some of them and discuss what it could mean. That means there will be some spoilers for JUSTICE LEAGUE #44. That being said, we're still not going to spoil everything. Trust us, you need to read this issue for yourself. We did our best to condense the developments to the top five big things. There's still much more going on here.
The Joker Might be a...God?
Nothing like starting out an issue with a big tease. Wonder Woman is narrating and talking about her mother and the God of Laughter, Gelos. We see an image of Joker while this is going on and it cuts to Batman, sitting in the Mobius Chair. The Mobius Chair has allowed Batman to discover pretty much all knowledge and the first question he asked was about the Joker's real name. He was a bit shocked when he got the answer. Could it be that he discovered Joker is actually a god?
Maybe this is just a big tease. Batman could have Joker on his mind still. Joker being a god would explain some things but just seems like a huge change to the history of the character. Let's place a pin on this one as we wait to see what Geoff Johns has up his sleeve here.
Superman vs Lex Luthor with Superman Not Holding Back
Superman and Lex are trapped on Apokolips. Superman was starting to lose his powers due to the lack of a yellow sun. Lex decided to drop Superman into a solar energy pit and it had quite an effect on him. Superman is clearly being a little irrational and decides to settle things with Lex, despite them currently being teammates.
If Superman is amped up now and not thinking clearly, does Lex stand a chance?
The Black Racer is Unleashed
As the battle between Darkseid and Anti-Monitor cranks up, Darkseid decides he's had enough and summons the Black Racer. The Black Racer is basically the Grim Reaper. There are other repercussions to him/it being summoned. If you're familiar with the Black Racer, you know its connection to another being, you might be able to imagine what happens here.
Secrets Revealed about Anti-Monitor
While the fight is going down, Batman and Hal Jordan have journeyed to the Anti-Monitor's birthplace, Qward. There's a lot they discover including the origin of the Mobius Chair, the Anti-Monitor's real name, and a big revelation dealing with the beginning of the universe.
Johns is laying out some huge revelations here and it'll cool to see what this could all mean in the long run. It does make you look at things a bit differently.
The Death of...
Even though this isn't an official comic book 'event' in the sense that it encompasses several titles and characters, in some ways it really is. The big players in the DCU are present (except Aquaman!) and things are escalating to big proportions. It doesn't seem like you can have an event without a death, right? Well, we do get a pretty big one here. Since this is just chapter 4, there's no telling what this death will mean. We have to assume somehow the death won't stick. There's still plenty more left to the story. It did provide a pretty shocking image. And of course we're not going to reveal this bit. Hopefully you'll read it for yourself rather than seek out the answer.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #45 is currently set to be released on October 21. What did you think of these developments?