Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Crisis - Reworked for the Fourth World

I’ve a pile of notes for a revised Crisis once we’ve finished going through the rereads of it in 2019.

But Ann Hebistand and I were thinking along the same lines in our review of Crisis #8 when we considered what it would be like if Darkseid were the villain of the Crisis.

So, I’ve quickly reworked the plot and posted it below. But first, here’s the exchange…

1.

A cloud of searing white energy destroys multiple Earths. A figure in a green cloak can only witness the destruction and teleport away. The arrogant, mysterious figure known as The Monitor sends his assistant, Harbinger, to recruit heroes and villains from across the multiverse. One of them, Dawnstar, has been setting up devices at key points. Red skies and storms are affecting all Earths. A Harbinger clone is abducted by a shadow, flitting across ice age glaciers. On Oa, the Guardians view the origin of the universe; a giant hand reaching through a swirling vortex of energy. They fear a similar power is being unleashed now, and move to act against it.

2.
The weakened Monitor, resting on a strangely familiar throne, introduces the group to the concept of the Infinite Earths of the Multiverse, and of the Dark Force that threatens it. Their mission is to defend vibrational towers teleported to the devices Dawnstar had set up. The towers are spaced across five worlds. The activated towers will prevent the Dark Force from breaching those universes.

A Guardian of Oa reaches where he thinks the source of the threat originates from. He is badly beaten by something unseen. The Guardian is mocked for being a pale reflection of the true source of power in the universe. On Oa, the central battery turns blood red and dies.

A dark force attacks the Gods of Olympus.

The groups reach each of the towers and mix with the locals. At each location, one of the locals summons a gateway, and winged, shadow figures burst through to attack.

3.
Despite suffering casualties, the group and their reinforcements successfully defend the towers. One of the reinforcements was the Red Tornado. Before he was summoned, he was transformed by one of the Dark Force’s minions. The Tornado Tyrant is in control.

The shadow forms are familiar to some of the group, as was their method of arrival to others. Elsewhere, the corrupted Harbinger clone has infected the rest of them.

The shadowed master of the creatures is lit only by something crimson burning off panel. He watches one of his minions on Earth-1 talk to and control a clearly conflicted Harbinger, telling her that she knows what she must do. The minion seems greedy to gain more people to control. The White Energies enter the edges of the remaining Universes. The multiverse is doomed.

4.
The white energy continues to cause wide spread disaster on the remaining Earths.

The groups gathered by the Monitor now face gargantuan versions of the shadow forms, teleported to their location from some fiery underworld pit. They seem almost insectoid at this scale.

The Green Cloaked figure confronts the Monitor. He has been unable to stop any of the destruction, and has saved who he could (the last being Lady Quark). It’s revealed that the two are working together, but that their foe has outmanoeuvred them. The cloaked figure reveals himself to be Mister Miracle (he had gained god like powers in Kirby’s run, including teleportation). Harbinger attacks The Monitor, ripping through his disguise. The weakened Metron (reveal!) reaches for his Mobius chair as the killing blow arrives. He knows that he has failed with Lyla as he failed with Esak. A button is pushed. The towers activate as the white energy sweeps across…

5.
“Epilogue: There came a time when the old gods died … The end of the old world, the release of energy that swept the universe, splintering it into an infinite number of variations. Unique among these universes spun two cooling worlds: New Genesis and Apokalips.” (A tiny tweak away from the text in New Gods #1)

The corrupted Harbinger battles with those saved by Mister Miracle, but escapes. She badly damages Metron’s satellite. She also tells them that Darkseid’s servants will ensure his victory. Metron’s chair, and his body, have vanished at the activation of the towers.

The Dark Figure works out that Metron’s plan has saved the remaining universes. He is surprised that Metron would act against him. Was it the death of Highfather and the destruction of New Genesis? He would have thought Metron would be above such things, and would want to know the knowledge of the Anti-Life equation.

The Dark Figure cannot currently access the saved universes. But only for now. For Darkseid (big reveal) has agents of his own on all these worlds.

We see some of those agents as we learn that time has also overlapped across the worlds.
Morgan Edge, cut off from his master, begins to contact super villains
In the ocean depths, The Deep Six move on Atlantis
Glorious Godfrey is shown as the one controlling Harbinger. She helps him with the controls of a device containing views across three Earths.
The Tornado Tyrant activates a device within his vastly modified robotic form. The shell of the Tornado is destroyed and terrible storms rage across the remaining Earths.

The heroes deal with adventures across the time zones.

The Earths continue to merge and Darkseid will still use them towards his final goal.

6.
Mister Miracle fails to prevent the destruction of Metron’s satellite. His Mother Box contains all the information he needs. He contacts Barda and tells them they must gather the heroes from across the remaining universes. There’s tension between the two. He’s distant from her due to his powers, and despite all the pain and horror they’ve lived through together. There’s only one meeting place to discuss such a Crisis…
Godfrey and Harbinger are connected to their device. It’s The Fear Machine from the New Gods series. Her Metron granted powers allow her access to the Multiverse, while his…

Boom tubes bring a mix of Earth-1 and Earth-2 faces to the abandoned JLA satellite. Others are contacting the heroes of the other Earths.

Scott Free and Barda are recognised by some of the heroes from the JLA and JSA. They tell them about the War of the New Gods and Darkseid’s obsession with the Anti-Life Equation. He confirms the death of Highfather and the destruction of New Genesis. Metron had planned to replace the seed of New Genesis (he’s towing a planetoid in New Gods) but when realising the threat of Darkseid’s plans, it became the foundation of his almost sentient satellite.

Lightray is sickened at the destruction of the worlds and at the loss of life. His normally cheerful disposition has taken a knock. He’s at least happy the heroes of Earth Four have already gathered. He’s less thrilled when something blasts him from the sky.

Elsewhere, Baron Bedlam looks at the containment tubes of the leaders he has kidnapped. He sends his consciousness out to the bodies that have replaced them.
Barda tells the heroes of Apokalips and the forces that Darkseid has there and on Earth.

They’re interrupted by an alarm. No one has returned from the other three Earths. An injured Fastbak sends a desperate message for help from Earth-S. the assembled heroes split into groups to travel to the three worlds.

Black Manta watches the Deep Six control prehistoric giant creatures and Spawn from Apokalips in their attack on Atlantis. He’s summoned by the new Society of Super Villains (they were originally dupes of Darkseid’s minions).

The groups of heroes fight the controlled heroes on each of three worlds. The controlled heroes are targeting the towers and the heroes move to stop them. Orion goes up against Captain Marvel after the Fawcett heroes injured his love Bekka. He berates Miracle and the others for their lack of action. It’s something Lady Quark certainly agrees with.

The vibrational energy of the devices failing, Vibe sacrifices himself to preserve them and short out Godfrey and Harbinger’s power.

But the heroes who have fought to save five universes from destruction are attacked by the Society of Villains, and the people of the Earths’ are manipulated by Bedlam and their own weaknesses.

7 – 8.
Intergang and the Society look to take over the surviving Earths.

The villains are out to establish power, but Darkseid’s intergang agents work to destabilise society completely and turn the heroes into enemies.

Ol-Vir acts in the 30th century.

Villains like Brainiac and Luthor defeat the guardians of the towers, and begin to analyse them for themselves. It’s through them and a recovered Harbinger that the truth of Intergang’s plan is revealed.

Jimmy Olsen will no doubt play a big role in the final discoveries of who is behind the villains. We see the DNA Project, the Newsboy Legion and the Guardian (who could easily be added into earlier bits of this subplot too) Although no major villain likes to think he’s a pawn, and that plays a part too.

At Orion’s bidding, the heroes and villains will now take the war to Darkseid!

9 – 10
An all-out attack on Apokalips is declared! Transported by Mister Miracle and the coordinated efforts of Mother Boxes. Through the parademons, the army of lowlies and the animated, twisted architecture they attack.

Orion faces Darkseid. We learn of the prophecy surrounding Orion. Prophecy is also shared by Darkseid who speaks of breaching the source before his escape. He also taunts Orion about how he unlocked the Anti-life equation. It was through humans supposedly under Orion’s care, but abandoned when the Dog of War sought other battles. It’s assumed that none of the humans survived the experience. Superman battles Darkseid, but also loses.

As the Omega Beams are about to be unleased on the pair. Supergirl confronts Darkseid echoing the GDS. Only she remembers this previous encounter even as the Dark God mocks the concept of time and space. They couldn’t be more different in outlook. Supergirl dies saving the others.

Lightray becomes an increasingly darker figure as he sees Kara’s sacrifice (he has an opposite arc to Doctor Light in this one).

Darkseid only manages to escape in a Boom Tube and Orion feels both guilt and rage at his perceived failure.

11.
Analysing the machinery around Darkseid’s stronghold, the heroes discover that the energies of the multiverse were being channelled to a particular point. It’s the point where the two worlds of New Genesis and Apokalips were originally once a single world.

There, Darkseid views the Source Wall. It has appeared there following the destruction of New Genesis.

It’s also been advising Darkseid from the beginning. Around the point the energies from the dying screams of countless universes are being channelled. An artificial world has been created to control the energy. The Dark God looks to breach the Source Wall and enter the Genesis point of the Source, using the Anti-Life equation to control the Fifth World that awaits.

Our heroes and villains work together to find a way to breach this world around the Source. Magnetism, electricity and sorcery all help to power Barry, Wally and Jay’s cosmic treadmills.

They meet and defeat not only Darkseid’s elite troops, but encounter the Female Furies, Kanto and mockeries of those killed by the Omega Beams. There are casualties on both sides. Barry defeats an army of Darkseid with the help of Bekka turning their emotions against Darkseid. He also destabilises Darkseid’s machinery, but at a tragic cost.

Darkseid is still able to breach the wall, although not with anything like the energies he needed to fulfil his plans. He goes anyway, with the heroes and villains drawn into the energies unleased across the world.

12.
The multiverse has collapsed to here and all that remains lies beyond the Source Wall. There, Darkseid is faced by the Promethean Giants. It’s always been thought that the Giants were massive by our scale. But the opposite is true. The Source is an infinitesimal singularity that they couldn’t breach. Their remains form a final, living barrier. It’s something that Metron always knew about, and why he acted against Darkseid as The Monitor. A drained Dark God awaits the heroes for a final battle across the giant vista of the trapped Giants.

In the end, Orion sacrifices himself to save others in front of Darkseid. His arc has been about acting because he feels it is right, and not because those actions are prophesied. He cannot beat Darkseid through violence but he has learned from the actions of the heroes and his friends to transcend this.

The Anti-life equation is an absolute in Darkseid’s mind. It appears around him. It will crush free will in the new universe to come. But he’s absorbed the energies of heroes. He’s seen prophecy rejected and his son embrace something else. The Anti-life equation shifts as the singularity engulfs him. Only as he sees the Black Racer approach does he see the realise that he’s a pawn of the Source. The prophecy has indeed been fulfilled. The Life Equation will be born into the universe to come.

Those who can be are transported by Mister Miracle, who gives up the energies of his godhood to open boom tubes.

A hand reaches out from a swirling vortex. The hand of Darkseid. The hand of life.

Scott sees the energies sweeping towards him. Only a Miracle will save him. He thinks of Barda and smiles…

The energies of the multiverse collapse completely combining with those of the source and the world goes to white…

The DCU is rebooted…

Epilogues…

Some boom tubes open in places to conveniently take some of the cast out of what comes next. For example, Superman and Lois Lane are taken with the last of Mister Miracles power to the idyllic world of Adon, where they meet the Forever People.

Wally West takes over the mantle of the Flash. He’s troubled by a presence just beyond his awareness. He remembers Barry running against the Black Racer just before his death.

Lyla Michaels (Harbinger) stands uncertainly in a run-down rural town. Her clothes are dusty and matted in the heat. There’s a small exhalation of air behind her. She turns, fearing the worst. A glowing Mobius chair awaits, glittering in the sunlight.

Summary

It’s very easy to take the core of the Crisis and replace it with the Fourth World.

The spin of the original series revolves around the Guardians and Krona. That is easily replaced with the New Gods mythology involving the war between Apokalips and New Genesis.

Considering the direct interactions between the New Gods and Earth it’s actually easier to build a Crisis around. There are a loft more characters directly involved in the conflict.

The end of the Old Gods is eerily similar to the opening dialogue of Crisis.

The Anti-Matter clouds become the Omega Effect writ cosmic.

The red skies and storms are signs that the Ultimate Omega Effect has been unleashed. They symbolise the fracturing and condensing multiverse.

Darkseid is collapsing the multiverse in an effort to enforce the Anti-Life Equation. It’s a clear, direct goal rather than the shifting goals that ended up in Crisis. The clearer goals filters down to the cast who have stronger motivations.

Pariah becomes Mister Miracle, who was granted god like powers including teleportation in a published Fourth World story.

Psycho Pirate is no longer needed as Darkseid has Glorious Godfrey to control people like Harbinger.

The villains are recruited into another Secret Society that had Darkseid connections before.

The Shadow Demons are Parademons changed further by the Anti Life Equation.

Doctor Light can be replaced by Lightray.

Lady Quark could be replaced by Orion.

Harbinger has a reason to exist as she replaces Esak, a former pupil of Metron.

The Pariah, Quark and Harbinger characters move away from somply propelling the plot.

That's my quick rewrite. Your thoughts on it are welcome.

I have to say, Thoth, you've impressed me before with your elaborate fan plots (I'm thinking especially of that Hellboy Universe/Teen Titans mash-up in the Titans forum), and this is your most impressive creative work yet.

Like Rick Veitch when he guest-wrote his first Swamp Thing story, "Wavelength," issue 62, guest-starring Metron and Darkseid, it is clear that you have put a lot of reading and a lot of thought into Kirby's Fourth World Saga, and, again like Veitch, you've figured out a lot of deep, complex metaphysical stuff which -- in my view at least -- Kirby was either unable to articulate in his work, or unable to clarify in his own head before he put it to paper. You have also once more demonstrated your encyclopedic knowledge of the early-mid to mid-late 80s DCU.

I think you sell yourself short by calling this a "quick rewrite." Yes, Wolfman/Perez's plot holes are still there, but your synopsis *reads* so much *better* than their completed story & art, and that, to me, is what matters.