DC Comics Universe and Year Of The Villain: Hell Arisen #4 Spoilers and Review follows.
Who Wins? Apex Lex Luthor Or The Batman Who Laughs?
Dark Nights Death Metal Welcomes Nix Uotan, Superjudge, Multiversity’s Last Of The Monitors?
We open in the past, “Then”, as Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor’s right hand, asks him why he’s doing all that he’s been doing.
He explains his journey from a Superman among the Justice League to head of the Legion of Doom.
He saw a vision of the future where the gods will bow to humanity and the Batman Who Laughs is a wildcard that has already lost.
We pivot to the present, “Now”, where Apex Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom has confronted the Batman Who Laughs and his Secret Six, well, Secret Sixty perhaps of infected Justice League members.
Lex Luthor removes Batman Who Laughs visor, but…
…he gets it back as Lex Luthor actually infects the Batman Who Laughs!
He can no longer transmit the dark metal from his body to infect anyone anymore!
The Secret Six, well sixty, are no free of the Batman Who Laughs influence!
Supergirl is angry and wants the Justice League to attack Lex Luthor and the Batman Who Laughs! Mercy Graves is upset because they don’t realize Lex just saved the Justice League from the Batman Who Laughs.
Anyhow, Lex Luthor transports the three of them to an audience with Perpetua.
This where the Batman Who Laughs makes his play! He explains that while she is the force behind reality; the Batman Who Laughs says that he is part of unreality and can see things she can’t and that Lex Luthor hasn’t!
The Justice League is alive, despite what the end of Justice League #39 revealed (full spoilers here), and he also knows the visions she gave Lex were a lie; humanity is not destined to topple the gods or her!
Lex Luthor gets insubordinate with Perpetua over all this and she strips him of his powers and…
…transports him, and Mercy Graves, somewhere else instead of killing him for some reason.
Perpetua and Batman Who Laughs form an alliance where neither trust each other, but have a common goal.
The Batan Who Laughs then shows something that Perpetua can’t see to her; his plans to destroy the Justice League and humanity. She is amused.
The book ends with Lex Luthor and Mercy Graves back on Earth and Lex believing humanity is over; he’s actually crying over it!
That is how this micro-series ends leading into Dark Nights: Death Metal and beyond (spoilers here)!
Looks like Nix Uotan, Superjudge, Multiversity’s Last Of The Monitors will turn up in that after his surprise return last issue (full spoilers here)!
The Pulse:
Another action-packed issue. However, this one just feels like a bridge from Year of the Villain to Dark Nights: Death Metal. The previous issue was the best one in this micro-series. However, I was intrigued by how the Apex Lex Luthor and Batman Who Laughs battle would end. 7 out of 10.
