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Infinite Crisis is the title of a seven-issue comic book limited series published by DC Comics beginning in October 2005. It is written by Geoff Johns, with art by Phil Jimenez. Each issue features two different covers, one drawn by George Perez and the other by Jim Lee and Sandra Hope.

Infinite Crisis is the sequel to Marv Wolfman and George Perez's successful 1985 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths. In addition to the similar name, it reintroduces or revisits characters and concepts last seen in the earlier series, including the existence of a multiverse with alternate versions of iconic characters (such as the Golden Age Superman, Kal-L). One of the major themes is the nature of heroism, contrasting the "darker", and conflicted heroes of recent years with memories of "lighter", more noble, and collegial heroes of the past.

Although the first issue of Infinite Crisis was released on 12 October 2005, the plot threads, and various precursors, had been explored for a long time in many major events, such as the 2004 seen issue limited series Identity Crisis. DC officially began leading up with Countdown to Infinite Crisis, a one-shot issue written by Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winick. Afterwards, four distinct six-issue limited series intended solely to tie-in to Infinite Crisis were launched. A trade paperback entitled Prelude to Infinite Crisis, released in late June 2005, collects a number of earlier story references to Infinite Crisis.

DC has announced that after the fifth issue of Infinite Crisis, in March 2006, nearly all ongoing series set in the DC Universe will jump forward a year. Referred to by the company as "One Year Later", it was designed to give the writers of these series an opportunity to make substantial changes in the situations of their ongoing stories. A weekly series titled 52 is scheduled to begin publication in May 2006, to fill in that missing year in "real time".

Synopsis

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The series begins in the aftermath of the leadup mini-series and several stories in other titles. The Justice League Watchtower has been destroyed, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are feuding, the OMACs are hunting down heroes and villains alike, a space-time rift opens in the center of the universe where Oa used to be as the Guardians of the Universe lay down their duty, the Spectre is hunting and destroying magic, and the villains of the DC world have banded together into the Secret Society of Supervillains, killing prominent heroes like the Freedom Fighters.

In response to this, Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-Two breaks out of the "paradise" dimension in which he departed at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, accompanied by Lois Lane of Earth-Two, Superboy of Earth-Prime, and Alexander Luthor, Jr. of Earth-Three. The Secret Society of Super-Villains attempts to capture Power Girl, but are defeated by Kal-L, who takes Power Girl to his companions, and her memories of Earth-Two are restored. Meanwhile, the Joker seemingly kills the Royal Flush Gang as he learns he is not to be invited to join the Secret Society. Kal-L then declares his plans and intentions to Power Girl: to reverse the action made during the Crisis on Infinite Earths which saved Earth-One, and bring about the return of Earth-Two, so Lois can recover from her sickly state and the world can recover from its decadence.

As the OMAC attack on Themyscira intensifies, the Amazons make use of a new weapon, the Purple Ray of Death. Diana orders the weapon shut down when she realizes that Brother Eye is broadcasting the assault across the world in order to discredit her and her nation further. Quickly diverting the OMACs away from the Amazon armies, Diana orders her sisters to retreat. As they gather on the shoreline of Themyscira, Diana calls on Athena to send Paradise Island into another dimension. Diana however remains behind to battle the OMACs.

Power Girl struggles with whether to support the returned heroes on this venture, knowing that Earth-Two must be restored for Lois Lane-Kent to live. Kal-L visits Batman to enlist his support, stating that the mistrust and hostility Batman has developed — leading him to create the Brother Eye satelite — was due to the inherent "bad" nature of Earth-One over the happiness of Earth-Two. Upon learning the full genocidal implications of this Superman's plan, Batman refuses to cooperate to the point where he attempts to attack the Kryptonian with a kryptonite ring which proved ineffective. After the encounter, Batman learns that it was Earth-Prime's Superboy who intercepted the Martian Manhunter when the JLA Watchtower exploded. In the meantime, the two Luthors confront one another, only to have the blue-eyed Luthor reveal himself to in fact be Earth-Three's Alexander Luthor. Power Girl learns that Alex and Superboy have created a machine, using kidnapped heroes and villains (including Breach, Lady Quark, The Ray, Martian Manhunter, Black Adam, Nightshade, as well as the remains of the Anti-Monitor), presumably to restore Earth-Two. However, Alexander and Superboy may very well have another agenda in mind as well, as Alexander states that Earth-Two is just a step along the way.

Meanwhile, the other known survivor of the multiverse, Donna Troy, gathers a group of heroes (including Animal Man, Air Wave (Harold Jordan), Jade, Green Lantern Alan Scott, Shift, Starfire, Herald, Bumblebee, Firestorm (Jason Rusch), Red Tornado, Supergirl, and Cyborg) to New Cronus for a mission into space to fight an unknown menace to the cosmos in the location of the rift. A major conflict breaks out in the vicinity of the rift, and Firestorm's partner Mick apparently overexerts himself and dies, causing Firestorm to be divided, the Elemental Firestorm, Martin Stein, states Firestorm will live again. On Earth, a young man discovers the blue scarab formerly possessed by the Blue Beetle and thrown from the Rock of Eternity when it exploded over Gotham City. Beetle's best friend, Booster Gold, returns from the 25th Century, searching for the Scarab, which is revealed to have attached itself to the young man.

Chemo is dropped onto Blüdhaven by the Brotherhood of Evil, killing millions. Batman reveals to Nightwing the recordings of Superboy-Prime attacking the Martian Manhunter, and enlists his help. In a Gotham City morgue, the Spectre is drawn under extreme duress into his new host, Crispus Allen, in punishment for his rampage against magic, and the destruction of the Rock of Eternity, Atlantis, and the Lords of Chaos and Order.

Superboy-Prime confronts Conner Kent, in seclusion at the Kent farm, and attacks and ridicules him. The Doom Patrol, JSA, and Teen Titans arrive to defend Conner, but suffer casualties at the hands of the powerful and out-of-control Superboy Prime, who accidentally beheads one superhero and proceeds to kill several others. He is ultimately contained or killed by the "three Flashes" (Jay Garrick, Wally West, and Bart Allen) applying the "Speed Force", with the apparent assistance of three deceased speedsters: Flash (Barry Allen), Max Mercury, and Johnny Quick. However, the Speed Force is somehow depleted or made inaccessible by this effort, and the fates of Superboy-Prime, Bart Allen, and Wally West (along with his wife and children) are unknown.

Alexander reveals to Power Girl that he and Superboy-Prime had been operating from outside their heaven and orchestrating recent events since before Kal-L destroyed it. While Alex posed as Lex Luthor to gather the combined forces of the Society, Superboy Prime collected the corpse of the Anti-Monitor and rearranged planets to precipitate intergalactic war. This was done while the Golden Age Superman (Kal-L) was distracted by the dying Lois. Superboy Prime's planet-moving shifted the center of the universe, from Oa to where Earth-Two's center used to be, creating an 'access point' in space (the rift). Alex then created the tuning fork using both the matter and antimatter remains of the Anti-Monitor and certain select individuals who had the unique vibrational frequencies of the former multiverse hidden in their genetic code.

However, fuel and programming were still required to activate the tower. For the programming part, Alex gave Brother Eye sentience to redirect the tower's energy and remap the universe. For fuel, Alex enlisted the Psycho-Pirate, as one of the only people in the Post-Crisis universe to remember the multiverse, to bring back Eclipso in order to seduce the Spectre to attack magic-based beings, and leave magic in the world in a raw form. With the death of Shazam, Alex obtained access to that raw magic to fuel the tower, and uses it by coercing Black Adam to speak Shazam's name, bringing about the return of Earth-Two separate from the current Earth, with its heroes being transported there.

Leadups to Infinite Crisis

Infinite Crisis was announced at the end of March 2005, with the release of Countdown to Infinite Crisis (which had previously simply been solicited as "DC Countdown" to keep the title and nature of the upcoming miniseries a secret) followed by four six-issue miniseries.

Countdown to Infinite Crisis

Countdown to Infinite Crisis is a one-shot publication and the official start of the Infinite Crisis storyline. It was released 30 March 2005, sold out, and quickly went to a second printing. It was included as part of The OMAC Project trade paperback collection published November 2005 (ISBN 1401208371).

The main plot concerns Ted Kord, the superhero and former Justice League member known as the Blue Beetle, investigating the theft of funds from his company that has left him nearly bankrupt. Most of the other DC heroes dismiss Kord's concerns, either politely or outright. Only Booster Gold, another second-string superhero and Kord's best friend, eventually decides to help complete the investigation, but before he can he is seriously injured by an explosive trap.

Alone and unaided, Blue Beetle continues to follow the clues to Switzerland where he infiltrates the castle base of the Checkmate organization. There he confronts Maxwell Lord, who is revealed to be using his Justice League files and Batman's satellite, the Brother MKI, to keep an eye on the superhero community, which he considers a threat to the human race. After Kord's refusal to join the anti-metahuman strike, Lord shoots the Blue Beetle in the head, killing him.

When this comic was first published, the fate of Blue Beetle was kept secret and the cover did not reveal his death. When the comic received a new printing a few months later, the cover was modified to clearly show the corpse of Blue Beetle.

The OMAC Project

The OMAC Project is the most direct follow-up from the Countdown to Infinite Crisis special, picking up the story where it left off. This six-issue miniseries is written by Greg Rucka with art by Jesus Saiz. While the OMACs look similar to the 1970s Jack Kirby creation OMAC, these are quite different, with a different acronym than the original One-Man Army Corps. Currently, the acronym stands for "Omni Mind And Community" (though the acronym for the OMACs first stood for "Observational Metahuman Activity Construct").

In this miniseries, the OMACs are modified humans who work as sleeper agents, a product of the Checkmate organization, now led by Maxwell Lord. They possess the Brother Eye spy satellite built by Batman following his realization, after the events of Identity Crisis, that his fellow Justice Leaguers had wiped his memory some years before. The OMAC Project ended with an autonomous Brother Eye having command of over 200,000 OMACs and seemingly planning war on the superheroes, starting with the worldwide broadcast of Maxwell Lord's death at the hands of Wonder Woman.

Rann-Thanagar War

Rann-Thanagar War is a six-issue miniseries written by Dave Gibbons with art by Ivan Reis and Marc Campos featuring Adam Strange, Green Lanterns Kyle Rayner and Kilowog, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and other DC space adventurers. It follows on from the events of the 2004 Adam Strange miniseries where the inhabitants of Rann, Adam Strange's adopted world, and Thanagar, Hawkman and Hawkwoman's homeworld, find themselves living in close proximity.

The series follows the war between Rann and Thanagar, two planets that are forced to orbit the same star. At the end of the series the war has not ended, but Hawkwoman is dead, the main villain of the series is rendered in seven pieces and a rip in the space-time fabric emerges. The rip resembles similar rips seen in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Villains United

Villains United is a six-issue miniseries written by Gail Simone with art by Dale Eaglesham and Wade von Grawbadger. The series focuses on the new "Secret Society of Supervillains", organized by Lex Luthor in the wake of the revelation that the DC heroes had altered the memories of several supervillains. The Society is resisted by the Secret Six, a group brought together by a mysterious figure known as Mockingbird.

The Six fail to destroy the Society. The central revelation is that Mockingbird is actually Lex Luthor, and that the Luthor organizing the Secret Society is actually an alternate-universe version of Luthor.

Day of Vengeance

Day of Vengeance is a six-issue mini series written by Bill Willingham with art by Justiniano and Walden Wong. This series deals with The Spectre's quest, inspired by Eclipso, who has now merged with Jean Loring, to destroy all magic in the DC universe. The series follows a ragtag bunch of magical heroes called the Shadowpact and magic-based superhero Captain Marvel in their attempts to stop The Spectre, a quest which they fail at, although they do manage to stop Eclipso.

The series ends with The Spectre attacking and killing the Wizard Shazam, leading to the scattering of many magical artifacts, including the old Blue Beetle Scarab, throughout the world. Shazam's death also leads to a particular crisis over Gotham City when his lair, the Rock of Eternity, splits into many pieces, freeing many magical forces and threats, most notably the Seven Deadly Sins of Man.

In the one-shot special, the Shadowpact, along with numerous other fringe magic and supernatural characters, were lead by the Phantom Stranger to recollect the Seven Deadly Sins and reconstruct the Rock of Eternity. Meanwhile, Nabu, the last surviving Lord of Order, assumed control of the helmet and amulet he had given to Doctor Fate to face the Spectre in a last-ditch effort to dissuade him from his mission.

After the Rock of Eternity was reassembled, Captain Marvel was forced to permanently seal himself inside it to guard against the powerful forces within from escaping.

In the end, Nabu's confrontration was revealed as a diversion to allow the Presence to finally intervene in the Spectre's existence and bind him to a new human host. Nabu was dealt a mortal wound for his efforts, and as he died, the Tenth Age of Magic dawned in the DC Universe. Doctor Fate's helmet was flung by Captain Marvel out into space, so that "fate" could decide its next bearer.

Other key tie-in issues

Though this article is by no means a complete checklist of Infinite Crisis, below is a list of key issues of other titles that have crossed into the story.

• DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #1-4. Donna is ressurected by the Titans of Myth as the Goddess of the Moon. With the help of the Teen Titans and the Outsiders, her true memories are restored. Donna has a crucial role in the upcoming events and it is revealed that she is a living embodiment of all the Donna Troys that have ever existed in the multiverse and possessed all of their memories.
• Flash #215-present. Beginning with the events following Identity Crisis, the Flash confronts his mentor's past, a Rogue War, and the birth of his two children. More recently, Wally fought Vandal Savage, a villain whose appearance near the end of Villains United has brought about large amounts of speculation over the Flash's future.
• Hawkman #47-49 "Coalition in Crisis". A 3-part story chronicling the immediate aftermath of The Rann-Thanagar War that features Hawkman and Hawkgirl joining forces with Adam Strange to battle alien invaders seeking to destroy the planet Rann.
• JLA #115-119 "Crisis of Conscience". This story covers the breakdown of relationships within the Justice League of America over events that occurred in Identity Crisis, and ends with the destruction of the lunar Watchtower, which leads directly into Infinite Crisis.
• JSA Classified #1-4 "Power Trip". This story deals with Power Girl and her post-Crisis origin, establishing that she "survived" the original Crisis, and that her origins somehow are re-established as being from the Krypton of Earth-Two.
• Outsiders/Teen Titans: "Insiders".
• Superman/Wonder Woman: "Sacrifice".
• Coming out from January to March 2006 will be four Infinite Crisis Specials, one for each of the six-issue lead-in miniseries described above.

Editorial planning and Infinite Crisis

Dan DiDio has stated that Infinite Crisis was being planned in some form for two years prior to its launch, starting with the "death" of Donna Troy. The leadup was mostly understated until the release of the Adam Strange limited series in 2004, at which point industry press began to report that DC was planning a very large event, mentioning the titles Teen Titans, The Flash, and JSA, all written by Geoff Johns. Comic Book Resources gossip columnist Rich Johnston announced in August of 2004 that DC planned a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths with work by Johns and Jiminez.

With Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Infinite Crisis began to visibly affect DC's editorial policy. Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison were both given editorial positions in addition to their writing duties, with Johns in charge of coordinating the coherence of the DC Universe and Morrison in charge of handling reimaginings of several characters. In July 2005 Mark Waid signed exclusively with DC and was given a similar editorial role. The leadup to also saw DC change its decades-old logo with a new one that debuted on the first issue of DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy.

Crossover events

Aside from marking a major editorial shift within DC comics, Infinite Crisis was a return to large company-wide crossovers of a sort that had been uncommon since the downturn of the comics industry in the 1990s. Although DC had done crossovers within its individual lines — the Batman event "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive", for example — it had not done a line-wide crossover spanning more than a month since 2001's Our Worlds at War, and arguably hadn't done something of the year-long scale of Infinite Crisis since the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.

This return to large crossover events was reflected in the larger comics industry. At the same time DC began to revive its Wildstorm line, bringing a DC character, Captain Atom, into it, Marvel Comics began the substantial crossover called "House of M", which extended into a storyline called "Decimation" that in turn spawned events planned for Summer 2006. Both companies launching large-scale events concurrently renewed sniping between the two industry leaders that spilled into the mainstream press. DiDio launched the first volley in the preface to Prelude to Infinite Crisis, asking pointedly, "Why settle for a House when you can have Universe," a shot at Marvel's "House of M". Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada fired back in an interview that DC's comics were "corporate"-driven, whereas Marvel's were "creator"-driven.

Consequences of Infinite Crisis

Deaths

Leadup to Infinite Crisis

The following characters died in the six-month leadup:

• Black Bison (John Ravenhair) (Day of Vengeance #1)
• Blue Beetle (Countdown to Infinite Crisis)
• Cheshire (Villains United #6, death seemingly confirmed by One Year Later cover).
• Fiddler (Villains United #1)
• Hawkwoman (Rann/Thanagar War #5)
• Hyena (Villains United #3, executed by Deadshot; it is uncertain which of two known Hyenas this was, and the other has made an appearance more recently)
• Maxwell Lord (Wonder Woman #219)
• Monocle (Manhunter #9)
• Overthrow (The OMAC Project #3)
• Parademon (Villains United #6)
• Pariah (Villains United #6, death seemingly confirmed by One Year Later cover, but it is not yet understood how a simple gunshot could kill this previously believed-to-be invulnerable character.)
• Rocket Red (The OMAC Project #5)
• Wizard Shazam (Day of Vengeance #6)

Infinite Crisis

The following characters died in the course of Infinite Crisis and tie-ins:

Heroes

• Baby Wildebeest (Infinite Crisis #4)
• Black Condor (Infinite Crisis #1)
• Bushido (Infinite Crisis #4)
• Carissa, Amazon Warrior (Infinite Crisis #2, Wonder Woman #223)
• Crispus Allen (Gotham Central #38; fused with The Spectre in Infinite Crisis #4)
• Former Dr. Fates living in the helm of Nabu (Day of Vengeance Special)
• Human Bomb (Infinite Crisis #1)
• Koryak, Aquaman's son (Aquaman #38)
• Nabu (Day of Vengeance Special)
• Lyta Hall (JSA #79)
• Mick Wong, Jason Rusch's Firestorm partner (Infinite Crisis #4)
• Neptune Perkins (Infinite Crisis #3)
• Pantha (Infinite Crisis #4)
• Phantom Lady (Infinite Crisis #1)
• Tekla, Amazon Warrior (Wonder Woman #223)
• Vulko, of Atlantis (Aquaman #38)

Villains

• Satanus (Action Comics #832)
• Captain Nazi (Batman #647)
• Doctor Polaris (Infinite Crisis #1)
• The Fisherman (Gotham Central #37)
• Mr. Whitmore, Stargirl's con-artist father (JSA #81)
• The Ratcatcher (Infinite Crisis #1)

(It should be noted that, in an interview, Executive Editor Dan DiDio would not confirm whether the cover art presented for pre-order solicitations of One Year Later was how the cover would actually appear -- Newsarama.com.)

Missing or presumed (but unconfirmed) dead

• Cerdian (daughter of Tempest and Dolphin, Infinite Crisis #3)
• Chemo (Infinite Crisis #4, may be able to reconstitute)
• Demolition Team (The OMAC Project #6, beaten by OMACs, deaths unconfirmed)
• Dolphin (Infinite Crisis #3)
• Fastball (The OMAC Project #6, beaten by OMACs, death unconfirmed)
• Firefly (The OMAC Project #6, beaten by OMACs, death unconfirmed)
• Flash (Wally West), wife (Linda Park West), and children (Barry West and Iris West II) (Infinite Crisis #4, disappeared, status unknown)
• Kid Flash (Bart Allen) (Infinite Crisis #4, disappeared, status unknown)
• Iron of the Metal Men (Infinite Crisis #2; debatably living; Metal Men have died and returned before)
• King Shark (Infinite Crisis #3, but scheduled to appear later in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis)
• Kite-Man (Infinite Crisis #2, death rumored)
• Mr. Mxyzptlk (Adventures of Superman #647, debatable)
• Lagoon Boy (Infinite Crisis #3)
• Lori Lemaris (Infinite Crisis #3)
• Red Star (Infinite Crisis #4, frozen, status uncertain)
• Risk (Infinite Crisis #4, maimed, status unclear)
• Royal Flush Gang (Infinite Crisis #2, defeated but deaths unconfirmed; their King is immortal)
• Earth-Prime Superboy (Infinite Crisis #4, dissapeared into Speed Force, status unknown)
• Supermen of America (The OMAC Project #6, beaten by OMACs, deaths unconfirmed)
• Tempest (Inifinite Crisis #3, confirmed missing Aquaman #38)
• T'Charr and Terataya (Day of Vengeance Special, deaths unconfirmed)
• Uncle Sam of the Freedom Fighters (appeared dead in Infinite Crisis #1, reported missing in #2; immortal)

Returns

The following characters returned from death or long absence either during or in the immediate lead-up to Infinite Crisis:

• Jason Todd as the new Red Hood (Batman #617, Batman #638)
• Donna Troy (DC Special: Return of Donna Troy #1-4)
• Lady Quark (Villains United #5)
• Kal-L, the Earth-Two Superman (Infinite Crisis #1)
• Earth-Two Lois Lane (Infinite Crisis #1)
• Earth-Prime Superboy (Infinite Crisis #1; disappeared in Infinite Crisis #4, status unknown)
• Earth-Three Alexander Luthor, Jr. (Infinite Crisis #1, but has been posing as the Society´s Lex Luthor even earlier)
• Kid Eternity (Teen Titans #31)
• Crispus Allen (Infinite Crisis #4, fused with The Spectre)

See also

• 52: Weekly storyline post-Crisis, and related events.

External links

• Official Home for Infinite Crisis
• Gallery of Infinite Crisis covers by J. Lee
• Long-form study of Countdown to Infinite Crisis and Tie-ins
• Digital Webbing Index of Infinite Crisis and Tie Ins
• one_eye_ry's Infinite Crisis list with all tie-ins

• DC Comics storylines