Hello, my friends. The darkest hour has arrived and is looming large upon us all to the point where any chance at victory not only seems nigh-impossible, but can only happen at a high cost. While our surviving heroes scratch, claw and grind their way against these towering odds, allow me to guide you towards that ultimate conclusion as I welcome you all to another entry of…
Over the course of the two prior entries, our TomorrowVerse heroes discover that not only is their Earth is danger but several other Earths as well. In particular, the multiverse is in danger by constant anti-matter waves as well as Shadow Demons. In the midst of all of this, a particular person who has the power to manipulate emotions wound up within the grasp of a powerful being. Through this unionship, our heroes wound up fighting each other which resulted in several more Earths getting eradicated. Despite a particular homeless-looking pariah getting his original identity restored and thus getting the Shadow Beasts subdued, those monsters would come together in order for their master to have a titanic-size physical form and is about to wipe our primary group out once and for all. Now that we’re caught up, let’s resume our trek as we check out this featured entry known as…
Released on July 16, 2024 for digital download before coming out for home video on July 23, Jeff Wamester continues his directing duties while Jim Krieg handles the screenplay. As for how this three-part translation of Marv Wolfman and George Perez’ 12-part event comic from 1985 turns out, let’s get back into the chaotic cosmos one last time and find out.
Following the opening credits, we open where the last entry left off as our heroes try to fight the Anti-Monitor (voiced by Ato Essandoh) with various light-based attacks. Unfortunately, he’s able to grow some armor to order to properly adapt and shield himself. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Kara Zor-El a.k.a. Supergirl (voiced by Meg Donnelly) was influenced into murdering the Monitor with her Heat Vision back on his satellite only for her to snap of it and see her charred handiwork.
Back on Earth-1, the Anti-Monitor begins to charge up a finishing strike. Unbeknownst to all of them, the Monitor uses his dying notion to levitate and glow before he unleashes his own energy onto his satellite. From there, it proceeds to hit all of the remaining Earths as all of them manage to vanish from the towering fiend in time. Over within an otherworldly plane, every surviving Earth is able to reform there alongside the satellite.
Later on, Shayera Hol a.k.a. Hawkgirl (voiced by Jamie Gray Hyder) and Kal-L a.k.a. the Earth-2 Superman (voiced by Darren Criss) are searching for someone within the shattered remains of a planet that they’ve spent the past several weeks trying to find. Fortunately, they’re able to find their target as it turns out to be Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman (voiced by Stana Katic) who not only survived Earth-46’s destruction, but is completely encased in ice.
Back on the satellite, Kal-El a.k.a. Clark Kent a.k.a. the Earth-1 Superman (also voiced by Darren Criss) and Lois Lane (voiced by Alexandra Daddario) meet up with Shayera and Kal-L as the later carries Diana’s frozen body. Kal-El then uses his Heat Vision to free Wonder Woman from her icy shell before they all discover that she’s still alive.
As she recovers in the medical bay within Earth-1 Superman and Lois’ company, Lane expresses her stunned amazement by this turn of events especially since they’ve been trying to find her over the last eight months. Earth-2’s Superman and Hawkgirl then come in as the former is grateful that his true love is still around. However, Diana tells him that she’s haunted by “millions of people” dying around her while she still survived due to her own immortality. When she then asks them for an update, they proceed to inform her that they’re now in an otherworldly plane called “The Bleed” which is “an unstable dimension that exists outside the Multiverse” and somewhat serves as a limbo-esque setting (which Wonder Woman even compares it to the “Fields of Asphodel”. Hawkgirl then gives Diana her tiara which they found somewhat early on during their search and that they took it as a sign of hope before Lois says that hope is what they’re all in desperate need of.
As they make their way through the satellite, they walk past several refugees while both Supermen tell Wonder Woman that the Bleed is able to exist in an extra-dimensional way and allows them to hide from the Anti-Monitor. However, its unstable nature has resulted in all of the present Earths’ space and time be in constant flux with each other. As such, they don’t have as much necessary resources as they would need to hand out especially since some Earths have become inaccessible due to natural disasters constantly popping up. As they make their way into the central hub, Diana asks them what they can do before she gets greeted by Arthur Curry a.k.a. the Earth-146 Aquaman (voiced by Liam McIntyre) and Vic Sage a.k.a. Question (voiced by David Kaye). Just then, Arthur gets contacted from his home world as he deals with a minor problem from his kingdom in that his planet is providing water for several other Earths in certain rations despite his own people also needing said fluid.
Diana is then met upon by Michael Holt a.k.a. Mister Terrific (also voiced by Ato Essandoh) as she commends him for his idea of all the various Earths being moved to this otherworldly plane. Michael then tells her that this was made possible by the Monitor unleashing cosmic energy that he’s built up for “billions of years” upon his demise. She then asks him how the Monitor died, to which Kimiyo Hoshi a.k.a. Doctor Light (voiced by Erika Ishii) blatantly says that he was killed off by Supergirl.
We then shift over to Earth-1 where a giant wall of otherworldly energy stands within the ravaged Metropolis while Lane covers the devastation. Just then, she gets met upon by the Supermen, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Oliver Queen a.k.a. Green Arrow (voiced by Jimmi Simpson) and even an Earth-2 hero named Dinah Laurel Lance a.k.a. Black Canary (voiced by Elysia Rotaru) as Diana commends her for taking up her mother’s mantle.
Just then, they all hear an ominous growl & bellow from the energy before a large group of various dinosaurs emerge and go on a rampage. With the civilians in danger, our heroes spring into action as Black Canary and Green Arrow team up to defeat some carnivorous beasts.
Meanwhile, the Earth-1 Superman finds himself going up against some Pteranodons while Wonder Woman uses her Lasso of Truth to prevent a Tyrannosaurus Rex from harming some innocent people. However, the beast then proceeds to drag her across town.
Over near the shoreline, Arthur manages to save a woman from another towering beast before luring it towards him. Suddenly, Lois gets its attention by throwing various objects at it despite Curry telling her that he has this under control. Sure enough, a gigantic octopus that he managed to summon emerges and wraps its tentacles around the meat-eating being before dragging it into the ocean.
After the Earth-2 Superman manages to save a woman and her child from some falling debris, he then teams up with his Earth-1 counterpart as they zap the Pteranodons with their Heat Visions. Back with Diana, she struggles to get the T-Rex under control before she manages to leap up onto the being and ultimately tames it.
Shortly after Oliver and Dinah are able to take down a few more opposing beasts, the Earth-2 Superman flies in just as gets approached by Wonder Woman and her own handiwork.
Afterwards, they hear some rumbling as several more dinosaurs emerge from the wall of energy. Not only that, but a military plane that’s firing at the creatures also emerge along with a jeep that has Henry “Miles A Minute” Jones and Sarge shooting away at the beings. They then pull up next to Lane as she asks them about their “story”, to which Captain William Storm (voiced by Dean Winters) says that he and his team are merely “a motely collections of grunts lost in time” that’re looking to prevent those dinosaurs from harming others.
As their aerial comrade beings to force the Pteranodons back into the energy wall, he and his comrades proceed to back towards it as well. She then asks them who they are, to which William simply says that they’re “just a bunch of losers”.
With the dinosaurs making their way back into the otherworldly energy, Diana allows her T-Rex to go with them as all of the creatures along with the Losers enter the otherworldly wall before it dissipates.
Over on Earth-10, a group of villains manage to hear about this incident as their leader Lex Luthor (voiced by Darren Cross himself, Corey Stoll) learns from the Joker (voiced by Troy Baker) that there weren’t any casualties from the dinosaur-filled moment. Pamela Isley a.k.a. Poison Ivy (voiced by Katee Sackhoff) then informs him that a similar “chronal anomaly” has occurred on their world. Specifically, an erupting Mount Vesuvius has phased into Central City as she then specifies that these kinds of anomalies are increasing at an exponential rate and that they their world along with the other Earths can’t indefinitely remain within the Bleed. Lex then assures the group that he has his own “ace” that’ll help them all out before he heads into a private room within the compound.
It’s then revealed that he has Charles Halstead a.k.a. Psycho-Pirate (voiced by Geoffrey Arend) as his prisoner before having Electrocuter torture him for a bit. Luthor then tells Charles that there’s a certain “friend” of his that he would like to get in contact with.
Over in Earth-2’s Gotham City, the Bat-Family are on a rooftop stakeout after having received a tip from GCPD Commissioner Renee Montoya that the Gotham Armory is being targeted by an enemy group for its weapons. Because the opposing collection is taking a while to show up, Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman (voiced by Jensen Ackles) then mentions about a time anomaly that’s occurred within the city’s Robinson Park and asks where else they could’ve stopped off. Dick Grayson a.k.a. the Earth-2 Robin (voiced by Zach Callison) says that they could’ve invaded police headquarters in order to raid its lock-up and evidence lockers.
Just as Helena Wayne a.k.a. the Earth-2 Huntress (also voiced by Erika Ishii) mentions that the antagonistic fiends could acquire every confiscated weapon, Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Batgirl (voiced by Gideon Adlon) spots an enemy shot approaching and manages to tackle Helena out of the way as it turns out to be a chilling shot from Mr. Freeze’s freeze gun. It turns out that the Nazis of Earth-X had raided the armory and are now in possession of the rogues gallery’s various weapons. As such, the Bat-Family proceeds to engage them as Damian Wayne a.k.a. Robin (also voiced by Zach Callison), Terry McGinnis a.k.a. Batman Beyond (voiced by Will Friedle) and Huntress easily defeat several opposing soldiers.
Grayson then finds himself going up against a Nazi that’s equipped himself with Bane’s venom-injecting device, yet he manages to defeat the fiend by overloading his body with an excessive amount of venom before easily besting several more soldiers.
As for Batman, he engages a group of various Nazis as one of them protects himself from the incoming Batarangs with Penguin’s umbrella before he then uses Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin. Bruce is then confronted by several horrifying beings as he fends them off before he’s then met upon by Barry Allen a.k.a. Flash (voiced by Matt Bomer) who tells him to “go back to the beginning” just before he fades away.
Back in reality, some of the Bat-Family looks over the Fear Gassed-Batman before Dick contacts the satellite and asks for an emergency trans-mat. With him not getting an immediate response, Helena then gets in contact and asks what’s going on, to which Mr. Terrific informs them that they have a developing situation before Bruce, Robin, Huntress and Batman Beyond proceed to get teleported.
Back on the satellite, Supergirl shares her time from the Legion of Super-Heroes with Batgirl before she then mentions how this isn’t helping her feel any less guilty for possibly bringing about the end of their universe. Barbara tries to assure that it’s not her fault before the alarm goes off and they’re forced to go back to work as they reach the central hub, where Kara hears from Aquaman and Eve Eden a.k.a. Nightshade (voiced by Ashly Burch) about some growing concerns before Ted Kord a.k.a. Blue Beetle (voiced by Matt Lanter) brings up how someone is materializing onto their trans-mat platform without any authorization.
It’s then revealed to be Lex as he informs Michael and Kimiyo that the Bleed is currently “tearing itself apart” as he also mentions that it’s buckling over one of the Earths. In particular, it’s occurring over Earth-146 as Arthur contacts his wife Mera (also voiced by Askly Burch) and learns that a massive tear is forming over their home world as the Anti-Monitor is able to cause a wide-enough opening in order to reach inside and shoot out an energy blast that proceeds to turn into an anti-matter wave.
Mister Terrific tries to mobilize a group of patrol ships, but Luthor tells him that they wouldn’t be able to reach said Earth in time. With no way to protect his planet, Curry requests to be sent home. Despite this going against Holt’s wishes, Aquaman still wishes to go out alongside his family and his people as he ends up getting teleported back to his doomed world. Arthur arrives back in time in order to be with his wife and child just as the anti-matter wave proceeds to eradicate the entire planet, to which the Anti-Monitor heads back through the tear before it seals up.
Over in the sick bay, Bruce wakes up before he’s ultimately met upon Dr. Elizabeth “Beth” Chapel (voiced by Cynthia McWilliams) who was able to spot him in the shadows with her Night Vision (since she’s also Doctor Midnight). She then mentions that he’s been out for the past ten days before he notices that she’s “traumatized” and “grieving”, to which she informs him that the Anti-Monitor somehow found them by ripping a tear into the Bleed and wiped Earth-146 along with its version of Aquaman out of existence. Over the past two days, Earth-88 and Earth-2112 also met the same fate. Wayne then brings up the Flash and that he saw him die while on Warworld before mentioning that he needs to talk to a certain “doctor”.
Later in the satellite’s central hub, Bruce meets up with Kent Nelson a.k.a. Doctor Fate (voiced by Keith Ferguson) as he explains to Dr. Chapel and a small group of fellow heroes about a moment that he had back on Warworld. Specifically, he saw “a dying old man” pop up to deliver a message to him and that he’s just realized that it was Barry. With his fellow comrades baffled by this revelation, the now-former Green Lantern known as John Stewart (voiced by Aldis Hodge) asks why this remotely matters. Batman explains his belief that the Flash traveled back in time from this particular crisis in order to help them out by informing them of “something significant”. Wonder Woman then reminds him that they were previously trapped on a planet that was filled with “automatons and illusions” before she asks him how he can be sure about this notion, to which he essentially says that it’s why he asked for Kent’s help.
From there, Doctor Fate uses a spell that ultimately proves Wayne’s Warworld-based claim as true to his teammates. Afterwards, it leaves him with a minor strain since he did uncover “a very significant event” that was also real as he confirms that Barry did briefly confront Wayne in order to tell him something important. Specifically, the way for them to ultimately prevail exists “before the beginning” and more specially, prior to the Multiverse’s existence. Dick then says that there’s no way for them to carry this out since they’re not able to travel through time while the Earth-1 Superman wonders if there’s any other way for them to pull this off. Stewart then mentions that he came across a babbling homeless man who turned out to be “a sorcerer” and helped him defeat some Shadow Demons with his magic. He goes on to mention that the guy was even tortured since before their own universe existed and that his name is John Constantine. With him feeling his Helmet of Nabu growing clod by the mention of said name, Nelson then asks him where they can find this guy before Stewart tells him that the man left after they went into the Bleed and wanted to curl up somewhere in order to not see everything end again. Despite John’s doubts on them finding their guy, Dick assures him that Batman and his detective skills will come in handy. Bruce then asks him for everything he knows about their man as Stewart does recall the bloke wanting “a bloody drink”.
We then shift over to Earth-18 as the Hellblazer himself John Constantine (voiced by Matt Ryan) is drunkenly drowning his sorrows within a saloon. He then asks a guy to help him purchase another drink, to which the man known as Sidewinder (voiced by Brian Bloom) declines. John then tries to sway him with some “close-up magic”, which essentially boils down to a cheap parlor trick involving his thumb. Sidewinder then counters with the coin appearing behind the ear trick as Constantine tries to acquire it, but Sidewinder keeps it away long enough to drop into a spit-filled spittoon.
John then tries to acquire it before a Batarang flies in and lodges itself in front of him as the patrons are soon met upon by Bruce, Diana, Kent & Stewart as Wayne then explains to the former Green Lantern how he was able to find their man. Specifically, he was able to discover that this saloon had “the strongest levels of eldritch energy with the highest alcohol content”. Although Wonder Woman assures the patrons that they’re only here to talk with Constantine, Sidewinder and his hombres become agitated with their presence as the former says that they’re become fed up with various figures from other worlds constantly popping up in their area. With he and his cohorts aiming to keep control over their planet, things start getting tense as a potential standoff begins to rear its ugly head.
Fortunately, Doctor Fate is able to calm things down by magically replacing the opposing guns with filled beer mugs. Unfortunately, Sidewinder has had enough as he and his fellow cowboys charge right at our heroes.
Thankfully, they’re able to easily defeat the opposing cowpokes while Constantine is also able to get some proper change out of it.
Suddenly, a shot fires in as Diana uses her bracelet to deflect the bullet into the alcohol-filled barrel before before it’s then revealed that the projectile came from Bartholomew Aloysius Lash a.k.a. Bat-Lash (voiced by Brett Dalton). Even though she remembers him from Warworld, they never actually met as she then has to feign an explanation of having met his descendent from another world and that he’s deceased. Under Batman’s orders, Bat-Lash is able to get his fellow patrons to leave the saloon so that they can finally talk to Constantine in private.
After Kent uses a spell that helps the Hellblazer get sober, he then magically discovers that their guy is “impossibly old” and is even “older than the Multiverse itself”. Despite Constantine claiming that he has a spotty memory, Bruce assures him that he known several “ways to get people to remember”.
Over on Earth-2, disaster has fallen upon a particular municipality as it gets rocked by a severe thunderstorm along with several massive earthquakes. The Justice Society has sprung into action in order to save its civilians as Dinah Drake a.k.a. Black Canary (also voiced by Elysia Rotaru), Jay Garrick a.k.a. Flash (voiced by Armen Taylor) and Rex Tyler a.k.a. Hourman do all they can to help out.
As for a nearby blaze that also threatens the city, the Earth-2 Aquaman is able to help out by punching a hold into a nearby dam in order for enough ocean water to pour out and extinguish it before he has a giant cephalopod cover it up. Afterwards, they reunite only to horrifyingly discover a familiar tear opening over their world as Drake immediately contacts the satellite about this turn of events.
Michael informs her that a proper defense has been deployed as it’s then revealed to be several figures gathered together before firing their own light-based attacks at the Anti-Monitor. Unfortunately, it’s able to withstand their attempt before it responds by firing an anti-matter wave at them and wiping them all out from existence. Afterwards, it resets its sights upon Earth-2 as it fires an anti-matter wave at the planet.
With the world facing its inevitable doom, Drake contacts her daughter up on the satellite in order to say that she loves her and is also proud of her. From there, Earth-2 gets eradicated before the Anti-Monitor retreats through the tear and the lone Black Canary is now left to grieve over her newly-deceased mother.
With the fissure sealed once again, Lois then brings up how coincidental it’s become that the Anti-Monitor is now able to slowly find his targets within the vast Multiverse. Question adds onto her notion that someone within the Bleed may have leaked those locations before Blue Beetle asks him if someone willingly contacted the Anti-Monitor. From there, Lane immediately suspects the Earth-10 Lex as she brings up that he arrived on the satellite right before Earth-146 was decimated. From there, Luthor confirms her suspicion and admits that he did do it.
Back on Earth-18, Doctor Fate sets up a séance in order for the group’s energies to help Wayne weave through Constantine’s scattered memories along with how the Hellblazer himself is connected to both the Multiverse along with their current crisis. From there, they get underway as Batman and Constantine soon find themselves amongst the Spectre (voiced by Lou Diamond Phillips).
Suddenly, Bruce finds himself pulled back to the final moment of “Justice League Dark: Apokolips War” where the remaining heroes stand amongst their decimated world beneath the ravaged Titans Tower. John then meets up with him as he then explains that Earth was invaded and conquered by a being known as Darkseid. Wayne says that he’s never heard of said individual, to which Constantine says that he’s had a major hand in that occurring. From there, Batman witnesses John’s past self convincing the Flash to “clear the board and start again”. It’s then revealed that the Hellblazer had also added a guidance spell onto Barry in order to help him run off to his intended target. Bruce then calls out Constantine for trying to rewrite history before the Scarlet Speedster dashes off towards his mission.
Over on the satellite, Lois and the Earth-1 Superman chastise the Earth-10 Luthor for getting billions of people killed. Lex says that would’ve died anyway before Mister Terrific and Doctor Light confirm that their overall survival time is vastly dwindling. Hawkgirl then says that it still doesn’t change the fact that Luthor still sold everyone out to the Anti-Monitor, to which he counterargues that they’re all going to perish if they didn’t have the proper “data”. As such, he contacted the Anti-Monitor and gave him the locations of where the other Earths can be found as long as Earth-10 was spared. Despite this despicable act, it’s allowed them to have a fighting chance since he now has a plan for them to execute.
Back with Batman and John, they follow the Flash as he dashes through time before they all arrive on the planet known as Apokolips. While Bruce realizes that the only way Darkseid’s invasion could’ve been avoided was if he was eliminated, Barry proceeds to run past several Parademons and even a few Warhounds before they suddenly all keel over dead. Wayne then wonders how they’re seeing this as Constantine essentially says that they’re magically-shared memories that he has with Allen. In particular, he sent a part of himself onto the Flash. When Batman notices how the demonic beings are now lifeless even though Barry hardly touched them, John realizes that he sacrificed part of his soul in order to imbue Allen with a dark spell.
Back within the Bleed, the Anti-Monitor has returned in order to wipe out the post-Great Disaster ravaged Earth as Kamandi (also voiced by Will Friedle) helpless watches him home world get decimated. Meanwhile, Lex is with several other heroes as they also witness this decimation. Because they had every sensor and radio telescope dish from all of the remaining Earths focused on the Anti-Monitor, it’s given them some much-needed information on how they can proceed.
Nathaniel Atom a.k.a. the Earth-4 Captain Atom (also voiced by Brett Dalton) then angrily asks for the purpose of this “fact-finding mission”, to which Luthor says that they now know the kind of monster they’re all up against and how they finally take it down. He then explains that because the Anti-Monitor has the same anti-matter structure as its Shadow Demons, it’s susceptible to light attacks. Shayera says that they’re already sent several light-based strikes at the being to no avail, but Lex mentions that they haven’t included the sun. However, Kimiyo says that even the sun doesn’t have enough energy to wipe the Anti-Monitor out. Thankfully, Lex says that it’s not a singular sun since it’s actually “hundreds of suns” since every Earth was brought into the Bleed with its own sun and that they’re all “phasing at the same point”. While Holt communicates with them that fifty-two suns should have enough combined energy for them to smite their foe, Hoshi then wonders how they’ll be able to weaponize it.
Luthor then says that they actually have someone who can “absorb, contain and deliver” said energy before Lois sees through this ploy and holographically calls him out for including his “sick obsession with killing Superman” into the plan. With this being their best shot at finally decimating their foe, the Earth-1 Kal-El assures Lane that he can endure because of his thick skin. However, Mister Terrific chimes in and says that even if he did survive after absorbing the energy of multiple stars, he won’t make it after instantaneously unleashing it onto the Anti-Monitor. Despite the potentially grave outcome, Supes is willing to proceed with this plan.
Back within the past, Flash arrives at Apokolips’ central chamber as he reaches his target which turns out to be a much-younger Darkseid. Once Batman and John catch up, the latter finally has his memories restored. From there, he explains that this being is actually a fixed point in time and that he became a nigh-unstoppable pillar of the Multiverse thanks to some “protection spells and defense technology”. As such, he has to exist. However, his hard-target research allowed him to learn that the only time that Darkseid was remotely vulnerable in his life was when he was only a year old.
As Barry prepares to execute the being by vibrating his hand into him, Wayne says that he won’t be able to carry it out since “it’s not in him”. Sure enough, Allen doesn’t go through with this. However, Constantine says that he knew that the Flash would back out and thus, his dark magic spell would be the one to do it since it’s practically turned Barry into “walking death”. Batman then sees Allen as an unknowing living version of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” in that the Scarlet Speedster had become “living poison”. After the Flash speeds off, John then says that he’s essentially radiating typhoid and didn’t have to do anything since the spell did the grim job for him as Darkseid now lies dead.
Back within the Bleed, the Earth-1 Superman is flying his way towards the unified suns. Suddenly, Supergirl speeds past him in order to take his place. Kal-El tries to prevent her from doing this, yet Kara mentions that her powers were enhanced when she became Harbinger and that she sees this as her personal redemption for killing the Monitor. He tries to assure her that she was manipulated into smiting Mar Novu, but she says that she allowed herself to be tricked and that this must fall onto her before she zips off. Kal-El tries to follow after her, but he gets stopped by Captain Atom who says that he’s needed since the Anti-Monitor is returning.
While Supergirl begins her descent into the unified suns and begins to charge up, several heroes approach the Anti-Monitor alongside Lex before Mister Terrific informs them to focus their light-based attacks upon their foe’s central-based shielding in order to provide Kara with a chance to attack the massive being. Despite their combined efforts, it fails to remotely damage the Anti-Monitor’s outer shield.
Suddenly, Doctor Light and Captain Atom notice that Luthor is ordering the satellite to de-active all of their cosmic towers as the latter believes that the Anti-Monitor has taken control over Lex’s mind. Over within the unified suns, Supergirl finally manages to fully-charge herself.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Monitor is about to attack another Earth while the Earth-1 Superman approaches Luthor and gets convinced into telling Michael to deactivate every last tower.
While Holt complies with this request, the séance on Earth-18 ends with Wayne and Constantine returning to reality. Just then, the group notices a bright green light outside before they all realize that it’s here for Stewart.
Meanwhile, the deactivated towers allows the Satellite and the various Earths to return to the regular plane of existence. However, Blue Beetle notices that the Anti-Monitor has targeted Earth-16 as the massive being begins to fire out another anti-matter wave. Suddenly, a powerful blast comes in and strikes the Anti-Monitor to actually damage it though it’s able to heal itself.
It’s then revealed that the shot came from Warworld as the Earth-1 realizes that John Jones a.k.a. J’onn J’onzz a.k.a. Martian Manhunter (voiced by Ike Amadi) is still alive and has been telepathically talking to him through Lex. Kal-El then asks him how Warworld is still around since he saw it explode, to which J’onn explains that the planet isn’t able to self-destruct. He then elaborates by mentioning that the supposed explosion was actually the planet getting transported away via Zeta Beam and that he got the powerful help from Adam Strange (also voiced by Brian Bloom) in order to pull it off. Not only that, but Lobo (voiced by John DiMaggio) is also revealed to be with them as well.
Afterwards, Mister Terrific contacts J’onzz and warns him that not only has the Anti-Monitor recovered, but it’s now set it’s sights on Warworld. Ted then mentions that said planet was barely able to stop their foe despite its massive power just as the group spots Supergirl approaching them Michael then says that even though she’s super-charged, she won’t be able to break through the Anti-Monitor’s shields and defeat it. Afterwards, Ted picks up “four incoming energy signatures” that’re approaching Earth-18, yet gets told by Holt to dismiss it due to their far-more urgent situation. Back with Kal-El, he mentions that Warworld is able to be fueled by “the hatred and fear of its captives” as he then tells Martian Manhunter that he can potentially be used to help them.
Over on Earth-18, Stewart heads outside to investigate before he’s then approached by three Green Lanterns and a Blue Lantern as they instantly recognize him. The Spider Guild Lantern (voiced by Troy Baker) explains that they’re a few of his actual recruits before the single-eyed Cardonian Lantern (voiced by David Kaye) mentions how falling the fall of both Oa and the Green Lantern Corps, the Power Rings that John himself sent out ultimately reached them since it chose them as their new bearers. A fellow Green Lantern named Aya (voiced by Jennifer Hale) then mentions that this lead to the the Corps not only getting formed, but also having several more members joining their ranks. Afterwards, the Blue Lantern named Razer (voiced by Jason Spisak) says that they’re here to help out and that he’s able to share his lantern battery with him as he then presents Stewart with his own Power Ring.
Following a quick scene on Earth-10 where a tortured Psycho-Pirate is approached by a mind-controlled Electrocuter as J’onn tells him that he’s needed, the Anti-Monitor proceeds to fire an anti-matter wave towards Warworld. Fortunately, Stewart, his fellow Green Lanterns and Razer proceed to create a shield with their rings which manages to withstand the blast.
Meanwhile, J’onzz tells Charles that he needs to cast out his emotional manipulating power onto every last human. Halstead expresses his doubt since he’s never used his ability on such a vast scale, to which Martian Manhunter tells him that he’s the only one who can “connect emotions in this manner” and that it must be done. Meanwhile, Kal-El is approached by his super-charged cousin as Kara says that she should’ve died on Krypton while all of the moments that she shared with him, the Monitor and Brainiac 5 “has been bonus time”, to which she then thanks him before she heads out on her mission.
From there, Psycho-Pirate uses all of his remaining strength to cast out his emotion-based power out into the Multiverse in order to reach every civilian and every animal on every Earth as well as all of our heroes, which even includes the Lanterns as it causes them to drop their unified shield over Warworld. With the barrier down, the Anti-Monitor begins to charge up his anti-matter shot.
Over on Warworld, J’onn preps the planet for the incoming strike just as the Anti-Monitor begins to send its own powerful blast. Fortunately, J’onzz is able to fire an energy so dominant that it not obliterated the potential anti-matter wave, but it also hits the being with enough destructive force to leave a huge gaping hole in its chest. With his job done, Charles then keels over in exhaustion before the mind-controlled Electrocuter heads out.
Meanwhile, Supergirl is able to fly into the Anti-Monitor and reach the central part of said being. From there, she unleashes all of the absorbed sunlight from inside of her as it finally takes the Anti-Monitor out within a massive explosion.
Afterwards, Kal-El flies in and retrieves her now lifeless body before reuniting with the entire group over on Warworld. From there, he unleashes a tearful scream before placing his newly-deceased cousin onto a table.
Despite Lois and Diana comforting him, Constantine and Batman tell him that they can’t keep mourning since something far worse is coming. Bruce then explains that John comes from an Earth that used to exist before the Multiverse was even formed and that it was ravaged by Darkseid who was also “a fixed point in time”. The Hellblazer tried to save his world by smiting the mighty being and used the Flash as an “unknowing weapon”. Doctor Fate then mentions that Constantine’s attempt to wipe away side fixed point didn’t remotely change the universe, but shattered it. Wayne says that it ended up creating two universes, but it didn’t end there since new realities were formed out of “every critical decision”.
Kent then brings up that the Multiverse is constantly expanding and that the universe wasn’t meant to maintain various versions of itself since it’ll ultimately lead to a major collapse. Dr. Chapel then realizes that the Anti-Monitor was meant to act as an antibody for the universe and that there’s never only one, to which Martian Manhunter picks up numerous Anti-Monitors upon Warworld’s sensors. As the whole group wonders how they could possible match up against all of those beings especially after sacrificing so much just to stop one, Batgirl brings up a conversation that she had with Kara about the Legion having a machine that can create “miracles” and that it was far-too dangerous. As such, they wound up hiding it within a pocket dimension. As for how they can get to it, Kimiyo mentions Psycho-Pirate but Lex shoots that idea down since Charles is no longer useful to them.
Fortunately, Captain Atom brings up his fellow teammate Nightshade is able to teleport. Even though she doubts her own ability since she’s never used her teleportation in a bigger capacity, J’onn assures her that “it’s the same power”. As such, he accompanies her as she uses her Shadow Teleportation to bring them both into the pocket dimension where they easily find the Miracle Machine. She then wonders what it was originally made for, to which he says that even though its original creator’s purpose is now lost to the ages, he suspects that it was made for their particular crisis. She then wonders how she’ll be able to bring it back to their reality before they suddenly arrive in their dimension with the device.
Afterwards, Hawkgirl wants them to use the device in order to wipe out all of the Anti-Monitors yet Hoshii reminds them about the other grim alternative of the ever-expanding Multiverse ultimately causing a complete universal collapse. Constantine then says that he’s had “a long time” to think about how he can possibly fix this problem and he’s come up with a possible solution.
Just then, Mister Terrific informs the group that the Anti-Monitors have reached one of the isolated Earths. In particular, Earth-508 which turns out to be where the Super Friends reside on. Sadly, they and the rest of their world gets wiped away by the anti-matter.
Not only that, but Michael mentions that the “Armada” is rapidly approaching every remaining Earth and even Warworld. The Hellblazer mentions that the Anti-Monitors are razing over every single Earth in order to restart reality, yet they can use the Miracle Machine in order to create their own Monoverse with only a single reality and a single timeline. Doctor Fate also mentions that every various version of each of them will wind up “fused into a single prime version”, along with a singular history that they’ll all share and that no one will remember anything prior to their new start on this new plane of existence. Kal-El still wants them to find some way to restore the worlds they couldn’t save, yet Lois essentially reminds him of what his father Jor-El did when Krypton was dying in that “he saved his world by saving one person”.
Over by the Miracle Machine, Holt is impressive by the Miracle Machine’s technical build yet he can tell that it’s out of energy. As such, Green Lantern uses his ring to create a battery construct in order to give it a charge. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work as Martian Manhunter proceeds to psychically scan the device and discovers that while it’s sleeping, it does run on power. Kent then mentions that it can only be powered by creating “something out of nothing”, to which Constantine instantly realizes that it requires a sacrifice. As such, he casts a spell onto the Miracle Machine yet it ultimately does nothing as Nelson mentions that they’re asking it to create “something eternal out of something finite”.
Just then, Mister Terrific informs the group that the Anti-Monitors have reached another isolated Earth. In particular, it’s Earth-12 which turns out to be “Bruce Timm’s DC Animated Universe” as we then shift to its Gotham City where the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime have a rooftop scuffle. Afterwards, Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) finds it flattering that his longtime foe is spending the end of their world with him. With the Anti-Matter wave starting to tear the planet apart, Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman (voiced by the late Kevin Conroy) says that he still cares for his city and for justice. Not only that, he’s willing to go out “being Batman” before they both get consumed by the devious energy. As the world gets wiped away, the Justice League notice this over on the nearby Watchtower. With their imminent end approaching, this world’s versions of John Stewart and Shayera Hol proceed to share one last kiss before the whole team gets obliterated by the Anti-Matter wave.
J’onn then asks Adam if he’s able to move Warworld to safety, yet Strange says that their Zeta energy has become entirely neutralized by the towering armada. Just then, Wonder Woman considers to offer herself to the Miracle Machine due to her immortality. Kal-L refuses and offers to take her place, yet she tells him that after seeing loads of people die over the course of her multiple millennia-spanning lifetime, this act would allow her life to have any kind of meaning. Michael then mentions that the Anti-Monitor armada is getting closer to their location as their Anti-Matter wave manages to wipe out Earth-2003, which turns out to be where the 2003 Teen Titans series took place on.
Afterwards, Diana proceeds to place her Lasso of Truth onto the Miracle Machine where it proceeds to start up and operate. Soon enough, it ultimately creates a singular universe before the Spectre makes his presence known to the whole group. Kal-L then wonders what will happen once he steps in, to which the Spectre tells them that a Superman will be there and that he’ll become a part of said new Supes. With that comforting notion, Kal-L proceeds to head into the new universe. From there, several heroes follow suit as they enter the new world with even the Joker jumping in.
Kamandi then admires this new world as he believes that a Great Disaster will never occur on it, to which the Spectre says that it won’t have since he can live in one that entirely has humans or be in an era that’s similar to his own. Ultimately, Kamandi decides to make his “better world the hard way” as he proceeds to head inside. After Kal-El and Lois join suit, Question decides not to accept this offer since he refuses on principle to live in “a false universe” with its own “false history”.
After the Earth-2 Robin joins the remaining figures inside, Batman admits to Huntress how it took “the end of the world” for him to let others in and that he’s concerned that it won’t happen in this new reality. Fortunately, Helena says that her mother had taught her about love being “beyond experience” as she proceeds to head inside.
After Mister Terrific, Lex, Adam (along with his daughter Aleera, I think since she doesn’t have a single line) and Martian Manhunter make way into the new world, Bruce proceeds to follow suit.
After Earth-10 and Psycho-Pirate get wiped away by the Anti-Matter Wave, John approaches Spectre and basically admits that he’s ready to accept his punishment from him. However, Spectre says that while he usually dispenses justice, he’s willing to offer him hope before he vanishes. From there, Constantine ultimately decides to turn down his chance to join the Monoverse as he follows the Spectre into the unknown before the Anti-Matter wave finally wipes out Warworld and the entire Multiverse with it.
And so, the three-part film ends on the Monoverse’s version of Themiscyra where a young Diana (also voiced by Jamie Gray Hyder) gets scolded by her mother Hippolyta (also voiced by Jennifer Hale) for balancing herself upon the cliffside balcony, especially since she’s not immortal. After she was also complimented for her bravery, Diana proceeds to playfully run back into the island’s mainland.
Now that this three-part venture has come to a close, let’s get to my character analysis. For this final chapter, we have a certain Hellblazer who’s being on a harrowing journey across various landscapes by himself and alongside several heroes. As such, allow me to share my thoughts about John Constantine. This bloke has been through a lot throughout the entire DC Animated Movie Universe’s run, but we now get to his attempt at self-redemption after Spectre and the universe itself punished him for his attempt to save his world from the disastrous brink. Throughout the initial chapter of this tale, he essentially gets placed into the role of Pariah from the original event tale who traveled to various Earths that’re destined to face certain doom. Here, he initially only shows up to magically affect Barry in certain spots. When he confronts the Crime Syndicate and helps Allen against them, his spells give a strong clue that this guy is John. Afterwards, he only shares one last moment with the Flash by telling him to share the end of his world with his wife. He then doesn’t show up until the massive fight against the Shadow Demons where he cross paths with John Stewart before the encounter ultimately helps Constantine get on the path of remembering his identity along with the main path that he’ll go on for this outing where he’ll ultimately recall how he caused the New 52 Animated Universe to get rebooted into the TomorrowVerse. For this film, his arc sees him on a personal redemption where he has to relearn how the Multiverse came about in the first place and also help find a way for them to survive in some way, shape or form. While his DC Showcase short saw him paying for his attempt to save his world following a devastating otherworldly ravaging from Uxas, his role sees him stepping away from actual combat this time around in order to help our vast group of heroes find any remaining hope of survival. Once he helps our primary figures accomplish said end goal, it’s ultimately left ambiguous as to the kind of hopeful resolution that the Spectre will offer him since he doesn’t his fellow comrades (not including Question) in the newly-formed universe. Maybe he’ll get a new role in the afterlife and no longer have all of the burdens that’ve plagued him throughout his life or maybe he’ll get some other kind of otherworldly part to play, but it seems like a pretty well-handled conclusion for a British occultist who’ve fought alongside several heroes against overwhelming odds as well as a few solo ventures that’ve seen him cleaning up certain self-made messes of different kinds. If this is truly the last time that Matt Ryan ever portrays the character either from a vocal booth or in live-action, then at least he gave a well-handled, humbling and signature personality-driven performance to go out on. In both realms, he gave the character a definitive voice & energy that should last within fans’ mindscapes and his turnout for this movie gives him the necessary breathing room to close his tenure out on a magically good note. All-in-all, he stood out the most amongst the massive cast and made his part shine the brighest.
The movie sees our primary group of protagonists within their darkest hour as they initially find themselves unexpectedly in an alternate space that’s safe from the Anti-Monitor thanks to the Monitor’s dying act. While they may have ultimately found a way to have their Earths fully recover over a certain amount of time, the otherworldly nature of this dimension is causing odd irregularities to pop up upon those various planets and thus leave some potentially irreparable damages. As such, it takes a bold move from an alternate version of Supes’ signature adversary for them to finally face their towering foe in order to potentially be free from its ravaging menace. As the group gets forced into not only learn about how they could possibly take the Anti-Monitor down once and for all as well as finally discover how the Multiverse came to be in the first place, it also has Supergirl grappling with her actions from the prior chapter before she overhears Lex’s plan for her cousin and decides to take his spot in order for her to salvage any heroic purpose that she has left. It does fit in line with the original event series (particularly Issue #7) where she ultimately sacrifices herself, though the famous event from the comic does play out differently on the page. In that, she’s among a group of heroes that’ve travelled to a stone fortress located within the anti-matter universe where the Anti-Monitor is about to carry out its devious deed of wiping out the Multiverse’s remaining Earths. Kara puts up a fierce fight and manages to deal out some crippling damage onto the fiend before a timely distraction involving Doctor Light allows the foe to deliver the fatal blast onto her prior to the monster retreating in order to essentially lick its wounds. Here however, Supergirl is mainly inactive and doesn’t get too involved within this chapter until her self-sacrificial moment. Prior to her noteworthy demise over in the comics, she mainly appeared in Issue #4 where he consoles Batgirl since Barbara felt powerless to do much given the ever-escalating and massive scale of the huge event. Bit ironic given that this entry also has Kara and Babs sharing a brief conversation with each other, yet it’s Batgirl who tries to ease Supergirl’s guilt over a key moment that she did while she while emotionally influenced by Psycho-Pirate. Kara would also pop up in Issue #6 where she’s initially shown saving Black Canary when the Monitor’s Satellite is getting attacked. Afterwards, she ends up fighting an enraged Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Shazam). Either way, it’s somewhat of a shame and even a bit tricky for Kara to not have had any kind of way for her to struggle & discover how she could’ve redeemed herself from a horrid act that he wasn’t in complete control of before she ultimately overhears Lex’s plan and decides that this self-sacrificial act is the way to go. Given how the Anti-Monitor is made up and the fact that nothing outside of a strong light-based blast will remotely pierce its armored plating, the way that this movie ultimately figures out how to finally do that based on what elements from this string of films has to work with. Once Psycho-Pirate’s emotional influence helps Warworld pierce Anti-Monitor’s body and allows Supergirl to take the fiend out for good at the cost of her life though, I would’ve liked it if the movie had some kind of somewhat-quickly progressive coverage of Superman trying to hold back his tears & sorrow while he carries her lifeless body back to his comrades so that it would’ve hit with a little more emotional weight once he finally lets loose with his mournful scream. As for the ending itself, it is a bit fortuitous given the state of DC media and where it’s now going. The original event comic’s ultimate accomplishment was to get rid of the multiple Earths and streamline it into a singular Earth where DC’s own characters along with those that they’ve acquired from prior companies such as Quality Comics & Charlton Comics can also be firmly integrated into this new world where it would ultimately serve as the universe’s first major reboot. With this entry not only serving as the final chapter in the entire DC Animated Movie Universe, but the entire DC Universe Animated Original Movie series line as a whole has come to an end in the wake of DC Studios’ rise along with how they and Warner Brothers Pictures will be handling their new DC Universe line as the new mainline franchise. How that will all ultimately play out we will wait and see, but the ending from this film does leave this particular world on a potentially hopeful note with that kind of new beginning just on the horizon. The pacing on the whole can feel a little muddling since it’s basically our main group struggling to just survive within a new dimension while the Anti-Monitor gets some help into slowly picking off each remaining Earth one-by-one. Thankfully, it doesn’t bog down to a grinding level and still had enough forward momentum to keep its main sequence of events progressing. With the animation, it felt pretty solid throughout the board without any kind of egregious stutters or frame skips. Key characters and energy-dispersing movements felt nicely smooth during the whole movie in order for its main events & plot details to be presented in a coherent fashion. Individual performances sounded professional from its main cast and allowed their characters to stand out within their respective roles. Given the massive amount of characters within this story, it was difficult for any one actor to truly emerge in a unique way. Despite that, everyone handled themselves without sounding weirdly out of place within any scene. Finally, the action felt pretty tense given the dire situation that our main group is in at this point in the series’ timeline. The uphill climb that all of our remaining figures are going through feels relatable and nigh-insurmountable enough to make their ultimate few victories feel prevalent enough. Just like its previous entries, it’s not afraid to continuously bump off its vast characters. This is especially true when it comes to how it coincides with the state of DC media, given how past DC cartoon worlds were also met with grim ends similar to how several past live-action DC shows met their fate in the Arrowverse’s version of the same-name event as I mentioned in my “Birds Of Prey” review. While it was surprising that the Super Friends’ world was included and ultimately wiped from existence, it was pretty much a given that Bruce Timm’s own universe would end up the same way given that Kevin Conroy had passed away in 2022 and that he was able to record his lines for this along with the critically-maligned video game known as “Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League” as well as Netflix’s “Devil May Cry” animated series before he left this plane of existence. For him essentially only having one line for this whole entry, his last line still felt respectful given how iconic his voice has become for the character over the decades and at least to got to share one last moment with Mark Hamill’s Joker given how Luke Skywalker himself has long since said that he’ll no longer voice the Clown Prince of Crime out of respect for his longtime friend. While that world going away was understandable, it was also quite shocking to see the world of the 2003 Teen Titans series get wiped away as well as that was a much-beloved animated series for those who grew up with it in the 2000s. Given how not much as been done with either of the three aforementioned universes since their initial ends, it allows them to exist in a historical context alongside the live-action TV shows. Either way, this was a melancholy yet hopeful end with this particular run of animated films that started back in 2013 yet still has one last multi-part adaptation tale to tell within the vast line.
Overall, this was an understated yet still worthwhile conclusion to the DC Animated Movie Universe. With various characters to engagingly follow, pacing & animation that moves at a steady clip and action that feels towering yet pleasant to the eyes, this brought a respectable end to a decade-plus run string of animated movies. While it’s not on the same level of “Justice League Dark: Apokolips War” in terms of being a total package of a conclusion-level tale, it’s still a worthwhile finale that resolves the New 52 Animated Universe side of this entire world while providing the TomorrowVerse with a well-earned capstone of its own. If you’ve been following this string of movies up to this point, then give this a go and ride the anti-matter wave to this finish line.
Next Time: The end of the DC Animated Movie Universe is nigh and it’s choosing to go out by translating another famous 1980s series, especially one that was previously brought to the big screen in live-action form. When a fellow teammate gets murdered, a group of heroes will reunite in order to investigate but will start to find much more beneath the surface once they start going down the rabbit hole. As we begin to wrap up our long-standing time within the DCUAOM, we’ll be doing so with another Alan Moore-based story as we delve into “Watchmen: Chapter I”.
Justice League (created by Gardner Fox) and all related characters are owned by DC Comics.
