- Writer: Grant Morrison
- Pencillers: Doug Mahnke, Carlos Pacheco, & J.G. Jones
- Inkers: Christian Alamy, Jesus Merino, & Marco Rudy
- Colorists: Alex Sinclair & Pete Pantazis
- Letterer: Rob Clark Jr.
- Cover Artist: J.G. Jones
- Editor: Eddie Berganza
Page 1 – Panel 1: Brainiac 5 and Superman descend a staircase. It’s obvious from Superman’s words that this takes place after SUPERMAN BEYOND 3D #2 and LEGION OF 3 WORLDS #1.
Page 1 – Panel 2: Brainiac mentions that time and space are fracturing; we’ll see what he means in a moment.
Page 1 – Panel 3: If Brainiac’s footsteps are the key to opening the Legion’s arsenal, it’s no wonder Superman is floating above the floor!
Page 1 – Panel 4: The Controllers are distantly related to the Guardians of the Universe, the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps.
Page 2 – Panel 1: Brainiac talks about the “ultimate technological artifact” being a “machine that turns thoughts into things.” I’d have thought that’s what a Green Lantern’s power ring does?
Page 2 – Panel 5: As “time and space are fracturing“, Superman begins to fade from the 31st Century.
Page 3 – Panel 1: Brainiac unveils the God-Weapon which has a history all of it’s own. Douglas Wolk’s excellent Final Crisis Annotations blog has a lot more info on the weapon, including the fact that its design is modelled on Metron’s circuit, something I had completely missed. Check out his notes here.
Page 3 – Panel 2: Superman fades out before we have a chance to see what he’s done with the weapon.
Page 4 – Panel 1: The Justice League watchtower satellite.
Page 4 – Panel 2: Mark Richards, the Tattooed Man who ended up on the satellite after the events of SUBMIT.
Page 4 – Panel 3: He’s joined by the Justice League’s chairman, Black Canary.
Page 5 – Panel 1: That’s Iris West and her brother Jai rushing in to the room.
Page 5 – Panel 2: Left to right, coming in after the West kids, are Linda Park-West, the kids’ mother and wife of Flash Wally West; the Ray; and Joan Garrick, wife of the first Flash Jay Garrick.
Page 5 – Panel 4: Despite the Guardians of the Universe sealing off Earth, it appears some Justifiers have no trouble getting into orbit.
Pages 6 and 7 – Panel 1: Over the ruins of Bludhaven, Supergirl and Mary Marvel continue their battle.
Pages 6 and 7 – Panel 5: Fighting the Justifiers are, left to right, Hourman; Vixen; Liberty Belle; J.A.K.E. 2 of the Creature Commandos; S.T.R.I.P.E. and Wildcat.
Page 8 – Panel 3: Black Adam shares a bond with Mary Marvel and the rest of the Marvel heroes which is probably why he can hear the voices of the Apokoliptian New Gods in her head.
Page 8 – Panel 4: It appears Desaad has been inhabiting Mary’s body all this time, in much the same way that Granny Goodness possessed Green Lantern Kraken.
Page 9 – Panel 4: Captain Marvel in the foreground thinks he can stop Mary.
Page 10 – Panel 1: Tawky Tawny faces off against Kalibak, the son of Darkseid who now inhabits his new tiger form. Note that Tawny’s jetpack is laying behind him.
Page 11 – Panel 4: As Kalibak beats Tawny, his tiger warriors look on.
Page 11 – Panel 6: Civilians, possessed by the spirit of Darkseid and the Anti-Life Equation, prepare to attack both Supergirl and Mary Marvel. Desaad, ever the coward, begs to be spared.
Page 12 – Panel 3: Captain Marvel grabs Mary and shouts his magic word, calling down the lightning that transforms them both.
Page 12 – Panel 4: In this shot, Tawny is waking from the beating he suffered at Kalibak’s paws.
Page 12 – Panel 6: In the time it takes lightning to strike and Kalibak to claim “Darkseid owns the lightning” Tawny attacks . . . after getting up and strapping his jetpack to his back, taking time to do all the buckles, even the ones at the crotch. Now I know he’s fast but do you not think one of the tiger warriors, hell even Kalibak himself, would have heard Tawny pick up the pack, shrug it on to his back, clip the safety harness together and press the ignition switch? And he did all that in mere seconds?! With no-one hearing him? Come off it!
Page 13 – Panel 2: Kalibak dies; apparently having one’s intestines ripped out kills you quicker than being severly beaten about the head with a metal mace. Who’d have known?
Page 13 – Panel 3: As Supergirl and the possessed citizens look on (weren’t they about to attack a moment ago?) a transformed Mary Batson and Freddie Freeman sit in the rubble.
Page 13 – Panel 4: Mary claims she can never say the word again to transform into Mary Marvel. JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #23, however, gives lie to that statement.
Page 13 – Panel 5: The battle for the bridge appears over. Left to right are Wildcat, S.T.R.I.P.E., Iman, Red Arrow, Liberty Belle and Hourman. Iman’s words – translation stolen from Doug Wolk’s blog – are roughly “Something coming… like the sound of horses…” In the background, framed by the fins of Iman’s helmet, are Darkseid’s new Furies, approaching on their warhounds.
Page 14: Rather than be killed by Kalibak’s warriors, Tawny is accepted as their new leader.
Page 15 – Panel 2: In the foreground, Mr Terrific speaks with Mr Miracle. Behind them are Well-Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash, Shiny Happy Aquazon, Sonny Sumo and Big Atomic Lantern Boy. We can just see the edge of Most Excellent Super Bat behind Miracle’s left shoulder.
Page 15 – Panel 3: It keeps getting mentioned on the net but not in the pages of FINAL CRISIS – Mr Miracle, Shilo Norman, is black, not white.
Pages 16 and 17 – Panel 1: Darkseid’s new Furies, seen approaching on Page 13 – Panel 5 attack the heroes at Bludhaven. Left to right are Liberty Belle; Hourman; Batwoman; Giganta holding Iman; Wonder Woman; Catwoman; Wildcat (Ted Grant); just visible beneath the attacking hounds on the far right is Wildcat (Tommy Bronson).
Pages 16 and 17 – Panel 2: Sonny Sumo’s origins are explained as it is revealed this is not the New-Earth version. Behind and between them you can see Shy Crazy Lolita Canary.
Pages 16 and 17 – Panels 4 and 5: Ah, young love. Big Atomic Lantern Boy loves Shiny Happy Aquazon but she loves Well-Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash.
Pages 16 and 17 – Panel 7: Most Excellent Super Bat’s costume looked like a random mixture of red and yellow; Martin Casanova points out, though, that the yellow sections are taken from Superman’s S-shield.
Page 18 – Panel 1: The Justifiers, led by Green Arrow and Black Lightning, have managed to take the Watchtower.
Page 18 – Panel 5: The circuit on Tattooed Man’s face blocks the Anti-Life Equation, allowing him to break free of the Justifiers.
Page 19 – Panels 3 and 4: Tough love as Black Canary tries to get Green Arrow to shake off the effects of Anti-Life.
Page 19 – Panel 5: Compare the state of space here with how it appears on Page 4 – Panel 1. The sky is rupturing.
Page 20 – Panel 1: The two costumed heroes are both named The Atom; the one on the left is Ryan Choi, on the right is Ray Palmer. On the walkway to the right is Taleb Beni Khalid and The Question. Both Atoms are planning to find a way to another universe.
Page 20 – Panel 3: The psychics trying to help Checkmate seem generic apart from Mind Grabber Man on the left with the lightning bolt on his costume, and Miss Martian in the centre.
Page 20 – Panel 4: The mystics attempting to contact The Spectre with Zatana in the middle; Houngan behind her and to our left; the girl to the right may be Traci 13. The Question’s reference to an “up-to-date dossier” means this takes place after REVELATIONS.
Page 20 – Panel 5: Überfraulein or Overgirl about to be experimented upon. Note that some of the instruments hanging over her seem damaged.
Page 21 – Panel 1: Lord Eye in the centre of the room, surrounded by OMACs.
Page 21 – Panel 2: The brain in the jar, Lord Eye, is almost certainly that of Maxwell Lord, late the leader of Checkmate and, a couple of years ago our time, one of the instigators of INFINITE CRISIS.
Page 21 – Panel 3: Lord Eye and Checkmate are planning on abandoning ship if needs be, if the two Atoms seen earlier are successful in getting to another universe.
Page 21 – Panel 4: The original Global Peace Agency featured in Jack Kirby’s OMAC series and is another nod back to his work. They were all faceless agents and so it seems fitting that if anyone should be their template, it should be the Question.
Page 22 – Panel 1: Lex Luthor in the armoured suit, Dr Sivana behind him, both looking on at the hanging Calculator. Libra hung him in the previous issue despite him protesting his innocence of the charge of betraying Libra.
Page 22 – Panel 3: Libra arrives with his Justifiers.
Page 22 – Panel 4: Libra had suspected Luthor of betrayal but was not certain until now. Trouble is, he may have left it too late.
Page 23 – Panel 3: And just like that, Libra, the herald of Darkseid vanishes.
Page 23 – Panel 4: Luthor cuts the Calculator down.
Page 24 – Panel 1: The speaker, whose boots we can see, is Barry Allen; the others are Iris Allen, Wally West and Jay Garrick. If you’ve been paying attention, I’m sure you know that all three men go by the superhero name Flash.
Page 24 – Panel 4: Jay mentions he’s searching for Joan; that’s his wife Joan Garrick who, as we know, is on the Justice League satellite.
Page 24 – Panel 5: Barry mentions the Black Racer, the New Gods avatar of Death who has been chasing him since his return.
Page 25 – Panel 2: And here he is now, right on time.
Page 26 – Panel 1: Darkseid, sitting in Bludhaven. The person he’s speaking to is . . .
Page 26 – Panel 2: : . . . Batman who has been “skulking” around for some time now.
Page 27 – Panel 1: Batman stole the bullet used to kill Orion and threatens Darkseid with a gun loaded with it.
Page 27 – Panel 2: Darkseid threatens Batman with “The Omega Sanction . . . the death that is life” which was mentioned in MISTER MIRACLE.
Page 27 – Panel 4: Batman’s shot catches Darkseid in the shoulder – he didn’t miss; it’s more a case of he doesn’t kill.
Pages 28 and 29: And Batman succumbs to the Omega Sanction.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panel 1: Lois Lane (all better now after the events of SUPERMAN BEYOND 3D) holds Streaky, Supergirl’s cat while Jimmy Olsen uses his signal watch to try and contact Superman.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panels 3 and 4: Hawkman and Hawkgirl. They’re reincarnated souls that habitually fall in love but this time round Kendra Saunders (Hawkgirl) isn’t falling for Carter Hall’s bare chested charms.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panel 5: I’m not counting the Metron un-panel just yet so this is the top right. In the foreground is Green Lantern Alan Scott; to the left is Blue Beetle; Behind Scott is Starman; talking with him is Bulleteer; and near the column between the Hawks is Stargirl.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panel 6: The Green Lantern Corps attempting to get to Earth. At the top is Guy Gardner; below him is Hal Jordan; and at the bottom is Kyle Rayner.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panel 7: Above those three are Kilowog at the top; Arisia; and John Stewart.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panel 8: This is Nix Uotan, once a Monitor now something else, able to observe all that we are reading on these pages.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panel 10: The figure on the chair with the Rubik’s Cube is the new incarnation of Metron. The “greater menace than Darkseid” he mentions is revealed in SUPERMAN BEYOND 3D. If it’s that big a threat, it seems odd that it has so little build up.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panel 11: Hourman lays on a table being tended to by Dr Light; on the right behind them are the two Wildcats and the speaker is Dr Mid-Nite. Between them is Atom-Smasher and Man-of-Bats.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panel 14: Supergirl and the now dispossessed Mary Marvel who stands with Freddie Freeman. The Billy that Freddie mentions is Billy Batson, the original Captain Marvel.
Pages 30 and 31 – Panel 16: Wonder Woman who, speaking a familiar refrain, seems to vaguely remember it.
Page 32 – Panel 1: Superman returns to Earth and he is pissed off!
Page 33 – Panel 4: The heroes at Bludhaven Bridge stare up at the shattered sky and the multiple Earths that are appearing through the Bleed. Aside from the characters we’ve already seen are, on the far right, Vixen and next to her Speedy.
Page 34: Superman stands with the corpse of Batman.
Crisis on Earth-Prime 