Infinite Crisis #3: Divine Intervention

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George Perez Cover above: There are four main Amazons amongst those being attack by a horde of OMACs. First is Wonder Woman and then, moving clockwise, is Fury, Phillipus and Artemis.

Jim Lee and Sandra Hope Cover on the right: In the Batcave, from left to right, are Batman, Earth-2 Robin, Kal-L, Earth-2 Catwoman holding the arm of her husband the Earth-2 Bruce Wayne who in turn is holding their child, Helena. Pre-CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, Helena grew up to be the Huntress.

Page 1 – Panel 1: At the top of the panel is Typhoon, a Wind Elemental; just above the speech balloon that asks “Where would that be, Mera?” is Shaligo the Flying Finback of Deep Six; below them on the quay is Mera, wife of Aquaman, talking to either Dane Dorrance, leader of the Sea Devils (according to the novelization by Greg Cox) or Ronal, one time boyfriend of Lori Lemaris. Both seem plausible.

Page 1 – Panel 2: In the wave are New Wave (with the blue mask) then Tsunami (in green) fighting the blonde mermaid, Siren. Below them are the blonde guy from Panel 1 and Mera.

Page 1 – Panel 3: In the top left corner, Aquagirl battles the Eel as Slig and Jaffar of Deep Six watch; bursting into the water is Shaligo from Panel 1, followed by Kurin also of Deep Six; to the right of Shaligo, Sea Wolf battles Marley; Aquaman hits someone while his octopus Topo captures Trok of Deep Six; one of the Sea Devils appears in the bottom right. Thanks to Thomas Parks for identifying the majority of the Aquaman characters.

Page 1 – Panel 4: Black Manta, a long time Aquaman villain. Above him, Shaligo flies off.

Page 1 – Panel 5: Below Black Manta is Aquaman’s brother and nemesis, Ocean Master. To prove Manta’s point, King Shark and The Shark are feasting on Neptune Perkins. Below them is Gamesmaster, another Aquaman villain.

Page 1 – Panel 6: Aquaman shows he’s not afraid of drawing blood either, spearing King Shark right through the chest. Below him, the remains of Neptune Perkins sink; looking on in horror is Deep Blue, Perkins’ stepdaughter and daughter of Tsunami.

Page 1 – Panel 7: At the top of the panel Piscator and Sea Devil Sigourney Amundsen fight; below them Aquaman clobbers The Shark. At the bottom it appears King Shark might be finished off by those fish.

Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 2: Koryak is Aquaman’s illegitimate son and half-brother to Tempest; beside him is Vulko and then Lori Lemaris.

Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 3: Lori and the Koryak swim in from the left towards Tempest who stands surrounded by Atlantean sorcerors; the woman to the right in the purple is Nuada Silverarm, the sorceress Queen of Thierna Na Oge. To the right, are Dolphin – holding her and Tempest’s daughter – and Lagoon Boy.

Pages 2 and 3 – Panels 4 and 5: Tempest’s picking up bad vibes. Nuada Silverarm is shown more clearly beside him. The dialogue in the green captions is the Spectre.

Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 8: Below Dolphin and Lagoon boy is Koryak.

Pages 2 and 3 – Panel 9: Top to bottom are Nuada Silverarm, Arion, Guardian of Hy-Brasil (a long-lived alien who now resides in Thierna Na Oge, after Aquaman freed him of his guardianship duties) and Atlan, Aquaman’s father.

Pages 2 and 3 – Panels 10 and 11: The Spectre, still on his quest to destroy all magic in the DCU (see the DAY OF VENGEANCE mini-series) picks up and crushes Atlantis, possibly killing all who were there.

Page 4 – Panel 3: The OMACs continue their assault on Paradise Island, begun in INFINITE CRISIS #1. Phillipus leads the Amazonian defence with Fury in her Tisiphone, the Blood Avenger form (the black harpy like creature in the background).

Page 4 – Panel 5: Wonder Woman, assisted by Tisiphone above and Artemis below her, attacks the OMACs.

Page 5 – Panel 2: The Purple Death Ray is a variation on the Purple Ray of the Amazons which heals all manner of wounds. Having reconfigured the existing ray or built an entirely new one, this Purple Death Ray is designed to destroy rather than heal.

Page 5 – Panel 3: Artemis is confident that with the Death Ray they have won. Wonder Woman disagrees.

Page 5 – Panel 4: Wonder Woman and Artemis join their fellow Amazons in attacking the OMACs. I’m unaware if any of the characters shown have names or are generic Amazons. Any help greatly appreciated; use the Contact Me tab at the top of the page to get in touch.

Page 6 – Panel 1: In the Batcave, Brother Eye displays the attack on Paradise Island. Note that the satellite claims the threat Wonder Woman and the Amazons pose must be “exposed” not eliminated.

Page 6 – Panels 5 and 6: Brother Eye plans to show “the world the truth“, fulfilling its programming.

Page 6 – Panel 7: As Brother Eye relinquishes the Batcomputer screens, the displays revert to showing the Martian Manhunter at the end of Crisis Of Conscience and the explosion of the Watchtower. Batman is attempting to play the last security tape before the tower was destroyed.

Page 7 – Panel 1: It all starts to get too much for him. The computer alerts him that in less than half an hour, the security tape from the Watchtower will be ready to play.

Page 7 – Panel 2: The murder of Batman’s parents.

Page 7 – Panel 6: Robin laying dead in his arms, killed by the Joker.

Page 7 – Panel 7: Batman realises it’s all gone wrong and wishes for a blank slate.

Page 8: Kal-L arrives in the Batcave.

Page 9 – Panel 2: : Power Girl talks to Lois, remembering her Earth-2 life and the people who mattered to her. She mentions Helena Wayne who was the Earth-2 Huntress and daughter of Earth-2’s Batman and Catwoman, who was her best friend. Andrew Vinson was Power Girl’s one time boyfriend who helped her set up her secret identity of Karen Starr. Both characters ceased to be following CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.

Page 9 – Panels 6 and 7: With everything that follows in INFINITE CRISIS, it’s quite difficult to reconcile what Alex says here: “Taking care of her is my highest priority, Kara. She’s been like a mother to all of us.“

This doesn’t sit well with his words in INFINITE CRISIS #5, Page 15 – Panel 4 where, despite his saying “I will miss her.“, the Psycho Pirate – who is attuned to the emotions of others – senses “very little sorrow” in Alex.

This leaves his words here as either a throwaway line or as a deliberate deception of Power Girl which renders him as a cold-hearted villain.

Page 9 – Panel 8: As Power Girl walks through the fortress, the crystal walls show images of Lois Lane and Kal-L as both Clark Kent and Superman.

Page 9 – Panel 9: Superboy-Prime (off panel) asks if Power Girl is going to let Lois die.

Page 10 – Panels 1 to 4: Superboy-Prime is shown here as being somewhat petty and childish, insistent that Power Girl help him and Kal-L recreate Earth-2.

Page 10 – Panels 5 to 8: Again, Superboy-Prime reacts to Power Girl’s words in a childish manner. As he did in INFINITE CRISIS #1, he refers to “Conner Kent“, refusing to call him Superboy.

Page 10 – Panels 12 to 14: Superboy-Prime stands beneath the sun and can feel it’s power.

Page 11 – Panels 1 to 3: Fragments from the exploding Rock of Eternity (as seen at the end of DAY OF VENGEANCE and in INFINITE CRISIS #1) are scattered all the way to El Paso, Texas. Panel 2 shows, left to right, Paco, Jaime Reyes and Brenda.

Page 11 – Panel 5: The Shadowpact, formed in DAY OF VENGEANCE, arrive to collect the pieces. The team consists of (from top to bottom) Ragman, Blue Devil, Enchantress, Nightmaster, Nightshade and Detective Chimp.

Ragman mentions that the pieces of the Rock “take about a dozen souls to lift” – this refers to his suit which is made up of the souls of the dead upon whose strength he can call. Nightshade refers to Nightmaster as Rook – his real name is Jim Rook. Detective Chimp’s looking for a bar because, as stated in DAY OF VENGEANCE, he’s something of an alcoholic.

Page 13 – Panel 1: Superman manages to repair a collapsing building using his heat vision.

Page 13 – Panels 5 to 7: Jaime finds “some kind of bug” – this is the Blue Beetle scarab which was hurled from the Rock of Eternity when it exploded.

In the previous issue, upon returning from the 25th Century, Booster Gold claimed (Page 20 – Panel 6) that finding the scarab was more important than getting his League together.

Page 14 – Panel 1: New Cronus arrives in Sector 2682 at the tear in reality that is also at the heart of the RANN-THANAGAR WAR.

Page 14 – Panel 2: Donna Troy’s team: Jade, Bumblebee, Firestorm, Shift, Green Lantern Alan Scott, Supergirl, Airwave and Starfire. Airwave picks up transmissions from LEGION and the Omega Men.

Page 14 – Panels 3 and 4: As mentioned previously, Firestorm is comprised of Jason Rusch and his friend Mick Wong who is supplying him with knowledge of chemicals. In Panel 4, behind Firestorm on the left is Hawkman, on the right is Captain Comet and to the bottom left is GL Kilowog.

Page 14 – Panel 5: This is also Firestorm – the history of this character is convoluted to say the least but (simply) this Firestorm has been roaming the universe for years and thought that Jason could use his help.

Page 14 – Panel 6: Herald quotes something the Titans of Myth told Donna Troy in the RETURN OF DONNA TROY, that “a few seconds will make all the difference” but she doesn’t know the significance of it yet. Cyborg is beneath them. As mentioned before, there was no mention of “a few seconds” in the RETURN OF DONNA TROY mini-series; this piece of information comes from the INFINITE CRISIS series.

Page 14 – Panel 7: Animal Man has the power to absorb the abilities of animals; he uses birds to fly for example, but out here in space, near some Thanagarians, he gets to use something that “shoots lightning out of its face“.

Page 15 – Panel 3: Flash (Wally West) and his wife Linda with their twin children. His mention of being struck by lightning refers to the origin of both himself and his mentor, Flash (Barry Allen): both of them were doused in chemicals that had been struck by a lightning bolt, allowing them to access the Speed Force.

Page 15 – Panels 4 and 5: Linda and Wally watch news reports of the attack on Paradise Island by the OMACs. The commentary on the event seems to be missing the point that the Amazons are defending themselves.

Page 16 – Panels 4 to 8: Kal-L shows Batman what things were like in the Gotham City of Earth-2, allowing Batman to see his counterpart had married Catwoman (the Selina Batman mentions in Panel 6) and the daughter they shared who grew up to be the Earth-2 Huntress.

Page 16 – Panel 10: Kal-L mentions the death of the Earth-2 Batman as precipitating the end of Earth-2. In a flashback at the top of the panel is Batman being killed by the villain Bill Jensen; below that is Batman laying in state. Around the coffin are the Earth-2 Robin, Kal-L himself, the Earth-2 Huntress, Flash (Jay Garrick), Power Girl and GL Alan Scott. This panel is almost identical to the cover of ADVENTURE COMICS #462 which featured Batman’s death and is pictured to the left.

As to Batman’s death “precipitating the end of Earth-2” it’s worth noting that ADVENTURE COMICS #462 was published in 1979 while Earth-2 perished in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #10, published in 1986.

Page 16 – Panel 14: Kal-L promises to be at Batman’s side. On the pre-Crisis Earth-2, Batman and Superman were best friends and it’s likely that Kal-L wishes to return things to that state.

Page 17 – Panels 3 and 4: Wonder Woman realises, and tells Artemis, the OMACs are broadcasting the fight between them and the Amazons and knows that the battle has to end.

As an aside, she mentions “Kal and Bruce” to Artemis – has she inadvertently given away Batman’s real first name?

Page 18 – Panel 3: Tisiphone floats above (from left to right) Phillipus, Artemis and Wonder Woman.

Page 18 – Panel 5: The Amazon in the foreground on the left is Phillipus. Wonder Woman addresses the Amazons with Artemis answering her. It’s uncertain if any of the other Amazons are named characters or generic.

Page 19 – Panel 2: The divine intervention of the issue’s title takes place as (left to right) Isis, Bast, Artemis, Athena and Aphrodite accede to Wonder Woman’s wishes.

Page 19 – Panel 7: Artemis watches Phillipus and Wonder Woman embrace; to the right is Tisiphone, now in her human form of Fury.

Page 20: Paradise Island is removed from man’s world, leaving Wonder Woman as the only Amazon.

Page 21 – Panels 1 and 2: Lex Luthor has tracked his doppleganger down and listens in to the communication between the him and Black Adam. As was seen on Page 9 of the previous issue, the doppleganger is not above betraying even his allies in the Society.

Page 21 – Panel 5: In the hologram, behind Black Adam, are The General, Amazo, Ubermensch, Gorilla Grodd and Silver Banshee.

Page 21 – Panel 9: To the right of Luthor is the Psycho Pirate who will use his emotion manipulating skills to calm Adam.

Page 22 – Panel 1: For months prior to INFINITE CRISIS hitting the stands, readers were confused at the apparent discrepancy of Luthor’s behaviour: in some stories (for example Public Enemies) he was shown wearing a battle suit, in others (such as DAY OF VENGEANCE) a business suit. Things finally came to a head in DAY OF VENGEANCE when the business suited Luthor was told there was another, second Lex Luthor only to reply that he knew because he was the second Luthor. And now they meet.

Page 23 – Panels 3 and 4: Kal-L claims that the present situation is not Batman’s fault; he, however, feels differently.

Page 23 – Panels 6 and 7: Kal-L explains that the inhabitants of the planet will be “folded into” the fabric of Earth-2 when it returns, just as everyone from Earth-2 had been during CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. See the notes for INFINITE CRISIS #5, Page 18 – Panel 3 for more information on this.

Page 23 – Panels 9 and 11: When questioned about Dick Grayson, the original Robin who later became Nightwing, Kal-L has to admit that Grayson isn’t – or wasn’t – as good on Earth-2. As Scarlettspiderg pointed out to me in an e-mail “E2 Dick Grayson never “grew” out of the Robin persona, he never became his own man, whereas our Dick Grayson left the Robin persona, became Nightwing, left Gotham and hit it out on his own in Bludhaven.“

Page 24 – Panels 1 and 2: Unconvinced by Kal-L’s claims to be an alternate world’s Superman, Batman attempts to overcome him using the Kryptonite ring given to him by Superman. Note that because Kal-L isn’t from this universe, the Kryptonite has no effect upon him.

Page 24 – Panel 5: Kal-L describes the team of himself and the Earth-2 Batman as “the world’s finest“; this is an obvious nod to DC’s WORLD’S FINEST comic published between 1941 and 1986 and which featured Superman and Batman together.

Page 25 – Panel 1: From left to right, the crystals show Green Arrow (Conner Hawke), Green Arrow (Oliver Queen); Quakemaster in the purple hood and Shellshock above him; Captain Atom as he appears in the Captain Atom: Armageddon mini-series set in the Wildstorm Universe; Warp and Houngan above him; Chemo; Jaime Reyes holding the Blue Beetle scarab; and Liberty Belle facing off against Baron Blitzkrieg.

Page 25 – Panel 5: The two Luthors fight and, as the battle suited Luthor realises he cannot harm his foe, he destroys the other’s computers.

Page 25 – Panels 6 and 7: The business suited Luthor is revealed to have been Alex Luthor all along. The immediate implications are that the same person has been in charge of the villains’ Society and is convincing Kal-L that returning Earth-2 is necessary.

Page 26: Luthor’s armour is ruined by someone tearing it off him and Alex reveals that he has no qualms about ordering the death of his doppleganger. Before he can be killed, Luthor uses a short range teleporter to escape.

Page 27 – Panels 1 to 6: Power Girl, having read Lois’s journal, returns to Alex’s fortress hoping that there’s a way to solve the problem of keeping both Earth-1 and 2 as well as saving Lois.

Page 27 – Panel 7: Meanwhile, back in the Batcave, Batman’s computers have repaired the security tape which should reveal who destroyed the Watchtower.

Page 27 – Panel 8: Lois is presumably asleep as she doesn’t respond to Power Girl’s calls.

Page 27 – Panel 9: As the last entry of the Watchtower security camera plays, Martian Manhunter can be seen on the screen.

Page 27 – Panel 10: Power Girl stumbles upon something that hasn’t been seen in continuity for 20 years.

Pages 28 and 29 – Panel 1: Main panel: Power Girl stands at the base of a tower modelled on the “vibrational tuning forks” used by the Monitor in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS to keep the different Earths apart. Embedded into it, near the top, is the body of the Anti-Monitor, while below that, attached to the tower are Breach, Martian Manhunter, Black Adam, Lady Quark and The Ray. There appear to be three empty slots, one either side of Breach and one between Lady Quark and The Ray. It’s now clear which Luthor wanted The Ray alive when he was captured in INFINITE CRISIS #1.

Directly above Breach is the domed head of R2 D2 from the Star Wars movies.

The Anti-Monitor’s body is something of a possible continuity error as, at the end of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, Kal-L reduced him to a fireball which, in turn, Kal-L destroyed. As this takes place in the post-Crisis universe, however, it is possible that the end of the Crisis didn’t end with the Anti-Monitor’s total destruction. Check my notes about how the Crisis was viewed post-Crisis.

Pages 28 and 29 – Panel 5: Batman watches the tape showing the arrival of someone that the Watchtower thought was Superman.

Pages 28 and 29 – Panels 9 and 10: Events repeat themselves as, on the tape, J’onn’s attacker is told to bring him in alive while in Panel 10, the same person is told Power Girl is needed alive. The same person responds in the same way: “Yes, Luthor.“

Page 30: In both instances, the attacker is revealed to have been Superboy-Prime working on the orders of Alex Luthor.

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Deaths in this Issue:

• Neptune Perkins – killed by King Shark and The Shark
• Amazonians – killed by OMACS

Possible deaths:

• King Shark – possibly eaten by fish – though revealed to be alive in later issues of AQUAMAN
• Tempest – possibly killed by The Spectre – though revealed to be alive in later issues of AQUAMAN
• Arion – possibly killed by The Spectre
• Atlantean Mages – possibly killed by The Spectre

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