Legends Crossovers: Chapters 4 to 7

The LEGENDS crossovers were handily labelled as Chapters and crossed in to several ongoing series as well as mini-series.


COSMIC BOY #1

Leaving Titans Tower (in LEGENDS #2), Cosmic Boy returns to the scene of his defeat by Brimstone but is attacked by an angry mob. Night Girl flies in and rescues him, taking him back to their hotel room where he recovers. He tells her of a brief meeting he had with Superman who didn’t recognise him, despite Cosmic Boy knowing him since he was Superboy.

Together, they examine video tapes of recent 20th Century events only to find many things are inconsistent with the history they both know. With the rest of the heroes banned from active duty, Cosmic Boy sets out to protect a space shuttle launch from protesters but he is mistaken for a spy and attacked by armed guards, leaving him injured and lacking in self-confidence.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #258

Professor Ivo blames the Justice League for his disfigurement and, with the Detroit League having suffered at the hands of Brimstone, decides to take the opportunity to destroy them. Having created a number of androids, each bearing his own, perfect face, he sends one out to track down Vibe.

The League, following their defeat, gather at their headquarters and, following the President’s order banning superheroes, the Martian Manhunter formally disbands the team, leaving the young heroes to go where they will.

As Vibe walks the streets of New York, he is attacked by Ivo’s android and, despite putting up a valiant fight, is killed by it.

SECRET ORIGINS #10

While the Phantom Stranger is one of the main characters of LEGENDS, this issue has nothing to do with the plot of LEGENDS or the plan of Darkseid and is instead offers four different origins of the Stranger, thus making it a red sky crossover issue.

The first shows him as a man named Isaac in Bethlehem whose wife and child were killed by the soldiers of King Herod during the search for the newly born Christ child. Years later, finding Christ, Isaac takes the role of a Roman guard and whips Christ in an act of revenge. Jesus curses him to walk the Earth until his return and so he does for centuries as the Wandering Jew until he repents his crimes and willingly serves God to do good.

The second shows him as a man in a sin-filled city who refuses to be saved by an angel as the only righteous man in that city. Instead, he commits suicide, unwilling to live without his fellows, even though they were unworthy. The angel curses him to walk the Earth, helping people wherever he can, but allows him to forget his previous life.

The third begins in the far future where scientists are attempting to save the dying world by reaching back to the big bang in order to siphon off the tiniest piece of its energy to continue their existence. One of them, however, is an agent of Anti-Life and knows the experiment will destroy everything. When the Stranger appears and tries to stop him, he is captured and passes on his powers to the only good scientist who travels back to the big bang, stopping the Anti-Life agent but, at the same time, becoming the Stranger himself, and waiting for mankind to arrive on Earth.

The final story shows the revolt of Satan and his angels against God, with one angel unable to decide which faction to side with. Even during the battle he cannot make up his mind and after Satan and the others are cast down, he is shunned by the angels of the Lord for not fighting with them. Journeying to Hell, he finds the fallen who, in turn, reject him, but tear off his wings, forcing him to walk for all eternity.

FIRESTORM #55

As Brimstone brings down a huge amount of rubble on to Firestorm and the JLA (as seen in LEGENDS #2), Firestorm is able to alter his density and escape damage. He makes a hard decision to chase after Brimstone rather than rescue the JLA and tries to stop the creature. Unfortunately, he cannot stop Brimstone from wreaking havoc as well as causing thousands of deaths, including that of a research team from Task Force X, before it escapes. After they return to Ronnie’s apartment, Prof Stein refuses to become Firestorm again, in part to comply with the Presidential order, but also because he doubts they are doing any good as the hero.

The next day, a susceptible student at the university has fallen to G Gordon Godfrey’s mantra and organises a book burning; when Ronnie forces Prof Stein to become Firestorm, the professor resists, leading to Firestorm’s defeat at the student’s hands.