'The Darkseid War' Adds New Developments in JUSTICE LEAGUE #43

You would think it'd be really cool to be part of the Justice League of America. If you were a superhero, that's the team you'd want to be on. With Darkseid War heating up, perhaps it's time to rethink that. Things are starting to look pretty dire for the team in JUSTICE LEAGUE #43.

Let's check out some of the developments. As you can imagine, there will be some spoilers for the issue.

Kalibak is a Loose Cannon

Kalibak is the son of Darkseid. That means he's nothing but trouble. With the confrontation between Darkseid and Anti-Monitor fast approaching, we see that Kalibak may have an agenda of his own. If that's the case and he's not 100% loyal to his father, that should mean it's a good thing. The problem is, there's no telling what his motives might be or what decisions he might make.

In a 'war' between Darkseid and Anti-Monitor, the Justice League wouldn't want either to win. Kalibak fighting for himself or aligning himself with the Anit-Monitor could just lead to more problems. It's crazy enough for the League to figure out what they need to do next. Besides Darkeseid and Anti-Monitor, there's also Grail, Darkseid's daughter, to consider. There's a lot of players coming into this 'war' and they all pretty much have bad intentions. Kalibak could just add one more massive problem to the game board.

Batman Embracing the Powers of the New Gods

We're still trying to grasp this concept. When Batman took the Mobius Chair away from Metron, he gained the answers to just about any question he could ask. Sitting on the chair is what changed him. We're seeing some changes already as Batman is now pretty firm that the chair is his. Hal Jordan express concern over him staying on the chair since the information from the chair is "mainlining into [his] brain." As great as Batman is at what he does, he is still just a human. Even Cyborg mentions being plugged into a Mother Box almost drove him insane.

Yeah, it's possible Batman can handle it since he is...Batman, but there's still a big risk. We know what they say about absolute power...

Lex Luthor and Superman Working Together

Lex Luthor and Superman working together? We saw them do this during the Amazo Virus arc but things are a little different this time. The two are on Apokolips and separated from the team. To make it worse, Superman is losing his powers because of the lack of sunlight. That really puts his life into Lex's hands. Lex has shown some good intentions lately but this is Lex Luthor we're talking about. Can he ever truly be trusted? What he does later can also be questioned. (See below).

Darkseid and Anit-Monitor About to Clash

Look at these two figures. They are massive and full of immense power. The two actually colliding with each other can't be good for the universe. Things are about to get really ugly as the two come into contact with each other. The League still needs to figure out what they're going to do. Should they sit back and let one finish off the other? Is that even possible or will the fighting just lead to major destruction? Even though the footsoldiers of each are likely pure evil, I can't see the League just watching them get demolished in the conflict either. As powerful as the League is, this would have to be a pretty scary sight.

Superman Goes Through a Change...For the Worse?

As Lex tries to take Superman away from harm, they quickly become completely surrounded and overwhelmed. Lex has no choice but to "drop" Superman. He isn't just going to drop him on the ground though. He tells Superman he intends to drop him in a fire pit on Apokolips. Somehow Lex knows (or thinks) the pits contain the solar energy Superman would need to give himself a power boost to get back into the game. We have to wonder if Lex really knew and believed that or is he just looking after his own neck. The fire pits do have an affect on Superman. Whether or not it's a good one remains to be seen in the next issue. We'll just say it doesn't look too good at this point. (No, we're not spoiling everything!)

There are other developments in the issue as well. Mister Miracle comes in contact with the League. Metron seems to have something up his sleeve. And of course there's still Grail and whatever she has planned. Be sure to check out the issue for the rest.

What are your thoughts on these latest developments?

Not to mention Steppenwolf is alive even though the last we saw of him, he looked like this:

Jason Fabok and Geoff Johns is the second best pairing in modern comics with Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo is #1 IMO

@outside_85: The concept of singularity was applied. New Gods cannot die permanently he might die in Earth 2 which is part of the 52 Earths.. but there is a one true stepphenwolf in the multiverse and that goes to all New Gods.

So is all this set before current events in the DCU?

This looks awesome, but I think I'm way behind on it. I've been too focused on Secret War, I suppose :(

This issue was fantastic. It's hard to imagine the league coming out victorious in this one. Things are looking pretty bleak. Can't wait to see what happens next.

I would have agreed if it weren't for how Capullo draws women.

The singularity concept of the New Gods means there is only one of each of them, that it was the same Darkseid that invaded Earth-1 and 2, same Steppenwolf marooned and later killed on Earth-2 as seen with Desaad torturing Superman.

However, a case could be made that 'Steppenwolf' is just a name and uniform different people wear in the service of Darkseid.

I just hope Superman isn't actually able to hurt Darkseid. It looks like Supes is about to attack him with intent to kill, but he should still get stomped. I actually don't want any of the league, or even the leave as a whole, to be able to defeat either The Anti-Monitor or Darkseid, and I have faith Geoff Johns won't make him job. Otherwise, everything else with Kalibak and Batman is awesome.

They keep changing the size. First they made anti-monitor shrink down to Darkseids size. Now Darkseid and Kalibak are massive!!

@outside_85 said:

Not to mention Steppenwolf is alive even though the last we saw of him, he looked like this:

Not to mention how loyal Kalibak was to his father in Batman and Robin and no he is not.

@sealife: True. I really love his style but sometimes i can confuse between Clark and Bruce, a lot of kids and women.

To be fair there aren't that many artists who can distinguish well between different women and kids and usually just make do with hair changes

@superior_prime_maybe: @sealife: yeah but for me it's easy to overlook that because the way he draws batman is my personal favorite whet it's Bruce or Gordon. Plus he draws a great superman IMO. I think his design and Snyder run will be something that will never forgotten

They certainly have Superman's place in a Justice League story nailed down now.

Removed from the main team: Check.

Remove a good portion of his powers: Check.

Superman goes bad: Check.

@outside_85 Darkseid has the ability to resurrect or reanimate anyone he pleases through the omega sanction or he can utilise advanced apokolips technology to bio-genetically engineer Steppenwolf back. Also don't forget Darkseid is a god

@superior_prime_maybe: IKR. Anti-Monitor grew too.

Ressurection is not part of his powerset unless he was the guy that originally killed the person in question. And lets not forget that he also failed at making a working clone of Batman.

@superior_prime_maybe well Darkseid and the Anti-montor can alter their sizes if you have read the great darkness saga you would know that..

@outside_85 depends in the writer he can resurrect through the omega effect

Which is the same kind of logic you could use to explain why Batman could fly all of a sudden.

@jayc1324: Pointless since Geoff already had Darkseid take on Superman and win.

Darkseid can resurrect anyone, new gods are not traditional gods have you read final crisis they can't just die they still exist as entities it depends on which writer Grant Morrison invented the Darkseid resurrection concept Darkseid himself has stated he's just an avatar his true omnipotent form is an entity that is unkillable @outside_85 so like I Said you can't just kill a new god. Because Darkseid could not clone Batman doesn't mean he can't bio-genetically clone back Steppenwolf I mean he used the body of Dan Turpin to reincarnate himself he can do what he wants. He's Darkseid just enjoy the comics and don't forget creativity over continuity. Thanks

@superior_prime_maybe: @batman3000: Oh his art is definitively good it's just sometimes it takes you out of it.

But yeah his Bruce is really nice. I don't think he draws them so similar as Lee does though, His Bruce and Clark can be really hard to distinguish.

New Gods are immortals. They don't die unless they're affected with radion.

Batman ,and Justice League have really been carrying DC in my opinion.

I wonder if the survivors from the Crime Syndicate or Justice Society will join this fight? I mean the AM and Darkseid did destroy their respective Earths.

I doubt it, but with two mach trucks like this it really is all hands on deck time.

The art is fantastic but I'm a little bored with the pacing but it looks like its about to pick up.

I feel ya. one time when I was reading Justice league (when Lee was on the series) I was thinking Clark what are you doing in the batsuit! But I still love his art.

Removing their hearts did the trick in Death of the New Gods.

Sorry but no, Darkseid isn't even close to omnipotent. And the Final Crisis version was literally dying and powerwise a shade of himself and had to jump from host to host like some spirit-parasite that was unable to ever take a physical form again.

The issue was great. I wished for something big to happen and now we are really going to see the action in the next issues. Cannot wait to see how Luthor will deal with Clark and what plan Diana will use to win this war.

I did not know that. Thanks!!!
This thing was really bugging me.

While this issue and story has been very good. This saga raises a few questions regarding dc's continuity. Well johns did say, Dc was gojng to focus on good story telling rather than continiuty. Which is a good and bad thing. I mean, with the whole "Good" story telling aspect, i think some characters might get to shine or in some cases shine even more for a story. This will also means to a lot of contradictions if u have been following every story which some of us do. Anyways, i wish Dc well, i hope it goes the way they want it to.

BUT WHERE IS AQUAMAN AT?

That's the only thing that is pissing me off about this arc.

This is so epic! By far my favorite comic story right now. I hope it last a long time. With its depth in charter and epic fights this could be the best story of the year. By far better than secret wars right now. I'm reading both by the way.

I'm hoping they will branch out with a New Gods comic after this which will primarily feature Mister Miracle.

This series has been absolutely epic! I want the next issue now!

I was getting so pumped up reading this. People need to stop thinking about continuity because some of these arcs could be years from each other.

@kivatt: this takes place the same time as his current arc

I'm calling this... Batman downloads his subconscious self in to the Mobius Chair & that's how he comes back in the regular Batman title.

Batsy's going drunk with power

It was a really good read! But I mean these guys could take galaxies, this fight should not be on earth lol

The end of this comic always want me to see the next one. Nooooooooooooooo.

@outside_85 said:

Not to mention Steppenwolf is alive even though the last we saw of him, he looked like this:

That "death" sure was...

(puts on sunglasses)

..."Brutaal".

And Bats as a New God sure does have a scary cool feel to it.

@kfabz-23: Who told you that lie

Everyone keeps saying that Aquaman is busy on his own because his current book coincides with the events of the Darkseid War but I want to know where you guys are getting that information from.

@outside_85: He's a New God, they don't die easily, especially not one of Darksied's men. Not like the why really matters anyways, he's around and he's probably gonna have some really cool fights.

Same here, I'd really love an Orion book.