Countdown to Final Crisis

Countdown
Cover to Countdown #51 by Andy Kubert.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	weekly
Format	limited series
Publication date	2007-2008
No. of issues	52
Main character(s)	Donna Troy Karate Kid Kyle Rayner Holly Robinson Jason Todd Jimmy Olsen Mary Marvel Pied Piper Trickster
Creative team
Written by	Paul Dini Jimmy Palmiotti Sean McKeever Tony Bedard Adam Beechen Justin Gray
Artist(s)	Keith Giffen Jesus Saiz Jim Calafiore Carlos Magno David Lopez

Countdown, referred to by DC Comics as Countdown to Final Crisis from the issue numbered 26 on, is a comic book limited series published by DC Comics, which debuted on May 9, 2007, directly following the conclusion of the last issue of 52. The series is written primarily by Paul Dini, who will also act as editor, with a rotating team of writers and artists. Countdown consists of 52 issues published weekly for one year, crossing over with noteworthy and significant titles published by DC. The series is numbered in reverse order, starting with #51. The series covers much of the fictional DC Universe and is told in parallel narratives, through the interconnecting stories of a cast of characters, and frequently crosses over with various other DC titles. Unlike that of 52 the previous year, Countdown is not depicted as taking place in "real time"; instead, each six to seven issues roughly correlate to one month.

The series follows the success of 52, which, in contrast, did not cross over with DC's other regular titles. 52 concluded with the revelation that the Multiverse (a storytelling device which posits the existence of alternate realities) exists, and which now serves as a backdrop to several stories in Countdown. In issue #26, the series was renamed to Countdown to Final Crisis, in the vein of the previous Countdown to Infinite Crisis issue, albeit larger. The stories taking place in Countdown are expected to set the stage for the approaching "Final Crisis" series which like its predecessors, Infinite Crisis and Crisis on Infinite Earths is intended to be a major story in the history of the publisher which may possibly restructure the DC Universe in which its stories are set.

A backup story entitled "History of the Multiverse" appears in issues #49 through #38, with the creative team of writer/artist Dan Jurgens and inker Norm Rapmund (Jerry Ordway inked issues #39 and #38's backup stories). It relays the publication history of DC Comics from an in-universe perspective to the reader, detailing the first meeting of the first and second Flash in "Flash of Two Worlds" through to the preceding events of 52 and One Year Later, as told by the fictional Monitors, who appear within the main story. Beginning with Countdown #37, the backup stories tell the origin stories of various supervillains in "Secret Origins of the Super Villains", similar to those of various superheroes told in 52.

Story (as of #13)

Apokolips

On Apokolips, Darkseid and Desaad discuss the coming of a time with existence being recreated with Darkseid as the architect. Darkseid has what appears to be a gameboard with pieces representing the Joker, Donna Troy, Green Arrow, the Flash, Holly Robinson, Batman, Jason Todd, Hawkman, Killer Croc, Martian Manhunter, Superman, Wonder Woman, OMAC, Jimmy Olsen, Nightwing, Duela Dent, and Black Adam. Later, as the New Gods Lightray and Sleez are killed by an unknown, mysterious figure (See Jimmy Olsen section), Desaad and one of his Concubines stand next to him. Desaad leaves and the Concubine says that she is surprised how tender his feelings are. Darkseid then kills her and tells Desaad to remove the vocal cords from the next one. Forager is shown spying on them for New Genesis to see if Darkseid is responsible for the recent New God murders and is attacked by a guard, then escapes. The Deep Six are killed soon afterwards by the same mysterious figure. Darkseid shows knowledge of the New Gods dying across the galaxy and the mystery figure killing them, and decides to use the New Gods as pawns in a complex scheme intended to result in his rule of the entire Multiverse. After the Monitors discuss the current events happening throughout the multiverse, the leader of them believes that someone is behind all these events. Darkseid is shown on the next page, with a chessboard on a table containing all the key players of Countdown. Mary Marvel is brought before Darkseid, who tells her that he wants a sorcerer and that she is it. When she refuses his offer, they briefly fight before Desaad arrives and distracts Darkseid long enough for Mary to escape. Eclipso assures Darkseid that she will bring Mary back.

Donna Troy, Jason Todd, Kyle Rayner and Ray Palmer

In New York City, former Robin and now "Red Hood", Jason Todd is witness to the murder of Duela Dent at the hands of a rogue Monitor, who claims her presence in this world is not tolerated, as she is from an alternate Earth. Jason later meets former Wonder Girl Donna Troy after the other Teen Titans later pay their respects to Duela Dent's grave and speculates that the two of them, like Duela, may not belong in this reality either. During the Amazons' attack on Washington D.C., Jason and Donna discuss the Monitors and the original Monitor and Anti-Monitor when they are attacked by the "Forerunner" who had been sent by the Monitors. Another Monitor arrives to save Jason and Donna from the Forerunners and take them to safety.

At the funeral of the Flash, Bart Allen, the Monitor tells Jason and Donna that the former Atom, Ray Palmer, is alive and lost somewhere in the Nanoverse, and that locating him is key to surviving the coming crisis. Donna, Jason and the Monitor (nicknamed "Bob" by Jason Todd), meet with current Atom, Ryan Choi in Ivy Town to recruit him in the search for Ray Palmer. Searching for him within the microscopic "Nanoverse", they are captured by the evil Queen Bethelra, and later being rescued by Kyle Rayner before Ryan Choi is abducted back into Ivy Town. Kyle informs the group that they will have to tour the Multiverse to find Ray Palmer, and they encounter the Authority on Earth-50 and the Crime Society on Earth-3. As they leave Earth-3, they are unexpectedly joined by the Jokester (the Joker's moral counterpart and father of Duela), passing through Earth-15 and later Earth-8, where Lord Havok and the Extremists capture them before an invasion by Monarch and his newest recruits, the Crime Society gives Jason the opportunity to feign a betrayal, allowing their eventual escape.

Arriving in Earth-12, a universe resembling the Batman Beyond TV series, another Monitor who has named himself Nix Uotan arrives, and informs Bob that all the Monitors have taken on names for themselves (such as the Monitor of Earth-8 naming himslef Solomon). By stating that Ray Palmer lives "a life of no consequence", he unintentionally reveals the location of Ray Palmer and Bob reasons that the only way Nix Uotan could know what Ray is doing is if he was on his Earth. The group then arrive on Earth-51, a near-perfect world where supercrime has long been eradicated. They locate Ray, living the life of his deceased counterpart, and Bob revealing himself to have been working for the same cause as Solomon, tells him that he must be exterminated. The Challengers try to stop Bob, who succeeds in killing the alternate versions of Barry Allen, Ralph Dibny and Jean Loring, but Ray escapes him by shrinking to microscopic size, and the Challengers escape. After Monarch descends upon Earth-51, with his Crime Society and Extremists recruits, Kyle and Ray are then confronted by Power Ring and alternate versions of Booster Gold and Supergirl, whilst elsewhere Donna faces one of her own counterparts as Jason fights with Gorgon of Earth-8.

Jason is accosted by the Batman of Earth-51, who had eradicated the supervillains of his world following his Jason's murder (as Jason wished that his Batman would have done). Eventually warming to Jason, he gives him a new costume, one that his world's Jason never got the chance to wear, and Jason assumes the mantle of "Red Robin". Meanwhile, Queen Belthera also arrives on Earth-51 and sends her insect armies into the fight, who is revealed as the evil Donna's master. After "Dark Donna" is easily defeated, New Earth's Donna is able to masquerade as her to get close to Bethelra, kill her and assume leadership of Bethelra's troops by right of conquest. Ray and Kyle are also able to deal with their opponents quickly and Ray explains why the Earth-51 Ray Palmer was so important: Earth-51's Ray discovered a sentient virus named Morticoccus and had it quarantined. However when the multiverse was discovered, Ray theorized that Morticoccus could exist on other Earths and set about using his own superhuman immune system to immunize their populations. After his death, the New Earth Ray Palmer found his research and continued his work, leaving an atom symbol on those who he had immunized. Kyle, Jason, Donna, Ray and the Batman of Earth-51 are reunited as they approach their confrontation with Monarch but encounter a message written in large flaming letters: To Apokolips. Before they can decide what to do, the Earth-51 Batman confronts a group of Monarch's soldiers led by the Joker only to be killed by Ultraman. As Jason stops to mourn the loss of Batman, he finds the Joker laughing amonst the rubble and kills him. The Challengers are then met by Nix Uotan, who explains that the message came from The Source and sends them to Apokolips.

Mary Marvel, Holly Robinson and Harley Quinn

A powerless Mary Batson awakens from her coma after the events of The Trials of Shazam! where she lost her abilities mid-flight. She leaves the hospital planning to find Freddy Freeman, who paid for all her hospital bills and consults Madame Xanadu, who cannot locate Freddy but warns her not to go to Gotham City, which Mary ignores. Chased by thugs through the Gotham subway, she finds the same tunnel where her brother Billy first met the wizard Shazam and became Captain Marvel. Black Adam appears fully powered and saves Mary, before transferring his powers to her and allowing her to become Mary Marvel again. Mary believes that she has acquired the powers of Black Adam and the entire Black Marvel Family, including Isis. Billy later summons her to explain that he has replaced Shazam and that Freddy will replace him, and scolds her for taking Black Adam's powers despite her protests that she will use her powers for good. In Gotham, Mary comes across former supervillain the Riddler at a crime scene where he professes his reformation and new private investigator role. Mary apprehends the real criminal, Clayface with excessive violence and fears Black Adam's powers have changed her - Riddler suggests she seek a mentor as Eclipso watches with interest.

She finds Zatanna, who can sense the new darkness in her powers, the pair are witness the murders of the Deep Six and Mary discovers that she possesses more magical powers. Zee then takes her to her home, Shadowcrest, where she begins to train her, although Mary has a sudden mood swing and desire to become more powerful, challenging Zatanna to battle. As Eclipso watches the battle, Mary and Zatanna fight. Mary loses after Zatanna turns Mary's lightning on her, which cancels out her powers. Mary is then banished forever from Shadowcrest, before encountering Klarion the Witch Boy and later, Eclipso herself who attempts to fully corrupt the young Marvel. The Shadowpact take notice of Mary's activities, and decide to stop her. They attack Mary and Eclipso, but are easily overwhelmed, and the two escape. Mary meets with Darkseid who offers to show her true darkness. She agrees to speak with him, but upon seeing his treatment of people as mere puppets, she attacks him. Their fight is interrupted by Desaad, allowing Mary to escape. Eclipso catches her back, and talks Mary into returning to Darkseid and submit to his authority, at least until she grows strong enough to usurp his powers. But Mary is unable to return safely to Apokolips, as the asteroid on which she and Eclipso are talking is destroyed by a stray shot of the Dominators and the Monarch's armies. Eclipso teleports her to safety in the nick of time, but Mary, instead of gratitude, expresses anger about her plan, and feeling that Eclipso was ultimately selling her as a new concubine for Darkseid in exchange for power, blasts her with her own black diamond, then escapes. Eclipso manages to wrest the diamond from Mary's grasp, and leaves, telling her that she is once again alone. Some time later, Eclipso returns and tries to kill Mary, but finds that she is too strong for her. Mary and Eclipso battle, with Mary bringing them into Earth's orbit. She calls down the lightning, which strikes them both, leaving them powerless. Mary falls into the ocean and washes up on the shores of Themiscyra.

Meanwhile, Holly Robinson arrives in Metropolis, trying to get a fresh start. Before long, she rescues a man outside of 666 Suicide Slum when an unknown force appears to kill Sleez, a New God of Apokolips. Later, Holly is visited by a woman who offers her a home at a women's shelter where she meets the reformed Harleen Quinzel. After witnessing hate protests as a fallout from the Amazon-American war, she is outraged to find that the shelter would refuse a single mother and seeks to speak to their boss and goddess, "Athena". She tells Athena of it and Athena convinces her to go on a quest. When Harleen questions Holly on why she is training in the shelter's gym, Holly reveals to Harleen that she has been asked to take part in Athena's self-esteem workshop. Harleen is overjoyed at the news. Holly is placed in a battle armor for so-called "purification ritual" where the women are made to fight. Only Holly and Harley make it to the end. They are later shown on a boat headed towards Themiscyra, and are told by Athena that their first test is to outswim the island's water guardians, which they succeed at. Mere moments after their trial, the recruits are then chased by a pack of wild dogs, set upon them by the Amazons. As their training continues through a series of increasingly dangerous obstacles, Harley decides to explore a cave outside the fences of the training ground. As Holly follows her inside, a shadowy figure armed with a sword waits for them. The figure in the cave is revealed to be Hippolyta, who reveals to the two that Athena is a fake, and advises them to play along until the truth can be uncovered.

After washing ashore, Mary is found by Holly and Harley who take her back to Hippolyta, who detects that all of Mary's power has gone but also any darkness that was in her. The three explain to Mary about the fake Athena and ask her to help.

Jimmy Olsen

Superman helps Jimmy Olsen locate the Red Hood, Jason Todd, and conducts an interview with him about the death of Duela. Jason tells him everything he knows. He points him towards the Joker in Arkham Asylum. Joker doesn't know anything about the death of "the Joker's Daughter," stating he never had a daughter. He also seems to allude that he knows of a larger conspiracy at hand. While calling Lois to inform her of his dead end, Jimmy is attacked by Killer Croc and much to Jimmy's surprise, his body stretches, similar to Plastic Man and the Elongated Man. Jimmy begins to display other powers, such as super-speed and investigating if he has other powers, discovers the ability to project spines from his body, but is puzzled as to why some powers only pronounce themselves in certain situations. Witnessing the mysterious death of the New God Lightray and dreaming of being trapped in the Source Wall, Jimmy begins investigating. Prompted to come to 666 Suicide Slum, he meets a former minion of Darkseid named Sleez there who is killed before he can give in any real information, although "So begins the end" is ominously heard. After hearing the heroes' eulogies at Bart Allen's funeral, Jimmy resolves to become a hero with his new powers. A week later, Jimmy has made himself a costume and decided on a name: Mr. Action. Over the course of the next few weeks, he revels in his new popularity and decides to try to join the Teen Titans, although Titans leader Robin, begs him to reconsider. Jimmy then confronts Clark Kent and reveals he knows Clark is Superman by pulling away Clark's shirt to reveal Superman's costume. Following appearances in Action Comics, Superman agrees to see if the Justice League will admit Jimmy although the other members are displeased. Jimmy tries out for the Justice League, but is deflated when his powers don't manifest for them. John Henry Irons constructs a new test for Jimmy's powers using metahuman biofeedback, but the display generates complicated images of the Source Wall and alternate Earths, causing intense pain for Jimmy and shocking John. On his way home, Jimmy meets two members of Cadmus, who offer their assistance and take him back to their HQ to run tests on him. During the testing, Jimmy's powers go haywire, and he runs off to keep himself from hurting anyone. He then encounters the Newsboy Legion, who offer him shelter. Jimmy then encounters Forager, who asks for his help in stopping whoever is killing the New Gods. Arriving on Apokolips, Jimmy and Forager fight groups of Parademons before being overpowered and taken prisoner. The Monitors decide that Jimmy was never meant to have control over his powers and that someone else is manipulating him, trying to keep him alive. Jimmy is turned into a slave on Apokolips, but is spared the death sentence by Darkseid. He's sent instead to the slave pits, where his overseers are warned to torture him, but never dealing killing blows, to avoid activating his new powers. Mister Miracle comes to his aid. Unable to discern the nature of his powers, even with his Mother Box, gambles their safety by dropping Olsen into a fire pit. Jimmy survives by assuming a turtle-like form. Jimmy locates Forager, only for her to go berzerk and attack him. Jimmy duplicates the powers of a mother box to restore Forager's sanity. The two are then confronted by Bernadeth, who Jimmy battles, until he calls upon the powers of a boom tube, returning him and Forager to earth, whereupon he kisses her. Once back at Jimmy's apartment, Forager informs him that during the kiss she was able to detect why Jimmy has developed his powers: he is a soul catcher, collecting the spirit energy of the Gods.

Karate Kid

Tying in with the Justice League of America and Justice Society of America crossover with the Legion of Super-Heroes, "The Lightning Saga", we see a brainwashed Legion member: Karate Kid (Val Armorr), fight with Batman in the Batcave, eventually subdued by Black Lightning. After being held prisoner by the League for some time, Starman then comes to talk to him. When he is released, he is joined by Dream Girl, Starman, and Doctor Mid-Nite on the Satellite. Dr. Mid-Nite informs the Legion that they are trying to locate their friends, and until then, they are not allowed to leave. After being left in the 21st century by his Legion, Karate Kid is approached by Legion member Triplicate Girl with another mission. Triplicate Girl, now called "Una" takes him to the Oracle's home, to which she knew the location, where they discover that someone is trying to steal the secret identities of heroes everywhere, which Oracle is attempting to prevent. Oracle successfully defeats Calculator in a complicated plot organizing disasters the world over, and Karate Kid reveals that he is dying and only Oracle can help him. After examining Karate Kid, Oracle determines that the virus he has is either of alien origin, or too advanced to detect. She directs the two to see a Mister Orr for more answers. Defeating Orr's bodguard, Equus, Elias moves them onto another researcher after he deduces it may be related to the OMAC virus. Later, Orr reports dutifully to Desaad. Karate Kid and Una then meet Professor Buddy Blank, who takes them to see Brother Eye, who confirm that Val is infected with the OMAC virus and refers to the "Great Disaster". Brother Eye tells Val that there is a similar strain to his infection, in a bunker beneath Blüdhaven. Darkseid is later seen watching Karate Kid, Una and Buddy Blank and his grandson making their way through Blüdhaven, holding up a chess piece of Blank's grandson. Travelling through the ruins, the group meet Firestorm just as Val begins to cough up blood. Sensing something beneath the surface, Val gets Firestorm to blast a hole to the cavern below. One of the Monitors states that Karate Kid will bring about the Great Disaster if the virus spreads to other people. Karate Kid and Firestorm take on the Atomic Knights. They then break into a vault under Blüdhaven and find Professor Stein being tortured by Desaad, who then turns on Firestorm and steals his powers. As Desaad tries to kill Val and Una, the Atomic Knights arrive and use a device on Desaad, dividing Firestorm back into Desaad, Jason Rusch and Gehenna. Desaad escapes back to Apokolips before he can be caught. The Atomic Knights return their attentions to Karate Kid and the others, but are unable to act before Jason and Gehenna remerge into Firstorm and once again incapacitate them. Firestorm helps Professor Stein as Buddy Blank leads Val, Una and his grandson deeper into the underground. Coming across a sealed door, Karate Kid attempts to open it, causing Brother Eye to activate within a NORAD storage hanger. Activating new OMACs from the people in the hanger, Brother Eye breaks free. Upon detecting that the Morticoccus host is in final gestation and that viral release is imminent, it sets course for Blüdhaven, declaring: "Eye am the Shepherd, Eye am the way". Brother Eye, completely shielded from any and all forms of detection, has the OMACs convert Bludhaven into its new base. Using Firestorm and the Atomic Knights as a power source, Brother Eye continues to grow. Inside, Val, Una, Buddy and his grandson are kept alive, Val theorising that they are "beneath its notice." He fears that using Desaad, Brother Eye may gain access to Boom Tube technology allowing him to grow exponentially.

Trickster and Piper

Tying in with the The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive "Full Throttle" story arc, the Rogues have been reconstituted with a new membership of Heat Wave, Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Abra Kadabra, Weather Wizard, Trickster and Pied Piper, led by Inertia. Several Rogues distrust Trickster and Piper as they have reformed in the past. The Rogues plan to and eventually succeed in, killing the Flash, Bart Allen (in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13). Piper and Trickster are then shown on the run following the murder, but still attend Bart's funeral, where they are captured by Multiplex and Deadshot. Eventually escaping, they are later pursued in Gotham City by the Suicide Squad (comprised of Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, Plastique and Captain Boomerang, Jr.) and later Oracle's dispatches: the Question and Batwoman, villainous duo Poison Ivy and Deathstroke, and eventually Batman and Wally West himself, on his vendetta against the Rogues who he believes killed his cousin Bart. Piper and Trickster try to tell Wally that they overheard Deathstroke's plans to murder the attendees at the Black Canary/Green Arrow wedding, but are internally attacked by Deathstroke's tracking device. Flash manages to remove the explosive implants, and has the two brought to Zatanna's home. Flash confiscated the duo's weapons, but they use Zatanna's mummy Hassan to create a distraction and escape Black Canary's bachelorette party. They then find himself in the middle of the wedding day battle and manage to use the Joker's exploding "present" against Poison Ivy, gaining some measure of revenge over her. As they escape in a stolen car, they are suddenly accosted by Double Down, who had hidden in the back seat. Double Down wants to join the two in their run from the law, mentioning the disappearances of several villains. The group are then attacked by the Suicide Squad. Double Down is defeated and captured, but Piper and Trickster, using Trickster's cloaking field, evade the squad, then decide to follow them and free the other villains they've captured. They follow them to a government facility, and manage to free Two-Face. Two-Face tells them that Checkmate is behind the abductions. After flipping his coin, Two-Face declines to join the two. Piper and Trickster continue to flee, escaping capture by Deadshot. Their escape does not last long: joining forces, they are able to beat Deadshot, but not before he manages to shoot the Trickster, seemingly to death. The cord attaching them together detects that Trickster is dead and begins a fail-safe procedure, counting down 24 hours until it detonates. Piper uses his flute to slow the countdown. The train they are on stops for a routine check, causing Piper to flee into the desert. Piper, delirous from the heat, begins to imagine Trickster's corpse is talking to him.

Monarch, the Monitors and Superman-Prime

The Monitors dispatch a Forerunner named Viza Aziv to kill Jason Todd and Donna Troy. With Jason nearly beaten unconscious, Donna and the Forerunner fight until one of the Monitors saves them. Since she is a tool of the Monitors, she is not allowed to touch any of them. Having failed the mission, the Forerunner goes into self-imposed exile. Monarch (Nathaniel Adam) is witness to the defeat of the Forerunner, believing she's too important to discard. Taking her to the Bleed, Monarch then convinces her to help him destroy the Monitors. At first, she decides not to join, but is told that her people on Earth-34 were exterminated by the Monitors using Dark Angel and the Shadow Demons. Their plot threads will continue in Countdown to Adventure, Countdown: Arena and The Search for Ray Palmer which links back to Monarch's appearances in Ion. Monarch and Forerunner later approach the JL-Axis (Justice League of Earth-10) the Crime Society, and the Extremists of Earth-8 to offer membership in his army. The Extremists refuse and attack him, but he easily overwhelms them, and captures the Challengers from Beyond. The Monitors believe Monarch's goal is to cause a war across the multiverse, resulting in another Crisis, one which would place him as "Absolute Monarch" of a singular reality. He puts Lord Havok in charge of his starfleet, who deals crippling blows to the Dominators of New Earth

After the death of Duela Dent, a Monitor consults the Source Wall as to the cause of rising tension in the Multiverse. After receiving the reply of "Great Disaster," the Monitor asks for a solution to this Great Disaster. The Source Wall replies "Ray Palmer." At their headquarters, the Monitors discuss their goal of protecting the multiverse from crossovers. The Monitors discuss the history of the Multiverse in an attempt to understand how to deal with anomalies across the Multiverse. The Monitors then vote to decide the fates of Donna Troy, Jason Todd, and Kyle Rayner. The decision is made to purge the anomalies. With sentiment in favor of killing, the Monitors send their "Forerunner". Observing the Sinestro Corps War, the Monitors decide Kyle Rayner's continued existence to be an outrage after his symbiosis with Ion and later Parallax. Later still, they agree to eliminate "Bob", the Monitor which befriended Jason and Donna. Earth-15's Monitor watches as Donna and Jason leave his Earth, and predicts that when they arrive on the Earth of his overzealous brother, they will be terminated. The overzealous Monitor attempts to kill them when they arrive on Earth-8, but only succeeds in killing Jokester of Earth-3. This Monitor is able to rally the other Monitors together, naming threats such as Monarch's armies, the death of the New Gods, whoever is manipulating Jimmy Olsen, the virus which Karate Kid has and the possibility that a single individual is behind it all. With the help of a tall female Monitor, later named Doctrine, he convinces the others that they must go to war in order to save billions of lives that could be lost otherwise. The Monitors arrive on Earth-51, shortly after the Challengers escape. Solomon attempts to absorb Bob into his being, but ends up killing him. The other Monitors, shocked by this act, begin to voice their suspicions that Solomon engineered all of these events for his own ends. They are then interrupted by Monarch and his army. As the two sides fight, Solomon is approached by Monarch, accusing Solomon of wanting to be the multiverse's sole Monitor. Solomon returns to the multiversal nexus where the remaining Monitors condemn his actions before leaving him and joining the fight on Earth-51. Floating in space, Nix Uotan watches the battles raging on his Earth before also joining his fellow Monitors in battle but prepares to negate them too, should they jeopardise what is his. Feeling a call from The Source, he finds Donna, Jason, Kyle and Ray and sends them to Apokolips, remaining behind to finish his duty.

Surviving from the The Sinestro Corps War, and appearing with an adult form, Superman-Prime wears is seen wearing black and silver variation of the Superman uniform, attacks the Lex Luthor of Earth-15. He tells Lex that his actions shouldn't be seen as murder, but like a scientist who would "wipe the chalkboard clean and start from scratch" when an experiment fails and expresses his disappointment that he hasn't made the universe "perfect". Flying Lex to that Earth's Fortress of Solitude, he encounters Superman (Zod) and his pregnant wife. Superman-Prime kills them both then heads into space where he flies through the Justice League Satellite, killing Lex and the Justice League members inside. Expressing his disgust over the League not having the roster he wants, he returns to Earth and kills the Earth-15 Wonder Woman (Donna) and Batman (Jason). Realizing this isn't the perfect Earth he is looking for, Superman-Prime flies through the planet, destroying it and vowing to find a perfect universe even if he has to tear apart the entire Multiverse to do it. Building his secret lair into the Source Wall itself, he tries to force a restored Mister Mxyzptlk and Annataz Arataz, a young magician of Earth-3, the evil counterpart of Zatanna Zatara, to give him their magic powers and help, as the energy supplies siphoned during his battle against Ion would eventually fail him. Physically tortured and verbally abused by Superman-Prime, Annataz suffers a change of heart, and as a way to atone for her past, taunts Superman-Prime until he lets Mxyzptlk escape, and faces his tantrums alone. Superman-Prime destroys his base, burning Annataz alive, and flees. Mxyzpltk, then in a hurry, orders Gsptlsnz, his girlfriend, to seal the 5th dimension Superman-Prime then moves on to the Multiversal Nexus where he finds Solomon and demands he help him find what he seeks. As he keeps demanding the Monitor's help, Forerunner bursts in and realizes she has a big problem ahead. Superman-Prime threatens to kill The Monitor unless the latter will point him to his "perfect" universe. The Monitor does so, showing Superman-Prime the world on which the Monitors and Monarch's forces have been fighting. Enraged, Superman-Prime flies across universe, and smashes into Monarch's command center, ready to confront him. Despite his vast quantum energy, Monarch is barely able to harm Superman Prime but continues to mock him for still being a child. As the energy Prime absorbed from the Guardian during the Sinestro Corps War begin to fade, he rips a hole in Monarch's containment suit, setting off a chain reaction that obliterates the entire universe. Seemingly left as the only survivor, Nix Uotan begins to shed tears as he finds a single sapling growing in the scorched ground.

In the multiversal nexus, Solomon prepares to kill Forerunner but is interupted by the arrival of Darkseid. Telling SOlomon that he wishes to continue their "game", he offers him the next move.

Related events

Since Countdown acts as the backbone to the overall DC Comics storyline, some events and plots play out in different comic book series.

Meanwhile, the Amazons invade Washington, D.C., led by a recently resurrected Hippolyta and Circe. The mini-series concluded with the revelation that the goddess Athena has in fact been defeated and replaced by the Apokoliptian New God Granny Goodness, suggesting that the shelter that Harley Quinn and Holly Robinson are staying in is actually a Female Furies camp.

Tying into the Karate Kid storyline is the Justice League of America/Justice Society of America crossover "The Lightning Saga." The fight between Batman and Karate Kid is shown in both Countdown and Justice League of America. Dawnstar, Starman, Dream Girl, Timber Wolf, and Wildfire are all discovered stranded in the 21st Century. Initially it is believed that they came to the present to save Lightning Lad. It is later revealed that the Legion actually came to retrieve an (as of yet) unknown person, whose "essence" is now stored in one of the Legion's "lightning rod" devices. The Legion then escaped into the future, leaving behind Starman and Karate Kid. An unforeseen consequence of the Legion's actions was the return of Wally West and his family. Brainiac 5 confirms this by implying West's return was a freak accident, but that they still retrieved the correct person the Legion came for.

The final arc of The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, "Full Throttle", features the Rogues successfully killing Bart Allen, the fourth Flash. Within Countdown, both the buildup to this as well as its aftermath are felt. Bart's funeral is held and Piper and Trickster are forced on the run from superheroes and villains alike, which also ties into the upcoming Salvation Run. Connecting this story to "The Lightning Saga" is Wally's return to Earth. Wally's new vendetta against the Rogues is witnessed in Countdown where he finally catches up to Piper and Trickster, the remaining Rogues having already been captured in All Flash #1.

Salvation Run, by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges and Sean Chen, is the story of various supervillains who have been captured and deported via boom tube technology to another planet. Regarding Countdown , Newsarama asked writer Willingham "Just to try and point out an example of this in action, would it be safe to say that Pied Piper and Trickster would have found themselves on this world had they not escaped capture in Countdown?", to which the response was "That's a fairly safe guess." The Suicide Squad, behind the attempted captures of Piper and Trickster were also shown to have captured other Rogues in All-Flash #1 who are pictured on the cover for issue #1. In Countdown, after escaping Suicide Squad member Deadshot, Piper and Trickster later evade capture from four other members in Gotham City. Among those captured in the miniseries include Lex Luthor, Scandal Savage, and the Joker, and the title refers to the planned escape from the planet as led by Luthor.

As well as playing a prominent part in Countdown, the story thread centering around the Death of the New Gods is playing out in other books. Outsiders: Five of a Kind: Week Three: Thunder/Martian Manhunter featured the deaths of New Gods Grayven and Speed Queen at the hands of a mysterious God Killer, while the New God Knockout was killed in Birds of Prey #109. This appears to be leading into the October 2007 miniseries "Death of the New Gods" by Jim Starlin, which he has confirmed will see the demise of all but one of Jack Kirby's Fourth World characters. Recently, DC has announced that after the Fourth World is gone, a new "Fifth World" is coming.

In Captain Carrot and the Final Ark, October 2007, written by Bill Morrison, with art by co-creator Scott Shaw, The Zoo Crew reunite in the midst of growing strife between the land and the sea creatures of (newly re-classified) Earth-26, sparked by Starro. Unfortunately, they encounter Starro and most of their powers neutralized except for Pig-Iron. Furthermore, that Earth is rendered uninhabitable and the Crew has an ocean liner loaded with refugees transported off the planet by the Just-A-Lot-Of-Animals. Unfortunately, the ship is accidentally sent to New Earth. Although the Justice League encounter the ship and land it safely, all the passengers, including The Crew are transformed into their animal forms indigenous to that Earth and, although they all apparently still have their human level intelligence, they are unable to speak. However, the Crew is going to discover that their powers have also been restored [1].

Secondary titles

Countdown: Arena was a four-part series featuring Monarch organizing a battle tournament between the heroes of the 52 universes, in order to determine who will be worthy of joining his army.[2]

Following on the adventures of Starfire, Animal Man and Adam Strange in 52, backup stories within Countdown to Adventure feature Forerunner and Monarch and expand upon both her origin story and her journey through the Multiverse. Starfire and Animal Man continue with life on Earth, although their powers are not entirely reliable despite ample time to readjust to Earth's environment. Adam Strange is replaced as the guardian of the planet Rann by an ultra-violent Hollywood actor named Champ Hazard. Meanwhile, the return of Lady Styx is heralded on Earth and Rann by zombie-like outbursts of three words: "Believe in her."

Countdown to Mystery features the adventures of Kent V. Nelson becoming Doctor Fate. In a backup story, Eclipso seduces the heroes of the DC Universe, tying into Countdown appearances with Mary Marvel and begins with the corruption of Plastic Man and the revelation (as also revealed in a Countdown background story) by Darkseid that he is Eclipso's true creator and that Eclipso's black diamond was mined on the planet Apokolips.

Expanding on the stories for Jason Todd, Donna Troy, Bob the Monitor and Kyle Rayner in Countdown, Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer chronicles the "Challengers from Beyond" and their search for the former Atom, Ray Palmer. So far they have searched Earth-50 (the Wildstorm universe), Earth-3 (reverse-morality, Crime Society), Earth-43 (a vampire-infested world), Earth-15 (a near-perfect universe), Earth-19 (a world immersed in the Victorian Era), Earth-30 (Superman: Red Son), and Earth-11 (gender-reversed world) with no results. In each world they encounter a hero tagged with the Atom symbol by Ray Palmer, intended as clues - these include a speedster on Earth-50, Blue Beetle (Dan Garrett) of Earth-19, the Earth-30 Ray Palmer and the female Atom of Earth-11.

Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists concerns events on Earth-8 and how they impact the future of the Multiverse and the Countdown to Final Crisis.[3]

Promotional campaign

At the New York Comic-Con in 2007, DC distributed four pins, with the option of a fifth, promoting storylines in Countdown. The first four pins say: "WWMMD?" ("What Would Mary Marvel Do?"), "I Found Ray Palmer," "Look to the Skies!" and "Jimmy Olsen Must Die!". The final pin says, "Darkseid Rules!"

The first teaser image for Countdown, by Phil Jimenez. DC released image captioned: "Let the battle cry be heard in the land, a shout of great destruction..."

A teaser poster was released, which shows Wonder Woman comforting Superman, Batman in a different costume (with a sword and what appears to be chain mail armor) and Donna Troy wearing her Wonder Girl costume again. Kyle Rayner is wearing a yellow ring, and Mary Marvel is shown partially in shadow. Mister Miracle stands next to Big Barda. Also notable among the poster is a Legion flight ring, a minuscule red hand (the Atom's) sticking out of the rubble, and the bodies of Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Maxwell Lord, The Question (Vic Sage), and Jade — major or notable heroes who have recently died. The heroes are gathered around the head of the Statue of Liberty; the decapitated body of the statue can be seen in the background.

While alternately revealing and retracting his statements about Jason Todd being the new Red Robin, Dan Didio confirmed the latter within the pages of DC Comics as of July 2007. Didio had also previously named Barry Allen would be the returning Flash.

In later interviews, Dan Didio finally explained the symbolism of the image in light of the fact that a second was soon to be released.

Released with books published on July 5, 2007 in the DC Nation: #68 column, Didio described the picture's symbolism: "Anyone standing on barren ground is doomed. In this case, it spells the Death of the New Gods...The yellow Ring corrupts Kyle (Rayner) in The Sinestro Corps War...Jason Todd becomes Red Robin, driving a wedge in the Challengers from Beyond...Green Arrow struggles to win the love of Black Canary...Batman, in symbolic garb, wields the sword that hearkens the return of a deadly foe (Ra's Al Ghul)...Dressed in Barry's cotume, Bart (Allen, the Flash) showed that he had one foot in the grave...A Legionnaire is lost and marked for death in Countdown...The Atom, lost, struggles to survive...The shield marked Hippolyta's return...Superman and Wonder Woman discuss parent issues...Is that a Boom Tube I see, and can that be the path to salvation?...The shadow of evil falls over Mary Marvel...and the statue head, reminiscent of and tied to Kamandi #1, also reflects Sinestro's upcoming visit to the Big Apple."

The second teaser image for Countdown, by Ethan Van Sciver.

A second teaser image was released by DC comics to the website Newsarama.com. Drawn by Ethan Van Sciver with the caption "...And Evil Shall Inherit The Earth". It depicts various DC characters and Dan Didio states that it '...will get us to the end of Countdown.'

A series of promotional posters highlighting the main characters in Countdown have been released over several months. They also appeared as full paged ads in comic books and Wizard. These include:

• Eclipso extending a hand to Mary Marvel and a message that reads "Seduction of the Innocent", flanked by Granny Goodness.
• An angry Ray Palmer under a magnifying glass with the message "I Found Ray Palmer!".
• Jimmy Olsen looking up from the bottom of the poster with the message "Jimmy Olsen Must Die!"
• The hands of the Trickster and the Pied Piper handcuffed together, reading "Villains Defiant!"
• Darkseid's face with the message "Unto Man Shall Come... A Great Disaster".

A series of in house ads have run through DC's comic books based on the pins and posters. All of them have been illustrated by Ryan Sook. These include:

• Eclipso wearing a "WWMMD?" button.
• Red Robin wearing an "I Found Ray Palmer!" button.
• The Joker wearing a "Jimmy Olsen Must Die" Button on his lapel. Another image has the Joker grinning while wearing Jimmy's press pass, his bowtie, and his Superman signal watch.
• Granny Goodness wearing a "Darkseid Rules!" button.
• Superman wearing a "Look to the Skies!" button.

A series of in house ads for series under going revamps have begun to appear. These ads incorporate the series' title as a partial crumbling stone block on a white background and the tagline "The Countdown continues". All of them have been illustrated by Ryan Sook.

Sales figures

Sales of Countdown began with issue #51 selling 91,054 orders from Diamond Comics Distributors, making it the 19th best selling comic book in May 2007. After the first issue, sales steadily dropped to a low of 72,077 copies with issue #40. Subsequent issues have all sold between approximately 80,000 and 88,000 copies per issue.

External links

• Myspace Comics Previews of #51 and #50
• Image gallery of the Countdown marketing campaign