In Neo-Gotham City, the Joker mysteriously resurfaces after having disappeared 40 years earlier, taking over a faction of the criminal gang Jokerz. Bruce insists that the Joker must be an impostor despite the evidence, claiming to have witnessed the Joker's death after their last battle. Later, Terry and his girlfriend Dana are attacked by the Jokerz at a nightclub while the Joker simultaneously ambushes and attacks Bruce in the Batcave, poisoning him with his trademark toxin and leaving him for dead.

At Terry's insistence, Barbara reluctantly tells him what really happened to the Joker - the reason she and Bruce believe him to be dead. Decades earlier, after Nightwing (Dick Grayson) moved to the adjoining city of Blüdhaven to fight crime on his own, the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped Tim Drake, Dick's successor as Robin, disfigured him to look like the Joker, and tortured him for three weeks, at which point Tim revealed Batman's secrets. After the Joker sadistically taunted both Tim and Batman himself, Batman furiously attacked the Joker for what he did to Tim. During the final battle, although the Joker attempted to make Tim kill Batman, Tim turned on the Joker and killed him before suffering a mental breakdown caused by the guilt of murdering. Batman and Batgirl comforted Tim and then buried the Joker's body in a mineshaft deep beneath Arkham Asylum, while Tim was eventually rehabilitated by Dr. Leslie Thompkins but forbade to resume his vigilante role.

Terry decides to question Tim, who denies any involvement with the Joker and bitterly claims he had grown sick of his past life as Robin. Terry then suspects Wayne Enterprises' operations manager Jordan Pryce, who would have taken control of the company were it not for Bruce's return. Terry finds the Jokerz with Pryce on his yacht, who reveal that Pryce had hired them and given them access codes. However, the Joker has sent them to kill Pryce, as he is no longer needed and to cover their tracks. Terry rescues Pryce before a laser blast destroys the yacht, and turns him over to the police.

Back in the Batcave, Terry deduces that Tim must be working with the Joker when he discovers that the high-tech equipment the Jokerz have been stealing could be combined by someone with Tim's expertise as a top-level communications expert to form a machine that would be able to take control of any satellite, even an orbiting military satellite with an automated defense system, and fire it at will, thus explaining what happened on the yacht.

Terry tracks the Joker to the abandoned Jolly Jack Candy Factory where he instead finds Tim, who then transforms into the Joker before his eyes. The Joker confesses that when he kidnapped Robin, he secretly implanted a microchip, built from cutting-edge genetics technology (revealed later to have been stolen from Project Cadmus), into Tim's brain. The microchip carries the Joker's consciousness and genetic material, allowing the Joker to transform Tim into a clone of himself, eventually becoming strong enough to permanently control Tim's body.

Terry discovers the Joker to be a formidable combatant since he has extensive knowledge of Bruce's tactics as Batman. Terry improvises by using his own street fighting maneuvers and taunting the Joker's obsession with Bruce as well as his origin, sending the rogue into a fury to put him off balance. Retrieving the Joker's joy buzzer - which had minutes earlier fallen against several control wires, shocking them and causing the active laser to redirect itself towards the candy factory - Terry delivers a shock to the Joker's neck, destroying the microchip and reverting Tim to his old self, finally freeing him from the Joker's control and ending the Joker permanently. Terry escapes with Tim before the satellite destroys the factory and the satellite-jamming device.

As Tim recovers in the hospital, he is visited by Bruce, and they both express gratitude towards Terry for saving Tim's life and acknowledge his worth to the Batman mantle.

Lois Lane and Superman are romantically involved, but Lois is not happy with keeping their relationship secret. While digging, workers from LexCorpunearth the spaceship of Doomsday, a genetically-engineered super-soldier highly hostile toward anything that moves. It kills the digging crew and begins a bloody rampage towards Metropolis. Superman and Doomsday engage in a battle until Superman kills Doomsday and apparently succumbs to his own injuries.

Lex Luthor kills his personal assistant to ensure no one else knows of LexCorp's involvement. The world mourns Superman and Metropolis honors him with a memorial. Superman's friends cope with his death in various ways. Jimmy Olsen takes a job at tabloid newspaper The National Voyeur, Perry White becomes an alcoholic, and Lois, having realized that Clark was Superman, visits Martha Kent for counsel.

In Superman's absence, Metropolis is overwhelmed by criminals. Toyman uses a giant mechanical spider to hold children hostage. Lois decides to save them herself, but Toyman tries to kill her and a little girl. Superman digs out of his grave and saves Lois, apprehending Toyman. He doesn't seem quite the same, but Lois dismisses it as shock. She becomes suspicious, however, when Martha tells her that Clark has not called home.

The resurrected Superman is revealed to be a clone created by Lex who is keeping the real Superman's body preserved in a tube, unaware that Superman is, barely, still alive. He periodically tortures the clone Superman in a special lead-lined room. A robot from the Fortress of Solitude detects that Superman is still alive, recovers his body, and begins restoring him to health.

Meanwhile, the clone's attitude darkens when he hears that Toyman killed a child. In retaliation, Superman drops him from a height so that he falls to his death in front of the police station. The city is stunned and the clone threatens the populace into abiding by the law. This convinces Lois and Martha that this is not the real Superman.

Lex berates the clone, orders him to find Superman's corpse, and threatens to kill him if he misbehaves again. The clone deduces that a lead-shielded kryptonite pellet is in his brain, and removes it. Lois tranquilizes Lex and searches his files with Jimmy, discovering that Lex is cloning an army of Supermen. Lex awakens armed with a gun, but the original clone saves Lois and Jimmy and destroys the cloning facility and the yet-to-be-awakened clones. Lex hides in the special room but the clone locks him inside and tosses the entire room to the street. This latest presumed murder triggers military action which fails.

Superman is revived and resolves to confront the clone, although his powers are not fully restored. To improve his odds he dons a "solar suit" and brings a Kryptonite gun. The two battle and Lois manages to hit the clone with a kryptonite blast. The clone destroys the gun, but the Kryptonite canister sticks to the clone's chest and Superman vaporizes it with heat vision. Before dying, the clone tells Superman to protect the people. Lois is sure of the real Superman once he kisses her, and the crowd is similarly happy now that they know that the real Superman is alive. At Lois' apartment Superman reveals himself to be Clark Kent. Lois embraces Superman with elation.

At LexCorp, Lex is revealed to be critically injured and in a wheelchair, but still alive. He smiles, musing that there may still be a way for him to destroy Superman.

An unknown entity has decided to eradicate mankind due to its capacity of violence.

At the end of the Korean War, United States Air Force pilot Hal Jordan and his wingman, Kyle "Ace" Morgan, are attacked by enemy pilots but survive. In Gotham, J'onn J'onzz - the last survivor of the Green Martian race - is teleported to Earth; unable to return, J'onn disguises himself. In Las Vegas, Iris West is on the telephone with her fiance Barry Allen - known as Flash - at a casino when Captain Cold arrives to commit robbery; he races from Central City to confront Cold. Flash finds the five bombs hidden by Cold and captures him, before Cold is possessed by an entity.

After two years, J'onn (as John Jones) is a detective with the Gotham City Police Department. A doomsday cult that worships "The Centre" has kidnapped a child for a sacrificial ritual; J'onn and his partner Slam Bradley join Batman in battling the cult, but a fire renders J'onn powerless. The cult leader is possessed by the entity, who identifies itself as "The Centre", and warns of impending judgement. Hal trains under Col. Rick Flag at Ferris Aircraft for a U.S. government project, as explained by Carol Ferris, to build a spacecraft for travel to Mars. Special agent King Faradayoversees the project.

Batman suggests to J'onn that they work together in investigating the Centre-worshiping cult. The Flash defeats a robotic duplicate of Gorilla Grodd; after being targeted by the government, he announces his retirement. J'onn interrogates former Ferris employee Harry Leiter, who tells them about the launch to Mars and when Faraday arrives, J'onn briefly glimpses into his mind to learn the truth. Seeing the contemptuous response to the Flash's announcement, J'onn gives his research to Batman and plans to hide on the rocket. J'onn and Faraday fight on the launchpad; the rocket is damaged and malfunctions after leaving Earth's atmosphere. Hal wants to attempt a landing but Flag reveals weapons of mass destruction are on board, intended to destroy any life on Mars. Hal is ejected from the cockpit and saved by Superman; Flag detonates the rocket as J'onn is held prisoner.

On Paradise Island, Wonder Woman trains with Mala before being attacked by The Centre. After crash-landing on Earth as a result of Flag's rocket explosion, a fatally-wounded Abin Sur gives his ring to Hal and tells him of The Centre, which is described as a monstrous creature that seeks the destruction of humans; Sur dies shortly after, despite Jordan's efforts to save him. Superman and Batman review J'onn's research as Lois Lanereports that a giant pterodactyl is attacking Cape Canaveral. Wonder Woman's invisible jet crashes and she warns that The Centre is coming. J'onn decides to help save Earth after his hope for humanity is renewed. The Centre, a massive flying island with an army of mutant dinosaurs to guard it, begins attacking Florida. The Flash, Green Arrow, Adam Strange, the Challengers of the Unknown, and the Blackhawks work with the soldiers on the base; Superman reconnoiters The Centre but is defeated. Moved by his efforts, the heroes plan to use Ray Palmer's reduction ray to destabilize the island along with a frontal assault and bombing mission.

The aerial assault is nearly outmatched and a herd of dinosaurs ambush Faraday's ground forces. The Centre's psychic force briefly overwhelms J'onn. Faraday is captured by a dinosaur and both perish after Faraday sets off hand grenades. Hal and Ace shoot their way into The Centre's core but a hallucinogenic attack disorients them; a thick red fluid jams their weapons and almost suffocates them. Hal's ring relays instructions from the Guardians of the Universe on its use. Ace detonates his payload before Hal rescues him. The Flash races across the ocean, leaps onto The Centre's surface and covers it on foot. The Centre begins to shrink; Hal envelops the island in green energy, towing it into space where it explodes. As the team celebrates their victory a glowing light emerges from the water and Aquaman emerges from a submarine carrying Superman.

The world celebrates The Centre's defeat with a ceremony. The film ends with a montage of various heroes and villains, including the birth of the Justice League set to the titular John F. Kennedy speech.

Have I Got a Story for You was written by Josh Olson and animated by Studio 4° C.

A street kid meets with his three friends at a skate park. All three of them claim to have seen Batman earlier that day. Batman's battle with the Man in Black, a high-tech criminal, is told in reverse chronological order with three very different interpretations of Batman's form and abilities (in the style of the 1950 film Rashomon): one describes him as a living shadow that can melt away and reappear at will (similar to Vampire Batman from Batman & Dracula trilogy), another describes him as a half-human, half-bat creature (similar to Man-Bat) and lastly one describes him as a combat robot that can leap tall buildings in a single bound. At the end, Batman pursues the Man in Black to the skate park and captures him with the help of the fourth street kid. The fourth kid is able to see what Batman truly is after seeing him sustain injuries from the battle: a human warrior in a costume. He then proceeds to tell his experience to his friends after Batman disappears.

Note: Though the film credits give "story by" acknowledgment to first-time writer Jordan Goldberg, Josh Olson acknowledged it was actually based on a very similar story by Frank Robbins called "The Batman Nobody Knows".[5] The story was first printed in Batman #250 in 1973, and subsequently adapted as "Legends of the Dark Knight" in The New Batman Adventures. According to Olson: "The first time it's stealing, the second time it's borrowing, the third time you're creating a genre".[5] Also, the three different versions of the Man in Black have many similarities to other members of Batman's Rogues gallery, though they all resemble a member of the League of Shadows. The first story features a tech-wielding villain who has teeth similar to Killer Croc, the second uses a jetpack (Reminiscent of Firefly), and the third has similarities to the villain Deadshot. Also, the Batman of the second encounter is very similar to the villain Man-Bat. When the Man in Black is seen by all the teenagers, he has no identifiable characteristics. Lastly, the story is told backwards, with the kid who claims he saw Batman most recently going first, ending with the kid who actually saw him first.

In ancient times, the Amazons, a proud and fierce race of warrior women, led by their Queen, Hippolyta, battled Ares, the god of war, and his army. During the battle, Hippolyta specifically targeted and beheaded her son Thrax, whom Ares forcibly conceived with her and who is fighting for his father. Hippolyta then defeated Ares, but Zeus stopped her from delivering the death strike. Instead, Hera bound his powers with magic bracers so that he was deprived of his ability to draw power from the psychic aura of violence and death he could instigate, and only another god could release him. In compensation, the Amazons were granted the island of Themyscira, where they would remain eternally youthful and isolated from Man in the course of their duty of holding Ares prisoner for all eternity. Later, Hippolyta was granted a daughter, Princess Diana, whom she shaped from the sand of the Themyscirian seashore and gave life with her own blood.

Over a millennium later, an American fighter pilot, USAF Colonel Steve Trevor, is shot down in a dogfight and crash-lands his YF-23 on the island, where he soon runs afoul of the Amazon population, including the combative Artemis. Steve and Diana meet and fight, and Diana defeats him, taking him to the Amazons. After interrogating him with the use of the Amazons' golden lasso, Hippolyta decides he is not an enemy of the Amazons and as such, tradition dictates that an emissary be tasked to ensure his safe return to his own country. Diana volunteers, but is assigned to guard Ares's cell instead since her mother argues that she has not enough experience in dealing with the dangers of the outside world. Diana defies her mother and, her face hidden by a helmet and her guard duty covered by her bookish but kind-hearted Amazon sister Alexa, participates in contests of strength and wins the right to take Trevor back to his home.

In the meantime, the Amazon Persephone, who has been gradually seduced by Ares, kills Alexa and releases him. With the additional task of capturing Ares, Diana brings Trevor in his repaired and now invisible jet to New York City, where he volunteers to help Diana on her quest. An investigation uncovers a pattern of violence created by Ares' presence that will lead to him given time, and the pair goes out to a bar while they wait. After some heavy drinking, Trevor makes a pass at Diana. They argue outside, but are attacked first by thugs and then the demigod Deimos. Deimos is beaten and kills himself to prevent being interrogated, but Diana and Steve find a clue on his body that leads them to a concealed gateway to the underworld guarded by members of a still-extant ancient cult of Ares.

Once they have arrived, Diana attempts to subdue Ares, but he summons harpies that attack her, prompting Trevor to save her instead of stopping Ares. Meanwhile, Ares performs a sacrifice to open a gate to the Underworld, where he persuades his uncle Hades (who has made Thrax his slave) to remove the bracers, though Hades does not tell Ares that the ultimate cost of removing the bracers would be Ares' own death in combat. Later, Diana regains consciousness in a hospital and is furious that Trevor saved her rather than stop Ares. Trevor argues against her abuse with his own criticism of the Amazons' self-imposed isolation and their generalizations about men, and reveals how much he cares about her.

Ares and his dark army attack Washington, D.C.; Trevor and Diana arrive to battle Ares and are soon joined by the Amazons. While Ares manages to summon the Amazons long dead from the Underworld to fight their own sisters, his scheme is stopped by Alexa, a member of the undead host, who reveals to Artemis a chant which nullifies Ares's control over them. The undead then turn on Ares but are destroyed by his powers. Hippolyta faces Persephone in combat and kills her, but with her dying breath Persephone makes it clear that in shutting the Amazons away from the world of Man, Hippolyta has denied them happiness in attaining love and a family.

Meanwhile, the President of the United States is influenced by Ares's power and orders a nuclear missile against Themyscira, assuming the island nation to be the source of the attack on Washington. This act of supreme aggression greatly increases Ares's power, but Trevor takes the invisible jet and shoots down the missile just before it hits the island. After taking a brutal beating at Ares's hands, Diana finally outmaneuvers and beheads him. As Trevor arrives back at the scene, Diana finally accepts him, and the two share a kiss. Ares is condemned to the underworld to attend Hades as a slave alongside his son.

Later on Themyscira, in memory of Alexa but with severe difficulty, Artemis takes up the hobby of reading. Hippolyta realizes that Diana misses both the outside world and Trevor, and to make her happy again, she gives her daughter the task of being a channel for 'communication between men and women'. Diana accepts and returns to New York, where she enjoys the company of Trevor. Their relationship comes with the understanding of her larger duties, such as when Diana sees Cheetah robbing a museum and she excuses herself to stop the supervillainess as the newly christened Wonder Woman.

Before any other sentient beings existed in the universe, a race of beings calling themselves the Guardians of the Universe harnessed the power of the green element, the greatest power in the universe, to create the Green Lantern battery. However, the battery was vulnerable to the color yellow, the one part of the light spectrum that could resist green. The Guardians hid the most concentrated source of yellow energy, the yellow element, to prevent others from using it against them.

After the death of Abin Sur, several Green Lanterns arrive to take Ferris Aircraft's test pilot Hal Jordan (Christopher Meloni) to the Green Lantern Corps on Oa. He is placed under the supervision of respected senior officer Sinestro (Victor Garber), who is investigating Abin's murder. While undercover on the ship of Kanjar Ro (Kurtwood Smith) searching for the whereabouts of the stolen yellow element, Abin had come under attack. Fleeing to Earth, he had his ring find his successor and died of his injury shortly after. Unbeknownst to the other Green Lanterns, Sinestro had provided Kanjar with the location of the element in order to have it fashioned into a weapon of comparable power to the Green Lantern battery.

Jordan quickly comes to understand that Sinestro's beliefs are not in line with those of the Guardians: Sinestro believes that the Guardians have reduced the Corps to merely picking up the messes criminals create as opposed to proactively dealing with the problem. During a mission to capture Kanjar Ro, Jordan is knocked unconscious by Kanjar's energy staff. Sinestro comes in and kills Kanjar, pinning the blame on Jordan. As punishment, the Guardians strip Jordan of his ring.

While Jordan waits to be taken home, Sinestro uses his ring to temporarily animate Kanjar's corpse, allowing him to learn the location of Qwardwhere the yellow element weapon is being fashioned. Jordan convinces fellow Lanterns Boodikka (Tricia Helfer) and Kilowog (Michael Madsen) that Sinestro is not what he seems. When they catch Sinestro enacting his plot, Boodikka reveals her true allegiance and incapacitates Kilowog, allowing Sinestro to escape. Jordan tricks her into destroying Kanjar's unstable energy staff, the explosion launching her into the tools hanging from the ceiling and killing her.

On Qward, the Weaponers bestow Sinestro with the yellow ring and battery, the latter of which resembles Ranx the Sentient City. Using its power, he lays waste to Oa, the yellow light easily overpowering the Green Lantern rings. The yellow battery destroys the green battery, rendering all the Green Lantern Corps' power rings inert and causing death by asphyxiation of countless Green Lanterns who were in space at the time of their rings' failure. Jordan, having recovered his ring moments too late, finds the battery and pounds on the inert green element. He places his ring on the small crack that appears, absorbing the whole of its power. Imbued with the full might of the green energy, he destroys the yellow battery by crushing it between two moons.

Having exhausted most of the green power to destroy the yellow battery, Jordan is left to fight against Sinestro under his own power. After an intense hand-to-hand battle without constructs, Jordan uses the last of his power to knock Sinestro to the surface of Oa where Kilowog crushes the yellow ring (as well as Sinestro's hand) with his foot. Having regained partial power to his ring earlier, Kilowog takes to the air and saves Jordan from a fatal fall to the planet's surface.

Once Oa is rebuilt and the Green Lantern battery restored, the Guardians give the privilege of leading the Corps in reciting the Green Lantern oath to Jordan. Jordan then leaves for Earth to check in with his other boss, Carol Ferris (Olivia d'Abo), remarking on the long "commute".

Lex Luthor has been elected President of the United States during a severe nationwide economic depression. Under his leadership, the economy begins to thrive, and he assembles a force of government-employed superheroes consisting of Captain Atom, Katana, Black Lightning, Power Girl, Starfire, and Major Force. Superman and Batman maintain their distrust toward Luthor.

The United States government discovers that a massive Kryptonite meteor is hurtling toward Earth. Instead of asking superheroes for aid, Luthor decides to destroy it with nuclear missiles. Luthor arranges a meeting with Superman in Gotham City under the pretense of forming a pact. This results in a battle with the hired Metallo against Superman and Batman, in which Metallo manages to injure them both. After, an unknown assailant kills Metallo. On national television, Luthor pins Metallo's murder on Superman, using footage of their battle to implicate him. Luthor claims that the meteor's radiation can affect Superman's judgment, and he places a one-billion-dollar bounty on Superman.

Batman and Superman break into S.T.A.R. Labs seeking information on the meteor and find Metallo's remains; they realize radioactive energy is what killed him, and it was made to look like Superman's heat vision. An army of villains looking to collect on the bounty attacks them. Most of the villains are defeated and Captain Atom defeats the rest with a giant energy blast. All of Luthor's superhero team but Power Girl, whose loyalties are divided, attempt to capture the heroic duo. Superman creates a twister using his superspeed, and the two heroes escape with Power Girl.

In Metropolis, Power Girl admits that she does not believe Superman killed Metallo. Luthor's superheroes catch up and the fight begins anew, Power Girl aiding Batman and Superman. Batman realizes that Major Force killed Metallo under Luthor's orders and goads him into admitting it in front of everyone. When Major Force begins angrily attacking him, Power Girl punches him in the stomach hard enough to rupture his containment suit, releasing his radiation. Captain Atom absorbs the energy, disintegrating Major Force and injuring himself in the process.

Meanwhile, the missiles fail due to the sheer amount of radiation detonating them before impact. Amanda Waller discovers that Luthor has secretly been taking a serum composed of liquid kryptonite, making him lose whatever rationality he had left. Feeling disillusioned by his failure, Luthor decides to let the meteor hit the Earth so that he may rule over what remains of society. Batman and Superman battle Captain Marvel and Hawkmanbefore breaking into Luthor's base of operations to retrieve data on the meteor's radiation. Luthor refuses to relinquish the data, going so far as to erase it from the lab computers, but Waller gives them a copy. Batman and Superman fly off to Tokyo to deliver the data on the meteor to the Japanese Toyman, who has already built a giant rocket-propelled spacecraft, intending to use it as a large missile to stop the meteor. Waller and the military then attempt to arrest Luthor, but he injects himself with more kryptonite steroid and dons a power suit. After escaping Waller and the military, Luthor follows Superman and Batman overseas.

After Batman and Superman arrive at Toyman's base, he shows them the spacecraft, which resembles a giant, robotic composite version of Superman and Batman. With the data, Toyman is able to calculate the necessary reinforcements needed for the rocket so it will not explode before impact. Unfortunately, Luthor neutralizes Power Girl, Superman and Batman, and then disables the rocket's remote guidance systems so that it will not take off by itself. Having no other choice, Batman decides to fly the rocket himself, despite Superman's protests. Though initially faring poorly against Luthor and his kryptonite power suit, Superman eventually gains the upper hand and after an aerial chase back to Metropolis, Luthor is defeated. Batman succeeds in destroying the meteor, and Superman finds him alive in an escape pod.

With the truth of Metallo's death now public knowledge, Superman is cleared of the murder charge and Luthor is arrested and taken away to face trial and impeachment for his crimes. Batman then returns to Gotham while the Daily Planet's star journalist, Lois Lane, arrives and happily embraces the Man of Steel.

In an alternate universe where the roles of the heroes and villains are reversed from their counterparts in the mainstream DC Universe, heroic analogues of Lex Luthor and Joker (called the Jester) are stealing a device called the "Quantum Trigger" from the headquarters of the Crime Syndicate. When an alarm is tripped, the Jester sacrifices himself to allow Luthor to escape and kills J'edd J'arkus and Angelique (alternate versions of Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl respectively) with a bomb. Luthor is nearly captured by the remaining Syndicate members (Ultraman, Superwoman, Power Ring, Johnny Quick and Owlman) but escapes to the Earth of the heroic Justice League by activating a dimensional travel device.

Luthor locates a police station, but is mistaken for the evil Luthor and ends up strip-searched. The Justice League is summoned and Superman's x-ray vision confirms Luthor's reversed organs indicate that he is from a parallel Earth and that the evil Luthor is still incarcerated at Stryker's Island. The Justice League take the alternate Luthor to the Watchtower, where they learn of the Syndicate threat. As the Justice League debates the matter, Luthor hides the Quantum Trigger on the satellite. With the exception of Batman, the rest of the Justice League (Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and Martian Manhunter) travel to Luthor's Earth.

Arriving at the parallel Justice League's base, the heroes attack Syndicate targets. After a successful series of raids in which they capture Ultraman, the League confront United States President Slade Wilson, who releases Ultraman and explains that acceding to the Syndicate's demands saves millions of lives. His daughter, Rose, however, regards him as a coward. Martian Manhunter inadvertently reads her mind and explains that as a military man her father actually holds life more dear than others. Martian Manhunter later foils an assassination attempt on Rose by Scarlet Archer (an alternate version of Green Arrow), and the pair fall in love.

Owlman has developed a weapon, the Quantum Eigenstate Device or Q.E.D., which the Syndicate intend to use as the equalizer to the threat of a nuclear reprisal. When pressed by Superwoman, Owlman reveals that he's secretly planning to overthrow Ultraman and take control of the Crime Syndicate. He also admits the weapon can destroy entire worlds. Believing there are many parallel Earths, and that each one develops from the choices that each person makes, Owlman becomes obsessed with the idea that nothing he does can possibly matter, as there will always be parallel worlds where he explored another option. As a result, he searches for Earth-Prime, the very first Earth from which all other universes originated, intending to use the Q.E.D. to destroy it and spark a chain reaction that will erase the entire multiverse, as it is the only action that would not result in the creation of another universe. Superwoman agrees to help him, as it would give her the power to kill everyone who's ever lived. Owlman sends Superwoman with three of her lieutenants to the League's dimension, and on the Watchtower they battle Batman, Aquaman, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Firestorm, and Red Tornado. Superwoman and one of her lieutenants escape with the Quantum Trigger, but are followed by Batman.

Batman defeats Superwoman and summons the League. Johnny, hopeful to reinstate fear in the Syndicate, decides to come down to commit big crimes. Power Ring rejects this because Scarlet Archer had been arrested by J'onn. J'onn and Rose bond, and Rose decides to learn the location of the Syndicate base to allow the Justice League to confront them. The League arrive at the Crime Syndicate's moon-base with the captive Superwoman, and eventually battle the Syndicate. Owlman fights off Batman and takes the Q.E.D. bomb to Earth-Prime, finding it to be uninhabited and lifeless, having suffered an unknown cataclysm that caused it to leave solar orbit. Luthor speculates that a speedster might be able to vibrate and match the temporal vibration of the teleported Q.E.D. device and open a portal. Flash volunteers but Batman states that he isn't fast enough, only Johnny Quick is. Johnny agrees and opens a portal.

Batman pursues Owlman to Earth-Prime and engages in a brutal battle with his doppelganger. Batman manages to teleport Owlman and the Q.E.D. device to another uninhabited Earth, and triggers the Q.E.D. Seeing what is about to happen, Owlman does not even attempt to defuse the bomb, simply saying "It doesn't matter" after realizing that an alternate Owlman in the multiverse would do the opposite action regardless of his choice. The bomb destroys the alternate Earth, killing Owlman in the process. Batman returns to the Syndicate's Earth, where the strain of acting as a vibratory conduit has aged Johnny Quick to near death. Before dying, Johnny correctly deduces Batman lied about Flash not being fast enough and knew what would happen. Despite this, he shows no ill will toward Batman, dying with a smile. Martian Manhunter returns, accompanied by President Wilson and the U.S. Marines, and together they arrest Ultraman, Superwoman, and Power Ring.

Wilson thanks the heroes for helping save their world and tells them he had ordered the Marines to support the local police forces and resume on arresting the remaining members of the Syndicate. Although Rose asks Martian Manhunter to remain with her, the group return to their dimension. Batman and Superman later discuss a membership drive with the five heroes summoned previously greeting the Justice League.

Ra's al Ghul realizes his mistake in hiring the Joker to use him as a distraction while Ra's destroyed Europe's financial districts. In Sarajevo, Bosnia, the Joker brutally assaults Jason Todd, the second Robin, in an abandoned warehouse with a crowbar. Jason is locked in the warehouse with a bomb, which explodes and kills him before Batman arrives.

Five years later in Gotham City, a vigilante called Red Hood assembles a meeting of the city's prominent gang leaders. He announces a takeover of their drug trade, taking only 40 percent of the profit in return for protection from Black Mask and Batman. Batman stops an attempted theft of a shipment belonging to Black Mask, which is the advanced android Amazo. Batman destroys Amazo with the help of Jason's predecessor Nightwingand discovers the thieves are working for Red Hood. He chases Red Hood to Ace Chemicals, where an explosion destroys the facility and almost kills Batman.

Batman and Nightwing interrogate the Joker at Arkham about Red Hood, but he denies involvement. Black Mask puts a hit on Red Hood for Amazo's destruction. Batman and Nightwing prevent Red Hood from hijacking Black Mask's next shipment. They chase Red Hood to a train station, where Red Hood escapes after detonating a bomb, which injures Nightwing. Batman and Nightwing realize Red Hood is trained and has knowledge of Batman's tactics and gadgetry. A review of audio footage of the chase reveals Red Hood knows Batman's secret identity. He then recalls Jason performing the same maneuvers as Red Hood and that Jason grew more violent as he aged.

The Fearsome Hand of Four lure out Red Hood by attacking Tyler Bramford, a gang leader under his protection. They nearly overpower him until Batman helps incapacitate three of them and Red Hood kills the fourth, horrifying Batman. Red Hood explains he is doing what Batman will not: killing criminals who are not afraid. Batman offers to help Red Hood but he refuses. A blood sample of Red Hood matches Jason's. After discovering Jason's body is fake, Batman confronts Ra's al Ghul and demands to know the truth. Ra's says he felt responsible for Jason's death and, as a peace offering, he swapped Jason's body for a fake and revived him in the Lazarus Pit. Following his resurrection, Jason was driven insane and escaped by leaping off a cliff, which Ra's and his men believed killed him. After surviving an assassination attempt by Red Hood, Black Mask sets the Joker free, tasking him with killing Red Hood.

In a twist, Joker abducts Black Mask and the crime bosses and sets them on fire; Red Hood appears and reveals his real target all along has been the Joker. Batman saves the hostages and Red Hood takes the Joker. Red Hood brutally assaults the Joker in revenge for his own murder and confronts Batman. During the fight, Red Hood removes his helmet, confirming he is Jason. Their fight makes its way to a dilapidated building and ends with Jason holding Batman at gunpoint. Though he has forgiven Batman for not saving him, Jason is upset that Joker is still alive after killing him. Batman admits he wants to kill the Joker but will not, fearing he will not stop if he kills once. Jason tosses Batman a gun and gives him an ultimatum - he will execute the Joker unless Batman shoots Jason. Batman refuses and drops the gun, causing Jason to shoot at him. Batman throws a batarang, which jams Jason's pistol. When Jason pulls the trigger again, the gun is destroyed and Jason's right hand is mangled. Defeated, Jason sets off a time bomb and Batman subdues the Joker before attempting to save Jason. The bomb explodes; Batman and the Joker survive but Jason is gone.

The Joker is returned to Arkham and Black Mask is arrested for his involvement in the Joker's escape. A flashback shows Jason's first day as Robin, which he declares is the best day of his life.

Weeks after the events that led to Lex Luthor's arrest, the impeachment of his presidency, and Superman and Batman's success in saving the world from a kryptonite meteor, a spaceship crash-lands in Gotham City Harbor. While Batman investigates the sunken craft, a beautiful young girl emerges from the water and accidentally wrecks Batman's boat. She is naked and has no knowledge of Earth languages or customs. On the shore, she encounters three longshoremen, one of whom tries to advance on her. She attacks two of them out of self-defense, while the third one gives her his coat to cover herself. As the girl progresses into the city, she inadvertently wreaks havoc with her strong Kryptonian powers (with Batman in pursuit) until Superman arrives to correct the damage, allowing Batman to eventually expose her to a piece of Kryptonite which weakens and injures her mentally.

With Superman's help, they discover the girl is Kara Zor-El, the niece of Jor-El and Superman's biological cousin. She has been in suspended animation for decades due to her rocket crashing off course. This results in Kara being physically younger than her younger cousin. While Superman welcomes Kara, teaches her English, and helps her adjust to Earth's society, Batman remains suspicious even considering the possibility of Kara being an enemy. Kara states that she would never hurt her baby cousin. After which she tells Batman that he doesn’t have a heart. Tipped off by Batman, Wonder Woman and Lyla ambush Kara and Clark Kent, Superman's alter ego, in a park and suggest they train Kara at Themyscira, the only place where she can learn how to control her powers. Superman reluctantly agrees to let them train Kara, but still prefers to watch over her himself; however, Batman and Wonder Woman inform Superman to steer clear of Kara, criticizing him of his care for her.

On the desolate planet Apokolips, Darkseid learns of Kara's presence on Earth and orders Granny Goodness to have her brought to Apokolips as a possible leader for the Female Furies, as Big Barda is no longer his servant and the warrior Treasure being a failed candidate. Two months later, Batman and Superman are checking on Kara on Themyscira during a sparring match against Artemis. While Kara and Lyla later sneak away for a swim, a horde of Doomsday clones arrives from Apokolips. Superman, Wonder Woman and the Amazonian army fight them until Superman vaporizes them all with his heat vision. Batman, however, guesses the reason for the clones' attack and discovers Kara missing and Lyla dead; a last manifestation of her precognition reveals that the culprit is none other than Darkseid, who ordered a diversion to keep them busy allowing time for Granny to kidnap Kara. After being brought to Apokolips, Darkseid brainwashes her into serving him and she wears a seductive outfit and a sharp hairstyle.

To save Kara, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman recruit Big Barda to help them find their way on Apokolips. There, Superman infiltrates Darkseid's palace while Wonder Woman and Barda go through the sewers directly into the fighting arena, where Granny Goodness and the Female Furies ambush them. After a hard fight, Granny and the Furies are subdued. Separating himself from the others, Batman finds Darkseid's supply of Hell Spores, the source of the fire pits on Apokolips. Superman encounters Darkseid, demanding that Kara is to go back with him. Darkseid says that Kara may leave, if she wants to, but sets Kara on Superman. Kara fights a reluctant Superman while Darkseid watches, until Batman confronts Darkseid and informs him that he has activated the Hell Spores, which will destroy Apokolips. He issues Darkseid an ultimatum: free Kara and promise to leave her alone, and Batman will deactivate the Spores. Superman defeats Kara, and Barda and Wonder Woman present Darkseid with the subdued Granny, whereupon Darkseid finally releases Kara, and the heroes leave Apokolips, bringing Kara back to Themyscira.

Back on Earth, with their lives apparently normal again, Clark takes Kara to meet his adoptive parents in Smallville. However, Darkseid, who was waiting to kill Superman, ambushes them: he had promised to leave Kara alone, but not Superman or Earth. Darkseid almost kills Superman with his Omega Beams before Kara takes the blast for her cousin. Superman attempts to fight Darkseid, but is quickly overwhelmed and punched into space. Kara engages Darkseid in a lengthy battle and manages to hold her own, having received Amazonian and Apokoliptan training, but he eventually gains the upper hand and tortures her into unconsciousness. Before Darkseid can leave, Superman returns to Earth and reengages him. He pummels the villain with all his strength, but Darkseid regains his hold and tortures Superman with his Omega Beams. Kara recovers and uses Darkseid's Mother Box to activate a Boom Tube behind him, and Superman blasts Darkseid through with his heat vision. While Superman anticipates Darkseid's eventual return from Apokolips, Kara informs him that she changed the coordinates to a random spot in space, leaving Darkseid floating, helplessly frozen.

Having saved her cousin's life and found her place on Earth, Kara decides to use her powers to fight for altruism under the alias of Supergirl, and she is met with applause by Wonder Woman, the Amazons, and finally Batman. Superman and Supergirl fly to Metropolis together, happy as two cousins can be.

Dr. Leo Quintum and his team are exploring the Sun when they are sabotaged by a booby-trapped genetically-enhanced time-bomb clone made by Lex Luthor. Superman stops the clone but in doing so receives an overdose of solar radiation; it has given him increased powers, but at the cost of slowly killing him. Luthor, having orchestrated the death of Superman while under the employment of General Sam Lane, is arrested thanks to Clark Kent's article and sentenced to death. Superman asks Dr. Quintum to keep news of his impending death secret from the public. Wanting to spend as much of his remaining time as possible with Lois Lane, Superman reveals to her that he is Clark Kent, but she initially doubts his revelation because she had been unable to prove Superman's "Kent" identity herself. Superman takes her to the Fortress of Solitude. During this visit, Superman's secretive behavior and her indirect exposure to alien chemicals heightens Lois' paranoia.

She is startled by Robot 7, shooting it and then Superman with a kryptonite laser. The solar radiation having made him immune to green kryptonite, Superman is able to calm her, explaining his caginess was to hide her birthday present, a serum granting her superpowers for 24 hours. Now as a Superwoman, she and Superman stop an attack by Subterranosauri led by Krull in Metropolis just as Samson (who tricked Krull into leading an attack on the surface world) and Atlas arrive. After the Subterranosauri are returned to the center of the Earth, their leader Tyrannko states to Superman that Krull will be dealt with. Samson flirts with Lois and gives her a necklace, the crown jewels of the Ultra-Sphinx. When Superman tells him to back off, he shows Superman a newspaper that reads "Superman Dead" and challenges Superman to contests to win Lois. The Ultra-Sphinx travels through time to reclaim the jewels Samson had stolen, placing Lois between life and death. Superman must answer an unanswerable question to save Lois. The unanswerable question is "What happens when the Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Object?" Superman beats Ultra-Sphinx's challenge with the answer being "they surrender". Superman then defeats Atlas and Samson in a double arm-wrestling match before spending the rest of the day with Lois as her powers fade.

Later, Kent meets Luthor in his death row cell for an exclusive interview. However, the energy in Kent attracts Parasite, who goes berserk. Clark stops him while not revealing his secret identity, with Luthor disclosing his respect for Clark as both a journalist and a man. Luthor then reveals a tunnel from his cell for Clark to escape through, aided by Luthor's delinquent niece Nasthalthia. Luthor chooses not to escape as the satisfaction of outliving Superman is rewarding enough. Clark tells Lois he's dying, before leaving to take the city of Kandor to a new planet to thrive, despite it being permanently shrunk, as he does not believe he'll survive the trip back. Lois denies it, speaking of their future together with their super-children. Clark informs her that their biology is too incompatible for them to bear children. Clark leaves with Lois promising to wait for his return.

Two months later, Superman returns to find Metropolis has been repaired with Kryptonian architecture and that Earth has been protected by Bar-El and Lilo, lost astronauts from Krypton. They followed the trail of the vessel that brought Superman to Earth. To his dismay, the two have less altruistic goals and intend to turn Earth into a new Krypton. As they fight Superman outside of the Daily Planet, Bar-El and Lilo begin showing signs of illness: the two had passed through the remnants of Krypton and thus were saturated with Kryptonite. To save them and at their request, Superman places the two in the Phantom Zone until a cure can be found.

After settling his affairs, Superman proceeds to finish his last will and testament. Luthor reprogrammed one of the Fortress' robots to steal the serum he made for Lois' birthday. Having the powers of Superman, Luthor's death by electric chair failed and he escapes unfettered. He meets with Nasthalthia below one of his lairs to continue his plans. Superman finishes his will when he learns of Luthor's secret ally Solaris; the tyrant star computer has betrayed Luthor by tampering with Earth's sun and turned it blue. With his robots, Superman engages Solaris in space. However, Solaris' raw power output vaporized all of the robots, with Robot #7 sacrificing itself to damage Solaris to redeem itself for being manipulated into stealing the super serum. All seems lost until Superman's pet Sun-Eater sacrifices itself to weaken the tyrant star, which allows Superman to destroy Solaris.

Clark returns to the Daily Planet, very ill, and collapses upon completing his article, "SUPERMAN DEAD". When the staff tries to save him they realize that he has stopped breathing and his heart has stopped. But before they can do anything to help Clark, the super-powered Lex Luthor arrives and attempts to kill Lois. Clark revives and fires a gravity gun at Luthor. Superman tells Luthor that he has been on to him ever since Superman Robot #7 first malfunctioned. As his powers fade, Luthor briefly sees the world as Superman sees it and weeps as he gains a measure of understanding of the subatomic and how it interconnects. The gravity weapon has warped time causing Luthor's powers to burn out at a faster rate. As his powers drain, Luthor wishes the experience to continue. He believes he can solve the grand unification theory but when he reaches for his next vial of serum, he realizes that Superman has stolen his supply. Superman then destroys the serum over Luthor's protests, pointing out that if Luthor truly cared about solving the world's problems, he would have done so long ago. Luthor somberly admits Superman is right.

With Superman's body starting to turn into pure energy, he and Lois embrace one final time and he proclaims his love for her once and for all. He gives her his cape as a way to remember him before he leaves and flies into the Sun, seemingly sacrificing himself to save the Earth.

Later, when Lois sits on a bench in front of a statue of Superman, Jimmy invites her to attend a memorial service being held for Superman. Lois does not go as she believes that Superman is not dead and will return after he repairs the sun. Quintum visits Luthor in his cell. Now enlightened from his ordeal and accepting his impending death, Luthor presents Quintum with the only thing that could redeem him for his actions over the years....a formula to recreate Superman's genetic structure through a healthy human ovum. As Quintum leaves, he sadly muses "They always said they wanted children". The movie ends with a picture of Superman fixing the sun and Lois' voice once more stating "He's not dead. He's up there fixing the Sun. And when he's done, he'll be back".

The sun of the Green Lantern homeworld, Oa, is becoming a gateway for Krona, an anti-matter alien overlord that once sought to destroy all life. As precaution the Guardians of the Universe decide to evacuate Oa of all valuables, such as the Central Battery. While in line to charge their rings before the Battery is taken away, Green Lantern Corps rookie Arisia Rrab converses with Hal Jordan and expresses her self doubts as the newest Green Lantern. In response, Hal tells her the story of the first Green Lantern:

Bruce Wayne returns home to Gotham City after 12 years abroad, training for his eventual one-man war on crime; Lieutenant James Gordon moves to Gotham with his pregnant wife, Barbara, after a transfer from Chicago. Both are swiftly acquainted with the corruption and violence of Gotham City, with Gordon witnessing his partner Detective Arnold Flass assaulting a teen for fun.

Bruce goes in disguise on a surveillance mission in the seedy East End, where teenage prostitute Holly Robinson propositions him. He is drawn into a brawl with her pimp and several prostitutes, including dominatrix Selina Kyle. One of the two reporting police officers shoot him and take him in their squad car, but a dazed and bleeding Wayne maneuvers his handcuffed hands in front of himself, and demands the police get out. The cops try to subdue him, but the ensuing struggle causes the police car to careen out of control, and flips. Wayne flees, but not before dragging the police to a safe distance. He reaches Wayne Manor, barely alive, and sits before his father's bust, requesting guidance in his war on crime. A bat crashes through a window and settles on the bust, giving him inspiration.

Gordon works to rid corruption from the force, but on orders from Commissioner Gillian Loeb, several masked officers attack him, including Flass, who threatens Gordon’s pregnant wife. Gordon tracks Flass down, beats him up, and leaves him naked and handcuffed in the snow.

As Gordon becomes a minor celebrity for his bravery on the job, Batman strikes for the first time, attacking a group of thieves and gaining experience. Batman soon works up the ladder, even attacking Flass while he was accepting a bribe. He gains a reputation of being a supernatural being and inhuman, due to his use of speed and darkness to conceal himself. Two months after Batman arrived, the crime and corruption has declined. After Batman interrupts a dinner party attended by many of Gotham's corrupt politicians and crime bosses, including Loeb and Carmine "The Roman" Falcone to threaten their criminal organization, Loeb orders Gordon to bring him in by any means necessary.

As Gordon tries in vain to catch him, Batman attacks Falcone, stripping him naked and tying him up in his bed after dumping his car in the river. Assistant district attorney Harvey Dent becomes Batman's first ally and he conceals this from Gordon.

Detective Sarah Essen suggests Wayne as a Batman suspect and she and Gordon witness Batman save an old woman from a runaway truck. Essen holds Batman at gunpoint, but Batman disarms her and flees to an abandoned building. Loeb fraudulently orders a bomb dropped on it, forcing Batman into the fortified basement. A SWAT team is sent in, led by trigger-happy Lieutenant Branden, whom Batman attempts to trap in the basement. Branden manages to climb out of the trap through a collapsed chimney, and joins in the gun battle. Enraged as the team’s careless gunfire injures several people outside, Batman beats the team into submission, but is wounded during the fighting. Using a signal device to attract the bats of his cave to distract the police and conceal himself, Batman escapes amid the chaos. Selina Kyle, after witnessing him in action, dons a costume of her own to begin her life as Catwoman.

Gordon has a brief affair with Essen, while Batman intimidates a drug dealer for information. The dealer goes to Gordon to testify against Flass, who is brought up on charges. Loeb blackmails Gordon with proof of his affair against pressing charges. After taking Barbara with him to investigate Wayne's connection to Batman, Gordon confesses the affair to her. Bruce avoids Gordon's suspicions by appearing with a woman over and heavily drinking, though he is actually faking all of it.

Batman sneaks into Falcone's manor and overhears a plan against Gordon but is interrupted when Catwoman, hoping to build a reputation after her robberies were pinned on Batman, attacks Falcone and his bodyguards, aided by Batman. Identifying Falcone's plan as the morning comes, the un-costumed Bruce leaves to help Gordon.

Gordon tries to rebuild his relationship with his family after Essen leaves Gotham. While leaving home, Gordon spots a motorcyclist enter his garage. Suspicious, Gordon enters to see Falcone's nephew Johnny Vitti and his thugs holding his family hostage. Gordon realizes if he lets them go, they will most likely kill his wife and son. Therefore, Gordon shoots the thugs and chases Vitti, who has fled with his baby son James Gordon Jr. Bruce Wayne, on a motorcycle, also rushes to chase Vitti. Gordon blows out Vitti's car tire on a bridge and the two fight, with Gordon losing his glasses, before Vitti and James Gordon Jr. fall over the side. Bruce leaps over the railing and saves the baby. Gordon realizes that he is standing before an unmasked Batman, but says that he is "practically blind without [his] glasses" and lets Bruce go.

Gordon and his wife start attending marriage counseling. Loeb is forced into early retirement and that means he is arrested and on trial. Falcone is in the hospital and will be heading to prison pretty soon when he heals, while Flass makes a deal with prosecutors to testify against him and Branden as been arrested and send to jail. Gordon, meanwhile, is promoted to Captain. When a criminal who "calls himself the Joker" threatens to poison the city's reservoir, Gordon summons Batman with the Bat-Signal and waits on a rooftop for the Dark Knight to arrive.

The Justice League, with Cyborg's assistance, stop the Royal Flush Gang's attempted robbery of a diamond vault using complex technology that allows them to pass through solid objects. Vandal Savage plots to start a new civilization by exterminating part of the population; he gave the technology to the Gang for testing. Savage hires Mirror Master to hack into the Batcomputer and steal contingency plans devised by Batman to incapacitate his League teammates, in case they go rogue. Savage assembles Cheetah, Star Sapphire, Bane, Metallo, Mirror Master and Ma'alefa'ak, who all have personal vendettas against the heroes, and pays them to simultaneously attack using the plans, altered to be lethal. When the supervillains agree, he welcomes them to the Legion of Doom.

Batman, as Bruce Wayne, is informed by Alfred Pennyworth that the bodies of Thomas and Martha Wayne have been exhumed and are missing. At their graves, Bruce is ambushed by Bane, who renders Bruce unconscious. Bruce is buried alive in his father's coffin and left a tape recorder with Bane's message to taunt him, which motivates him to break out. He realizes the League has been attacked using his contingency plans, which were constructed from studying physical and psychological weaknesses. Batman sets out to save the League, whilst Cyborg hears of the trouble and starts out on his own.

However, Wonder Woman is attacked by Cheetah with a scratch that sends nanomachines into her brainstem. The nanomachines cause her to see what Cheetah wants her to see, an assortment of super-villains. As her instincts prevent her from giving up, Wonder Woman will fight until she dies from overexertion. Cyborg arrives on the scene, having escaped his contingency plan, examines Wonder Woman with his X-ray vision, and adjusts his sonic emitter to a frequency that neutralizes the nanites.

Martian Manhunter (as John Jones) celebrates his birthday with his colleagues. He receives a drink from Ma'alefa'ak in disguise, which is laced with magnesium carbonate; being disruptive to Martian biology, the Manhunter struggles to maintain form while expelling the magnesium. He is then set on fire, with the magnesium fuelling the flames continually. Batman provides aluminum oxide to neutralize the magnesium.

Flash is lured into Mirror Master's trap, resulting in a bomb being attached to his wrist. If he does nothing, tries to remove it or decreases in speed, the bomb will explode, killing everyone in a three-mile radius. Batman instructs him to run and vibrate through an iceberg in the Arctic, which leaves the bomb inside.

Lured to a mine, Green Lantern is targeted by Star Sapphire using Scarecrow's will-undermining fear gas; after failing to save her hostages' lives, she exploits his fears, convincing him that he doesn't deserve the power. Jordan renounces his ring and resigns to his fate in the collapsing mine. Batman shows him the hostages were just androids. Jordan reestablishes his willpower, removing the effects, and regains control of his ring.

On the Daily Planet's roof, a former employee named Henry Ackerman is aiming to commit suicide which is noticed by Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. After leaving the press conference of the Mayor of Metropolis as Clark Kent, Superman believes he has talked him out of it. However, Ackerman is actually Metallo in disguise and he shoots Superman with a Kryptonite bullet. It is extracted by Cyborg (using an improvised Kryptonite scalpel laser) and by Martian Manhunter, allowing Superman to recover.

The Justice League retreats to the Watchtower, where Batman reveals he was the real mastermind behind the plans. He also had one in place should the Batcomputer be hacked: a hidden tracing algorithm. The League track down the Legion of Doom and subdue them, but fail to prevent an apocalyptic cataclysm via solar flare. Using the Hall of Doom's technology, the League saves the Earth by phasing it so the flare harmlessly passes through.

At the Justice League Watchtower, it is mentioned that Vandal Savage was found guilty for crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life without parole. The Justice League adds Cyborg to their roster, and Superman calls for a vote on Batman's membership. Batman defends his plans, which originally were meant to only incapacitate, and criticizes the others for not understanding the potential danger of a rogue Justice League before quitting the team. When Superman asks if Batman had a plan to stop himself if he were to go rogue, Batman replies that the Justice League itself is his plan. With his trust in Batman assured, Superman hands him the Kryptonite bullet and teleports him out of the Watchtower.

Lois and Clark witness the deaths of multiple people in the streets at the hands of the Atomic Skull who was killing people to draw out Superman. Superman defeats Atomic Skull by throwing him into a lake. After this, Superman gives a speech at the United Nations about the greater good that is found within everyone. During this the leaders of Bialyia and Pokolistan begin to fight due to their peace treaty being broken, Superman leaves the United Nations to stop their armed forces from destroying each other. As Superman arrives in Bialya, the Pokolistani forces release a bio-weapon on the Bialyan military which destroys most of their ground forces. As Superman gets the soldiers to safety from the bio-weapon, the Elite arrive just in time to help Superman destroy it.

Superman returns to Metropolis to report the news and also gain more information on the Elite. Superman and Lois fly to England to find out if they, and the world, can trust the Elite. It is revealed through Manchester Black that he gained his powers near puberty and used it for the first time to save his sister Vera from being hit by a train. The Elite and Superman arrive on the scene to save the civilians on a subway train which was trapped underwater due to a terrorist attack. After Superman and Black save the passengers, Black interrogates the terrorists that bombed the train nearly killing them. Superman begins to be concerned about the motives of his new-found friends. Back in Metropolis, Lois tells Clark that there is no birth record or death certificate of Manchester's sister Vera. This makes Clark further question the Elite's origin and what they are really trying to accomplish. When Manchester broadcasts a message for all the world to hear, he tells them that they will take care of all the world's villains by killing them. After the broadcast, Superman travels to Bialya. While there, Superman is hit by an EMP which weakens him. Closing Pokolistani forces are about to attack him when the Elite attacks. Powerless to stop the Elite, Superman passes out. He eventually awakens at the Elite's base of operations, a sentient macroorganism called Bonnie, and is teleported back to Earth after he fails to convince the Elite that they don't have to kill to be heroes.

Atomic Skull breaks out of prison and looks for revenge on Superman. The Elite arrives but have little success against the overpowered Atomic Skull. When Superman arrives, he coordinates an attack with the Elite to get all the extra power away from Atomic Skull. After Atomic Skull's power is drained by Coldcast, he is executed by Manchester Black under the vote of a boy whose father was one of Atomic Skull's victims. The Elite tell Superman that they have killed both the Pokolistanian and Bialyan leaders and that peace can reign supreme in that area once again. Angered, Superman punches Manchester in the face and the Elite take it as a statement of war against the world's "favorite heroes." They tell Superman that they will kill him for this outrage.

The next day, Superman stands in the middle of Metropolis telling the Elite that he is ready to fight. Asking them to do it somewhere safe, they teleport to the Moon where they begin their fight, with the people of Metropolis watching via Bonnie. Both sides are evenly matched until Black telekinetically induces a seizure in Superman. Coldcast then unleashes a massive blast of electromagnetic energy on Superman, and to those watching the battle on Earth, it appears that Superman has been obliterated. However, moments later, the Elite start hearing Superman's voice all around them. In his taunts, Superman states that he has finally been convinced that he needs to start killing villains--beginning with the Elite. Superman then begins to take out the Elite one by one; first he injects Menagerie with a poison that causes her sym-beasts to abandon her and apparently kills her. The Hat attempts to exploit Superman's known weakness to magic but is suffocated by a super-speed generated whirlwind and sucked into the funnel.

Against Coldcast's wishes, Manchester teleports them to Metropolis to use the innocent civilians as cover. Black gives the order to combine their powers to destroy Metropolis when Superman appears. After Superman knocks Coldcast into orbit, he confronts Black. Manchester attacks Superman with everything he has but fails to harm the Man of Steel. Through his heat vision, Superman lobotomizes Manchester, stripping him of his powers. Believing his death to be seconds away, Manchester tells Superman that the world knows he is no better than they are and will never again trust him. Superman reveals that he faked killing the other members of the Elite and had his Super-Robots protect all of the civilians present and to create the illusion that he had killed indiscriminately. They were really transported to the Fortress of Solitude to be stripped of their powers, then sent to a prison. In addition, Bonnie was offered a way to return home. In the end, the people of Earth see that violence and killing never really was the right way for justice and accept that Superman's way is best for all of mankind. After that, he flies off with Lois and they kiss.

After the death of his protege Jason Todd, billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne was forced to retire from his Batman persona. Ten years later, Gotham City is overrun with crime and terrorized by a gang known as the Mutants. The 55-year-old Wayne maintains a friendship with 70-year-old retiring Police Commissioner James Gordon (who knows Wayne was Batman), while the Joker (Batman's archenemy) has been catatonic in Arkham Asylumsince Wayne's retirement. Arkham inmate and former district attorney Harvey Dent undergoes plastic surgery to repair his disfigured face. Although he is declared sane, he quickly goes into hiding following his release. Dent's disappearance, news stories of the crime epidemic throughout the city and the memory of his parents' deaths drive Wayne to become Batman once more. He combats serious crimes, rescuing 13-year-old Carrie Kelley, but now struggles with the physical limitations of age.

Public reaction to his return is divided. Dent's psychologist Bartholomew Wolper blames Batman for creating his own rogues gallery. Dent resurfaces, threatening to blow up a building unless he is paid a ransom. Batman defeats Dent's henchmen, learning that the bombs will explode even if the ransom is paid; he realizes that Dent intends to kill himself. Batman disables one bomb, and the other detonates harmlessly. He defeats Dent, who reveals that he thinks the reconstructive surgery was botched, as he considered his undamaged half as disfigured. Kelley dresses as Robin and looks for Batman, who attacks a gathering of the Mutants with a tank-like Batmobile (incapacitating most of them). The Mutant leader challenges Batman to a duel. He accepts to prove to himself that he can win. The Mutant leader (who is in his prime) nearly kills Batman, but Kelley distracts him long enough for Batman to subdue him. The leader and many gang members are arrested. Injured, Batman returns to the Batcave with Kelley, and allows her to become his protegee in spite of protests from his butler, Alfred Pennyworth.

Batman has Kelley disguise herself as a Mutant, and she lures the gang to a sewer outlet at the West River. At the Gotham City Police Department, the Mutant leader murders the mayor during negotiations. Commissioner Gordon deliberately releases the leader, providing an escape from the building, which leads to the sewer outlet. Before the amassed Mutants, Batman fights the leader in a mud pit; the mud slows the leader, removing his physical advantage, and Batman overpowers him. Seeing their leader's defeat, the Mutants divide into smaller gangs; one becomes the "Sons of Batman", a violent vigilante group. Batman's victory becomes public and the city's inhabitants are inspired to stand up against crime. Gordon retires after meeting his anti-Batman successor, Ellen Yindel. In Arkham, televised reports about Batman bring the Joker out of his catatonic state.

Feigning remorse for his past, Joker convinces Wolper to take him on a talk show to tell his story, and makes plans for his escape with Abner, an old henchman who supplies him with mind-controlling lipstick. Meanwhile, Superman, who works as a government operative in exchange for being allowed to covertly help people, is asked by President Ronald Reagan to end Batman's vigilante activities. Framing these events is a growing hostility between the USA and the Soviet Union over possession of the island of Corto Maltese. As Batman's continued presence humiliates the national authorities, Yindel becomes commissioner and orders Batman's arrest, and Superman warns Batman that the government will not tolerate him much longer.

Joker makes his talk show appearance on David Endochrine's show as Batman fights with the GCPD on the studio roof; while they fight, Joker kills Wolper, gasses everyone in the studio to death and escapes. He finds Selina Kyle and uses one of her escorts and his lipstick to take control of a congressional representative, who calls for a nuclear strike on the Soviets before falling to his death. Batman's investigation leads him to Selina, whom he finds bound and dressed like Wonder Woman. Kelley notices cotton candy on the floor, and Batman deduces that Joker is at the fairgrounds. There Kelley accidentally kills Abner while Batman pursues the Joker, who indiscriminately guns down dozens of people. As Batman corners a wounded and partially blinded Joker, he admits to feeling responsible for every murder Joker has committed and intends to stop him permanently. In the ensuing fight, Joker stabs Batman repeatedly, and Batman breaks Joker's neck in front of witnesses.

Content that "he" made Batman lose control and that he will be branded a murderer, the Joker finishes twisting his neck, killing himself. The GCPD arrive and Batman, bleeding profusely, fights his way to Kelley and escapes. After Superman deflects a Soviet nuclear missile, he is hit with the blast and badly injured; the detonation creates an electromagnetic pulse that wipes out all electrical equipment in the United States and causes a nuclear winter. As the city descends into chaos, Batman, Kelley and Gordon rally the Sons of Batman and the citizens of Gotham to restore order, and Yindel finally accepts that Batman has become too powerful to take down. While the rest of the powerless U.S. is overrun with crime, Gotham becomes the safest city in America, embarrassing the President's administration and prompting them to send Superman and troops to finally stop Batman. Batman and Superman agree to meet in Crime Alley.

Superman can't help but feel remorse for disregarding Batman throughout the years, and humbly asks him to not go through the fight. Wearing a powerful exoframe and supported by Kelley and former superhero Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Batman fights Superman, using various tactics to make the fight even. When Superman gains the advantage, Queen hits him with an arrow made with synthetic Kryptonite, severely weakening him. Batman defeats Superman, and claims that he intentionally made the Kryptonite weak, and tells Superman to never forget that Batman defeated him, and could have killed him whenever he wanted. Superman then notices Batman's heartbeat is irregular and rapid with his x-ray vision, and tries to warn him. Batman ignores Superman and continues beating him, all the while listing off his reasons for being angry at him. However, Batman apparently dies of a heart attack, while Wayne Manor self-destructs, and Alfred dies of a stroke. Superman holds Batman's body, orders the soldiers to stand down.

In the aftermath, the world learns that Bruce was Batman; all of his secrets are destroyed with the manor and his finances disappear. As Superman leaves Wayne's funeral, he gives Kelley a knowing wink after hearing a faint heartbeat coming from Bruce's coffin. In caves, Bruce is revealed to have survived his heart attack and faked his death to make preparations to continue his mission more discreetly, allied with Kelley, Queen, and his followers.

Offering herself as a hostage, Lois Lane is caught in an aerial confrontation between her terrorist captors and the unpredictable Supergirl before Superman arrives to save the day. Soon after, knowing Superman's civilian identity, Lois attempts to get Clark Kent to make their relationship public despite his fear of the consequences, but their argument is halted by a Daily Planet staff meeting before Kent leaves after being alerted to an approaching meteor. Intercepting it, Superman learns the meteor is actually a robot that he promptly defeats before activating its beacon and taking it to the Fortress of Solitude. With help from a fearful Supergirl, Superman learns the robot is actually a drone controlled by a being named Brainiac, a Coluan scientist who subjected himself to extensive motor, skeletal and cybernetic enhancements, turning him from a human like, thin, and hairless being to a muscular, red eyed giant with computer like components and enhanced physical abilities comparible to Superman's. Supergirl, horrified at seeing Brainiac, reveals from her experience with the monster. Brainiac seized and miniaturized Krypton's capital city of Kandor prior to the planet's destruction with her father and mother attempting to track him down before they mysteriously lost contact with Krypton. She is now worried that Brainiac will do to the world what he did to Kandor.

Fearing more drones would come, Superman flies through the galaxy with a Kryptonian spacecraft in an attempt to track down Brainiac before finding his drones attacking a planet. Though he attempts to stop them, Superman witnesses Brainiac capture the planet's capital like he did with Kandor before firing a Solar Aggressor missile to consume the planet in its exploding sun. The explosion knocks Superman unconscious and he is brought on board Brainiac’s skull shaped, tentacled ship. Coming to in the examination room, he fights his way through the vessel before he discovers a room full of bottled cities prior to being attacked by Brainiac. At this point, confirming that he spared Krypton because of its eventual destruction, Brainiac is shown that he has been collecting information on all the planets he visited and uploading it into his neural core before destroying them. Using Superman's spacecraft and his telepathic abilities, Brainiac discovers that he has been living on Earth. Brainiac decides to chart a course to Earth while sending Superman into Kandor. Inside Kandor, his strength waning due to the artificial red sun, Superman meets his uncle Zor-El and aunt Alura. They explain that Brainiac was instructed to learn all that is knowable about the galaxy. Being a cyborg, Brainiac interpreted his directive literally and realized that he could not achieve this goal because life keeps changing. His knowledge of one world would become out-of-date as soon as he moved on to the next world. Brainiac therefore destroys civilizations after studying them so that they cannot change further, thus leaving him with a literally complete and up-to-date knowledge of them.

Superman formulates a plan and escapes Kandor using the subjugator robots. From there, Superman disables Brainiac's ship and takes Kandor with him back to Earth. At that time, Lois learns from Supergirl why Superman left and alerts the Pentagon of a possible invasion by Brainiac, who eventually repairs his ship and arrives in Metropolis.

Despite everyone, including Supergirl, doing their best to fend his drones off, Metropolis is encased in a bottle and both Superman and Supergirl are captured. Having hooked Superman up to his ship, Braniac reveals that Earth offers nothing to him, tortures Superman by overloading his mind with data to obtain Kandor and attempts to destroy the planet. However, telling his captor what Earth means to him, Superman breaks free and then frees Supergirl and convinces her to stop the Solar-Aggressor from hitting the sun. Remembering Zor-El's words about Brainiac's ideals, Superman knocks him out of the ship and they crash into a swamp. As he fights Braniac, Superman forces the cyborg to experience the chaos of life itself outside of the safe, artificial environments he has created. Eventually, the combined mental and physical strain takes its toll on Brainiac and he combusts and is reduced to ash and molten machinery. After restoring Metropolis, taking Kandor to another planet to restore its normal size and establishing a Kryptonian colony where they can rebuild, Superman makes his love life with Lois as Kent public with a marriage proposal.

In the post-credits Brainiac's remains that are placed in the Fortress of Solitude glow indicating that Brainiac still has some degree of his power.

While visiting his mother's grave, Barry Allen, known as the Flash, is alerted to a break-in by Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Heat Wave, Mirror Master, and Top at the Flash Museum. Defeating the Rogues, he discovers that they have been hired by his archenemy, Professor Eobard "Zoom" Thawne, as part of a plan to destroy Central City. With the help of the Justice League, Barry foils Thawne's plot, but Thawne's taunts over the death of his mother still haunt Barry as he departs.

The next day, Barry wakes to discover that the world has radically changed: his powers are gone, his mother is alive, his wife Iris is married to a colleague, and the Justice League does not exist. Aquaman and his Atlantean forces have sunk most of Europe, while Wonder Woman has led the Amazons in conquering Great Britain, and both forces are now at war after an attempted alliance between them resulted in Wonder Woman murdering Aquaman's wife Mera, due to Mera discovering that Aquaman and Wonder Woman had a secret affair together and Mera confronting Wonder Woman herself. Cyborg has assembled a team to eliminate both parties and approaches Batman to join them, but his refusal leads the government to scrap the plan, and instead recruit pilot Hal Jordan to fly an alien spacecraft to bomb the Atlanteans.

Barry visits Wayne Manor, but is attacked by Batman - who he realizes is not Bruce Wayne but his father Thomas; suspicious of Barry's statements, Batman breaks a few of his fingers. Barry eventually convinces Batman that Barry is in an alternate reality, where Bruce was killed by Joe Chill; which caused Thomas to become Batman, and Martha Wayne, driven mad by Bruce's death, to become the Joker and attack Thomas' business: the world's largest casino. Attempting to explain things to the elder Wayne, Barry retrieves his costume from his ring, but Professor Zoom's costume appears instead, causing Barry to believe Thawne is responsible for the timeline alteration. Barry convinces Batman to help him recreate the accident that gave him his powers, but the attempt fails and Barry is severely burned.

In London, Steve Trevor attempts to extricate reporter Lois Lane, but is discovered by the Amazons and killed. The Amazons hunt down Lane, but she is rescued by the local resistance. Meanwhile, in the remains of Paris, Deathstroke and Lex Luthor are attacked and killed by Aquaman's forces while tracking the energy trail of Aquaman's new weapon, which is powered by the captive Captain Atom.

At the Batcave, after realizing that his memories are changing, Barry asks Batman for help in recreating the accident again. The second attempt succeeds and Barry's powers are restored, but he discovers he cannot travel through time because Thawne is also using the Speed Force. Barry recruits more allies, beginning with an emaciated Superman, who is a prisoner of the U.S. Government after his ship crashed into Metropolis. With the aid of Batman and Cyborg, they liberate Superman, who is empowered by Earth's yellow sun for the first time and fends off the facility's security then flies off in fear and confusion. Barry collapses as his memories continue to change.

Barry is taken to Billy Batson's home to recuperate, and learns that Jordan's attack has failed and that the final battle between the Amazons and Atlanteans has begun. Barry convinces the superheroes to help stop the war and they depart for Britain aboard Batman's jet, only to be shot down upon arrival. Batson and his siblings combine into Captain Thunder to fight Wonder Woman, while Barry, Cyborg and Batman occupy Aquaman. After killing Black Manta alongside Grifter, Batman is wounded by Ocean Master. Thawne reveals himself and after brutally beating Barry, explains that Barry himself is responsible for this alternate timeline: Barry traveled back in time to save his mother, fracturing the fabric of reality. Wonder Woman uses her lasso to force Captain Thunder back into Batson and kills him; Superman returns but cannot save Cyborg from Aquaman. Wonder Woman faces Aquaman, with both declaring an intention to fix things their way. Aquaman remotely detonates Captain Atom with a ray. As the explosion tears across the landscape, Thawne declares his intention to keep Barry in this reality to kill him, but he is then killed by Batman. The dying Batman urges Barry to run, and gives him a letter addressed to his son. Barry races back in time and stops his earlier self but again fractures time, creating another alternate timeline.

Barry awakens at his desk and finds that reality is apparently back to normal. After spending a moment with Iris at his mother's grave, Barry visits Bruce Wayne to tell him about everything that occurred. Barry gives Bruce the letter from his father, and Wayne thanks him. Barry then runs off.

In a post-credits scene, a Boom Tube opens in space above Earth and a horde of Parademons emerges.

A series of abductions have occurred in Gotham City; Batman is implicated due to video footage. Green Lantern stops a kidnapping before attacking the kidnapper, a monstrous Parademon, and is almost defeated when Batman appears. The Parademon attacks them both; Batman and Green Lantern chase it into the sewers, where it charges a Mother Box and explodes. They examine the box, deduce it is of extraterrestrial origin, and decide to ask Superman for an answer. Another Mother Box, supplied by Flash is being studied at S.T.A.R. Labs by Silas Stone, father of Victor Stone.

Superman, who fought with a Parademon previously and believes Batman and Green Lantern are working with it, fights with them; the two are hopelessly outmatched, with the battle only stopping when Batman calls him "Clark" and Superman discovers Batman is Bruce Wayne. The trio begin to work together against the Parademons. On the planet Apokolips, Darkseid orders Desaad to begin an invasion of Earth in response to the superheroes' discovery of his plans. Victor and Silas argue over Silas' belief that metahumans are more important than football. Superman, Batman and Green Lantern realize an invasion has begun when the box activates and several Boom Tubes appear throughout the world.

The Box in S.T.A.R. Labs explodes and creates a Boom Tube when Victor is holding it. The explosion fuses the technology inside the Box to Victor's wounded, mutilated body. As several Parademons attack, Silas takes Victor to a technologically advanced medical bed and uses experimental technologies on him. Countless Parademons appear and attack around the world. The Box's technology spliced with Victor's body fuses itself with the various technologies around the room. Victor is transformed into Cyborg, with a body capable of transforming and adapting itself, including obtaining new features. Just as the Flash saves the scientists, Cyborg discovers details of Apokolips, Darkseid, and the invasion plan. He learns that the Parademons are actually inhabitants of world conquered by Darkseid, spliced with his technology, allowing him to mind-control them into serving as an army for conquering other planets. Billy Batson sees a Parademon outside and mystically turns into the superhero Shazam. Air Force One is attacked in the air, but is saved by the Amazon princess Wonder Woman and Superman. After the heroes gather, Cyborg reveals that the invasion is a prelude to the terraforming of Earth. Darkseid arrives and proves to be a powerful opponent.

Darkseid uses his Omega Beams to fight Flash and Superman, who is incapacitated and captured by a Parademon. Batman prevents Green Lantern from going after them on his own with a broken arm. He tells Green Lantern to think about the lives at stake rather than his own image as a hero, and after unmasking himself, reveals that his parents' murders are what motivated him to fight evil. Bruce allows himself to be captured to save Superman. Green Lantern decides to strip Darkseid of his Omega Beams by destroying his eyes. Bruce goes through a portal to Apokolips, where he escapes the Parademon and stops Desaad from turning Superman into a Parademon. Superman is left unstable and highly aggressive because of the brainwashing process, resulting in him strangling Desaad to death and attacking Parademons and Batman. Batman reasons with him, and helps him reassert his own personality. On Earth, after Darkseid's eyes are destroyed, Cyborg reopens the Boom Tubes to send Darkseid and his army back to Apokolips. Darkseid fights back, and with Superman and Batman's assistance, the group eventually force him through the portal. With the world saved, the superheroes gain the public's trust and are honored at the White House.

In a post-credits scene, an Atlantean ship emerges from the ocean and Ocean Master appears carrying the dead body of his king. He believes that the surface dwellers on Earth are responsible, calling it an act of war from the surface, for which he swears revenge.

At the headquarters of the League of Assassins, Ra's al Ghul grooms Damian Wayne (son of his daughter, Talia, and Batman) to succeed him as head of the league. The league is attacked by a group of assassins led by Slade Wilson, Ra's al Ghul's initial choice for successor before meeting Batman. Feeling betrayed, Slade decides to seize power. During the battle, Ra's is defeated and fatally burned, dying before he can reach the Lazarus Pit. Damian stabs Slade's right eye during the battle, forcing him to flee. Talia takes Damian to Gotham City to meet his father and ask for his protection.

In Gotham City, Batman confronts Killer Croc, who is stealing mutagenic chemicals and steroids to enhance himself. Batman gets ambushed by Croc before Talia electrocutes the latter from behind. She tells Batman about her father's death and leaves their son in his care, though Damian believes that he can take care of himself and does not need Batman. Slade, now calling himself Deathstroke, captures Dr. Kirk Langstrom, who conspired with both Croc and Ra's, promising the latter a formula for his soldiers. Slade threatens Langstrom's wife Francine and his daughter Rebecca to force him to recreate the Man-Bat formula for him. Damian bypasses Wayne Towers security to speak to Bruce, telling him that Deathstroke's contact Ubu is stationed in Gotham. Although Damian wants to avenge Ra's al Ghul by killing Deathstroke, Bruce objects to Damian's willingness to take lives. Talia is captured by Deathstroke when she and her assassins attack his compound.

Against Batman's orders, Damian leaves the Batcave and, after a chase and a long fight, defeats Ubu, whom he located by accessing the Bat-Computer. Before Damian can kill him, Nightwing arrives, mistakes him for a criminal and subdues him before bringing him back to the Batcave. Batman berates Damian for his recklessness, willingness to kill and exposing their operation. Batman then has Damian don the mantle of Robin to teach him discipline. Searching for a lead on Langstrom's location, Batman goes to Arkham to interrogate a rabid Killer Croc, who supplied the mutagens to Langstrom in exchange for his enhancements and is currently going through drastic, agonizing withdrawal symptoms that cause him to shed his scales and tail. Since others are too afraid of him to medicate him without being harmed, Batman promises Croc help in exchange for information. Batman follows Croc's lead about the formula's mutagen to Langstrom's apartment, where he finds a throwing star that he takes evidence of Deathstroke's involvement. Before he leaves, he goes throughout the building and finds a storage room filled with caged bats, with one larger cage being empty and broken open from inside. Batman then finds a rabid gorilla with bat-like mutations, one of Langstrom's unstable subjects, and it attacks him until it dies from its mutations. A drone aircraft sent by Deathstroke then flies past and crashes on the building, destroying it, though Batman evades the explosion. Commissioner Gordon warns them about an abandoned stadium believed to house Deathstroke's men.

At the stadium, Batman and Damian question Langstrom but are attacked when Damian becomes violent. Before they successfully escape, they fight off a swarm of Man-Bats. In the cave, Langstrom reveals Deathstroke's plan to create superhuman, flight-capable assassins. While Nightwing works with Langstrom on an antidote, Batman and Damian rescue their family. Batman guesses that Talia has been abducted when he finds evidence of torture in an empty cell, which he keeps from Damian to not set him off. They find and rescue Langstrom's family, but Batman is unaware that Deathstroke challenged Damian to a fight in exchange for Talia's life through a video device he gave Langstrom's daughter in exchange for sparing them. Both Langstrom's daughter and Deathstroke's video tell him not to involve Batman in their fight.

Nightwing learns that Deathstroke is operating in an oil rig off the Scottish coast, and when Batman is distracted, Damian goes to the rig. He finds Deathstroke and Talia in an underwater base with a swarm of Man-Bats and another Lazarus Pit, whose fluid Deathstroke intends to sell. Damian pulls a gun on Deathstroke, who holds one against Talia's head until Damian drops his gun. Deathstroke fires at him, but Talia is hit instead after she jumps in the path of Deathstroke's gunfire. As Deathstroke corners Damian, Batman appears and the Man-Bats attack. Batman wards them off with sonar-emitting batarangs, while Deathstroke flees with Damian giving chase. Batman heals Talia in the Lazarus Pit, while Nightwing and Langstrom reach the oil rig and cure the Man-Bats. At the same time, Damian fights and defeats Deathstroke, but refuses to kill him because he is his father's son. The elevator from the rig to the underwater base is destroyed when the Man-Bats, overwhelmed by the sonar devices, overcrowd the glass elevator shaft, flooding the base. Batman, Talia and Damian escape, but Deathstroke gets left behind. Batman believes that Damian should stay with him and remain as Robin while Talia still wishes to recreate the League with Batman, who would rather disband the League, and Damian at her side. She decides to let him care for their son and leaves with the League of Assassins though she says she will return for him.

As the credits roll, a slideshow of the fight between Damian and Nightwing is played between credits.

Batman rescues Riddler from a black ops assassination ordered by A.R.G.U.S.' director Amanda Waller, returning him to Arkham Asylum. Invoking Priority Ultraviolet, Waller captures criminals Black Spider, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, KGBeast, Killer Frost, and King Shark for the Suicide Squad. Their mission is to break into Arkham and recover a thumbdrive in the Riddler's cane. While in Waller's employ, Riddler copied information on the squad to make it public knowledge. She forces compliance by threatening to detonate nano-bombs implanted in their necks. KGBeast, who believes it's a bluff, walks out on Waller and is killed as an example to the others.

The six are sent to Gotham City, where Penguin has been hired by Waller to give them arms, equipment, and a place to stay, although he is angry with Harley and Joker for tossing his cigarettes in the harbor for a laugh. Deadshot repeatedly clashes with Boomerang as the latter does not respect his leadership of the group. To get to Arkham, Harley breaks into a doll store and begins trashing it. Batman arrives, demanding she tell him where Joker hid a dirty bomb; Batman has been ransacking the city in search of it, even resorting to interrogating Riddler for answers. This is also a dead end, as Harley has no clue where the bomb is located; Batman is forced to send her back to Arkham.

At Arkham, Harley encounters the Joker, who begins taunting how he previously kicked her out of a car, and ends up lashing out by attempting to shoot him with a stolen gun, only to fail in doing so due to the Joker's bulletproof prison cell. This distraction allows the others to infiltrate Arkham in disguises. Black Spider causes an explosion, putting the asylum on Yellow Alert; King Shark suggests playing the previous day's footage to keep both Batman and Waller from noticing them. Despite some in-fighting, the team manages to get to the storage room, where they find Harley's mallet and Riddler's cane, however they find the latter empty. Batman arrives, as the footage showed employees who had that day off, fighting the squad until Black Spider pins him during an explosion; Black Spider later emerges with Batman's belt as his trophy. However, they then notice Killer Frost is missing. It turns out Frost was tasked by Waller to kill Riddler, which was the true purpose of the mission; however, he reveals Waller can't kill him with a nano bomb for the very same reason she wants him dead: because he knows how to defuse it. The rest of the squad find her and Riddler outside the Medical Facility; they agree to help Riddler escape if he can defuse the bombs. Unfortunately, Joker also manages to escape as Harley's attack weakened his cell.

Riddler hooks the squad up to the electro shock machine, minus Black Spider as he wishes to stand guard. At the same time, a dazed Batman wanders around and is found by the Joker, who sneaks up to shoot him. Riddler turns on the machine as Waller calls for an update; seeing the bombs' signals fading and learning of the squad's betrayal, she activates them. Harley, Deadshot, Boomerang and Frost survive, but King Shark's head explodes due to his thick skin blocking the electricity; oddly so does Batman's before Joker can shoot him. Riddler begins laughing as the squad hasn't figured out that "Black Spider" is Batman; revealing himself, Batman demands to know why the squad is in Arkham, only for the Joker to arrive and start shooting at everyone. Harley manages to sweet-talk the Joker into forgiving her, and Deadshot manages to "out-crazy" Joker to scare him away. It's then revealed Joker had hidden the dirty bomb in Harley's mallet, which he then activates. Joker broadcasts to Arkham, telling Batman and the squad that soon Gotham will be destroyed; he releases the inmates as a distraction to allow him to escape. Deadshot manages to escape in a helicopter, while Frost is presumably killed in the chaos by Bane, and Deadshot and Captain Boomerang battle for who escapes in the helicopter, with Deadshot tackling him out and leaving him to be arrested. Batman notices three heartbeats coming from the helicopter, realizing Joker and Harley stowed away. Batman follows them in the Batwing, ending up crashing the helicopter into a building. Batman knocks out Harley and disarms the bomb. At the same time, Joker and Deadshot fight as Joker is not pleased with Deadshot touching Harley. Badly beaten, Deadshot manages to pin Joker to the inside of the helicopter as it crashes to the ground. Batman later confronts Waller over the incident, which resulted in Riddler escaping again. Waller vows that her units will catch him next time, but Batman then warns her to discontinue the Task Force X program. Waller arrogantly dismisses his warning and taunts that they never found Joker's body. The moment Batman leaves, Waller notices a gun's laser trained on her chest and then on her forehead. Deadshot is shown to be the source, reunited with his daughter, and the movie ends before he pulls the trigger, leaving Waller's fate uncertain.

While on patrol in the Atlantic, the entire crew of the nuclear submarine USS California is killed by an unknown attacker. At S.T.A.R. Labs' Justice League headquarters, Cyborg is given the news by Colonel Steve Trevor. He teleports to the sub via a Boom tube, finds hand prints on the hull and discovers that nuclear missiles are missing. Cyborg, Flash, Shazam, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Batman inspect the recovered California. Diana identifies the enemy as warriors from Atlantis, beings turned into underwater creatures by their king's mystical trident. Superman and Batman decide to meet Atlantis-expert Stephen Shin.

In Atlantis, Prince Orm and Black Manta meet with Orm's mother, Queen Atlanna, where they argue over declaring war on the humans. Orm blames the Justice League for his father's death, while Atlanna blames Darkseid. Orm wishes to attack first, but Atlanna silences him and asks Mera to bring Arthur Curry (her other son) to Atlantis. Black Manta uses a craft disguised as a US Navy submarine to attack Atlantis using the stolen missiles to frame the humans. Batman and Superman locate Shin's home and his destroyed research. Superman finds a photograph of Curry and a letter revealing Arthur is half-Atlantean. Shin meets Arthur but he is killed by Atlantean soldiers sent by Black Manta. Arthur is blasted out of his collapsing house; Mera saves him and dispatches the soldiers using her hydrokinetic powers.

Citizens of Atlantis and Orm demand war following the attack on Atlantis, though Atlanna disagrees. Arthur wakes up with gills on his neck in underwater Atlantean ruins. Mera explains that Atlanna is his mother, though as a royal, Atlanna could not be with his father or Arthur. Now, Atlanna believes Arthur can help bridge the gap between the two worlds. Mera dresses him in the king's royal garb, though Arthur leaves wearing only the orange and green Atlantean bodysuit. They are attacked by the Trench at the surface. The creatures overwhelm Arthur and the League helps defeat the Trenchers. Black Manta reports to Orm that the Trench failed to kill Arthur.

When Orm and Atlanna argue over starting a war, she reveals that she knows he attacked Atlantis. Orm stabs her to death from behind, and takes over as the new king of Atlantis. Arthur, Mera, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern learn of Atlanna's death once in Atlantis. Orm (now using the mantle "Ocean Master") uses the trident to restrain the team in pods. The group is sent to be consumed by the monstrous Dark Trench, while Ocean Master leads Atlantis' army to the surface. Arthur taps into the power of the trident to destroy his pod, and with Superman's help, they save the rest and defeat the monster. A massive tidal wave conceals the Atlantean army's arrival in Metropolis. Superman saves John Henry Irons, and Wonder Woman saves Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. Black Manta attacks Arthur and reveals that he wants to overthrow Ocean Master to take Atlantis for himself. Arthur summons a shark to attack him.

Mera and the League battle Ocean Master, with little success. Shazam is transformed back into Billy Batson; Mera, Flash, and Green Lantern are knocked unconscious; and Cyborg is impaled, electrocuted and disabled. Wonder Woman is incapacitated by the trident's electric energy, while Superman is wounded because of its mystical properties. Batman saves Cyborg from dying by electrocuting him with a taser device. Ocean Master nearly kills Arthur as Cyborg broadcasts the video of Ocean Master confessing to his mother's murder for Atlantis' soldiers to hear. Arthur uses the distraction to defeat Ocean Master and convince the soldiers to stand down.

Arthur is crowned king of Atlantis with the Justice League in the audience. Batman suggests that they need to solidify the team, given the new threats, and Cyborg reveals plans for a watchtower. Arthur joins the League as Aquaman, despite his dislike toward the name, before leaving with Mera to confront the Trenchers. In the post-credits, Orm is incarcerated at Belle Reve where he is approached by Lex Luthor, who has a proposition for him to consider.

During an investigation of missing children, Damian Wayne - the current Robin and illegitimate son of Batman and Talia al Gul - has taken the Batmobile out to an abandoned toy factory without his father's consent. He finds the perpetrator, Anton Schott, who has mutated some of the victims into dolls. Batman arrives, and in the resulting battle, Robin chases Schott while Batman knocks out the dolls with gas and frees the remaining children. Upon defeating Schott, Robin chooses to spare him, but an owl-masked assassin named Talon suddenly kills Schott and frames Robin for the murder. Batman is eventually convinced of Robin's innocence after finding an owl feather at the crime scene.

The next night, Bruce Wayne (Batman's alter ego) has dinner at Wayne Manor with fellow wealthy socialite Samantha Vanaver, who meets Damian. Later, he tries to connect with Damian, but he voices his frustration towards Bruce for never trusting him. Bruce goes out, leaving Damian with Nightwing to look after him - an act which causes Nightwing to call off his date with Starfire - and starts to investigate the owl feather, which leads him to the Gotham Museum of Natural History's Hall of Owls. He is reminded of a childhood story about the Court of Owls, a secret society of wealthy men who ruled Gotham from the shadows and killed any who opposed them by sending agents called talons. On the night his parents were murdered, Bruce had seen an owl clutching a bat flying away from the crime scene. He became convinced that the Court of Owls was to blame, but after finding no evidence of their existence, Bruce dismissed the legend.

While continuing to investigate, Batman is attacked and nearly killed by three undead, owl-masked assailants. After killing one, Batman continues to fight, receiving many wounds in the process. At the end of the fight, Batman lies defeated and watches as the two remaining assailants prepare to kill him, only for them to suddenly liquefy into black ooze. Meanwhile, Damian, having escaped Nightwing and fled the mansion, is approached by Talon, who encourages Robin's choice of punishing criminals and offers Robin a chance to join him. Unsure of the decision, Robin returns home, where Bruce discovers him and warns him that he will be sent away to a school in Switzerland unless he learns to discipline himself.

While driving to a date with Samantha, Bruce is kidnapped by white owl-masked people. He is subsequently brought before the Court of Owls, who offer Bruce a chance to join them. After Bruce leaves, given time to consider the offer, Talon appears and it's revealed that he is working for the Court of Owls, who are secretly raising an army of inhuman, undead talons to destroy Gotham City and allow the Court to rebuild it in their own image. However, their current talons are imperfect and dissolve after a period of time. It soon transpires that Talon is having a romantic relationship with Samantha, who turns out to be the Court of Owls' leader known as the "Grandmaster". Though the Court intend for Talon to become one of their undead soldiers, with Robin serving as Talon's replacement, Samantha wishes to have him become a member of a court - thus saving him from the procedure and allowing them to rule Gotham together.

Damian, having contacted Talon, starts accompanying him to take out criminals, though he frustrates Talon upon hesitating to kill. Sensing how Robin looks up to Batman as a father, unaware that Damian is actually Batman's son, Talon reveals his origins; he used to help his father in partaking thefts, wanting to please him, but was subjugated to abuse after causing mistakes - an act which eventually led Talon to call the police on his abusive father, who was shot dead when brandishing a gun. It was then that Talon joined the Court of Owls. Batman then shows up, having tracked Damian's activity, but Robin stops him from pursuing Talon. Batman tries to convince Robin that Talon is using him, but Robin is unconvinced - believing that Batman is trying to hold him back from his potential. A confrontation breaks out between them when Robin, after again preventing his father from going after Talon, attacks Batman. The fight ends with Robin threatening to stab Batman, but instead leaves after reaffirming for finishing him off.

Batman sneaks into the Court of Owls's headquarters through the sewers, but is exposed to psychotropic gas by the Court, causing Batman to hallucinate. He is rescued by Nightwing and Alfred Pennyworth. Meanwhile, Talon introduces Robin to the Court and the Grandmaster. When Damian complies at the Court's order to reveal himself, Samantha recognizes Damian and deduces that his father is Batman. She subsequently orders Talon to kill Damian, but he instead turns on the Court - dispatching all its members before confronting and killing Samantha. Now in control of the Court's army of talons, Talon authorizes an assault on Wayne Manor; he leaves Damian behind, offering him another chance to join him once he has killed Batman.

Talon and his soldiers attack Wayne Manor, breaking into the Batcave as Batman, Nightwing, and Alfred fight them off. Though all the soldiers are disposed off, Talon defeats Nightwing before going on to injure Batman in a fistfight. He prepares to kill Batman, but Robin - who escaped from the Court's headquarters - intervenes and takes his father's place. Damian eventually defeats Talon and, holding a sai to his throat, tells him that he could never replace Batman for the latter is his father. However, Talon commits suicide by forcing Robin's sai through his own neck, leaving Robin stunned and confused.

With Talon dead and his army defeated, Batman tries to welcome Robin back home; however, he refuses and insists that he needs to sort out who he is. At his father's suggestion, Damian leaves Gotham for a monastery in the Himalayas.

In an alternate universe, the Justice League - Batman (Dr. Kirk Langstrom), Wonder Woman (Bekka), and Superman (Hernan Guerra, son of General Zod)- is a brutal force that maintains order on Earth. The lack of accountability for the League is challenged following the suspicious deaths of three scientists: Victor Fries; Ray Palmer; and Silas Stone, along with his young son Victor Stone. When suspicion falls on the Justice League, President Amanda Waller asks that they cooperate with the government's investigation. Wonder Woman speaks to Steve Trevor to learn what the government knows while Superman invites Lois Lane to the Tower of the Justice, where he tells her of his goals to help humanity, and reveals how little he knows about Krypton or his heritage.

Batman discovers an email sent to Silas Stone and a number of scientists, including Dr. Will Magnus, Kirk's best friend who helped with his transformation. He asks Magnus, and his wife Tina, about "Project Fair Play", which involved all the scientists under Lex Luthor's employ, but Magnus reveals nothing. The League locates the remaining scientists (consisting of John Henry Irons, T.O. Morrow, Michael Holt, Pat Dugan, Emil Hamilton, Karen Beecher, Thaddeus Sivana, Kimiyo Hoshi, and Stephen Shin) who are meeting at a house. Just then, the remaining scientists are attacked by three robotic assassins who travel via Boom tube. Despite their efforts, the assassins leave Magnus as the sole survivor of the attack.

The League takes Magnus to the Tower to recover, while Superman flies to Lex Luthor's satellite orbiting the moon. Luthor reveals Project Fair Play is a weapons program to destroy the League if necessary. He also reveals he has the true information about Krypton, including Zod. As Superman leaves, a robotic assassin booms in and destroys the satellite, seemingly killing Luthor. Steve Trevor shows satellite footage of the explosion and Superman's presence to Waller, and she retaliates with Project Fair Play, which consists of troops and vehicles armed with energy weapons powered by red solar radiation like Krypton's sun.

Superman and Wonder Woman face the army while Batman stays inside the Tower, where he activates the forcefield, thinking Magnus can clear the League. Tina, last seen killed by the robotic assassins, suddenly appears and subdues Batman before shape-shifting into a liquid metal robot and revives Magnus with an organic nanite serum similar to Batman's, which physically enhances him and gives him regenerative healing powers. Magnus reveals he orchestrated the framing of the League, with his robotic assassins actually being the Metal Men armed with 'Boom Tube' technology and red sun energy. Magnus tells Batman he intends to detonate a Nanite Bomb, with microscopic Boom Tubes teleporting nanites into every person on the planet, to forcefully link humanity together into a hive mind. He confesses he killed the real Tina in a fit of rage and replaced her with a robotic duplicate named Platinum, capable of mimicking human flesh, and joined Fair Play, intending to use its resources to fund his secret Nanite Bomb project.

As Magnus prepares his weapon, Luthor, who escaped the explosion, teleports into the middle of the battle outside and tells everyone he has discovered Magnus' plan. Batman frees himself and seizes the opportunity to drop the forcefield. With Batman fighting Magnus, Wonder Woman faces Platinum, and Superman takes on the Metal Men, who quickly merge into a single, more powerful entity. Wonder Woman uses her sword's boom tube to send Platinum to the sun, while Superman destroys the Mother Boxes inside the Metal Men to keep them from 'Booming' before taking them underground and melting them inside molten rock. The League destroys the bomb (at the cost of Superman's Kryptonian escape craft) and, after being defeated by Batman, a remorseful Magnus commits suicide by disintegrating himself with nanites.

A week later, the Justice League has been cleared of all wrongdoing, and the world, along with Lois Lane, views them differently. Bekka decides to leave the Justice League to face her past along with Lex Luthor, who wants to explore other universes after growing bored with this one. Before leaving, Lex Luthor gives Superman all the data on Krypton and tells him to be a "real hero". The film ends with Superman and Batman deciding to use the data to help humanity.

Batwoman intercepts a crowd of criminals in Gotham City that includes Electrocutioner, Tusk, Firefly, Killer Moth, and others. When a fight ensues, Batman arrives. They are confronted by the apparent leader of the criminals, a man called the Heretic, who detonates explosives planted within the facility. Batman flings Batwoman to safety and apparently perishes in the explosion.

Two weeks later, a concerned Alfred Pennyworth sends a distress signal to Nightwing. Meanwhile, Damian Wayne watches a news report of Batman's disappearance and sets out to return to Gotham. Batwoman's civilian alter-ego, Katherine Kane, meets with her father Jacob, explaining she feels responsible for Batman's apparent death. In the past, Katherine was traumatized by an incident in which her sister Elizabeth and mother Gabrielle were abducted, held for ransom, and eventually killed by their captors, while she was the sole survivor. After her time in the military, she became a promiscuous drunkard who was saved by Batman from street thugs, which motivated her to never need to be saved again, resulting in her becoming Batwoman.

Batman apparently resurfaces and is quickly noticed by Robin and Katherine. Both of them intercept Batman and quickly deduce that it is Nightwing wearing an old version of the Batsuit. They begin their own investigations into the Heretic, unconvinced that Bruce is truly dead. The Heretic and his henchmen attack Wayne Enterprises, forcing Lucius Fox to open the way into the vault by threatening his son Luke. Though Nightwing and Damian arrive, they are unable to prevent the Heretic from escaping with Wayne technology, and Lucius is injured. Before they leave, the Heretic kills Electrocutioner when the latter is about to kill Robin.

The Heretic returns to his headquarters, where it is revealed that he is working for Talia al Ghul. They are holding Bruce prisoner and the Mad Hatteris causing him to hallucinate. The Heretic then breaks into the Batcave and kidnaps Damian. He explains that he is a clone of Damian, created by a genetics program run by Ra's al Ghul and the League of Shadows. They used Damian's DNA to genetically engineer a perfect soldier with accelerated growth and development, but he was the only subject of the program to survive. He wishes to have Damian's memories and personality implanted within his own brain, but Talia arrives and kills the Heretic. Nightwing and Batwoman then arrive, having located Damian through a tracker in his costume. They are quickly joined by Luke, clad in an advanced combat exosuit and styling himself as Batwing. The three rescue Bruce and Damian, but Talia and her henchmen escape.

A week passes and Bruce seems to have recovered, though he remains adamant that Katherine and Luke not be involved. After Katherine is forced to fight her father after he suddenly attacks her, Dick learns from this that Bruce is still under the effects of the Mad Hatter's mind control. Luke realizes that the League of Shadows are planning to brainwash a number of world leaders at a tech summit held by Bruce. As the brainwashing takes place, Nightwing, Robin, Batwoman, Alfred, and Batwing arrive and fight Talia and her henchmen. During the fight, the Mad Hatter is killed, interrupting the mind control. Bruce, still brainwashed, defeats Nightwing. Talia then orders him to kill Nightwing and Damian, but Bruce resists the brainwashing. Incensed, Talia escapes in a vessel, only for Onyx, a subordinate of the Heretic, to confront and attack her to avenge the Heretic's death. The vessel subsequently crashes and explodes, implying their deaths. Bruce is later seen comforting Damian over Talia's supposed death. Alfred remarks to Dick that despite Talia's madness, she was still Damian's mother.

As the Bat-Signal shines in Gotham City, Batwoman, Nightwing, and Batwing meet Batman and Robin on top of the police station to respond to a crime committed by the Penguin. On a nearby building, Batgirl observes the group and prepares to join the pursuit.

The Justice League battle the Legion of Doom (Lex Luthor, Toymaster, Weather Wizard, Cheetah and Solomon Grundy). Weather Wizard flees when his comrades are beaten, but becomes possessed by the shade of Trigon's minions. Robin (Damian Wayne) disobeys his father's orders to get civilians to safety, thinking he can help the Justice League fight the possessed Weather Wizard, and sets the Batwing to crash into Weather Wizard and explode, defeating him and forcing Trigon's shade to leave his body. Upset that there's no answer to this occurrence, and in order for his son to learn teamwork, Batman sends Robin to join the Teen Titans. Meanwhile, Trigon's minion possesses Superman, plaguing him with visions of demonic shadows.

Robin meets the Titans' leader Starfire, who is Nightwing's girlfriend and members Raven, Beast Boy and Blue Beetle, but his lack of respect for the others causes friction. Blue Beetle and Robin fight until Blue Beetle's suit instinctively uses an energy blast to severely burn Robin. Raven heals him, but during the process her empathic powers cause both to see into the other's memories. Robin later thanks Raven, but is curious about an entity he saw in her mind. With Raven unwilling to answer, Damian tries looking in the Titans' records, but finds no useful information. Starfire tells Damian that the team isn't just for fighting crime, but also a surrogate family, as they are all lost souls in a world with no place for them.

Superman finds and brutally beats down Atomic Skull, alerting Wonder Woman and Batman to his possession. The latter uses kryptonite to drive Superman back. Cyborg tries to locate Superman and a "female with supernatural powers", whom Trigon is searching for, and he and Batman conclude that if the host is damaged or overwhelmed, they will be freed from it. In the meantime, in order to loosen Damian up, Starfire takes the group to a carnival, where Raven encounters Trigon in spirit form and his demonic emissaries, who wants to find her so he can use her for his plans. With the help of the other Titans, Raven resists and fights the emissaries until they cannot maintain their presence on the Earthly plane and dissipate.

Afterward, Raven reveals that her mother was a member of a cult who married her off to Trigon, who took a human form. Her mother fled after discovering his true nature and was saved by the Azarathians, benevolent people from another dimension, where Raven grew up. After unwittingly summoning her father and thus causing the obliteration of Azarath and her mother, Raven was taken by him so he could conquer Earth, but she imprisoned him inside a crystal in Hell. The Titans offer their support, but the Justice League arrives in order to take Raven away. However, before they can act, Flash, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman are taken over by Trigon's shadow and turned into demon emissaries. Batman counteracts his own possession by injecting himself with a nerve toxin, putting himself in a comatose state and thus causing the shade to abandon him.

The Titans battle the League without success, causing Raven to surrender herself. Just before the League and Raven use a portal to leave, Blue Beetle frees Cyborg from Trigon's control. Robin locates Raven in the Middle East, revealing he put a tracking device on each of the Titans, and Cyborg and the Titans portal to the Middle East, to discover that Superman has unearthed a mystical shrine that Raven uses her powers on so that Trigon can pass through the shrine as a gate. Robin stabs Superman with kryptonite to free him from Trigon's control, and Superman defeats Flash and Wonder Woman, which frees them as well. The Titans save Raven, but not before Trigon returns to his physical form.

Following Raven's plan, the Titans and Cyborg portal to Hell to retrieve the crystal to re-imprison her father, while the League vainly engage Trigon to prevent him from reaching innocent civilians. The Titans battle their way through hordes of demons, but an undead Ra's al Ghul, turned into Trigon's servant after his death at the hands of Deathstroke, shatters the crystal. He tries to persuade Robin to join him and Trigon by killing Raven so that he may return to life, but Robin declares himself a Titan; they battle, and Robin eventually defeats and kills Ra's al Ghul. Overcoming her inner doubts and Trigon's telepathic attempts to dissuade her, Raven uses her powerful magic and her telepathic link to Trigon to re-imprison him in a shard of the broken crystal.

Raven informs the Titans that the shard must stay in Hell and be watched always, in case Trigon tries once again to break free. She puts herself forward as Trigon's keeper, but the Titans assure that her home is with them. Back at Titans Tower, the group - now joined by Robin and Cyborg - are lauded by the Justice League for saving Earth, and Raven has her father's crystal prison attached to her forehead for safekeeping, while Trigon seethes with rage over his renewed imprisonment.

In a mid-credits scene, Terra is seen approaching Titans Tower, riding a boulder across the sea.

While out on patrol, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) fails to stop a robbery, but manages to stop one criminal with help from Batman. Paris Franz, the robbers' leader and the nephew of a powerful mob boss, develops a dangerous obsession with her and starts sending her messages. After Franz tricks her into finding his uncle's dead body, Batman becomes concerned about her safety and takes her off the case, telling her that she will eventually be tempted to kill the criminals she pursues. Outraged, Batgirl attacks Batman physically and verbally, which leads to the both of them having sex. A few nights later, Batgirl tries to apologize to Batman, but he is ambushed by Franz and his men, prompting her to come to his aid. When she arrives and overpowers Franz, he makes her lose control and give him a savage beating, stopping just short of killing him. Realizing Batman was right, she retires from crime-fighting.

Later, Batman investigates a murder scene with Detective Harvey Bullock and concludes that the Joker, currently held at Arkham Asylum, might be behind the crime. He goes to Arkham to talk to him, only to discover that he has escaped and put a decoy in his place. Joker then attacks Barbara and her father, Commissioner James Gordon. He shoots her in the stomach, paralyzing her from the waist down, and takes Gordon to an abandoned amusement park. There, Joker strips him naked and subjects him to torture, including showing him photos he took of Barbara, naked and in pain.

The story is intercut with flashbacks of Joker's origin. It is revealed that he was once a lab technician who quit his job to become a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his pregnant wife Jeannie, he agrees to help two criminals rob his former workplace. The criminals tell him that he has to use the Red Hood's mask and caped costume, secretly intending to frame him. During the planning, the police inform him that Jeannie and their unborn child have died in a household accident. Grief-stricken, he tries to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals strong-arm him into keeping his commitment to them.

At the plant, the criminals and the costumed comedian run into security personnel, and a shootout occurs. The criminals are gunned down and the comedian is confronted by Batman. Terrified, the comedian trips and falls into the chemical plant's waste pond, and is swept through a pipe leading to the outside. As he removes his mask, he sees the chemicals have permanently disfigured his face, giving him a clown-like appearance. His disfigurement, combined with the loss of his family, drives him insane and transforms him into the Joker.

In the present, Batman finds and saves Gordon, while the Joker flees. Despite his ordeal, Gordon remains sane and demands that Batman capture the Joker "by the book". Batman follows the Joker as the latter tries to persuade him that the world is just one big joke, and that "one bad day" is enough to drive an ordinary man insane. Batman subdues Joker, tells him that Gordon has remained sane, and concludes that Joker is alone in his madness. He then attempts to reach out to him, offering rehabilitation. Joker declines, saying it is too late. He then says that the situation reminds him of a joke about two patients in an insane asylum who try to escape by leaping over to the adjoining building. The first patient makes it across, but the second patient is too afraid. The first patient says, "Hey, I got this flashlight with me. I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings and you can walk across the beam and join me." But the second patient says, "What do you think I am, crazy? You'll just turn it off when I'm halfway across!" Batman and Joker then have a good laugh at the joke as the police arrive. The Joker's laugh trails off while Batman continues to laugh, leaving the ending as ambiguous as the comic.

In a mid-credits scene, Barbara is in her wheelchair entering a secret room in her apartment. She says "back to work" as she turns on her computers and Oracle's logo appears on the screen.

Several days before the actual story begins, exorcist and con man John Constantine and Jason Blood engage the Demons Three in a poker game for high-end stakes; Constantine offers his home, the House of Mystery, as his part of the pool in exchange for a box of artifacts, including a chipped Dreamstone. When both parties are caught cheating, Constantine summons Etrigan - a demon forced to share a body with Jason Blood - to dispatch the demons. Afterwards, Blood reprimands Constantine for making him summon Etrigan, and the two part ways.

In Metropolis, Gotham and Washington, D.C., violent murders are committed by people who think their victims are demonic creatures before they are stopped by members of the Justice League. The League conclude that magic is the source of the crimes, but Batman is skeptical. However, at Wayne Manor, Batman is briefly possessed by Deadman and left with a single word ("Constantine") as a message. Batman finds Zatanna, who had a failed romantic history with Constantine, and Deadman possesses Batman once more to tell Zatanna that she and Batman need to see Constantine. The trio is attacked by a magically controlled tornado as they travel to meet Constantine at the House of Mystery. The group is joined by Black Orchid, the spiritual embodiment of the House, and decide to investigate the cause behind these supernatural occurrences.

The heroes visit Ritchie Simpson, friend of Constantine and Zatanna, where they find shroud spirits of Death waiting to collect Ritchie's soul upon his upcoming demise. Simpson has cancer and is resentful towards Constantine for abandoning him to his fate, but loans them the Keshanti Key. Constantine and Zatanna use the key to view one of the victim's memories and discover he was possessed by an unknown entity. A magical creature is conjured to consume the man, but Batman, Deadman, Constantine and Zatanna narrowly escape and destroy it.

Back at Ritchie's house, the team finds him close to death; Blood is also there to find the Dreamstone. Constantine chases after Blood while Batman gives an adrenaline shot to revitalize Ritchie. Upon being caught by Constantine, Blood explains that centuries ago the sorcerer Destiny possessed the Dreamstone in an attempt to overthrow Great Britain, using it to make people see their worst nightmares and feed off their torment. Blood was mortally injured cleaving the Dreamstone in half. Merlin summoned Etrigan to defeat Destiny and then bound him to Blood because Merlin knew they would be needed in the future. Ritchie briefly wakes to claim Felix Faust as his assailant.

With the help of the plant elemental Swamp Thing (Alec Holland), the group locates Faust's Observatory of the Cosmos. After a battle with the wizard, which Faust loses, the team conclude Faust had no involvement in hurting Ritchie. Ritchie awakens and is revealed to have the other piece of the Dreamstone, which has been keeping his cancer in remission; he apparently destroys Black Orchid. Constantine tries to reason with Ritchie, that the Dreamstone (with Destiny's soul trapped inside) is using him. However, the Dreamstone takes over Ritchie's body and transforms him into Destiny.

Destiny destroys the House and departs to start a frenzy; Zatanna saves the group, but passes out from the exertion. The Justice League tries to fight Destiny, but he causes them to perceive each other as demonic threats, so they attack each other. Etrigan attacks Destiny, but is separated back into Jason Blood and Etrigan. Constantine summons Swamp Thing, who attacks Destiny, while Batman and Zatanna disable the Justice League. Destiny rips Alec Holland's corpse from Swamp Thing, causing him to dissolve into plant matter.

Constantine tricks Destiny into bringing him and Deadman within his protective shield, allowing Deadman to wound Destiny. Blood, Constantine and Batman destroy the Dreamstone (and Destiny's body), and Ritchie's soul is dragged to Hell. Blood succumbs to his mortal wounds, and his body is buried near the place of his old village by Zatanna, Constantine and Etrigan. Zatanna agrees to join the League and offers Constantine a position as well. He declines, claiming Batman would not approve, but Zatanna states it was Batman's idea. The two return to the now- rebuilt House of Mystery, and Deadman joins the restored Black Orchid as her soulmate.

Five years ago, the original Teen Titans (consisting of Dick Grayson as Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Beast Boy and Bumblebee) rescue Princess Starfire of planet Tamaran from her captors sent by her evil older jealous sister Blackfire who had staged a coup and forcibly took the throne. As she is no longer able to return to her world, the Titans offer her a home on Earth as one of them.

In the present, Dick Grayson - now known as Nightwing - rejoins the Teen Titans to track down a terrorist cult led by Brother Blood, who plans on capturing the team to absorb each of their unique abilities with a machine that he has tested on Jericho; the latter is later executed by Brother Blood's lover and assistant; Mother Mayhem. To speed up the progress with his development, Brother Blood hires the mercenary Deathstroke to deliver the Titans to him; Deathstroke, who survived his apparent death a few years ago, seeks revenge on Damian Wayne - the new Robin - for replacing him as Ra's al Ghul's heir before betraying the League of Assassins. Deathstroke monitors the Titans through his double agent Terra, who joined the team a year prior and whom he rescued after her parents turned their whole village against her and tortured her. When Damian grows suspicious of Terra's behavior and starts tracking her, he is confronted by Deathstroke; they fight until Terra subdues and captures Damian, thus revealing her affiliation to Deathstroke.

Terra initially acts cold and distant towards the other Titans despite their welcoming attitude, but eventually warms up to them. During the night celebrating her one-year anniversary with the Titans, she shares a tender moment with Beast Boy and kisses him; they gradually form a relationship together. While attending a convention to do a podcast with filmmaker Kevin Smith, Beast Boy is captured by Deathstroke; Blue Beetle is snatched from the soup kitchen where he works; and Starfire is kidnapped at the apartment she shares with Nightwing. Meanwhile, Terra captures Raven at the Titan's headquarters. Nightwing soon learns about the conspiracy before Deathstroke ambushes him. Outmatched, he manages to escape by faking his own death.

Terra reveals herself as a double agent to the captured Titans when she and Deathstroke bring them to Brother Blood, who intends to become a godlike figure by using the machine to absorb the Titans' powers. However, since Deathstroke had failed to capture Nightwing, the machine cannot operate properly without a sixth Titan; in response, he betrays Terra by allowing Brother Blood to apprehend her - thus completing the deal between them. With his followers and Deathstroke present, Brother Blood proceeds to commence draining the Titans of their powers until Nightwing surprisingly intervenes. After rescuing the Titans, Nightwing and Robin fight Deathstroke while the others battle Brother Blood - who has absorbed all of their powers. The Titans struggle against the villains until Terra intervenes, furiously attacking Deathstroke for his betrayal while causing Brother Blood to get overpowered. The battle ends with Brother Blood being depowered by Raven unleashing her inner fury as a demon and then while Deathstroke is buried underneath multiple rocks thrown by Terra. Brother Blood is then shot and killed by Mother Mayhem to prevent him from being captured by the Titans. Too ashamed to face her former allies after betraying their trust, Terra decides to bring down the entire area. Beast Boy attempts to assist Terra in escaping the crumbling fortress, but Terra pushes him back and is buried underneath multiple layers of rubble. Beast Boy digs her up, and she dies in his arms.

In the epilogue, Beast Boy goes on Kevin Smith's podcast and talks about the Titans with the host. He mentions that the team has a "wonderful new member" and that he will always miss Terra.

In a post-credits scene, Jericho is shown to have survived the bullet Mother Mayhem shot at him earlier.

Batman and Nightwing discover that Poison Ivy and Floronic Man (Jason Woodrue) have teamed up. Much to their reluctance, they decide to look for Harley Quinn (Ivy's best friend and Joker's usual sidekick), to find out where the duo are hiding; however, Harley has gone off the grid since getting paroled. Batman leaves finding Harley to Nightwing, while he gets information from A.R.G.U.S.

At A.R.G.U.S. HQ, Batman learns that Ivy and Woodrue stole the information on Swamp Thing's birth and kidnapped a scientist named Dr. Harold Goldbloom who could help them replicate the process and turn everyone into plant people.

Nightwing finds Harley working as a waitress at a restaurant. Tailing her, Nightwing angers her since she wants to live a normal life, but her past as a super criminal keeps her from getting hired as a psychiatrist. Eventually, the two have an intimate moment with each other with the result being Harley is convinced to help. Batman walks in on the two.

Harley leads them to a popular hangout for henchmen where she gets the location of Ivy from one of her old minions named Shrubby. The trio head to Blüdhaven where Ivy is saddened to see her friend helping Batman. Woodrue fatally wounds Dr. Goldbloom to keep him quiet as he and Ivy escape as their lab catches fire. However, the dying Dr. Goldbloom reveals that the duo are heading to Slaughter Swamp in Louisiana where the correct swamp chemicals are.

Contacting A.R.G.U.S., Batman, Nightwing and Harley head after them to convince Ivy to stop her mad plans, realizing that even the slightest miscalculation could result in the extermination of the human race. Harley resorts to crying to convince Ivy, who is finally swayed by their relationship. Swamp Thing appears, informing Woodrue that he would threaten the Green with his concoction; however, he will not interfere. Batman and Nightwing wonder how to stop Woodrue, until Harley points out he is a plant and asks if they have a match. Grateful, they both give her a kiss on the cheek and just set Woodrue on fire.

In the post-credits scene, Harley has gone back to being Dr. Quinzel. However, she now has a reality game show, where she makes her patients face their fears on an elaborate obstacle course.

In Victorian era Gotham City, Bruce Wayne is operating as the bat-garbed vigilante, the Batman, who is feared by the guilty and the innocent alike.

One night, Batman saves a wealthy couple from being robbed by three orphans (Dickie, Jason and Timmy) and defeats their abusive handler, Big Bill Dust. At the same time, Ivy, an orphan turned exotic dancer and prostitute, becomes the newest victim of the serial killer called Jack the Ripper, who preys on Gotham’s poor and destitute women.

Citizens of Gotham believe the Batman and Jack to be the same man. Stage actress Selina Kyle, a protector of the women from "Skinner's End", berates Gotham Police Commissioner James Gordon and Chief of Police Harvey "Bulldog" Bullock for their failure to stop the Ripper murders. Later that night, Selina acts as bait for the Ripper. It works, but the Ripper gets the upper hand during their fight until the arrival of Batman. After escaping, Batman asks Gordon to help him bring the Ripper down.

At the Monarch Theatre with his friend Harvey Dent, Bruce meets Selina and the two bond at the Dionysus Club. Bruce realizes that not only were the two of them taken in by Sister Leslie, but that some of the murdered girls were orphans formerly under Leslie's care. Bruce realizes that the Ripper will target Leslie and rushes to save her, but is too late; the Ripper has already murdered her. At the crime scene, Bruce finds a bloody Dionysus Club pin, meaning the Ripper has to be one of Gotham's wealthy. At Sister Leslie's funeral, Bruce is met by Hugo Strange, claiming he knows the killer and wants to meet with Batman. Bruce also is met by Marlene, a drunken old woman who claims she saw him sneaking around when Sister Leslie was killed. Bruce's butler Alfred stops the three orphans from pick-pocketing him and offers to provide them work.

At Arkham Asylum, the Ripper attacks Strange and throws him to his own patients, who tear him apart. Batman chases the Ripper on top of an airship in a fight that leaves Batman wounded as the airship explodes and the Ripper escapes. Batman is chased by police, only to be saved by Selina when he is nearly cornered. After seeing Batman is Bruce, she takes him to her home, where they spend the night. After the death of Marlene is discovered, Bruce is arrested, and Dent, jealous of Selina's affection, prosecutes him as the Ripper.

Sentenced to Blackgate Penitentiary following the trial, Bruce is met by Selina, who urges him to reveal he is Batman to clear his name and help save the girls from Jack. When he refuses, she decides to tell Gordon herself, revealing she has one of his batarangs. Bribing a guard to deliver a coded message to his manor, Bruce escapes after staging a prison fight and meets with the orphans, who deliver him his suit and a steampunk motorcycle.

Selina meets with Gordon at the Gotham City World's Fair and learns to her horror that he is the Ripper. While seeking Selina at Gordon's home, Batman learns this as well when he finds a secret room revealing Gordon's gruesome hobbies and past as an army surgeon during the American Civil War. Batman also meets Gordon's wife, Barbara-Eileen Gordon, with scars on the left side of her face that have driven her insane, praising her husband for "curing" her sins as a woman. Gordon injects Selina with a drug, but she manages to use her blood and the Fair's searchlight to give Batman a signal.

Batman arrives and fights Gordon into a Ferris wheel, where Gordon, driven mentally insane by his time in the Civil War, reveals his "holy work" is to rid Gotham from what he sees as filth - from the poor to the criminals, but also immigrants, the illiterate, prostitutes, and anarchists. The Ferris wheel lights on fire and begins to collapse. Selina escapes the burning wheel, while Batman defeats Gordon by using a handcuff trick taught to him by Houdini, only to watch Gordon allow himself to burn alive. Batman and Selina are saved by Alfred and the orphans, who are now Bruce Wayne's wards. As they escape, they watch as the World's Fair burns down, and hope it will be replaced with something better.

Following Ocean Master's defeat at the hands of the Justice League,[N 1] Amanda Waller dispatches Task Force X, consisting of Deadshot, Count Vertigo, and the criminal couple Punch and Jewelee, to recover a flash drive containing leaked intelligence from Tobias Whale. The mission succeeds, but Vertigo and Jewelee betray the team and kill Punch. Having become lovers in jail, they plan to copy the flash drive and sell it. But Waller overhears everything through Deadshot's communicator. Waller detonates Vertigo's head bomb and Deadshot mercy-kills Jewelee when Waller prepares to detonate hers as well.

In Gotham City, Professor Pyg is kidnapped by Scandal Savage and Knockout for a "patient in need of medical attention". Waller discovers that she is diagnosed with a terminal illness and reassembles Task Force X with a new roster: Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Frost, Copperhead, and Bronze Tiger. Their mission: to find a man named Steel Maxum and retrieve a mystical black card emblazoned "Get Out of Hell Free."

Finding Maxum in a male strip club, Task Force X battles Professor Zoom, Silver Banshee, and Blockbuster. The squad escape with Maxum and learn he was Doctor Fate. He explains that the card allows the user to bypass Hell and gain access to Heaven, but it can only be used once. Scandal and Knockout stole the card from the Tower of Fate, which resulted in Maxum being stripped of his title by Nabu.

Upon finding Scandal and Knockout's apartment, the team acquires the card, but they are intercepted by Vandal Savage and his men. Savage retrieves the card and shoots the badly wounded Knockout in the head, despite the pleas of her lover [his daughter], Scandal. As Savage escapes, Zoom places a tracer on his ship. Deadshot visits his estranged daughter Zoe but is forcibly retrieved by Tiger. Next day, Zoom's henchmen kidnap Frost at a gas station. Zoom removes Frost's bomb and convinces her to join him. Zoom lures the Squad into a trap and detonates the bomb. They manage to escape, but Tiger is heavily injured in the blast.

Scandal covertly informs Deadshot of Vandal's location, and the Squad infiltrates his lair but are captured. Savage reveals that he had Pyg surgically implant the card into his chest cavity. Zoom and his henchmen attack and remove the card from Savage's body, killing him. Zoom explains that he was killed by Batman in another timeline, but managed to temporarily delay death by using the Speed Force. Frost double-crosses Zoom, killing Silver Banshee and Blockbuster and stealing the card for ransom. Copperhead fights Frost until Waller detonates his bomb and kills them both. Captain Boomerang attempts to steal the card but is incapacitated by Zoom.

Tiger battles Zoom, but Zoom slices him multiple times with a small dagger. Tiger, dying from blood loss, uses the last of his strength to cut the fingers holding the card from Zoom's hand. Deadshot then kills the now-cardless Zoom, ensuring his fate in Flashpoint, and gives the card to Tiger, who dies and ascends to Heaven. With only Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang remaining alive in his team, Deadshot gives the now-useless card to the unsuspecting Waller before leaving. Having served his time, Deadshot visits Zoe as a free man.

Superman has become a hero to the citizens of Metropolis while infuriating billionaire Lex Luthor, who considers the alien a threat to his city. In an attempt to kidnap the mayor, Intergang - armed with Apokolips technology, including the Mother Box - are foiled by Superman; he and the Justice League send the recovered devices to S.T.A.R. Labs for analysis. In an interview with the Daily Planet's ace reporter Lois Lane, Superman presents the rocket that brought him to Earth from Krypton and its birthing matrix, containing Kryptonian DNA technology to the world. Lois is in a relationship with fellow reporter Clark Kent who, unbeknownst to her, is Superman's alter-ego. Despite meeting his parents Jonathan and Martha, Lois remains apprehensive of Clark's secrecy. His reluctance to reveal his past makes Lois reconsider their relationship.

At S.T.A.R labs, Silas Stone and Dr. John Henry Irons determine Intergang’s devices contain both Apokoliptian and Earth elements, leaving only one suspect with the means to synthesize these technologies: Lex Luthor. Superman confronts Luthor, confined to house arrest, who denies any involvement. Meanwhile, Superman admirer Captain Hank Henshaw leads a team of astronauts aboard the space shuttle Excalibur when a boomtube sends a meteorite hurtling towards the shuttle. As Henshaw waits for Superman's rescue, the shuttle is destroyed, leaving Henshaw's body unaccounted for. The meteorite crashes to the Atlantic Ocean floor, monitored by Luthor's underground research facility. Luthor escapes his house arrest with a decoy and sends a deep sea exploration team to the crash site. They encounter Atlanteans, and both groups are destroyed by a monstrous humanoid that emerges from the wreckage.

The monster reaches the U.S. coastline and murders two campers and a grizzly bear before rampaging against the police. The Justice League arrive and are brutally defeated, but the Martian Manhunter's telepathy reveals the monster to be a living weapon designed to annihilate entire civilizations. As the creature heads for Metropolis, Batman notes their last hope is Superman. Meanwhile, Clark and Lois meet for lunch at a tavern owned by Superman fan Bibbo Bibbowski, where Clark finally reveals himself as Superman to a shocked Lois. The two resolve their differences, and Clark receives the Justice League's distress call. He arrives in time to save Wonder Woman from the monster.

Lois, reporting live by helicopter with her cameraman Jimmy Olsen, dubs the monster "Doomsday" as its fight with Superman rages through Metropolis and reaches the Hall of Justice. A battlesuit-clad Luthor joins the fight against Doomsday, aiming to become Metropolis' "true savior," but is incapacitated and saved by Superman. Realizing the toll the battle has taken on Superman, Lois tries to distract Doomsday. As the beast prepares to kill Lois, Superman hurls himself at Doomsday - he breaks the monster's neck, but is fatally stabbed, and dies in Lois' arms.

Jimmy broadcasts Superman's death across the globe as the world mourns. After a state funeral for the fallen hero, the Kents welcome Lois into their family. Jimmy brings Lois to Superman's mausoleum where they find his coffin open and witness a figure resembling Superman fly away. At S.T.A.R. Labs, an exonerated Luthor tries to gain custody of Doomsday's corpse for Project Cadmus before Superman's rocket self-starts and flies off.

Four mysterious figures are introduced: First, as numerous failed Superman clones are destroyed at Cadmus, the sole surviving prototype escapes. Second, Dr. Irons forges Superman's symbolonto a suit of armor. Third, a Superman-like figure watches as Superman's rocket buries itself under the North Pole and terraforms the Fortress of Solitude. Lastly, high above the Earth, a cyborgresembling Superman arrives.

Six months following Superman's death and sacrifice to defeat Doomsday, with the film starting with the Man of Steel's ripped cape, the world has been introduced to four new, different versions of the hero: Superboy, Steel, Cyborg Superman, and the Eradicator. Each one of them is different in their personalities and crime-fighting style compared to the original Man of Steel; leaving the world questioning which one, if any, is the true Superman come back to life. Lois Lane, still reeling from Clark's death, decides to investigate.

Lex Luthor holds a press conference introducing Superboy as the true Superman, sponsored and bankrolled by LexCorp. Lois attends the conference, along with Steel, and sneaks inside one of the labs inside LexCorp. It is there that Lois discovers through scientist Dabney Donovan that Superboy is a clone of Superman. Suddenly, the conference is attacked by the Eradicator, who seeks to "eradicate" Luthor. Superboy and later Steeltry to stop him, only to be defeated until the timely arrival of Cyborg Superman, who fights and drives away Eradicator; making him come across as the real Superman to many and angering Luthor. Lois writes an expose revealing Superboy to be a clone and asking if all of the Supermen are fakes. This leads to a meeting between her and Cyborg Superman, telling him she knows he isn't the Superman she knew and loved.

Luthor, angry that Superboy wasn't declared the true Superman, forces Superboy to be security detail for the President of the United States. Superboy soon butts heads with the Justice League as the President arrives to launch the new Justice League Watchtower. Then, a boom tubeopens and Parademons terrorize the event. Superboy is defeated, and the Justice League hold their own while Cyborg Superman saves the President. Then the boom tube collapses and falls onto the League, appearing to have killed all of them. With Cyborg Superman declared the "real" Superman, Luthor angrily reveals Superboy's a clone of Superman and himself; killing Donovan out of frustration. While Cyborg Superman visits the grave of Terri Henshaw, he gets a message from Darkseid to begin. Lois and Irons learn of this visit, and discover that Cyborg Superman is really Hank Henshaw.

Cyborg Superman announces to the world his plans for a new Justice League; a Cyber Corps, composed of regular people that he grants superpowers. Everyone agrees, and while it has good results at first, many become drones in the process, losing their humanity. Lois recognizes the technology as Apokoliptian and questions Luthor's involvement, as he's stolen the technology before. Steel confronts Intergang, Luthor's buyers of the tech, only to discover that they have been attacked by the Eradicator. Steel follows the weapons' signal to the Fortress of Solitude while Lois breaks into Luthor's penthouse and meets Superboy once again. Steel and the Eradicator fight while Lois and Superboy, and later Luthor, get a video call from the fight. Lois discovers the Eradicator is technology that protects Kryptonians, and realizes that the real Superman is inside the Fortress. Soon, Superman is revived and stops the fight. At the same time, Lois and Luthor see a broadcast from inside Cyborg Superman's mind, revealing Darkseid and his plans to invade, and that he orchestrated the deaths of both Superman and the Justice League in response to the failure of his previous attempt. Lois and Luthor form a plan just as Superman, Steel, and Superboy head to Metropolis.

Cyborg Superman begins the invasion, using the Cyber Corps to open a giant boom tube over Metropolis as Lois heads inside the Watchtower and reveals to Cyborg Superman that she knows who he really is. When the Watchtower reveals the real Superman heading towards him, Henshaw betrays Darkseid and closes the boom tube, stopping the invasion, so he can personally kill Superman and take his revenge against him. He orders the drones to attack Metropolis, just as Superman arrives and the fight begins. The battle is one-sided though, as Superman isn't at full strength yet, and Cyborg Superman reveals he blames Superman for not being there to save him and his wife from the Excalibur space shuttle disaster. Luthor uses the Mother Box to free the Justice League, who were actually imprisoned in another dimension, to help Steel and Superboy defeat the drones. Cyborg Superman launches the Watchtower into orbit, in the hopes of murdering Lois and Superman in space. With Superman nearly defeated, Lois opens the Watchtower's windows so the sun's yellow rays shine on Superman, bringing him back to full power and allowing him to defeat and kill Cyborg Superman with help from his "wild card", the Eradicator. With Cyborg Superman dead, the battle ends when the drones are deactivated, although all of the people who were turned into drones die in the process.

Weeks later, Clark Kent is revealed to be alive (with the cover story of having been stranded off grid during the Doomsday attack), and the real Superman, donning a new suit, is welcomed back to the world with open arms. Clark later tells Lois that Superboy, with the new name Conner, now lives with his parents Jonathan and Martha Kent.

In a post-credits scene, the Justice League meet up at the Watchtower and agree to end the war with Darkseid by going to Apokolips. Luthor agrees, revealing that the Justice League have (reluctantly) invited him to join as their newest member.