Epoch the Lord of Time warns the Justice League about the threat posed by the Gold Lantern of the Legion of Super-Heroes. It’s not long before the two teams meet in a time-hopping adventure with the imposing threat of the Great Darkness looming over them all. Will the two teams be able to stop fighting each other long enough to realise who their true foe really is?
Minor Crossover: This six-part crossover event is preceded by a one-shot prelude annual.
Must-Reads: Issues marked with a ✔are essential to the story.
Character Debuts: Despite much of pre-Flashpoint history now becoming the history of Earth-0/Earth-Prime, pre-Flashpoint characters who appear in this story despite not having been seen since before Flashpoint, are still considered to be making their debut appearance.
Spoilers: The issue descriptions and fallout section contain spoilers, so be warned!
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- THE GREAT DARKNESS SAGA – The original LOSH vs Great Darkness event
- THE HOUSE OF EL – Debut of the Gold Lantern; Jon Kent joins the Legion
- MILLENNIUM – Rose Forrest works with the Legion of Super-Heroes
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- ✔ Justice League 2022 Annual
- ✔ Justice League vs the Legion of Super-Heroes #1-6
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Justice League 2022 Annual Wonder Woman returns to the Justice League. OMAC’s arrival in the present signals a number of other time anomalies. The League split up and investigate, all encountering variations of Epoch the Lord of Time who’s stranded in several moments of time all at once. He casts Hawkgirl into the future, only for her to return and send him back to the year 3786. Before he disappears, he warns Batman to find and destroy the Gold Lantern… |
| ✔ | Justice League vs the Legion of Super-Heroes #1 In the 31st Century, the Legion of Super-Heroes sense the coming of the Great Darkness. When one third of Triplicate Girl shows up in the 21st Century – now aged considerably – Legion & League member Superman (Jon Kent) travels to the future to bring some of the Legion to our present. But a sudden flash of darkness leaves the Legion’s Gold Lantern (Kala Lour) all alone in the Hall of Justice… |
| ✔ | Justice League vs the Legion of Super-Heroes #2 The Gold Lantern finds a dark anomaly outside the Hall of Justice. The League and the Legion were thrown back to the 31st Century where another anomaly appears. Black Adam fires lightning through it which almost hits Kala Lour in the 21st Century. |
| ✔ | Justice League vs the Legion of Super-Heroes #3 Batman and Computo discern Epoch was the last temporal criminal to traverse their eras – the man who warned the Justice League that they need to destroy the Gold Lantern. The Great Darkness makes the two teams vanish again – leaving Batman and Chameleon Boy. Powerhouse, Brainiac 5 and Mon-El arrive in Kamandi’s timeline. Saturn Girl’s crew land in Batman Beyond’s era. Aquaman and Ultra Boy land in prehistoric times. The Gold Lantern finds himself in 1930s Metropolis… |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Justice League vs the Legion of Super-Heroes #4 In the 31st Century, Rose Forrest reunites with Batman (having already allied with the Legion during MILLENNIUM, 2016) and warns that Earth must be evacuated. Gold Lantern meets the original Green Lantern (Alan Scott) in the 1930s. Computo taps into the flight rings and transports everyone to the 21st Century, but some Leaguers and Legionnaires are older and some are younger than they previously were. And the sky is completely dark… |
| ✔ | Justice League vs the Legion of Super-Heroes #5 Batman demands that Kala Lour hand over his Gold Lantern Ring. The Legion of Doom’s headquarters falls through the darkness portal. Rose thinks someone is trying to destroy the Age of Heroes. Triplicate Girl sees a vision of Vandal Savage. The Great Darkness takes the League and Legion again. And Vandal Savage reveals it was his plan all along… |
| ✔ | Justice League vs Legion of Super-Heroes #6 In the Old West, Vandal Savage is keeping Batman prisoner and breaks Jonah Hex’s neck. But it’s a trick… he’s actually inside the Gold Lantern Ring and it’s all an illusion. The Legion and League have already fixed the Great Darkness problem. The Elders of Oa sentence Savage to be exiled from existence, so he retaliates with a Darkness Ring. The Oans remove Vandal Savage and his ring. They assign Gold Lantern to build the Gold Lantern Corps. The Legion declare an end to travelling through time and send the League home. In the past, Jonah Hex finds Vandal Savage tied to a tree and, not recognising him, frees Savage… |
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event/ Crossover |
| Nubia and the Amazons #5 (2022) Hippolyta departs the Justice League to return to Themyscira and the Amazons. | TRIAL OF THE AMAZONS | |
| ✔ | Justice League #75 (2022) The Justice League are killed in a climactic battle with the Great Darkness. | ROAD TO DARK CRISIS |
| ✔ | Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #4 Pariah is revealed to have corrupted the Great Darkness for his own intentions. | DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS |
| Collected Edition Title | Collects… |
| Justice League: Leagues of Chaos | Justice League #72-74 Justice League 2022 Annual |
| Justice League vs the Legion of Super-Heroes | Justice League vs the Legion of Super-Heroes #1-6 |
Reading Order © Omniverse Comics Guide, 2024
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