2008 Comic Debuts

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds is a five-issue 2008 limited series produced by DC Comics. The series is a tie-in to Final Crisis. It is scripted by Geoff Johns, and drawn by George Pérez.

The story features Superman and the post-Infinite Crisis version of the Legion of Super-Heroes teaming up with their post-Zero Hour and “Threeboot” counterparts to battle the Time Trapper and a new incarnation of the Legion of Super-Villains led by Superboy-Prime.

Foreshadowing

The term “Legion of 3 Worlds” was previously used by Superman during “The Lightning Saga” crossover. Superman used the term to describe “one of the Legion’s greatest adventures.” He stated that the full story of this event went undocumented because none of the Legionnaires remembered exactly what had occurred. Brainiac 5 later mentions that the adventure involved the Tornado Twins. The Legionnaire Star Boy (currently a present-day member of the Justice Society of America under the name Starman) alludes to this encounter, saying that he met “another Thom and another Thom”, and briefly mentions the Post-Zero Hour speedster XS, stating that she harbored a crush on Superman.

Geoff Johns revealed in an interview that XS will be appearing in Legion of the 3 Worlds and made it clear that this series, and The Flash: Rebirth mini-series, which he is writing with Ethan Van Sciver on art duties, will pick up threads left hanging in the Lightning Saga crossover, saying “Obviously, one of the big things in ‘Lightning Saga’ that we still haven’t addressed is the lightning rod and what that’s all about. That will be a central focus of the series.”

In Action Comics #864, Batman references the appearances of the different Legions in the present (the original pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths team, the post-Zero Hour incarnation, and the “Threeboot” version,), and believes that the future is always changing.

Story

The Time Trapper retrieves a lost Superboy-Prime, still spiraling uncontrollably through space and time. The Trapper sends him to the 31st Century, where the original Legion of Super-Heroes are recovering from recent events. Superboy-Prime lands on Earth in Smallville where he discovers the Superman Museum and learns, much to his dismay, that he has had very little impact on history. He then discovers a statue of himself wearing a replica of the armor he wore during the events of Infinite Crisis, which he dons himself, before learning the history of the Legion of Super-Villains and formulating a plan. Prime flies to Takron-Galtos and releases members of the Legion of Super-Villains and other prisoners before destroying the entire planet and burning a giant “S” into its surface.

The Legion of Super-Heroes contacts Superman in the present and brings him to the future to aid them against the villains. When Brainiac 5 learns that their new foe is from another universe, he suggests contacting Legions from two parallel worlds in order to fight Superboy-Prime. Superman suggests that the only way to stop Superboy-Prime is to redeem him.

Meanwhile, the White Witch sees visions of alternate Legions while she is held captive by Mordru on Zerox. Her visions are interrupted by the Time Trapper just as Blok, Wildfire, Dawnstar and Rond Vidar (the sole surviving Green Lantern) arrive to rescue her. The Legionnaires battle Mordru, only to be interrupted by Superboy-Prime, who has recruited every other Legion foe into a massive Legion of Super-Villains (armed with flight rings burned with an “S”). Back at Legion headquarters, Lightning Lad is dismayed at the idea of redeeming a mass murderer like Prime, even suggesting they break Legion code to kill him. He and Cosmic Boy argue, with Cosmic Boy revealing that he took on the leadership of the Legion to give everyone but him a chance to have a life outside the team. This argument comes to a conclusion when the White Witch opens a stargate from Zerox to Legion Headquarters. Rond Vidar forces the Legionnaires through the stargate, remaining behind to buy them time to escape. Rond manages to kill Lazon, but is subdued by the telepathic powers of Saturn Queen and captured by Superboy-Prime. With Rond’s father Universo in agreement, Superboy-Prime kills Rond, whose power ring returns to Oa (despite an attempt by Universo to recover it).

Cosmic King offers Mordru a ring as Earth Man points out that as much as the various villains dislike each other, they all want the Legion dead. As Superman leads the Legion to battle Prime’s forces, Brainiac 5 leads a team to the Justice League’s old headquarters, finding an artifact that allows them to bring together the two other versions of the Legion using White Witch’s sorcery. Upon the arrival of the other Legions, the three incarnations of Brainiac 5 begin arguing over who is in charge. During this time, on instructions from Brainiac 5, Mon-El and Shadow Lass bring Rond Vidar’s body to the ruins of Oa where they find Sodom Yat, who identifies himself as the last Guardian of the Universe.

Yat cremates Rond and initially refuses to aid the Legion, citing apathy after a millenium of watching those he cares about die. Mon-El, drawing parallels to his own 1000 year imprisonment in the Phantom Zone, convinces Yat to join the fight against Superboy-Prime and the Legion of Super-Villains. Yat gathers some of the rings of fallen Green Lanterns and recharges them with a new oath, vowing to reestablish the Green Lantern Corps after this battle. On Earth, the Legion is battling Superboy-Prime’s forces in Metropolis. Superman attempts to convince Superboy-Prime to end the attack by recalling to him details of his pre-Crisis life on Earth-Prime, but is rebuffed and injured. Earth Man’s forces attack the United Planets building where the second Karate Kid, Myg of Lythyl, fends them off briefly only to be incinerated by Radiation Roy. Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl quickly enter to fight them off while Mordu calls upon shadow beings to attack both the Legion and civilians, searching for the White Witch.

The tide turns when the other two Legions enter the battle and help fight against the Legion of Super-Villains. Meanwhile, in the 20th century, Polar Boy, Wildfire and Dawnstar head to Smallville to steal a hair from a young Lex Luthor as part of Brainiac 5’s plan. At Legion headquarters, the various versions of Garth and Ayla Ranzz get together as the older Brainiac 5 uses the lightning rod (empowered in The Lightning Saga storyline) to enable Live Wire, (trapped in the crystalline body of Element Lad after the events of Legion Lost), to transmute himself back to his original body. The older Brainiac 5 then reveals that XS is from their Earth and that all three Legions met in an earlier adventure that no one besides the older Brainiac 5 remembers clearly. During these events, Superboy-Prime kills the “Threeboot” Legion’s Sun Boy, causing physical pain to the original Sun Boy, who had remained outside the battle.

While Superboy-Prime attempts to breach the force fields protecting Legion Headquarters, XS runs on a Cosmic Treadmill, assisted by the various incarnations of the Ranzz twins, and hears something in the Speed Force. Superboy-Prime breaks through the force fields and into the lab, but is too late to prevent Bart Allen’s return from the Speed Force.

In the 21st century, Starman, working as a caretaker, digs up a grave with the name “Kent”. In the 31st century, the Legion continues to battle the villians while Bart Allen pounds Superboy-Prime. Brainiac 5 explains that the team of Legionnaires recently sent back in time used the lightning rod to “bottle up” Bart’s essence before his death at the hands of the Rogues. Brainiac 5 says that Dream Girl foresaw Superboy-Prime destroying Earth in a massive Crisis but vanished before she could give more details.

Kid Flash knocks Superboy-Prime back into the battle when Superman and the original Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy are pulled through a portal to the end of time where they face the Time Trapper who intends to kill the four of them. Kinetix attacks Superboy-Prime, who promptly kills her when her magic has no effect. Seeing the news reports of the battle and the casualties, the original Sun Boy grabs his flight ring while Mordru absorbs Kinetix’s life force and magical knowledge.

The “Threeboot” Element Lad turns the ground into kryptonite. Superboy-Prime laughs before he suddenly convulses in pain and promptly kills the “Threeboot” Element Lad by throwing a kryptonite rock right through him. Cosmic King then turns the kryptonite inside Superboy-Prime into yellow sunlight. Mordu warns Superboy-Prime of a vision of the future showing the Legion of Super-Heroes victorious and Prime heads to the North Pole to cut them off.

At the Fortress of Solitude, the three Brainiacs meet Polar Boy, Dawnstar and Wildfire with a strand of Lex Luthor’s hair. The original Brainiac 5 then puts the hair inside a Kryptonian chrysalis. However, Superboy-Prime attacks, knocking all three Brainiacs out. Polar Boy fights Prime and his ice hand is cut of when the original Sun Boy arrives to help. Wildfire uses his energies to fuel the chrysalis and resurrects Conner Kent, a.k.a Superboy, who then confronts Superboy-Prime.

Superboy and Superboy-Prime clash with the rest of the Legions joining in. At the end of time, Superman and the three founding Legionnaires attack the Time Trapper, tearing off his hood, only to realise that the Time Trapper is an aged Superboy-Prime, who claims the three heroic Legions will all lose.

Collected editions

The series will be collected into a single volume:

• Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (168 pages, hardcover, August 2009, ISBN 1401223249)