The Our Worlds at War was a cosmic conflict between the universe and the cosmic entity known as Imperiex, who attacked Earth for the purpose of using the planet as the staging ground for the "hollowing" of the entire universe.
History
Imperiex, an embodiment of entropy, detected 'imperfections' in the fabric of the universe, and his ultimate plan is to destroy it and create a new, perfect universe. He heads to Earth, the planet which holds the universe together after being the center of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, in order to destroy it and thereby induce a new Big Bang. Imperiex's early threat was noticed after attacking and destroying Warworld while heading towards Earth. This forced Earth's superheroes to make an unlikely alliance with Darkseid. The war culminated with the sacrifice of Strange Visitor, which allowed Earth's forces to crack Imperiex's armor, intending that Darkseid would subsequently use Boom Tube technology to transfer Imperiex's energy back to the galaxies that he had destroyed. However, Brainiac 13 with Warworld interfered and absorbed Imperiex's energies, vowing to use them to rule everything.
In a desperate gambit, Earth's forces used the combined efforts of Tempest, empowered by the faith and strength of the Amazons, into focusing the energy through Steel's new 'Entropy Aegis' armor (which was created from a burned-out Imperiex probe), and, with Lex Luthor activating a temporal displacement weapon, Superman subsequently push Warworld through a temporal boom tube. Which sent both Imperiex's and Brainiac 13's consciousness back to the time of the Big Bang, where they are destroyed. In his final moments, Imperiex realized, in an ironic twist, that the imperfection he had detected in the universe was himself.
Issues
Prelude to War
- Superman (Volume 2) #171
- Green Lantern: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
- Adventures of Superman #593
- Batman: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
- Superman: The Man of Steel #115
- Superboy (Volume 4) #89
- Young Justice: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
- Action Comics #780
- Supergirl (Volume 4) #59
- Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #171
- Superman: Our Worlds at War Secret Files and Origins #1 (one-shot)
All-Out War
- Superman (Volume 2) #172
- Young Justice #35
- JLA: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
- Adventures of Superman #594
- Nightwing: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
- Superman: The Man of Steel #116
- Superboy (Volume 4) #90
- Action Comics #781
- JSA: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
- Batman #593
- Supergirl (Volume 4) #60
- Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #172
- Wonder Woman: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
Casualties of War
- Superman (Volume 2) #173
- Young Justice #36
- Adventures of Superman #595
- The Flash: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
- Impulse #77
- Harley Quinn: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
- Superman: The Man of Steel #117
- Superboy (Volume 4) #91
- Action Comics #782
- Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #173
- Supergirl (Volume 4) #61
- Batman #594
- World's Finest: Our Worlds at War #1 (one-shot)
- Superman/Batman #68
- Superman/Batman #69
- Superman/Batman #70
- Superman/Batman #71
Trivia
- "Our Worlds at War" came to a close just weeks before the attacks of September 11, 2001. In a sobering occurrence of synchronicity, Adventures of Superman #596 was released one day after the attack, featuring the image of Lex Luthor's twin LexTowers heavily damaged by alien attacks on the issue's second page. The book's writer, Joe Casey, could not have intentionally referenced the attacks on the World Trade Center, as the story was written well before September, but DC acknowledged that it mirrored the devastation so vividly that they made the books returnable without penalty to retailers.
Links and References
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