Hey Match-heads, Shag here! Today our good friend Tim Wallace continues his monthly coverage of DC’s weekly event, The New 52: Futures End! If you missed the first installment, click here! Warning, Tim’s entries contain SPOILERS for the related issues of The New 52: Futures End. Consider yourself warned! Be sure to follow Tim’s regular work over on his exceptional site, Kord Industries: A Blue Beetle Blog! Get all your Ted Kord, Jaime Reyes, and Dan Garrett goodness there! You can also stalk Tim on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. And now, let’s turn it over to Tim…
“For those who came in late…” 35 years into the future Brother Eye, a sentient computer created by Batman and Mr. Terrific, has taken over the world and cyber-converted most of the superheroes into robo-bugs. Doc Brown sends Marty back to the…sorry…Bruce Wayne sends Terry McGinnis back in time to stop this, but Terry ends up 5 years into our future…and things are already going south!
The New 52: Futures End #04
Five years from now the ANT FARM, S.H.A.D.E.’s mobile marble sized base flies high above Tokyo. It seems no one deactivated former agent Frankenstein’s password either, because he teleports in still holding a grudge from the polar bear attack. Father Time, S.H.A.D.E.’s Hit Girl looking leader, lets Frank know they were counting on him showing up. They need him for a mission. It seems they’re planning to send Frankenstein, Amethyst, and Ray Palmer through the Phantom Zone on a mission to rescue Stormwatch.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Cal Corcoran (the owner/bartender of the “Wounded Duck”) is out for a jog with a lady friend, Madison Payne. She’s trying to get to know him a little better and we learn in conversation that he used to live in Gotham, has no criminal record, and no friends or family to lead him back home. Oh, and the image of Batman Beyond on a giant Times Square screen completely spoils his mood! Something Lois Lane, who’s been trailing them, notices. Three criminals meet on the docks…Plastique, the Key, and Coil. Sounds like the set up for a joke, but it’s not. Someone wants to hire them to break into TerrifiTech and is offering enough money to set them up for life!
And across the river, over in New Jersey, Grifter is busy shooting up a community center. Can’t have aliens and daemonites hanging around playing BINGO, can we? He gets a mysterious phone call as he leaves from someone who knows an awful lot about him. His real name. His mission. His location. It’s King Faraday, who proceeds to shoot Grifter in the back. As sirens approach, Faraday offers that the damage to Grifter’s spine can be fixed, if he comes around to Faraday’s side.
The New 52: Futures End #05
In the heart of New York City, Mr. Terrific is about to have a press conference for his latest product launch…and everyone is watching! Both Batmen (though not together), Lois Lane, Cal the bartender, Cyborg, the Key and Coil…most of the players we’ve seen in this book. What’s Terrific selling? The uSphere, a device that promises to not only act as our phone, gps, computer and “brain back-up”, but also will unlock our infinite possibilities. You know that old saying…if it’s too good to be true it probably is? In Sutters Cove, Maryland King Faraday offers to heal Grifter’s paralysis (brought on by Faraday’s bullet) if he accepts a job offer. At the same time on Cadmus Island several OMACs are pursuing a woman codenamed “Fury”…and get destroyed for their effort. Fury keeps running until she finds a little girl. The girl seems to know who Fury is, judging by the way she calls her an “Apokoliptian half-breed” (wait, that sounds like the “Fury” in “Earth 2”, hmmm)…before dropping the woman with what appears to be a blast of heat vision. Back in New York, Firestorm is returning from a party at the Playboy Mansion. This is one of the rare moments since the series started that Ronnie actually seems to be enjoying himself. Sadly Jason is not! He’s still trapped inside the matrix and giving Ronnie the silent treatment. When they finally separate we learn that Ronnie has kept Jason prisoner for 3 weeks! They argue about the last few weeks, about the price they’ve paid, about betrayal…and then we finally learn why Ronnie has been reluctant to play hero. “Someone with the power of Firestorm…should’ve been around to save his own mother.” Damn! Maybe it’s because I lost my own mom a little over a year ago…but that was a powerful moment! They part ways swearing that due to their lack of trust, among other things, they will never become Firestorm again. (Anyone want to bet how long that lasts?)
Jason meets up with Dr. Yamazake who’s working on developing teleporter technology. The issue continues with something that puts me in mind of the “X-Files”…Constantine standing in a corn field investigating 9 charred skeletons, and 3 crop circles. From above, the circles look to me like something we’ve seen before…the symbol usually associated with Brainiac!
The New 52: Futures End #06
Plastique, the Key, and Coil meet near TerrifiTech to hatch their plan to break in. Nearby a homeless man watches them. We learn based on the A.L.F.R.E.D. word balloon and the shopping cart full of Brother Eye “bug” parts that this is really Terry McGinnis…also scouting out TerrifiTech. But wait, there’s more. While watching the villainous trio, Terry himself is being watched by Mr. Terrific!
And at the very same time, 100 miles above the city, in S.H.A.D.E.’s mobile base, Frankenstein, Amethyst and Ray Palmer prepare to board Ray’s specially designed ship, the Nan-Knight, to travel into the Phantom Zone. Once there though they’re quickly attacked by prisoners…Kryptonians, Parademons, Black Adam! Back on Earth, Ronnie tries hitting on Madison at the “Wounded Duck”, and gets hit and then tossed out by Cal. And that’s when Lois Lane confronts Cal with her theory that he is/was Red Robin “Teen Titan and partner to Batman”.
Lois is asked to leave, a bit nicer than Ronnie was, but the revelation has Madison asking more questions. As Lois leaves she’s watched by a shady figure in a nearby alley. King Faraday is interested in finding out what she knows and who gave her the info. When Faraday alerts the mystery man (or woman) on the other end of his earpiece that he’s moving in on Lois, he’s quickly stopped by the masked Superman. “Ms. Lane is off-limits.” Reluctantly Faraday backs down, but he assures us, if he doesn’t take her…she’ll come to him…eventually.
The New 52: Futures End #07
Black Adam is pissed! He wants the crew of the Nan-Knight to take him back to Earth so he can get revenge on Superman for imprisoning him in the Phantom Zone. Frankenstein tells Amethyst and Ray that he’ll hold off the villain while they escape, and fights to keep Black Adam back.
He loses an arm, but manages to make it through the portal opened by Ray Palmer…in time to see the wreckage of the Carrier, and the lifeless bodies of Stormwatch floating in space. Lois is looking at the contents of the mystery box that led her to the “Wounded Duck”, still unclear what the arrowhead and green pyramid are, when Madison Payne stops by for a visit. Madison wants to know why Lois thinks Cal is one of the Teen Titans. They died during the “War” (same one that took Ronnie’s mom I’m guessing). Lois asks why Madison isn’t just asking Cal directly. She then adds that she recognizes Madison from the trial of her father, Maxwell Payne, and apologizes if anything she reported hurt the family. After getting in a dig about reporters being jackals, Madison promptly leaves. At Columbia University, Dr, Yamazake and Jason discuss the benefits of transporter technology, and how it could have saved lives during the “War” (two mentions in one issue…I have a feeling this is important!).The doctor suggests that they could use the help of Jason’s friend Ronnie…too bad they aren’t friends anymore. For his part, Ronnie is visiting the “Battle of Pittsburgh Memorial”, and finding his mother’s name etched in the marble apologizes for not being able to save her.
On Cadmus Island Deathstroke is sparring and chatting with the weird little girl that took down Fury. Slade Wilson questions the addition of the currently paralyzed Grifter to the team, and the girl seems jealous…she thought she and Deathstroke were a team. “I don’t do rejection”, she says. Apparently this is all Faraday’s call. Meanwhile, in the island’s medical facility, Grifter is up and walking again, as a man in a suit explains they’ve chosen him for his skills and that until Deathstroke calls for him he’s free to roam the island. “Do not get the girl worked up. It never ends well.” Speak of the devil, and she appears! The little girl appears and introduces herself. “Fifty Sue. That’s my name. Laugh and die.” Back in New York, Mr. Terrific approaches the homeless disguised Terry McGinnis, and a fight ensues. Batman Beyond gets away, but not with his shopping cart full of robo-bug parts…and not just any robo-bug, either…it’s the Brother Eye infected form of the nearby Plastique!
Shag here again – That’s it for this month! Thanks again to Tim for this fantastic coverage! Next month Tim will return with further coverage of, The New 52: Futures End! Let us know what you think of this weekly series in the comments.
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Congratulations on being cast as Ronnie Raymond in the upcoming CW show,
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