Surprising Moments From The ‘Injustice’ Series

When outing Batman’s identity to the world doesn’t dissuade the Dark Knight from opposing his Regime, Superman tries a more direct method in Injustice: Gods Among Us #12: Breaking into the Batcave and then breaking Bruce Wayne’s back in an attempt to stop him from deciphering the formula behind Lex Luthor’s Super-Pills. Kal-El even goes as far as to torture his old friend for the location of the data - and that’s about all Alfred Pennyworth can take.

Batman’s faithful butler takes one of the prototype Super-Pills - which temporarily grants one strength on par with a Kryptonian - and proceeds to lay a whooping on the Man of Steel. Alfred crushes Superman’s nose with a vicious headbutt, buries him under a flurry of punches, and delivers a scathing tongue-lashing before leaving the would-be dictator in a bloody heap and taking Wayne away for medical treatment.

The very nature of the Injustice series means that countless characters meet their demise in grisly fashion, but the end of Dick Grayson - the former Robin now going by Nightwing - in Injustice: Gods Among Us #6 is shocking for its sheer mundanity. Once factions start to form on either side of the newly despotic Superman, Grayson obviously finds himself on Team Batman, whereas Damian Wayne, son of Bruce and the current Robin, sides with the Man of Steel.

The two sidekicks argue over their views, and Damian reacts angrily, hurling an escrima stick that catches Grayson unaware and knocks him unconscious. Grayson then stumbles backward and breaks his neck on an awkwardly placed rock, ending him instantly and unceremoniously. The incident serves to further the divide between Superman’s Regime and Batman’s Insurgency and results in Bruce Wayne disowning his son.

Few comic book storylines - if any - open up as dramatically as Injustice: Gods Among Us #1. That issue features The Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapping a pregnant Lois Lane and fleeing with her in a submarine - but when Superman arrives to save the day, he finds none other than Doomsday threatening his wife and unborn child. Reacting quickly, the Man of Steel flies his opponent into orbit, only to discover all too late that it’s actually Lane, not Doomsday, he’s taken to space, resulting in her demise.

Also coming too late is Batman’s deduction of what has happened: that The Joker has synthesized a combination of Kryptonite and the Scarecrow’s fear toxin and dosed Superman with it, causing his tragic delusion. As the pièce de résistance, Joker reveals that he rigged a nuclear device in the middle of Metropolis to explode as soon as Lois’s heart stops - meaning that Clark Kent loses his wife, his unborn child, and his home city in one horrific moment. 

Sinestro sees the rise of Superman’s One Earth Regime as an opportunity, and he quickly offers the dictatorial Man of Steel his allegiance. He combines his Sinestro Corps with the forces of the Regime to tighten Superman’s iron grip on the planet - but before he does so, he takes a few steps to ensure that no one can oppose their power in Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Two #1.

Sinestro and his Corps ambush Kyle Rayner, one of Earth’s many Green Lanterns, in space, where they dispatch of him in a brutal manner. After Sinestro slices off the finger on which Rayner wears his Power Ring, several members of the Corps lash energy constructs around his arms and legs. Then they literally rip him limb-from-limb.

Though The Joker perishes early on in the Injustice storyline, his long-time lover Harley Quinn lives on, and she becomes a central character in the saga. Not only does Harleen Quinzel prove invaluable to Batman’s Insurgency, she also benefits from some serious character development when she reveals the existence of Lucy - a daughter that Quinn has kept hidden from her father, The Joker, all these years.

Lucy Quinzel lives with Harley’s sister, Delia, though she enters the saga during the events of Injustice 2, where she’s kidnapped by the League of Assassins and has to be rescued by her mother. Quinn’s love for her daughter - and her surprisingly rational decision to hide Lucy from The Joker - goes a long way toward humanizing her and explains her dedication to fighting Superman and his Regime. 

The events of Injustice see Hal Jordan betray his oath to the Green Lantern Corps in several ways - first by aligning himself with Superman, then by buddying up with Sinestro, and even going so far as to don a Yellow Power Ring. Jordan battles alongside the Regime when Ganthet and the Guardians lead an army of Lanterns against Earth. But his ultimate betrayal comes in Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Two #12.

Guy Gardner clashes in a mid-air battle with Jordan, but the fieriest Green Lantern is more interested in appealing to Jordan’s heroic nature than fighting. Ignoring Guy’s uncharacteristically wise words, Hal instead listens to Sinestro’s calls for violence, ripping off Gardner’s arm and sending him terminally plummeting to the ground.