The sunlight vanished. Day turned into night. Black and white flipped.
Crack! From the sky, a giant black lantern dropped—that was the Black Lantern. Water from the River Styx, soil from the underworld, the purest black in the world. Kaitou Kid even suspected this thing was darker than a black hole, capable of devouring all light. Around the lantern, a dark aura spread, impossible to look at directly.
All the superheroes gathered and stared at the massive lantern, shocked. That deep, soul-crushing black made everyone feel suffocated. And then, in the darkness, they saw something even darker—a figure wielding a death scythe, standing out clearly even in the black void.
The black within the black, a twisted black singularity—Nekron.
Flesh turned inside out. Dry, rotting limbs. Hollow eye sockets. Even his chest couldn't cover up his exposed organs. This was the leader of the Black Lantern Corps.
"Looks like the real boss just showed up," Tony muttered, itching for a fight. In his mind, once the final boss appeared, there was nothing left to fear—just take him out. "Let's end this properly."
He combined his twin repulsor blasts and fired a white beam straight at Nekron.
Tony's sudden attack came so quickly, no one had time to stop him. So they watched, to see what this death god could really do.
Black light.
From Nekron's eyes shot out beams of blackness. "Tony Stark of Earth~!" His voice rasped, terrifying, cold, and bone-chilling—it was the voice of death itself.
Just by saying his name, Tony felt like half his soul got ripped out. His chest went hollow, his heart empty. His attack vanished into the darkness, completely absorbed.
"What the hell?!" Tony snapped back to himself, covered in sweat. He hadn't expected Nekron to be this… unscientific.
"Nekron is death itself," Green Lantern Hal shouted. "His power makes people lose their courage. You won't even want to fight!"
"What now?" Hawkeye asked. This battle had gone way beyond anything a regular person could process. He honestly didn't know how long he could keep going.
"We have to destroy that giant Black Lantern behind him," Hal said. "That's their power source."
"How do we destroy it?"
"No idea!" Hal admitted.
Floating in mid-air, Superman watched the rear of the Black Lantern Corps start to surge again. "Get ready, they're coming again. Kid, come with me—we're going to destroy the Black Lantern." He picked Kaitou Kid because among everyone he knew, Kid was the strongest.
"Got it."
But Iron Man wasn't thrilled about Superman hogging the spotlight. "You might want to bring more backup. I'm not sure you two alone can pull it off."
"If you're willing, you can send your Iron Legion to help us punch through," Kid replied with a grin. Getting near that lantern definitely wasn't a fun job, and this was his first time facing a power he didn't understand. Who knew what could happen?
"Relax. I've packed enough firepower. Watch this." Tony knew this wasn't the time for ego. Nekron was anti-life itself—if they didn't take him down, everyone was screwed.
"Iron Man, I've got your back," Hal said. As he spoke, armor formed around him, almost identical to Iron Man's—only his was made of glowing green energy.
Tony glanced at Hal and quipped, "Pretty sure you owe me a patent fee. And for the record, I hate your color scheme."
"I think green's great," Hal replied with a smile.
"They're coming!" Batman growled. He crouched low, hands already gripping his explosive Batarangs. He'd prepped a lot of firepower.
Spider-Man, Ben, and Kailan Elwen stood in a corner. During the first wave, the three of them had held off over 100 Black Lanterns. More accurately, they'd stalled them—since those 100 Black Lanterns just kept coming back to life, and the three young heroes were hanging on by a thread.
Spider-Man managed to web up a few enemies, but he was burning through too much web fluid. He looked down at his red-glowing web shooter and winced—once he ran out, he'd be stuck with just his agility. 'How the hell am I supposed to fight like that?'
Ben and Kailan were holding their own with lightsabers and the Force. They were exhausted, but they hadn't backed down. In the chaos of this brawl, their use of the Force and lightsaber techniques had become more and more refined.
"More of them? I'm about to collapse!" Ben groaned.
Spider-Man felt the same. At first, he'd been really curious about the whole Jedi thing, but once the fight started, there was no time to wonder how something from the movies became real.
"The Force is with us," Kailan whispered. Her blue lightsaber lit up again, eyes full of determination. She saw this as a trial. After witnessing the love between Li Jong and Biyue, she understood the evil of the Black Lanterns couldn't be forgiven. Just like the Chitauri, they had to be stopped. This was her trial, given by the Force. And she was going to endure it.
"The Force is with us!" Ben shouted too, spinning his wrist and twirling his lightsabers into a flurry. "Let's make sure the Black Lantern Corps never comes back!"
Spider-Man rallied himself. His powers weren't built for this kind of war, but there was no time to complain. He wanted to shout 'The Force is with us' too—but he honestly didn't know what the Force even was.
Boom. Boom. Boom!
The unmanned Iron Legion suits rained bullets across the battlefield, empty casings clattering as they poured from the suits like a storm.
So far, Tony had burned through over 100 million dollars in the fight. Half his suits had already been destroyed. Iron Man fighting meant burning cash—more recklessly than even Batman. Sure, Batman splurged on gear, but Tony? He was on another level of wasteful.
"Kid, let's go!" Superman charged forward first, aiming for the Black Lantern.
Kaitou Kid followed right behind him. In no time, he caught up, and then the two of them were swallowed by the flood of Black Lanterns. From the outside, they completely vanished from view.
"Hope they stay safe," Diana said softly.
Captain America stared worriedly in the direction Superman and Kid had gone. But then he turned back to the fight, hurling his shield to slice through a wave of enemies. When the Black Lanterns got close, his shield became a lethal close-combat weapon.
With Superman and Kid gone, the resistance took a massive hit. Pressure surged. The city grew darker. There was barely any light left—only from the heroes. Each one of them shone like a beacon. As long as they stood, darkness couldn't swallow everything, and death couldn't take it all.
The civilians were terrified, but as long as the superheroes stood, hope remained—especially now that reinforcements were arriving.
"Raaaargh—!"
A giant green muscle-bound figure barreled through, smashing Black Lanterns into meat paste with a single slap.
Tony's face lit up. "Hulk! Late again, huh? Next time I'll send you a calendar invite."
"Little Iron Man lies! Hulk is never late!" Hulk growled. "Hulk clean up black trash!"
"And me too!" A blazing beam of red light shot in from behind Hulk and torched a wave of enemies.
"Cyclops?" Wolverine blinked. He hadn't expected to see him back. But his eyes immediately shifted, searching for Jean. Unfortunately, it was just Cyclops—no Jean in sight.
"Professor X contacted me," Cyclops said while blasting enemies left and right.
"And I wouldn't miss this party!" boomed a loud voice from above.
Suddenly the sky lit up, and a massive net of lightning crackled down, trapping dozens of Black Lanterns in its grip.
"Thor!" Tony cheered.
"Nekron must be destroyed. That's why I'm here," Thor declared. The Black Lanterns in Asgard had already been defeated, and he'd rushed to Earth as fast as he could.
With the return of their heavy hitters, the superheroes finally caught their breath and pushed back the Black Lantern Corps' assault.