Warning: contains spoilers for Justice League Infinity #6!
Since his debut in the early 1970s, Darkseid has sought the Anti-Life Equation, which he will use to rule the universe, but there is only one villain who can control this destructive force—and it is not Darkseid. In Justice League Infinity #6, on sale now in print and digital, readers learn that an Amazo variant from a different universe has control of the Anti-Life Equation and wants to use it to destroy reality.
Justice League Infinity continues the story of the acclaimed cartoon Justice League Unlimited. Starting several months after the show’s conclusion, the League is dealing with incursions from across the multiverse. Their Earth is attacked by a Nazi Superman, while another Leaguer encounters President Superman. Wonder Woman, meanwhile, meets an alternate Darkseid, one who has abandoned his dreams of conquest. He tells her he tried to harness Anti-Life, but lost control of it, leading to the destruction of his universe. Meanwhile, Amazo, seeking answers to the question of his existence, is also traveling the multiverse, believing the answers he seeks lie within it. In Justice League Infinity #6, these storylines come to a head, as the Anti-Life Darkseid unleashed comes to the primsry universe - and readers learn a dark version of Amazo has learned to harness it. The issue is written by J.M. DeMatteis and James Tucker, with art by Ethan Beavers, colors by Nick Filardi and letters by DC Hopkins.
Something is calling to Amazo from beyond the dimensional barrier, and the Martian Manhunter learns it is an evil force that will destroy the multiverse if it gets through. Amazo backs down, realizing that the answers he seeks will cost him his soul in the process. However, the Nazi Superman flies into the barrier, shattering it—and out comes another Amazo, much larger and much meaner looking. Readers learn this variant was from a planet with no Justice League to teach him empathy, and as a result, he destroyed his world. This Amazo then set his sights on the rest of the universe, destroying planet after planet until he encountered Darkseid. The Lord of Apokolips unleashed the Anti-Life Equation on Amazo, but the android absorbed it, becoming more powerful than ever, destroying its entire universe. Now, this Anti-Life charged Amazo seeks to destroy the entire multiverse.
For nearly 50 years, the Anti-Life Equation has proven irresistible to Darkseid, and the pursuit of it has become his life’s work. In this universe, the Lord of Apokolips was able to harness its power, but lost control of it to Amazo. In Amazo’s hands, the Equation’s true destructive power has been realized—and it is terrifying, able to lay waste to a universe and even threaten the entire multiverse. Amazo has achieved a level of destruction that Darkseid can only aspire to, and the android is not done yet. How will the Justice League prevail? What chance do they have at stopping a force that vexed even Darkseid?
The true irony of the story is that the Darkseid who lost to Amazo had forsaken his dreams of conquest and destruction and was thus not able to appreciate just how powerful the Anti-Life Equation truly was. Instead, it was a dark variant of Amazo that was able to truly tap into the Equation’s power, and now threatens all of reality.