It’s not a secret that DC plans to kill the Justice League this year. In fact, the publisher is promoting their demise in “Death of the Justice League,” the final issue of the series. Fans were told the Justice League would face a Dark Army of villains, but now we get our first look at who makes up this villainous group in preview art for Justice League #75. Writer Joshua Williamson and artist Rafa Sandoval have both shared pages from the issue, featuring some familiar villains from across the DC Universe marching into battle against the likes of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and more.
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Sandoval was first up with three uncolored pages from Justice League #75. “Some images from JUSTICE LEAGUE #75: DEATH OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE!!! Script by @Williamson_Josh, Just amazing!!” he wrote. We see the Justice League and Dark Army preparing for battle, the Dark Army gathered together, and Green Arrow firing an arrow at an unknown enemy. As for Williamson, he wrote, “Now the colored version of Pariah’s Dark Army! Coming to kill the Justice League! Art by @RafaSandoval75 & @JordiTarragona6 and colors by @MattHerms!”
Pariah, who fans will remember from 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, is back as the leader of this Dark Army. The villains he has collected include Darkseid, Doomsday, Eclipso, Ares, Neron, and Nekron. There are a number of other shadowed figures in the air behind the group as well. Something else to consider is the recognizable villains all have black chains wrapped around their bodies. What this most likely means is Pariah is controlling the villains with these chains, because how else would he convince them to all work together and follow his lead?
“Death of the Justice League” leads directly into Dark Crisis, this year’s event series from Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere. “Dark Crisis is an epic DCU event about legacy,” Williamson said when the event was officially announced. “It will have all the giant, fun cosmic battles and Multiversal set pieces, but it’s not about reboots, retcons, or rewriting time and space. At its core, it’s about the characters and the relationships that we’ve seen built over DC’s great history. Dark Crisis spins out of Justice League #75 ‘DEATH OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE’ and connects all the story threads across the DCU since Infinite Frontier #0 in a major way. Unifying the new legacy of the DCU as we honor the classic. You can’t miss it!”
“To me, Dark Crisis is a big celebration for all DC fans,” Sampere added. “It’s a huge event full of epic heart, an event that embraces the past while looking to the future. Joshua and I are the biggest DC fans, and this is our love letter to these characters and this universe.”
How do you think this collection of DC villains kill the Justice League? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
