Forever Evil #7 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Geoff Johns
Art By: David Finch, Richard Friend
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 21, 2014

Finally!

Okay it's here, so get ready because I'm going to SPOIL the shit out of this.  When we last left this story Luthor's Injustice League had infiltrated the Syndicate's headquarters, killed The Outsider, released the Syndicate's mysterious hostage, and that's when the real shit storm started.  The mystery man turned out to be Alexander Luthor who called out MAZAHS, and became the Earth 3 equivalent to Billy Batson.  But this isn't the hero of Earth 3 that we knew pre New 52, this Alexander Luthor killed Johnny Quick, and in doing so absorbed his powers.  We also saw that Dick Grayson was attached to a "murder machine" that would count done to a bomb exploding if Dick's heart rate didn't flat line.  In the end of last issue Luthor took control of the situation and suffocated Dick to death.  Let's move into the final chapter of this event, and see how the DCU will change forever.

Explain It!:

This epic finale begins with Batman beating the ever loving shit out of Lex Luthor for killing Dick Grayson.  Eventually Luthor gets Batman off him, and proceeds to give Dick a shot of adrenaline to restart his heart, and Nightwing is saved from "The Murder Machine".  Now it's time to get to the real fun stuff.

Alexander Luthor just killed Johnny Quick, and now he looks at Black Manta and Captain Cold, but looking at them he realizes that they're only human, and don't have anything he wants.  Apparently Alexander is a super power junkie.  Kind of like Sylar from Heroes if you're not too ashamed to admit you watched it.  Alexander takes off, and finds Ultraman who appears to be frightened since he saw the dark lightning crash down last issue, and you know what?  He has very good reason to fear MAZAHS.  Ultraman and DeathStorm call out to the remaining Syndicate members, and we find out that Super Woman has been pregnant with Alexander's baby and the two confront Ultraman and Deathstorm.  Once they're dealt with Alexander will have all the power he needs, and Super Woman's baby will always be protected.  Ultraman gets knocked away pretty easy, and DeathStorm is incapacitated by Super Woman's lasso of submission, which makes it really easy for Alexander to come up and crush his skull.  So Earth is fucked even more because now Alexander has the Nuclear Man's abilities.  

Back at the fallen Watchtower/Crime Syndicate HQ, Batman, Cyborg, Dick, and Catwoman split off from Luthor's Injustice League so they can try and separate the Leagues from FireStorm's matrix, and in turn prevent Firestorm from going nuclear and destroying the east coast.  The only way to separate the Leagues from FireStorm is for someone who's connected to Wonder Woman to use her lasso on FireStorm.  I don't know how much sense that makes, but Martian Manhunter says it's the only way and he's usually in the know.  Meanwhile Luthor and his gang go out and plan to end the Syndicate once and for all.  The Injustice League does their best to try and stop MAZAHS, but only Bizarro seems to do any damage.  Poor poor Bizarro.  Alexander does his worst, and Bizarro is dealt a fatal blow.  Before he dies we see real compassion in Lex, and he seems generally sorry for the loss of his misunderstood creature.  So it's time to make a plan, especially now that Alexander has Bizarro's powers as well.

Inside the Watchtower Lex got a hold of a futuristic lighting rod, and the plan is for Black Adam to shove it in Alexander and call down his lightning hoping to turn him back into the meek man he was before the power up.  Sinestro distracts Alexander, while Super Woman tries to take down Black Adam but he's still able to

do his part and yell out "SHAZAM!".  The lightning comes down and hits Super Woman and Alexander, but all it managed to do was stop Super Woman,  and leave us crying "Oh god what are we going to do now!?"  Alexander without missing a beat pounces on Lex, and the two stare into their parallel eyes, and with this Lex knows what he has to do.  Since they are the same person only from different worlds, he yells the magic words and the futuristic lightning rod finally does something, and Alexander is turned back into a man.  Now that Lex has the upper hand he looks into his doubles eyes and tells him, "I might not be as strong, or a powerful as you.  But I'm smarter".  Lex kills his double, and for a second you feel utter relief because it's over.  Then you realize "Oh shit!  Ultraman's still here!"  But don't worry, while it looked grim for Lex for a few seconds, Ultraman is finished when Black Adam and Sinestro move the moon away from the sun, and Ultraman becomes as weak as a kitten as the sun begins to shine down.  Lex also does something really unexpected and let's this maniac live.  Out of the rubble Atomica arises, and is still looking for Johnny Quick.  Her belt is broken and she's stuck in her tiny form, and that's too bad for her because for all the trouble she caused Lex doesn't grant her the same mercy he did to Ultraman, and ends her by simply putting his foot down.  Gross.

Let's get back to our heroes.  Since Steve Trevor is unconscious who are we going to get to connect to Wonder Woman with the lasso?  Well apparently Batman has a connection with Wonder Woman, which Cat Woman seems to find kind of threatening, and he pulls the Leagues free from the Firestorm matrix.  So all is well except if you remember before Forever Evil Superman still has a shard of kryptonite in his brain.  This looks like a job for........ Lex Luthor?  Luthor saves Superman, and him and his Injustice League are given the credit for saving the world.  Weird thing is even though all the heroes were saved, there is no sign of Element Woman or Vibe.  Where the hell is my Vibe?  A bit of a mystery to leave us with I guess.  

In the end the Injustice League split ways, and Lex Luthor meets up with Ted Kord.  If you remember from issue #1 Lex was all...... well Lex about it, and threatening Ted's father to sell Kord Industries to him.  Now that Ted's father is dead, Ted needs to drop out of school and be there for his mother, so he wants to sell the company to Lex.  As you can imagine this has been a good experience for Lex, and he tells Ted to run his families company and if he has any questions, not to hesitate to call him.  Wow, Lex Luthor the big hero good guy.  This is going to take some time to wrap my head around.  Also..... fucking Ted Kord has been introduced into the New 52!  I'm so happy.  Now the only thing to do is to find out what destroyed Earth 3, and figure out what to do about the crack in the universe.  Superman believes the threat to be Darkseid again, and as far as they know it makes sense.  Owlman got away, and the captured Ultraman and Super Woman aren't talking.  But in the last page of the issue we see what's left of Earth 3, and who's responsible for it's destruction.  The mother fucking Anti-Monitor!  Now I know I've said this throughout Forever Evil, but shit is getting real!  So that's the end of the event, and I guess we'll be dealing with the repercussions of this event mostly in Justice League, but we'll have to wait and see.  Like if Lex could summon the dark lightning once, why can't he do it again?  So hopefully that becomes a callback later on.

Bits and Pieces:

Now while I'm pissed that this issue is so late, and we've had spoilers to the ending in other titles for months.  I loved this finale.  Everything was over the top dire and the stakes seemed bigger.  Unlike most stories I didn't even try to predict what was going to happen next.  It was a "anything can happen" story, and I'm going to miss it now that it's gone.  Johns put together a event the way only he can do, and I'm blown away.  Wow.  You need to read Forever Evil, it's that simple.

9.5/10