The Plot
An unpublished series proposal for DC Comics by Alan Moore
Removed at the request of DC Comics. See DC Copyright Summary for a summary!
Okay, getting down and dirty into the story. Rip Hunter makes contact with John Constantine, and convinces Constantine that not only is Hunter from the future, but he also has been in contact with Constantine’s future self, and boy have they got a mission for him! They need to warn all of the heroes not to do things that bring them closer to Twilight.
What is the horrible “Twilight” that we need to avoid?
In 1995 or so, some supervillains tried to take advantage of the social chaos spreading over the world. So the Justice League started really cracking down on supervillains. It was presumably no longer possible to just hand the villains over to the authorities, since there were none. This was generally looked on by the public as a Good Thing; the Justice League were seen as forces for order in a world fast crumbling. Unfortunately it went to their heads and they actually tried to consolidate their power; one part of this was outlawing aliens. This caused a rift among the heroes that eventually led to the breakup into rival Houses.
Now, the Houses of Steel and Thunder are preparing for the upcoming marriage between Superboy and Mary Marvel Jr. This causes a lot of stress both within and without the two Houses: alone, the “lesser” Houses could have withstood, by joining together, an assault by either Steel or Thunder; together, Steel and Thunder will be invincible.
The Question is investigating a murder mystery: a midget went to a brothel room with a very tall, beautiful call girl that nobody had ever seen before. When the door was broken down several hours later, the midget was found bound and gagged, his neck broken by a single clean blow. The room was locked with no other exit. The call girl was gone. There was no murder weapon.
The House of Steel is having trouble trying to conceal Superboy’s sadist and sociopathic behavior. The House of Thunder is having trouble trying to conceal the tryst between Captain Marvel Jr and Mary Marvel, because Captain Marvel is finally beginning to show some real interest in his wife. And of course Mary Marvel Jr doesn’t really want to marry the sociopathic Superboy.
Constantine makes a note of all of these stresses, moving in and among the various factions.
The lesser Houses begin to formulate plans for an attack on the Houses of Steel and Thunder. Blackhawk continues his recruitment of new Blackhawks. Constantine makes contact with the “elite counsel” of the Shadow and the Batman, encouraging them in their plans to oust all superheroes from Earth. He discovers Adam Strange and learns of--and encourages--the alien take-over plan. He informs Captain Marvel of the Justice League’s attack plan, and through the lighting of a cigarette convinces Marvel not to aid the House of Steel. He even makes contact with Gold, and an “old, crippled man”, who turns out to be Metron, banished to Earth. He tricks Gold into being melted down, and makes use of Metron’s Moebius Chair.
The day of the wedding, the various attacks go as planned: Superwoman kills Wonder Woman. Captain Atom kills Superwoman. Superboy, most of the Justice League, and most of the House of Secrets are also killed. Captain Marvel Jr and Mary Marvel escape into space to start a new life. Supergirl goes with them.
Eventually, only Superman and Captain Marvel remain standing, back-to-back, Superman badly beaten. An army of Hawkmen, Lanterns, and Martians arrive by Zeta Beam. Superman prepares to go into battle again, alongside Captain Marvel. But!!!!
Captain Marvel isn’t Captain Marvel, and hasn’t been since the story began. Originally a boy (Billy Batson) stuck in a man’s body (Captain Marvel’s), as he grew older he became a man stuck in a boy’s body. Among the many psychological problems developed were a few sexual ones, as he wasn’t capable of normal sex. He was the “midget” who had been found bound, gagged, and dead. Killed by the Martian Manhunter, an agent of the aliens, on Earth. The Manhunter then took Captain Marvel’s form.
Superman and the Martian Manhunter fight it out, Superman killing Manhunter with his heat vision. But, it is too late. The aliens are massed against only Superman now. “We have a powerful and intense sequence where Superman manages to smash his way through a lot of the alien forces single-handed while being ring-whipped by the Lanterns, only to finally be beaten to death in single combat by the massive and frighteningly powerful Sodal Yat.”
So, the aliens are poised to take over the Earth. Next, Constantine’s reserve force, as well as the forces of Batman and the Shadow, move in: wearing thin golden armor made from the body of Gold. The Lanterns are thus rendered ineffective. This momentarily drives the alien forces back until one of the aliens points out that there is a massive army ready to pour onto the Earth, and the heroes simply can’t stop it.
Constantine calls upon his final play: he used the Moebius Chair to travel to Qward, where he sold them the secret of the Boom Tube in exchange for some sort of firm promise to leave Earth and its system alone. While the aliens are getting ready to take over Earth, their home planets are being overrun by Qwardian weaponeers.
Everyone lives happily ever after, at least on Earth. Only non-powered heroes are left, and these take off their masks and go public. “Constantine explains to them that under the guidance of the Batman, the Shadow and all the rest, American society, free of government or a super-dictatorship, will start to organize itself along different lines, so that it can deal with the future without fear or anxiety. The days of the big powers are over, and henceforth America will be built up from much smaller and more flexible units, both socially and economically.”
