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    Justice League Dark

    Team » Justice League Dark appears in 265 issues.

    The Justice League Dark is a team of supernatural heroes within the DC Universe assembled to fight mystical threats that traditional heroes can't handle ordinarily. The team is typically led by the sorceress, Zatanna.

    Short summary describing this team.

    Justice League Dark last edited by SlamAdams on 08/31/23 03:34PM View full history

    Most Recent Roster

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    With the Enchantress gone mad, after being separated from her human host, June Moon, magic started wreaking havoc on the world. Madame Xanadu would attempt to bring together a group of magic using, yet personally damaged heroes, to combat Enchantress' magic.

    Creation

    The Justice League Dark made their first unofficial appearance in Swamp Thing #49 and 50 by writer Alan Moore and artists Stephen Bissette and Rick Veitch.

    Team Evolution

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    In 1986 the team was originally composed of Deadman, Phantom Stranger, Etrigan, John Constantine, Doctor Fate, Spectre, Zatanna and Zatara.

    When the New 52 title first launched, Peter Milligan comprised the team of Madame Xanadu, John Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, Shade and Mindwarp, a character he created for the Flashpoint tie in Flashpoint: Secret Seven. Milligan would leave the title after eight issues, replaced by Jeff Lemire who brought some changes to the roster. Lemire would bring in new members Black Orchid, Andrew Bennett, and Doctor Mist. Shade would end up leaving the team, as Lemire stated on twitter that he chose not to write the character out of respect to Milligan, believing that Shade was an iconic character for him. Other changes Lemire planned to make to the team included making Constantine the clear leader of the team, and exploring exactly why the words "Justice League" are in the team's title.

    After the events of Justice League: No Justice, Wonder Woman sensed a shift in the world of magic. Magic was broken and causing problems, and she wanted to put together a task force to watch over it. She got the League's consent to create the team and set up shop in the basement of the Hall of Justice. Many of DC's magic users were ambivalent about joining, especially Swamp Thing an Zatanna who eventually joined anyway. They were also joined by Detective Chimp and Man-Bat, making up the regular roster.

    This version of the Justice League Dark has become a staple of the Justice League institution. They continued to work out of the Hall of Justice with some of the members making occasional appearances in the main Justice League book when magic assistance was needed.

    After the Endless Winter event, the team was relegated to a backup story in the main Justice League book. They also lost Wonder Woman as leadership when she sacrificed herself during the Dark Knights: Death Metal event.

    Original Team

    In the Dark

    Enchantress gone mad
    Enchantress gone mad

    Due to circumstances unknown, June Moon, Enchantress' human host, suddenly was separated from the powerful witch, causing her to go mad. Magical events started popping up all over the world wreaking havoc, while Enchantress searched for June Moon. Not even the Justice League were able to stop her, so Madame Xanadu took it upon herself to form a team that could. While Xanadu attempts to reach various magic heros, June ends up on the doorstep of Dawn Granger aka Dove, who is Deadman's girlfriend. Deadman want's to help the girl, protecting her from the Enchantress, and due to stress in his relationship with Dove, he begins to grow feelings for June. Meanwhile, Zatanna attempts to subdue Enchantress herself, but is unable to do so, getting trapped in a magical coma of sorts, which Constantine snaps her out of. With Shade being the first to work with Xanadu, the both of them attempt to recruit the others, to no avail, all the while Enchantress is getting closer to June and Deadman.

    With Enchantress' attacks growing in power, Zatanna finally excepts Xanadu's recruitment, just as Enchantress finds and corners Deadman and June. Using Shade's powers, he attempts to open a teleportation door that would allow Deadman and June to transport themselves to their location, but only Deadman makes it through, leaving June at Enchantress' mercy. Angered, Deadman flies off in order to find June again and protect her, but before Enchantress can do anything to June, Constantine appears, casting a magical barrier around the two. Constantine had deduced that for some reason, it was Xanadu who had split June and Enchantress apart, and begins to repeat the spell that would bind them back together. Deadman finds Constantine doing this, and not knowing what Constantine is doing tries to stop him but is unable to. After this John successfully binds June and Enchantress back together, quelling her madness. Sometime later, Constantine, Shade, Deadman and Zatanna meet with Xanadu, who admits to causing the trouble, saying she had a vision of the future and needed a reason to bring the heroes together. None of the would be team are too pleased with Xanadu, ignoring her warnings, and storming off separately.

    Rise of the Vampires

    Constantine vs. Vampires
    Constantine vs. Vampires

    (Note: Rise of the Vampires was a cross over between both Justice League Dark and I, Vampire.) After their battle with the Enchantress, Constantine, Zatanna, Shade and Deadman all begin to have horrid dreams. This brings them all back to Xanadu's magic shop, where she explains that they are glimpses of the future that would have come true had she not brought them all together to fight Enchantress. She continues, saying that whether or not they like it, it's best that they stick together as a team, to prevent such futures from occurring. Suddenly, Xanadu is stricken with a great pain as she senses a disturbance in the world's magic. What she's sensing is the death of vampire Andrew Bennett in Gotham City, leading to the resurrection of Cain the original, and most powerful vampire.

    JLD travel to Gotham where they are met with a massive attack on the city from Cain's vampire forces, which he took control of from Mary, Queen of Blood, Andrew's lover. Cain's pressence also begins to siphon all magical energy towards himself, which leaves the teams powers weakened. In order to combat Cain, Xanadu tasks Constantine and Deadman to enter Purgatory in an attempts to retrieve Andrew, while she enters a trance in order to enter an astral plain in an effort to acquire more help, while Zatanna and Shade are forced to protect her body on a rooftop as they, along with Batman and Andrew's allies square off against more and more vampires. Angry that her horde was stolen from her, Mary eventually comes to the defense of Zatanna and Shade, but Cain begins to power up his new army with all the magical energy he siphoned. While Constantine and Deadman find Andrew, he seems uninterested in coming back to fight, saying he has nothing left in him, meanwhile, Xanadu has the Crystal One shift the tides of magic. Back in Gotham, Shade begins to have an emotional breakdown, leading his M-Vest to transport himself to a plain outside reality where he would stay with his love Kathy George, never to be seen again. Zatanna eventually transports herself, Xanadu and Mary to Robinson park where Constantine and Deadman show up empty handed, followed by Cain and his vampires. Before the team can be attacked, the effects of the Crystal One's shifts are seen, as a rejuvenated Andrew appears, proclaiming he found some fight left in him.

    With his new powers, he takes control of the vampire horde, proclaiming he is to lead them, and reuniting with Mary. He uses the horde to hold back Cain while he decapitates the primordial vampire. With Cain gone, Mary suggests finishing the job, killing the humans, but Andrew stops her, saying they've exposed their kind enough for one night, and uses his powers to erase the memory from all but the JLD and his friends. Before Andrew leaves to lead his species to a new life, he is confronted by Constantine, as the JLD believes they just switched one vampire threat for another, but Andrew assures them that he is the least of their worries, as there are bigger threats on the horizon, and when the time comes, he would lend his aid to the team.

    Books of Magic

    Steve Trevor recruits Constantine to track down Faust. He lures Constantine in by showing him the Dreamstone of Doctor Destiny's. Trevor tells Constantine A.R.G.U.S. calls the team Justice League Dark. Trevor will allow Constantine into The Black Room for 5 minutes when the mission is completed. Constantine has trouble getting the group on board. He reveals to Zatanna that he say a picture of The Black Room that Trevor showed him and he saw her fathers hat and stage outfit.. He will retrieve them for her if she can get the group to go to The Amazon. They defeat Faust and retrieve the map to The Books of Magic. Constantine takes the map and the team to The House Of Mystery. Constantine tells the team he won the keys to the House in a poker game from Father Time and Doctor Occult. He is seen in Xanadu's vision where he is in possession Of The Books of Magic and has killed millions of people including Etrigan, Swamp Thing, Frankenstein, Andrew Bennett, Zatanna, and Black Orchid.

    He tells Xanadu no person should take possession of the Books because they are too strong. He whispers the name of Timothy Hunter, who is pure enough to possess The Books before the vision ends. Constantine no longer being controlled by The Books of Magic recruits Bennett, Tim Hunter, Frankenstein, and Amethyst to defeat Nick Necro and his group. The final battle takes place in Nanda Parbat. The JLD team defeats Black Boris and Black Briarthorne. The JLD locates Nick Necro, Felix Faust, Dr. Mist, and their hostage, Zatanna. Necro and Faust are working on opening the Tesseract to unleash The Books of Magic. The Books of Magic repel Faust and Necro because as long as Tim Hunter lives no one else can control The Books. Tim Hunter opens The first book, revealing that it is not magic in origin, but its mechanical in nature. The device reboots and begins to transport him home. Zatanna grabs onto Tim's legs and they are transported to Tim's home. ARGUS travels to Nanda Parbat to take Necro and Faust into custody and will be held in their underground metahuman facility. Zatanna takes Tim Hunter back home but are transported to a place called Epoch. The scientists have been battling the magical denizens for an unknown amount of centuries or millennia. In the ensuing battle, it is revealed that Felix Faust offered his soul up for the release of Nick Necro. The rumours of Necro being close to the Books of Magic has been widespread in the occult community, and Faust wanted to make sure that he gets the book for himself, thus making the offer. It also revealed that Nick Necro also instigated the formation of the Justice League Dark that includes Doctor Mist and Black Orchid.

    An aged Xanadu
    An aged Xanadu

    Dr. Peril opens a portal and Constantine, Deadman, Frankenstein, Black Orchid and Madame Xanadu go to rescue them. Due to some imbalance of magic, various undesirable effects occurred to some of the members of the JLD. Constantine couldn't lie. Black Orchid was transformed into some kind of flesh monster. Madame Xanadu began to rapidly age. Deadman came back to life, only to be shot again almost immediately afterwards, causing him to return to his normal self. Frankenstein is the only member that is not affected. Due to he stress between both dimensions, the safety of both Earth-1, and the other dimension's world was compromised. Tim's father volunteers to go through the portal while the Dark team has sided with the magic based denizens. Tim Hunter and father choose to stay and rebuild while Dark team go through the portal before Xanadu, who had aged during her stay, is about to die. Constantine tells Trevor that A. R. G. U. S. can leave the Justice League Dark alone. Trevor tells Constantine that they have made enemies of A.R. G.U.S. and the new JLA.

    Horror City

    After unexpectedly winning a horse race by betting on a horse with incredibly low odds of winning, John Constantine is attacked by a previously unknown assailant, causing a massive explosion in front of him. Madame Xanadu, sensing another catastrophic event calls on the aid of her team. Deadman, Frankenstein, and Constantine arrive within minutes, and Xanadu explains the dire situation regarding the danger that has come to Constantine. The House of Mystery has been nicked from him, as his link to it was severed in his panic. Knowing that the Swamp Thing connects to all plant life force, Constantine beckons his aid, hoping that the creature could locate where the house went. Upon his arrival, Swamp Thing attacks Constantine, but is calmed down once Frankenstein vouches for Constantine's good intentions.

    Upon trying to locate the house, the Swamp Thing vanishes in pain, and great nightmares persist outside them. The House of Mystery has been compromised, and someone is releasing the nightmares that it conceals.Constantine is plagued by copies of himself drawn from his own blood, Deadman battles a group of cannibalistic carnies who try to eat him, Xanadu is haunted by his dead lovers, and Frankenstein's horrific spawn appears before him consuming his wife. Swamp Thing is revealed to be chained in the House of Mystery, with his captor being Doctor Destiny.

    While horror and carnage go amok Manhattan, The Flash, sensing a Justice League distress signal, sprints toward the source, only to find out that it's source was Frankenstein, not a member of any official Justice League team. The spawn attacks them, and The Flash vibrates his way right through him, causing it to disappear completely. The nightmares were mere illusions that The Flash could disintegrate at the right frequency of vibration. Upon hearing of this, Frankenstein suggests he locate Madame Xanadu, and Deadman. After saving both, the four ventured towards Constantine, but The Flash was unable to disintegrate the blood-drawn copies of Constantine, and he was frozen in place to constrict his movement. Reversing the blood spell, Constantine withdraws the nightmares, and the five of them set out to find the House of Mystery. The Flash immediately finds the house, and reports that it sits atop the penthouse.

    Madame Xanadu and Deadman (in John Constantine's body) share a kiss
    Madame Xanadu and Deadman (in John Constantine's body) share a kiss

    Upon reaching their destination, Frankie and The Flash decide to stay to combat the nightmares and to sweep through Manhattan and defend the innocents. Xanadu, Constantine, and Deadman go up to confront the thief, only to face Doctor Destiny's rampage, and find Swamp Thing weak and held in place. Doctor Destiny is revealed to be Madame Xanadu's son.

    Upon seeing her son, Xanadu is drawn into another apocalyptic vision. Her son, Doctor Destiny, has caused ultimate destruction 20 years from the present. She saw her team dead, stuck onto spears, and only she and John Constantine remain. It turns out, Boston Brand or Deadman has possessed John Constantine hoping to be with Madame Xanadu just one last time before it all ends. The two share a kiss, and Xanadu's vision ends. The JLD began their battle with Doctor Destiny, with N'aal, the demon butler of the House of Mystery fighting alongside Doctor Destiny. Frankenstein takes on the demon, but he is held back by his weakness--fire. Deadman attempts to free the Swamp Thing by possessing him. After which, he realizes that the whole house is alive, and he begins to possess it, controlling all the horrors that the house beholds. Meanwhile, Xanadu combats her son, and The Flash arrives on scene to aid the suffering Frankenstein. With Doctor Destiny unable to fight back, Swamp Thing holds him into place with vines, and Madame Xanadu confronts him. Deadman begins to show affection for Xanadu, and despite her wanting to reciprocate, she holds back. To ensure that her vision remains that way--just a vision, Madame Xanadu decides that she has to kill her son. Using Frankenstein's swords, Xanadu takes out the gem that is his son's heat and ends his life. The father is never revealed, as Xanadu declares that some secrets should never see the light. As the day ends, Madame Xanadu laments on her loneliness, she has been alone for a long time, and though she longs for someone, she believes that in order for the world to survive, she must continue to walk it on her own.

    Wonder Woman's Team

    The Last Age of Magic

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    After the events of Justice League: No Justice, when the League faced off against the Omega Titans and the Tree of Wonder sprung up in Salem, there were some huge ramifications. Magic is now broken in the DC universe. Wonder Woman referred to magic's new behavior as "predatory." Zatanna has been approached by Wonder Woman, whom wants to form a new team, especially members whose specialties are operating with magic. Zatanna makes it clear she has no interest in joining her new team, but after finding Swamp Thing contemplating in front of Colu's Tree of Wonder, the ghost of her father appeared before her and warned of The Otherkind, the original owners of magic coming back for what is theirs. After the vision, Zee and Swampy make their way to the basement of the Hall of Justice where Wonder Woman had her preliminary team together: Detective Chimp and Man-Bat. They are convinced the only way to stand against the coming forces is to do it together.

    Wonder Woman and her new team visited the Tower of Fate to talk to Kent Nelson. He told them a story of the original Lords of Order stealing the power of The Otherkind and how that magic has never proved to be a benefit to humanity. From this, Diana deduced that they weren't talking to Kent but to Nabu, the being inside the Helm of Fate. Nabu confessed to being the one who has given The Otherkind the opportunity to return to Earth. It is then that they are confronted by the Upside Down Man, a strange member of the Otherkind, that dispatches Wonder Woman's team, including Constantine, attracted by all the magic weirdness, quickly and effectively. It isn't until the Upside Down Man accidentally taps into an ancient power hidden inside Wonder Woman that his ability to stay on this plane of existence was disrupted.

    The Witching Hour

    Through half-remembered childhood memories and half-formed dreams, Wonder Woman recalled a time on Themyscira when she was attacked by disciples of Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft. They branded her forehead with the Witchmark, hiding a portion of Hecate's power within her. With the state of magic as it is, Hecate goes looking to reclaim all her power, not just from Diana, but from all 5 witches she has hidden it in over the years.

    With little information, the JL Dark seek out Circe, one of Hecate's oldest disciples. She told them that Hecate created the 5 Witchmarks to hide her power from the original Lords of Order, who sought to capture her powers after they had trapped the Otherkind's. With The Otherkind's return inevitable, Hecate was reclaiming her power to block the Otherkind and supplant their power in the world with her own. Circe and Diana were planning on using Diana's witchmark to fight back, when they are interrupted by Deadman with news from Nanda Parbat.

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    It turned out that Hecate had activate 3 of her witchmarked. Witchfire was activated during a meeting of the Sisterhood of the Sleight of Hand in the Oblivion Bar. She exploded destroying her corporeal body and killing a number of the members. Black Orchid was sent to find the Parliament of Trees, and Manitou Dawn was sent to Nanda Parbat to destroy it and its patron god, Rama Kushna.

    Deadman was sent to get the Justice League Dark for help. They fought Hecate the best they could, but they ultimately decided their best bet was to sneak Rama into the Oblivion Bar with Bobo's Sword of Night's ability to open a hole in time and space. Diana was ultimately felled and brought under Hecate's control. With Swamp Thing preoccupied with the destruction of the Parliament of Trees and Bobo and Man-Bat guarding Rama and the residents of Nanda Parbat at the Oblivion Bar, Constantine and Zatanna were all Diana had left. They forced her into a sigil and performed an exorcism that stretched out to the other two surviving active witchmarked. It freed Dawn and Orchid from Hecate, but it forced each of their fifth of Hecate's power into Diana.

    All seems lost. Diana was still enslaved by Hecate and Hecate replaced Nanda Parbat with her Great Necropolis and the Parliament of Trees with the Parliament of Flowers. With the odds against them, magic doors opened up to the Justice League Dark and their new allies. It was Circe regrouping them on her island. Circe informed them that with two pillars of reality gone to Hecate, she will most likely move on the third, the Sphere of the Gods. So the Dark League went to one of the entrances (Mount Olympus) to make a final stand.

    While all this happened, Diana found herself in the Collective Unconscious. At first it seemed like a pocket dimension her soul was trapped in while Hecate controlled her body, but the more she explored, the more she found out. Diana learned that Hecate's story is that of all magic. She was one of the first beings birthed from magic (the other being the Upside Down Man, her dark double). She dazzled primitive humans with her tricks and made their imaginations real. She embedded herself with their pantheons so she would be worshiped, but when humanity turned on her, she split her power. First among her archetypes (the maiden, the matron, and the crone), and then among the witchmarked. Diana learned that to combat Hecate she has to bring her power together and not embrace "the crone" as Hecate did. The crone was a corruption of Hecate's hate that reached into the Upside Down Man's realm and infected Earth magic with chaos. With this new knowledge, she was able to retake her body and defend her friends.

    Diana pleaded with Hecate to changed her ways, but when Hecate refused, she told Zatanna to open the door. With one backward spell, Zatanna gave a door to the Upside Down Man, who pulled Hecate into his realm to feed on the power she stole form him. With that, Diana could feel the witchmark leave her, but without a goddess of witchcraft, Circe grew much stronger, unbeknownst to the team.

    The Shadow Pact

    Constantine tells Zatanna that Myrra might have an artifact that could help them in the fight against The Otherkind. The team gears up for an adventure, but Bobo is hesitant. He is afraid of the team finding out what he did to the magical land of Myrra. Uneasy with the responsibility of being the new Nightmaster, Bobo cast a spell to bring Jim Rook back to life. Instead, he rose every soldier and monster that has ever died. They continue to resurrect each day and attack the castle. Bobo left his old teammate, Blue Devil, behind to fight them off. With the team now on his side, they are able to fight off the undead long enough for Zatanna and Bobo to find the correct spell to undo everything. With the curse lifted, Blue Devil agrees to stay behind to help Myrra rebuild but reminds Bobo of his last promise to Jim: find Jim's son, the real heir to the Sword of Night.

    Meanwhile, Swamp Thing and Constantine stay behind to stage a show of force against Nabu. They know they don't stand a chance, so they try to make enough cosmic noise to get the attention of the more evenly matched Phantom Stranger. The Stanger and Nabu talk it out, but Nabu ultimately absorbs both the Stranger and Constantine into his helmet, giving Swamp Thing enough time to retreat to the Oblivion Bar and inform the team The Otherkind have made it to Earth.

    Constantine got a final message to Zatanna. He carved the words "Find Mordru" into his arm, which appeared on Zee's after she returned from Myrra. So, the team got to work. Zee and Diana starting turning over rocks looking for Mordru with the help of Sargon's ruby, sent to them by Zatara from beyond the veil. Unfortunately, they only find the members of the magic community falling to members of the Otherkind. So, Bobo opened the Oblivion Bar to refugees. The only problem was Man-Bat's research into The Otherkind seemed to be driving him a little crazy, so they locked him up in the Hall of Justice basement. Without his lab equipment, Kirk turned to freeing the prisoner of an Egyptian vase he swiped from the Tower of Fate.

    The Lords of Order

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    With so few sanctuaries left, the Otherkind eventually found the Oblivion Bar. With no other choice, Bobo opened a portal to Myrra, and he and Swampy got as many of the magic users into it as possible. At the same time, Man-Bat found an incantation in a spellbook that freed Khalid Nassour from the Egyptian vase. Nassour revealed to Bat that Nabu anticipated the exodus of magic users and planned to destroy the Sphere of the Gods so that their would be no dimensional planes to escape to.

    In Myrra, all the magic refugees were confronted by Nabu and his new Lords of Order, with weapons equal to the Helm of Fate. His new teammates were:

    Etrigan lept to everyone's defense, but two of the lords were able rip Jason Blood and Etrigan apart. Without a human host grounding him, Neron was able to pull Etrigan back to hell. Without his demon co-pilot, Jason began aging rapidly. Seeing the Lords true power, Bobo used the sword to teleport the magic users across Myrra to Blue Devil's castle to regroup, as does Nassour and Man-Bat. When Nassour reveals what he knows, Blue Devil orders the residents of Myrra to ready for evacuation.

    Bobo takes them to the Empire of Kor, the ruins of the first race of magic users, the Homo Magi. Bobo thought there was enough latent magic in the ruins to give them an edge, but the people of Myrra started dematerializing in front of everyone signaling the full destruction of their world. When the Lords showed up, they froze Blue Devil in stone and the rest were stranded because Bobo's blade was left inert.

    Meanwhile, Zee and Diana finally find Mordru hiding in plain sight. He had been hanging out in an invisible bar in the lobby of the Hall of Justice. He was annoyed but also kind of impressed by their ambition. He imbued the Ruby of Life with more power and then left. This transformed Diana and Zatana in to the new Lords of Chaos.

    Back at the Empire of Kor, the Lords of Order gave the magic users an option: have your magic removed without a fight and be free to go. They begrudgingly agreed until a newly powered up Wonder Woman and Zatana showed up. They shared their power with their teammates: Detective Chimp, Swamp Thing, and Man-Bat. They start to fight back, now more evenly matched. It isn't until Zatanna encourages them to break the rules of magic that they start getting the upperhand.

    With the Lords of Order vulnerable, Nassour is able to bring those captured in the Helmet of Fate to the foreground, freeing Phantom Stranger, Constantine, and Kent Nelson. Zatanna, who earlier absorbed the Demons Three, bonded them to Jason Blood returning him to full power and able to fight back. The Lords of Order attempt to retreat, but Bobo is able to free Xanadu from the cloak and Zatanna is able to trap Nabu in the helmet. With this victory, Diana recommits to fight for the magic users and destroys the Ruby of Life before they can be overpowered by its chaos.

    The Witching War

    After an ambiguous dream message from Zatara, Wonder Woman believed Circe was up to something. Her help against Hecate came too easy. Unbeknownst to the team, Circe was the yet to be revealed 5th witchmark, and with the other 4 free of Hecate’s grasp, Circe had Hecate’s full power. She decided to bring together her own Injustice League Dark to wage war against Wonder Woman’s team (Solomon Grundy, Papa Midnite, Klarion, and The Floronic Man). Their mission is to steal the Black Diamond of Eclipso, locked up in the basement of the Hall of Justice.

    Eclipso was created to replace the Upside Down Man after Hecate banished him. Circe’s plan was to meld the two powers. Knowing of its connection Hecate, Wonder Woman used the Black Diamond to re-enter the Collective Unconscious so she could reconnect to the power of Hecate. Instead, she found Circe, who stole Diana’s corporeal form. Luckily, Circe was so bad at pretending to be Wonder Woman that Bobo deduced her identity almost immediately.

    They forced Circe’s hand early, but with the Black Diamond in hand she was powerful enough. She took Zatanna’s mouth away so she couldn’t spellcast. She devolved Bobo into just a regular chimp. Her League manipulated the Parilament of Flowers to rot Swamp Thing, and they drove Man-Bat mad with his own mutagenic serum. All that remained were the JL Dark allies: Kent, Nassour, and Constantine. Desperate, Zatanna carved a mouth with a knife and spell cast the diamond away. This gave Fate the opportunity to teleport everyone into the impenetrable vault, where they keep all the most dangerous enchanted weapons.

    With few options of breaking in to the vault , Circe revived the dead dragon, Drakul Karfang, hanging by the entrance to the Hall of Justice basement. He has a bone to pick with Diana, and Circe offers her body for eating if he can get them into the vault. He obliges. Meanwhile, in the Collective Unconscious, Wonder Woman is tortured by the Upside Down Man. She offers him a deal: help her tap into Hecate’s latent power within her so she can fight back, and she’ll ensure Upside Down Man’s place as magic’s counterbalance. He also obliges.

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    Circe and her League go straight for Eclipso’s room in the vault where Zatanna and Constantine are hiding out, when suddenly she is confronted by Wonder Woman in 3 forms: her normal goddess form, her witchmarked form, and her Lord of Chaos form. She re-slayed Drakul and de-powered Circe. Midnite and the Floronic Man yeilded, and when no one was looking, Klarion took Grundy and teleported away.

    Circe had one more play though. She called for the Black Diamond, which shot through the air and cut Wonder Woman’s arm, infecting her with Eclipso. This allowed Circe to regain her power and bind the Witchmark and Lord of Chaos Wonder Women. Her team cheers her on, but Diana admits she can’t beat Eclipso on her own because it was created to negate Hecate. That’s when Nassour appeared wearing the Helmet of Fate. He had convinced Nabu that containing Chaos was still possible. Nassour coaches Diana in ordering her magic, starting small and working her way up. She restored Drakul to his exhibit, rebuilt the walls of their headquarters, and restored the minds of Bobo and Man-Bat. Then she took care of Circe. She contained her in a mirror with the power of Hecate to keep her content.

    The only thing she couldn’t restore was Swamp Thing. A problem for another day.

    The Parliaments of Life

    "Find Abby." Those were Swamp Thing's last words, and with them, the League found a new conflict among sources of magic.

    The laws of nature were at war with each other, and the Parliaments of Life (The Green, The Red, The Grey, The Divided, and The Rot) needed to reconvene to bring back order. This would require the cooperation of their chosen guardians. The Floronic Man, the guardian of the Green, was already in their custody, and Zatanna and Constantine went searching for Abby Arcane, guardian of the Rot, who was being manipulated by her father, Anton. Animal Man, guardian of the Red, was working with Wonder Woman and Bobo in California against The Grey' fungus-related zombie plague, when he was able to reach out to the The Divided's microbiome of humanity for a reluctant truce. The Divided was able to fend off the fungus infection long enough for the team to regroup against Anton.

    Anton, disconnected from The Rot, was brought back through a secret alliance with the Upside Down Man. Anton attempted to stand in the way of the Parliaments coming together for the sake of The Otherkind. So, Constantine took it upon himself to change the plan. The guardians were meant to give up their power, but after Floronic Man was turned back into a human, Abby destroyed the Parliament of Flowers. Using a seed left over in the decay, Constantine was able to revitalize Swamp Thing (now with Alec Holland's personality back to foggy memories), who easily defeated Anton, restoring the balance

    The Cost of Magic

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    With the balance of the laws of nature restored, the team look to combine their new found powers and lessons to stand against the Otherkind together stronger than they have ever been. Zatanna deciphers her father's coded messages about the cost of magic. Bobo goes searching for Constantine who is getting his own lesson in the cost of magic from Madame Xanadu. Man-Bat uncovers the secrets of Swamp Thing's new powers: all the Parliaments of Life are working in tandem through him. Khalid embraces his role as the new Dr. Fate based on the encouragement of Kent Nelson, and Wonder Woman is able to convince Circe to share Hecate's power from her mirror dimension.

    With their combined might, they were able to hurt the Upside Down Man, but they couldn't beat him. Bobo had lost his sword, Constantine lost his life, Nabu and his power were cast out of the Helmet of Fate, and Swamp Thing sacrificed himself bringing new life to the void of the Otherkind. It wasn't until Zatanna merged her body with the Upside Down Man, turning him right side up, that the team was able to get an upper hand. The Upside Down Man had most of the control over their shared body with Zatanna being pushed further inward. She thought back to her childhood when her pet rabbit died and she used magic to revive it. Her father wasn't able to stop it, but he was able to take on the cost of the magic trick, coughing up blood. Zatanna never used that magic again, but, while merged with the Upside Down Man, she manifested a dead rabbit and performed the ritual once more. This time, the Upside Down Man took the cost and thus switch places with Zatanna.

    With the Upside Down Man imprisoned in Zatanna, Wonder Woman used Hecate's power to lock the Otherkind away for good, fixing what was once broken. With the new life propagating in the Otherkind's void, Bobo declared it New Myrra. Zatara, ever the dutiful father, returned as a ghost to give his daughter yet another gift. He took the cost of Constantine's spellcasting allowing John to come back from the dead. Man-Bat, feeling guilt over Swamp Thing's sacrificed, discovered brainwave patterns in the green implying he was still out there.

    And the team stands ready knowing this is only a respite from danger.

    The Endless Winter

    New Champion of the Green
    New Champion of the Green

    After Sebastian Stagg released the Frost King, The Justice League was spread thin fighting him off across the globe and the Justice League Dark pitched in the best they could. Hippolyta told them stories about how she with Black Adam, Viking Prince, and a previous avatar of the Green faced off against the Frost King. Wonder Woman and Zatanna head to New Myrrah to retrieve Swamp Thing but he is unable to or else the New Myrrah might return to The Other Place. He gives them a gift instead. When they return, they see the rest of their team has held a séance with Hippolyta to speak to the Viking Prince's spirit. They combine a seed pod swampy gave them with the Viking Prince giving them a new Green Viking.

    Wonder Woman and the Green Viking joined the rest of the League against the Frost King, eventually besting him.

    Merlin and the Darkworlds

    Diana returns
    Diana returns

    With The Otherkind taken care of, the Justice League Dark stayed associated with the main Justice League team, retaining their headquarters in the basement of the Hall of Justice. However, Wonder Woman took a step back from the team and eventually died during a battle in the Dark Multiverse.

    At this time the infamous Merlin attempts to consolidate magic for himself. His first move is to find his old objects of power: The Eternity Book and The Alchemist Stone. With new recruits, Ragman and Jason Blood/Etrigan, the team enter the Library of Babel to talk to the Man of the Book. He informs them that Merlin already made off with the Book of Eternity, but his interest in some ancient cartography lead them to ancient ruins of Atlantis.

    As Atlantis is a source of magic, Merlin went to open a gateway to the Darkworlds, so the JLD send word to Aquaman to get his army ready to take on the reanimated army of the old kingdom, including Arion, while the JLD confronted Merlin. Unfortunately, it was a trap. Merlin led them there to awaken the Upside Down Man, still inside Zatanna. Distracted, they weren't able to stop Merlin from entering the Darkworlds, but with help from Atlantean sorcerers, a new teammate, Elnara, and a resurrected Wonder Woman, the team were able to save Zatanna.

    During a team debriefing on what to do about Merlin, Mister E approached Zatanna with new information. Yuga Khan had taken a piece of Merlin's soul and sent him on this quest. He offered Zatanna the soul piece in exchange for Merlin's jewel, the source of his power, when she defeats him.

    Eclipso on Gemworld

    The JLD were recruited by Amethyst when Eclipso was invading Gemworld. At the same time, a glaive with properties similar to the Heart of Darkness showed up in Keystone City. Dr. Fate sensed it, as well as Wally West’s immunity to Eclipso’s control. It pulled Fate away from the team to bring Wally West to Gemworld to help them. It was him that pieced together that Eclipso was trying to turn Gemworld into one gigantic Heart of Darkness. Unfortunately, just as he learned this, the JLD fell into Eclipso’s trance and turned on him.

    With the help of his kids and Dark Opal, Wally was able to trap Eclipso back in the glaive, freeing the Justice League Dark from their trance. After the Spectre retrieved the glaive, Dr. Fate was able to use his magic to get everyone home from Gemworld.

    Knight Terrors

    When Insomnia plunges the world into sleep and attacks them with their own nightmares, he sends his generals after the last remaining heroes who stayed awake. Through magical incantation, Zatanna was able to keep awake, but she needed help protecting her comatose JLD team members, Wonder Woman and Detective Chimp, from The Sleepless Queen. She summons Robotman, as robots are immune to Insomnia’s dream powers, who helps her bring her teammates deeper into the Hall of Justice basement.

    Meanwhile, in the nightmare world, Constantine tracks down Diana and Bobo and leads them to a castle where the other members of the Justice League Dark are being kept. Unfortunately, the nightmare illusions are too strong and the trio is separated, each tortured by their own nightmare. Fortunately, Diana learns to embrace her fear, overcoming the nightmare illusions and rescuing her teammates. She is able to wake them with a rousing speech.

    Reunited, the Justice League Dark, now with Robotman, head to the big fight against Insomnia with the other Leaguers. They do their best to help fight off the illusions and nightmare creatures, but none are able to best Insomnia. Original JL Dark member and occasional ally, Deadman was the only one capable. He grabbed Insomnia and dragged him to the afterlife, finally ending his long heroic career as a helpful ghost.

    Alternate Versions

    Future State

    In one potential future....

    The infamous Merlin attempts to consolidate magic for himself. This sends many magic users underground, except Zatanna and Bobo (now possessed by Etrigan). They tracked down their former allies Ragman, John Constantine, and Dr. Fate (Khalid) so they could stand against Merlin together.

    Merlin wants to get his hands on the helm of Fate so that he may see the future. The team defends it the best they can, but they are beaten. To spare his team's life, Khalid agrees to be Merlin's personal oracle, as Merlin is unable to use the helm himself. Before departing, Khalid gives each of his teammates personal words of wisdom, while whispering to Etrigan that he had seen all possible outcomes and that this is the only way to win.

    Other Media

    Justice League Dark (2017)

    No Caption Provided

    Justice League Dark 2017 American animated superhero film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Home Video. Featuring the DC Comics team of the same name created by Peter Milligan and Mikel Janin, the film is the twenty-seventh in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series.

    The film is directed by Jay Oliva, and stars the voices of Matt Ryan, Jason O'Mara, Camilla Luddington, Nicholas Turturro, and Ray Chase. It is the first Justice League film and the second DC Universe animated film to be rated R by the MPAA. Justice League Dark features an original premise wherein a supernatural force is causing violent crimes across America, and Justice League member Batman consults exorcist John Constantine to form a team of magic-based metahumans. The team consists of John Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, Etrigan, Black Orchid, Swamp Thing and of course Batman (as a temporary member).

    Justice League Dark: Apokalips War

    In a sequel to Justice League Dark and a finale to a shared animated canon starting with Justice League: War, the Justice League Dark team had been folded into the main Justice League team. Darkseid led an invasion on Earth that finally proved successful, decimating the Justice League leaving Constantine, Damien Wayne, and a powerless Superman to be Earth's last hope against Darkseid's forces

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