With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

That line doesn't assert that there can be only one, only that his presence would upset the cosmic balance. Sure, 1:1 is balanced, but 10:10 is balanced too. And while 2:1 is more unbalanced than 11:10, 11:10 is still unbalanced.

 

There is also the difference between some natural law, and a political compromise or doctrinal stance.

Because the latter two cases can simply have the beings who instated the policy revise the specifics of implementation, or a local exception be granted, or someone simply decided to break the rules.

 

At this point it really would be interesting to have Paragon dropped into 100% canon Young Justice world just to see him go "what the heck" at all the differences.

 

They really should have observed the planet from space or something.

 

Well this was a very poor start. What the heck did they expect to happen? I kinda hope they get their asses handed to them before retreating back to Earth 16 because they deserve to be curbstomped if they honestly thought that they can take down Demon Earth all on their own.

 

Did Paul really build a party for a raid to a demon earth without a single Magic user?
Is he concussed?

 

Paul shouldn't know about these guys since one came out in 2014 and the other two in 2017.

Paul was sent to Earth 16 in 2013.

I think it's 'Squadron Supreme'

Unless the tech in it can protect against those.

Maybe some spell to target the sin of greed, or just something to signify what that plays was guilty of.

Or he never existed in this universe.

This may not be such a good idea, since the one Orange Lantern the Guardians are familiar with is an insane lunatic, so they may not trust you.

I thought they didn't have contact with the GLC.

Well they're not fully unified, since separate countries exist.

Though I guess with advanced tech most reasons for war would be eliminated, or at least reduced.

They may not hold it against them but that doesn't change the fact that they're still killing people for stupid reasons and most of the population may believe that it is okay to do that, so the Guardians probably don't want to give more power to that society.

 

As Dr. Mist said, the thaumosphere would be so different that their abilities wouldn't be reliable.

Countdown to Final Crisis was 2008.

Thank you, corrected.

No regular contact.

There's a single unifying ideology and society. It doesn't need to have a single ruler to be unified.

Hah!

 

See, my first start would have been to drop mega-spelleaters from orbit or something.

 

I didn't know about them, but I fail to see the relevance. Shouldn't you be a little more worried about diving into a demon-ruled Earth with minimal numbers and only the relative power of three Kryptonians and a Lantern?

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

True. After the original Gruenwald mini-series (which involves the Squadron basically taking over their world (it ends poorly for some of them,) Marvel seemed at a loss for what to do, besides occasionally throw them at the Avengers every so often to maintain the trademark...

To be fair, that era was... pretty dark overall. And kind of stupid in some respects for the sake of 'realism'... Reality is overrated, comics are meant to be fun.

We get the picture. Maximum misery for minimum effort. Exactly how a demon would act if they were in control of the world's most powerful beings...

Good to see he can recognise the sheer toll things have taken... Unpleasant as that thought might be.

Like I said the other day: Compassion. This is a man who knows the worth of life...

Truer words have never been spoken... But I fear that accomplishing your goals may be easier said than done.

...Ouch. Given the world's population would have been around six billion at the beginning... That's 3 out of 4 people dead... No wonder the daemons are looking elsewhere, with their supply running out.

OL, he's not a meathead grunt. This is a man who's basically led his Earth for years (whether as figurehead or dictator.)

Oh, that's not good...

Great, they've already got the Lord of Darkness whispering in their ears... Dammit, OL, why the hell did you let them rush this shit?

Hmm... Wonder if he's making threats or offers of friendship?

Or he's using magic to focus on his counterparts. More likely, the demon behind the throne is...

...Boy, that call might set a cat amongst the Guardian's pigeons...

And no doubt the Guardians would cut their losses and place the Solar System in lockdown.

Bit of a stretch. Then again, as the Lantern of Vega's neighbouring sector, he'd be familiar with Orange light...

...Though I see he went with the most obvious theory.

Well, would the guardians have allowed a Human to have been recruited, in the face of Earth's... Corruption?

Not for much longer, if OL and company have anything to say about it... Though, as I said, that may be harder than they thought.

Guessing she's curious as to why he'd try to make contact...

Presumably the Green lantern of the Reichsmen is using Alan's old gear. And thus isn't official. Probably got Tomar-re looking in out of curiosity.

Well, it would be a mark on the Reich's permanent record... Something to be monitored if they ever got off-world.

That's some impressive range Demon-Superman's got. Wonder if he was using demonic magic to produce an ersatz Omega-Effect homing beam?

Kal-el isn't given to using his super-speed to think about these things. He sees an ally in danger, he acts.

Oof, teleportation? I'm guessing Demon Superman's blasts were more on the level of toying with them, rather than trying to inflict actual harm... Make them feel Fear, that sort of thing...

See, OL. This is why you should have made them wait until you could set some sort of plan up. And maybe at least try not to pop into Earth-Hell where they could track you? Points for thinking to ping the local Lantern Corps, though I doubt the bobbleheads will offer you any aid. Welp, time to see how badly they get their asses kicked in the initial encounters.

 

They are observing from space.

 

Having two whole Supermen on their team might have made them a little cocky/reckless with this mission.

 

I think it's him thinking of different variations to compare Suoerman and Overman.

Like Ziat said, magicians may not be able to do much, and you don't get more powerful than a Kryptonian.

Comic authors have a difficult time using actual realism and more often than not they go edgelord while thinking they're realistic.

I think Stan Lee once complained about something like that for the Ultimate Universe.

I don't think he's led his home, more like acting as something like a champion.

Though he may have a lot of influence.

Or both.

Or what he thinks are offers of friendship but are really threats to anyone sane.

Not really.

The Guardians may not have told him about Larfleeze and he probably never entered Vega.

Probably not.

And Green Man may not think he's a human and considers him to be a humanoid, but not from Earth.

Yep, he's using Alan's ring, which was taken after he was killed.

Plus they're still killing people they consider undesirable, so the Guardians would be reluctant to help them.

 

Of the available magic users he has theoretically on tap at the present...

Most of them would have trouble adapting to a foreign, demonically altered thaumosphere, according to Doctor Mist, which is part of the reason he didn't come along.

Evil Conctruct Nabu is still anchored to a really stressed out civilian, and unreliable without some degree of micro-managing by Paul.

Ambrose Bierce - not really a high-intensity combat type. Giovanni Zatara - still effectively retired and recovering from his possession by canon Nabu. Zatanna Zatara - still recovering and retraining from her psychological instability due to both extended Love Emotion Infusion and the Greed Dragon encounter, as well as no longer having access to the Star Sapphire Staff. Queen Mera - not his biggest fan.

John Quinn aka current Dr. Fate - eh...not sure, but probably the same as Doctor Mist.

Angelica Blaze or Zauriel - possibilities, but this was supposed to be a stealth reconnaissance, at least at the start, and their angelic theurgy would be a big flaring 'come get us' sign. Same for bringing Supergirl Noriel.

Tracking down and recruiting an Atlantean or Themiscyran (sp?) combat mage would've probably taken longer then Superman was willing to wait, and that's assuming they wouldn't run into the same problems as Doctor Mist.

While using his working relationship with Mammon to recruit a demonic magician might be an option that would both be immediately effective and also not a big mystical warning, add the problems with Atlantis and the Amazons with the problems of general demonic unreliability, the possibility of Demon Superman having some kind of 'all demons must obey me' power or authority in play that their recruit wouldn't be immune to, and the fact that he'd need to come up with some kind of bribe to get loan of such a magically-adept demon in the first place...maybe later if it turned into a full scale war, but not for, as I said, what's supposed to be a quick scouting run before bringing the hammer down.

And finally, IIRC, Paragon Paul hasn't run into Jason Blood yet.

 

They met once, when Paul went into Hell to take down Satanus and got turned demonic himself. I'm not sure if they've met since.

 

What makes you think that they aren't?

 

It feels like a poorly planned and rushed party with the wrong equipment when the only credible magic expert is basically Paul and he's basically a hobbyist.
It is somewhat refreshing to see him make a tactical mistake this large but seems out of character given his typical overpreparedness.

 

I know Kryptonian senses are super-great and everything, but I feel like a power ring should be able to match those capabilities. It's something that's bugged me more overtly since New Kara showed up.

Now that it's not a stealth mission, they should bring in the theurgists. I wonder if Mars is safe or not- if Kal-El being demonically corrupted was the only change from Earth 16 history, then Martian Manhunter may have been corrupted and tried to take over Mars in Superman's name or something.

But yeah, getting off-planet should be possible and wise. I assume Demon Superman is weaker without a thaumosphere so he won't pursue them- that could be one way of dealing with him, even if it's not enough by itself.

 

Wouldn't it have made sense to bring Supergirl Prime? Isn't she even more powerful than Overman?

 

I'm wondering if his mind is still/again being affected by something.

Did you mean Earth One Supergirl? She's fairly vulnerable to magic (even with a spell-eater), and innocent enough that they may not have wanted to expose her to Earth-Hell.

 

I'm really interested to see what happened to the Paul on Demon Earth. Most likely he got corrupted immediately, due to the whole no-soul thing as well as the ring not being able to do much against magic. Maybe the demons getting ahold of a Power Ring is what prompted them to start invading parallel universes?

 

It can, but just about anything important on Earth 16 is scry-warded nowadays and I's imagine demon Earth is the same way.

 

What happened to Mike? The guy possessed by the demon Nabu.

 

Back on Earth 16 with Dr. Mist.

 

Yep, on Earth 16 at least the Lights equipment is scry warded and I imagine other organizations have adapted similar methods, not necessarily to block power rings but just to adapt to magic.

Yes, he's with Mist now.

They seemed to use Nabu's connection to Demon Earth in order to open a portal there.

 

My bad. I forgot he existed and had to edit that segment.

 

Demonic runes? Really? And you wonder why the White Entity burned you?

 

I concur. He did was far more prepared going to witch world than this.

The fact they've made no mention of going into space before shifting? They were with Dr. Balewa when he sent them thru. No suggestions of moving it upwards. Then no mention of space or Paul creating a environment shield to explain their ability to talk in a place with no atmosphere. Let alone how Demon Superman speaks to them without air to transfer the vibrations.

Sounds good! Paul should really get those made.

Probably should have offered them information in exchange.

The only thing I really think he should have included if nothing else was telling him why they were here. Not that the planet is ruled by monsters but that the planet of monsters has been invading parallel Earth's. Are the GLC fine with other Earth's suffering this fate? They supposedly already fought and loss once. Do they wanna face a force stockpiled with the corrupted versions of their now enemies from hundreds of Earths?

 

Is Overman referring to Hitler or Ubersmech when he says "He could not raise a child"

 

Unless I missed them going somewhere else the portal is on The Watchtower. They are likely to at least in Earth's upper atmosphere though give that Paul was visually examining a broken dam even though the local magic is interfering with his rings.