Underworld Unleashed

Image
Caption	Cover of Underworld Unleashed #1 (November 1995) featuring Neron (top), Doctor Polaris, Lex Luthor, the Joker, Circe, and Abra Kadabra (bottom, left to right), art by Howard Porter.
Format	Miniseries
Publisher	DC Comics
Date	November 1995 – late December 1995
Genre	Superhero Crossover
Issues	3, plus several tie-in issues and four one-shot issues
Main Char Team	Justice League America Neron Trickster
Writers	Mark Waid
Editors	Brian Augustyn (editor) Stephen Wacker (assistant editor)
Artists	Howard Porter Dan Green Chris Eliopoulos Dennis Janke John Nyberg Rick Taylor Heroic Age (a.k.a. Pat Garrahy)
Pencillers	Howard Porter
Inkers	Dan Green (issues #1–2) Dennis Janke (issue #3) John Nyberg (issue #3)
Letterers	Chris Eliopoulos
Colorists	Rick Taylor (colorist) Heroic Age (a.k.a. Pat Garrahy; color separator)
Creative Team Month	November
Creative Team Year	1995
Creators	Mark Waid Howard Porter
Italic Title	yes

Plot

Neron dupes five of the Rogues who typically battle the Flash: Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, the Mirror Master, and the Weather Wizard. He promises them a chance to go down in history as five of the greatest villains if they each engage in a specific destructive act. He does not tell them that it will cost them their lives and unleash him onto the Earth. Lex Luthor, the Joker, Circe, Doctor Polaris, and Abra Kadabra become his Inner Council.

Neron sends magical candles to many supervillains. When they are all lit, they transport the villains to Neron's underworld realm. Many villains accept his offer, but some do not. The newly empowered villains are sent back to Earth to wreak havoc while Neron turns his attention to the superheroes. Along the way, the Trickster comes to Neron, but does not make a deal with him. Instead, he helps Neron betray his Inner Council.

When the heroes come to Neron's realm looking to defeat him, they are corrupted by the influences of that realm. Trickster works out how Neron can be stopped, and instructs Captain Marvel to beat Neron at his own game by offering the demon his soul for purely selfless reasons. Unable to even touch the offer, Neron's work is reversed: breaking that one deal also broke all his others.

Collected editions

• The three-issue miniseries Underworld Unleashed, together with the one-shot issue Underworld Unleashed: Abyss - Hell's Sentinel #1, was collected as a trade paperback called Underworld Unleashed (DC Comics, March 1998, 158 pages, isbn 1-56389-447-5).
• In 2020, a new hardcover graphic novel, Underworld Unleashed: The 25th Anniversary Edition, was published, containing the three-issue miniseries plus the four one-shot issues Underworld Unleashed: Abyss - Hell's Sentinel #1, Underworld Unleashed: Apokolips - Dark Uprising #1, Underworld Unleashed: Batman - Devil's Asylum #1 and Underworld Unleashed: Patterns of Fear #1 (DC Comics, November 2020, 304 pp., isbn 978-1779505781)).

References

External links

• Underworld Unleashed at DC Wiki
• Underworld Unleashed at DCU Guide