The New 52: Futures End #25 Review
By Steve Lam
Writers: Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, Jeff Lemire
Artists: Jesus Merino, Dan Green, Patrick Zircher, Ryan Sook
Futures End #24 Recap
In the Huron System, Brainiac’s drones, chasing the Atom and his team, invade the Carrier. On Cadmus Island, Mister Miracle and Fury form a plan to go after Brother Eye. At Columbia University, Dr. Yamazake, against the wishes of Jason Rusch, moves forward with human trials for his transporter. In Africa, Superman leaps into action to protect Constantine and team against an attacking Parasite.
Spoiler-Free Reaction
Futures End #25 is actually a great follow-up issue to #24. Tying up the micro-goals from the last issue, the story is launched into a new direction with some new twists.
Plot Details and Spoilers and Deaths: Oh My!
Deep Space, The Carrier: Black Adam, the Atom, Frankenstein, and Amethyst stave off Brainiac’s drones while Hawkman protects Engineer as she tries to reboot the Carrier’s systems. Unable to access a bleed drive that’s located in another section of the Carrier, Engineer initiates a jump which takes them to another location in the multiverse.
Cadmus Island, Fifty Sue’s Secret Bunker: To the team’s shock, Fifty Sue is in contact with Brother Eye, but she has been blocking his ability to track their location. According to Fifty Sue, this is the only way to carry out their plan. Wanting to get off the island, Grifter reveals that Faraday is also superhuman. Unable to keep up the lie, Faraday transports away and abandons the team. Fifty Sue then reveals her plan — storming the compound with pure brute force.
Africa: Superman battles the techno-Parasite and quickly defeats him with his heat vision. Constantine tells Superman that he has never truly faced Brainiac. The Parasite that Superman had just fought was a way to gather information on his abilities. Since there are seven ancient portals around the world, the real Brainiac is at one of them. And Constantine offers to take Superman to them.
Columbia University, New York: As Madison Payne and Ronnie Raymond converse, a breaking news report warns of an impending tsunami for Samoa. Ronnie runs to Dr. Yamazke’s lab to find Jason Rush. Wanting to transform into Firestorm so that they can stop the disaster, Ronnie is rejected by Jason. As an alternative, Jason calls Superman (now Billy Batson) to stop the tsunami. As Ronnie exits in defeat, we find that Yamazake has been monitoring both Ronnie and Jason because of his now confirmed suspicions of them being Firestorm. Yamazake, with his twisted observations, thinks that every Justice League member is trying to stop his progress.
Wrapping It Up
With my disappointment in last week’s Futures End #24, I’m glad to see that this week’s issue launches each plotline into a new direction using some twists. Allowing the Carrier to jump into another area of the multiverse really spiced things up and starts a new Crisis-type story arc. Superman’s impending face off with the real Brainiac has also grabbed my interest in seeing how Superman goes back into action. And the revelation of Yamazake spying on each member of the Justice League revealed the root of his headstrong desire to accelerate the progress of the transporter. The timing of these twists couldn’t have come in a better issue, as we’re now halfway through Futures End‘s forty-eight issue story arc.