The New 52: Futures End #45 Review

Writers: Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, Jeff Lemire

Artists: Jack Herbert, Stephen Thompson, Hi-Fi, Ryan Sook

Futures End #44 Recap

Mr. Terrific and the Atom work together to stop Brainiac’s systems. Firestorm and Doctor Polaris stabilize collapsing buildings while Superman goes after Brainiac himself. And Tim Drake agrees to team up with Batman Beyond in stopping the impending apocalyptic future. As the Atom, Batman, and Mr. Terrific attempt to run an operating system, they discover that their servers don’t have enough power. Superman briefly damages Brainiac’s neurological processors, which gives the Atom just enough time to fly in with millions of uSpheres — encompassing Brainiac. With Brainiac defeated and the machine shut down, New York City starts to descend. Superman flies in and safely lands it. Brainiac has now been shrunken down in size and the Atom imprisons him in one of the uSpheres.

Spoiler-Free Reaction

Futures End #45 shows the aftermath of Brainiac’s invasion and sets up a cliffhanger for the final three issues.

Plot Details and Spoilers and Deaths: Oh My!

More from Comics

Castle Frankenstein: A dying Frankenstein dictates his autobiography to Amethyst, who’s helping him record it into a book. With his last breath, Frankenstein encourages Amethyst to not lose hope. After burying Frankenstein, Amethyst takes his advice to heart by going on a mission to reclaim Gemworld.

New York City: The Justice League ponders what to do with Brainiac’s machine. Heeding Doctor Polaris’s warnings, Superman agrees to fly the machine into space. As the team is distracted with Superman’s lift-off, Doctor Polaris escapes.

Superman hurls Brainiac’s machine into the Sun where it’s destroyed.

Though Doctor Polaris is missing, Shazam and Firestorm make rescue and recovery a priority. Their first task is helping a school bus full of children. Flying back down to the city, Superman is greeted by Lois Lane, curious to see if his return is permanent.

Upstate: King Faraday brings Ethan Boyer to an unassuming house. Right after being scanned, Boyer is knocked unconscious with a powerful electric shock. It’s revealed that Voodoo has been guarding the premises for Faraday. The house is a facade and within it is an elevator that leads to an underground Cadmus station. After helping Faraday bring Boyer into Cadmus, Voodoo is sent back up — the entryway then seals, with no ability to enter or exit. As Voodoo goes back up, she’s overwhelmed by a gas that renders her unconscious. Waiting for her is General Rock, Mercy, Banger, and Mash.

Terrifitech: As Mr. Terrific and the Atom briefly celebrate the victory over Brainiac, Batman is still analyzing the situation. Mr. Terrific finally has Brother Eye disengage, but the system refuses. Walking in the halls of Terrifitech, Batman Beyond, Plastique, Key, and Coil experience a blackout. When the blackout ends, Brother Eye has embedded uSphere’s into the dead guards — turning them into zombies-like cyborgs.

Wrapping It Up

Futures End #45 concludes the battle with Brainiac by capping the story off in rescue and recovery tasks. It slows the series down, but not dramatically. It’s basically a breather before we go into the original goal of Batman Beyond traveling back in time — Brother Eye. The cliffhanger ending shows the AI entity using Mr. Terrific’s uSpheres as a means to create the precursor to his cyborg army. I’m making a guess right now that Brother Eye may adapt some of Brainiac’s technology to help him assimilate beings who will put up more of a fight — the Justice League. It could also act as a stronger reason as to why Brainiac was even introduced into the Futures End story line. I’m looking forward to seeing how the next big battle in this series will lead to April’s Convergence.

Next: Miss the last issue? Catch up with a review of Futures End #44

More from Bam Smack Pow

Home/Comics