Messages from the Dream King, Part 8933
Jan. 26th, 2004 04:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khaosworksDream: one of those massive complicated Moore/Morrison-esque comic book plots with "kewl" payoffs that only really make sense in a dream. Probably an Elseworld, set in the DC Universe.
For some reason, J'onn J'onzz ,the Martian Manhunter had gone bonkers, and had taken over the world - not as a conquerer, but as leader of the Justice League, which had somehow convinced people that the world was better served being under the rule of super-powered human beings. Lex Luthor was still President, but apparently of a world government, and was a puppet of the League. Superman had been mind-controlled by J'onn.
The JL members who knew that J'onn had lost it were declared outlaws and terrorists. On the run, they concocted a plan. Again, for some unspecified reason these members either didn't have super-powers or weren't powerful enough to go up against the other JL members who had bought into the world-conquest shtick or were mind-controlled by J'onn, so they had to act clandestinely. The dream didn't tell me who these ex-JL members were, but Diana was definitely among them.
First the rebels kidnapped Superman - how this was accomplished became apparent later. This drove the JL nuts, since Superman was J'onn's main propaganda tool and spokesman for the JL's rule. Next, the rebels caused enough disruption around the world for J'onn to open up membership to the JL to every remaining super-powered human in the world, to capture the terrorists and essentially set up his metahuman ruling class. To facilitate this, J'onn asked Luthor for Lexcorp to build him a massive battlecruiser that would serve as a new Watchtower and be able to go carry his superhuman JL Army anywhere in interstellar space at a moment's notice.
What J'onn didn't realize was this - the plan to recruit every last superhuman and the battlecruiser was not really his idea, but the rebels', a suggestion that had been planted in his mind by a mole within the JL's ranks. Yes, J'onn's a telepath, but the suggestion itself I'm reasoning now (after the dream) would be effective because it wasn't overtly against his interests. The reason behind the superhuman recruitment campaign was to weed out every last power-hungry or weak-minded metahuman on the planet that bought into J'onn's control or rhetoric, and the battlecruiser was actually of the rebels' own design and with backdoors build into the systems under their control, via their agents in Lexcorp.
The rebels send a few of their number into deep space on a mission. When they return, the rebels release Superman.
Superman is brought aboard the battlecruiser to be examined by J'onn, who has assembled his entire superhuman army on board. Superman suddenly goes berserk, and when the rest of the JL Army attack him, he falls apart, revealing himself to not be Superman, but actually a robot, a mechanoid that infects every superhuman on the battlecruiser with a deadly bioengineered disease, that even if it doesn't kill the infected person outright, will remain dormant in his or her system forever. For some reason, this forces the JL Army to agree to leave Earth in the battlecruiser, whose weapons systems have been disabled by the rebels, of course.
(Maybe, I'm reasoning, the disease will be reactivated if the infected person ever sets foot on Earth again. The reason behind the deep space mission in the dream was to go to the remains of Krypton - the disease is a modified version of Virus X that infects all superhumans, not just Kryptonians. Also, maybe part of the virus' makeup is to be able to be triggered by a specific biosphere, or even better - makes them dependent on the artificial biosphere of the battlecruiser, so they can never get off... remember, the Kryptonians, post-Byrne, had their physiology tied to Krypton's biosphere and would die if they left, so the link isn't entirely implausible by comic book logic. They probably also needed to kidnap Superman so they could get enough Kryptonian DNA samples to engineer the virus to their specifications. I can sense Bruce is somehow involved.)
The mole in the JL Army? Zatanna, who was able to overcome Superman initially by magic and also planted the suggestions in J'onn's mind, and who voluntarily sacrificed herself to exile with the virus. On hindsight, maybe Zatanna wasn't a good choice. Who I'd probably choose if this was written up is of course John Constantine. I love the idea of Constantine as an Iago, whispering little conspiratorial things to J'onn and manipulating him. And of course, Constantine knows how to work magic, but he'd probably spirit himself off the battlecruiser before being infected rather than sacrifice himself... if he could help it.
There are plenty of holes and flaws in the in the above, of course. Why only Zatanna/Constantine, what happened to the other magic-based people, what happens to Superman at the end, how did they get people into Lexcorp, etc.
But it's only a dream.
For some reason, J'onn J'onzz ,the Martian Manhunter had gone bonkers, and had taken over the world - not as a conquerer, but as leader of the Justice League, which had somehow convinced people that the world was better served being under the rule of super-powered human beings. Lex Luthor was still President, but apparently of a world government, and was a puppet of the League. Superman had been mind-controlled by J'onn.
The JL members who knew that J'onn had lost it were declared outlaws and terrorists. On the run, they concocted a plan. Again, for some unspecified reason these members either didn't have super-powers or weren't powerful enough to go up against the other JL members who had bought into the world-conquest shtick or were mind-controlled by J'onn, so they had to act clandestinely. The dream didn't tell me who these ex-JL members were, but Diana was definitely among them.
First the rebels kidnapped Superman - how this was accomplished became apparent later. This drove the JL nuts, since Superman was J'onn's main propaganda tool and spokesman for the JL's rule. Next, the rebels caused enough disruption around the world for J'onn to open up membership to the JL to every remaining super-powered human in the world, to capture the terrorists and essentially set up his metahuman ruling class. To facilitate this, J'onn asked Luthor for Lexcorp to build him a massive battlecruiser that would serve as a new Watchtower and be able to go carry his superhuman JL Army anywhere in interstellar space at a moment's notice.
What J'onn didn't realize was this - the plan to recruit every last superhuman and the battlecruiser was not really his idea, but the rebels', a suggestion that had been planted in his mind by a mole within the JL's ranks. Yes, J'onn's a telepath, but the suggestion itself I'm reasoning now (after the dream) would be effective because it wasn't overtly against his interests. The reason behind the superhuman recruitment campaign was to weed out every last power-hungry or weak-minded metahuman on the planet that bought into J'onn's control or rhetoric, and the battlecruiser was actually of the rebels' own design and with backdoors build into the systems under their control, via their agents in Lexcorp.
The rebels send a few of their number into deep space on a mission. When they return, the rebels release Superman.
Superman is brought aboard the battlecruiser to be examined by J'onn, who has assembled his entire superhuman army on board. Superman suddenly goes berserk, and when the rest of the JL Army attack him, he falls apart, revealing himself to not be Superman, but actually a robot, a mechanoid that infects every superhuman on the battlecruiser with a deadly bioengineered disease, that even if it doesn't kill the infected person outright, will remain dormant in his or her system forever. For some reason, this forces the JL Army to agree to leave Earth in the battlecruiser, whose weapons systems have been disabled by the rebels, of course.
(Maybe, I'm reasoning, the disease will be reactivated if the infected person ever sets foot on Earth again. The reason behind the deep space mission in the dream was to go to the remains of Krypton - the disease is a modified version of Virus X that infects all superhumans, not just Kryptonians. Also, maybe part of the virus' makeup is to be able to be triggered by a specific biosphere, or even better - makes them dependent on the artificial biosphere of the battlecruiser, so they can never get off... remember, the Kryptonians, post-Byrne, had their physiology tied to Krypton's biosphere and would die if they left, so the link isn't entirely implausible by comic book logic. They probably also needed to kidnap Superman so they could get enough Kryptonian DNA samples to engineer the virus to their specifications. I can sense Bruce is somehow involved.)
The mole in the JL Army? Zatanna, who was able to overcome Superman initially by magic and also planted the suggestions in J'onn's mind, and who voluntarily sacrificed herself to exile with the virus. On hindsight, maybe Zatanna wasn't a good choice. Who I'd probably choose if this was written up is of course John Constantine. I love the idea of Constantine as an Iago, whispering little conspiratorial things to J'onn and manipulating him. And of course, Constantine knows how to work magic, but he'd probably spirit himself off the battlecruiser before being infected rather than sacrifice himself... if he could help it.
There are plenty of holes and flaws in the in the above, of course. Why only Zatanna/Constantine, what happened to the other magic-based people, what happens to Superman at the end, how did they get people into Lexcorp, etc.
But it's only a dream.
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-26 09:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-26 12:52 pm (UTC)(And yes, that's definetely Bruce's style of plot.)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-26 03:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-26 04:12 pm (UTC)