Comics Presents #86–88 The Fury of Firestorm #41–42 Green Lantern (vol. 2) #194–195; #198 Infinity, Inc. #18–24; Annual #1 Justice League of America #244–245; Annual #3 JLA: Incarnations #5 (released in 2001) Legion of Super-Heroes #18 The Losers Special #1 The New Teen Titans (vol. 2) #13–14 The Omega Men #31 Superman #414–415 Swamp Thing #46 Wonder Woman #327–329 Legends of the DC Universe : Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (released in 1998) Collected editions Synopsis The conflicting stories of the DCU are explained as a Multiverse, containing many parallel universes and alternate versions of the characters, with the primary DC continuity referred to as Earth-One. They were created after renegade scientist Krona built a machine and used it to look back into the beginning of time. A cosmic being from the beginning known as the Monitor catalogues these realities, but he has an evil counterpart, the Anti-Monitor, who comes from an antimatter universe. After Pariah causes an accident with antimatter in his universe, the Anti-Monitor is released and begins destroying many of the realities with a wave of antimatter, planning on becoming sole ruler of all realities. To combat this, the Monitor recruits heroes and villains from across time and space to set up five towers, to help merge the multiverse back into one to make it stronger. He is murdered by his protégée, Harbinger, who is possessed by one of the Anti-Monitor's demons. However, he knew this would happen and his death releases enough energy to project two of the last five parallel Earths into a protective limbo. The Anti-Monitor recruits Psycho-Pirate to his cause, infusing him with part of his power to manipulate the heroes of Earth-4, Earth-S and Earth-X against the rest; this fails when all five Earths enter the limbo universe. Harbinger then recruits heroes from the remaining Earths to lead an assault on the Anti-Monitor in the antimatter universe, using the powers of Alexander Luthor Jr., the last survivor of Earth-Three, to open a portal between the limbo and antimatter universes. Pariah tracks down the Anti-Monitor at his fortress, and the heroes destroy a converter, powered by stellar energy, used to destroy the last five Earths; the injured Anti-Monitor retreats and Supergirl dies from his attacks after a distraction from Doctor Light. During a lull in the war, the villains unite under Brainiac, who kills Earth-Two's Alexei Luthor while recruiting the Earth-One Lex Luthor