to take shape. Plot Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman visit the Fortress of Solitude with gifts on Superman's birthday, February 29. However, they find him catatonic, with an alien plant wrapped around his body. The alien conqueror Mongul reveals himself, explaining that the plant – called the "Black Mercy" – has incapacitated Superman while it consumes his bio-aura, feeding him a realistic dream based on his heart's deepest desire. In his catatonic state, Superman dreams of a normal life on his long-destroyed home planet of Krypton, happily married to Lyla Lerrol with children. While Wonder Woman battles the more powerful Mongul at her own risk, Batman and Robin try to free Superman by prying the Black Mercy off of him. Superman's fantasy takes a dark turn as his father Jor-El, whose prediction of Krypton's doom was unfulfilled, has become discredited and embittered. Superman's mother Lara has died from the "Eating Sickness", further isolating Jor-El from his family. Even the death of his brother Zor-El has not reconciled Jor-El to his sister-in-law Alura and niece Kara Zor-El. Kryptonian society has undergone political upheaval, and the disgraced Jor-El has become chairman of an extremist movement "the Sword of Rao", calling for a return to Krypton's "noble and unspoiled" past through the establishment of a totalitarian theocracy under the leadership of Brother Lor-Em. The Phantom Zone, Krypton's other-dimensional prison system developed by Jor-El, has become unpopular with the public. Kara Zor-El is assaulted by anti-Zone protesters, for whom the criminal Jax-Ur, sentenced to eternity in the Zone, is a martyr. Kal-El decides to take his family away from the city for protection, only to witness Jor-El presiding over a political demonstration reminiscent of a Fascist rally, which dissolves into a riot between anti-Zone protesters and the Sword of Rao. Superman gradually wakes from his increasingly disturbing dream, but not before tearfully saying goodbye to his "son" Van-El away at the Kandor crater. Batman pries the Mercy from Superman's chest, and the plant latches on to him instead, submerging Batman in his own dream, in which his parents’ murder is prevented when Thomas Wayne disarms Joe Chill. Superman awakens, enraged by the Mercy's action, and attacks Mongul before he can kill Wonder Woman. They battle across the Fortress, causing massive damage. Robin uses Mongul's discarded gauntlets to pry the Mercy off Batman, stuffing the plant inside a gauntlet to carry it safely toward the