Underworld Unleashed
{{Short description|1995 DC Comics multi-title comic book crossover event}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Notability|date=April 2020}}
{{Original research|date=April 2020}}
{{Primary sources|date=April 2020}}
{{All plot|date=April 2023}}
}}
{{Infobox comic book title
| image = Uwu01.jpg
| caption = Cover of Underworld Unleashed #1 (November 1995) featuring Neron (top), Doctor Polaris I, Lex Luthor, the Joker, Circe I and Abra Kadabra (bottom, left to right), art by Howard Porter.
| schedule =
| format = Miniseries
| publisher = DC Comics
| date = November 1995 – late December 1995
| issues = 3, plus several tie-in issues and four one-shot issues
| main_char_team = Justice League America
Neron
the Trickster I
| writers = Mark Waid
| editors = Brian Augustyn (editor)
Stephen Wacker (assistant editor)
| artists = Howard Porter
Dan Green
Chris Eliopoulos
Dennis Janke
John Nyberg
Rick Taylor
Heroic Age (a.k.a. Pat Garrahy)
| pencillers = Howard Porter
| inkers = Dan Green (issues #1–2)
Dennis Janke (issue #3)
John Nyberg (issue #3)
| letterers = Chris Eliopoulos
| colorists = Rick Taylor (colorist)
Heroic Age (a.k.a. Pat Garrahy; color separator)
| creative_team_month = November
| creative_team_year = 1995
| creators = Mark Waid
Howard Porter
| italic title = yes
}}
Underworld Unleashed was a multi-title American comic book crossover event released by DC Comics in 1995.
The main theme of Underworld Unleashed involved the new ruler of Hell, a demon-lord named Neron, offering first many of the DC Universe supervillains and then a number of the DC Universe superheroes various deals in exchange for their souls.Underworld Unleashed trade paperback (DC Comics, March 1998 ({{ISBN|1-56389-447-5}}) and hardcover 25th Anniversary Edition (DC Comics, November 2020 ({{ISBN|978-1779505781}}))
Plot
{{more plot|date=July 2024}}
Neron dupes five of the Rogues who typically battle the Flash: Captain Boomerang I, Captain Cold, Heat Wave I, the Mirror Master II, and the Weather Wizard. He promises them a chance to go down in history as five of the greatest villains if they each engage in a specific destructive act. He does not tell them that it will cost them their lives and unleash him onto the Earth. Lex Luthor, the Joker, Circe I, Doctor Polaris I and Abra Kadabra become his Inner Council.
Neron sends magical candles to many supervillains. When they are all lit, they transport the villains to Neron's underworld realm. Many villains accept his offer, but some do not. The newly empowered villains are sent back to Earth to wreak havoc while Neron turns his attention to the superheroes. Along the way, the Trickster I comes to Neron, but does not make a deal with him. Instead, he helps Neron betray his Inner Council.
When the heroes come to Neron's realm looking to defeat him, they are corrupted by the influences of that realm. Trickster works out how Neron can be stopped, and instructs Captain Marvel to beat Neron at his own game by offering the demon his soul for purely selfless reasons. Unable to even touch the offer, Neron's work is reversed: breaking that one deal also broke all his others.
Collected editions
- The three-issue miniseries Underworld Unleashed, together with the one-shot issue Underworld Unleashed: Abyss - Hell's Sentinel #1, was collected as a trade paperback called Underworld Unleashed (DC Comics, March 1998, 158 pages, {{ISBN|1-56389-447-5}}).
- In 2020, a new hardcover graphic novel, Underworld Unleashed: The 25th Anniversary Edition, was published, containing the three-issue miniseries plus the four one-shot issues Underworld Unleashed: Abyss - Hell's Sentinel #1, Underworld Unleashed: Apokolips - Dark Uprising #1, Underworld Unleashed: Batman - Devil's Asylum #1 and Underworld Unleashed: Patterns of Fear #1 (DC Comics, November 2020, 304 pp., {{ISBN|978-1779505781}})).
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Underworld_Unleashed Underworld Unleashed] at DC Wiki
- [http://dcuguide.com/w/Underworld_Unleashed_Chronology Underworld Unleashed] at DCU Guide
{{DC events}}