Here’s our first look at the future of the Justice League

Last summer, the DC Universe was all about Dark Nights: Metal, when a cosmic threat threw the Justice League and the world into chaos. This summer, that place is taken by Justice: No Justice, and in comparison to its predecessor it’s charmingly petite.

No Justice will number a svelte four issues, one released each week in May, before the consequences of its events will spin out into several new team books in various flavors. But in terms of content, Justice League: No Justice is still tangling with the big cosmic forces of the DC Universe,

And co-writers James Tynion IV (Detective Comics), Joshua Williamson (The Flash) and Scott Snyder (the architect of Dark Nights: Metal and soon, Justice League) — alongside artists Francis Manapul (The Flash, Detective Comics, Trinity), Marcus To (Nightwing) and Riley Rossmo (Constantine: The Hellblazer, Batman/The Shadow) — show that in just the first seven pages of Justice League: No Justice #1, released today by DC Comics.

The pages make clear the primary point you need to know from Dark Nights: Metal: that while saving the multiverse, the Justice League punched a hole in the Source Wall, the final boundary of boundaries. Our universe is leaking out of it, and at the same time, something has come through.

“The DC Universe at the end of Metal is almost like a fishbowl that got poured into the ocean, that’s the feeling we want,” Scott Snyder told fans in a video prepared for the DC Publisher’s panel at WonderCon in March. “No Justice is the first inkling the heroes have of how crazy things are going to get.”

The first foe that the Justice League will face from beyond the Source Wall are four giant beings who represent the universe’s major energies — Mystery, Wonder, Wisdom and Entropy — who sustain themselves, Galactus-like, by devouring planets. This is of particular interest to one of Superman’s oldest foes, Brainiac, as the four beings are about to chow down on his home planet of Colu. He arrives on Earth and sort-of-demands, sort-of-forces the Justice League to come clean up the mess they’ve made.

And since he knows their enemy best, Braniac’s in charge of all the team rosters.

That’s a narrative hook that allows Justice League: No Justice’s creative team to indulge in some serious comic book “moneyball,” as Snyder calls it. There’s team Mystery, consisting of Superman, the Martian Manhunter, Starfire, and major villains Starro and Sinestro; team Entropy, including billionaires Batman and Lex Luthor, the assassin Deathstroke, the alien bruiser Lobo and the Teen Titans’ Beast Boy; team Magic, consisting of the mystical heroes Wonder Woman, Doctor Fate, Zatanna, Raven and Etrigan the Demon; and finally, team Wisdom, made up of the Flash, Damian Wayne (Robin), the Atom, Cyborg and, implausibly, Harley Quinn.

“No Justice takes all of the energy of Metal,” Snyder said at WonderCon, “all of that sense of wonder and terror at the sudden expansion of the universe, and that desire to explore.”

And just like Metal, No Justice will set the stage for Snyder’s upcoming run on Justice League, as well as multiple spinoff series, including two secondary Justice League teams patrolling the dangers of space and the unknown threats of the magical world. Justice League: No Justice will hit shelves on May 9, and you can read the first seven pages below.

Francis Manapul/DC Comics

Francis Manapul/DC Comics

Francis Manapul/DC Comics

Francis Manapul/DC Comics

Francis Manapul/DC Comics