Convergence Week 4: Carrot Vs Quinn; Batman Vs Childbirth

Welcome to Recon:Vergence, a weekly look at what’s going on throughout DC’s new reality-smooshing event storyline, Convergence.

Every week until the end of the event, every comic DC publishes will be a part of this giant storyline --- and it’s a little confusing, especially for new readers. To help out, we’re going to provide a timeline of events, let you know which Universes are still in the fight, and try and keep everything on track.

And with last week starting things off proper, now seems the best time to recap what happened, to who, and why.

Tony Daniel

Main Event! Convergence #5

Having revealed his big gun --- a Brainiac in a Bottle, which I’m assuming DC will be making into a collectible for my mantelpiece any day now --- Deimos starts to crack down on the isolated pockets of opposition across the court. He hits a delightful volley through the chest of someone called Machiste, who literally appears from nowhere, before catching War Lord with an upwards lob into his late 90s, turning him into dust. It's a bit like the end of The Last Crusade. Also someone called Tara gets lanced right through the back, in case you were wondering why DC were holding out on their “people who love seeing women in bikinis getting murdered” fanbase.

Deimos concludes the issue with Telos conflicted about something or other, Yolanda kidnapped, and Brainiac dissolved. Why Deimos kept Brainiac as a mint-condition toy only to then destroy him? That’s a question for the bards to ponder in decades to come.

Convergence: Group A

Every other Convergence issue of the week is part of the same overall narrative, so you only get the whole story if you know what happened in every single issue last Wednesday. Last week's Converged cities were:

Gotham City of the ‘Pre 52’: Established in Zero Hour, this was the Universe that lasted until Flashpoint wiped it from continuity

Gotham City, Flashpoint: An alternate reality into which Pre-52 Barry Allen jumped at the start of the Flashpoint event. The timeline was supposedly erased by Barry, but he returned not to the Pre-52… but the New 52 instead.

New York City, Angor: Ruled by the super-villains known as ‘The Extremists’, this city first appeared in Justice League Europe #15.

Follywood, Califurnia: Home to Captain Carrot and his friends, who are a herd of talking animal superheroes. This city first appeared in Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #1.

Steve Pugh

Round Two

Four teams are left in the group, although that drops down to three after some cunning play from Harley Quinn’s doubles partner, Poison Ivy. Proving true to her name, she pulls a real Mr McGregor move on Captain Carrot, ending his campaign, life, and world all in one bite of a poisoned carrot. Follywood is relegated! But if this makes you feel sad, why not head to your local shelter and adopt a bunny of your own? Stand against animal cruelty, ComicsAlliance readers!

Angor take a pummelling this week, as Batman and Son(s) smash up the Extremists with a series of right hooks, whilst Ray Palmer gives Barracuda a huge left hand. *cough*

It turns out Roy Harper didn’t actually murder his best friends at close range, which is jolly nice of him, and two late substitutions take to the field for a five-on-five game against the Extremists. The match goes in some unexpected directions, as Roy takes control of the T-Shirt cannons and later sneaks in an offside challenge on Starfire. Ultimately, however, their match ends in a tie --- so this’ll have to be settled with a penalty shootout next week.

The Pre-52 are looking strong in all their games, heading to solid victories against Flashpoint’s Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Hawkpeople. Aquaman does manage to psychically force Vixen into shooting herself in the head before he’s defeated, although it appears she survives the assault (even though we don’t see her once after it happens). So that’s a partial victory for the team, I guess? The #1 survival tip for the event so far has been “don’t be black.”

Two-Face’s decision to confront Flashpoint’s Harvey Dent leads to some beard-heavy debating, as the pair face off like a couple of chess grandmasters. Two-Face’s Knight, Renee Montoya, sacrifices herself in order to put him in position to force checkmate, but Harvey gets teleported away for no apparent goddamn reason, which is even more frustrating than seeing Deep Blue beat Kasparov. Batwoman pushes Renee to the end of the board, however, so she comes back to life as a Queen and lives on.

There’s also stalemate between pre-52 Superman and Lois, and Flashpoint’s Batman. After taking out Flashpoint’s Clark Kent en passant, Superman decides to hang the game while he delivers a baby. It’s a real Andrei Pavel situation, you guys. Flashpoint takes some licks, but remains in the game as we await extra time.

Of the starting five, only two are down! Who would’ve bet that Angor would still be going?? After this week's matches, let's take a look at the standings in the Convergence League Table!

Week Five Standings:

1: Deimos
2: Booster Gold
3: Tangent Universe
4: Pre-52 Gotham
5: Wildstorm
6: Red Rain
7: Moscow, Russia
8: Future’s End
9: Atlanta, Georgia
10: Gotham by Gaslight
11: Fawcett City
12: Qward
13: Durvale
14: Hub City
15: Pre-Crisis Metropolis
16: Earth X
17: Metropolis, Earth 3 (eliminations: Superwoman)
18: Metropolis, 853^rd Century (eliminations: Superman)
19: Earth 2 (eliminated: Batman)
20: Kingdom Come (eliminations: Flash, Robin)
21: Electropolis (eliminations: Lady Quark, Lord Volt)
22: Pre-Zero Hour Metropolis (eliminations: Amanda Waller, Steel)
23: Skartaris (Eliminations: Tara, Machiste, Warlord)
24: Flashpoint (Eliminations: Hawkgirl, Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman)
25: Angor (eliminations: Barracuda, Carny, Death Angel, Brute, Meanstreak)
26: Pre-Crisis Earth 2 Metropolis (eliminations: Huntress, Star Spangled Kid, Green Arrow, Speedy, Stripesy)
27: Pre-Crisis Gotham (eliminations: Steve Trevor, Etta Candy, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, Cyborg)

RELEGATION ZONE:

28: Brainiac
29: Follywood
30: Kandor
31: Stan Lee’s Just Imagine
32: El Inferno
33: Injustice: Gods Among Us

Another week, and another new contender takes the top spot. Last week it was hard to work out what Deimos is trying to achieve, and this week… is no different. But he’s succeeding in whatever it is, as time round he manages to kill off two members of Skartaris by himself, with the third getting fouled just outside the box. Brainiac sees an early bath, as well as a complete erasing from existence (it seems?).

The most shocking move of Group A came in the Harley/Ivy-Carrot square-off, as the Captain comes down with food poisoning. To death. So the Zoo Crew are, presumably, erased entirely from existence, and we now live in a comics universe where Captain Carrot is dead. Thanks, DC?

But the good news of the week lies in the huge gains made by Pre-52 Gotham, who add a Ryan Choi, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Lian Harper and Jonathan Kent all on the same day. Intriguingly though, there’s no resolution for the Flashpoint/Pre-52 match, and the match with Angor will apparently go into extra time; to be decided in next week’s Convergence #6. As a result, the three teams all remain in contention on the leaderboard, despite Flashpoint’s team taking heavy defeats.

I don’t make the rules! Well, yes, I absolutely do, but shush.

Next Week: We return to Group B to see if Wildstorm can seal their victory --- or will they be stopped by a Kingdom Come-back?