Invasion of Earth

The Invasion of Earth, (also known as The Defiance in Apokolips) was the attempted invasion of Earth by the forces of Apokolips at least five thousand years ago, when a young Darkseid discovered and temporarily gained access to the Anti-Life Equation. Unfortunately, before he could use it, Darkseid was defeated (nearly dying from his wounds) and forced to retreat by a combined army comprised of Humans, Amazons, and Atlanteans, along with the involvement of Ares, Zeus and Artemis of Old Gods and Yalan Gur, a member of the Green Lantern Corps.

A second attempt to invade Earth was later undertaken by Apokoliptian forces led by Steppenwolf in 2017. However, like the first invasion, the second attempt failed and Steppenwolf was slain by the newly formed Justice League. However, despite Steppenwolf's defeat and failure, Darkseid was informed of the Anti-Life's whereabouts and began making preparations to acquire it.

Background[]

Preface[]

Thousands of years before the Black Zero Event, Darkseid, before he became ruler of Apokolips and ruler of the New Gods, searched the universe in order to gain access to the Anti-Life Equation, a transcendental mathematical formula that would allow him to erase the free will of all living beings and enable him to control the multiverse. To accomplish this, Darkseid brought with him a massive army of Parademons and the Unity, the apocalyptic power that can transform worlds to the landscape of Apokolips itself, through the use of three Mother Boxes, and began conquering planet after planet until he found his great prize.

Before his attempted invasion on Earth, the Guardians of the Universe foresaw the threat of Darkseid, and created the Green Lantern Corps as the universe's police force and attempted to hold Darkseid back multiple times, to no avail.^[1] Earth also has its own internal issues: the Old Gods saw that one of their own, Ares was disgusted by Zeus' creation of mankind and began to poison their minds through violence. Seeing this, Zeus created the Amazon race to spread love and kindness to mankind and combat Ares's influence.^[2]

Invasion[]

Alliance[]

"But before the Unity could Synchronize, the defenders of Earth attacked and fought as one. Amazons alongside Atlanteans. Zeus and his son Ares alongside the guardians from the sky. A golden age of heroes fighting together to defend Life on Earth."

―Diana to Bruce Wayne^[src]

Earth's people unite to combat Steppenwolf's invasion — The world's races united to confront Darkseid's invasion

Upon arriving on Earth, Darkseid brought with him untold numbers of parademons, Apokoliptian warships, and the Mother Boxes, through which he would attempt to recreate Earth to the face of Apokolips.

Uxas Arrives — Darkseid arrives with the Apokoliptian army.

Before he could attempt to conquer Earth, however; Darkseid and his forces were met with resistance from multiple tribes of men, Amazons, before their betrayal, Atlanteans, before their descent into the sea, along with three members of the Old Gods and a member of the Green Lanterns. The Amazons, led by Hippolyta and Antiope, were the first to spring into action and were soon followed by the Atlanteans, who were led by their king, and then the tribes of men, the Old Gods led by Zeus and Yalan Gur of the Green Lantern Corps, allowing them to fight Darkseid and his army on equal footing.

Darkseid's defeat[]

With all the forces of Earth united and with help from the Green Lantern Corps, the alliance of Earth fought against Darkseid and his parademon armies in one massive battle to defeat the Apokoliptian invaders and force them to retreat.

Darkseid, however, was more than powerful enough against much of his opposition as he easily killed any human, Amazon, and Atlantean that came his way and then killed Gur after a brief confrontation. However, while he was distracted by the Power Ring that flew into the air, Artemis struck him twice with her arrows but it only served to annoy him, and in the process of removing them was left momentarily dazed by an energy shockwave generated by Atlan's trident. Upon seeing him, Zeus used his lightning to attack Darkseid and forced him on the defensive. Ares quickly took advantage of the situation and grievously injured the New God with his axe to the point that it rendered him unconscious - almost dying by the time he recovered on his home planet - moments after his parademons brought him aboard a ship to escape. With Darkseid defeated, the combined alliance of Earth's defenders overwhelmed the remaining parademon army enough that they were forced to retreat, with Artemis shooting down at least one Apokoliptian warship while Zeus projected a powerful electrical blast to separate the Unity to render the Mother Boxes dormant. With that, the alliance of Earth was victorious.

Aftermath[]

"The Defenders of Earth made a vow. Men, Atlanteans and Amazons, each would enshrine and guard one of the three sleeping Mother Boxes according to the rites and rituals of their cultures, in case a box should ever wake again to call out to the planet Apokolips to return and conquer the only world Darkseid had ever lost."

―Diana to Bruce Wayne^[src]

The forces of Earth following its invasion — The Mother Boxes are retrieved by the three races

With Darkseid and his armies pushed back, the alliance honored their dead and found the three Mother Boxes deserted by the Apokoliptian forces. Deeming them too dangerous together, the Mother Boxes were then separated: one was given to the Atlanteans, one to the Amazons, and one to the humans. The Mother Boxes given to the Atlanteans and Amazons were sealed and guarded in vaults. The box that was given to the humans was buried by the warriors of the King of Men with the hope that it would become lost to time.^[1]

Ultimately, the harmony made from the invasion would come to an end an unknown amount of time later: the races of men became corrupted by Ares, which resulted in the Amazons' enslavement, the Atlanteans unwillingly destroyed Atlantis and were forced to adapt under the ocean, and later on Ares declared war on the other Old Gods, killing them all, and nearly killing Zeus, but was then himself injured gravely. Zeus then created Themyscira as a sanctuary for the Amazons and entrusted the God Killer to the Amazons, predicting that Ares would return, but forbidding the Amazons from leaving Themyscira.^[2] Mankind soon forgot about the events, their descendants deeming them as nothing more than legends and myths^[3]. Darkseid himself would suffer his own setbacks, as his first defeat and near death resulted in the loss of his former position of power and caused a war for the right to rule Apokolips. By the time the matter was settled and Darkseid became ruler of his planet thousands of years had passed and those that accompanied him to Earth had long since perished. As a result, the location of the lost Mother Boxes and Anti-Life as well as the planet he failed to conquer, and that all three occurred on the same planet, were forgotten and forced Darkseid to conquer planet by planet in order to find Anti-Life once more.

Millenia after the invasion, the death of Superman^[4], the Kryptonian that gave humans hope, was sensed by the Mother Boxes and notified Darkseid's general Steppenwolf, who during his attempt to search for the missing Mother Boxes on Earth during the second invasion, learned that Earth was the planet that held Anti-Life. While his invasion failed by the combined might of the Superman, Batman, Barry Allen, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg, and the Mother Boxes destroyed, Darkseid had been informed of Anti-Life's whereabouts and made preparations to retrieve it using the old ways.

Invasion of Earth painting — The Mural of Invasion

Trivia[]

Zack Snyder and Weta Digital revealed the fiery design on the ground during the battle scene was originally intended to be Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation.^[5]
A mural from Zack Snyder's Justice League depicts the whole invasion with Darkseid.