WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Justice League #53, by Joshua Williamson, Xermanico, Romulo Fajardo Jr, and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.

The Justice League's most iconic headquarters has been the Hall of Justice, a majestic building located in Washington D.C. loaded with state-of-the-art technology as a base of operations for the DC Universe's premier super-team. Designed by Green Lantern John Stewart and Wonder Woman, financed by Batman and built by Superman, the Hall of Justice was introduced in the 1973 animated series Super Friends before being brought into main DCU continuity following Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes' relaunch of Justice League following Infinite Crisis. And in the post-apocalyptic reality of Dark Nights: Death Metal, the sad fate of the celebrated headquarters has been revealed.

The start of Scott Snyder's run on Justice League introduced a new incarnation of the Hall of Justice, with each of the core members of the team having their own personalized section of the building, effectively blending magic and advanced technology for the ultimate embodiment of the possibilities of the DCU. As the Justice League faced Perpetua and the Legion of Doom in a pitched battle for the fate of the DC Multiverse, Batman revealed the Hall of Justice's biggest secret: That it had been fitted with Thanagarian Nth Metal and an array of weaponry to become a mobile battle station capable of rising from its foundations to assist the League on the field.

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The Hall of Justice flying with multiversal Leagues charging in front

The battle proved to be the end of the pre-Death Metal reality, with the Legion of Doom revealing their own headquarters -- the aptly named Hall of Doom -- was similarly a flying, heavily armed battle station. As the opposing armies of heroes and villains converged, Perpetua would ultimately reign supreme, joining forces with the Batman Who Laughs and his Dark Knights from the Dark Multiverse who invaded the DCU, defeating Wonder Woman and the heroes' assembled last stand on Themyscira. Wonder Woman and Batman would lead a resistance against the Batman Who Laughs after he reshaped the DCU in his fiendish image, liberating Nightwing who would set out to locate the final resting place of the Hall of Justice.

Arriving back on Earth after being rescued from his imprisonment on Apokolips, Nightwing traveled through the ruins of Gotham City where he narrowly rescued Detective Chimp from barbaric raiders in the employ of the Batman Who Laughs. Chimp reveals that he has located what became of the Hall of Justice: In the wake of the Justice League's defeat, the Hall of Justice was shot down and crash-landed in Slaughter Swamp, the untamed wilderness just outside of Gotham's city limits. The two heroes venture inside to see what they can salvage as part of their mission to locate and destroy Perpetua's throne, finding it discarded in the heart of the swamp.

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Death Metal Hall of Justice

The Hall of Justice is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the DC Universe, now devastated and forgotten in the untamed wasteland. And inside is the most unexpected new denizen of them all: Lex Luthor, vowing revenge after Perpetua replaced him with the Batman Who Laughs before the conquest of the DCU.

The ruins of the old world and headquarters of the Justice League has served as the locus for an impromptu Justice League in the Death Metal world forming, with the new team rising from the ashes of the previous team's last defeat.

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