WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Doomsday Clock #5 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, in stores now.


Over its first four issues, Doomsday Clock has been patching together the worlds of Watchmen and the main-line DC superhero universe, with a little real-world commentary layered in. If these annotations do nothing else, they can demonstrate the depth and breadth of influences upon which writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank appear to have drawn. We've covered a lot so far, from Hollywood history to physics and medicine; but today we plunge into the deep end of DC Comics' post-Crisis On Infinite Earths output. In other words, we hope you love the 1980s, because you're going to get a concentrated dose of it before we're done.

RELATED: Doomsday Clock’s Latest Shocking Arrival Changes Everything

We will warn you -- and we don't think this is necessarily a spoiler -- that there are a capital-L-lot of superheroes name-checked in this issue. Things might get a little dry towards the end, but we think we know the hidden meaning behind the various lists; and we'll try to entertain you along the way.

Doomsday Clock issue #5 was written by Geoff Johns, drawn by Gary Frank, colored by Brad Anderson and lettered by Rob Leigh. Brian Cunningham was the Editor, with Amedeo Turturro as Associate Editor.

You can read the first half of our annotations for this issue here.

Finally - The Return of a Classic JSA Device (Pages 21-22)

At long last, Page 21 reveals the power battery of the original Green Lantern, created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell for July 1940's All-American Comics issue #16. At first Alan Scott's ring and battery were powered by the Green Flame of Life, but a couple of later stories sought to reconcile the Golden Age GL with his cousins in the Green Lantern Corps. First, an arc in September 1978-January 1979's Green Lantern issues #108-112 established that the Green Flame came from magical Starheart energy that the Guardians of the Universe collected. Later, December 1991's Green Lantern issue #19 changed this so that the meteorite from which Alan fashioned the lantern was partially made of an ancient Green Lantern, Yalan Gur, who abused his powers. Yalan Gur died high in Earth's atmosphere, and his lantern absorbed his life-force before crashing to the ground.

RELATED: Doomsday Clock’s Dark DCU Seems To Be Corrupting Saturn Girl

Page 22 has a couple of obvious Watchmen parallels. The beating Johnny takes reminds us Hollis Mason's death in Watchmen issue #8, while the mob taking down Batman is similar to the police dogpile on Rorschach in Watchmen issue #5.

Saturn Girl's Page 23 assurance that "they were all going to overdose" reveals very specific knowledge of the future. How did she know where to find Johnny Thunder? Since we see now that the "light" they wanted (back on Page 6) is the Green Lantern, we suppose that it could have drawn Saturn Girl and Johnny Thunder to it. The lamp on Page 6 is attracting its share of bugs, just as the lantern does on Page 24.

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Roll Call #2: An Earlier Frost And A Desert Encounter (Pages 14, 20)

Don't you know who I am?
Shazam meets Black Adam in the New 52, from Justice League #16

Page 14 gives us a handful of familiar DC figures. Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom created Killer Frost for June 1978's Firestorm issue #3. Conway and Rafael Kayanan created Louise Lincoln for March 1984's Fury of Firestorm issue #21, and she became the second Killer Frost in March 1985's issue #33. However, for the past few years Killer Frost has been Caitlin Snow, created by Dan Jurgens for June 2013's Fury Of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men issue #19. Caitlin became Killer Frost in November 2013's Justice League of America issue #7.2, part of September 2013's line-wide villain spotlights. As part of DC's Rebirth initiative, the reformed Killer Frost joined Batman's Justice League of America. Thanks to Danielle Panabaker's performance on "The Flash," most casual DC fans probably know Killer Frost as Caitlin Snow. Panabaker first appeared as Caitlin on "Arrow's" April 16, 2014 episode "The Man Under The Hood," co-written by Geoff Johns. In any event, we know this Killer Frost is lying about Firestorm.

RELATED: Doomsday Clock’s International Heroes Of The Metahuman Arms Race, Explained

Steve Ditko created Jack Ryder (Page 14), a/k/a The Creeper, for April 1968's Showcase issue #73, just a couple of issues before the debuts of Hawk and Dove. The relatively sedate Ryder uses various inventions (courtesy of a scientist friend) to transform into the garish, lunatic Creeper. For several years Ryder has been portrayed as a right-wing journalist who is distrustful of superheroes.

Jack Kirby created Kobra (Page 14) at the tail end of his early 1970s work for DC. According to Wikipedia, Kirby's original story languished in DC's inventory for over a year before writer Martin Pasko was tasked with making it into an ongoing series. The premise involved twin brothers, one good and one evil, who shared a telepathic link. Not unlike Johnny Thunder (see below), the future Kobra was kidnapped at birth by the Cult of the Kobra God in order to fulfill a prophecy. Eventually the boy became leader of a vast terrorist organization filled with costumed minions. After Kobra ascended to power, an unnamed international agency recruited his brother to help apprehend him. Eventually, Kobra fought most of DC's super-people, including Batman, the Justice League, the Outsiders, the Flash (Wally West), the Justice Society and Checkmate. Kobra acted frequently in furtherance of the Kali Yuga, the Hindu age of chaos featuring the spiritual collapse of civilization.

Created by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck for December 1945's The Marvel Family issue #1, Black Adam ("behind the scenes" on Page 14, seen fully on Page 20) was the first of the wizard Shazam's champions. For him, the magic word "Shazam!" bestows powers from ancient deities Shu, Haru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton and Mehen. Known originally as Teth-Adam, when he was a hero in ancient Egypt he was called Mighty Adam. Shazam's power corrupted him and he became a supervillain and occasional antihero; and in the present he sometimes goes by the civilian name of Theo Adam. His self-proclaimed status as "one of the immortals" is somewhat ironic, considering that at the end of his first appearance, he crumbled into dust after accidentally changing back into the millennia-old Teth-Adam. Somewhat surprisingly, he stayed dead(ish) for over 30 years, until Dr. Sivana revived him (in Philadelphia) in March-April 1977's Shazam! issue #28. The reference to a Philadelphia battle probably refers to the Justice League backup series in which Johns and Frank reintroduced the Marvel Family characters in the New 52 setting (13 chapters across issues #7-21, May 2012-August 2013).

JSA issue #56 located Black Adam's homeland Kahndaq (mentioned on Page 14) on the Sinai Peninsula, which in our world is part of Egypt. It's seen its share of tragedy, including a devastating supervillain attack in 1600 BC (JSA #43-44), dictatorial rule (which Black Adam and some Justice Society colleagues ended in the "Black Reign" storyline) and more destruction at the hands of the near-omnipotent Four Horsemen (in 2006-07's 52 miniseries). Geoff Johns wrote those JSA stories, and co-wrote 52 with Mark Waid, Greg Rucka and Grant Morrison.

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Just Another Wednesday In Gotham City (Pages 10-15, 19-24)

Topple this
The Bat-Signal from Batman #85

On Page 10, Ozymandias arrives in Gotham City from Metropolis. Assuming that Gotham and Metropolis are closer than, say, New York and Pittsburgh, it's probably not that long a drive. We're a little curious as to how Batman knew where to find the Owlship. In issue #3 he found a "temporal anomaly" (i.e., Saturn Girl) in Arkham Asylum, so did he do some sort of scan for parallel-universe vibratory frequencies? If that's the case, did he also mention something to his close personal friend and expert on multiversal vibrational frequencies, Barry "Flash" Allen?

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Page 11 shows us the Comedian at Jumping Jack's. From his decades as a covert government operative, the Comedian is probably used to throwing his weight around just like he does here, although probably not so cold-bloodedly.

While we're used to suspending disbelief in superhero comics, Page 12's mention of Nixon on the currency of Watchmen's United States is a lot to accept. American paper money includes the signatures of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Treasurer of the United States, along with the portrait on the front. If Nixon were on any denomination of bill, it'd most likely be as a portrait, like Washington or Lincoln; and redesigning the nation's money isn't an easy process. Remember when Harriet Tubman was supposed to be on the twenty-dollar bill? It also takes a lot to launch a new denomination, as the Treasury Department did in 1976 with the two-dollar bill, which featured Thomas Jefferson's portrait. The $2.00 bill is still in circulation, but due to lack of demand you'd never know it. Nixon's act of self-aggrandizement was probably in parallel to the Jefferson $2.00 bill.

Speaking of self-aggrandizement, Page 12 shows us one of pop culture's most recognizable summonses. The Bat-Signal debuted in February 1942's Detective Comics issue #60 and has appeared in just about every successive multimedia Bat-adaptation. For those curious about the device's mid-century capabilities, October 1950's Detective issue #164 includes the story "Untold Tales of the Bat-Signal." While it's often depicted as not much bigger than the humans who operate it, August-September 1954's Batman issue #85 featured a massive searchlight mounted firmly on the roof of Police Headquarters. That issue also established that Sgt. Harvey Hainer was assigned specifically to operate the Bat-Signal. Needless to say, the Bat-Signal searchlight we see on Page 20 is a lot easier to destroy.

It looks like Batman's mention of "hero syndrome" (Page 15) refers to an actual practice involving creating a problem and then solving it. This isn't quite what Ozymandias did in Watchmen, since he created a "problem" which he expected would be "solved" by the whole world. Instead, it's closer to the plan that Zoom had for Wally West in June-September 2003's "Blitz" storyline (Flash issues #197-200, written by Geoff Johns and pencilled by Scott Kolins). There, Zoom sought to test Wally by making his life miserable, reasoning that he would emerge stronger.

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When Ozymandias responds that Batman has "put these people through hell," he's not exactly wrong. Still, occasionally we see glimpses of the Wayne Foundation trying to address crime's underlying causes.

On Page 19 Ozymandias describes Earth-DC's superheroics as a "vicious cycle of entertaining yourselves." This was basically the situation which informed Superman's return in Mark Waid and Alex Ross's 1996 Kingdom Come. Following the Man of Steel's retirement, the younger generation of heroes grew careless, using their powers without regard for the damage they did to ordinary people and things. Ozymandias' subsequent barb about "simplistic morality based on pulp heroes" is rooted in the Watchmen world's fictional super-people, who inspired the more black-and-white thinking of the Minutemen and never got the chance to develop further.

We're guessing that Page 21's semi-obscured protest sign says "Lock 'Im Up."

The Final Quote (Page 24)

Page 24's Eugene O'Neill quote comes from his 1925 play Lazarus Laughed, which is based on Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-46). As various groups test Lazarus' faith, he becomes younger and stronger, even as his wife grows older and weaker. Ultimately, the Romans poison his wife and burn him at the stake, but he continues to laugh, explaining that there is no death, just God's eternal laughter. Words to remember whether you're being pummeled by rioters or reunited with an old friend's mystic power source.

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Text Pages (and Roll Call #3)

crimson fox and captain atom

The Trouble Alert (or TroubAlert) is a reference to the computer on "Super Friends" which sounded an alarm whenever the Justice League was needed. The magazine is dated May 30, 2019, one year in the future. However, periodical cover dates often refer to the last day the issue is supposed to be displayed on newsstands, so it's not a good indication of the story's actual date. Trouble Alert uses the red frame and fonts of Time Magazine, which for many years was part of the same mega-corporation which owns DC Comics. This particular subscription belongs to the Good Life Home For The Elderly, 1940 2nd Avenue, NY NY 10029. That real-world location looks about like it does in Doomsday Clock.

The existence of a "decade-long program" based on Superman, plus the earlier reference to Jon Kent being 10 years old, means the modern DC timeline spans at least that amount. In fact, it probably goes back around 15 years, between the New 52's five-year timeline and the "missing" 10 years restored since the start of Rebirth.

RELATED: Doomsday Clock Reintroduces A Powerful JSA Artifact to the DC Universe

Doc Dread, Stingaree and Man-Bat were mentioned already back in issue #2, and Lady Clayface was mentioned in issue #3. Simon Stagg got a mention back in issue #2 as well, but since we missed it there we'll just note that he was created by Bob Haney and Ramona Fradon for January 1965's Brave and the Bold issue #57. Haney and Sal Trapani created Element Girl for January-February 1967's Metamorpho issue #10.

Joe Gill and Steve Ditko created Captain Atom, a/k/a rocket technician Allen Adam, for March 1960's Space Adventures issue #33, from Charlton Comics. After Charlton's superhero characters were folded into the larger DC universe, DC rebooted Captain Atom with March 1987's Captain Atom issue #1, written by Cary Bates and pencilled by Pat Broderick. This version of the character was a disgraced Air Force officer who was the subject of a Vietnam-era nuclear experiment, and who ended up jumping forward in time 18 years and gaining super-powers.

Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick created Lorraine Relly for June 1982's Fury of Firestorm issue #1, and transformed her into Firehawk in October 1983's FOF issue #17. In the New 52, when the "Firestorm protocols" allowed various governments to create their own nuclear-powered champions (hmmm...), Firehawk was France's entry. She first appeared in June 2012's Fury Of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men issue #8.

Conway and Rafael Kayanan created Moonbow for June 1986's Fury Of Firestorm issue #48. A superhero wannabe who fancied herself an archer, she was never a metahuman. Not so for classic Firestorm villain Typhoon, created by Conway (and perhaps Firestorm co-creator Al Milgrom) for the original series' unpublished issue #6. Typhoon's debut came eventually in February 1981's The Flash issue #294, pencilled by Jim Starlin.

Justice League Europe came about as a result of an overcrowded Justice League International in February 1989's Justice League International issue #24. The first issue of Justice League Europe was cover-dated April 1989. Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Bart Sears created Crimson Fox for January 1990's Justice League Europe issue #10. Indeed, of the original JLE lineup, only Rocket Red and Wonder Woman were native Europeans; and Wonder Woman left after issue #1. The other founding Leaguers were all American: Power Girl, Elongated Man, Wally "Flash" West, Animal-Man, Metamorpho, and Captain Atom (who, again, really did get his powers from a military experiment, and who answered to the United States government). The sisters Vivian and Constance D'Aramis shared the Crimson Fox identity until Vivian's death in October 1995's Justice League International issue #104. Constance also died leading a JLE team (which included Firestorm) in January 1998's Starman issue #38. After that a new Crimson Fox appeared in June 2006's Green Lantern issue #11 (written by Geoff Johns), but it's not clear which Fox this is supposed to be.

Fawcett Comics had a crimefighter called The Hunchback who debuted in June 1941's Wow Comics issue #2. After Fawcett's characters became part of the original DC multiverse, he was assigned to Earth-S with the Marvel Family and their colleagues. He has yet to appear in a modern DC comic. There are a few other villainous Hunchback characters in DC lore, including the Black Glove member Le Bossu; but again, we don't have a lot of other clues. The same goes for Fawcett's Thief of Arts, a Bulletman villain who first appeared in September 1945's Master Comics issue #63.

Len Wein, Randy Lofficer and Ross Andru created the French operative Fleur-de-Lis for January 1987's Infinity Inc. issue #34. Edmond Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff created The Musketeer for January 1955's Detective Comics issue #215, as part of the Batman-inspired Club of Heroes. When the Club developed into Batman Incorporated, it recruited Nightrunner, created by David Hine and Agustin Padilla for February 2011's Detective Comics Annual issue #12.

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Batman Inc., Flashpoint and More Past DC Storyline Callouts

squire knight batman
The Knight and Squire, circa 2010

Speaking of Batman Incorporated, the "Batman of England" called the Knight has apparently organized Knights Incorporated. Bruce Wayne's vast fortune backed Batman Incorporated, and the Queen is doing the same for this group. Bill Finger and Dick Sprang created the Knight and Squire, who first appeared in December 1950's Batman issue #62. The current Knight may well be former Squire Beryl Hutchinson, created by Grant Morrison and Mark Pajarillo for February 1999's JLA issue #26. Hood was also recruited to Batman Incorporated, and later to the espionage agency Spyral. Created by Alan Grant and Bret Blevins for November 1993's Batman: Shadow of the Bat issue #21, he considered himself a modern-day Robin Hood. Otherwise, James Robinson and Renato Guedes created Beaumont for August 2009's Superman issue #689; while David Hine and Guillem March created the Crusader for September 2010's Azrael issue #10.

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Mike Carlin and Rags Morales created Canterbury Cricket for August 2011's Flashpoint: The Canterbury Cricket, and Mrs. Hyde for September 2011's Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance issue #2; both in the alternate Flashpoint timeline. This may be their first mentions in the main DC timeline. In that respect they're like Golden Pharaoh, a character introduced as part of the "Super Powers" action figure line. His first comics appearance was in September 1986's Super Powers vol. 3 issue #1, written by Paul Kupperberg and pencilled by Pablo Marcos. As far as we can tell, Golden Pharaoh didn't even appear in the "Super Powers" cartoon.

Many of the original Global Guardians appeared first in the Super Friends TV tie-in comic of the mid-1970s. E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon created Godiva and Seraph for October 1977's issue #7, and Jack O'Lantern for November 1977's issue #8. Since Super Friends had a fluid relationship with the rest of DC continuity, these characters' status in the main DC timeline wasn't confirmed until the Global Guardians showed up in June 1982's DC Comics Presents issue #46.

Keith Giffen and Todd McFarlane created the energy-blasting Looking Glass for January 1989's Invasion! issue #1. Gerard Jones and Mike Parobeck created the original Lionheart for 1993's Justice League International Annual issue #4, the series' entry in that summer's Bloodlines crossover. More recently, a new Lionheart appeared as part of Strikeforce Europa in October 2016's Suicide Squad: War Crimes Special (written by John Ostrander and pencilled by Gus Vazquez and Carlos Rodriguez). Maybe Brexit caused him to leave the Strikeforce.

Tom DeFalco and Aaron Kuder created the brutish Ridge for June 2012's Legion Lost issue #8. Mark Waid, Dan Rodriguez and Tony Daniel created the telekinetic Templar for September 1993's Justice League Quarterly issue #12.

The Silent Knight mentioned here may well be a new character. Bob Kanigher and Irv Novick created the original Knight (a/k/a Brian Kent) for August 1955's The Brave and the Bold issue #55. Since he lived in sixth-century Britain, he didn't interact much with DC superheroes; but that didn't stop future creative teams from linking him to them. Brian Kent is one of Hawkman's many reincarnations, with a bird motif on his armor; and he is apparently also a distant ancestor of Smallville's own Jonathan Kent. Accordingly, we suppose it would be easier to introduce a new character than to explain how the original came forward in time 1,500 years.

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The new Outsiders team is made up almost entirely of peripheral Outsiders characters. Baroness Bedlam is apparently the successor to the Outsiders' first major foe, Baron Bedlam (created by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo for August 1983's Batman and the Outsiders issue #1). Knightfall (not to be confused with the Batman storyline) was a Batgirl villain created by Gail Simone and Alitha Martinez for August 2012's Batgirl issue #10. Mike W. Barr and Paul Pelletier created Wylde for November 1993's Outsiders vol. 2 #1-Alpha. Yes, that was the numbering. It was the '90s.

The Eradicator was part of that '90s Outsiders team. One of the four "replacement" Supermen, he first appeared as a semi-sentient device in 1989's Action Comics Annual issue #2. However, by the time of Early June 1993's Adventures of Superman issue #500, he had gotten a body identical to Superman's and started fighting crime with a slightly harder edge. After helping the revived Superman regain his powers and defeat Mongul and the Cyborg Superman, the Eradicator went off on his own. Although he was a product of many hands, his first real creative team was writer Roger Stern and penciller Jackson Guice.

We're only aware of three Terras. The original, Brion Markov's sister Tara, was a teenaged sociopath (spoilers!) who joined the New Teen Titans. Marv Wolfman and George Pérez created her for December 1982's New Teen Titans issue #26, and she died in 1984's Tales of the Teen Titans Annual issue #3. A Terra clone showed up several years later, working with a group of time-traveling Titans. The third Terra is Atlee, a young woman from the subterranean land of Strata, who was created by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Amanda Conner for January 2007's Supergirl issue #12.

John Ostrander, Kim Yale and Geoff Isherwood created the Israeli-sponsored super-team Hayoth (Dybbuk, Golem, Judith and Ramban) for September 1990's Suicide Squad issue #45 -- where, as it happens, they and the Squad ran into Kobra. Pteradon, a former Israeli commando, was turned into a flying reptilian humanoid by Steve "Mento" Dayton, ex-husband of Doom Patroller Rita "Elasti-Girl" Farr, as part of Mento's attempt to create his own version of the Doom Patrol. Marv Wolfman and Eduardo Barreto created Pteradon for October 1986's New Teen Titans issue #24.

That brings us to Arani "Celsius" Desai, ex-teammate of Valentina "Negative Woman" Vostok. Created by Paul Kupperberg and Joe Staton, she also debuted in August 1977's Showcase issue #94. The Doom Patrol itself -- including its leader, Celsius' husband Niles Caulder -- was created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premani for June 1963's My Greatest Adventure issue #80. The original team met a noble end in September-October 1968's Doom Patrol issue #121, an event which came to define the team (and its affiliated characters like Mento and Beast Boy) for many years.

Drake and Premani created Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man for August 1964's Doom Patrol issue #89. Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Bennett created the elephantine humanoid Aalok of the Komeriah for November 2005's Hawkman issue #44. Scott Peterson and Mike Deodato Jr. created Aruna for August 2000's Batgirl Annual issue #1. Gerard Jones and Ron Randall created Maya for February 1993's Justice League Europe issue #47. J.T. Krul and Nicola Scott created Solstice for January 2011's Teen Titans issue #89.

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Doomsday Clock Introduces Some All-New International Heroes

As with other slightly-different characters on these text pages, there doesn't appear to be a preexisting Beast Girl or Son of Kalki. Naturally, there is a Beast Boy (our old pal Gar Logan, a/k/a Changeling, who was created by Arnold Drake and Bob Brown for November 1965's Doom Patrol issue #99); and there was a Kalki (Celsius' father Ashok Desai, created by Paul Kupperberg and Steve Lightle for October 1987's Doom Patrol issue #1). In fact, "son of Kalki" suggests a pretty close relationship to Celsius, if not her actual brother. More significantly, though, all of these odd versions and most-obscure names -- Hunchback, Thief of Arts, Silent Knight, Canterbury Cricket, Mrs. Hyde, Golden Pharaoh, Terra IV -- seem to imply that these various governments are in fact producing their own superhumans.

Gene Yang's New Super-Man leads the Justice League of China in DC Comics

In that respect it's almost refreshing that the Chinese government of DC-Earth has been so upfront about their efforts. The Great Twenty is clearly an expansion of the Great Ten (Accomplished Perfect Physician, August General in Iron, Celestial Archer, Ghost Fox Killer, Immortal Man in Darkness, Mother of Champions, Seven Deadly Brothers, Shaolin Robot, Socialist Red Guardsman, and Thundermind), created by Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones for August 2006's 52 issue #6. August General in Iron later became part of the UN-sponsored Checkmate, and in the New 52 era joined the UN-sponsored Justice League International. The Great Ten received their own 2010 miniseries, but it only ran 9 issues due to low sales (#neverforget).

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More recently, Gene Yuen Lang and Viktor Bogdanovic created Kong Kenan, the New Super-Man, for September 2016's New Super-Man issue #1. Kenan was given super-powers by the Chinese Ministry of Self-Reliance and joined the country's Bat-Man and Wonder-Woman (who first appeared in issue #2) in the so-called Justice League of China. Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomencio created Avery Ho, the Flash of China, for September 2016's Flash issue #3.

Marc Guggenheim and Jerry Bingham created Ri for January 2011's Batman Confidential issue #50, and Dao and Guanxi for March 2011's issue #52. Steve Englehart and Joe Staton created Gloss for January 1988's Millennium issue #2, although the villain Prometheus killed her in November 2009's Justice League: Cry For Justice issue #3. Doug Moench and Tony Wong created Night-Dragon for August 2003's Batman: Hong Kong special. Kurt Busiek and Tom Grummett created Striker Z for the Power Company preview in February 2002's JLA issue #61.

Whew!

To sum up, the text pages give us seven countries with their own state-sponsored super-teams (Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Israel, Markovia, India and China), for a total of 72 super-people outside the United States. It's worth noting that except for the Great Twenty, each of these teams has at least one member who's worked with an American super-team (although Pteradon worked for Mento during his quasi-supervillain stage); and there are some ex-Titans and Leaguers on the overall roster.

Does this mean not just that Luthor is behind the Supermen Theory, but that he's been cooperating with foreign governments to encourage a superhuman arms race? While that would certainly sound ripped from the headlines, we're not ready to go that far just yet. Still, reading between the lines, Doomsday Clock issue #5 suggests very strongly that there's more going on overseas than might be apparent now.

What else could you possibly have spotted in Doomsday Clock issue #5? Let us know in the comments!