Countdown to Final Crisis, previously titled simply Countdown, is a comic book limited series published by DC Comics, which debuted on May 9, 2007, directly following the conclusion of the last issue of 52. The series is written primarily by Paul Dini, who will also act as editor, with a rotating team of writers and artists. Countdown consists of 52 issues published weekly for one year, crossing over with noteworthy and significant titles published by DC. The series is numbered in reverse order, starting with #51. The series covers much of the fictional DC Universe and is told in parallel narratives, through the interconnecting stories of a cast of characters, and frequently crosses over with various other DC titles. Unlike 52 the previous year, Countdown is not depicted as taking place in "real time".

The series follows the success of the previous year's 52-issue weekly "real-time" series, 52, which in contrast did not cross over with DC's other regular titles. 52 concluded with the revelation that the Multiverse (a storytelling device which posits the existence of alternate realities) exists, and which now serves as a backdrop to several stories in Countdown. In issue #26, the series was renamed to Countdown to Final Crisis, in the vein of the previous Countdown to Infinite Crisis issue, albeit larger. The stories taking place in Countdown are expected to set the stage for the approaching "Final Crisis" series which like its predecessors, Infinite Crisis and Crisis on Infinite Earths is intended to be a major story in the history of the publisher which may possibly restructure the DC Universe in which its stories are set.

A backup story entitled "History of the Multiverse" appears in issues #49 through #38, with the creative team of writer/artist Dan Jurgens and inker Norm Rapmund (Jerry Ordway inked issues #39 and #38's backup stories). It relays the publication history of DC Comics from an in-universe perspective to the reader, detailing the first meeting of the first and second Flash in "Flash of Two Worlds" through to the preceding events of 52 and One Year Later, as told by the fictional Monitors, who appear within the main story. Beginning with Countdown #37, the backup stories tell the origin stories of various supervillains in "Secret Origins of the Super Villains", similar to those of various superheroes told in 52.

Story as of 24

Apokolips

On Apokolips, Darkseid and Desaad discuss the coming of a time with existence being recreated with Darkseid as the architect. Darkseid has what appears to be a gameboard with pieces representing the Joker, Donna Troy, Green Arrow, the Flash, Holly Robinson, Batman, Jason Todd, Hawkman, Killer Croc, Martian Manhunter, Superman, Wonder Woman, OMAC, Jimmy Olsen, Nightwing, Duela Dent, and Black Adam.Later, as the New Gods Lightray and Sleez are killed by an unknown, mysterious figure (See Jimmy Olsen section), Desaad and one of his Concubines stand next to him. Desaad leaves and the Concubine says that she is surprised how tender his feelings are. Darkseid then kills her and tells Desaad to remove the vocal cords from the next one. Forager is shown spying on them for New Genesis to see if Darkseid is responsible for the recent New God murders and is attacked by a guard, then escapes.The Deep Six are killed soon afterwards by the same mysterious figure. Darkseid shows knowledge of the New Gods dying across the galaxy and the mystery figure killing them, and decides to use the New Gods as pawns in a complex scheme intended to result in his rule of the entire Multiverse. After the Monitors discuss the current events happening throughout the multiverse, the leader of them believes that someone is behind all these events. Darkseid is shown on the next page, with a chessboard on a table containing all the key players of Countdown. Mary Marvel is brought before Darkseid, who tells her that he wants a sorcerer and that she is it. When she refuses his offer, they briefly fight before Desaad arrives and distracts Darkseid long enough for Mary to escape. Eclipso assures Darkseid that she will bring Mary back.

Holly Robinson

Holly Robinson arrives in Metropolis, trying to get a fresh start. Before long she rescues a man outside of 666 Suicide Slum when an unknown force appears to kill Sleez, a New God of Apokolips. Later Holly is visited by a woman who offers her a home at a women's shelter where she meets the reformed Harleen Quinzel. After witnessing a hate protests as a fallout from the Amazon-American war, she is outraged to find that the shelter would refuse a single mother and seeks to speak to their boss and goddess, "Athena". She tells Athena of it and Athena convinces her to go on a quest. When Harleen questions Holly on why she is training in the shelter's gym, Holly reveals to Harleen that she has been asked to take part in Athena's self-esteem workshop. Harleen is overjoyed at the news. Holly is placed in a battle armor for so-called "purification ritual" where the women are made to fight. Only Holly and Harley make it to the end. They are later shown on a boat headed towards Themiscyra, and are told by Athena that their first test is to outswim the island's water guardians, which they succeed at. Mere moments after their trial, the recruits are then chased by a pack of wild dogs, set upon them by the Amazons.

Jason Todd & Donna Troy

In New York City, former Robin and now "Red Hood", Jason Todd is witness to the murder of Duela Dent at the hands of a rogue Monitor, who claims her presence in this world is not tolerated, as she is from an alternate Earth. Jason later meets Donna Troy after the other Teen Titans later pay their respects to Duela Dent's grave and speculates that the two of them, like Duela, may not belong in this reality either. During the Amazons' attack on Washington D.C., Jason and Donna discuss the Monitors and the original Monitor and Anti-Monitor when they are attacked by the "Forerunner"[9] who had been sent by the Monitors. Another Monitor arrives to save Jason and Donna from the Forerunners and take them to safety.

At the funeral of the Flash, Bart Allen, the Monitor tells Jason and Donna that Ray Palmer is alive and lost somewhere in the Nanoverse, and that locating him is key to surviving the coming crisis. Donna, Jason and the Monitor (nicknamed "Bob" by Jason Todd), meet with current Atom, Ryan Choi in Ivy Town to recruit him in the search for Ray Palmer. Searching for him within the microscopic "Nanoverse", they are captured by the evil Queen Bethelra, and later being rescued by Kyle Rayner before Ryan Choi is abducted back into Ivy Town. Kyle informs the group that they will have to tour the Multiverse to find Ray Palmer, and they encounter the Authority on Earth-50 and the Crime Society on Earth-3. As they leave Earth-3, they are unexpectedly joined by the Jokester (the Joker's moral counterpart and father of Duela), passing through Earth-15 and later Earth-8, where Lord Havok and the Extremists capture them. The extremist Monitor attempts to kill them, before Monarch intervenes. The Monitor kills the Jokester after informing him about killing his daughter. Bob is able to teleport the remainder of the group a safe distance away, leaving his brother furious. Monarch then offers the Extremists a place in his army, but they refuse to submit to his will and attack him. As the Challengers attempt to leave, they are attacked by Monarch's newest recruits, the Crime Society. During the battle, Jason kills Barracuda (one of the Extremists) and offers to join Monarch's side. To prove his authenticity to Monarch, he steals one of Bob's weapons and blasts Donna. This is revealed to be a plan between Bob and Jason to create a distraction, allowing them to escape. Neither Kyle nor Donna is impressed, Donna taking the chance to punch him in the stomach and kick him to the ground for his actions. As they continue to travel together, Kyle and Donna discuss their lack of trust in their two companions.

Jimmy Olsen

Superman helps Jimmy Olsen locate the Red Hood, Jason Todd, and conducts an interview with him about the death of Duela. Jason tells him everything he knows. He points him towards the Joker in Arkham Asylum. Joker doesn't know anything about the death of "the Joker's Daughter," stating he never had a daughter. He also seems to allude that he knows of a larger conspiracy at hand. While calling Lois to inform her of his dead end, Jimmy is attacked by Killer Croc and much to Jimmy's surprise, his body stretches, similar to Plastic Man and the Elongated Man. Jimmy begins to display other powers, such as super-speed and investigating if he has other powers, discovers the ability to project spines from his body, but is puzzled as to why some powers only pronounce themselves in certain situations. Witnessing the mysterious death of the New God Lightray and dreaming of being trapped in the Source Wall, Jimmy begins investigating. Prompted to come to 666 Suicide Slum, he meets a former minion of Darkseid named Sleez there who is killed before he can give in any real information, although "So begins the end" is ominously heard.

After hearing the heroes' eulogies at Bart Allen's funeral, Jimmy resolves to become a hero with his new powers. A week later, Jimmy has made himself a costume and decided on a name: Mr. Action. Over the course of the next few weeks, he revels in his new popularity and decides to try to join the Teen Titans, although Titans leader Robin, begs him to reconsider. Jimmy then confronts Clark Kent and reveals he knows Clark is Superman by pulling away Clark's shirt to reveal Superman's costume. Following appearances in Action Comics, Superman agrees to see if the Justice League will admit Jimmy although the other members are displeased. Jimmy tries out for the Justice League, but is deflated when his powers don't manifest for them. John Henry Irons constructs a new test for Jimmy's powers using metahuman biofeedback, but the display generates complicated images of the Source Wall and alternate Earths, causing intense pain for Jimmy and shocking John. On his way home, Jimmy meets two members of Cadmus, who offer their assistance and take him back to their HQ to run tests on him. During the testing, Jimmy's powers go haywire, and he runs off to keep himself from hurting anyone. He then encounters the Newsboy Legion, who offer him shelter. Jimmy then encounters Forager, who asks for his help in stopping whoever is killing the New Gods. Arriving on Apokolips, Jimmy and Forager fight groups of Parademons before being overpowered and taken prisoner. The Monitors decide that Jimmy was never meant to have control over his powers and that someone else is manipulating him, trying to keep him alive. Jimmy is turned into a slave on Apokolips, but is spared the death sentence by Darkseid.

Karate Kid

Tying in with the Justice League of America and Justice Society of America crossover with the Legion of Super-Heroes, "The Lightning Saga", we see a brainwashed Legion member: Karate Kid (Val Armorr), fight with Batman in the Batcave, eventually subdued by Black Lightning. After being held prisoner by the League for some time, Starman then comes to talk to him. When he is released, he is joined by Dream Girl, Starman, and Doctor Mid-Nite on the Satellite. Dr. Mid-Nite informs the Legion that they are trying to locate their friends, and until then, they are not allowed to leave. After being left in the 21st century by his Legion, Karate Kid is approached by Legion member Triplicate Girl with another mission. Triplicate Girl, now called "Una" takes him to the Oracle's home, to which she knew the location, where they discover that someone is trying to steal the secret identities of heroes everywhere, which Oracle is attempting to prevent. Oracle successfully defeats Calculator in a complicated plot organizing disasters the world over, and Karate Kid reveals that he is dying and only Oracle can help him. After examining Karate Kid, Oracle determines that the virus he has is either of alien origin, or too advanced to detect. She directs the two to see a Mister Orr for more answers. Defeating Orr's bodguard, Equus, Elias moves them onto another researcher after he deduces it may be related to the OMAC virus. Later, Orr reports dutifully to Desaad. Karate Kid and Una then meet Professor Buddy Blank, who takes them to see Brother Eye, who confirm that Val is infected with the OMAC virus and refers to the "Great Disaster". Brother Eye tells Val that there is a similar strain to his infection, in a bunker beneath Blüdhaven. Darkseid is later seen watching Karate Kid, Una and Buddy Blank and his grandson making their way through Blüdhaven, holding up a chess piece of Blank's grandson. Travelling through the ruins, the group meet Firestorm just as Val begins to cough up blood. Sensing something beneath the surface, Val gets Firestorm to blast a hole to the cavern below. One of the Monitors states that Karate Kid will bring about the Great Disaster if the virus spreads to other people. Karate Kid & Firestorm take on the Atomic Knights. They then break into a vault under Bludhaven & find Professor Stein being tortured by Desaad, who then turns on Firestorm & steals his powers. As Desaad tries to kill Val and Una, the Atomic Knights arrive and use a device on Desaad, dividing Firestorm back into Desaad, Jason Rusch and Gehenna. Desaad escapes back to Apokolips before he can be caught.

Mary Marvel

A powerless Mary Batson awakens from her coma after the events of The Trials of Shazam! where she lost her abilities mid-flight. She leaves the hospital planning to find Freddy Freeman, who paid for all her hospital bills and consults Madame Xanadu, who cannot locate Freddy but warns her not to go to Gotham City, which Mary ignores. Chased by thugs through the Gotham subway, she finds the same tunnel where her brother Billy first met the wizard Shazam and became Captain Marvel. Black Adam appears fully powered and saves Mary, before transferring his powers to her and allowing her to become Mary Marvel again. Mary believes that she has acquired the powers of Black Adam and the entire Black Marvel Family, including Isis. Billy later summons her to explain that he has replaced Shazam and that Freddy will replace him, and scolds her for taking Black Adam's powers despite her protests that she will use her powers for good. In Gotham, Mary comes across former supervillain the Riddler at a crime scene where he professes his reformation and new private investigator role. Mary apprehends the real criminal, Clayface with excessive violence and fears Black Adam's powers have changed her - Riddler suggests she seek a mentor as Eclipso watches with interest.

She finds Zatanna, who can sense the new darkness in her powers the pair are witness the murders of the Deep Six and Mary discovers that she possesses more magical powers. Zee then takes her to her home, Shadowcrest, where she begins to train her, although Mary has a sudden mood swing and desire to become more powerful, challenging Zatanna to battle. As Eclipso watches the battle, Mary and Zatanna fight. Mary loses after Zatanna turns Mary's lightning on her, which cancels out her powers. Mary is then banished forever from Shadowcrest, before encountering Klarion the Witch Boy and later, Eclipso herself who attempts to fully corrupt the young Marvel. The Shadowpact take notice of Mary's activities, and decide to stop her. They attack Mary and Eclipso, but are easily overwhelmed, and the two escape. Mary meets with Darkseid who offers to show her true darkness. She agrees to speak with him but upon seeing his treatment of people as mere puppets, she attacks him. Their fight is interrupted by Desaad, allowing Mary to escape Eclipso catches her back, and talks Mary into returning to Darkseid and submit his authority, at least until she grows strong enough to usurp his powers. But Mary is unable to return safely to Apokopolis, as the asteroid on which she and Eclipso are talking is destroyed by a stray shot of the Dominators and the Monarch's armies.

Monarch

The Monitors dispatch a Forerunner named Viza Aziv to kill Jason Todd and Donna Troy. With Jason nearly beaten unconscious, Donna and the Forerunner fight until one of the Monitors saves them. Since she is a tool of the Monitors, she is not allowed to touch any of them. Having failed the mission, the Forerunner goes into self-imposed exile. Monarch (Nathaniel Adam) is witness to the defeat of the Forerunner, believing she's too important to discard. Taking her to the Bleed, Monarch then convinces her to help him destroy the Monitors. At first, she decides not to join, but is told that her people on Earth-34 were exterminated by the Monitors using Dark Angel and the Shadow Demons. Their plot threads will continue in Countdown to Adventure, Countdown: Arena and The Search for Ray Palmer which links back to Monarch's appearances in Ion. Monarch and Forerunner later approach the JL-Axis, (Justice League of Earth-10) the Crime Society, and the Extremists of Earth-8 to offer membership in his army. The Extremists refuse and attack him, but he easily overwhelms them, and captures the Challengers from Beyond. The Monitors believe Monarch's goal is to cause a war across the multiverse, resulting in another Crisis, one which would place him as "Absolute Monarch" of a singular reality. He puts Lord Havok in charge of his starfleet, who deals crippling blows to the Dominators of New Earth

The Monitors

After the death of Duela Dent, a Monitor consults the Source Wall as to the cause of rising tension in the Multiverse. After receiving the reply of "Great Disaster," the Monitor asks for a solution to this Great Disaster. The Source Wall replies "Ray Palmer." At their headquarters, the Monitors discuss their goal of protecting the multiverse from crossovers. The Monitors discuss the history of the Multiverse in an attempt to understand how to deal with anomalies across the Multiverse. The Monitors then vote to decide the fates of Donna Troy, Jason Todd, and Kyle Rayner. The decision is made to purge the anomalies. With sentiment in favor of killing, the Monitors send their "Forerunner". Observing the Sinestro Corps War, the Monitors decide Kyle Rayner's continued existence to be an outrage after his symbiosis with Ion and later Parallax. Later still, they agree to eliminate "Bob", the Monitor which befriended Jason and Donna. Earth-15's Monitor watches as Donna and Jason leave his Earth, and predicts that when they arrive on the Earth of his overzealous brother, they will be terminated. The overzealous Monitor attempts to kill them when they arrive on Earth-8, but only succeeds in killing Jokester. This Monitor is able to rally the other Monitors together, naming threats such as Monarch's armies, the death of the New Gods, whoever is manipulating Jimmy Olsen, the virus which Karate Kid has and the possibility that a single individual is behind it all. With the help of a tall female Monitor, he convinces the others that they must go to war in order to save billions of lives that could be lost otherwise.

Piper & Trickster

Tying in with the Flash: The Fastest Man Alive "Full Throttle" story arc, the Rogues have been reconstituted with a new membership of Heat Wave, Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Abra Kadabra, Weather Wizard, Trickster and Pied Piper, led by Inertia. Several Rogues distrust Trickster and Piper as they have reformed in the past. The Rogues plan to and eventually succeed in, killing the Flash, Bart Allen (in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13). Piper and Trickster are then shown on the run following the murder but still attend Bart's funeral, where they are captured by Multiplex and Deadshot. Eventually escaping, they are later pursued in Gotham City by the Suicide Squad (comprised of Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, Plastique and Captain Boomerang, Jr.) and later Oracle's dispatches: the Question and Batwoman, villainous duo Poison Ivy and Deathstroke, and eventually Batman and Wally West himself, on his vendetta against the Rogues who he believes killed his cousin Bart. Piper and Trickster try to tell Wally that they overheard Deathstroke's plans to murder the attendees at the Black Canary/Green Arrow wedding, but are internally attacked by Deathstroke's tracking device. Flash manages to remove the explosive implants, and has the two brought to Zatanna's home. Flash confiscated the duo's weapons, but they use Zatanna's mummy Hassan to create a distraction and escape Black Canary's bachelorette party. They then find himself in the middle of the wedding day battle and manage to use the Joker's exploding "present" against Poison Ivy, gaining some measure of revenge over her. As they escape in a stolen car, they are suddenly accosted by Double Down, who had hidden in the back seat. Double Down wants to join the two in their run from the law, mentioning the disappearances of several villains. The group are then attacked by the Suicide Squad. Double Down is defeated and captured, but Piper and Trickster, using Trickster's cloaking field, evade the squad, then decide to follow them and free the other villains they've captured. They follow them to a government facility, and manage to free Two-Face. Two-Face tells them that Checkmate is behind the abductions. After flipping his coin, Two-Face declines to join the two. Piper and Trickster continue to flee, escaping capture by Deadshot.

Superman-Prime

Superman-Prime, now wearing a black and silver variation of the Superman uniform, attacks the Lex Luthor of Earth-15. He tells Lex that his actions shouldn't be seen as murder, but like a scientist who would "wipe the chalkboard clean and start from scratch" when an experiment fails and expresses his disappointment that he hasn't made the universe "perfect". Flying Lex to that Earth's Fortress of Solitude, he encounters Superman (Zod) and his pregnant wife. Superman-Prime kills them both then heads into space where he flies through the Justice League Satellite, killing Lex and the Justice League members inside. Expressing his disgust over the League not having the roster he wants, he returns to Earth and kills the Earth-15 Wonder Woman (Donna) and Batman (Jason). Realising this isn't the perfect Earth he is looking for, Superman-Prime flies through the planet, destroying it and vowing to find a perfect universe even if he has to tear apart the entire Multiverse to do it. Building his secret lair into the Source Wall itself, he tries to force a restored Mister Mxyzptlk and Annataz Arataz, a young magician of Earth 3, evil counterpart of Zatanna Zatara, to give him their magic powers and help, as the energy supplies siphoned during his battle against Ion would eventually fail him. Physically tortured and verbally abused by Superman-Prime, Annataz suffers a change of heart, and as a way to atone for her past, taunts Superman-Prime until he lets Mxyzptlk escape, and faces his tantrums alone. Superman-Prime destroys his base, burning Annataz alive, and flees.

Spin-Offs

Countdown: Arena

A four part mini-series called Countdown: Arena, scheduled for December 2007, will feature Monarch organizing a battle tournament between the heroes of the 52 universes, in order to determine who will be worthy of joining his army.

Countdown to Adventure

Following on the adventures of Starfire, Animal Man and Adam Strange in 52, backup stories within Countdown to Adventure feature Forerunner and Monarch and expand upon both her origin story and her journey through the Multiverse. Starfire and Animal Man continue with life on Earth, although their powers are not entirely reliable despite ample time to readjust to Earth's environment. Adam Strange is replaced as the guardian of the planet Rann by an ultra-violent actor named Champ Hazard. Meanwhile, the return of Lady Styx is heralded on Earth and Rann by zombie-like outbursts of three words: "Believe in her."

Countdown to Mystery

Countdown to Mystery features the adventures of Kent V. Nelson becoming Doctor Fate. In a backup story, Eclipso seduces the heroes of the DC Universe, tying into Countdown appearances with Mary Marvel and begins with the corruption of Plastic Man and the revelation (as also revealed in a Countdown back-up story) as claimed by Darkseid that he is Eclipso's true creator and that Eclipso's black diamond was mined on the planet Apokolips.

The Search for Ray Palmer

Expanding on the stories for Jason Todd, Donna Troy, Bob and Kyle Rayner in Countdown, Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer chronicles the "Challengers from Beyond" and their search for the former Atom, Ray Palmer. So far they have searched Earth-50 (the Wildstorm universe), Earth-3 (the Crime Society of America), Earth-43 (a vampire infested world) and Earth-15 (a near-perfect universe) with no results.

Lord Havok & the Extremists

Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists is set to feature Monarch, the Monitors, Jason Todd, Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner. The series deals with events on Earth-8 and how they are set to impact the future of the Multiverse and the Countdown to Final Crisis.