(The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1) - Rick Rickard was elected President of the United States, pivoting the U.S. towards fascism. Rickard was actually a computer hologram controlled by Lex Luthor and Brainiac, the real power behind the government. He systematically imprisoned heroes he was worried might cause his downfall. Reporter Jimmy Olsen nearly exposed Rickard as a phony, and Lex demanded Rickard be reformatted. He ordered all charges against Jimmy be dropped, believing no one would believe his conspiracy theory. Batman, who’d been living under the radar after faking his death during a fight with Superman three years previous decided to declare war on the U.S. Batman, his sidekick Carrie Kelley aka Catgirl and his loyal army of Batboys freed Atom from Palmer Industries and Flash from the Kanemitsu Power Complex. Luthor held Superman under his sway because he held the bottle city of Kandor hostage, and sent him after Batman. Flash hit Superman with a number of explosive devices, Green Arrow, now sporting a cybernetic arm, shot an arrow filled with kryptonite napalm at him and Atom played havoc with his inner ear after crawling inside it. Batman was wearing his kryptonite gauntlets and battered Superman bloody, demanding he get out of the Batcave.

(The Dark Knight Strikes Again #2) - Batman, Catgirl and the Batboys stormed the capital, destroying Luthor’s databanks of material he’d gathered spying on U.S. citizens for future use as blackmail or to terrorize the public. Batman carved the Mark of Zorro into Luthor’s face, and for the first time in a long while Luthor was scared. Batman, Catgirl, Atom and their latest recruit Elongated Man broke into Arkham Asylum, which had been under the control of the inmates for years. They found the secret containment unit where Lex Luthor had Plastic Man held prisoner and freed him. The years had driven Plastic Man mad, and he attacked Elongated Man until Batman punched some sense into him. Batman knew Plastic Man was the most powerful of all the heroes he’d recruited, but he was extremely unstable. Luthor told Superman there was an alien invasion, and he had to save the world. Superman confronted the alien ship that had already slaughtered dozens, and Brainiac revealed himself as the pilot. He didn’t want Batman’s group of heroes to give the people any hope, so Superman was chosen to be the fall guy. Brainiac said he’d be completely humiliated, defeat and then destroyed as a message to the populace that there was no hope in superheroes. Superman refused to fight back or flee, and Brainiac tried to destroy Superman, but was frustrated by his invulnerability. Green Arrow was sent out after Question, who, like Batman wanted to build a new world. Batman and Arrow objected to Question’s objectivist worldview and Arrow tried to kill him with steel arrows. Batman decided to make his existence completely public, appearing with Green Arrow and Black Canary and urging the youth of America to put on tights and rise up.

(The Dark Knight Strikes Again #3) - Catgirl and Green Arrow were attacked by a shapeshifting creature calling himself the Joker and Catgirl was shocked by how relentless he was. Joker injured Green Arrow and Catgirl used his trick arrows to seemingly kill Joker, taking him apart with arrows filled with acid and thermite. Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman tried to help Superman against Brainiac, but Marvel was mortally wounded. Brainiac burned Metropolis to the ground, and Superman knew all his loved ones were dead including Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, once the love of his life. Brainiac learned of the existence of Lara, Superman and Wonder Woman’s daughter and sent her a telepathic message demanding she surrender to him or he’d destroy the bottle city of Kandor. Lara decided to finally confront her father and ask him about her Kryptonian heritage. Superman was disturbed that she had a great disdain for humanity seeing them as weak and useless. Lara had a fascistic bent, wondering why the powerful didn’t simply enslave humanity, who were constantly killing each other when they weren’t killing the planet. Batman contacted Superman via hologram, trying to convince him to defy Luthor. Batman promised he’d get Kandor back for Superman if he agreed to follow marching orders. Batman said he’d need Lara for his plan as well, and although she bristled at the idea of taking orders from him Superman convinced her to help. Lara submitted herself to Brainiac, who filled her with nanobots to ensure her compliance. He allowed her to see and touch Kandor, admitting that he took glee in treating the Kryptonians inside like ants that he could torture. A single tear fell from Lara’s eye, enabling Atom to enter the bottle city. Batman staged a breakin and allowed himself to be captured by Luthor. Batman’s idea of insurgency had spread across the nation, leading to large-scale riots and military intervention. Batman allowed Luthor to beat him while he bragged about being glad to have an excuse to unleash the military on the U.S. populace. Luthor crowed about having space cannons and orbiting nukes that could eliminate anyone who dared speak out against him. Green Lantern returned to Earth, destroying Luthor’s orbiting defense system, and then returned to the stars. Batman freed himself, and introduced Luthor to the son of Hawkman and Hawkwoman, who Luthor had killed. Their son took his mace and bashed Luthor’s head in. Lara warmed up her body, destroying the nanobots inside, and Atom freed the Kandorians, who returned to normal size, regaining their natural Kryptonian powers. Lara and the Kandorians used all their power to kill Brainiac. Superman met with Lara, having come around to her point of view, and asked her what they should do with their planet. With the government in chaos Green Arrow and Question argued on a news program about the future of the country and the future of superheroes.