A maligned Superman and Justice League are the bad guys in DC's War for Earth-3 event

War for Earth-3 #1 variant cover
War for Earth-3 #1 variant cover (Image credit: Guillem March (DC))

DC is ramping up crossover events in 2022, first with 'Shadow Wars' and now with 'War for Earth-3.'

War for Earth-3 #1 main cover (Image credit: DC)

'War for Earth-3' will have three DC ongoing titles - The Flash, Teen Titans Academy, and Suicide Squad - intersect, with two bookend one-shots to launch and then finish what's described as a story that not only crosses between books, but also between universes in the DC Omniverse.

Longtime Task Force X leader Amanda Waller has been sending her team to other DC Universes since the early days of the 'Infinite Frontier' Suicide Squad series, but in 'War for Earth-3' she'll be targeted by Earth-3's evil version of the Justice League, the Crime Syndicate. This is just as Waller is getting her souped-up 'Justice Squad' team up and running.

This evil Justice League vs. Suicide Squad war will grow to loop in The Flash and Teen Titans Academy title as those heroes come looking for a missing student they believe was recently recruited for her new squad, the Justice Squad.

For this March 2022 event, current Suicide Squad writer Robbie Thompson will be taking over writing the other two titles (Teen Titans Academy and The Flash) alongside incoming co-writer Dennis 'Hopeless' Hallum, and they will also be writing the bookend one-shots - so five issues in total.

Here they are, along with their release dates and artists:

  • March 1: The War for Earth-3 #1 with artist Steve Pugh
  • March 8: Suicide Squad #13 with artist Eduardo Pansica
  • March 15: The Flash #780 with artist Fernando Pasarin
  • March 22: Teen Titans Academy #13 with artist Mike Norton
  • March 29: The War on Earth-3 #2 with artist Dexter Soy

Rafa Sandoval has drawn the main cover for War for Earth-3 #1, with variant covers coming from Gleb Melnikov, Liam Sharp, and Guillem March. You can check them out here:

According to DC, 'The War For Earth-3' will be a story unto itself but also set up future storylines for each of the ongoing books in April and beyond.

The event begins March 1 with The War for Earth-3 #1.

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Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)