(Earth 2 #1) - Darkseid invaded Earth 2, plunging the world into war, and the Wonders of the World fought him, his general Steppenwolf and his armies of Parademons across the globe, but the raging conflict dragged on without either side gaining a clear advantage. Batman met with Wonder Woman and Superman, telling them he’d come up with a way to repel Darkseid’s invasion. Batman had figured out that the beacon towers set up by Darkseid powered the Parademons and gave them marching orders, but each time the Wonders of the World managed to destroy a tower its transmissions simply rolled over to other towers, and any destroyed towers were quickly replaced by new ones sent in via boom tube. Batman developed a chip with a virus program that would shut down a tower, and when it’s transmission rolled over the virus would spread to all the other beacon towers. The Wonders went to work, with Batman making his way to a tower while Superman and Wonder Woman held off the armies of Parademons guarding it. Steppenwolf got the drop on Wonder Woman, stabbing her in the back, killing her. Parademons swarmed Superman, attaching an explosive device to the back of his head, killing him. Batman managed load the virus into the beacon tower, but knew the tower’s self-defense system would cause it to explode. He had no choice but to sacrifice himself. The war was over, and Darkseid was forced to withdraw.

(Earth 2 #8) - Steppenwolf traveled to the nation of Dherain, seeking sanctuary. He was stranded on Earth after Batman shut down Darkseid’s boom tubes, and Dherain’s King Marov had aided Steppenwolf in the past, betraying humanity to assist Darkseid’s invasion in exchange for Apokoliptian technology. Marov had negotiated a peace treaty with the World Army in which Dherain was cut off from the rest of the world, but he would not be put on trial for war crimes. Steppenwolf and Marov acted cordially towards one another, but Steppenwolf revealed that he knew Marov was trying to lull him into a false sense of security and planned on betraying him. Steppenwolf’s daughter fury was the last of his troops still loyal to him, and she’d learned Marov’s army had orders to kill Steppenwolf when ordered. Marov admitted he planned on taking whatever new Apokoliptian tech Steppenwolf might have to offer and turning him in to the world Army. His betrayal didn’t sting, since Steppenwolf only came to Dherain because he wanted to be the nation’s new monarch. Fury tore through Dherain’s army while Steppenwolf engaged Marov in combat. Marov had an exoskeleton based on Parademon schematics, but it did him little good in fierce fighting, and Steppenwolf killed him. Steppenwolf presented the people of Dherain with Morov’s head, saying that although Marov was a worthy leader and kept the wolves from the nation’s door, he would no longer be able to protect them. The people accepted Steppenwolf as their new ruler, and Steppenwolf commissioned a memorial statue of Marov to make himself seem more like a worthy successor and less like a dictator. Steppenwolf confided in fury that Dherain was only the beginning, he still wanted to rule the entire world for himself.

(Earth 2 #11) - Steppenwolf learned that Mister Miracle, who’d escaped Apokolips a year ago was hiding in Earth 2’s Gotham City alongside his companion big Barda. Steppenwolf ordered fury to go to Gotham and retrieve them. She asked him why he didn’t want her by his side when the World Army was clearly coming for him soon. Steppenwolf replied that she had trained Dherain’s armies well enough that they could stand up to the World Army without her, and he approved of what an amazing job she did whipping them into shape.

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