The most powerful beings of this Earth...CRUSHED and HELPLESS at my feet. And once this planet is consumed...I'll send my forces out to slaughter any ragtag survivors who slipped through my grasp. Such is the annhilation that is Darkseid! 
- — Darkseid
Earth 2: World's End #25 is an issue of the series Earth 2: World's End (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 2015. It was published on March 25, 2015.
Synopsis for "Grounded"
On Earth 2, in Atom’s Haven, the final evacuation point of the planet, a flotilla of evac ships launch and fly away from Earth. Kalibak, having reached the location a bit late, orders his Apokoliptian horde of protofuries to give chase and prevent the escape. In the mass chaos, Kendra Munoz-Saunders (Hawkgirl), Jay Garrick (Flash), Queen Marella (Aquawoman), and Jonni Thunder (among others) are seen fighting off the invading forces and protecting the escape ships. Kalibak shouts that Apokolips will devour them all. From a mounted turret in the Haven, Dick Grayson and Batman II (Thomas Wayne) are both manning the guns, firing on the protofuries. They both share that they have family members aboard the ships.
From within one of the evac ships, someone shouts that the enemy is swarming. There is an explosion, and it seems to be the ship that Huntress (Helena Wayne) and Red Arrow (Oliver Queen) are aboard. Helena wonders how to protect the Codex, which has all the information of the world within it. Oliver quips that the best thing at this moment is to prepare for a crash landing.
Up in the Court of Apokolips, Darkseid and his Nobles continue to face off against Val Zod (Superman II), Kara Zor-El (Power Girl), and Lois Lane (Red Tornado). Darkseid fires his Omega Beams at Kara, knocking her down. He calls them pathetic, and then picks up Val and throws him down the hole they’d created when they broke into the court. He taunts them to try and save their planet, and as he’s about to say they will fail, Kara launches at him again, punching him in the head and actually deflecting his Omega Beams. The two continue to engage in combat.
While Val falls from Apokolips to Earth, he regains consciousness as he passes an evac ship. Hearing someone talking about a Codex that contains the DNA of all living creatures from Earth, he flies underneath the ship, helps steady it out, and sets it down safely back on solid ground.
Grappling one another, Darkseid and Kara continue their brawl, with Darkseid again trying to fire his Omega Beams at Kara from point-blank range. She manages to grip his head and gouges out (at least one of) his eyes, seemingly eliminating his power source for the beams. He persists, and Val flies up and restrains him from behind, saying he has vowed against violence, and tells Darkseid to stand down and stop attacking Kara, or he’ll break that vow. Darkseid asks if Val will be his new opponent and he bashes his skull backwards into Val’s, and throws Val once again down to Earth. Darkseid lands and places a foot on Val’s body, saying their efforts are futile, and once Apokolips has consumed Earth, he’ll go and kill any of the survivors who had attempted to escape. At this, almost every Wonder that isn’t on a spaceship - Hawkgirl, Flash, Aquawoman, Jonni Thunder, Obsidian, Dr. Fate (Khalid Ben-Hassin), and Captain Steel (Henry Heywood, Jr.) arrive at the site of the battle. Kendra says he’s on their turf now, and the Wonders attack. Darkseid remarks that he’d forgotten how much some planets struggle, and he fires an Omega Beam through Jonni Thunder.
The heroes begin their attack, with Flash and Kendra reuniting, since Jay’s mom is safe on one of the evac ships. Fate and Obsidian attempt to restrain Darkseid, but he breaks their magic restraints. Mocking them, asking if this is the best they can do, a voice says it isn’t their full arsenal, and a batarang bomb lands on Darkseid’s chest. Thomas, Helena, Oliver, and Kara all join the battle, with Helena and Kara also reuniting. As they charge him, he smirks, and says they’re rushing towards their defeat.
Up in Earth/Apokolips orbit, at the TSS Endurance, Fury, Mister Terrific (Michael Holt), Terry Sloan (Mister Eight), Sandman (Wesley Dodds), Mister Miracle, and Alan Scott (Green Lantern) work on the exterior of the ship. Fury remarks to Miracle that the technology is impressive for humans. Sloan tells Holt that he’s finished installing the Lensing technology (based on his experiments with Fury and Miracle’s New God technology, using the multiverse). He confirms that this will allow the ship to pull something of a similar size from another universe. Holt acknowledges, and says that using this with the dimensional camouflage that Sloan created, it will allow them to pull in twenty more versions of the Endurance from other universes, enough to save the population of this Earth. With their go-ahead, Alan activates the device, and instantly twenty more Endurance-style ships appear in space. Sloan says that he - or other versions of himself - had created all of these ships, but they’re all empty because Darkseid chose to attack the Earth of this universe only. By activating this device, it also supercharges Alan with the multiversal Green, and allows him sight across the multiverse. He realizes that the multiversal lensing technology is what the Green had been trying to steer him towards. Quickly he notices that lives on Earth are still in danger, so he flies down towards the planet.
Radioing to Earth, Alan says to send the rest of the ships. Commander Sonia Sato says the rest of the fleet is grounded, and Darkseid is on the planet. He flies down through the breach he’d created in Apokolips, and arrives at the scene of the battle, only for Darkseid to tell him that he is too late. Darkseid stands victorious atop the bodies of the defeated Wonders.
Appearing in "Grounded"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Aquawoman
- Dick Grayson
- Fury
- The Green (Mentioned only)
- Jonni Thunder
- Mister Miracle
- Mister Terrific
- Obsidian
- Red Arrow
- Terry Sloan
- World Army
- Captain Steel
- Commander Sato (Communication)
- Sandman
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Johnny Grayson (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Apokolips
- Court of Apokolips
- Earth 2
- Earth
- United States of America
- Oklahoma City
- Atom's Haven
- Oklahoma City
- United States of America
- Earth/Apokolips Orbit
- Earth
Items:
- Codex
Vehicles:
- TSS Endurance
See Also