DC x Sonic the Hedgehog #5 (2025)

Earth, Sonic's dimension: The Ragna Rock hangs ominously in the sky, whirlwinds ripping up the ground around it as lightning crackles above it all. Elsewhere, Cyborg reminds the other Justice Leaguers, as well as Sonic and friends, of the situation: the Ragna Rock is the center of dimensional instability, and Sonic's Earth is being torn apart by its power as it barely holds together itself, with Darkseid and the seventh Chaos Emerald still inside somewhere. Beyond that, however, his scans are unable to pick up anything. Superman sums up the plan: "to fly into the unknown, face incalculable odds, stop a god, and save not just your world, but your reality", asking Sonic if he's up for it. Sonic scoffs at this, doubtful that "this isn't just another day for either of [them]." Tails recalls that the interior of the Ragna Rock was "collapsing into a dimensional nightmare" when they were sent to the League's Earth and asks how they escaped; Cyborg answers that he hooked a Chaos Emerald into his arm cannon and hoped for the best, with Tails insisting that "if it works, it works", though he believes they'll need something more precise to re-enter the Ragna Rock. Cyborg agrees and, noting Tails' "upgrades", asks him to help crunch the numbers, with Tails happily lending his aid. As the two geniuses work, the other members of both teams trade stories of the adventures they had in each other's worlds and discuss the state of things; Silver shares with Green Lantern that the Corps never gave up hope about his return (though he notes Guy Gardner was "pretty crass about it", with the two ultimately agreeing that his personality growing on you is more like building up a tolerance); Knuckles reassures Superman that the Fortress of Solitude-- which he refers to as Superman's "little alien zoo"-- is fine, but adds that Superman's robots took care of most of it because he was "busy teaching Luthor who's boss", which mildly exasperates the Man of Steel; Batman and Shadow tersely tell each other that their respective places are safe, though Shadow reluctantly mentions that Joker blew up the Batmobile, with an unfazed Batman reassuring him that "it happens"; Amy excitedly tells Wonder Woman that she immediately bonded with everyone on Themyscira despite not being on the island for long and is jealous of Diana's "entire extended sisterhood", to which Diana assures her that she's an Amazon now and they'll all be with her in spirit no matter what, causing Amy to let out an extended squeal of delight; and Flash and Sonic share their experiences of dealing with each other's villains, with Sonic being amused at how Flash outsped Zavok and saying that he had fun dealing with Flash's Rogues, about to mention "this one guy". Eventually, Cyborg tells everyone to "wrap it up", saying that he and Tails "weren't taking that long." Tails adds that the two of them have a way of entering the Ragna Rock to fix everything. Cyborg explains that they intend to use the same gambit that they did to reunite everyone: using their six Emeralds' frequency to resonate with the one Darkseid has in the Ragna Rock, which should give them the needed telemetry to create a stable Boom Tube inside to get them close to said final Emerald. Tails adds that once all seven Emeralds are in their possession, they'll undo the damage Darkseid and his forces have caused. He then sums up the plan while the Emerald matrix is synchronized with the Boom Tube, with Cyborg ready to activate when the heroes are prepared. Wonder Woman and Silver rally the heroes for the future of all worlds and peoples, and they head through the Boom Tube to confront Darkseid in a final battle. Flash and Sonic enter first to find that Darkseid—who is in front of the Dimensional Engine, which has transformed into a sphere made from interlocked hexagonal shapes—has been anticipating their return, saying that if the heroes had left this world to die, he would have been trapped, but they didn't and couldn't, knowing they must put themselves at risk to "save the meaningless lives of the masses" and that their doing so brings him the remaining Emeralds to use for destroying Sonic's Earth and several others; therefore, they have his appreciation "for being so hopelessly reliable." After mentioning that he's spent "countless ages learning to bend this distorted hell to [his] will," he beckons the heroes to "face [him] and die", having created a massive projection of himself from a combination of the rocky insides of the Ragna Rock and Chaos Energy from the blue Chaos Emerald. The final battle commences as he sends the golem to attack, Knuckles and Superman bashing their way through it as they order the others to "hold nothing back" and "keep him occupied", respectively. Wonder Woman lassos one hand while Amy uses her hammer to break apart the other. Batman asks Shadow for "tear gas, flash-bang, and every repellent [he has]" out of his Utility Belt, but Shadow insists that won't stop a god. Batman agrees, but as he uses his grappling hook to send the mixture of devices towards Darkseid, where it explodes to disorient the New God, he continues that "it buys [them] a few seconds, which can make all the difference." Meanwhile, as Tails and Cyborg approach the Engine with an inversion device carrying the other Emeralds in hand, Cyborg urges Tails to be careful, as he reads an output on par with the Emeralds. Tails asks how that's possible, as Darkseid's holding the Emerald responsible for its mutation, to which Cyborg simply responds that "this place stopped making sense a long time ago". However, Tails is confident that they can still use it to synchronize their inverter if the properties are still the same, with Cyborg adding that all they need is the final Emerald as the inverter begins to absorb energy from the Engine. Elsewhere, Green Lantern and Silver each grab one of Darkseid's hands, forcing him to create hand constructs that slam into them. With his attention diverted, Sonic rushes to grab the blue Emerald, which he does successfully. He and Flash come to a stop not far away, with Flash suggesting they get it to Tails and Cyborg. However, Sonic brings up a problem: with nothing to run on, he can't build up enough speed to get over there. He also rules out using Chaos Control, as he doesn't want to risk distorting reality inside the Ragna Rock further. Flash suggests matching him step for step so they can both race over. Sonic questions the idea working, to which Flash responds that physics are out of tune in here and asks the real question: can Sonic keep pace with him? The hedgehog jokingly states that he can slow down for him, and the two put the plan into action, beginning to cross the gap. However, despite the best attempts of the other heroes to prevent it, Darkseid notices, sending out Omega Beams to vaporize the two. As they close in on Tails and Cyborg, the former screaming Sonic's name in concern, Sonic knocks Flash out of the way while telling him to get clear, with Flash telling him not to martyr himself. As Sonic slams the final Emerald into the inverter, the Omega Beams collide with his body, causing a bright flash of light. Sonic emerges from it not too long after in his Super form, twisting Darkseid's name in mockery as he admits that the Omega Beams stung a bit, then asking to tell him if he feels his impending attack. He flies at a wide-eyed Darkseid, his flying kick colliding with the New God; however, Darkseid is unfazed, grabbing Sonic's head and slamming his own into it as he insists he felt "the barest itch." In turn, Sonic is himself unfazed, calling him "a featherweight god" with a hit like that. Flash, noting that Sonic can "transform into a golden god now", calls him a "show-off." Tails relates his joy that his best friend is still alive, but mentions that he took the Emeralds' power with him, the inverter device now empty. Cyborg disagrees, noticing that he's super-charged the inverter device, which glows with golden light. However, while Tails is certain that it's enough to handle the inversion, they still need a sufficient charge to serve as a catalyst to use it. Half-jokingly, Cyborg says he's out of ideas unless they have an eighth Emerald hidden somewhere. Flash chimes in by noting that all they need is a comparable energy source and suggests the Speed Force, believing that as one of the seven fundamental forces of the universe, it should be enough, but he'll have to build up the speed to use it. Tails decides to act as his treadmill while Cyborg chips in by shielding them to prevent friction. The three put their plan into motion, with Tails spinning his namesakes fast enough to act as a platform for Flash to run on, the latter saying he'll build up a charge while the others buy them more time. True to Flash's declaration, the others keep Darkseid busy; Silver helps Superman deliver an uppercut to him; Wonder Woman wields a giant Piko-Piko Hammer construct created by Green Lantern, using her strength to spike Darkseid into the ground; Batman and Shadow tie him up with their grappling hooks while Amy wraps her lasso around his neck to deliver a blow with her own hammer, leaving the former heroes to attach explosives to him that detonate as they throw themselves clear from the blast; Darkseid gets up to fire his Omega Beams, but Superman blocks them, with Super Sonic Spin Attacking his way through the beams to hit Darkseid; and finally, as Super Sonic flies out of the way, Silver slams two rocks together at Darkseid's location as Green Lantern creates a massive gun construct to blast into the now-spherical fused rock, causing an explosion inside. While otherwise largely uninjured from the coordinated attack, Darkseid emerges from the crumbling rocks with a massive crack over his left eye; furious at the heroes' continued resistance, he declares that he'll suffer no more indignity as he creates a dark shroud of energy around himself that develops into a bunch of reaching hands. Sonic asks what the New God is doing, and as Silver, Green Lantern and Superman hold back the hands, Wonder Woman answers that he's tearing the fabric of reality apart and they'll all cease to be. Amy tries to tell Darkseid to think about what he's doing, saying that he'll also be erased, but Darkseid refuses to stop, responding that he is eternal, that he simply is. Deciding that it's "now or never," Flash uses his built-up Speed Force to catalyze the inverter, creating a blinding flash of light that consumes everyone around (as Sonic, looking on with Superman, calls Flash a "show-off" in return). The massive event creates a explosion that reverberates across both Sonic's Earth and the Justice League's, with the latter team having been returned to their universe; Superman is returned to Metropolis, calling the League to report on their own situations. Wonder Woman is flying around in D.C.; Green Lantern finds himself on the Watchtower, sharing a fist-bump with Mister Terrific and answering his declaration of "They did it!" with "Of course they did"; Flash is running through Central City, noting it's "never looked better"; Batman checks in from a rooftop in Gotham; and finally, Cyborg lets loose a celebratory "boo-yah", reporting from the Hall of Justice. He's asked by Superman if this means everything went right for their new friends in Sonic and company, to which Cyborg answers affirmatively; he and Tails did the math, and by combining the Chaos Emeralds' power with Darkseid's Dimensional Engine, they not only restored everyone to their proper spatial place, but reverted things chronologically to before Darkseid's invasion. Tails makes this statement himself back on Sonic's Earth, with him, Sonic, and Amy having been returned to their picnic at Never Lake, where the trouble began. This means that the Master Emerald—which Knuckles is back to guarding at the Altar of Emerald—wasn't destroyed along with Angel Island, and all the other locations that were attacked are intact again—something that Shadow and Silver are seeing for themselves from the top of a building as they overlook a pristine Sunset City. In short, Tails finishes, they "won their happily ever after". Holding a chili dog, Sonic adds that the food's still warm, joking that Tails and Cyborg really are heroes for that. While happy that everyone's safe, Amy voices her disappointment that all the time they spent on another Earth making new friends and stopping the bad guys was undone, Tails smiling as he mentions that "time travel is always messy". Amy then asks about Darkseid, to which Tails assures her that since his Ragna Rock was at the center of everything, with how things were reverted, it lost its anchor point in space-time, making it so the New God is no longer a danger for the time being. As he scarfs down his chili dog, Sonic replies to this with a laugh and a simple "later, hater", to which Amy sarcastically notes how none of this news is fazing him. However, he asks her to look at it from a different perspective: they went on a great adventure, met "awesome people", and came out of it fine, with the finer details not being worth thinking about. Amy decides she likes that idea and mentions that she's starving, digging in their picnic basket for her sandwich; drooling, Tails asks to help. Sonic turns away from them, thinking to himself about how, despite all of that, he wouldn't mind getting a chance to race Flash one more time to "make it clear who's really the fastest." Unbeknownst to the heroes, on the Justice League's Earth, within Lexcorp, Lex Luthor himself is talking with another person about how once again, the "reckless actions" of so-called heroes put existence at risk for his world and that of the person he's talking to. "As men of vision," he adds, they should ensure it doesn't happen again. The person joining him is revealed to be Dr. Eggman, who couldn't agree more with his fellow evil scientist's statement. He states that leaving the boundaries between their worlds open was "sloppy", and it's only right they take advantage of it. As the two behold a towering union of Eggman's Death Egg Robot with Lex's Warsuit, they declare a toast "to a glorious new partnership" and "two worlds brought to their knees".