In the ancient past, the warlord known in the modern days as Vandal Savage encountered an alien for the first time. Thanos, the renegade son of Darkseid, had come to Earth seeking the Anti-Life Equation and take it for his own. The confrontation between the two was apparently illuminating, for afterward Savage sought out an audience with the Lord of Apokalips himself and offered him his aid, in exchange for rulership of the Earth.
Thus the greatest collection of super-villains with a singular goal of world domination was formed. Not just to rule the world, but to preserve it from the firepits of Apocalips and the cruel machinations of Darkseid. A "Light" in the Darkness. The Light.
The purpose of The Reach was to aid the Light in taking over the world, giving them needed technologies and also to help them discover the metahumans. The Anti-Life Equation turns normal humans into mindless zombies, but metahumans become more malleable slaves under its effects. The Light was also working to undermine the Reach, eventually hoiping to have the forces of Apocalips finish them off.
One of the main projects of the Light was the creation of Nate Grey. Using the blood of Thanos kept by Savage, plus the DNA of metahumans Scott Summers and Jean Grey, they used the rogue geneticist Nathanial Essex to build a proper vessel for the Anti-Life Equation, should it be found.
When the Reach was defeated by the Justice League and their covert-operations Team, Vandal Savage took the Warworld and defected to serve Apokalips directly, figuring it was better to rule in Hell than serving time in prison. This forced Lex Luthor to take control of the Light and forge an alliance with the power-hungry individuals within Weapons Plus.
Luthor initiated Project: Stormwatch which would replace the world's heroes with ones of his making. Gaining the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations, he undermined the League until his opportunity to destroy them manifested themselves. Obliterating the Watchtower with an anti-matter missile, he then replaced the Justice League with a team he called the Squadron Supreme which headlined a group he called Stormwatch.
The forces at Weapons Plus were concerned for the United States and cared nothing for the world or the ultimate plans of the Light. After Luthor convinced the American government to allow Checkmate to absorb the Office of National Emergency, Weapons Plus cut all ties with the Light and gave Luthor notice not to interfere with the United States from this point onward.
Then the combined force of the Justice League and The Avengers, who had been actually saved by the machinations of Rip Hunter, launched a campaign to deal with Stormwatch and Luthor once and for all. Gathering evidence of their treasonous activities, the heroes located the mysterious Skywatch, an alien vessel gifted to Savage years ago by Thanos which existed in the space between dimensions known as The Bleed.
The attack on Skywatch was swift and at its end, the base was destroyed, the members of the Squadron Supreme were defeated and Luthor himself was in custody in The Outland, the pocket dimension where the assembled heroes based their operations.
Yet even in defeat Luthor had an ace up his sleeve. After Weapons Plus defected, Lex had discovered the Anti-Life equation residing in one of his Squadron Supreme members, Eobard Thawne, aka The Blur or The Reverse-Flash. In revenge his sent the Blur on a "mission" to Pleasent Hills to kill Nate Grey, knowing that instead Nate would become infected by the Anti-Life and become the vessel for they had designed him to be.
With Pleasent Hills now a beacon radiating the Anti-Life Equation, it's only a matter of time before the forces of Apocalips or maybe Darkseid himself will arrive to claim their prize.
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