Extreme Justice

Cover Description: Clockwise from top right, Justice Leaguers Amazing Man, Captain Atom, Maxima, Booster Gold, and Blue Beetle burst through a wall.

Brief Synopsis: Captain Atom's faction of the Justice League takes up residence in an abandoned military bunker.

Issue Summary: Captain Atom leads his splinter group of Justice Leaguers (Amazing Man, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, and Maxima) into action against a rogue Air Force colonel in Colorado who is threatening to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against Russia. Although the team quickly subdues the rogue forces, the colonel succeeds in launching a missile which Captain Atom has to stop.

Following their success, the team heads to Mount Thunder, Nevada, where they plan to set up headquarters in an abandoned secret military installation. Unfortunately, the team learns that the base isn't as abandoned as they thought when they are attacked by advanced, unmanned drones.

In Washington, D.C., General Synge receives word of the Mount Thunder breach, and is determined to "shut down" Captain Atom.

Elsewhere, Ronnie Raymond, once one-half of the hero Firestorm, is informed that he has terminal cancer.

Back in Mount Thunder, having defeated the drones, the team discovers that Mount Thunder is under assault from Captain Atom's old Air Force teammates, the Peacekeepers. Reveal Potential Spoilers

Booster Gold's role in this story:
Featured (Booster Gold plays a prominent role)

Costume Worn: MARK IV armored power-suit

Issue Notes: Following the Zero Hour mini-series, each title published by DC Comics received a #0 issue, allowing the origins and chronologies of characters to be adjusted to the post-Zero Hour history of the DC Universe. These "zero" issues were also used to launch several new titles, including as Extreme Justice.

Page 1, panel 3
FIRST APPEARANCE: First appearance of Colonel West, a rogue U.S. military officer determined to initiate a nuclear war between the Untied States and the Soviet Union.

Page 2, panel 1
Amazing Man II, Blue Beetle II, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, and Maxima arrive in Colorado in order to assist the government in preventing a rogue general from launching nuclear missiles against Russia. Amazing Man and Blue Beetle fly on devices similar to Mister Miracle's Aerodiscs. Despite their effectiveness in this issue, they will inexplicably not be seen again in the pages of Extreme Justice for a year.

Page 9, panel 2
Beetle defends his choice to call this five-man team the Justice League. This is one of three active "Justice League" teams following the cataclysmic "Judgment Day" and "Zero Hour" storylines. Wonder Woman leads her traditional Justice League in issues of Justice League America. Martian Manhunter leads his inexperienced Justice League in Justice League Task Force.

Page 10, panel 1
FIRST APPEARANCE: First appearance of the second Monarch. The first Monarch became the villain Extant prior to the events of Zero Hour and was apparently killed during the story.

Page 11, panel 3
Booster Gold and his companions arrive at Mount Thunder, an abandoned silver mine converted to an underground bunker by the United States government. This is the second underground lair used by the Justice League after the Secret Sanctuary in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. Booster is more concerned that the party is close to Las Vegas, Nevada, than arriving at his new headquarters.

Page 12, panel 1
Captain Atom discusses the history of Mount Thunder, comparing it to Mount Weather, a government bunker in Virginia that has existed since the 1950s as a location to house high-ranking government officials in the event of a catastrophe. Mount Weather was the inspiration for the bunker in the 1964 movie Seven Days in May, also called Mount Thunder.

Page 21, panel 1
Surviving an attack from automated defense drones, Booster and company arrive in "the Brain," the command center of Mount Thunder.