Since the launch of the New 52, the mysterious presence of Pandora has been leading us to one massive conflict, Trinity War, which itself is merely a precursor to DC Comics’ first event series since Flashpoint in 2011: Forever Evil.

“ 'As far as the world knows, the Justice Leagues are dead.'

Forever Evil #1 kicks off DC’s Villains Month in September, where a series of one-shots will celebrate the ever-popular rogues community in the DCU. Up to this point, readers have assumed that Forever Evil would be about the usual suspects taking control of the world while the heroes flounder to recover from the events of Trinity War. However, writer Geoff Johns has told us that this isn’t the case. In fact, the situation is much, much worse for our heroes.“As far as the world knows, the Justice Leagues are dead. What happened to them and where they are will be revealed within the pages of Forever Evil, which is focused squarely on the greatest villains in comics,” said the writer, who added that this event would be changing the status quo of the DCU in a major way. He said that the monthly comics would eventually reflect the changes that the universe undergoes by the time Forever Evil reaches its conclusion in issue #7. “There are some major events that happen to some of our heroes and villains, and those are all reflected in the monthly books at the end of [the series], except for the ones that tie-in directly like the Justice League titles, Suicide Squad, and Teen Titans. Those books will be up-to-speed monthly.”The fact is that there’s an even higher power, one that will be revealed at the end of Trinity War in Justice League #23 – “The Crime Syndicate will be the ones leading the charge to take the world in Forever Evil.” The Crime Syndicate’s debut in the New 52 calls back to their roots – a team of twisted, evil incarnations of the Justice League that come from the parallel Earth-3.

Forever Evil #2 Cover

“Evil is relative – and what I mean by that, is that our villains are as complex, as deep and as compelling as any of our heroes. Every antagonist in the DC Universe has a unique darkness, desire and drive. And the reason for being of Forever Evil is to explore that darkness,” explained Johns. “We start literally, in the first issue, when the whole world goes dark; communication and power are gone. And as our Earth is plunged into darkness, the Crime Syndicate begins their plan for conquest.”“[They] make themselves known and they enact their mission to take over. They will lead an army of super villains, but not every villain sees things the way they do,” he continued. “Every villain in the DC Universe wants something different and not all of them want to rule the world. Or at least, not all of them want to rule the world in the way the Crime Syndicate do."Interestingly, in the original Crime Syndicate stories from the 1960s, the hero that rose up to stop the villains on Earth-3 was that parallel world’s own version of Lex Luthor. Mirroring that sentiment, Johns has placed Luthor as the main protagonist in Forever Evil, who will be forced to take matters into his own hands and “form his own version of a Justice League to take them down. Who are we rooting for in this scenario? How bad are things if we are forced to rely on Lex Luthor they way he’s always wanted us to?”It won’t just be Luthor in the spotlight, however. “From Sinestro to Black Adam to Captain Cold to Catwoman, we’ve never seen these villains team-up like this before. And for what some might say the right reasons. But they go about trying to ‘save’ the world in a very, very different way than our heroes might. They don’t have laws they follow. Their moral codes are all on a sliding scale. And their sense of justice isn’t going to be a jail cell. Or even something as simple as death. In the end, they too have their own reasons for doing what they do, and ultimately this story will change them as much as it changes the heroes.”This new threat, the Crime Syndicate, will be the classic line-up that includes Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Johnny Quick, Power Ring, plus new member Deathstorm to start with. “For them, and Ultraman in particular, it’s not about good and evil. It’s about strength and weakness. They’re the strongest, most powerful people on their planet, therefore they have ruled it.”Johns said that each member of the Syndicate has come to “our” DCU for very different reasons, which will be explored throughout Forever Evil and the Justice League titles. “They’re here for the thrills, or for simple survival, or for a chance at a new life. Although they work together, they’re as self-concerned as you can get. Their thinking is backwards; they’re wired wrong. And they view our world as backwards in so many ways – it’s a shock to the system. The culture and behavior is so alien to them. I’m not taking about flying around and being a ‘super hero’ – I’m talking about even the most basic concepts of good in our society, like a soup kitchen or a free clinic or fundraising -- they don’t make sense to them. Why are people sacrificing anything for anyone else? Something like sacrifice is a foreign concept to the Syndicate. It’s all about strength.”Though he loves working with all of these characters for different reasons, Johns admitted that Ultraman has proven to be his favorite. “Ultraman is going to be the uber-villain. He doesn’t understand the laws of nature on this world. We’ll get deep into that, his brutality, and his lack of compassion. But he also has an agenda that is frighteningly understandable. I think that’s the scariest part of it all; you can actually see why Ultraman is doing what he’s doing, as horrific as it is. Like many people out there, he doesn’t believe in protecting the weak.”

“ 'Forever Evil is my love letter to DC super villains.'

Forever Evil #3 Cover

Johns worked closely with Forever Evil artist David Finch to redesign the Crime Syndicate visually. “[We] talked about their personalities in great detail. We wanted a touch of old-school looks to them combined with the modern day, because we wanted them to look like heroes. Some might say that Ultraman’s costume looks more heroic than Superman’s right now. When Ultraman walks into a room, you think it’s Superman until he starts talking…and acting. I wanted to have this almost immediate sigh of relief, followed by absolute terror. ‘Superman is here!’ ‘That’s not Superman.’”He continued, “It’s all about personality and individual story. With Power Ring, for instance, [David] has done an amazing job of illustrating how the ring affects the greatest coward the ring could find. And Deathstorm sees Power Ring as a fascinating experiment. Deathstorm is a scientist who’s been merged with the dead body of his lab assistant. It’s given him a cold demeanor and a clammy touch. He’s essentially a mad Nazi scientist with Atomic Power at his hand. Johnny Quick has his kills-for-thrills attitude is all over his face; he’s smiling, he’s excited. He’s finally found a place he can have some fun with again. And he’s been through hell. He wants to give that hell back to everyone he encounters. Owlman is searching for control, he knows the world can’t be plunged into chaos – it needs systems to function. And he wants to control those systems. He wants to control everything. Superwoman is probably the most manipulative of them all. She is the most frightening because of the secrets she has. We really wanted to twist our superheroes inside out.’”The writer concluded, “Forever Evil is my love letter to DC super villains. It’s my chance to take all of the villains I’ve worked with and all the ones I’ve never worked with and put them into one gigantic, epic story that will bring together the bads of the DC Universe.”Ever the tease, Johns added, “I’ve revealed a lot, but not everything. You can see Batman in this art. What’s that about? Why would Batman follow Luthor? Is that even Bruce Wayne?! There are many more surprises coming up. Because if there’s anything about villains you do know, it’s that they’re unpredictable.”Perhaps we’ll find out when Forever Evil #1 hits on September 4th. Be sure to hit up your local comic book shop and pre-order your copy!

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito , or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN . He often wonders whatever happened to Billy's RadBug.