Winter Has Come
The Justice League encounters an extinction-level global storm brewing at the former site of the Fortress of Solitude. Enter the Frost King, a monster mad with power with an army at his command! What devastating mystery lies in his past? And how does he tied to Queen Hippolyta, Swamp Thing, Viking Prince, and their reluctant ally, Black Adam? Two timelines will reveal further clues and secrets throughout each chapter of this blockbuster tale!
A DC Comics Crisis Crossover Event that began on December 1 2020, running almost concurrently to the ending of Dark Nights: Death Metal. The event involved not just the Justice League, but the Teen Titans and Justice League Dark as well, plus tie-in issues for Superman, Aquaman, and The Flash.
General Tropes:
- Adaptational Villainy: Kitty Faulkner. While her Super-Powered Alter Ego of Rampage took many spins through the Heel–Face Revolving Door in the previous continuity, the unpowered Dr Faulkner was not the sort of person who would be fine hanging out with a bunch of supervillains who'd taken over a country.
- Amplifier Artifact: The kryptonian crystals left in the ice from Superman's Fortress of Solitude inexplicably enhance the Frost King's powers.
- Battle Couple: As always, Arthur and Mera fight together and as one.
- Big Damn Heroes: Black Adam saves Flash from the Frost creatures and later even supercharges him with his lightning.
- Barry himself does it when he saves Iris from more Frost creatures.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Frost King is defeated and the world is saved, but Black Adam expresses his inconformity at the apparent failure of the Justice League and their peacekeeping, beginning plans to change that. The Frost King agrees to go back to cryogenic sleep until a safe way to bring back his family from the ice is found.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Roundhouse says he peed himself a little when he saw an even bigger ice giant right in front of him and the Titans.
- The Bus Came Back: After not been seen in some time, Icicle, Rampage, Multiplex and Catman are apprehended by the Justice League on the first issue.
- The Cameo: Kong Kenan/Super-Man is briefly seen fighting the ice creatures during the Flash's tie-in. Silver Banshee, Bronze Tiger, Amazo and Killer Moth are among the villains taking refuge in Khandaq.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: The fight against the villains on the first issue is this for the heroes, since Flash casually asks his teammates about how they balance between hero and civilian lifestyle.
- The Cavalry: Aquaman arrives just in time to help the Justice League with a army of Fire Trolls.
- Child Hater: Not exactly hate but Crush isn't particularly enthusiastic about playing with the refugee children at Titans Tower.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Justice League faces a team-up of B and C-list bad guys and win with relative ease. Even the bad guys wonder why the whole Justice League would bother to come all the way to that country to arrest them.
- Endless Winter: As the title indicates.
- Enemy Mine: Aquaman manages to get the Fire Trolls to help him defend Atlantis from the Frost King's armies.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: The Frost King, true to his name, is a being that controls ice and an army of frost creatures.
- Godzilla Threshold: The threat of the Frost King was so great Hippolyta, Swamp-Thing and Viking Prince requested the Wizard to free Black Adam to help them face him.
- Foregone Conclusion: It was obvious that, regardless of what happened, Black Adam was going to be sealed once more by the Wizard for refusing to change his ways.
- Fusion Dance: Swamp Thing creates an avatar body with his powers of The Green for Viking Prince to inhabit.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Jon Haraldson, the Viking Prince, wouldn't be allowed to enter Valhalla unless he died an heroic death, and he achieves it by dragging the Frost King to an icy crevasse, sealing him and dying alongside him.
- Hope Spot: Just when it appeared the Frost King's family was managing to get through to him, Black Adam attacked him and accidentally caused the death of the family during the battle, making him even more vengeful towards the world.
- Human Popsicle: It's revealed that the family of Edwald Olafson was still alive, trapped within the ice, and he was trying to find them all this time.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: After avoiding punishment during The Terrifics, Sebastian Stagg is arrested in the aftermath of the crisis.
- My Greatest Failure: Hippolyta considers her failure to save the Frost King's family and finding a peaceful solution to be one of her biggest failures.
- Never My Fault:
- Sebastian Stagg refuses to accept responsibility for unleashing the Frost King, blaming Superman for not warning him there was something underneath the Fortress of Solitude.
- Black Adam does not accept that his hard tactics just made things worse, either in the tenth century or the present day. The problem was the other "heroes" getting in his way.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In their attempt at stopping the Frost King, Black Adam brought his family in front of him, only for the family to end up dying in the scuffle, making the Frost King even more vengeful towards the heroes.
- Precursor Heroes: The group of people that defeated the Frost King thousands of years prior was made up of Hippolyta, a previous Swamp-Thing, Viking Prince and Black Adam, which mirrored the Justice League.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Hippolyta and Viking Prince had a lot of trouble getting Black Adam to work together since he was at his proudest and most callous.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Sebastian Stagg and his company accidentally unearthed the Frost King by digging through the remains of the destroyed Fortress of Solitude looking for artifacts to use.
- Winter Warfare: The event features the Justice League fighting against the hordes of ice monsters while the world is covered in snow.
