Episode 85: Doppelgängered
Takes place 1-5 February 2012.
Short version
Paul visits Earth -14 and negotiates a truce between the Syndicate and the US government.
Longer version
Paul and Zatanna are contacted by Wonder Woman's counterpart from Earth -14, and tricked into travelling there. Al "Capo" Scott explains that the Syndicate is stuck in a war of near-total mutual annihilation with the government, which is giving no quarter, and with Power Ring Blue offworld for his honeymoon, they want Paul's help. Paul is reluctant, but with millions of lives at stake and no easy way back on his own, he's willing to negotiate.
Paul's first action is to release Carol Ferris from Syndicate custody, heal her, and send her back to the government to pass on a request for parley, offering the possibility of moving the Syndicate to a country where their skills can be used more legitimately or at least less destructively. However, Enigma (equivalent of the Riddler) responds and declares that the government intends to destroy the Syndicate at any cost. Paul decides to work around him.
Paul then visits a Syndicate gathering and announces the new direction to them, highlighting the prospect of making money elsewhere instead of ruling over ruins. He then tracks down Talon (Robin) and finds him summoning the Justice League from Earth 12 in an attempt to take the Syndicate down immediately. Paul gets the drop on them and disables them, then tells them enough about the situation that they're tentatively willing to listen.
The Martian Manhunter goes with Paul to check the minds of the Made Men, but in doing so, they come across an assassin and Paul is magically transported to a government holding facility. He disables the forces there, and enigmatic metahuman The Answer appears, persuading Lex Luthor to support the disarmament plan.
The Answer then causes the president to have a stroke, and Luthor sends Paul, Zatanna, and the Justice League home. Carol Ferris indicates that she is in Paul's debt; he asks her to come with him and visit the universe 16 Zamarons, since he was unable to do so in person.
In the Renegade timeline, Controller Hinon contacts the Renegade and arranges for the Controllers to have access to the Central Power Battery so they can start their own Lantern Corps to fight the Reach.
The title is the inverse of episode 33, where inhabitants of Earth -14 came to visit Earth 16. This time, Paul is the foreigner.
- Altar Diplomacy: Zorina Zatara married Power Ring to secure her position as heir to her father's mafia business.
- Alternate Universe: Paul visits Earth -14, where the Justice Underground fights the Crime Syndicate.
- The episode also ends by showing the Paul who appeared on universe 12, and had no way to recharge his ring. Instead, he used some of his charge to mine a large pile of platinum from the asteroid belt, then went around the world locating and hiring people with advanced technology that wouldn't otherwise have spread.
- Battle of the Bands: Paul steals the stage by creating a construct banjo and challenging a guitar player who had attracted a crowd.
- Brutal Honesty:
- Canis asks Zatanna if he can talk to her about her fixation on Paul, so that he can more accurately put her misery in poetic form. He's not mocking her either; he's just that monofocused on art.
- Earth 12 Paul, when asked if his 800 tons of platinum are safe, bluntly states that it's a block of platinum weighing 800 tons. If they can move it, they probably weren't going to be stopped anyway.
- Caretaking is Feminine: A flashback reveals that the Zatara Crime Family on Earth -14 believes this, with Don Giovanni Zatara subverting this belief when he decided to raise his daughter by himself after the death of his wife rather than remarry as his own father suggested.
- Cassandra Truth: Jade's flatmate didn't quite believe that she was dating Paul until she actually meets Paul in their flat while he was visiting Jade.
- Cluster F-Bomb: When Paul sees Star Sapphire brutalized and captive.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Paul dishes out a few of these.
- He disarms and disables the universe 12 Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern, all together and in a matter of seconds, through a combination of accelerated perception and well known counters to their abilities. And the fact that they had never fought him before.
- When captured by the government, he teleports past the force field that was supposed to imprison him, and rapidly takes down a sonic weapon user, a magically enhanced undead soldier, a violet Lantern, a metahuman capable of disabling his constructs and firing energy beams, and a considerable number of mundane soldiers.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Paul is fed up with this and Reed Richards Is Useless, and approaches Georgia Sivana, mad social scientist, about changing them.
- Doppelgänger: The Earth 12 Justice League turns up to ambush a gathering of the Syndicate. Unfortunately for them, they arrived in front of an Orange Lantern who had extensively trained to fight the League-16.
- Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Played straight with some characters, not with others.
- The Zatara -14 mafia considers Zatanna to be family and extends an open invitation to visit.
- Ultraboy is not happy to see Superman 12, but that's mostly because he was instrumental in the death of Ultraman -14.
- 'Capo' Scott -14 is not much like Alan Scott 16 at all, and Paul isn't happy to see him.
- Double Agent: Talon was biding his time all the time he was with the Young Offenders, looking for ways to bring the Syndicate down completely. He's disappointed when Paul chooses compromise.
- Drunk with Power: "Capo" Scott developed a love of controlling others through fear, until he reached the top and had nowhere to go.
- Fingore: Paul disarms Lantern Stewart by removing his ring finger. He sticks it back on once the fight is over.
- Godzilla Threshold: After dealing with Ultraboy's and Talon's complaints, Paul is one step closer to giving up and going to his fallback, Plan Q.Martian Manhunter: What is Plan Q?
Paul: I summon the Embodiment of Avarice and mind control the planet. I'm just having one of those days. - Internal Reveal: After seeing Earth -14, Zatanna realises that Paul changed his apparent age with his ring, and is actually much older.
- Mutually Assured Destruction: In a total war situation, the government would probably win, but the casualties would be horrendous. A prior confrontation killed six sevenths of the population of Wisconsin.
- No-Sell: Paul carries on a discussion/rant with President Luthor about how the government ought to be negotiating peace rather than just escalating the fighting, while he's shrugging off attacks from Preceptor, Lady Sonar, Solomon Grundy, and a squad of unpowered soldiers.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: Paul is fed up with this and Cut Lex Luthor a Check, and approaches Georgia Sivana, mad social scientist, about changing them.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: President Wilson is reasonable on most subjects, but has become a totalitarian fanatic when it comes to the Syndicate, seeking their deaths at any cost.
