History ComicBook / BrightestDay

* TheOneGuy: Hawk, on the otherwise all-female Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey.

%%* LongLostSibling: Mera's sister Hila/Siren.

** ''[[ComicBook/TeenTitans Titans]]'': ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} has formed his own mercenary version of the Titans, having murdered the current [[ComicBook/TheAtom Atom]] as their first assignment. One of his recruits is the resurrected [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Osiris]], who has been tasked with the job of restoring Isis to normal (something Deathstroke claims to be able to help with, though in the end it turns out to be lies). As such, Osiris quits the team and goes about his own quest to "free" his sister via mass destruction against evil doers.

* BreakTheCutie: Ice's meeting with Guy Gardner post-mindwipe by Max Lord; to keep the JLI from recruiting their Green Lantern friend, Max alters Guy's memories so that a fake post-''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' meeting between the two happened, where Ice tried to kill Guy Gardner for no good reason. Given that this came after the two began dating again after Ice's resurrection, as well as Judd Winick proclaiming that the point of the scene was to [[ShipSinking sink the Guy/Ice ship]], it makes it a major moment of sadness.

** Comicbook/{{Aquaman}} is reunited with his wife, struggling with his new power to control dead ocean life even as Mera's people hunt the two down to kill them. He has been tasked with finding Black Manta's son before others do in order to [[spoiler:reseal the Bermuda Triangle to prevent rebel Atlanteans from laying siege to the surface world]].

** ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': Barry Allen, like the Twelve, has recently returned to life thanks to the schemes of the time-traveling Twelve member Professor Zoom. While he's still readjusting to normal life, Captain Boomerang (another of the Twelve) has to prove himself to the rest of the Rogues. Zoom already completed his mission in [[spoiler:resurrecting Allen]], while Captain Boomerang is to launch a deadly assault on the superheroine Dove. While starting off with the "fresh start" feeling that most of the tie-ins shared, many of these issues were devoted to laying groundwork for the next big event, ''Comicbook/{{Flashpoint}}''.

** ''Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey'': The team is re-forming, with Hawk (one of the Twelve) and Dove (somehow connected to the White Light) as members. Like Flash, is a RedSkiesCrossover, as Hawk and Dove's participation in the event occurs in the main ''Brightest Day'' book (where they assist Deadman) instead of in ''Birds''. Hawk has been told to stop Captain Boomerang's attack on Dove.
** ''[[Comicbook/TeenTitans Titans]]'': ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} has formed his own mercenary version of the Titans, having murdered the current [[ComicBook/TheAtom Atom]] as their first assignment. One of his recruits is the resurrected [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Osiris]], who has been tasked with the job of restoring Isis to normal (something Deathstroke claims to be able to help with, though in the end it turns out to be lies). As such, Osiris quits the team and goes about his own quest to "free" his sister via mass destruction against evil doers.

* ''Adventure Comics'': [[ComicBook/TheAtom Ray Palmer]], after already starting to rebuild his life after his return in ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis'' & role as an Indigo Lantern in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', finds himself the target of [[TheIlluminati a conspiracy]] which seeks to steal his shrinking technology and the white dwarf star matter which powers it. Along the way, he has to bring himself to face his father & uncle, who have found themselves targets in the process. Mainly a backup feature in ''Adventure Comics'', the series had two book-end issues.

*** It's only until the last five issues of the series that we ''finally'' get its main plan explained to us: [[spoiler:Star Forest is really the Parliment of Trees, the elemental forest from Creator/AlanMoore's legendary ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' run. Swamp Thing himself, who once thought it was Alec Holland, now thinks it's Nekron and wants the forest destroyed. Deadman, besides his main mission, empowers the White Lantern by embracing his life. Six others were revived to stop disasters and therefore buy time for the others, and five (the Hawks, Aquaman, Firestorm, and Martian Manhunter) were to purge Nekron's corruption by overcoming what held them back in life - and then giving that cleansed life back. In true Chessmaster fashion, it even freed Mera's people to get Aquaman to face them.]]

** Much less so with ''Generation Lost'': [[spoiler:ComicBook/{{OMAC}}-Prime has been destroyed and Franchise/WonderWoman is still alive. Max undid his mind control over the world, but managed to escape and announce that he's rededicating Checkmate to policing the metahuman/superhero community. ComicBook/CaptainAtom is presumably alive, but has been thrown out of current time & space to the unknown. Finally, the [[ComicNook/JusticeLeagueInternational JLI]] has been cleared of their "crimes" and now been reinstated as an active superhero team]].

* CanonImmigrant: The new Aqualad, who was created for the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' animated series, made his debut in the DC Universe in this series. Due to the length of the production time on the show, his first comic book appearance actually predated the airing of the pilot episode of the show.

* WindmillCrusader: Galahad of the Star City Forest. It's been revealed that [[spoiler:the death of his daughter]] tipped him and his obsession with [[Myth/KingArthur Arthurian lore]] over the edge.

* AnticlimaxBoss: I'm sorry were you expecting [[spoiler: Deathstorm]] and Firestorm to have an epic final showdown. The White Light entity doesn't have time for that.

** Meanwhile, Max's plan is to prevent the events of ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' happening.

** Whatever the White Light's masterplan is seems to be one as well. After all, it wants Captain Boomerang to attempt to kill Dove ''and'' Hawk to attempt to stop him. Which of them it wants to ''succeed'', much less ''why'', was an open question until the finale. [[spoiler:Hawk was to stop Boomerang's attack and die in the process, freeing him from the forces controlling him and allowing Alec Holland to live again through his sacrifice. Unfortunately, he failed and Deadman died instead.]]

* BigGood: The Entity, although GoodIsNotNice and it tends to jerk some of the heroes around.

* FiveManBand:
** The reformed ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational
*** TheHero: Booster Gold
-->'''Ice:''' At some point while we've all been running around, I think Booster's become the team leader.
-->'''Fire:''' Ohmigod, you're right!
-->'''Ice:''' I ''know!'' What the hell, right?!
*** TheLancer: Fire
*** TheSmartGuy: Blue Beetle (though it's mostly the scarab), or failing that, Skeets.
*** TheBigGuy: Captain Atom
*** TheChick: Ice
*** SixthRanger: Rocket Red, Batman, Power Girl
*** EleventhHourRanger: [[spoiler:Wonder Woman]]

* LongLostSibling: Mera's sister Hila/Siren.
* TheLostWoods: The White Light-born forest in Star City. [[spoiler:Turns out it's the new foundation for the Parliament of Trees.]]

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: You Gotta Have Blue Fur -- Dex-Starr.

[[caption-width-right:316:They've been resurrected for a reason...]]

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Averted with Miss Martian, who was teased as this but revealed to be only wounded. That didn't stop people from crying out after that cliffhanger.

** ComicBook/{{Firestorm}}'s two hosts, Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch, get [[ChainedHeat stuck together]], and it's not going well (for one thing, Jason hates Ronnie for killing his girlfriend as a Black Lantern). But there seems to be a third consciousness in the Firestorm Matrix... the taint of the Black Lantern ring has made it so that the Black Lantern Firestorm (now called Deathstorm) has become part of the Firestorm Matrix. Breaking free, Deathstorm merged with Jason's dad and Martin Stein and stole the White Lantern power battery; Jason and Ronnie must unite and work as a team in order to stop the [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Anti-Monitor]] from using the Lantern to increase his power.

** ComicBook/{{Firestorm}} - Originally thought to be Deathstorm, [[spoiler:who later proves to only be TheDragon to [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths the Anti-Monitor]], who seeks the powers of the White Lantern to increase his own personal strength]].

* WindmillCrusader: Galahad of the Star City Forest. It's been revealed that [[spoiler:the death of his daughter]] tipped him and his obsession with [[Literurate/KingArthur Arthurian lore]] over the edge.

Unlike ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis'', or ''ComicBook/{{Trinity}}'' (all of which were big event storylines taking place between {{Crisis Crossover}}s that were published weekly), ''Brightest Day'' is divided up amongst many titles. Many, many titles. The core book itself is a 25 issue bi-weekly mini-series, as is the companion series ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational Justice League: Generation Lost]]'' (with the 25th issues of both being extra-sized finales). Other titles also play a major role in the series, most notably the ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' family of books. Also, several new books have been launched from the event, including a new ''Green Lantern'' title (''Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors''), relaunches for ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'' and ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', and the return of Barry Allen to ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' after over twenty years.

* FiveBadBand:
** [[spoiler:Krona]] and his associates
*** BigBad: [[spoiler:Krona]]
*** TheDragon: Parallax
*** TheBrute: The Entity-possessed Guardians, and Sodam Yat (who is under Zardor's mind control).
*** TheEvilGenius: Zardor
*** TheDarkChick: Lyssa Drak

** Lobo attacks Atrocitus, trying to get the bounty on his head. The White Lantern Battery orders Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, and Sinestro to help Atrocitus, so they do. After Lobo is driven off, the four of them vow to work together to find the missing emotional entities. [[spoiler: Atrocitus hired Lobo to attack him in the first place and take a dive, in order to get the others to trust him. As payment, Lobo is given a Red Lantern Ring.]]

* BeyondTheImpossible: Mera uses her hydrokinetic powers to pull the whole tide away from the shore. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by her sister Siren. It's not effortless, though. Mera is visibly bleeding from the strain.

** Franchise/GreenLantern - [[spoiler: Krona]], who's been collecting the various emotional entities in order to pursue a vendetta against the Guardians of the Universe.

** ComicBook/{{Firestorm}} - Originally thought to be Deathstorm, [[spoiler: he later proves to only be TheDragon to [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths the Anti-Monitor]], who seeks the powers of the White Lantern to increase his own personal strength]].
** ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} - [[BigBadDuumvirate Mera's sister Siren and Black Manta]], the former of which seeks revenge upon the Atlantean people, the latter of which [[PsychoForHire simply wants to make Aquaman suffer as much as possible]].

** Separate from the Twelve, Isis was restored from being TakenForGranite, but the fact that Osiris murdered in doing so corrupted her and gave her an evil split personality. [[UnexplainedRecovery She got better]], which leads to a FridgeLogic, since Isis was TakenForGranite in the first place because she turned evil and started to murder innocents.

* FiveManBand:

** [[spoiler:Krona]] and his associates
*** BigBad: [[spoiler:Krona]]
*** TheDragon: Parallax
*** TheBrute: The Entity-possessed Guardians, and Sodam Yat (who is under Zardor's mind control).
*** TheEvilGenius: Zardor
*** TheDarkChick: Lyssa Drak

* GottaCatchEmAll: One of the subplots of the series concerns the search for the Emotion Entities. A mysterious being is hunting them down for some reason and [[spoiler: has already captured Parallax and Ion by the time the story starts.]] It's revealed [[spoiler:Krona captured all seven and unleashed them on the Guardians.]]

* LongLostSibling: Mera's sister.

* OhCrap: When Captain Atom takes the blast of the nuclear device Max left behind as a trap, his energies take him through the timestream until he falls in a simpler moment in time, where two kids find him. Their father, a settler, mistakes him for a member of a freak show and takes him in until he can move on. Then, night comes, and he peers out of the window... [[spoiler: to see the moon completely shattered in the night sky. When asked what year it is, he learns it is the 24th century]], and upon invoking the names of the superheroes he thought would have staved disaster off, everybody gets scared. Taken to a "Karrie" living on an atomic wasteland who might have some answers for him, he opens her tent to find she recognizes him, [[spoiler: being Kara, the former Power Girl]]. Horribly irradiated, she points Max Lord as the inception of a horrific catastrophe, begging him to stop his plans as he returns to his time before it all goes to Hell.

* ThrowTheDogABone: After everything they went through since Aquababy died up to Aquaman's earlier death and Mera [[RockBottom bottoming out and going Red Lantern]], Aquaman and Mera getting a second chance following the former's revival at the end of ComicBook/BlackestNight, they actually pull through and [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn a long overdue happy ending]].

** [[FromBadToWorse And then,]] the entities (loyal to [[spoiler: Krona]] from his years of taking care of them) possess the bodies of all of the remaining Guardians of the Universe, save for Parallax, who re-enters the Main Green Lantern Power Battery and takes control over 99% of the Green Lantern Corps.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:

* YankTheDogsChain: What happens when Hawkman and Hawkgirl ''finally'' throw off their curse and get the chance to grow old and die together? [[spoiler: First, the White Ring tells them that to live their lives more strongly, they must live them apart. Then, when they reject these words, it kills them. Then they get brought back as air elementals. Then they get resurrected... or rather, Hawkman does. Whether Hawkgirl is dead or has been resurrected elsewhere is left unknown.]] In short, the Hawks just can't catch a break.
* YouCantFightFate: [[spoiler: Guy received a prophecy thanks to the Red Lantern influence, showing an apocalyptic vision involing the Entities, Krona, a war between different GLC members, and even himself, trying to kill Hal Jordan. With everything going on in all the other books, all signs point to this prophecy being true.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Ice's meeting with Guy Gardner post-mindwipe by Max Lord; to keep the JLI from recruiting their Green Lantern friend, Max alters Guy's memories so that a fake post-''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' meeting between the two happened, where Ice tried to kill Guy Gardner for no good reason. Given that this came after the two began dating again after Ice's resurrection, as well as Judd Winnick proclaiming that the point of the scene was to [[ShipSinking sink the Guy/Ice ship]], it makes it a major moment of sadness.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The oil executives murdered by [[spoiler: ComicBook/SwampThing]] in the last issue.

** the reformed ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational

** [[spoiler: Ophidian the Greed Entity breaking free of Larfleeze and possessing Hector Hammond.]]

** ''Brightest Day'' #11, full stop. Deathstorm [[spoiler:[[GrandTheftMe absorbs]] [[ManySpiritsInsideOfOne both Professor Stein and Jason's father]]]] so that he can better screw with Ronnie and Jason and trigger a new big bang, as mentioned above. After leading Firestorm on a merry chase, Deathstorm arrives at the White Lantern and corrupts it with Black Lantern energy, allowing him to lift it. Before he can destroy it, a mysterious voice beckons for Deathstorm to bring it the battery, as well as an army. How does he go about doing this? By [[spoiler:creating [[EvilTwin Black Lantern copies]] [[OhCrap of the rest of the 12.]]]]

* LackOfEmpathy: The Queen of Hawkworld. [[spoiler: She doesn't even care about her own daughter, Hawkgirl.]]
* LegacyCharacter:

* TheLostWoods: The White Light-born forest in Star City. [[spoiler: Turns out it's the new foundation for the Parliament of Trees.]]

** [[spoiler:The new Aqualad is the son of Black Manta]].

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Magog, who manages to snap out of Maxwell Lord's control at the last second during his fight with Captain Atom. He is never given a chance to atone; Max Lord appears a moment later and murders him.]]

* RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler: Lex Luthor finally bonds with an entity of godlike power from the Phantom Zone, making him more powerful than Franchise/{{Superman}}, and is able to create a state of universal bliss. However, he learns that the Phantom Zone entity will not allow Luthor to do anything malevolent to anyone. As Luthor cannot accept a world where he is god but cannot take revenge on Superman, he gives up the power.]]
* RippedFromTheHeadlines:

* ShipTease: Fire and the new Rocket Red

* StatusQuoIsGod: Guess what happens to [[spoiler: Deadman]]?

* TonightSomeoneDies: ''The Flash'' relaunched with the arc "The Dastardly Death of the [[RoguesGallery Rogues]]!" [[spoiler:It's "Mirror Monarch", an alternate Mirror Master from the future.]]

* WeWillMeetAgain: Black Manta's final words to Aquaman before [[spoiler: being sealed in the Bermuda Triangle with Siren and her troops]].

* FiveBadBand: [[spoiler:Krona]] and his associates
** BigBad: [[spoiler:Krona]]
** TheDragon: Parallax
** TheBrute: The Entity-possessed Guardians, and Sodam Yat (who is under Zardor's mind control).
** TheEvilGenius: Zardor
** TheDarkChick: Lyssa Drak
* FiveManBand: the reformed ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational
** TheHero: Booster Gold

** TheLancer: Fire
** TheSmartGuy: Blue Beetle (though it's mostly the scarab), or failing that, Skeets.
** TheBigGuy: Captain Atom
** TheChick: Ice
** SixthRanger: Rocket Red, Batman, Power Girl
** EleventhHourRanger: [[spoiler:Wonder Woman]]

* BloodierAndGorier: Cause of the HypeBacklash for the series, as the violence of the series has turned off many who felt the title meant that DC would be toning down the gore and violence following the gore and violence of ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''.

* NonIndicativeName: A number of fans took "Brightest Day" to mean "LighterAndSofter", leading to a massive HypeBacklash when it turned out to be more of the same.

* EnemyWithout: Deathstorm to Firestorm.

* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: Eleven members of the Twelve weren't completely cured of their "undead" status; not until they each complete some mission for the White Light. (Zoom was exempt because he already completed his mission: [[spoiler:bringing back Barry Allen]].) As a side effect from this, Aquaman's "talk to fish" power was altered to command ''dead'' sea creatures.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Deadman is brought into the presence of some RuthlessModernPirates; specifically Somali pirates like the ones that were in the news at the time, and laments that he is unable to help the people they have captured. Fairly standard "superheroes can't solve real-world problems" bit, right? Heh. [[Film/SupermanReturns WRONG!]] Aquaman shows up and feeds them to undead sharks. This is why we should all read comics.
** And a few issues later, Aquaman goes to plug up an oil leak "off the Bermuda Triangle", again mirroring a major real-life news item. This is followed at the end of the event with [[spoiler:ComicBook/SwampThing murdering the executives responsible for the leak]].

* ShoutOut: Deadman's living form looks suspiciously similar to another [[Series/{{Supernatural}} blue-eyed, dark-haired, hamburger-loving, trench-coat-wearing supernatural being who came back from the dead.]]

* StrangeBedfellows: Deathstroke's Titans team. Composed of Cheshire, Tattooed Man II, Cinder, Deathstroke, Arsenal, and Osiris.

** ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational Justice League: Generation Lost]]'': Max Lord has returned, and has made the entire world forget he existed. His job is to stop AntiHero Magog from [[ComicBook/KingdomCome sparking a worldwide war]], but he's obviously not going to stop there. Only four surviving members of Justice League International (ComicBook/BoosterGold, Fire and Ice, and ComicBook/CaptainAtom) remember the threat he poses, and they team up with [[LegacyCharacter legacies]] of other members ComicBook/BlueBeetle and Rocket Red while tracking him down. Has its own tie-ins with the ''ComicBook/BoosterGold'' and ''ComicBook/PowerGirl'' series.

* MemeticBadass: Batman's status as this is [[{{in-universe}} lampshaded by Deadman]], who thinks he's the chosen bearer of the White Ring. Because it's ''always'' Batman.

* AngstWhatAngst: Dawn has got an absurd level of this going on in the story. Having next to no problems with failing to save her sister or being stuck with the guy who killed her. Hell She's not even all that interested in finding out what her connection to the white light is.

-->-- ''[[spoiler:Krona]]''