“Church of False Heroes”: DC Calls Out the Justice League in a Way it Can’t Take Back

Warning! Spoilers for Knight Terrors: Night’s End #1!DC Comics is finally calling out the Justice League for one of their worst traits. As Knight Terrors reaches its final moments, the series’ antagonist brings up a point about the superhero team’s history.

In Knight Terrors: Night’s End #1 by Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Guiseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Nesi, and Trevor Hairsine, the powerful metahuman villain known as Insomnia has finally taken control of the Nightmare Stone, giving him nearly unlimited power. After ‘rewarding’ the ghostly hero Deadman with the illusion of a family, Insomnia prepares to make his final move. Fortunately, the Justice League and their allies show up to make one last stand.

The final showdown takes place at the Justice League’s backup base and museum, the Hall of Justice. As the heroes fight back against Insomnia, Superman asks the villain why he would want to make a world of nightmares. Insomnia tells the heroes that this is all because of them. He calls the Hall of Justice a “church of false idols“, and criticizes the Justice League for their trophy collecting. With the power of the Nightmare Stone, Insomnia animates the various trophies the League has collected over the years, turning them into twisted puppets.

The Justice League is Called Out For Their Museum

The Justice League has faced powerful threats before, but few with as much of a chip on their shoulders as Insomnia. Christopher Lukas was once an average family man before his family was killed during an invasion of evil Batmen from the Dark Multiverse. Lukas went mad, blaming the heroes for his family’s death, calling them hypocrites and monsters. After gaining the power to enter people’s dreams from the Lazarus Resin storms in Lazarus Planet, Insomnia began his dark mission to prove to the world how scary heroes really are.

Insomnia’s words regarding the Justice League are obviously coming from a place of hurt. He never recovered from the loss of his family and that hate only grew when Lukas witnessed the Justice League return from death after Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, he’s not entirely wrong. The Hall of Justice is used more as a museum and is filled to the brim with trinkets from the victorious exploits of the Justice League. But Insomnia’s real anger with the Hall isn’t so much that it shines a light on the team’s achievements, but that it ignores the Justice League’s failures.

The Justice League Disregards The Victims They Failed To Save

Insomnia’s real problem with superheroes is that the Justice League doesn’t seem to acknowledge the people they failed to save. The Hall of Justice is filled with mementos, but few plaques or dedications to the fallen. Granted, few people want to hear about the times that DC’s best didn’t save innocents, but it’s something that people like Lukas and other people in the DC Universe live with. The Justice League’s tendency to prop up their victories while downplaying their defeats came back to haunt them once in the form of Insomnia. The team should consider acknowledging their failed victims to prevent history from repeating itself. Fans can see more of Insomnia’s call-out of the Justice League in Knight Terrors: Night’s End #1, on sale now.