Titans: Beast World Tour – Metropolis #1: Dreaming of Death and Rebirth

Serving as an anthology of comic book stories inside this bigger issue, a variety of writers come together to deliver stories related to the Beast World event. What’s nice about this event is that it affects almost every corner of the DC Universe and readers get to see the impact with every Beast World issue that comes out. This time around, Metropolis takes the center stage with characters such as Superman, Supergirl, Lois Lane, and the colorful, fun character created for the CW’s now concluded Arrowverse, Dreamer, a.k.a. Nia Nal.

In the first story titled “Primal Rain,” written by Steve Orlando and the actress that played Dream in CW’s Supergirl, Nicole Maines, we find Dreamer having lunch with a friend but she suffers from horrid visions where Metropolis is turned inside out, with the city exploding, engulfing in flames, at every angle. Nia realizes that her visions are purely just visions, only she can see them. They also serve as spot-on accurate depictions of the future, near or far. As her anxieties grow and the general public refuses to acknowledge her, Jon Kent’s Superman appears.

The two of them create a plan to keep Metropolis safe from the impending doom by having Jon, a symbol of trust and guardian of the city, warn and lead people to safety. Before they can begin enacting their plan, Nia has another vision that hints at the cause. When she comes too, Nia makes it known that something is going on with Livewire.

When Nia is finally confronted with the monster that Liveware was mutated into, she’s met with a dragon-like entity bathed in electricity, keeping the original character’s signature alive and well. Nia traps the monster in a bubble until it tires itself out.

Meanwhile, Superman had taken the alien refugees of Metropolis to a place not recognized by the government, Parthas. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Amanda Waller has been keeping tabs on everything, and that she now knows the whereabouts of the refugees who are capable of being morphed into weapons with Beast Boy’s power spores.

With Amanda Waller having something to do with every Beast World comic, it’s safe to say she’s trying to gain control of the heroes, and potentially even bring them down. Dreamer’s story is set to pick up in Action Comics #1060.

When it comes to the second Beast World story in this issue, “Don’t Stop,” by Joshua Williamson and Zipporah Smith, we see Lois Lane in the Fortress of Solitude speaking to Clark Kent’s Superman. Lois tells Clark that she won’t rest until her family is safe, speaking of their son and Supergirl. As Superman flies around the world, troubles brews in at the Fortress as horrific mutants attempt to break in.

Clark shows up and begins to defend Lois and their robot sidekick. He gets attacked by a spore but does just fine due to subdermal nanobots. His robot warns him that if he gets attacked again, he’ll become possessed.

The last page of the panel reveals Brainiac keeping tabs on Superman and Lois, setting up a story that is to be continued next year.