SDCC: Trinity War Panel

John Cunningham moderated the panel, which was composed of DC’s Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns (Justice League of America, Aquaman); Jeff Lemire (Animal Man, Justice League Dark); Ray Fawkes (Justice League Dark, Trinity of Sin: Pandora); and editor Brian Cunningham.

First they showed the Trinity War trailer, which we first saw a couple weeks ago and was previously shown at the “All Access” panel.

Each of the three Justice League teams has a guide of sorts. The villains have never really teamed up before, but they decided that disrupting faith in Superman was the biggest thing they could do.

Ray Fawkes was thrilled to be portraying such an important character as Pandora, who’s been central to the New 52 since its inception. He recapped Pandora’s history and current purpose. She thinks she can remove all the evil from the universe, but she’s not sure what will happen if she succeeds.

After briefly mentioning Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger, John Cunningham moved Fawkes on to Constantine. The magician/con man tries to take Shazam out of the equation and temporarily takes Shazam’s powers.

Next, Geoff Johns spoke about Forever Evil (coming September 4) saying he loved writing villains. The series will pit villain against villain as they are unable to decide what to do once they have one. Nightwing will play a big role. Black Adam and Sinestro, surprisingly, will get along pretty well.

Arkham War essentially pits the Arkahm villains against the Blackgate villains, the crazy against the not crazy (it’s a blurry line.)

In Rogues Rebellion, the Flash villains refuse to destroy a city, and the consequences for them are not good.

Evil, not surprisingly, is a major theme of FE. And we will see that some heroes have been corrupted by evil forces and other have not. The teams reform, to an extent, with heroes teaming up based on ideology. When Superman starts to behave differently, Wonder Woman assumes it is because of this contact with Pandora’s Box (there was some adult humor laughter here) while Batman believes it was having his energy drained by Dr. Light.

Jeff Lemire compared writing Trinity War to looking at a big chess board, having to move the characters around. Lemire had hoped to use Animal Man and Swamp Thing, but they had to be cut for the most part. Johns mentioned that Dr. Fate (!?!?!) makes a brief appearance in Justice League Dark.

Obviously there will be a lot of tension between Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman.

John Cunningham said he found the Justice League Dark to be the most interesting aspect of the series, because they’re playing on a different level. Lemire described Justice League as the World’s Greatest Heroes, Justice League of America as the World’s Most Dangerous Heroes, and Justice League Dark as the World’s Freakiest Heroes. He also said the he consistently had to depower Zatanna because she could solve almost any problem, but now in Trinity War she gets to cut loose.

Meanwhile, John Constantine’s superpower is that he can’t be corrupted any further. The sexual tension between John and Zatanna comes to (ahem) a head.

After the JLA has a disagreement, Stargirl sides with Wonder Woman.

Johns says almost all the plot threads they’ve set up since the beginning of New 52 will come to fruition here, as Forever Evil moves the New 52 into its second stage.

Nest they opened the floor to question.

Superman/Wonder Woman is coming out in October, so even though their relationship gets rocky during “Trinity War”, they will still be together.

How much will we learn about the Question? He doesn’t know who he is, so he’s constantly plagued by questions. Questions just pop into his head and he will be forced to seek out answers. The current question is “What happened with Superman and Dr. Light?” and he feels this one so strongly that he is sure he will discover his identity if he solves it. Wonder Woman will be teaming with Pandora, Batman will team with the Phantom Stranger, and Superman will team with the Question.

Deathstroke will appear in Forever Evil, as well as Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. and Trinity of Sin: Pandora.

The writers were vague about what will happen to Nightwing in Forever Evil.

Several of the characters who have had books cancelled will be making appearances elsewhere soon.

Pandora’s past will be a continuing issue in her series, and what she actually did to deserve her fate.

There are no immediate plans for Booster Gold.

Zatanna’s connection to Shazam’s powers will be explored in the future.

Joker will be mentioned in Forever Evil #1, but will not play a large role.

What’s with that mention of Dr. Fate? Pick up Justice League Dark #23 in August.

Books like Suicide Squad, Teen Titans, Nightwing, and the three Justice League titles will all be tied to Forever Evil, but other books will continue as usual.

Brad Meltzer‘s Indentity Crisis had the greatest impact on they’re planning of this story. The sense of mystery was particularly important.

There are no choco’s in the New 52, hense Martian Manhunter’s general unhappiness. MM will get a lot of attention next year.

Simon Baz is the only Green Lantern appearing in Trinity War, but Hal will be back in Justice League next year (much to Batman’s chagrin.)

Neither will any other Lantern Corps appear in Trinity War.

The Demon will appear in Justice League Dark #23.

Shazam will continue to be referred to as Shazam, not Captain Marvel.

Zac Boone is leaving to interview Mark Buckingham. Follow him (Zac) on twitter.