Zombie King

"**Zombie King**" is the seventh episode of Justice League Action.

## Summary

Solomon Grundy raises an army of zombies to conquer the world, and the Justice League only have until an impending eclipse of the moon to stop him.

## Story

In a swampy area near New Orleans, on the night of a crimson moon when evil magic is strong, Solomon Grundy comes out of hiding and goes to the grave of a voodoo queen. From it he extracts a diamond, the Star of the Dead, which he then uses to raise the dead from a nearby cemetery into an army of zombies that have to obey his will. Grundy declares that he will rule the world as king of the undead. However, Swamp Thing is also nearby and suddenly rises up to grip many of the zombies but then becomes involved in a fight with Grundy who batters him and leaves him for dead. Grundy goes off to the city followed by his undead army.

Swamp Thing is still able to call for backup and Batman, in the Watchtower, responds. As the latter jumps down a chute to the Batplane, he radios for more help to Zatanna and Constantine. They are caught in a struggle with Brother Night and his ghouls and say they will be delayed but still have time to inform Batman of the likely objective of Grundy.

The recovered Swamp Thing arrives in the city where he protects the people from the zombies - though he is dejected when they see him as being just as scary - while Grundy makes for the main cemetery, the City of the Dead, where he raises more undead. He intends to set up the diamond on a statue in the center at the full eclipse (crimson moon) in order to raise the dead worldwide. Batman arrives and attacks Grundy, demanding that the diamond be handed over, but he is swept aside and assailed by zombies until Swamp Thing saves him. The monsters are then frozen in ice by bat-bombs and Batman says he can use the same method to stop Grundy if he can get close enough. As the latter goes to place the diamond in position, Swamp Thing grips him but is knocked away after refusing to collaborate with the evil plan. Batman tries batarangs to dislodge the stone from the statue but fails and becomes involved in a running battle with ever more zombies. As they swarm over him to finish him off, Zatanna appears and disperses them with her magic (and says that Constantine now holds Brother Night).

But the diamond, affected by the red moon, now gives off a purple glow that turns Batman, Zatanna and the population of New Orleans into more zombies, and Solomon Grundy is exultant. However, the unaffected Swamp Thing grabs the diamond from a distance with a very long extension of his toe and, when Grundy approaches to retrieve it, smashes it making the living gradually revert to normal and the dead to collapse. The battle between the two continues until Batman intervenes and freezes Grundy with a bat-bomb.

Later, the people of New Orleans celebrate and now even see Swamp Thing as lovable.

## Notes

* Batman says that he got the freezing weapons from one of his enemies, most likely referring to Mister Freeze.
* John Constantine, Zatanna, and Swamp Thing appear in this episode and are also known from the team called "Justice League Dark" in DC comics.
* In the comics, Solomon Grundy can be partly plant-like and linked to swamps which may be why he is paired with Swamp Thing in this story.