[2] Unlike the 52 limited series of the previous year, Countdown is not depicted as taking place in "real time" but presumably operates on the same floating timeline as DC Comics stories in general.

Darkseid has what appears to be a chess-board with pieces representing Joker, Donna Troy, Green Arrow, Flash, Holly Robinson, Batman, Jason Todd, Hawkman, Killer Croc, Martian Manhunter, Superman, Wonder Woman, OMAC, Jimmy Olsen, Nightwing, Duela Dent, and Black Adam.

Mary narrowly escapes Darkseid's clutches with the help of DeSaad, who intervenes just in time to distract the villain after she turns down his offer, causing a brief scuffle between them.

[15] In New York City, former Robin Jason Todd (now calling himself the "Red Hood") witnesses the murder of Duela Dent at the hands of a rogue Monitor, who claims her presence in this world is not tolerated as she is from an alternate Earth.

[19] At the funeral of the Flash, Bart Allen, the Monitor tells Jason and Donna that the former Atom, Ray Palmer, is alive and lost somewhere in the Nanoverse, and that locating him is key to surviving the coming crisis.

[21] Searching for him within the microscopic "Nanoverse", they are captured by Queen Belthera, and are later rescued by Kyle Rayner before Ryan Choi is abducted back into Ivy Town.

Kyle informs the group that they will have to tour the Multiverse to find Ray Palmer, and they encounter the Authority on Earth-50,[22] a Soviet Superman on Earth-30, and the Crime Society on Earth-3.

[23] As they leave Earth-3, they are unexpectedly joined by the Jokester (the Joker's heroic counterpart and father of Duela), passing through Earth-15[24] and later Earth-8, where Lord Havok and the Extremists capture them before an invasion by Monarch and his newest recruits, the Crime Society[25] gives Jason the opportunity to feign a betrayal, allowing their eventual escape.

[32] Kyle, Jason, Donna, Ray and the Batman of Earth-51 are reunited as they approach their confrontation with Monarch but encounter a message written in large flaming letters: To Apokolips.

[35] While searching for Jason, the Challengers find Mary, Harley, Holly and then Karate Kid, just after Brother Eye removes the Morticoccus virus from him.

[36] The Challengers, Ray Palmer, Firestorm, Una, Harley, Holly, and Mary Marvel attempt to figure out what to do about Karate Kid, who is dying from the virus.

[35] The group manage to free the Greek gods from an Apokoliptian chamber, and Mary regains her powers and previous costume, now with a gray lightning bolt, after saying the magic word "Shazam".

[11] John Henry Irons tests Jimmy's powers using metahuman biofeedback, but the display generates complicated images of the Source Wall and alternate Earths.

[50] Karate Kid and Una meet Professor Buddy Blank, who takes them to see Brother Eye, who is imprisoned in a NORAD storage hangar.

[32] Upon discovering Apokoliptian technology in the bunker, Brother Eye opens a Boom Tube and takes its captives to Apokolips, leaving Professor Blank and his grandson behind.

[39] Meanwhile, the Brother Eye of Earth-51 transforms Professor Blank into a modified OMAC with limited free will, enabling him and his grandson Tommy to escape the ruins of Command-D, effectively birthing a new version of Earth A.D. from the original Kamandi series.

[15] The Rogues are reconstituted with a new membership of Heat Wave, Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Abra Kadabra, Weather Wizard, Trickster and Pied Piper, led by Inertia.

[51] The Monitor from Earth-8 rallies the others to his cause, listing the threats of Monarch's armies, the deaths of the New Gods, the manipulation of Jimmy Olsen, the virus infecting Karate Kid, and the possibility that a single individual is behind it all as evidence.

[12] Building a secret lair in the Source Wall itself, Superman-Prime captures Mister Mxyzptlk and Annataz Arataz, an evil analogue of Zatanna, and forces them to give him their magic powers as a replacement for the energies he temporarily absorbed from a Guardian.

[13] Solomon later places a chess piece of Darkseid onto the Source Wall as a memento of his victory and then witnesses Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, Ray Palmer, and Forager agreeing to act as watchmen for the Monitors at the urging of Nix Uotan, who is impressed by the Challengers selflessness and repulsed by his brethren's lack of foresight.

[9][66][67][68] The mini-series concluded with the revelation that the goddess Athena has in fact been defeated and replaced by the Apokoliptian New God Granny Goodness, suggesting that the shelter that Harley Quinn and Holly Robinson are staying in is actually a Female Furies camp.

Salvation Run, by Bill Willingham, Lilah Sturges and Sean Chen, is the story of various supervillains who have been captured and deported via Boom Tube technology to another planet.

This appears to be leading into the Death of the New Gods limited series written and drawn by Jim Starlin, which saw the demise of all of the characters created by Jack Kirby for his "Fourth World" metaseries.

[71] In Captain Carrot and the Final Ark (October 2007), written by Bill Morrison, with art by co-creator Scott Shaw, the Zoo Crew reunite in the midst of growing strife between the land and the sea creatures of Earth-26, sparked by Starro.

Although the Justice League encounter the ship and land it safely, all the passengers, including the Crew, are transformed into their animal forms indigenous to that Earth and, although they all apparently still have their human level intelligence, they are unable to speak.

Countdown: Arena was a four-part series featuring Monarch organizing a battle tournament between the heroes of the 52 universes, in order to determine who will be worthy of joining his army.

While alternately revealing[77] and retracting his statements about Jason Todd being the new Red Robin, Dan DiDio confirmed the latter within the pages of DC Comics as of July 2007.

In this case, it spells the Death of the New Gods...The yellow ring corrupts Kyle (Rayner) in The Sinestro Corps War...Jason Todd becomes Red Robin, driving a wedge in the Challengers from Beyond...Green Arrow struggles to win the love of Black Canary...Batman, in symbolic garb, wields the sword that hearkens the return of a deadly foe (Ra's al Ghul)...Dressed in Barry's costume, Bart (Allen, the Flash) showed that he had one foot in the grave...A Legionnaire is lost and marked for death in Countdown...The Atom, lost, struggles to survive...The shield marked Hippolyta's return...Superman and Wonder Woman discuss parent issues...Is that a Boom Tube I see, and can that be the path to salvation?...The shadow of evil falls over Mary Marvel...and the statue head, reminiscent of and tied to Kamandi #1, also reflects Sinestro's upcoming visit to the Big Apple."

IGN criticized Countdown and called it one of the worst event comics, noting its general lack of focus, uninteresting plot threads, and its overall pointlessness due to being contradicted in the early issues of Final Crisis.

It excludes the plots of: Karate Kid and Triplicate Girl, the Morticoccus, Trickster and Pied Piper, Ryan Choi, Monarch, Superboy-Prime, Kyle Rayner, Duela Dent, Belthera, Klarion, Steel, Kamandi and Brother Eye, as well as other elements, such as merging Monitors Bob and Solomon into one being, omitting the destruction of Earth-51 and having the Infinity Man battling Darkseid in the final battle instead of Orion.