[2][3] Dark Knights of Steel consists of twelve issues released by DC Comics at monthly intervals, the first being published on November 2, 2021.

[4] A special issue, Tales from the Three Kingdoms, featuring three stories set in the Dark Knights of Steel world prior to the main plot, was released on September 6, 2022, written by Taylor, Jay Kristoff and C. S.

[5] A six-issue spin-off titled Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter was published in September 2024, and is written by Jay Kristoff with art by Tirso Cons.

In the nearby Kingdom of Storms, a local peasant boy named John Constantine has a vision of demons who will conquer the world while the young King Jefferson Pierce listens and orders the prophecy recorded.

Nineteen years later, Bruce Wayne, a knight of the Kingdom of El, his manservant and companion Alfred Pennyworth, and the warriors Richard Grayson, Duke Thomas, Jason Todd and Stephanie Brown go on a quest to capture a banshee.

Jor-El and Lara, now King and Queen, summon them to the throne room where Kal-El admits that he followed Bruce without his knowledge and questions why ordinary men should act on their behalf when he is invincible.

In a nearby forest, a sorcerer known as the "Green Man" enchants the arrow of Oliver Queen, Thomas Wayne's former courtier who has since turned outlaw, and it successfully kills Jor-El by piercing him in the eye.

Kal-El blames Bruce for failing to protect his father and confronts Oliver in the dungeon, saying he will prove that his family are not the monsters the people believe them to be.

King Jefferson and Constantine travel to Amazonia, where they meet with Queen Hippolyta, Diana, Lois and General Philippus and inform them of Jacob's death.

[35] Alfred explains to Bruce that, when the Els originally arrived on Earth, they hid so that their alien nature would not be revealed but that, when a nearby volcano threatened to destroy the kingdom, they devised a way to prevent it and gave these plans to Alexander Luthor, King Thomas and Queen Martha's chancellor, who ignored their warning.

Diana tells Zala that she has been accused of murdering Prince Jacob, which she denies, and explains that the Amazons will stand with the Kingdom of Storms in the war.

Constantine summons the demon Etrigan and asks to speak to his human host Ra's al Ghul in the hope that he can resurrect Jefferson.

She and her fellow Titans Garfield Logan, Victor Stone, and Koriand'r state that they initially considered letting him die because of how the kingdom has repressed those who wield magic.

Harley and General Waller meet them at the entrance of the forest and attempt to negotiate a peaceful solution, though Hippolyta and Anissa state they will only stand down if the Els surrender.

At Constantine's order, Prince Jacob uses his powers to fill Zala's lungs with water, though she is saved from death by Lara, who arrives on the battlefield and cuts Hippolyta in half with her heat vision.

Based on advice from Alfred, Oliver fires a flaming crossbow bolt into Lara's chest, revealing that she is a white-skinned monster, who uses her invisibility to flee.

The four Queens (Lara, Anissa, Diana and the Lady of the Forest) interrogate Alfred, who reveals his true identity as J'onn J'onzz and tells them how he came to Earth.

[43] Escaping from Arkham Orphange by being adopted by Perry White and his wife, young James Olsen develops an interest in astronomy and builds a friendship with Prince Kal-El.

The three royals speak with two of the remaining orphans, Oswald Cobblepot and Harvey Dent, who tell them that a winged creature took their friend Waylon Jones and carried him into the mountains.

They locate the creature and engage it in battle but are stopped by James, who reveals that it is his friend Kirk Langstrom, who had taken the orphans in order to protect them from the experiments that were being performed on them by the orphanage's owner Elizabeth Arkham.

Bruce follows Richard, the ringleader, and is impressed with his acrobatic abilities and is able to capture him when he stops to save a small boy from being hit by a carriage, while Kal rounds up the others.

Bruce warns that pickpockets eventually become bandits and killers but the Robins deny this, stating that they only steal from those who can afford it and only in order to survive and protect others.

Bane begins training Bruce and teaches him how to use stealth and surprise in order to fight those he cannot match in strength and confesses that he was a former guard of the Waynes and was there when the Green Man killed them.

Tom Taylor proves yet again that he is a master of subverting expectations when crafting alternate DC Universes, while the gorgeous artwork of Yasmine Putri turns the concept into a fully realized fantasy".