Nekron, master of the Black Lantern, has risen in Coast City. In the process, he raises the dead of Coast City to form an undead army of seven million. The Lantern Corps representing the emotional spectrum have united against him in space, racing to Earth as the surviving heroes there unite to stop Nekron's undead plague from overwhelming the universe.

But they fail to understand that as Nekron is the master of Death, he had a hand in the return of every hero who has come back from the dead. And that connects him to some of the most powerful heroes in the universe - a fact that he exploits.