Two weeks after her boyfriend Superman mysteriously disappeared (and coincidentally, around that same time, so did her co-reporter Clark Kent), a worried Lois Lane was working at The Daily Planet, trying to keep her mind on her job, when she received a letter addressed to her. It was from Clark. In it, he admitted that not only was he indeed Superman, but, if that revelation wasn’t shocking enough, he also confessed that he had done some things that he was terribly ashamed of and, because of these unspeakable acts, he could no longer live with himself. At the bottom of the suicide note were some directions to his Fortress of Solitude. There was all of the proof they needed that Clark Kent and Superman were in fact the same person. But, inside the open vault that once contained the Kryptonite, instead they found a gruesome discovery. It was the remains of the missing male college students from Metropolis University. Their corpses were all were chopped up into tiny little pieces so no one could tell how they were murdered but the DNA tests confirmed it was them. The body of Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman was never found although it was assumed that he killed himself out of guilt. For it appeared no one really knew the real Superman or about his kinky sexual proclivities. His friends and family as well as those of his victims’ were understandably confused and grief-stricken.
As Metropolis was still reeling over this tragedy, the very next day, an official document was delivered to the News Department of WGBS. It was a signed press release from The Justice League of America, confirming that, after The Man of Steel’s disturbing confession and subsequent suicide, the rest of the members have all agreed to hang up their superhero suits in honor of his memory and become private citizens once again. In their closing statement, they requested that the media, the public and the government all respect their decisions to dissolve The JLA and allow them to live out the remainder of their lives in total anonymity. The signatures did indeed match those of the remaining 12 Justice League members they had on file so that no one could question the document‘s authenticity.
With this announcement, the search parties were called off and the case was officially closed. Initially Wonder Woman tried to find them on her own but, when all of the evidence seemed to point to the fact that they were the ones who ‘chose’ to go into hiding, even she eventually gave up looking for her former teammates as well. Since only a handful of people really knew their true identities, this meant that there was virtually no way that they could be found and they would never be seen in public ever again (not that anyone really knew what they looked like without their costumes on anyway).
When the news broke that the Justice League of America had ‘chosen’ to put their superhero days behind them, nearly everybody bought into this bogus story, including the criminal element who took advantage of their early retirement, just as they had already begun to do, resulting in a nationwide crime wave of epic proportions. Once it became clear that their once-beloved superheroes weren‘t coming back to save the day, most Americans grew to resent the JLA for abandoning them in their hour of need. Fearing a voter backlash, the local, state & federal governments were forced to take precautionary steps to pick up their slack by increasing the number of officers on patrol and even calling upon the National Guard to help restore order. Soon things returned back to normal without any assistance from the Super Friends. Since they were no longer needed, people quickly forgot all about their fallen idols and, before long, it was as if they had never existed. Sadly, the Doctor’s ruse had worked just the way he had planned and they wouldn’t be missed. In the end, only their Master knows the whole truth of what really happened to these retired superheroes. And, unfortunately for them, he’s not about to tell another living soul.
Then, shortly afterwards, the whole University was stunned when their highly-regarded and admired elder statesman, Professor Jules T. Overlord unexpectedly announced his retirement. After this mild-mannered and seemingly harmless scientist left his prestigious position at the medical college, he went into exile and was rarely seen leaving his house again. Neighbors just thought that the Doctor was an eccentric old coot preferring to live in that small cottage all by himself, never having any friends over, always slamming in the door in peoples’ faces. But, contrary to what everybody believes, Mr. Overlord isn’t spending his twilight years alone sitting on his rocking chair. For no one could possibly know that this nasty curmudgeon has all the company he needs right here at home. The subjugated super-slaves he secretly keeps hidden in his basement see to it that he is never lonely. For someone who went without a date for the first 65 year of his life, he sure is making up for lost time now. Yes, this senior citizen leads a very active sex life thanks to his submissive and obedient toy boys who are always there to cater to his every whim and satisfy his every need. Unlike other retired folks, the Doctor didn’t have to take golf lessons or start a garden to keep himself busy. It seems that he found himself the perfect hobby, preferring to play all day long with his own personal collection of life-sized superhero action figures. In fact, retiring was the best decision that he ever made… for him maybe, but not for the 13 forgotten members of The Justice League of America!
The End?