The year is 2052 and the world is in the midst of the Second Cold War, with World War 3 looming on the horizon. In the year 2018, Superman flew through the sky for the first time and revived humanity's hope for the future. In the months and years that followed, hundreds of metahumans and mystery men followed his example and became superheroes, with the Justice League representing the greatest of their number. They defended Earth from every threat, from would-be overlords to alien conquerors. Their numbers grew as their apprentices, children, and heirs took up the fight themselves. Hundreds of times, civilization was threatened by supervillains and unearthly foes. And hundreds of times, Earth's heroes stood fast and stood strong against the wolves at Earth's door. The heroes also sponsored great acts of altruism and scientific advancement. Mundane crime fell drastically, quality of life soared, and the future had never seemed brighter. It seemed that the world was in the midst of a Golden Age, with the Superheroes as its' stewards. This sentiment would not last.

A decade past, the Legion of Doom undertook one of the most ambitious, brutal, and successful campaigns of conquest in human history. After years of being defeated and rebuffed by Earth's heroes, the villains came to a realization. The wealthy, industrialized nations of the world were simply too powerful to subjugate, especially with the Justice League and other heroes protecting them. But they were hundreds of vulnerable poor nations, minimally defended by Earth's heroes, and ripe for the taking. Factions and organizations as diverse as the Kobra Cult and the League of Shadows united under the Legion of Doom's banner, pooling their vast resources, wealth, and connections together. They made alliances with alien empires and supernatural horrors. They raised armies of mercenaries, recruited metahumans, and fanned the flames of dissent in volatile nations. Then they struck. In a single day, the Legion's associates launched simultaneous acts of terror and wanton destruction throughout the industrialized world, while the Legion's armies marched on other nations, demons and monsters ran amok, and an interstellar invasion force led by Sinestro darkened the skies.

With the Joker and other villains wreaking havoc in Gotham, Metropolis, and dozens of other cities, it was all the Justice League and their allies could do to dampen the fires while Superman and the mightiest of his comrades repulsed the alien attackers. The Justice League brought peace back to their homes and thwarted the invasion, all according to the Legion's plan. By the end of the first day, the Legion had toppled nearly half of the world's governments in South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Black Adam, Queen Bee, Gorilla Grodd, Ra's al Ghul, the Brain, Lord Naga, Vandal Savage, and many others were now world leaders, with their own fiefdoms and territories. Atlantis, Themyscira, the Kingdom of the Apes, and other lands allied with the Justice League suffered civil war incited by Legion operatives, while creatures straight from nightmare still infested many parts of the world and brought slaughter and terror to the innocent.

Though the great powers of the world and many of their allies still remained in the United Nations, almost half of the assembly's member-states had been usurped by the metahuman conquerors, and the Legion showed no signs of stopping. The Legionaries violently and ruthlessly cracked down on all rebellion and resistance in their conquered territories and began attacking Russia, China, India and many others. The seas ran red with blood as the upstart King Orm clashed with his brother King Arthur of Atlantis, and violence in hidden mystical lands spilled out into the mortal world with deadly consequences. Many feared that within months, the majority of the world would live under the Legion's control. It seemed that an even more destructive war of retaliation from the industrialized nations would follow, with many fearing the nuclear apocalypse. But the Justice League intervened. To prevent even more widespread violence the Justice League gathered the leaders of the free world and the Legion's warlords in Metropolis to sign a cease-fire.

The Legion would halt their campaign of conquest in the human world in exchange for the right to keep control of their territories. Borders were redrawn and the Legion powers received seats in the UN. The members of their coalition came to be known as the Shiruta Pact, for the city where the Legion's plans were first hatched. Peace ostensibly returned to the human world while the wars still raged on in Atlantis, Themyscira, and dozens of super-powered nations, part of an alliance known as the Meta Entente. But both the Legion of Doom and the Justice League knew it was a farce. Open war was avoided, but a shadow war began. The Legion focused its efforts on attacking the Entente nations allied with the Justice League while sponsoring terrorism and rebellion in the human nations. The Justice League, unwilling to be caught unaware again, united all of the world's heroes under it's banner and reformed. The organization leveraged its considerable assets and resources to become a finite political power with an intricate web of diplomatic connections, clandestine operations, technological infrastructure, and a military force to rival the world's superpowers. The Justice League United, with thousands of members, received official sanction from the United Nations to operate in protection of the Earth's peoples and in keeping the peace while becoming more active in their prosecution of crime in their home countries.

The Second Cold War, a war of brutal skirmishes, secret missions, guerrilla attacks, cloak-and-dagger operations, political and economic intrigue, and metahuman-on-metahuman violence has raged for almost a decade. An entire generation of young heroes and villains have matured with this shadow war as their reality, and the Justice League has found itself in a position it never thought to be in. At the beginning of the year 2052, campaigns are well under way to elect the next President of the United States. And both the Justice League and the Legion of Doom are working behind the scenes to influence its outcome. Lex Luthor has announced his candidacy as President as an independent while decorated veteran Steve Trevor has done the same. Both Presidential hopefuls have vast networks behind them working to seat them in the Oval Office, as the American public will unwittingly decide whether the Justice League or Legion of Doom holds sway over one of the last remaining and most powerful democracies in the world. Meanwhile the secret war rages on many fronts as loyalties are tested and plots are enacted in a struggle that will shape the fate of the world.