June 24, 2007. Astronomy graduate student Alfred Carson is conducting observations of the Ort Cloud when he spots a new object the size of Manhattan. Closer examination reveals a reflective profile unlike any asteroid or comet ever recorded. Curious scientists probe deeper and discover the object appears be attracting and absorbing its Ort cloud neighbors in ways that defy the laws of physics. Earth’s greatest heroes — the Freedom League — are dispatched to investigate the object, aided by the solar system’s defender, the Star Knight.

Their absence does not go unnoticed. Five days later Dr. Stratos, sensing the perfect opportunity for revenge against his arch enemy Captain Thunder and the Freedom League, launched an assault against Freedom City’s Blackstone Prison, summoning a power surge that overloaded the superhero penitentiary’s electronics and opened the way for his Crime League associates to crack open its walls.

Now the prison’s superhero inhabitants are loose in the world, America’s traditional super-powered defenders are nowhere to be found, and an unprecedented crimewave is about to sweep the country … starting with the Home of Freedom. Can anyone rise to save the city from this superheated catastrophe?