"Forever Evil: Blight" is a 2013–2014 crossover storyline published by DC Comics that began in October 2013, set within the larger "Forever Evil" storyline. The story, which is seen in the series Constantine, Justice League Dark, Trinity of Sin: Pandora, and Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger, sees John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Nightmare Nurse, Pandora, and the Phantom Stranger attempt to defeat Blight, who is the manifestation of evil itself, and rescue the missing members of the Justice Leagues. The announcement of "Forever Evil: Blight" promised changes to the status quo for the titles involved at its conclusion, with each having major changes.
Synopsis Following the events of the "Trinity War", Constantine awakes in the House of Mystery, unsure of how he got there. He slowly begins to remember gaining control of Pandora's Box, and then the Crime Syndicate defeating the three Justice Leagues. He attempts to conjure an enchantment to find Zatanna and the other members of the Justice League Dark. It does not work, but the House begins to transport Constantine around, and at each stop, he sees the shadow of evil grow into a blight on humanity. He is returned to the House where he sees a conjured Zatanna from his conscious, who reveals that Pandora's Box is still having an adverse effect on him. The conjuring is revealed to be Nightmare Nurse, who sought out Constantine to remove the remnants of the Box from him. She also reveals that she has grown her own, blue, female, Swamp Thing to help in Constantine's mission to find his team. The blue Swamp Thing does not survive for long, and gives birth to Alec Holland's green Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing agrees to help, as the Green has been agitated by the Crime Syndicates arrival. The three try to track the missing members of the Justice League, but are blocked by magical toxins. Constantine realizes that the group is going to need to confront evil head on to get past the toxins, and they set out to enter their collective unconscious. The group confronts Blight, who proves too much for them to handle, with Constantine barely escaping with the others back to the House of Mystery. Constantine secludes himself, hoping to find more power to aid them against Blight. He determines that the Trinity of Sin are the ones who will be able to help them, and summons them to the Rock of Eternity. Elsewhere, Sea King, seemingly killed from the journey from Earth-3, awakens at the bottom of the ocean.
Meanwhile, Pandora is seen traveling to Earth-3, after the Outsider opens the portal with her box, and encounters the Martian Manhunter's counterpart. Back on Prime Earth, she attempts to reconstruct her box, and seeks answers from the Outsider at the Justice League's Watchtower. The Outsider points out that she is asking him the wrong type of questions. He reveals that the Seven Deadly Sins, supposedly released when she touched the box, would have appeared on Prime Earth no matter what, meaning the Council of Eternity cursed her for no reason. The Outsider blows up the Watchtower as Pandora teleports away. She appears at the Rock of Eternity, having been summoned by Constantine along with the Phantom Stranger and the Question. The Trinity of Sin are able to get out of their chains, and the Phantom Stranger is able to break the construct Constantine created, revealing they are actually in the House of Mystery. The Phantom Stranger peers into Constantine's mind and sees his, Swamp Thing's and Nightmare Nurse's failed attempt to defeat Blight. The Question does not decide to help and vanishes, while Pandora agrees to help. Constantine coaxes Phantom Stranger to join by offering him one of his pieces of silver. Phantom Stranger declines, and tries to leave the House. He wanders through it, and after seeing various moments of his past, returns to the others, and tells Constantine he will help their cause. Elsewhere, Chris Esperanza, the Phantom Stranger's friend he brought back from the dead, overcome by his emotional turmoil of being resurrected, awakens Blight inside of him, allowing his body to become the vessel for Blight. Now in his vessel, Blight summons Constantine, Swamp Thing, Nightmare Nurse, Phantom Stranger and Pandora to his location in New York City.
Arriving in New York, the group is attacked by Blight. The Phantom Stranger realizes Blight is using his friend Chris as a host. Nightmare Nurse teleports the group away to regroup. As they teleport, they get a glimpse of two people talking about a "project" that involves a captured Sargon being used as a test subject. Only able to teleport to Central Park, the group tries to free Chris from Blight. Just as they are about to destroy it, Blight knocks back the group. Pandora sees Blight heading for Constantine, and she is able to jump in front of it and extract Chris from the Blight. Pandora fights off the Sins while Blight joins with Chris once again. Blight breathes fire at the Justice League Dark, who are able to resist it, before he does the same to the buildings in New York. Swamp Thing, Phantom Stranger and Nightmare Nurse rescue the people in the affected buildings and move them to safety. Constantine realizes they have been on the defensive, and they should move to the offensive. He asks Nightmare Nurse to mark the group with the Mark of Dun-Kon-Wen. Pandora begins shooting at Blight, only for Blight to start killing each member, killing Pandora last. As she dies, she is approached by Nightmare Nurse in her subconscious, letting her know this is the result of the Dun-Kon-Wen, and they have a plan so they all remain sane. It is shown that the group's bodies have ended up in Doctor Thirteen's apartment.
While floating in the subconscious, Constantine sees Deadman, who tells him he is the only hope the former Justice League Dark members have to survive. Nightmare Nurse is able to revive everyone with her psyche, when Constantine informs them of his visit from Deadman. They determine that it actually was him, not a delusion, and Constantine, Nightmare Nurse, Swamp Thing and Pandora set out to find him. They travel to the bottom of the ocean, where they arrive at Nan Madol, a deserted undersea kingdom. There, Sea King begins to attack them and awakens the spirits of Nan Madol to attack the surface. Pandora informs Constantine that they have to stop him, as the Sea King is housing Deadman's spirit. On the surface, the group is able to stop Sea King's attack, and break the connection Sea King's body had on Deadman. Deadman wakes up and informs the group he jumped into Sea King's body during the Crime Syndicate's arrival, and that it twisted his mind so he did not know how he was. Constantine removes the last traces of Sea King's consciousness and locks Deadman in the body to have a weapon to use against the Crime Syndicate. Elsewhere, Phantom Stranger took Doctor Thirteen to Chris Esperanza's house, where Blight had captured Chris' family. The Presence appears to the Stranger and tells him he should join Blight in order to continue on his path to redemption. He does and sacrifices Doctor Thirteen as well. However, seeing Chris' sister talk to Blight, Phantom Stranger sees the innocent boy rising up, and betrays Blight, freeing Doctor Thirteen and Chris' family. Phantom Stranger sees the love that still exists in Chris and uses it to expel Blight from Chris. However, Chris rejoins with Blight, saying he was the one to choose Blight, not the reverse, and becomes stronger. Phantom Stranger returns to the House of Mystery to tell the others, where he suggests the group goes to Heaven to ask the Presence to aid in their quest. Elsewhere, Felix Faust and Nick Necro are seen torturing Mindwarp for Ultraman, eventually killing him, in an attempt to create rechargeable specimens, having previously experimented with Sargon.
At the border of Heaven, the group is confronted by the Spectre and Zauriel. The Spectre begins attacking the group before being stopped by the Presence. The Presence begins to show them the understanding they each seek. After refusing and declining to continue to see his understanding, the Presence shows Constantine the rest of the groups'. Constantine then flees, making Zauriel chase after him. They arrive at the House of Mystery, where Constantine traps Zauriel in a celestial circle, in hopes he will help them fight Blight. He tells the others that the trip was a waste, as he only saw why he could not trust any of the group. The others, however, saw the truth or good remaining in their hearts, which Zauriel confirms, as he agrees to help them fight. The House of Mystery travels to Blight's location, where the group prepares to fight him once more. Before the fight, Pandora recalls what she heard in Heaven from the Presence, that it was the question "What are you?" Thinking about it, she realizes she does not know, as she is no longer like the person she was. Remembering her past, she recalls all the "lights" she witnessed while searching for the sins of the world, and realizes she is one of them. Pandora heads straight for Blight and engages him directly, knowing she has the light and hope to defeat him. After a large explosion, Pandora emerges, having now been embodied by the light, realizes her true purpose, and uses the light to destroy Blight and once again free Chris. Phantom Stranger catches him, only for Chris to once again reembody Blight and kill the Phantom Stranger. Pandora engages Blight once more and pushes him back to the bottom of the ocean.
Zauriel proceeds to attack Blight, before being defeated as well. He joins Phantom Stranger and Pandora in the collective unconscious, as both created the illusion that they died. The group finds the human, Chris, located within Blight's heart. When Pandora tries to free him as a way to weaken Blight, she is stopped by Zauriel. Telling the two that there are bigger plans for Chris, Zauriel continues to fight a part of Blight as the Phantom Stranger and Pandora work to help Chris. Back in the material world, Deadman and Swamp Thing distract Blight as Constantine and Nightmare Nurse conjure the Blackmare Curse, to unleash their personal "blights". In doing so, they attempt to fight evil with evil and are able to weaken Blight before Nightmare Nurse stops Constantine from killing Blight to save Chris, reverting to their normal selves. As Blight begins to merge the conscious with the unconscious, a bright light envelops him and he disappears. In his place, a transformed Chris appears in his true nature - the embodied spirit of redemption. He states that with the help of Constantine's group, he was able to lock Blight back in the collective unconscious, and sets out to begin redeeming the world. With Blight gone, so is the psychic static that originally prevented Constantine from finding Zatanna and the others, and he is able to locate them.
Project Thaumaton