Frustrated at being outmaneuvered by the Light, Batman set up a group of leading members of the Justice League and the Team to coordinate their teams in secret not only from their enemies, but also their teammates. Though it had no official name, the private group[1] was informally called the Anti-Light by Robin,[2] and Batman, Inc. by Black Lightning.[3]
The group disbanded after its activities were discovered by Black Lightning.[3]
The group was founded to try to beat the Light at their own game and allow multiple teams of heroes to work seemingly independently while being secretly coordinated by their leaders. Aquaman represented the Justice League on Earth, Wonder Woman the League's mission in space, and Miss Martian led the Team.[2]Batman instigated a mass resignation from the Justice League[4] and recruited the former Leaguers and their protégés into a new covert team which he led,[5] with Robin leading a squad of the younger vigilantes.[2]Nightwing performed solo missions and created ad hoc squads with other heroes,[4][6] before forming a team of his own.[7]Oracle acted as their mission coordinator.[2]
The group met in the Batcave to update Wonder Woman, who was calling in from space via the Javelin, on their largely successful operation to have their teams take down the Branchwatermeta-human trafficking ring. The Justice League had prevented Sportsmaster from abducting Brick, though he did escape with Shade. Robin's squad had shut down Mad Hatter's nanotech control facility and contained a control device which could be used to free enthralled subjects. Nightwing's team captured a couple of used metas, who Batman then liberated. Miss Martian and Superboy had caught Simon Stagg with stolen property, and Oracle had forwarded evidence of Stagg's involvement to the Gotham City Police Department. Wonder Woman was upset at the extent to which they were deceiving their own teammates, but the others were confident they were doing the right thing.[2]
The group met in the Batcave to discuss the Outsiders first mission in Brooklyn, Maine, which they had set-up for the new team to help get them off to a good start in the public eye. Despite complications, it was felt that the Outsiders had performed well. Aquaman considered bringing Beast Boy into the private group as he was the Outsiders' leader, but Miss Martian felt he was not ready for that.[8]
The group met in the Batcave to update Wonder Woman on their operation in Dublin. Oracle had found a factory secretly owned by a LexCorp shell company that was found to be storing Spider Bots. Robin had repaired and remotely operated some MONQIs and an android of Professor Ivo salvaged from one of Ivo's old bases, which were used to lure the Outsiders to the factory, with Miss Martian posing as a kidnapped girl and Batman acting as her father. Thus the Outsiders destroyed one of Lex Luthor's secret facilities with plausible deniability. Wonder Woman was appalled that they were manipulating their own allies and creating fake news.[9]
After Nightwing and Black Lightning went missing during a recon mission to Gretchen Goode's house, Oracle contacted Aquaman for help. He was wary of involving himself as a member of the Justice League, but the rest of their private group was busy elsewhere.[1]
After Aquaman successfully recovered Nightwing and Lightning, Nightwing suffered severe after-effects of his exposure to the X-Pit. As his friends and family gathered at his bedside in the Premiere Building, Bruce called the members of the group aside to talk. Lightning noticed this and, coupled with being rescued by the chair of the Justice League backed up by a Bat-family drone the day before, realized they were secretly working together. He further deduced the split in the Justice League had been planned by the group and that they had set-up the Outsider's first mission. Jeff angrily lambasted them, revealing what he knew to the surrounding members of the Outsiders and the Team.
As several arguments broke out, Bruce and Barbara talked outside. Barbara noted that, aside from Wonder Woman who was away in space and only found out about their activities after the fact, the group consisted of former protégés accustomed to following Batman's orders without question. She wondered if the group was really his way of asserting control over everyone.[10]
In the Batcave, those not involved in the mission to respond to the coup in Markovia watched news coverage of the event. They were joined by several members of Batman's team.[3]
Nightwing called a meeting of the Justice League, the Team, the Outsiders and Batman's team. He officially announced the "Anti-Light"s existence and admitted it was a mistake. Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Miss Martian resigned as leaders of their respective groups, Black Lightning was elected the League's new leader, and Batman agreed to fold his team back into the League and the Team, effectively disbanding the "Anti-Light".[3]
