Book of Destiny

Book of Destiny
Information
Creator(s)	Unknown
User(s)	Mar Novu (formerly) John Deegan (formerly) Clark Kent (formerly) Lois Lane (briefly; formerly) Iris West-Allen (briefly; formerly) Lex Luthor (formerly) Paragons (page)
Function	Reality manipulation Book

"I've traveled far to this place and time to lay this precious burden at your feet. Use this Book to reshape the world as you see fit. Show them what a real god can do, John."
"Why me?"
"You have vision. That Book holds the key to your transformation, John, and all you have to do is open it. Use it wisely, John. The universe is in your hands."

—Mar Novu and John Deegan^[src]

The Book of Destiny was a metaphysical book that used to grant a worthy individual the power to alter reality, until Oliver Queen destroyed its powers. It was later retrieved by Mar Novu when he went into the timeline and grabbed the Book to learn of the Paragons.

History

Preparing for a coming Crisis

"His name is Mar Novu, but he calls himself "the Monitor" now. He's been unleashing the Book of Destiny across the multiverse to test different Earths."
"Test them for what?"
"A Crisis that he believes is coming. Novu thinks the Elseworlds created by the Book of Destiny approximates the... collision of realities that we're facing."

—Earth-90 Barry Allen and Earth-1 Barry Allen discuss the Monitor's test^[src]

At some point, Mar Novu began loaning the Book of Destiny to individuals from different Earths across the multiverse to test their worlds to prepare for a Crisis—which Novu claimed to be beyond his abilities—by letting the chosen individuals create their own Elseworld.

Testing Earth-90

Novu seemingly destroys Earth-90.

On Earth-90, a struggling Barry Allen attempted to take hold of the Book of Destiny, but stopped short when Mar Novu retrieved it instead. Mar Novu then opened the Book and presumably proceeded in altering Earth-90's reality again, seemingly destroying the universe.

Testing Earth-1

On Earth-1, Mar Novu chose John Deegan to use the Book to test that universe. Deegan opened the Book, where he saw all of reality and, using the Book, changed Earth-1's reality.

Deegan receives the Book of Destiny.

After John Deegan created his first Elseworld, the only change in reality he made was swapping Oliver Queen's and Barry Allen's realities, so that Oliver was perceived as Barry and vice-versa. The change only affected Earth-1, and did not affect Barry and Oliver's memories. After seeing Novu give the Book of Destiny to Deegan via Cisco's vibe, Oliver speed-sketched the scene, tracing the scene to Gotham City.

John Deegan then hid the Book of Destiny in a dislodged part of a wall in Arkham Asylum. After being confronted by Oliver and Diggle, Deegan retrieved it during his escape, only to be blown away by Supergirl's super breath. The Book was then brought to A.R.G.U.S. for Felicity, Curtis, Caitlin and Cisco to analyze it. Their analysis showed that the Book's lock is not only cryptographic but also metaphysical in nature. Barry Allen of Earth-90 then breached inside the building and revealed the true purpose of the Book of Destiny, before Mar Novu appeared to them in public.

After being confronted by Barry, Oliver, Kara, and Earth-90 Barry (the latter of whom the Monitor teleported away when Earth-90 Barry charged toward him), Novu gave the Book of Destiny back to Deegan and the doctor subsequently altered reality once more, on a larger scale than the last one.

After John Deegan was ordered by Mar Novu to "think bigger", he created his second Elseworld, and the following changes to reality were made:

• Due to Book's limitations, Deegan was only able to alter the reality of Earth-1 (and whatever was present in the universe then).
  • Barry Allen and Oliver Queen are known and feared, even by other criminals, in Central City as the "Trigger Twins", notorious for having a bank robbery spree, and are the CCPD's highest priority. Their memories from the original reality are still intact, but neither of them are speedsters.
  • Malcolm Merlyn, Joe Wilson, and Ricardo Diaz are police officers of the Central City Police Department.
  • John Deegan stole most of Kara's powers, leaving her with a weaker version of her abilities, and became Central City's superhero known as "Superman".
    • His base of operations is in S.T.A.R. Labs, where Killer Frost, John Diggle, and Alex Danvers work as his agents.
      • The time vault is now called the Fortress of Solitude.
    • He got the idea of taking on Clark's appearance when he saw Clark taking on A.M.A.Z.O., which was the only record of him being on Earth-1.
    • He created a history where "Superman" once fought a villain named "Bizarro".
  • Kara Danvers was known by the Elseworld denizens to have done something horrible, and thus was locked in the pipeline of S.T.A.R. Labs.
  • Cisco Ramon is a criminal who breaches inside banks and steals their money and the owner of a criminal bar.
    • Gary Green is a bartender working for Cisco.
    • Jimmy, James Olsen's Earth-1 doppelgänger, is Cisco's bodyguard, who often kills anyone for his boss.

Deegan as Superman.

Later, Barry, Kara, and Alex headed to the "Fortress of Solitude" to retrieve the Book. The Book was found unlocked in the Fortress, which, in this reality, was the time vault. Kara opened the Book and tried to change reality back herself, but the power of the Book proved too much for her. Barry then stated that Clark knows how to use metaphysical books, to which Kara grabbed the Book and found Clark being bested by Deegan. Kara used her heat vision to throw the counterfeit Superman into the sky and gave the Book to Clark. Clark then used the Book to return Kara's, Barry's, and Oliver's powers and abilities, and attempted to revert reality, when they were hit by Deegan's thunderclap, enabling the latter to escape with the Book.

The fried Book of Destiny.

Deegan, once again, used the power of Book change reality to his liking; causing panic in Central City. Clark found Deegan and tried to talk him out of his actions, only for Deegan to summon an A.M.A.Z.O. robot using the Book, with the robot copying Clark's powers. J'onn, Lois and Brainy then breached onto the scene from Earth-38, with the latter subsequently locking into combat with A.M.A.Z.O.. Using a light-generating hammer from the Fortress of Solitude, Lois Lane struck the ground, blinding Deegan and setting him off-balance, only for him to quickly recover the Book. Deegan then directed the Book's power towards Clark, knocking him down and hitting Lois, tossing her high into the air. Oliver managed to make it in time and attempted to shoot Deegan with a metaphysical arrow given to him by Novu. Deegan reacted to this and tried to hit Oliver with the Book's energy, only for the Book to be shot instead, filling it with too much energy, which caused to Book to implode; frying it and its powers, and John Deegan. The loss of the Book's powers ultimately reverted reality back to normal.

Post-Elseworlds

The Book was later reclaimed by the Monitor, who brought it with him to Heyworld. He used the Book to balance a bag of popcorn, watching the Legends in amusement.

Mar Novu had the Book with him when he recruited Lex to aid in the Crisis, but didn't use it.

Anti-Monitor Crisis

Novu reveals the restored Book of Destiny.

"You have all lost a great hero."
"The wrong hero."
"I do not disagree. We have suffered a horrible loss—but you have every reason not to lose hope—seven in fact. Across space and time exist seven heroes; beings of the purest will who can ultimately defeat the Anti-Monitor... and help save the multiverse. They are known as Paragons."
"Paragons? And you're just droppin' this on us now?"
"I only recently learned of their existence by consulting the Book of Destiny."
"How? We destroyed it last year."
"After Oliver's early demise, I went back into the timestream and retrieved it intact. It is now safely stored in this ship's library."
"So, it's what; Plan B? That's comforting."
[...]
"Wait—if the Book can rewrite destiny, can it bring back Earth-38? Or any of the other Earths?"
"Trying to recreate an entire world would surely drive one to madness."
"What about my dad? Could it bring him back?"
"I wish it could. While Oliver Queen was to die in this Crisis, this is not how I saw events unfold. But as the Anti-Monitor gets stronger, I grow weaker. We must find all seven Paragons."

—The heroes discuss the Book and its limitations with the Monitor, as well as the latter's newly-acquired knowledge of the Paragons^[src]

After Oliver's premature death during the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Mar Novu went back to a point in time before the Book was destroyed and retrieved it. By consulting the Book, he learned of seven individuals throughout space and time who may be the key to stopping the Anti-Monitor; the Paragons. A short time later, the Book was stolen by Lex Luthor, who, through the use of an interdimensional extrapolator, began jumping between universes, using the Book to kill every iteration of Superman that he could find in the multiverse.

Lex Luthor stealing the Book.

Eventually, he got tired of killing Supermen, and decided to use the Book to pit Superman of Earth-96 against Superman of Earth-38, and make the former try to kill the latter. However, before the two Kryptonians managed to seriously harm one another, Earth-38 Lois Lane and Earth-1 Iris West-Allen were able to knock Lex out, get the Book back and use it to return Earth-96 Superman to his senses. They then brought him back with them to Earth-1, as they'd concluded that he must be the Paragon of Truth they'd been sent to find. Lex was then locked in a cell aboard the Waverider, and the Book was reclaimed from him.

Lois and Iris use the Book of Destiny to make Earth-96 Clark come back to his senses.

"You think the Book can bring back the destroyed Earths? Heh, heh, heh! Oh; too good."
"We don't have time for this. Tell us how to use the Book, or lose an arm—your choice."
"Do the strong-arm tactics work in Gotham City?—Agh!—The Book channels ancient and endless power. It takes immense willpower and focus to make it work."
"What did you focus on?"
"His hatred—for Superman."
"Got it in one—Agh!—But that was easy for the Book to provide—you try to use it the scale you're talking about and it could drive you mad—like Deegan."

—Lex is interrogated by Kate and Kara over how to use the Book^[src]

A short time after Lex was captured, Kara initially planned to use the Book to try to bring her Earth back. Kate helped Kara to interrogate Lex on how to use the Book, and he told them; but Lex also ultimately ended up giving Kara the same warning the Monitor had; trying to use the Book to restore a whole universe would inevitably drive the user insane. Thus, in the end, Kate refused to let Kara attempt to use the Book to try to restore the latter's dead world.

At some point, however, Lex had torn a page from the Book. After Earth-1 was destroyed by antimatter, leaving the Paragons as the only known surviving individuals in the multiverse, Lex wrote his name on the stolen page. This seemingly killed Earth-96 Superman, causing Lex to replace him as the Paragon of Truth alongside the rest of the Paragons, who'd fled to the Vanishing Point.

Lex Luthor reveals that he's rewritten a page of the Book of Destiny to replace Earth-96's Superman as the Paragon of Truth.

Rebirthing the universe

"Oliver."
"What is that?"
"'I'll light the spark.'"
"'While you fan the flame.'"
"He said you would know what to do."
"I think dying kinda messed with his head."
"Well, think; you're meant to be the genius."
"Genius who had the fortitude to read the Book of Destiny and retain his sanity."
"I think the jury's still out on that one."
"The Book of Destiny... I made myself the Paragon of Truth." What if Truth can tell us what we need to do?"
"Being what?"
"Use what's left of the Book to fan the flame."
"How do we all use the Book?"
"We focus. A singular, laser-like focus."
"On what?"
"Humanity—Truth—Love—Destiny—Honor—Courage—and Hope."

—The Paragons discuss what they need to do in order to fan the flame to restore the multiverse^[src]

After the Paragons traveled to the dawn of time with Oliver to stop the Anti-Monitor from making the destruction of the multiverse permanent, the eight of them put a plan into motion to restore the multiverse. Oliver told the Paragons that he'd light the spark, and that they'd need to fan the flame. While none of the Paragons knew what that was supposed to mean—and Lex asked him about it, Oliver told Lex that the latter would know what to do when the time came. Ultimately, Lex reminded the rest of them that he'd used the Book of Destiny to make himself the Paragon of Truth, and that Truth may be able to tell them what they had to do; they could use the page that remained of the Book—which Lex had kept with him—to fan the flame. They concluded that in order for them to all use the Book, they'd need to focus on the qualities that made them Paragons; Hope, Destiny, Truth, Courage, Honor, Love and Humanity. By doing so, they successfully formed a new universe. Following the universe's restoration, what became of the page that had remained of the Book is unknown.

Capabilities

"I can see everything."
"And a word of advice: think big."

—John Deegan and Mar Novu^[src]

• Metaphysical connection: The lock of the Book of Destiny only shared a metaphysical connection with whomever the Book deems worthy to use it and letting the individual unlock it. With Novu's abilities, the Book can also be recalled into his possession.
• Essokinesis/Reality manipulation/Elseworld creation: Once opened, the Book allowed its user to manipulate reality to how they see fit in the blink of an eye. This ability of the Book was used by Mar Novu as a test to see if the denizens of the created Elseworld would be good enough to be able to survive an oncoming Crisis.
  • Absolute reality perception: Once opened, the Book enabled its user to look at the whole of reality.
  • Ergokinesis: The Book allowed its user to release surges of energy powerful enough to even harm solar-powered Kryptonians.
  • Power bestowal: The book allows users to grant themselves with powers, such as when Lex Luthor granted himself abilities.
  • Anger inducement: When Lex had the Book, he managed to use the Book to manipulate the Superman of Earth-96 into attacking the Superman of Earth-38. He did this by turning the latter's love into hate.
  • Interdimensional travel: The Book is capable of transporting people between dimensions, as seen when Lex Luthor used it to send Iris West-Allen of Earth-1 and Lois Lane and Clark Kent of Earth-38 from Earth-167 (where they'd met that universe's Clark Kent) back to the Waverider on Earth-1.

Weaknesses

"Well, think; you're meant to be the genius."
"Genius who had the fortitude to read the Book of Destiny and retain his sanity.."
"I think the jury's still out on that one."

—Kate Kane, J'onn J'onzz and Ryan Choi on Lex Luthor^[src]

• Universal limit: The user of the Book can enable the user to see and change the events and reality of only the universe that the user is currently in. Visitors foreign to the universe will retain their memories, even if they're on the affected Earth when reality is altered. After the rebirth of the multiverse, Lex lost upgrades he gained from this book.
• Energy overload: When Oliver shot the Book of Destiny with a powerful arrow of metaphysical nature, the Book absorbed too much of its energy and imploded, toasting the Book and its powers.
• Insanity Inducement: A weak mind attempting read this book will be driven mad from the strain.

Appearances

Supergirl

Season 4

• "Bunker Hill"
• "Elseworlds, Part 3"

Season 5

• "The Wrath of Rama Khan"
• "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One" (mentioned)
• "Deus Lex Machina" (flashbacks)

Arrow

Season 7

• "Unmasked"
• "Elseworlds, Part 2"

Season 8

• "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four" (page)

The Flash

Season 5

• "What's Past is Prologue"
• "Elseworlds, Part 1"

Season 6

• "A Flash of the Lightning" (mentioned on a map)
• "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three"

DC's Legends of Tomorrow

Season 4

• "Hey, World!"

Batwoman

Season 1

• "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two"

Trivia

• The symbols in the book appear to be the same as the ones used by Nora West-Allen to write in her journal, as well as the ones that Barry Allen wrote after returning from the Speed Force.

Behind the scenes

• In the DC comics, the Book of Destiny is also known as Book of Souls and belongs to Destiny of the Endless.