Anti-Living

The Anti-Living are the main antagonistic force of the DC Comics story series DCeased. These creatures are undead beings not dissimilar to classic zombies: they were once-living beings that have been infected and corrupted by a viral form of the Anti-Life Equation.

History
Following an apparent defeat at the hands of the Justice League, Darkseid retreated back to his world of Apokolips where he already had another plan in motion. While he had been keeping the League occupied, his minions had abducted Victor Stone - Cyborg - and taken him to Apokolips. There, Darkseid and Desaad summoned the Black Racer in order to acquire the Anti-Life Equation from it. Desaad stabbed the Racer to extract the Equation, but its energy transferred into Cyborg's body upon "death". Darkseid was infected by this energy, being reduced to a seemingly mindless monster that dove into a fire pit and released all of his Omega energy, resulting in the complete destruction of Apokolips. Before the planetary explosion, Desaad teleported Cyborg back to Earth.

Upon returning to Earth, Cyborg's systems immediately linked up to the internet. The Anti-Life Equation was techno-organic in nature, and from Cyborg it spread onto the internet. Through social media, the virus infected over 600 million people across the planet within seconds. Anyone looking at a computer or phone screen would immediately contract the Equation and undergo a horrific transformation as their minds were ravaged by the virus. Those infected would react by clawing at their heads in a desperate attempt to dig the Equation out of their minds, but would ultimately be turned into savage creatures driven by a singular purpose: to kill every living thing.

Within hours, most of the global population had been infected; even the various superheroes of the world would fall victim to the plague, with metahuman Anti-Living retaining their powers after infection and using them to kill even more people even faster. Not even the likes of Superman or Wonder Woman were immune as they also succumbed to the virus, causing untold death and destruction in their blighted state. In the end, a small number of survivors were able to escape from Earth aboard a series of Ark ships designed by Lex Luthor, leaving their world to its fate.

Characteristics
The Anti-Living are not exactly like classic cinematic zombies. While zombies in film are depicted as driven by an insatiable hunger for living flesh, the Anti-Living do not feed on their victims; they are simply driven to kill. They can sense life wherever it is and are compelled to seek out and destroy it or otherwise spread the Anti-Life Equation.

Ordinary human beings infected by the Equation behave in a similar manner to cinematic zombies; they are seemingly mindless, incapable of higher reasoning and lacking motor skills. They attack the living by rushing at them in a frenzy, using tooth and nail to savage their victims. Since the Anti-Life virus is spread by fluidic transmission as well as digitally, scratches and bites will also pass on the infection.

Metahumans infected by the Anti-Life Equation seem to possess a slightly higher degree of cognitive ability as they have been shown leading hordes of Anti-Living in the hunt for more living beings, however they still do not talk. Infected metahumans also retain whatever powers they had prior to infection and will use them to their full destructive potential.

Unlike traditional zombies, the Anti-Living need not be put down just by destroying their brains, at least in the case of those that were once normal humans. Once they have received enough bodily damage, they cease to function altogether, though metahuman and alien Anti-Living are considerably more difficult to kill.

Notable Individuals
Most of the Earth's heroes and villains ended up being infected by the Anti-Life virus during the events of DCeased. Below is a list of notable individuals who succumbed to the infection.


 * Darkseid - The "patient zero" of the Anti-Life plague. Upon being infected, he threw himself into one of Apokolips' fire pits and unleashed the full power of the Omega Effect, destroying the entire planet.
 * Cyborg - Victor Stone was to be Darkseid's tool for unlocking the Anti-Life Equation. Though he carried the Equation, he was able to firewall himself and avoid turning, but was too late to stop the virus from spreading to the internet via his systems. He fought to try and curb the tide of the infection, but there was no hope in saving the Earth. When the surviving population fled to the stars in a fleet of Ark ships, Cyborg stayed behind, knowing that he posed a danger to the survivors as a carrier of the infection.
 * Batman - Bruce Wayne was able to isolate his computers in the Batcave from the internet, avoiding infection via digital exposure. However, Nightwing, Batgirl and Red Robin had already become infected and attacked Bruce and Alfred Pennyworth in Wayne Manor. Batman was scratched and bitten several times before Alfred shot and killed the infected. In the time he had left before succumbing, Batman donned one of Mr. Freeze's old suits, slowing the virus' progress. This gave him time to alert the Justice League and tell them what he knew of the infection, and to say his goodbyes to his son Damian before he finally turned. As soon as Batman succumbed to the virus, Alfred shot him dead.
 * Hal Jordan - While on a camping trip with Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) and Dinah Lance (Black Canary), Hal was checking his phone and thus contracted the virus. In his Anti-Living state, he attacked Dinah and Oliver, using his Green Lantern ring's full destructive power. Dinah released a lethal sonic scream that ruptured Hal's brain, killing him permanently. Upon Hal's death, his ring scanned the immediate area and chose Dinah as its new user.
 * The Joker - Gotham City's most notorious criminal was sat at a bank of computers plotting his next big scheme when the Anti-Life Equation struck. When he turned, his former accomplice and lover Harley Quinn had entered his lair to finally break up with him and he turned to attack her. Harley ran and picked up a shotgun dropped by another victim of the zombie hordes outside. She turned and shot the Joker in the midsection, putting him down and taking cathartic pleasure in it.
 * Aquaman - Arthur Curry was infected when he boarded a ship in distress and was attacked by the infected crew. Under the Equation's influence, he returned to Atlantis, killing everyone in his path and contaminating the water with infected blood. Green Arrow later killed him after shooting an arrow through his eye.
 * Clayface - How Basil Karlo was infected is unclear. Upon infection, he transformed into a massive blob of organic clay, attacking the living with tentacles and absorbing their biomass into himself to grow bigger. He was incinerated by Superman.
 * Jonathan Kent - Adoptive father of Superman. His wife, Martha, was able to lock him up in a storm cellar when he succumbed to the virus. Superman later arrived at the Kent Farm to rescue his mother and killed the undead Jonathan by projecting his heat vision through the cellar door and incinerating his father.
 * The Atom - Ray Palmer used his shrinking ability to study the corpse of an infected person at the microscopic level. This only resulted in his own infection and, in his microscopic state, he invaded Captain Atom's body and infected him as well.
 * Giganta - Doris Zuel went on a destructive rampage in her giant form after becoming infected. It took the combined efforts of Superman, Dinah Lance, Wonder Woman and Alfred Pennyworth (flying the Batwing) to bring her down. Cyborg then finished her by blasting a gaping hole through her head.
 * Captain Atom - After being infected by the Atom, Nathaniel Adam went nuclear, creating the largest atomic blast ever known. Nathaniel was destroyed in the blast, but the explosion completely engulfed Washington, Baltimore and Metropolis.
 * Martian Manhunter - It is unknown how J'onn J'onnz became infected, but in his Anti-Living state, he was still capable of using his psychic powers to attack others. He could emit a telepathic wave that caused great pain to those within range, incapacitating them long enough for him to get in close and tear his victims apart. He was able to kill Lex Luthor in this manner and infected Barry Allen before he was incinerated by Firestorm.
 * The Flash - After being infected by Martian Manhunter, Barry Allen went charging across the planet at near-lightspeed, killing and infecting countless others. Superman was able to stop him by charging at him from the opposing end of the globe, hitting him head-on. However, Flash partially phased into Superman's body on contact, passing the infection onto him as well.
 * Superman - After intercepting the infected Flash, Superman contracted the virus when Flash's fingers were phased through his skin. He contacted his wife Lois and their son Jon one last time before he succumbed. In his Anti-Living state, he carved a path of destruction everywhere he went. Wonder Woman attempted to stop him by stabbing with a sword forged from kryptonite, but this wasn't enough to kill him. After killing Wonder Woman, Superman flew into the sun and began feeding on its energy. Eventually, he would completely exhaust the sun's radiation, causing the Earth to freeze over and die. How long this would take is unknown, but the Guardians of the Universe had no choice but to let it happen as they could not risk exposure.
 * Wonder Woman - Diana of Themiscyra became infected whilst battling the Anti-Living Superman. In Wonder Woman, the Anti-Life Equation found an avatar and communicated with Cyborg while bound by the Lasso of Truth. She told Cyborg that there was a cure to the virus within his system, but there was no longer any means of extracting it.