Dark Nights: Death Metal

Dark Nights: Death Metal is a comic book crossover event by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo by DC Comics. It was originally set for release on May 13, 2020, but was later rescheduled to June 16 due to the COVID-19.[1][2]

Dark Nights: Death Metal
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Limited series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	June 16, 2020
No. of issues	7
Main character(s)	DC Universe
Creative team
Written by	Scott Snyder
Penciller(s)	Greg Capullo
Inker(s)	Jonathan Glapion
Colorist(s)	FCO Plascencia

Plot

Lead-up

Following the final battle between Batman and The Batman Who Laughs, the Source Wall is shattered,[3] causing a chain of events that frees Perpetua from her cosmic prison.[4] Despite Apex Lex capturing the Batman Who Laughs, the latter reveals that the future Lex saw was a hoax made by Perpetua in order to manipulate him. After this revelation, Perpetua strips Lex from his powers and returns him to Earth.[5]

Meanwhile, the Justice League survived their battle with Perpetua, after they were saved by the Quintessence, who reveal they were protecting something very important, and then sent the League to an unknown location in order to search it.[6]

Somewhere, Tempus Fuginaut revised several Earths from the Dark Multiverse, and then recruits Wally West to access Metron's Mobius Chair (which is upgraded with Doctor Manhattan's powers) and restore the balance between the Light and Dark Multiverses. This action causes Wally to become a new persona, and with his new powers, he wants to mend of all of reality into one single timeline, but the presence of the Batman Who Laughs prevents that from happening.[7][8]

Main plot

The goddess Perpetua has taken over Prime Earth, and is in the process of destroying all realities (of the 52 local universes, only eight are left), so she can restart everything in her image. Her lieutenant, the Batman Who Laughs, enforces her whims across Earth, aided by an army of evil Batmen from the Dark Multiverse. All resistance has been crushed, and even Earth’s heroes have been press-ganged into servitude. But when a mysterious prisoner is to be banished to Tartarus Pits of Hell (formerly Themyscira), he awakens memories in the Warden; Wonder Woman. When a meeting with the Batman Who Laughs’ Justice League (comprising Harley Quinn, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Mister Miracle; each paired with a respective Dark Knight of the Dark Multiverse) is interrupted by the mainstream Batman, Wonder Woman argues with her former teammate; saying that it’s not enough to just win small “street battles” like Bruce is, and they need to fix everything, not what’s left. Meanwhile, out in space, the bounty hunter Lobo is hired to uncover something. Back in Tartarus Pits, Diana meets up with the prisoner, revealed to be an exhausted Wally West, who retells Diana the story of Perpetua, how she has manipulated many of the previous Crises from behind the scenes, and how she survived the previous battle with the Justice League through the Batman Who Laughs. When the Amazon decides the best cause of action is to make the first Anti-Crisis, she’s confronted by the Batman Who Laughs, whom she proceeds to gut with an invisible Chainsaw of Truth. Though dead, the Dark Knights set to work to unleash the Batman Who Laughs’ true plan; preparing the body of the final Bruce Wayne. In an underground bunker, Batman enlists the help of a severed Sgt. Rock.[9]

In the Hellscape (outside of what used to be Washington, D.C.), Wonder Woman, Wally West, and Swamp Thing gain access to the Valhalla Cemetery, a secret Crypt of Heroes that is currently guarded by the surviving members of the JSA: Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Doctor Fate and Wildcat. Batman and Jonah Hex are also there, in the process of conscripting an army out of tombs in the crypt. The former disapproves of Diana’s killing of the Batman Who Laughs (as the villain will just evolve into a new nightmare), saying how they needed to fight small; but Diana couldn’t live with that. Bruce plans to use this army to take Castle Bat and forge a new Earth in the dark, saving only who they can. Diana tries to persuade Bruce to join her in creating a new multiverse, but he refuses to listen (he blames himself for everything that has happened and thinks Diana will make the same mistakes he did). Diana’s plan is to travel to the Dark Multiverse and to the original crises, steal the energy taken by Perpetua, and give it to Wally to not only defeat Perpetua but also restart the Multiverse. Jay calls in Barry Allen (who’s been unable to fix this with the Speed Force, as there’s no way out of the present), and together with Diana and Bruce, plan to travel to New Apokolips to save their friends. Meanwhile at Castle Bat, the Dark Knights succeed in transferring the Batman Who Laughs’ brain into a energy construct based on Doctor Manhattan's powers, an action that may have repercussions if Perpetua were to find out. At this point, Perpetua is ravishing Earth-30 and warns the Batman Who Laughs of the beings like her who may sense her actions (worried they might destroy her). The Batman Who Laughs proceeds to wipe out the remaining Dark Knights with the execption of one Robin, who he decides to make his “Robin King”; he then shifts into a new form (“The Darkest Knight”) exclaiming that he knows Diana plans to remake the Multiverse, he however wants to make “52 Planets of Nightmares”. In the Arkham Wastes, Diana, Bruce, Barry, Hex and Harley enter the workshop of Toymaster to use his new stealth ship designed as a composite version of the Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to head to New Apokolips.[10]

On New Apokolips (Prison of the remaining DC Heroes, inside the heart of a dying sun), Wonder Woman’s team are combating an army of Para-Robins (an amalgamation of Parademons and Robins). The planet is now run by a Batman who took the powers of Darkseid; a “Darkfather”, who’s currently torturing Superman with a new inescapable Murder Machine designed by the captive Mr. Miracle, emitting different forms of Kryptonite from the Dark Multiverse. When the heroes attack, Batman must find a way to get Superman out of the machine without it unleashing Anti-Life on the Kryptonian. However, when Darkfather decides to shoot Batman with the same gun he used on Darkseid in Final Crisis (which he’s modified to erase Batman from history), the demonic tyrant is surprised to find it didn’t work (for reasons only Superman seems to know). Superman brakes free of the machine, with Batman’s Black Lantern Ring protecting him, and punches the Darkfather into space. Breaking the remaining heroes out of the super-prison, Diana reveals the scope of her plan to save all reality: they’ve come for Jarro, the baby Starro that’s possibly the most powerful psychic being in the universe, to keep the heroes from being detected by the Dark Knights. With his help, the Trinity (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) will re-enter the Dark Multiverse to require the energy needed to restart the DC Multiverse. Meanwhile, the Darkest Knight and the Robin King break into the Crypt of Heroes. Knowing they’re after Wally’s power, the 3 speedsters (Jay, Barry and Wally) run, with the Darkest Knight giving chase. In the Fifth Dimension, Lobo acquires the fifth and final box of “Death Metal” needed for his employer; Lex Luthor to begin work to “change the story of this universe, once and for all”. [11]

Subplot

Legends of the Dark Knights

Six stores are told in this issue:

• I Am Here -
• King of Pain - Origin of Robin King
• Batmanasaurus Rex - Short story on B-Rex
• This Man, This City - Origin of Castle Bat
• Road Warrior - Origin of Batmobeast
• I Shall Become - Origin of Baby Batman

Titles involved

Title	Issue(s)	Writer(s)	Artist(s)	Colorist(s)	Note(s)
Preludes
Flash Forward	#1–6	Scott Lobdell	Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund	Luis Guerrero	Heroes in Crisis storyline
Justice League	#29–39	Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV	Bruno Redondo, Jorge Jiménez, Howard Porter, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, Francis Manapul	Hi-Fi Design, Alejandro Sanchez	"Justice/Doom War" storyline
Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen	#1–4	James Tynion IV	Steve Epting, Javi Fernandez	Nick Filardi	Year of the Villain storyline
Main series
Dark Nights: Death Metal	#1–7	Scott Snyder	Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion	FCO Plascencia	N/A
Tie-ins
Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook[12]	#1	Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Chip Zdarsky, Becky Cloonan, Vita Ayala, Priest	Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Khary Randolph, Becky Cloonan, Dan Panosian, Eduardo Risso	David Baron, Emilio Lopez, Tamra Bonvillain, Luis Guerrero	N/A
Dark Nights: Death Metal: Infinite Hour Exxxtreme!		Frank Tieri, Becky Cloonan	Dale Eaglesham	TBA
Dark Nights: Death Metal: Legends of the Dark Knights		Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Peter J. Tomasi, Marguerite Bennett, Frank Tieri, Daniel Warren Johnson, Garth Ennis	Tony S. Daniel, Riley Rossmo, Jamal Igle, Francesco Francavilla, Daniel Warren Johnson, Joëlle Jones	Marcelo Maiolo, Ivan Plascencia, Chris Sotomayor, Francesco Francavilla, Mike Spicer, Jordie Bellaire
Dark Nights: Death Metal: Multiverse's End		James Tynion IV	Juan Gedeon	TBA
Dark Nights: Death Metal: Rise of the New God		James Tynion IV, Bryan Hill	Jesus Merino, Nik Virella
Dark Nights: Death Metal: Robin King		Peter J. Tomasi, Tony Patrick	Riley Rossmo
Dark Nights: Death Metal: Speed Metal		Joshua Williamson	Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira
Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last 52: War of the Multiverses		TBA
Dark Nights: Death Metal The Last Stories of the DCU
Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Multiverse Who Laughs		Amanda Conner, Patton Oswalt, Jimmy Palmiotti, Scott Snyder, Brandon Thomas, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson	Chad Hardin
Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Secret Origin		TBA
Dark Nights: Death Metal: Trinity Crisis		Scott Snyder	Francis Manapul
Justice League	#53–57	Joshua Williamson	Xermanico		"Doom Metal" storyline

Publication history

Development

Dark Nights: Death Metal is the sequel to 2017's Dark Nights: Metal and concludes Scott Snyder's run in DC Comics; he stated "Everything is coming back, we want to pay it forward. The Omega Titans, Barbatos, the Forge, it’s all coming back. Everything you read, our goal is to reward. All of it culminates in like a year in like a Metal event."[13]

On April 2020 during an interview on DC Daily, Snyder assured that the purpose of Death Metal is to unify every storyline from mainline DC Universe comic books, including the standalone stories.[14][1]

Following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over comic book industry, the series was later postponed from May 13 to June 16, 2020.[2]

Soundtrack

• "Warship My Wreck" by Marilyn Manson[15]

Reception

Comic Book Roundup[16]

Issue	Publication date	Rating	Reviews	Reference
#1	June 17, 2020	9.2/10	24	[17]
#2	July 15, 2020	8.7/10	15	[18]
Legends of the Dark Knights	August 5, 2020	7.9/10	16	[19]
#3	August 12, 2020	8.4/10	9	[20]
Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook	August 19, 2020	8.3/10	5	[21]
Overall		8.7/10	53	[16]

References

1. Arrant, Chris (April 14, 2020). "DARK NIGHTS: DEATH METAL's Goal is to 'Sort Out' DC's Continuity & Universe". Retrieved April 14, 2020.
2. Arrant, Chris (May 6, 2020). "DARK NIGHTS: DEATH METAL Lands New Launch Date". Retrieved May 6, 2020.
3. Dark Nights: Metal
4. Year of the Villain
5. Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #4 (2019)
6. Justice League #39 (2019)
7. Josh Williamson (w). The Flash v5, 750 (May 2020), DC Comics
8. Flash Forward vTPB, (July 2020), DC Comics
9. Dark Nights: Death Metal #1 (2020)
10. Dark Nights: Death Metal #2 (2020)
11. Dark Nights: Death Metal #3 (2020)
12. "DC Comics AUGUST 2020 Solicitations". Newsarama. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
13. Cronin, Brian (July 20, 2017). "Scott Snyder Announces Massive DC Crossover Event for 2019". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
14. Johnston, Rich (April 4, 2020). "Scott Snyder on Death Metal, Doomsday Clock, 5G and What Comes Next". Retrieved April 12, 2020.
15. https://www.gamesradar.com/batman-who-laughs-shreds-to-marilyn-manson-song-in-animated-dark-nights-death-metal-music-video/
16. "Dark Nights: Death Metal (2019) Comic Series Reviews". Comic Book Roundup. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
17. "Dark Nights: Death Metal #1 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
18. "Dark Nights: Death Metal #2 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
19. "Dark Nights: Death Metal: Legends of the Dark Knights Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
20. "Dark Nights: Death Metal #3 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
21. "Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook #1 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.