After a long wait, finally the Dark Multiverse Batmen have entered the DCU, and it is anything, but, beautiful to see them.
DC Metal by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo reveals that the enemies of the Dark Knight have been working on a plot to take control of the main DCU and they will come down to our world in DC Metal #2. 7 of the nightmare Batmen enter the world through a portal. However, you can’t miss the towering figure that stood behind them in the last frame. So guys, before you meet the Dark Universe Batmen, meet their leader, the demon known as Barbatos.
“One of my favorite stories is Dark Knight, Dark City by Peter Milligan,” Snyder told ComicBook.com. “It imagines that many years ago, in colonial times, a group of Gothamites try to summon a bat demon called Barbatos. The mystery in the present involves the Riddler, who runs Batman through a gauntlet of weird cases, all to secretly treat him with the substances and ritualistic materials needed to open a gateway to let Barbatos in again.”
The legend about Barbatos was a little obscure and fans couldn’t even figure out whether it was just a legend or a true story. Things are set to change now.
“In the end, we’re left unsure whether Barbatos was a real force in Gotham’s history and in Batman’s own construction,” Snyder said. “Recently, Grant [Morrison] touched on this story with his creation of Dr. Hurt and the journey of the hyper-adapter… all things we’ll be building on in Metal to make Barbatos a villain like nothing you’ve ever seen.”
Now Barbatos has entered our world and brought along a team of Dark Batmen that will assist him in taking over DC Universe as we know it.
Let’s have a look at who all are these Batmen joining him in his quest?
1. The Drowned
This female villain is a hell of a mysterious Aquaman styled Nightmare Batman, and she has only been seen twice earlier in comic books with one of the two occasions being on a cover.
There are certain premises which arise from her being a woman. She might be Barbara Gordon or could it be Kate Kane? They both had red hair (red wig in the Batwoman’s case), and as the name suggests, this character could have drowned earlier and become undead now.
The costume that she wears has a resemblance to Aquaman, but, her accessories are punky and mysterious. She has an attachment over her eye and various steampunk tidbits on her arms and legs. Thus, you can’t really be sure about her origin.
We are going to find out more about her in the Batman: The Drowned solo, written by Dan Abnett, art by Phillip Tan and a cover designed by Jason Fabok.
Batman: The Drowned one-shot hits stores on October 18.
2. The Batman Who Laughs
Among the most renowned Dark Multiverse Batmen that appear in DC Metal is the Batman Who Laughs, who is a frightening amalgamation of the Batman and his main rival Joker.
Batman has always resisted killing the Joker, even despite the extreme crimes committed by him and the provocation caused. Through the Dark Multiverse, we are likely to find out how things take shape once Batman loses his patience and the outcome is not going to be a pretty sight.
“The Batman Who Laughs is Bruce asking, ‘What if I killed the Joker and I found out that he has a toxin in his heart that essentially made whoever kills him the next Joker, and that’s why he’s always tried to get Batman to kill him?’ It’s one of the darkest stories that we could do,” Snyder told CBR. “What happens then, what happens to the family, all of that is in [the] Batman: The Batman Who Laughs one-shot.”
Written by James T Tynion IV, The Batman Who Laughs is a major player in DC Metal, and we might see him quite often in the next few months. It’s designed by artist Riley Rossmo, and the cover is done by Jason Fabok. This one-shot will be available in comic shops on November 15.
3. The Devastator
Batman makes great efforts to figure out his rivals, and he went to the extreme limits to unravel the mystery of The Devastator.
This guy is an evil mix of Batman and Doomsday who had killed Superman. Superman’s death rattled the whole world, and Batman pledged to ensure that this doesn’t happen ever again. He is known to be proactive and tackle with things that he anticipates. However, this time he crossed his limits.
“What if after Superman died, Batman started experimenting with the Doomsday virus in a way that would make sure this never happens again, but it went too far?” Snyder told ComicBook.com.
This is what we have in store, and now you might feel sorry for imagining the scenario.
The one-shot comic Batman: The Devastator is created by the team of writer Frank Tieri, artist Tony Daniel and cover designer Jason Fabok, and it will be available in stores on November 1.
4. The Murder Machine
Dark Knights will see the most haunting nightmare of Batman come alive in the form of the Cyborg Batman The Murder Machine.
His name itself suggests that he is not the guy who will think before slicing someone in two and the writer Scott Snyder explained further about him.
“Murder Machine is looking at a world where Alfred passed away, so Bruce asks Cyborg to upload his consciousness into the Alfred Protocol,” Snyder said, “and the first thing the Alfred Protocol does when it comes online is kill every villain in Gotham like, ‘You’re welcome, sir!’ When the superheroes try and stop it, it kills them too, and absorbs Batman into it as an extension.”
Omac had done this earlier, and now this guy is here. It would be great if all the computers of Bruce Wayne are destroyed for good.
The Frank Tieri written Batman: The Murder Machine one-shot is designed by Frank Tieri, and the cover is done by Jason Fabok, and it will be in stores tomorrow.
5. The Merciless
The universally constant factor about DC Comics is that irrespective of the universe or Multiverse you live in, Amanda Waller will always be someone you hate.
This is also true about Batman: The Merciless who looks a replica of Ares, the villain from Wonder Woman. One of the visuals during a recent DC preview displayed Wonder Woman’s lifeless form held by Batman, surrounded by scores of other dead Amazons and in the next sequence, we saw an armored Batman (holding something like Ares’ sword) forcing his way into the council meeting of Amanda Waller and obliterating everything.
We don’t know if his powers are the same as Ares, but, the background displays lightning, and that’s a good hint.
Written by writer Peter J. Tomasi and designed by artist Francis Manapul, Batman: The Merciless one-shot has a cover designed by Jason Fabok, and it will go to the stores on October 25.
6. The Red Death
Often a tragic incident pushes Batman on a darker tangent, however, in the case of Red Death, he takes a very unusual route.
The Red Death is how we call the new entity who happens to be a Batman who has taken over Flash’s speed Force without the Flash’s consent of course. The Red Death, one-shot comic, reveals that Batman’s family of crime fighters including Robin, Nightwing, and Batwoman were murdered while he was away on a mission to save the world.
This forced him to seek Flash’s support in doing time travel so that he could set things right. However, Barry knew the implications of such a move, and he refused to help the Batman. An enraged Batman decided to do it on his own, and he goes systematically eliminating various Flash villains and acquiring their weapons as he prepares to take the Flash down.
Flash puts up a tough fight, but, is ultimately knocked out by the batman and when he regained consciousness, he found himself chained to the Batmobile that was going full throttle. Batman had analyzed Flash’s cosmic treadmill, and he modified the Batmobile’s engine to work in the same fashion. Thus, once the top speed is reached, they both disappear and later reappear as a fused entity called The Red Death.
Batman: The Red Death is available in comic book stores.
7. The Dawn Breaker
One of the most powerful weapons in the whole universe is the power ring, and if such a ring is in the possession of a bad guy then a lot of evil can happen, and that’s what Dawnbreaker will show us.
In the comic Batman: The Dawnbreaker, Bruce Wayne’s parents are murdered in an alleyway when he was quite young, and this changes the course of things. He gives a chase to the murderer, but, his chase is broken by a floating power ring and this power changes the way he was going to exist. He chases down the gunman who killed his parents and incinerates him to ash.
It will be a tremendous challenge for the League when this guy appears.
Written by Sam Humphries and designed by Ethan Van Sciver, Batman: The Dawnbreaker one-shot has a cover designed by Jason Fabok, and it will be available in stores on October 4.
