Even though it's about super heroes and protectors of the helpless doesn't mean the story is free of nightmare fuel.
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The Main Story
- The very beginning starts with basically a war for survival that Remnant is losing. With countless people dying and the students of beacon (including Ruby who is only 15 years) having to fight hoards of alien robots who apparently want nothing more than to kill them all. Even worse is the examples of people who have no powers, no combat training or experience caught in the middle. With the main characters having to stay behind so there's room to evacuate civilians
- Then Ruby is taken by said robots leaving her older sister distraught.
- During the Taming Gotham arc when Ruby, Weiss, and Damian take Riddler to Arkham Asylum they have a brief encounter with the Mad Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker, himself when he was being escorted and transferred through Arkham, he manages to catch a glimpse of the girls and says that "Oh, goody! Batsy’s gone and adopted more young sidekicks. Ohho, I look forward to playing with you soon~". Knowing what he is capable of and his history it's safe to assume he'll escape in the future...
- The Queen of Fables was sealed in a book that somehow ended up in a public library, where a Geist attack led to Team RWBY setting her free. Also, Geist in Metropolis public library.
- Blake ends up in "Beauty and the Beast", where Gaston, masquerading as the Beast, has Adam's appearance.
- Raven telling Qrow that Brainiac is interested by his Semblance and wants to study him. Needless to say, Qrow is not okay with that.
- Brainiac has significantly accelerated his 'acquisition' of cities and the destruction of planets. How many more will he take before being stopped?
- It's implied by Ozpin's analysis on why no one's taken Brainiac out for his many, many crimes is that Brainiac's connection to his bottled cities means that if he's killed or the connection is otherwise forcibly severed, all the cities would be destroyed, along with the trillions' of helpless sapient beings inside. It's the main reason that he rejects Ironwood's plan to Suicide Attack him with a fifty-kiloton nuclear bomb to the face.
- Luke Fox and company finding an exposed mass grave is bad enough, but then Violet/Halo wakes up and starts screaming, freaking everyone out.
- A number of Grimm were drawn by the events of SHAZAM! (2019), and though Billy managed to destroy them without much issue, it's clear that they were only a minor portion of what would have showed up if he hadn't defeated Sivanna and the Sins.
- Although Ruby rejects the temptations of the Sins, the fact that they spoke to her at all is disturbing.
- Mr. Mind is active in Fawcett and is using his Psychic Powers to direct the Grimm in order to advance his plans, and despite his small size he nearly manages to kill Yang, Jaune, Billy and Freddy by hurtling them into an abandoned train car with his telekinesis, which he then sends on a collision course.
- Mr. Mind escapes with Sivanna by threatening a Psychic-Assisted Suicide on several police officers, and nearly does it anyway even after the heroes let him go.
- Mr. Mind and Sivanna manage to cut Fawcett off from the outside world, the former taking advantage of something happening to Luke and company that apparently involves Fear Gas.
- Luke's base is attacked by a release of the enhanced Fear Gas that can destroy gas masks... and then the fear draws the Grimm in hordes.
- Mr. Mind's plan turns out to have been to free Black Adam from his prison inside the Rock of Eternity to deal with Billy.
- Nora overloads her Aura from pushing Jaune out of the path of an attack by Black Adam, and if Jaune hadn't awakened his Semblance right there, she'd have been killed.
- The Grimm as of Chapter 60 have grown so numerous that they are starting to overrun entire countries in the Middle East.
- The next chapter reveals that they've killed over ten thousand people.
- Lex Luthor has stolen the Mother Box from Star Labs, and is trying to use it to track down what's signaling the Grimm, possibly opening the door for Salem to end up on Earth.
- Adam Taurus has been running amok within Vale, brutally killing anyone he doesn't like. He is especially cruel towards Faunus' that he sees as race-traitors for working with humans. He mutilates their bodies by cutting off their Faunus parts.
- Brainiac has control or near-control of all the Maidens. Luckily, he's unaware of the Relics, but if he ever found out he could easily claim them all and become nigh-unstoppable.
- During Brainiac and Ozpin's discussion in Chapter 47, he brings up that Remnant was lucky he found it before someone more dangerous did. One shudders to think of what would have happened had someone like Darkseid located the planet.
- The conversation is terrifying from Ozpin's perspective as well. Brainiac's invasion showed him that there are malevolent beings out there who make Salem, his Arch-Enemy and the greatest threat to Remnant, seem like a footnote. When Ozpin brings up Darkseid's name, Brainiac openly admits that even he's not at the top of the food chain.
- Penny, despite being mostly machine herself, is not completely immune from the effects of being in the vacuum of space. Her artificial skin becomes gray and swollen, with some pieces even breaking off and revealing her mechanical parts. Even her human-like eyes have completely broken away, revealing glowing orbs in place of them.
- Just when it seems that Penny is safe with the Green Lanterns, it's revealed that Brainiac installed a malware within Penny's systems to allow him to exert direct control of her in the event she tried to escape. Meaning that Brainiac is able to completely control an aura-enhanced android with the power of the Winter Maiden. Now, Kyle and Guy are forced to try to subdue a Brainwashed and Crazy Penny without killing her while she desperately tries to resist Brainiac's virus. Brainiac, on the other hand, is not concerned with any damage Penny might receive as he will simply repair her upon her recapture.
- Hal and Qrow discover just how Brainiac creates his near-limitless army of drones. To their horror, Brainiac was flash-cloning brain-dead Coluans and harvesting their nervous systems. Their bodies are systematically taken apart and replaced with cybernetic enhancements. Any remaining parts are recycled and reused to create the next batch of clones.
- When Ozpin initially revels in defeating Brainiac at chess, he mockingly asks Brainiac what he plans to do now. Brainiac, in his seemingly cold, detached manner, calmly gives Ozpin a full damage report and that his operations have been severely set back. It is clear from Brainiac's tone that he is seething at this. However, Ozpin's mirth soon gives way to fear when Brainiac reveals that he will be reevaluating his doctrine, increasing experimentation, and seeking to enhance his forces. The implication is clear: as bad as things are now for his captives, things are about to get much worse.
- The Fall of Atlas is told entirely from a civilian point of view (specifically Willow's). These aren't brave soldiers fighting valiantly against an overwhelming enemy, but terrified people trying desperately to survive as explosions and debris are kicked up all around them. They remain trapped in the Schnee family bunker for an entire day before finally emerging to see their city in utter ruins.
- When Brainiac examines Willow, he notices that she is highly intoxicated, and thus, he administers a "Sobriety Solution" to counteract the alcohol in her system. It works and Willow can feel her head start to clear; however, this brings her very little comfort because it only reminds her that what she's going through is all too real.
- It's finally happening. Salem is coming to Earth, thanks in part to Lex Luthor. What's even worse is that the League is under the impression that she's dead, which could give her time to familiarize herself with Earth, strengthen the Grimm already there and make new plans for the planet all completely unhindered by the only people who can stop her.
- Kilowogg mentions that the losses suffered during the assault on Brainiac's ship has left the Green Lanterns weakened as it will take some time to find and train new recruits. The lessened presence of the Green Lantern Corp will undoubtedly lead to increased intergalactic crime and the Sinestro Corp will likely try to take advantage of the power vacuum to expand their influence in the galaxy. To make things worse, it's possible that the other Lantern Corps could be dragged into the impeding conflict, potentially sparking a full-scale Lantern War. The implications of that are disturbing...
- In order to fully rid Penny of Brainiac's virus without losing Penny's soul in the process, Cyborg must directly interface his systems with hers. While he is certain of his plans success, it is also not without considerable risks. Should he fail, he might not only end up losing Penny but he might also end up exposing his own systems to the virus. One shudders to think what sort of damage a Brainiac-possessed Cyborg would be capable of.
- To prove her immortality to Lex, Salem lets Deathstroke attack her, including riddling her with bullets and cutting off her head. Even if you know she'll regenerate, it's rather disturbing.
- The Spectre decides to introduce himself to Salem by ripping her heart from her chest and crushing it right in front of her. It doesn't kill her, but for the first time in millennia she actually felt pain and fear from this encounter. The Spectre then promises that while he may not kill her in the way she deserves, she just got a taste of what awaits her in the afterlife. Salem is left visibly rattled by the encounter.
- Unbeknownst to Ozpin, Ironwood has revived his plan to use the Dust Nuke. He plans to use it to force Brainiac to place the captive Remnantian cities on a habitable world and then detonate the nuke once they are free, killing Brainiac and all of the other captives in the process. The plan hinges on the idea that Brainiac must believe that Ironwood is willing to sacrifice everyone. The scary part is, Ironwood is perfectly willing to sacrifice trillions of innocent lives in order to save what is left of Remnant even though he is perfectly aware that doing so is effectively crossing the Moral Event Horizon. He is willing to go so far because he sees that the other cities are not his people and thus not his responsibility and that killing them is far more merciful than allowing them to remain as Brainiac's guinea pigs.
- Apparently RWBYJNPR has been targeted by multiple groups of time-travelling assassins, only for the Legion members in the past to stop them before the Remnantians even noticed.
- Jonah Hex rather ruthlessly shooting one of Chronos's "men". While he turns out to be just a robot, Jonah confirms to Qrow that he didn't know that before he fired.
- Thanks to industrial espionage, while Weiss has created the first bit of dust, Lex is now beginning to mass produce it with his own machine.
- The Hound finally makes its debut after Salem decides that RWBYJNPR and their family need more direct surveillance. Everyone, including Luthor, is visibly unnerved when it starts speaking. And given that this thing Was Once a Man, there's no telling what kind of creatures Salem could create now.
- The Deep One hauntings at the Lovecraft Museum were intended as a con game by Victor Blackman to attract tourists, scare off investors, and revive interest in the Cthulhu Mythos. Unfortunately, Lovecraft's writings turn out to be based on fever dreams the author had of the actual Outer Gods. One of them, the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep, used the museum as a front to revive a Lovecraft cult and attempt to awaken Cthulhu with human sacrifices. Upon seeing "Stanley Pickman's" true form, the poor Mr. Blackman loses his mind.
Elseworlds
- The side story Tales from the Dark Multiverse: The Wretched Weapon gives us a first look at the Dark Multiverse, where here it shows a saddened Ruby go mad by grief and guilt by Penny's loss, and turns to Luthor for help when the Justice League supposedly can't rebuild her. Unfortunately, this turns for the worst as it causes a fusion between Penny's desire for friends and Brainac's cold logic, which ends with both Ruby and Penny becoming "one".
- Luthor is killed begging to be freed from Penny's control, Yang and the rest of the Remnants are "uploaded" into a digital scape, and the League and the rest of Earth's inhabitants follows them. Worse, the Batman who Laughs becomes "friends" with the new Penny/Ruby to help her continue her ways of saving people.
- The Elseworld, The Last Knight, isn't as bad as the Dark Multiverse one, but still is tragic as it has Ruby be the broken one and not Batman as Omega. While those who've read the comic know how the story will end, it's still a Bittersweet Ending.
