History ComicBook / DarkNightsMetal

* '''''Franchise/TheFlash''''' (#33)

** The Batman Who Laughs references the JLA ''Tower of Babel'' arc, in which Batman's contingency plans were used in an attempt to kill the League.

** It's not clearly shown how the Devastator's Doomsday virus was stopped, or how Lois Lane and all the infected were restored back to normal, or how Mera and the people of Atlantis were restored, or how the effects of the other Dark Knights were reversed. It's said during the last issue that the effects were undone when [[spoiler:the Justice League united and used the Tenth Metal to raise the Earth from the darkness]], suggesting that it happened then, but nothing of what happened is actually shown.

* '''''Batman: The Merciless''''' -- Written by Peter J. Tomasi.

* '''''The Batman Who Laughs''''' -- Written by James Tynion IV.

** It's not shown how the Devastator's Doomsday virus was stopped, or how Lois Lane and all the infected were restored back to normal.

* Book Ends
** Scott Snyder’s Batman run began with Batman teaming up with “Joker” (actually Dick Grayson in disguise) to stop an Arkham Asylum breakout. [[spoiler:Here, he teams up with the genuine article to fight The Batman Who Laughs.]]

** Issue 6 reveals the Dark Knights' mysterious guest is [[spoiler:the ''original'' Monitor, having come back from the dead.]]

** [[spoiler: Turns out, this is also his weakness as well. Despite being a Batman with Bruce Wayne's logic and the Joker's love for chaos, he's still a Bruce Wayne. As such, he can only come up with countermeasures that only Bruce Wayne would plan on. And what's the one thing Batman Who Laughs didn't plan on? Batman and the Joker teaming up to stop him.]]

* AntiClimax: With all the build-up, the last battle against the Dark Knights took place in one page. Armed with the 10th metal, the Justice League wipes the floor with the Dark Knights (Superman crushes Devastator in one punch, Green Lantern zaps Murder Machine and Aquaman shakes the Drowned like a ragdoll). It gets even more lame in the victory over Barbatos, the Justice League simply use their new powers to wish him in chains and the world to return from the dark universe.

* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler:Black Adam]] joins Barbatos and murders Dr. Fate, in exchange for not getting executed if Barbatos conquers the cosmos.

** As stated in ''Dark Knights: Metal'' #3, there are Dark Multiverse counterparts of the entire Justice League. In #4, Batman was greeted by three of Superman's counterparts: one in Bruce's own suit (Clark's nightmare of killing Bruce, taking his mantle, and [[EvilFeelsGood it feeling good]]), another in Lex's power armor, and the '90s Superman Blue. In #5, Wonder Woman encountered two of her own counterparts, one a Star Sapphire, the other a fusion of herself and her enemy Cheetah.

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: The Merciless, The Dawnbreaker and The Murder Machine only appear in a couple panels getting crushed by Green Lantern after the heroes have their HeroicSecondWind. After the crisis is averted in full, Dream of the Endless is also nowhere to be found. The Joker and the Batman Who Laughs were last scene still battling in the background of a panel, but their fates are unknown.]]

** Barbatos has been mentioned and even seen in earlier comics such as ''Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth'', ''Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City''; and ''The Return of Bruce Wayne''.

* BaitAndSwitch: In the Batman Who Laughs' backstory, Batman called Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl, and Red Robin to the Batcave once he figured out what the Joker's final toxin was doing to him: [[spoiler:turning him into a twisted copy of the Joker himself.]] They all resolve to do everything they can to help him, assuming that he's asking them to stop him, if need be. [[spoiler:He then reveals that he's actually called them all there since they're the ones who would immediately notice him acting out of character. He promptly guns them all down]].

** [[spoiler: Turns out, this is also his weakness as well. Despite being a Batman with Bruce Wayne's logic and the Joker's love for chaos, he's still a Bruce Wayne. As such, he can only come up with countermeasures that only Bruce Wayne plans on. And what's the one thing Batman Who Laughs didn't plan on? Batman and the Joker teaming up to stop him.]]
* DoingInTheScientist: As [[spoiler:Joker]] notes, [[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls electrum]], a mixture of gold and silver, no matter what the composition between them, couldn't [[ImmortalityInducer reanimate the dead]] by itself. Something ''else'' would be needed.

** The Batman Who Laughs' Robins, who are all demented, Jokerized children that he "adopted."

** The Joker's final toxin rewrote Bruce's mind into the Batman Who Laughs; another toxin turned hundreds of Gotham children into tiny, rabid monsters. [[spoiler:After being corrupted, Batman killed the Superman family with a special strain of black kryptonite that drove them into berserker rages before they died.]]

* DancePartyEnding: [[spoiler: The event closes on one at Wayne Manor, with Jon and Damian on guitars.]]

* ForegoneConclusion: [[spoiler: In ''Wonder Woman'' #32, Diana comments remembering seeing the baby Darkseid, and a box in the corner notes this occurred in ''Dark Nights: Metal'' #2. Thus that issue takes place after the events of the story, and given the world ''doesn't'' look like the cover of a death metal band album, everything is going to turn out okay. ''Sideways'' is also set after the events of the story, and again the world isn't a death metal album cover.]]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Funny/DarkNightsMetal

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: The Merciless, The Dawnbreaker and The Murder Machine only appear in a couple panels getting crushed by Green Lantern after the heroes have their HeroicSecondWind. After the crisis is averted in full, Dream of the Endless is also nowhere to be found.]]

* AntiClimax: With all the build-up, the last battle against the Dark Knights took place in one page. Armed with the 10th metal, the Justice League wipes the floor with the Dark Knights (Superman crushes Devastator in one punch, Green Lantern zaps Murder Machine and Aquaman shakes the Drowned like a ragdoll).

** With the 10th metal, the Justice League one-shots the Dark Knights.

** Apparently there is some kind of metal with a particular signature that runs common between such structures as [[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls electrum]], [[ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} Nth metal]], [[ComicBook/DoctorFate the Helmet of Fate]], [[ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} the Trident of Neptune]], and [[Franchise/WonderWoman the Bracelets of Submission]], among other things.

* BIttersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The League and the other heroes of the DCU save the day once again, but they've broken open the source wall in the process, letting in a slew of new threats. Fortunately, Batman has a plan to solve these problems which starts with welcoming J'onn and Kendra into a new Justice League. In addition, Hawkman's probably going to need to spend a lot of time recovering from what he endured, a couple of the Dark Knights remain unaccounted for, and Dream (and a single book in his library) are missing.]]

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: The Merciless, The Dawnbreaker and The Murder Machine just vanish after the heroes have their HeroicSecondWind. After the crisis is averted in full, Dream of the Endless is also nowhere to be found.]]

** [[invoked]] One of Superman's Dark Multiverse counterparts is wearing the blue containment suit, a well-known DorkAge for the character.

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: The Merciless, The Dawnbreaker and The Murder Machine just vanish after the heroes have their HeroicSecondWind.]]