History ComicBook / DarkNightsMetal

** The Batman Who Laughs references ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel'', in which Batman's contingency plans were used in an attempt to kill the League.

* '''''Batman: The Merciless''''' -- Written by ''ComicBook/{{Superman|Rebirth}}'' writer Peter J. Tomasi.

** ''The Forge'' alone brings back Hawkman (Carter Hall) and Hawkgirl (Sheira Hall), Hath-Set, ComicBook/PlasticMan, ComicBook/MisterTerrific (Michael Holt), ComicBook/TheOutsiders, and Immortal Man. Also very noticeable is the return of [[spoiler: the Joker]], who had been absent for more than a year, despite numerous references.

''Dark Nights: Metal'' is a summer 2017 crossover event for ''Creator/DCComics'', continuing the narrative of the ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' saga. It is written by [[Creator/ScottSnyder Scott "Doom Commander" Snyder]] and James Tynion IV, with primary art provided by Greg "Pain Bringer" Capullo.

*** The Devastator is a Batman who transformed into Doomsday, making him the Dark Knights' '''Superman''' counterpart. Earth -1 and Earth 1 both deal with a darker, grittier take on the DC Universe.

*** The Dawnbreaker is an evil Batman who wields a green power ring, making him the Dark Knights' '''Green Lantern''' equivalent. In fact, his universe, Earth -32, is ''exactly'' an evil version of Earth 32, a world where Bruce Wayne ''did'' receive a Green Lantern ring and became Bat-Lantern.

* CompositeCharacter: All of the Dark Knights are essentially this (see EvilCounterpart below), but the Batman Who Laughs was specifically intended as such InUniverse. [[spoiler:As he explains in his backstory, the Joker's final toxin kept Batman's intelligence and sanity intact while replacing his moral core with the Joker's. He sees this as embodying both the order and the chaos that each man stood for.]]

* '''''Batman: The Red Death''''' -- Written by ''[[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash]]'' writer Joshua Williamson.

* '''''Batman: The Drowned''''' -- Written by ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'' writer Dan Abnett.

* '''''Hawkman: Found''''' -- Written by Jeff Lemire.

* AlwaysNeedWhatYouGaveUp: Kendra and the Blackhawks devoted themselves to destroying any Nth Metal they could find to prevent the coming of Barbatos. Since [[CannotThwartStageOne they failed]], this means that the only substance that can hurt the Dark Knights is in short supply.

%%* AllianceOfAlternates: The Dark Knights of Barbatos.

* AscendedMeme: This quote by the Batman Who Laughs:

* AllianceOfAlternates: The Dark Knights of Barbatos.

* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:Nightmaster]].

* BigBad: Barbatos.

* BigDamnVillains: Of all people, [[spoiler:''The Joker'' appears to help Batman fight the Batman Who Laughs]].

** Barbatos has been hunting Batman since the [[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Dawn of Time]], first seeing him in a "'''''[[ComicBook/FinalCrisis final]]''''' [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis moment of a]] '''''[[ComicBook/FinalCrisis crisis]]'''''."

* '''''Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}''''' (#32 -- #33)

* '''''Batman: The Red Death''''' -- Written by ''[[Franchise/TheFlash Flash]]'' writer Joshua Williamson.

* AntiClimax: With all the build-up, the last battle against the Dark Knights takes place over 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). Even more so with 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.

** There is a kind of metal with a particular signature that is used by the forger of universes, that runs common as lesser derivations 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. Similar to the revelations of Weapon X, the [[AppliedPhlebotinum Element X]] that is crucial to New God Mother Box technology, is the tenth and original version of this metal, and channels the power of pure possibility from the multiverse to do whatever the wielder may desire.

-->'''The Batman Who Laughs:''' Take a good look Bruce. What do you see? You've never fought someone with all your training. Your discipline. See it yet? I'm not [[ComicBook/TheJoker him]] in a batsuit. I'm you. You. How you are supposed to be without the codes. [[CombatPragmatist Without the rules]]. Except one. [[MemeticBadass BATMAN]]. [[BadassBoast ALWAYS]]. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis WINS]].

** Dr. Fate is made of this, almost every issue he teleports in and rescues someone from certain death.

* BreakTheBadass: [[spoiler:Barbatos manages to break Batman in ''Lost'', break him so badly Bruce actually screams that he "gives up"]].

** The Helmet of Ares twisted the Merciless so thoroughly and instantly [[spoiler:he killed his world's Wonder Woman after putting it on, since she would have tried to take it off him]].

* DarkestHour: How Issue 5 ends. [[spoiler: Aquaman, Deathstroke, Hal Jordan, Martian Manhunter and Mr Terrific are at the mercy of the Dark Knights. Barbatos' XanatosGambit falls into place and successfully drops the entire world in the Dark Multiverse. The Forge comes apart, seemingly killing Batman and Superman in the process. Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl are left running into a no doubt hopeless battle against a horde of Barbatos' minions. And the final panel shows Dream of the Endless's library ''on fire'']].

* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler: Faced with a army of Dark Multiverse denizens, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl choose to go out with a warcry as they charge into battle.]]

*** The Merciless is a Batman in armor that resembles ComicBook/{{Ares|DC}}', making him the Dark Knights' counterpart to '''Wonder Woman'''. Both [[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse Earth 12]] and Earth -12 have an aged Bruce Wayne and Diana of Themyscira romantically involved.

*** The Batman Who Laughs is an evil composite of Batman and the Joker, essentially being the Dark Knights' most "Batman" member, making him their version of '''Batman''' himself. He hailed from Earth -22; its counterpart, Earth-22, is where {{ComicBook/Kingdom Come}} took place. On both worlds, the killing of the Joker led to greater chaos.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: [[spoiler: ''Horrifically'' averted with the Batman Who Laughs. Even [[[[Characters/SupermanJonathanSamuelKent Jonathan Samuel Kent]] Jon Kent]], arguably the face of ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' as a whole, dies screaming in terror while being mutated and killed by the Black Kryptonite the Batman Who Laughs created. Even before this, the Joker had Jokerized countless children during his rampage]].

** The Drowned's lost of genderbent Selina Kyle caused her to wage war against all metahumans and surgically transform herself into an Atlantean to fight against Atlantis.
* LotusEaterMachine: Batman's hooked to one in ''Lost'', in which he dreams of being a grandfather, retired from crimefighting, who's reading a story - ''The Case of the Chemical Syndicate'', the very first Batman story, to his granddaughter. [[spoiler:He briefly snaps out of it, but Barbatos slaps him down by revealing it's his fears and regrets that have produced the demon's army and that Batman is nothing without Barbatos. At the end, Bruce is left so shaken he gives up and basically begs to return to the illusion.]]

** ''Everyone'' warns Batman studying the metal is a horrible idea and that he's doing something ''really'', '''''really''''' stupid - from [[spoiler:capturing Joker to force him to assist, to studying the Multiverse Tower, to trading metal samples with ComicBook/TaliaAlGhul]]. He soldiers on, thinking nobody understands him or his need to understand the big secret behind it. Surprise, surprise, for once it turns out the Dark Knight has bitten off far more than he could chew.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Batman holds a ThouShaltNotKill rule so he would never become as bad as his enemies, especially the Joker. In the Batman Who Laughs' case, he literally becomes the new Joker after killing the original.

* SuperiorSuccessor: The Batman Who Laughs sees himself as one to the Joker, feeling that he had good ideas but was too single-minded in his focus on Batman. He's decided to take them UpToEleven on the entire world and, eventually, the multiverse.

** [[invoked]] One of Superman's Dark Multiverse counterparts is wearing the blue containment suit, a well-known DorkAge for the character. Remember that the Dark Multiverse is considered a realm of bad ideas or ideas gone horribly wrong.
** Similarly, a Dark Multiverse Riddler appears during a huge battle, sporting the infamous question mark mohawk he had during the start of the New 52.
** Another of the Dark Multiverse's inhabitants is one of the mutilated superhero cyborgs from ''New 52: Future's End''.

** ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} joins forces with the Justice League and other heroes fighting the Dark Multiverse's invasion. The heroes allow it since his sword and armor are made of Promethium, and thus have the same signature as the other metal items in their possession.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: ComicBook/RasAlGhul claims that he is the youngest among the Immortal Men.
* YourMindMakesItReal: The Dark Multiverse is a reactive plane of existence. Its worlds and inhabitants are composed of the desires and fears of those in the main Multiverse brought to life. According to the Batman Who Laughs, it's a realm of stories that should've never happened or should happen. Appropriately, [[spoiler:a collection of worlds created by the imagination of people attracts the attention of [[ComicBook/TheSandman Dream of the Endless]]]].

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: [[spoiler: ''Horrifically'' averted with the Batman Who Laughs. Even [[ComicBook/JonathanSamuelKent Jon Kent]], arguably the face of ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' as a whole, dies screaming in terror while being mutated and killed by the Black Kryptonite the Batman Who Laughs created. Even before this, the Joker had Jokerized countless children during his rampage]].

** The Batman Who Laughs is his love of Gotham, his friends, and the entire Batfamily. He's also the order Batman embodies in contrast to the Joker's chaos, his fear that the Joker's theory of "one bad day" breaking a man is correct, and his fear that he is ultimately NotSoDifferent from him.

** ''Everyone'' warns Batman studying the metal is a horrible idea and that he's doing something ''really'', '''''really''''' stupid - from [[spoiler:capturing Joker to force him to assist, to studying the Multiverse Tower, to trading metal samples with Talia al Ghul]]. He soldiers on, thinking nobody understands him or his need to understand the big secret behind it. Surprise, surprise, for once it turns out the Dark Knight has bitten off far more than he could chew.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Ra's al Ghul claims that he is the youngest among the Immortal Men.

* {{Retcanon}}: When Cyborg frees Raven from the Dark Knights' prison, they treat each other as dear friends and past teammates - something that was only true in Pre-Flashpoint continuity, as they never interacted with one another in the New 52.

*** The Merciless is a Batman in armor that resembles ComicBook/{{Ares|DC}}', making him the Dark Knights' counterpart to '''Wonder Woman'''. Both [[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse Earth 12]] and Earth -12 have Bruce Wayne and Diana of Themyscira romantically involved.

** The Batman of Earth -1, who eventually become Devastator, was forced to fight against Superman for literally no good reason, and with a Kryptonite spear, not unlike the battle in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''.

[[quoteright:284:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/picsart_08_23_014036_4.jpg]]

*** The Merciless is a Batman in armor that resembles Ares', making him the Dark Knights' counterpart to '''Wonder Woman'''. Both [[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse Earth 12]] and Earth -12 have Bruce Wayne and Diana of Themyscira romantically involved.

* '''''The Batman Who Laughs''''' -- Written by ''ComicBook/{{Detective Comics|Rebirth}}'' writer James Tynion IV.

!!Tropes involved with this event:

** Hooray, the Justice League [[spoiler:escaped and are now tracking down Nth metal! Which, while unexpected, is still within plans, since, as the Batman who Laughs says, they're now unwittingly spreading Barbatos' influence throughout Hypertime.]]

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The Dark Knights take over the cities of the heroes they stand in opposite alignment to: Red Death attacks Central City, Murder Machine Detroit, Dawnbreaker Coast City, the Drowned Amnesty Bay, and the Batman Who Laughs Gotham. They also collectively take over the Justice League's satellite headquarters, and the Merciless takes over the ruins of the Langley installations, while the Devastator infects Metropolis with the Doomsday Virus.
* AncientConspiracy: [[spoiler:The Immortal Man leads one called the Immortal ''Men'', who have dubbed themselves mankind's protectors.]]

* 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 his moral code into that of the Joker's.]] 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 and warn the other heroes of what has happened to him, something he cannot allow to happen. He promptly guns them all down]].
* BatmanGambit: Used ''against'' the TropeNamer. [[spoiler:Barbatos wouldn't have been able to even begin his invasion had Batman just done the sensible thing and dropped his investigation. Batman's [[{{Determinator}} obsessive zeal for the truth]] winds up giving the demon the door he needs.]]

** In ''The Wild Hunt'', [[spoiler: the [=JLApe=] of Universe 53 arrives to recruit Detective Chimp, revealing they also rescued Flash, Cyborg and Raven.]]
* BigDamnVillains: Of all people, [[spoiler:''The Joker'' appears to help Batman fight the Batman Who Laughs.]]
* 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.]]

* BreakTheBadass: [[spoiler:Barbatos manages to break Batman in ''Lost'', break him so badly Bruce actually screams that he "gives up".]]

** The third issue brings back [[spoiler:Nightmaster, the Oblivion Bar, and even Detective Chimp!]]
** In a meta sense, [[spoiler:the concept of Hypertime has returned.]] The original appears in the final part of ''Bats Out of Hell''.

** ''The Wild Hunt'' sees the return of [[spoiler: Rex the Wonder Dog, Dr T.O. Morrow, Dr Will Magnus, the Metal Men, Dr Sivana and Egg Fu.]]
** Issue 6 reveals the Dark Knights' mysterious guest is [[spoiler:the ''original'' Monitor, having come BackFromTheDead.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: The Joker shows up in the prologue, only to vanish until the climax, where he arrives to help defeat The Batman Who Laughs.]]
* CompositeCharacter: All of the Dark Knights are essentially this (see EvilCounterpart below), but the Batman Who Laughs was specifically intended as such InUniverse. [[spoiler:As he explains in his backstory, the Joker's final toxin kept Batman's intelligence and sanity intact while replacing his moral core with the Joker's. He sees this as embodying both the order and the chaos that each man stood for]].

** The Red Death [[spoiler:quickly killed all of the villains attacking his version of Gotham with his newly-acquired speed.]]
** The Murder Machine's name is well-deserved, seeing as how he [[spoiler:slaughtered everyone in his own universe.]]
** The Dawnbreaker [[spoiler:easily slaughtered the entirety of his universe's Green Lantern Corps all at once, ''including the Guardians'', when they tried to take his ring from him. Later on it's revealed that the Dawnbreaker had killed his universe's versions of other notable Lanterns such as Sinestro, Atrocitus, and Larfleeze. Even when Earth Prime's Hal Jordan fought Dawnbreaker and at one point actually appeared to be winning, Dawnbreaker surged back and utterly trounced Hal.]]
** The Drowned [[spoiler:single-handedly slew all of the metahumans on her Earth. When she attacks Earth Prime's Amnesty Bay she gives both Aquaman and Mera a one-sided thrashing, and even turns Mera into a Dead Water monster.]]
** The Merciless [[spoiler:went all-out against the US military and secret agencies. Most interestingly, he tanked their best weapon, instead absorbed its energy, and proceeded to brainwash the leaders, including Sam Lane, Amanda Waller, Father Time, Director Bones and Steve Trevor.]]
** The Devastator [[spoiler:killed his universe's Superman with ease. Later on when Simon Baz, Jessica Cruz, Firestorm, and Lobo try to stop Devastator from invading the Fortress of Solitude he effortlessly defeats them all. Lobo suffers the worst stomping of the group when Devastator skewers him with his own weapon and ''throws him into the sun''.]]
** The Batman Who Laughs gleefully recounts that he did this to ''his entire world'', [[spoiler:having stolen all of the various doomsday weapons and artifacts that the Justice League had accumulated from defeated villains of the past and using them with horrifying efficiency.]]

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

** The Dawnbreaker was child Bruce [[spoiler:whose complete void of fear resulted in him acquiring the Green Lantern ring while chasing after Joe Chill himself. His extremely high willpower overrode the ring's programming, allowing him to use lethal force and perverting the ring's powers.]]
** The Merciless became who he was when [[spoiler:Ares attacked, now equipped with a SuperEmpowering helmet. Thinking he had killed Wonder Woman, Batman took up the helm and killed Ares. Unfortunately, the thing corrupted him so horribly he then killed Diana for real, knowing she was going to try to take it off.]]
** The Red Death came to be when [[spoiler:Batman lost his four Robins, leading Batman to kidnap Barry and force him to go into the Speed Force so that he could gain its power.]]
** The Murder Machine came to be when [[spoiler:Alfred was killed by Bane. In grief, Batman activated an A.I. based upon Alfred, who started to expand beyond his programming and began to kill everyone that might harm Bruce. He eventually assimilated Bruce himself to become an unstoppable killing machine.]]
** The Devastator was the result of a world [[spoiler:where Superman went out of control and Batman chose to use a Doomsday virus upon himself to try to stop him; the fight destroyed the planet and led him to invade Metropolis to destroy people's faith in Superman.]]
** The Drowned lost her lover, [[spoiler:the genderbent version of Selina Kyle]], to metahumans, and embarked on a crusade to kill every last one of them, hero and villain alike. She refused to ever trust anyone after that, [[spoiler:and when the Atlanteans, the last remaining metahumans, tried to make peace, she savagely engaged them. She altered herself via genetic engineering into an Atlantean, allowing her to drown her world.]]

* DarkestHour: How Issue 5 ends. [[spoiler: Aquaman, Deathstroke, Hal Jordan, Martian Manhunter and Mr Terrific are at the mercy of the Dark Knights. Barbatos' XanatosGambit falls into place and successfully drops the entire world in the Dark Multiverse. The Forge comes apart, seemingly killing Batman and Superman in the process. Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl are left running into a no doubt hopeless battle against a horde of Barbatos' minions. And the final panel shows Dream of the Endless's library ''on fire''.]]

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Batman suffers an exceptionally nasty one thanks to Barbatos' MindRape of him. It's only through the PowerOfFriendship that he manages to snap out of it and save Superman.]]
* DeusExMachina: While he appears in the ''Dark Days'' prelude, [[spoiler:the Joker's sudden appearance in the finale is this.]]
* DidntSeeThatComing: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by the Batman Who Laughs in his backstory: [[spoiler:when he murders the Bat family, he specifically chooses a method that they would never expect. He whips out two submachine guns and guns them all down.]]

* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Batman and the Joker join forces to fight the Batman Who Laughs.]]
* EnfanteTerrible: The Dawnbreaker began his murderous crusade shortly after losing his parents to Joe Chill. By the time his universe collapses and Barbatos' forces find him, he seems to still be a teenager.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption:[[spoiler:It's implied that the Dark Knights' quest to restore their worlds was doomed from the start, and that in fact they are painfully aware of it.]]

* 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. ''ComicBook/{{Sideways}}'' is also set after the events of the story, and again the world isn't a death metal album cover.]]

* GodzillaThreshold: Whatever it is that's coming, Batman feels that there is a need to [[spoiler:release Plastic Man.]]

** In the big finish, [[spoiler:Batman ''actually teams up with the Joker'', because he's the one person the Batman Who Laughs can't plan for. Ironically.]]

* HopeCrusher: The Devastator, with a special interest in destroying people's faith in Superman. Having his own hope destroyed, he wants to make everyone strong enough that they don't ''need'' Superman - by transforming them into Doomsdays.

** Superman and Batman end up trying to do this with [[spoiler:the corrupted Carter Hall.]]
** Wonder Woman does this with [[spoiler:the corrupted Hawkgirl; most notably, she succeeds in reaching her by showing her the truth with her lasso.]]

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: [[spoiler: ''Horrifically'' averted with the Batman Who Laughs. Even [[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} Jon Kent]], arguably the face of ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' as a whole, dies screaming in terror while being mutated and killed by the Black Kryptonite the Batman Who Laughs created. Even before this, the Joker had Jokerized countless children during his rampage.]]

* LightsOffSomebodyDies: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by the Dawnbreaker. His corrupted ring's signature ability, Blackout, turns out all light in a given area. When they're restored, someone will have been horribly killed [[spoiler:by the nightmarish monstrosities his ring creates]]. He successfully uses this to strike fear in criminals since [[NothingIsScarier nobody knows what's happening in the darkness; they can only hear horrible, monstrous sounds.]]

* MesACrowd: Prior to merging with Batman and Cyborg to become the Murder Machine, the Alfred AI manifests as a group of holograms bearing Alfred's likeness. Later on, the Machine displays the ability to summon the holograms en masse.

* PrefersTheIllusion: [[spoiler:Barbatos successfully breaks down Bruce to the point he begs to go back to the demon's LotusEaterMachine.]]
* PressXToDie: ''Everyone'' warns Batman studying the metal is a horrible idea and that he's doing something ''really'', '''''really''''' stupid - from [[spoiler:capturing Joker to force him to assist, to studying the Multiverse Tower, to trading metal samples with Talia al Ghul]]. He soldiers on, thinking nobody understands him or his need to understand the big secret behind it. Surprise, surprise, for once it turns out the Dark Knight has bitten off far more than he could chew.

* RapidAging: One of the Red Death's powers is to use the Speed Force to age people.

** Cyborg eventually discovers that [[spoiler:the Dark Knights aren't just Batman's fears - they're his ''regrets''.]]
** The captive of The Batman Who Laughs is [[spoiler: Nix Uotan.]]

* ShoutOut: People working on the book have heavy metal themed nicknames, a gag similar to that of WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror.

* TakeThat / BitingTheHandHumor: ''The Devastator'' shows Earth -1's Superman [[CurbStompBattle curb stomping]] Batman, who tries to use a [[Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice Kryptonite spear against him]]. Superman taunts him for using that as his Plan A and also mocks the age-old belief that Batman will win any fight between them. The narration also makes it known that the reason behind this fight is really unclear.
-->'''Scott Snyder''': [[https://twitter.com/Ssnyder1835/status/925736104782893056 No Martha's will be spoken]].

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} joins forces with the Justice League and other heroes fighting the Dark Multiverse's invasion. The heroes allow it since his sword and armor are made of Promethium, and thus have the same signature as the other metal items in their possession.

* TooDumbToLive: Batman really has his head up his ass here. After an elaborate deception to misdirect the Justice League, what's his big plan for fighting Barbatos? To go to the Tomb of Katar Hol, travel in time ALONE and hit Barbatos over the head with a mace. Why? Because Hawkman did it once and it worked. Goes as well as expected. Bonus points, Batman didn't even go to the correct tomb! The rest of the Bat-Family get a nod too for not questioning Batman why they need to oppose the League and being so smug about it afterwards.

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler: The Joker and The Batman Who Laughs are last seen in the collapsing Dark Multiverse.]]

-->'''Batman''': ''Ha!''

-->'''Dawnbreaker:''' [[HazyFeelTurn In Brightest Day...]]

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse:

* WorfEffect: Everyone other than the Bat-family get this initially. Even that top trickster John Constantine gets a case of the dumbs.

** Batman gives one to [[spoiler:the corrupted Carter Hall, surrendering his title as the [[RedBaron World's Greatest Detective]] to him and praising him for being TheDeterminator he was.]]

* YourMindMakesItReal: The Dark Multiverse is a reactive plane of existence. Its worlds and inhabitants are composed of the desires and fears of those in the main Multiverse brought to life. According to the Batman Who Laughs, it's a realm of stories that should've never happened or should happen. Appropriately, [[spoiler:a collection of worlds created by the imagination of people attracts the attention of [[ComicBook/TheSandman Dream of the Endless]].]]

* 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). Even more so with 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.

** As stated in ''Dark Knights: Metal'' #3, there are Dark Multiverse counterparts of the entire Justice League. In #4, Batman is 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 encounters two of her own counterparts, one a Star Sapphire, the other a fusion of herself and her enemy Cheetah. Issue #6 adds a Giganta Wonder Woman as well.

* 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. ''ComicBook/{{Sideways}}'' is also set after the events of the story, and again the world isn't a death metal album cover.]]

** [[spoiler: Hal is able to counteract this using his ring as a strobe effect, but he's still defeated and has to be rescued by Dr. Fate. Later, when Dawnbreaker faces Raven, he learns the hard way that using dark powers on a dark demon is not a good idea.]]