Nightmare Fuel / Tales from the Dark Multiverse

"Time to scatter the vultures now."

If you've read the stories of Dark Nights: Metal, especially when it comes to explaining the concepts of the Dark Multiverse, these stories highlights how one action, decision, and choice can lead to the downward spiral of an entire universe.

Unmarked Spoilers ahead!

Batman: Knightfall

• How Batman lost his mantle entirely to Jean Paul-Valley was that in the ensuing fight against the latter, he was graphically impaled through the back by Valley's sharp claws, taking away his chance of coming back as the true Batman as Valley plans to remake Gotham in his image.
  Jean-Paul Valley: "I promise you, Bruce. You were right to pick me. I am what Gotham needs, and I'll show you."
• Bruce's ultimate fate, which is nigh-identical to that scene from RoboCop (2014): yeeeeeeeeeeesh!!!
• What Saint Batman (Jean-Paul Valley) did to Gotham in the past thirty years since the fateful duel. He undertook an extensive remaking of the city, turning the Wretched Hive into an isolated despotic city where people must obey in line lest they face Saint Batman and his goons. What's worse is that it is implied that Saint Batman killed off the rest of the Batfamily, thus taking total control over the Wayne Manor into his base of operations, while all of this is witnessed by Bruce Wayne himself as he is nothing but a mutilated head on a steampunk device atop of Wayne Tower.
  • It is also implied that the world outside Gotham tore itself apart, but Gotham was kept standing due to extreme methods of keeping itself standing along with preventing the sharing of its resources.
• After Lady Shiva, the Son of Bane, and the newly freed Bruce Wayne (now with new a body composed of nanite bats) teamed up against Saint Batman and managed to take down his rule over Gotham once and for all, the trio were about to discuss the future plans in reconnecting Gotham to the outside world until Bruce states that Gotham can't be reconnected and fixed, and promptly kills the two who saved him in the first place. He tells the defeated Saint Batman that he was right, namely being his methodology in keeping Gotham standing, and the only mistake that they both made is that they relied on others for help. Bruce Wayne (now coming back as the true Batman at long last) proceeds to rule over Gotham with an iron fist with the implication that he adopted the same methodology of Saint Batman.
  • The Nightmare Face he gives (as indicated on this very page), showing how the thirty years of being Forced to Watch his city being remodeled by Valley have taken a toll on his moral code, and how he'll be no better than Valley himself when he acknowledges his foe's methods of preserving their city. He was later called The Broken for a reason by Tempus Fuginaut.

The Death Of Superman

• The idea that Lois Lane, who was always the human connection and Morality Pet to Superman whenever he struggled with humanity and how to use his powers and was always a supposed symbol of good in humanity, could be driven insane by grief in losing Superman and effectively become a relentless mass-murdering monster when given his powers is a terrifying thought. It really shows with enough awful circumstances, Lois's own brutality could make Lex Luthor look like a saint by comparison.
• How it depicts Lois Lane's downward spiral ever since Superman died in the fight against Doomsday. She aptly blamed the rest of the Justice League for not being there by his side as he went down fighting, and claiming that they went to his funeral just to be in the spotlight and fame in front of the wider public. All of this gave the reason to be a willing host for The Eradicator to take over a host body.
  Batman: "Lois, we—"
  Lois Lane: "He needed you, and you failed him. You let him die alone! WHERE WERE YOU?! WHERE WERE ANY OF YOU?!"
• The actions committed by Lois Lane herself after she is fused with The Eradicator, she starts with some altruistic motives such as stopping robbers and wars, until going full Blood Knight by killing the supervillains such as Deathstroke, Ra's Al Ghul, Black Adam, and even entire villain organizations.
  • Lex Luthor and The Joker both deserve a special mention, with Luthor being incinerated head-on when Lois drags him at full speed up into the stratosphere and the Joker being incinerated by Lois's heat vision.
  • For Lex, Lois goes to visit him and talk about his misdeeds, much like Superman frequently did. And like with Superman, Lex taunts Lois with his misdeeds, even stating that he just murdered an employee because he could, because he knew Superman wasn't there to stop him anymore. Unfortunately for Lex, he doesn't realize he's not dealing with Superman, or a bound by morality Lois Lane with Superman's powers, he's dealing with a woman insane with grief bonded to an alien killing machine called The Eradicator. When Lois grabs Lex, he's scared, but he really realizes how boned he is when Lois tells him one little thing: "He was Clark Kent." At that moment, Lex knows he's already dead, because there are no other circumstances in which Lois would volunteer that information.
• After Lois burnt The Joker to a cinder, Batman showed up and chews her out for killing supervillains, highlighting how there are lines that heroes can't cross. Lois on the other hand claims that Batman and the rest of the heroes treat this whole charade like a joke, not caring about the long-term consequences and how their 'rules' never work for the greater good. Batman tried to take down Lois before she can cause more damage and harm, but instead, Lois goes beyond what no other supervillain or hero has ever done: kill the Batman upfront and personal.
  Lois Lane: "…He always pitied you, He'd tell me all the time."

  Superman *in a flashback*: "I… I just want him to stop, Lois. But he has nothing else. He's so alone. I just want him to stop…"
  Batman *in the present time*: "I don't stop."
  Lois Lane: "…No. You don't."

  Cue Lois incinerating Batman with her heat vision as the Dark Knight charges at her one last time.
• When The Reign Of Supermen came about where Cyborg Supes, Superboy, and Steel entered the fray, the interventions between Lois and Cyborg Superman outright ended the lives of Superboy and Steel themselves, with Cyborg Superman incinerating Superboy to a crisp and crushing Steel within his own metal armor.
  • If you're familiar with the Reign of the Supermen storyline, it shows that Superman comes back from the dead and manages to defeat Cyborg Superman in combat. However, applying the laws of the Dark Multiverse to this storyline didn't do many favors. As Cyborg Superman manages to get a hold of a Kryptonite weapon and despite Lois managing to kill him, he managed to inundate the air with Kryptonite and manages to give Superman a second (and permanent) death. That being said, it is implied that Lois will be much worse than he'll ever be, vowing to make the world "a better place" as the Dark Avenging Angel of the Multiverse.

Blackest Night

• So apparently, instead of Sinestro sharing the power of the White Lantern ring with Hal Jordan, Sinestro in this timeline instead kept it for himself. This has caused Nekron to win over the Lantern Corps and manage to turn all life under the rule of the Black Lanterns.
• The majority of DC heroes and villains under the influence of Nekron, with most of them being emaciated and having their hearts ripped out. Oh, and according to Sinestro the Black Lantern Corps now has nineteen trillion beings under Nekron's influence.
• When Sinestro (now known as the Limbo Lantern) "resurrects" the Black Lanterns' victims using his white ring, the hosts briefly comes back to life, but the White Ring's power reminds them the pain of how much life can be inflicted upon before the black ring draws them back into oblivion. Worse, it is stated that Sinestro's power of the white ring can't be used as a total cure for those possessed by Nekron himself.
  Beast Boy: "AAAAGH! What is happening? It burns! "Please just kill me! Don't let it take me again!"
• Sinestro tried to at one point resurrect Hal Jordan and Soranik Natu from the Black Lanterns into life, which considering this has reverted them back to their 'pure' selves gives off a Hope Spot. This, however (as stated before) causes the two to go back into Black Lanterns before they're graphically beheaded by Lobo's hook in front of Sinestro himself.
  Soranik: "Ah. N-no..Please…Dad..Not again!"
• The ending. The Black Lanterns have rotted away, Nekron is defeated at last, and life has spread across the cosmos once more. So everything's back to normal right? Well, It would've been a happy ending if not for the fact that the life template (Dove) that Sinestro was trying to use was killed by Mister Miracle when the latter realises that erasing the Black Lanterns means that they'll lose their loved ones, not helped by the fact that he was convinced to do so by Black Lantern Darkseid. Sinestro was forced to kill Mister Miracle in return and then use Lobo out of all templates, thus reinvigorating life borne out of blood and violence throughout the cosmos.

Infinite Crisis

• Despite showing Ted Kord managing to outsmart Maxwell Lord and blast his brains out instead of the other way around, and managing to avert several events leading to the inevitable crisis, this comic shows how a Knight Templar mindset can alienate those who are closes to you and yourself when you believe your actions are for the better of the universe.
• We also have a few more horrifying testaments to Superboy-Prime's character and power in this universe - when Ted Kord and Checkmate came to investigate Mockingbird/Lex Luthor's signal, they discovered that Luthor - along with some villains belonging to the Secret Society of Super-Villains (Deathstroke and Black Adam) are dead - with Luthor's and Deathstroke's necks twisted and Black Adam actually being RIPPED IN HALF. And then Superboy Prime murdered Ted's Checkmate team on Alex Luthor Jr.'s orders - along with Alex Luthor Jr. himself (through, Alex tried to betray Prime first and already killed Earth 2 Superman and Lois with his Kryptonite laser). This means that Superboy Prime was already a ruthless killer in this universe even before his clash with the Teen Titans - with whom he later clashed on Ted Kord's orders, killing a number of them - with Superboy/Conner Kent and Impulse/Bart Allen being the most high-profile visible victims. Even Ted was disgusted by this and ordered Brother Eye to assimilate Prime into an OMAC.
• Brother Eye's solution to reinforcing the safety of Earth, which despite having altruistic intentions of protecting those whom he loved the most (even the Justice League despite some qualms between the two), Blue Beetle reluctantly agrees.
  Ted Kord: "Damnit Brother! That's not what I meant!"
  Brother Eye: "Decrease the heroes by fifty percent., and you decrease existential threats by fifty percent."
• Blue Beetle fusing himself with OMAC armor, thus giving some form of Brother Eye control over him (as depicted in the folder page). He also states that during the battle against the JLA, his suit also spreads nanites to the leaguers so that he could easily "recruit" them to the One Beetle Army Corps.
• The final horror of Blue Beetle's Knight Templar antics is when he unintentionally killed off his best friend Booster Gold, which despite grieving his fallen friend, he was willing enough to let Brother Eye relinquish his "emotional centers" and giving full control over his body. All the while thinking that Booster Gold will "understand" his motivations and tactics.
  Brother Eye: "O.M.A.C.s. Lethal sanctions authorised. End the battle. It is time to take the planet. It is time they understand EYE am in control."
• In the end, Blue Beetle first started off as a Well-Intentioned Extremist yet a hero, all to prevent another impending crisis that would rock his and the other universes. But in the end, instead of being hailed as a hero in the DC universe for trying to avert the incoming crisis, he became a walking crisis himself, creating a world much worse than the one above as the OBAC.

The Judas Contract

• Tara Markov's descent into total villainy throughout the comic, all because Dick Grayson unintentionally inspired Tara to "craft her own destiny" and not to become anyone's sidekick. In other words, Dick's empathy towards Tara has caused him to be an Unwitting Instigator of Doom.
• When Slade Wilson slaps and chastised her for not respecting his authority, he also unintentionally ignited her Rage Breaking Point when she proceeds to knock Slade Wilson outside and fuses his limbs within the Earth, before proceeding to rip his head and limbs clean off when it recedes. Yikes…
• Tara's vow to Billy Wintergreen if he doesn't give what she demands
  Wintergreen: "Y-you killed my dearest friend. What makes you think I'd do anything to help you?"
  Tara Markov: "'Cos even though your "dearest friend" is now just soggy chunks, I reckon you'd still feel pretty bad if anything ever happened to his family."
• After inheriting Slade's Super Serum, Tara ditches her "Terra" moniker and adopts a new one: Gaia. Why Gaia? Well, she went back to the Titans Tower, and spews molten Earth below the Titans Tower and incinerates Raven and Changeling in an instant, and then proceeds to take out Wonder Girl, Cyborg, and Starfire while they're minding their own business, showing off how powerful and deranged she had become.
  • Even when Changeling survived the destruction of Titans Tower and tried to talk some sense into Gaia, she states that he respected her and that they have a tighter bond compared to the other Titans. This however doesn't demonstrate anything that's changed as she proceeds to incinerate him with molten Earth for good.
  Gaia: I do care, Gar. About as much a god cares for an ant.
• Gaia's hunt for Dick and Wally. During all this Gaia didn't even hesitate to open a fault on the Earth and causing a number of innocent marathon joggers to fall into the chasm below.
  Gaia: "Gotta admit, it's harder to find you in the crowd now that you've toned down the wardrobe....but there's a quick fix for that."
• The total destruction of New York City by Gaia. After impaling Dick and Wally and being dropped by Superman himself, Gaia proceeds to fuse into an Earth-like ball and drops herself to the city center decimating New York and turning into a lava hellscape.
  • Even though Superman survived, he tried to talk some sense into Tara when it comes to abusing her powers instead of giving it to the world, but when it looks like she's having a My God, What Have I Done? moment, she says this:
  Gaia: "That was a close one. Didn't think I'd be able to get it all together in time…"
  Superman: "Get what…?"
  Gaia: "Oh you know…just a few rocks."
  • This later proceeds to give Superman a Death by a Thousand Cuts of kryptonite shards all over his body, and it shows, being horrifically emaciated and dying of his wounds with the shards embedded into his body.
• Capping off her newfound destiny is how she proceeds to destabilize the Earth's core, creating a number of natural disasters which leads to the deaths of countless lives and superheroes worldwide before leaving a handful of survivors to rule over, thus cementing her "Gaia" title in the Dark Multiverse.

Batman: Hush

• In Batman: Hush, it was originally centred on the relationships of Bruce & Thomas after the latter descended into malice, resentment, and revenge after the former's parents manage to screw up his plans of inheritance. In the Dark Multiverse however, Bruce was the one who descended into madness, while Thomas on the other hand became the dark prince of Gotham with the help of Jason Todd, Talia al Ghul, The Penguin, and Jonathan Crane. Without a Batman to stop them, they've essentially conquered Gotham.
  • It's implied that all of this was because that Thomas Elliot paid his family driver to kill the Waynes, just to gain his fortune and secure his ascension of power. And given that Batman reveals that Thomas hired said driver to kill his own parents, it really says a lot about how twisted Thomas Elliot is even after getting what he wanted.
• The state of Gotham is similar to Dark Multiverse's issue of Knightfall. However, while not as dystopic as Azrael's, it shows that Thomas Elliot became a senator thanks to Talia's influence, and has managed to turn Gotham into an independent city-state… under significant influence of the Court of Owls and the assistance of the League of Assassins.
  • Case in point, the media is predominantly focused on the gala showcasing Gotham's elite, while ignoring the fact that the streets are packed with rioters seeking justice for their city lead by a blind Barbara Gordon (who claims that Thomas Elliot was responsible for her father's death) and Tim Drake's Outsiders.
• The ending of this comic is this mixed with awesome, Batman the Silenced has begun his war on crime, Thomas and his allies are trapped in the twisted Batcave, and Gray Son is defeated by Batman in the final panel. This world's Court of Owls and Lincoln March have one hell of a show ready for them.
• Batman the Silenced himself is ostensibly terrifying to behold, as seen in the image, with the silhouette of Batman coupled with the Bandaged Face aesthetic of Hush, the red eyes that peer from behind his wrappings, and a straitjacket for a cape creating a truly imposing image. And in almost every scene he's in until the end, he never says a word and when he finally does, his speech bubbles are jagged and disorderly. His epithet as "Arkham's Devil" and the nursery rhyme sung by Jervis Tetch and Alfred about him are also extremely creepy in their own right.

Wonder Woman: War of the Gods

• By the end of the story, Wonder Woman, possessed by Hecate, has killed off the first tier members of the Justice League while the remaining magic users like Zatana are forced to bind her to a wall using chains powered by her own magic. Meanwhile, Themysciran people are being persecuted for what Hecate did, females in general are reduced to second-class citizens and Phobos has taken over the USA's government by possessing the president and declares war on all metahumans. The only glimmer of hope is that Wonder Woman might break free of her possession.

Flashpoint

• In Flashpoint (DC Comics), Barry survives the electric chair experiment Thomas Wayne puts him through to give him back his powers. Not in the Dark Multiverse. Barry fries to death, allowing Eobard Thawne to do whatever he pleases, including killing several heroes and villains. Batman and Cyborg release Superman from Metropolis and have him defeat Thawne… but then Batman kills Superman as he needs Thawne alive so he can be reunited with the Bruce from the main timeline. And just when you think it couldn't get any worse, the Amazons and Atlanteans put aside their differences and formed an alliance that wants two things in mind: killing Reverse Flash and taking over the universe. How? They teamed up with Big Barda, who has taken the role of Darkseid of all people! Thawne changes the timeline again and he does it over and over, essentially making the timeline his own plaything.
  Diana: He was right about one thing, though. The Old Gods are dead. So we made a deal with New ones.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

• Many of the deaths Surtur causes are utterly horrific, with the Flash being sliced in half, Hal Jordan having his arm cut off and his blood set on fire, Dr. Fate having his head smashed off with Hawkwoman's mace, and the Spectre having his head bitten off.
• The ending. To save Earth from Surtur, Alan Scott becomes Dread Lantern - herald of him not unlike Silver Surfer, which dooms trillions of lives across the universe.

Dark Knights Metal

• In the main story, the Tenth Metal is the last hope needed to defeat Barbatos. But nope! Not here. After absorbing the Tenth Metal, the power corrupts the heroes, turning them into the Dragons of Barbatos and allowing their new master to win. That's right. In this timeline, Barbatos won and though in the end he had been defeated, the only one to survive is Duke Thomas.