SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Batman: The Devastator #1 by Frank Tieri and James Tynion IV, on sale now.

Writers Frank Tieri and James Tynion IV already presented the origin of one of the Dark Multiverse's Dark Knights in Batman: The Murder Machine #1: the evil, Cyborg-flavored Batman who has done his part to wreak havoc on Earth-0. In their latest effort, the duo pair up with artists Tony S. Daniel and Danny Miki for Batman: The Devastator #1, offering up the origin of an incarnation of Batman who infected himself with the Doomsday virus. The issue not only showcases the villain's origin, though -- it also shows itself to be another pivotal issue within the overall Dark Nights: Metal storyline. In fact, like the previous Batman: The Merciless tie-in, the issue contains a key moment, extending directly from the most recent issue of Metal.

RELATED: Dark Nights: Metal – Superman’s Crucial Role, Revealed

Doomsday vs. Superman Redux

The Dark Multiverse is full of evil Batman, but he's not the only one-time hero to embrace the darkness. As the very first page of the issue blatantly shows, the Man of Steel himself has also gone to the dark side on the world of Earth -1. Unlike the Dark Knight, though, no reason or motivation is provided for Superman's fall from grace –- even The Devastator's narration shows that the circumstances for his turn are unknown. Instead, Superman's mysterious transformation from hero to villain is merely used as the seed for Batman's own transformation, and the reason for this world's breakdown of its World's Finest duo, presuming that the two were ever crimefighting partners in this reality in the first place.

It's Batman v Superman, both literally and in terms of elements that evoke last year's film of the same name. A seemingly-heroic Batman attempts, and fails, to take down the rogue Superman -– that is, until he unveils his own ultimate alteration into a Doomsday-like creature, a transformation that he can undergo back and forth at will. Upon unleashing the creature within, Batman, now The Devastator, delivers a gruesome and fatal blow to the Man of Steel in fairly short order. As has happened in each of the Dark Knights' origins to date, the Batman Who Laughs arrives at this crucial moment, enlisting The Devastator in his eventual assault on Earth-0.

The Dark Multi-Virus

Upon arriving on Earth-0, The Devastator, perhaps appropriately, makes his way to Metropolis, where (as Bruce) he visits Lois Lane at the Daily Planet, before changing back to his Devastator guise and seemingly infecting Lois with the Doomsday virus. Although citing her as the virus' source, it's his arrival that appears to have contaminated the city, as its citizens have already begun their own hideous transformations. Her own conversion, however, is slow in coming, which Devastator credits to her constant proximity around Superman. Metropolis' extended Super-family –- Supergirl, Guardian, and Superwoman -– subsequently show up to confront The Devastator, but Kara (and presumably the others) also seem to succumb to the virus.

Infecting Earth-0 with the various ills unique to the Dark Knights has shown to be an instrumental part of Barbatos' plan. As the Doomsday virus begins to infect the entire city of Metropolis, so has Bryce Wayne's Dead Water "virus," which created her own army and later infected Mera, as seen in Batman: The Drowned. The Murder Machine's cyber-virus has been seen creating havoc in Detroit, and The Red Death has inflicted a form of decay across Central City. With the darkness of the Dark Multiverse literally infecting Earth-0, a Joker venom-type contagion seems to be a logical upcoming fate for Gotham, based on the tendencies of some of the other Dark Knights.

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Could Superboy Have an Important Role Pending?

As Metropolis turns into a city full of Superman killers, Lois flees the Daily Planet and rushes back to her apartment, where young Jon Kent eagerly wants to assist his Aunt Kara in battle. Lois has other plans for her son, though. Upon arriving, she immediately invokes a previously unknown protocol put in place by Clark to protect Jon, by essentially isolating him within an impenetrable barrier inside their apartment, even as her Doomsday infection becomes more apparent.

While Lois' intent is to isolate Jon, the move designed to take him away from the playing field also sets up the character for a potentially larger role later in the storyline. Jon's involvement in Metal to date has been minimal, so it's possible his character is being saved for later, as the rest of the Super-family, and most of the other superheroes for that matter, have been taken off the table.

Guess What's Just Crossed into Our World

Among the other heroes dispatched, at least for now, are Kid Flash, Jessica Cruz, and Simon Baz, who are shown to have tried, and failed, to protect The Monitor's vibrational tuning fork that Batman had been keeping beneath Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Even main man Lobo, the last hero standing against The Devastator as he seeks to abscond with the extradimensional device, fares poorly, leaving Devastator free to transport the contraption to Gotham, which has been serving as Barbatos Central Command throughout Dark Nights: Metal.

Once Devastator gets there, he places the tower atop Challenger Mountain, which first appeared in the middle of Gotham in Dark Nights: Metal #1. This allows a dimensional rift to open between the two multiverses, and harnessing the power of Superman after his journey to the Dark Multiverse failed to rescue Batman in Metal #3. The result? Achieving Barbatos' ultimate goal of bringing the darkness of his multiverse into our own, with the issue's final panel showing the beginning of that incursion.

RELATED: Dark Nights: Metal – What Do The Flash’s Visions Mean?

Batman: The Devastator #1 is the sixth of seven one-shots spotlighting each of the Dark Knights, and the group's acting lieutenant finally gets his turn in The Batman Who Laughs #1, on sale November 15. First, though, the Justice League's tribulations in the Dark Multiverse continue in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #32, while Batman's own troubles in that dimension will be revealed in Batman Lost #1, both on sale November 8.