WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Dark Nights: Death Metal #3 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia and Tom Napolitano, available now.
In Dark Nights: Death Metal, the DC Universe is fraught with peril. After a battle between Perpetua and the Justice League, the sun was burnt out and reality was remade into a dystopian wasteland where the Batman Who Laughs reigns supreme alongside his villainous Dark Knights. Around the Multiverse, Perpetua is going about destroying all parallel worlds, gaining more and more power with every Earth she annihilates. Now, the Batman Who Laughs has gained more power than ever before by becoming the Darkest Knight, and Perpetua only has a handful of universes to destroy.
While the heroes that remain have tried to survive and fight back as best they could until now, they finally go on the offensive in Dark Nights: Death Metal #3. It's all hands on deck and Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman recruit anyone who is willing to help. And, thankfully, their search for reinforcements leads to the heartwarming return of a fan-favorite character: the Justice League's favorite alien telepathic starfish/Robin, Jarro.
Jarro first appeared in Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul's Justice League #10 in 2018. In the Justice League: No Justice event, Starro the Conqueror joined forces with the Justice League along with other supervillains to help defeat the cosmic threat of the Omega Titans. During the confrontation, Starro sacrificed himself to save countless lives. The longtime Justice League villain was ripped to shreds, but he lived on in the form of Jarro.
After his death, Batman kept one of Starro's spores in a jar. This spore gained life and sentience, and Batman essentially raised it to become an enforcer for truth and justice. Jarro quickly found his way into the hearts of fans with his unfiltered personality and his desire to become the greatest Robin to have ever fought at Batman's side. The starfish became an extended member of the Justice League, his powerful telepathic abilities proving greatly useful to the team.
We last saw Jarro at the end of the "Justice/Doom War," but his fate was undetermined following the creation of a new reality in Death Metal. But now, the fan-favorite character is officially back.
In Death Metal #3, Wonder Woman, Batman, Harley Quinn and the rest of the heroes infiltrate New Apokolips, the prison located in the dying sun. The prison itself is powered by a trapped Superman, and its inmates are some of the most powerful heroes in the DC Universe. Thankfully, Wonder Woman and Batman's assault on the prison is successful. They start by freeing Superman, who proceeds to rip open the prison's wall to free the Green Lanterns, the Teen Titans, Nightwing, Martian Manhunter, Booster Gold, Animal Man and many more heroes.
Wonder Woman explains their plan to everyone, and she finishes by saying they have come here "to enlist the help of the most powerful hero among us."
But she's not talking about Superman -- she's talking about Jarro, who Batman finds wearing a striped, black-and-white prisoner uniform. "Hey kid," Batman says, greeting his long-lost adoptive son.
In answer, Jarro is in disbelief. "... Dad?" he asks, before jumping into his arms. Father and son are finally reunited, a brief moment of joy, love and warmth amid the horrors of Death Metal.
Given that his very status in the DC Universe had been up in the air for a long time now, Jarro's return is a cause for celebration, But not only is he back, the character is also set to become more important than ever because the fate of the entire multiverse rests on his shoulders -- or, in his case, his little tendrils.
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=330&h=170&dpr=1.5)
