WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Dark Nights: Death Metal #7, by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, Yanick Paquette, Bryan Hitch, Nathan Fairbairn, Alex Sinclair, FCO Plascencia & Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
In Dark Nights: Death Metal, Wonder Woman was given a cosmic boost so that she could stand a chance fighting the all-powerful Batman Who Laughs, the Darkest Knight. Now a literal giant glowing gold, the Amazon Princess takes the fight to the villain in the final issue of the event series, and the fate of all reality is at stake. The brawl between the two characters is appropriately epic as it spans time and space, taking the two opponents backwards in time, to the beginning of the universe itself.
And it's here that Death Metal #7 solves DC's oldest cosmic mystery. While Wonder Woman and the Darkest Knight find themselves at the very beginning of time, they witness the Hand of Creation sparking the Big Bang, and the villain confirms what many had started to suspect: this Hand actually belongs to Perpetua, the Mother of the Multiverse, or another one of her species.
Perpetua was created by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jim Cheung, and Jorge Jiménez, and debuted as part of 2018's new Justice League series. In the title, it was revealed that Perpetua was the Mother of Creation, one of many cosmic deities who had the ability to create Multiverses. Given the context of this story, of the Totality, Dark Nights: Death Metal, and the character herself, it makes sense that her hands would be the ones that appeared at the dawn of creation. After all, she is the being that created the Multiverse that is home to the DC Universe.
But while the answer may make sense, it somehow still manages to be unsatisfactory. The Hand of Creation is one of DC's oldest and biggest cosmic mysteries. It was first glimpsed a long time ago -- in 1965's Green Lantern #40 by John Broome and Gil Kane, when the Guardian of the Universe Krona traveled back in time to witness the birth of the universe. It also played a role in the 1985-1986 event "Crisis on Infinite Earths", and it has made other appearances both in pre and post-Crisis eras.
Throughout the years, potential answers were given as to who this hand might belong to including the Anti-Monitor, God himself, and even Dr. Manhattan. But the answer was never set in stone, and this created a sense of awe and mysticism around the birth of the DC Universe. Some fans even theorized that it could be seen as the hands of the creators themselves, the writers and artists behind the comic published by DC.
At its best, the Hand of Creation was supposed to reflect real life: there are things we will never understand, and some larger than life mysteries will never be answered. Krona himself attempted to learn this answer, and he unleashed unparalleled evil because of it, and that's how it should be: knowing the truth shouldn't be possible. By giving a definitive answer, Death Metal takes away this cosmic mystery, and it makes the DC Universe a smaller and less extraordinary place.
Ever since 1965, the question remained, which helped fuel many stories old and modern stories. But now, the answer has been given, and revisiting the Hand of Creation will never have the same appeal, as its cosmic magnitude is now gone. The celestial, dwarfing sense it once conveyed is no more. Seeing the Hand again will simply never be as impactful, or noteworthy, now that it simply belongs to a member of another race of cosmic gods.