As the new year began, a new age for DC Comics also started, as seen in the seventh and final issue of Dark Nights: Death Metal. The series, written by Scott Snyder with art by Greg Capullo, was the sequel to the duo's 2017 series Dark Nights: Metal and Snyder's run on Justice League. By the end of the seven issues - and the multiple tie-in specials that helped flesh out the world of Dark Nights: Death Metal - the DC multiverse was forever changed, now being called an "Omniverse" and, as Wonder Woman says, "everything happened".
But with the end of Dark Nights: Metal comes a number of questions about what happened, what happens next, and how it all connects. Some of these things may be explained in the near future, but others could take years to learn.
10 Who Are The Hands?
In the DC Universe, an Oan scientist named Krona once created a machine that let him look back to the Big Bang, and what he discovered was that at the start of the universe, there was a hand that was creating everything. In Scott Snyder's Justice League, it was revealed that the hand belonged to Perpetua, the Mother of the Multiverse.
But what Perpetua is remains something of a mystery. We know she was part of a race that created universe but went rogue. And we know that Wonder Woman joined that race at the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal. But what that race actually is remains a mystery.
9 How Many Earths Are There?
At the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal issue 7, the heroes learn that the 52 Earths of the Multiverse are back, but new Earths that exist outside the Multiverse are being created every moment. According to Lex Luthor, entire Multiverses are being born every day, but no one seems to know if this growth will continue or if it will stop at some point.
Is the DC Universe back to having an infinite number of Earths, or will there be a set count at some point? And how does the Dark Multiverse, which still exists, fit into all of it?
8 What Is The Second Source?
As the heroes discuss the revelation of the Omniverse, they also reveal that Earth-Prime is no longer the center of the Multiverse and that instead of a single source where all things come from, there are two sources. One of these sources is, according to Martian Manhunter, the Elseworld, but the second goes unnamed at this time.
What is this second source, and how does it connect to the Multiverse and Omniverse? Is it being left open for others to come up with, or does Scott Snyder know what it is but chose not to reveal it just yet?
7 What Earth Are The Comics Following?
If the Earth that the DC heroes live on is no longer the center of the Multiverse, are we still following the adventures of the same Earth? Clearly, the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal have rewritten the Multiverse, so it stands to wonder if, like with New 52, this isn't a point in time where DC changes the focus to a different but similar Earth with new adventures.
Pushing that question is the final pages of Dark Nights: Death Metal where we see Sergeant Rock fighting alongside a version of the Justice Society that is close to what we know but different. One big difference is that there is no Black Canary or Wonder Woman on the team, but Liberty Belle - who was a member of the All-Star Squadron, not the JSA - is there. Is that hinting at other changes we may see?
6 Who Will Remember?
With every DC Crisis, almost everyone forgets exactly what happened. Some people remember more than others, but no one remembers everything about the events that transpired. It is an aftereffect of rewriting the universe. And as we see with Sergeant Rock at the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal, the same thing appears to be happening again.
Still, some heroes and villains will retain memories of the events, even if they become foggy. Who will those characters be? Are they the members of this new team that is introduced in the final pages of the story?
5 What Is The Name Of The New Team?
On the subject of this new team, from what is shown it is made up of Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, Mister Terrific, Talia al Ghul, Vandal Savage, and Lex Luthor. Wally West may also be a member, but that isn't fully clear.
Of course, a superhero team - even one that has three villains on it - needs a name, and at the moment, this new team that watches over the Omniverse has no name. Will they get one? Will they get their own series? Will Wally be on the team? Who will be the leader? Hopefully, we'll find out soon.
4 Which Evil Batmen Remain?
Along with saving the Multiverse and creating the Omniverse, Wonder Woman's sacrifice at the end of the series appears to have also stabilized the once collapsing Dark Multiverse. The Dark Multiverse was made up of Earths that were too broken to survive in the actual Multiverse, built out of the fears of the heroes of the DC Universe.
In both Dark Nights: Metal and Dark Nights: Death Metal, the majority of Dark Multiverse Earths we see were built around Batman's fears, including the Batman Who Laughs. And while it seemed like all of these evil versions of the Dark Knight were destroyed, have they returned now that the Dark Multiverse has been saved?
3 Who Lives Again?
Speaking of coming back from the dead, in the final issue of Dark Nights: Death Metal, Hawkgirl explains that not only have all the heroes who died during the event returned to life but some who died in the years prior are also back. Snyder chose not to give any specific names, which leads to the question - who is back?
Alfred Pennyworth seems like a strong possibility to be one of the returned - his zombified corpse does show up in Dark Nights: Death Metal to help the heroes - but who else? Is Roy Harper back up and running? And is it just heroes, or are some villains like Brother Blood back as well? Only time will tell.
2 How Does Future State Connect?
As the Multiverse heals from the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal and the Omniverse is being born, we see flashes of the future of the DC Universe, most notably, a grown up Jon Kent and the two Batmen as they appear in the current Future State event. But exactly how Future State connects to Dark Nights: Death Metal is unclear.
Future State takes place shortly after an event nearly destroyed the Multiverse - basically a new Crisis. This event wasn't what just happened in Dark Nights: Death Metal, but it could be directly tied to it. Since Future State will only last two months, we'll likely know the answer either very soon or maybe never at all.
1 How Does Generations Connect?
Another two-month event that has come out of Dark Nights: Death Metal is Generations. Across two issues - Generations: Shattered and Generations: Forged - this story was not originally meant to connect to Dark Nights: Death Metal - it was supposed to start in May 2020 - but that changed at some point.
While only the first part of Generations has come out, the cover happily states "From the Pages of Dark Nights: Death Metal!" so the question must be asked - how does it connect? So far, there really doesn't seem to be a connection to it.