Back in December 2016, when writer Scott Snyder and penciller Greg Capullo were preparing to reunite for a "Batman heavy metal rock opera," Snyder spoke effusively about the project's tone. "I want this one to be different," he explained. "I don’t want it to be grim. I don’t want it to be superheroes arguing over something. Superheroes won’t be fighting superheroes. I want it to be celebratory, and huge, and crazy. I am going for out of control dinosaurs and lasers. It should be fun."

Fifteen months later -- and nine months after Dark Days: The Forge kicked everything off -- we can say safely that it has been fun (if sometimes exhausting) combing through the details of Snyder and Capullo's gonzo epic. Dark Nights: Metal issue #6 brings everything full circle, and even teases a couple of encores and side gigs. Join us one last time for all the nitpicking and Easter eggs you can handle!

Needless to say, there will be spoilers. In case you need to catch up, we've annotated the Forge (part 1, part 2) and Casting one-shots, plus issues #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 (part 1, part 2).

The main story of Dark Nights: Metal issue #6 was written by Scott Snyder and pencilled by Greg Capullo, inked by Jonathan Glapion, colored by FCO Plascencia and lettered by Steve Wands. The "Coda" was written by Snyder and James Tynion IV, pencilled by Alvaro Martinez, inked by Raul Martinez, colored by June Chung and Brad Anderson, and lettered by Wands. Rebecca Taylor was the Editor, assisted by Dave Wielgosz.

Together On Our Main Stage (Pages 1-7)

Don't let him in
The Batman of Earth Negative-44 teams up with the Alfred Protocol, from Batman: The Murder Machine

Issue #6 divides the final battle with Barbatos into distinct segments. First, it gathers most of the Leaguers into the same barren hellscape seen at the end of issue #5. We last saw Aquaman and Deathstroke facing down a group of evil Batmen, with Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Mr. Terrific, J'Onn J'Onzz and Plastic Man in similar circumstances. Page 1 makes it clear that the heroes lost, since their foes are dumping the unconscious Leaguers at Barbatos' feet. Issue #5 also described the villains' plan to drop the Earth into the Dark Multiverse with Thanagar's Phoenix Cannon. Since we don't hear anything more about that this issue, apparently that's what happened after the Leaguers were defeated.

Meanwhile on Page 1, for the first time we're hearing the voice of the Batman Who Laughs' prisoner, although we won't learn his identity for several more pages.

Pages 2-4 bring us more twisted versions of DC heroes and villains, including Sinestro with what looks like a mouth in his chest, and a bovine Wonder Woman. The latter may be a riff on Diana's old embassy employee Ferdinand, a minotaur created by Greg Rucka and Drew Johnson. First appearing in October 2003's Wonder Woman issue #196, Ferdinand was a chef at the Themysciran embassy.

Other villains include Giganta (created by William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter for Summer 1944's Wonder Woman issue #9) and a punk-coiffed version of the Riddler (created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang for October 1948's Detective Comics issue #140). The Alfred Pennyworth on Page 5 whose head is "coming apart" is a manifestation of the cybernetic "Alfred Protocol" from Earth Negative-44, first seen in November 2017's Batman: The Murder Machine one-shot. In a nutshell, the Alfred Protocol was how the Batman of Earth Negative-44 dealt with his faithful aide being murdered by Bane and company. Naturally it led eventually to his turning into an evil Cyborg mash-up.

On a happier note, it's nice on Page 5 to see Wonder Woman making connections with Leaguers not named Batman or Superman. We're not saying that the Trinity doesn't have a special place in DC history, but it can tend to overshadow their relationships with other colleagues.

Last time we mentioned how Plastic Man's most recent origin was tied to 2013's Forever Evil event, but Hawkgirl's "Is that Plastic Man?" on Page 6 suggests that Plas has been part of the DCU since before that time. In fact, Plastic Man goes all the way back to the Golden Age, when he was part of the All-Star Squadron (as shown retroactively in August 1981's Justice League of America issue #193). Plas joined the Justice League in March 1998's JLA issue #16, but during his tenure Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders) was part of the Justice Society.

Speaking of Hawkgirl, her assertion on Page 7 that Wonder Woman "make[s] people see the truth" is right in line with Diana's modern characterization. Ever since George Pérez and company reframed the magic lasso as the Lasso of Truth in the 1986 reboot, "truth" has been one of the character's guiding principles. Writer/artist John Byrne even allowed Diana to ascend to Mount Olympus as the Goddess of Truth, an office she held from November 1997's Wonder Woman issue #127 to August 1998's issue #136.

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Going Down, Armoring Up (Pages 8-17)

Issue #6's next segment involves Wonder Woman and the once and future Hawkman confronting Barbatos, while Batman and Superman emerge from the Forge with a bit of tide-turning "Tenth Metal." (We suppose that one might even call it "Weapon Ten.") More on that in a bit.

Pages 8 and 9 are pretty straightforward, but Page 10 pays off the events of last month's Wild Hunt one-shot. There, Cyborg, Flash and Detective Chimp found the interdimensional vessel Ultima Thule and the Hall of Heroes, both from the Grant Morrison-written Multiversity. It's a long story, but suffice it to say that the Hall of Heroes is a waystation for super-people from across all time and space. The Ultima Thule, which looks pretty roughed-up on Page 14, was created by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke and first appeared in October 2008's Final Crisis: Superman Beyond issue #1. It's made of "frozen music" and is designed especially to travel throughout the Multiverse.

JLApe
Simian heroes of the 53rd Earth, from Dark Nights Rising: The Wild Hunt

The four alternate Batmen are each fairly familiar to fans of DC's Elseworlds. These four specifically were assigned to particular parallel Earths about ten years ago, during the various Countdown to Final Crisis miniseries. Of course, first among them is the Frank Miller/Klaus Janson "Dark Knight" Batman from 1985-86's The Dark Knight Returns, a fifty-year-old caped crusader who hails from Earth-31. In the fur cap is the Batman of Mark Millar and Dave Johnson's 2003 miniseries Superman: Red Son, a Soviet dissident (real name unknown) from Earth-30. The one with the fangs is the vampiric Batman of Doug Moench and Kelley Jones' "Red Rain" trilogy (1991's Batman and Dracula: Red Rain, 1994's Batman: Bloodstorm and 1999's Batman: Crimson Mist), set on Earth-43. Finally, there's Earth-19's Victorian-era Batman (from Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola's 1989 graphic novel Gotham By Gaslight and Augustyn and Ed Barreto's 1991 Master of the Future). Unfortunately, we see on page 12 that they don't get very far.

Detective Chimp's reference to "the fifty-third Earth" (Page 10) also comes from the Wild Hunt one-shot, which established it as a world of simian superheroes.

Starting on Page 13, we see the Justice Leaguers amped-up with Element X, a/k/a Tenth Metal, "the metal of pure possibility" (as described on Page 16). Regardless of its plot-convenient properties, the armored Leaguers naturally recall Metal issue #1's pre-credits sequence, where Mongul trapped them in armors meant to limit their powers. Later in this issue, the use of "Fulcum Abominus" will be another callback to issue #1, where it referred to the Toyman's Voltron-esque League-emulating killer robots.

We agree that Element X is probably the Fourth World's "X-Element" (introduced in March 1972's New Gods issue #7, by the immortal Jack Kirby). However, according to New Gods lore it was invented by Himon of New Genesis. That doesn't mean it's not part of the Forge, and Himon just found various ways to use it (like for Boom Tubes and Metron's go-anywhere chair). Regardless, we're reminded of X-Kryptonite, the variant made accidentally by Supergirl way back in February 1960's Action Comics issue #261. There, it turned an ordinary housecat into Streaky the Super-Cat. Maybe Supergirl tapped into something that the rest of the DC Universe wasn't quite ready for?

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Joker Vs. Joker (Pages 18-28)

Page 18 shows assorted heroes regrouping. Doctor Fate frees the Teen Titans from Barbatos' battery, Green Arrow helps Steel catch a breather, and Nightwing and Robin stand with the Suicide Squad. On Page 19, the still-monstrous Hawkman turns back to the good side, whacking Barbatos before the demon can finish his anti-music anti-song. Hawkgirl then finishes off Barbatos (relatively speaking) on Page 28.

As if dropping DC-Earth into the Dark Multiverse weren't enough, Page 20 reveals that it was just part of Barbatos' overall scheme. The "final plan" -- which shares some elements with Kendra's plan from issues #2 and #4 -- involves merging positive energy, negative energy, and dark energy to destroy everything except the Dark Multiverse.

The Over-Monitor's origin
Superman views the Over-Monitor's origin in Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1, by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke

Page 20 also reveals that the Batman Who Laughs' prisoner is none other than the original Monitor, now dubbed the "Over-Monitor." Assuming that this is the same guy from Crisis On Infinite Earths, he was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez and -- after many behind-the-scenes appearances starting with July 1982's New Teen Titans issue #21 -- debuted in full on the final page of April 1985's Crisis On Infinite Earths issue #1. The BMWL mentions that the Monitor's "only just started to re-form after the last multiversal crisis," and given DC's wonky continuity, we're tempted to ask which crisis? After COIE came 2005-06's Infinite Crisis, 2008-09's Final Crisis, and 2015's Convergence (which ended on a note that was confusing even for DC). The Monitor was killed in July 1985's COIE issue #4, but August 2006's DCU: Brave New World special reintroduced the concept as a group of similar-but-distinct "Monitors," each assigned to watch over a particular parallel universe. Moreover, as per Final Crisis: Superman Beyond issue #1, each is apparently descended from the original Over-Monitor. Although only Nix Uotan was left as a Monitor after the events of Final Crisis and Multiversity, now it looks like the original has returned.

We like to think that Page 23's reference to Batman as "the apex predator" is a sly dig at the character's immense popularity. Conventional wisdom tends to hold that Batman is so successful, the only way that other DC heroes can be as successful is by adopting a similarly grim, serious tone (see, e.g., the 1990-91 Flash TV series, the current Arrow TV series, and 2013's Man of Steel and 2016's Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice).

The Batman Who Laughs might consider himself the "punchline," but the appearance of the main-line Joker on Page 24 pays off the character's roles in the Forge and Casting specials. It doesn't quite answer the question of why the Clown Prince of Crime was locked up in the secret Bat-basement to begin with -- was this the best he could do for a catch-all answer to the horrors of the Dark Multiverse? -- but at least it's a payoff. The Joker has been the enemy of Batman's enemy before, like when he fought Doctor Hurt in Early January 2011's Batman and Robin #16, or when he refused to help the Red Skull in December 1996's Batman/Captain America.

Of course, Page 24's "I call his face" refers to the Joker having his face sliced off prior to the events of November 2011's Detective Comics vol. 2 issue #1. The Joker was since healed by Dionysium in between the events of Batman's "Endgame" and "Superheavy" storylines.

While Batman definitely knows about the Monitor(s), and we're equally positive that the Monitor knows about him, Page 28 may be the first time Batman has met a Monitor. Similarly, Hal Jordan's encounter with the Monitor on Page 29 reminds us that Hal was cut out of the original Crisis almost completely, since he'd quit the Green Lantern Corps at that time.


What did you spot in Dark Nights: Metal issue #6? Let us know in the comments!