Explaining The Secrets Of DC Comics Dark Multiverse

The discovery of the Dark Multiverse is one of the biggest shifts to the cosmology of the DC Universe since it the Multiverse itself was brought back ten years ago in 52. While the positive multiverse has a structure and an order, the Dark Multiverse is a swirling sea of humanity’s worst nightmares made up out of worlds too chaotic to be considered viable, worlds doomed to destroy themselves like the tide crashing against the shore.

We’ve been given a couple of glimpses at the Dark Multiverse in the pages of Dark Nights: Metal, but its in the event's one-shots starring The Dark Knights themselves — alternate, evil versions of Batman mashed up with other Justice Leaguers — where we’ve really had the chance to take a good look at the specific worlds of the Dark Multiverse, which may hold the key to understanding them.

Fifty-Two

To understand the Dark Multiverse, first we have to understand The Multiverse, which can be a lot to take in. A quick timeline works like this: There were infinite universes, then there was one combined universe, then there was a multiverse again, but this time featuring just fifty-two worlds. The Multiverse of 52 worlds was created during Infinite Crisis, though the heroes of the DC Universe didn’t discover this fact until roughly a year later when Booster Gold and Rip Hunter stumbled upon the secret in their battle against Mister Mind. The Multiverse we have today is slightly different from that one following the changes made in Flashpoint, but they’re pretty similar overall.

Writer Grant Morrison forged the Multiverse into a somewhat easy-to-understand cosmology ahead of the release of The Multiversity, a series Morrison wrote which hopped from different worlds as part of a giant adventure which involved direct communication between the comic book and the reader themselves as the villain. Morrison not only established the fifty-two worlds, he established a logic to their placement on an actual map. For example, Earth 20 — the home of the pulp-inspired Society of Super-Heroes — is directly opposite Earth 40, the home of their counterparts, The Society of Supervillains. The Nazi planet Earth 10 is opposite Earth 5, placing DC’s acquisitions from Quality Comics and Fawcett Comics on opposite sides of the map.

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Black Mirror

The Dark Multiverse seems to be a place without order, but looking at the negative Earth designations of some of the homeworlds of The Dark Knights, a pattern does emerge. I first noticed it when The Drowned — the female Batman who augmented themselves to have Aquaman-like powers — was listed as coming from Earth -11, a gender-swapped world. Earth 11 in the regular Multiverse is also a gender-swapped world — the home of Superwoman, Aquawoman and Wondrous Man, among others. Poring over the other negative worlds cataloged in the pages of these one-shots, it became clear that there was a connection.

The Dawnbreaker is Bruce Wayne from Earth -32, one who received a Green Lantern ring moments after witnessing the deaths of his parents. Meanwhile, in the positive Multiverse, Earth 32 is the home of the Justice Titans which include Super-Martian, Aquaflash and, you guessed it, Bat-Lantern. The Murder Machine is from Earth -44 and is a Batman who attempted to keep Alfred’s consciousness alive via and AI but it went rogue and Batman himself became a cyborg. Earth 44 in the positive Multiverse is one where Doctor Will Tornado created the Metal League of robot superheroes, including Iron Batman.

That’s three out of seven matching up quite solidly, but the theory does have some holes in it. The Merciless — the Batman who became the God of War — is from Earth -12, while Earth 12 is the world of Batman Beyond. However, in the world of Earth -12, it seems there was a relationship of some sorts between Batman and Wonder Woman, or at least mutual feelings between the two, which mirrors the larger DC Animated Universe that spawned Terry McGinnis, and which often toyed with the idea of Batman and Wonder Woman as a couple. Furthermore, it’s revealed at the end of the issue that under the helmet, Bruce is a much older man than we’ve come to expect Batman to be, somewhat mirroring the Earth 12 timeline. It’s a stretch, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

The biggest hole in the theory, though, belongs to The Red Death — The Batman who stole the power of The Speed Force from The Flash — who hails from Earth -52, because there isn’t an Earth 52 in the positive Multiverse. The numbering starts with Earth 0 and goes up to Earth 51. There’s no analogue for Earth -52, so it’s hard to say if it’s based on any world in the positive cosmology.

However, with the information we have, we can take educated guesses as to the homeworld of the last remaining Dark Knights. The Devastator is some sort of Batman/Doomsday hybrid who can transform at will, so it would make sense if he came from Earth -45, counterpart to Earth 45, the home of Superdoomsday. The Batman Who Laughs is the big ringleader, the most evil of evil, so there’s a good chance he came from Earth -3, a place even more wicked, twisted and evil that The Crime Syndicate’s home of Earth 3 in the positive universe.

Dark Knightmares

The concept of evil Batmen from the Dark Multiverse is scary, there’s no doubt about it, but if the Dark Multiverse is a reflection of its positive counterpart, does that include the areas of the Multiversal Map that aren’t Earths? Is there a Dark Multiverse version of The Sandman, who still has a role to play in Dark Nights: Metal? Are there Dark Monitors, Dark New Gods and a Dark Source? The growing uncertainty and endless unpredictability is what makes The Dark Multiverse so terrifyingly intriguing, and the idea that there are things out there even more dangerous than Barbatos and The Dark Knights is a big concern for the heroes of the DC Universe.

While not a Crisis in name, Dark Nights: Metal certainly has many of the trappings of one, and with the entire Multiverse at stake, we may see some reordering of DC’s cosmology going forward. Can the Dark Knights be defeated while the Dark Multiverse still exists to spawn new twisted incarnations of Batman and his allies? The Batman Who Laughs has been seen in possession of The Multiversity Guidebook, so perhaps it’s time for the heroes of the DC Universe to hop over and visit us in Earth-33 to find the answers they need to stop the threat of the Dark Knights for good.