WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Yanick Paquette, Bryan Hitch, Nathan Fairbairn, Alex Sinclair, & Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
The DC Multiverse is full of western fiction's most powerful forces, ranging from the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman to entire cosmic pantheons such as the New Gods. But in the final moments of Death Metal, the ultimate power of the DC Universe has been confirmed once and for all.
In Dark Nights: Death Metal #7, The Hands have formally made their presence known in the DC Universe, and these universal powerhouses are not only the strongest force the heroes of DC have ever encountered, but they could be setting up the return of their darkest member.
During their final battle to decide the fate of the DC Multiverse, Wonder Woman and the Darkest Knight end up at the moment of creation. The Darkest Knight reveals the hand at the creation of the universe was Perpetua, the dark goddess he recently killed in battle. The Darkest Knight confirms that she's one of an entire race known as the Hands, who are responsible for the creation and maintenance of the DC omniverse. Deciding to try and kill them for interfering in the universe, the Darkest Knight tries to convince Diana to fight them alongside him. But Wonder Woman refuses to buckle to his arguments and instead uses the fires of the death sun -- the final end of everything at the natural death of the universe -- to burn the Darkest Knight to nothing.
After the battle is done, Diana confronts one of the Hands, who proves to be a more agreeable figure than the Darkest Knight or Perpetua would have suggested. Taking the form of Wonder Woman, the entity reveals that the Hands have decided to restore the multiverse while opening up the omniverse as well. The Hand promises this will open greater possibilities for the future. However, this also means there will be great threats to deal with -- including a lurking threat that the Hands decide Wonder Woman must "ascend" to help them combat.
These reveals about the Hands place them in a power level unlike anything else in the DC Multiverse, and have them akin to the Beyonders from Marvel. It's likely that the Chronicler was the Hand's advance agent, exploring the collapsing DC multiverse during the chaos of Death Metal. He was capable of easily dispatching powerhouses and even reviving New Gods like Metron all on his own. With their ability to casually undo the damage wrought by the Darkest Knight, the Hands prove to be unspeakably powerful forces. They also appear to be somewhat altruistic as well, given their open admiration for Wonder Woman and their decision to work with her to protect the Omniverse going forward.
But there's also the matter of what exactly could be "the lurking threat" that the Hand mentions to Wonder Woman. This could finally see the return of DC's darkest forces, the Empty Hand. Introduced during the events of The Multiversity, the Empty Hand was the reality-warping behemoth who was trying to bring about the "last chapter" of the DC Multiverse. His name and powers seem similar to what the Hands can be capable of, and he would make perfect sense as a lurking threat the Hands could be worried about. If he's one of their numbers but has turned dark, he's capable of just as much reality-warping as they are. And if the Hands are committed to helping the Omniverse prosper and grow, the Empty Hand's mission to end multiverses could be seen as the ultimate crime.
Notably, he's already appeared in DC years before the events of Death Metal, with his attack on Earth-7 in The Multiversity wiping out almost every living thing and leading directly to the formation of Justice Incarnate, the multiversal Justice League. He could be the ultimate escalation of threats to the entire omniverse, even more so than the Doctor Manhattan-esque powers of the Darkest Knight. While the Hands have been established as the most powerful force in the DC Universe, will that always be the case? Or does Wonder Woman -- and the rest of the DC Universe -- have their greatest battle ever approaching on the horizon?