WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Dark Nights: Death Metal - Infinite Hour Exxxtreme #1, by Frank Tieri, Becky Cloonan, Sam Humphries, Tyler Kirkham, Rags Morales, Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz, Arif Prianto, Andrew Dalhouse, Chris Sotomayor, Dave Sharpe and Rob Leigh, on sale now.
Of all the figures that have appeared throughout Dark Nights: Death Metal, none have had perhaps a more enigmatic role across the crossover event than the brutal, brutish bounty hunter Lobo. Tasked by Lex Luthor to journey through the DC Multiverse in search of a mysterious substance known as Death Metal, the Main Man cut a bloody path of his own as the Multiverse went to hell around him. And as Lobo finally managed to get his hands on the elusive Death Metal, he immediately decided to take matters into his own hands and reshape reality around him in his signature, Czarnian image.
With his benefactor, Lex Luthor, promising him a hefty reward for recovering Death Metal and saving the DC Multiverse from Perpetua and the Batman Who Laughs, the Ultimate Bastich agrees to his universe-hopping task. Lobo's search takes him Blackhawk Island, which had been reimagined leading up to the original Dark Nights: Metal as a headquarters for Hawkman and Hawkgirl. The DC Rebirth iteration of the heroes served as a secret force preventing an apocalypse-level event that's to the main DC Universe, with the island also serving as a conduit to the mythical elements of the DCU through a direct connection to the Earth's core.
Thankfully, Blackhawk Island remained relatively hidden away from the wider chaos of Death Metal, though Lobo did engage a Dark Knight in a brief skirmish after his arrival at the remote location. Inside the Blackhawks' base, Lobo finds the only figure left guarding the deposit of Death Metal is Hawkman, who had been conspicuously absent for much of the crossover event as his allies led a desperate resistance against the Batman Who Laughs and the villain's associates. As the world's foremost expert on Death Metal, Hawkman relinquishes it to Lobo while explaining he has studied the substance for several lifetimes.
Dismissing Hawkman's warnings about the inherent dangers of the Death Metal's power, Lobo uses it to form his own pocket universe where all the major superheroes of the DCU are now remade in the Last Czarnian's cigar-chomping image, from Superman's arrival on Earth to the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne in Crime Alley leading to Batman's eventual creation.
Seemingly satisfied by forging his own pocket universe filled with Loboized incarnations of the DCU's most iconic superheroes, Lobo unceremoniously stuffs his creation in his pocket as he makes his way back to the main DCU and learns of his and the Death Metal's importance from Brainiac, who was freed from his imprisonment within Perpetua's throne.
With the Death Metal still in his possession, Lobo has the ability to build entire universes in the palm of his hand. Having already created a pocket universe version of the DCU with its superheroes cast in his own image, Lobo has shown he can transport those in his way into the world with the Death Metal. As the Darkest Knight and Perpetua battle for the fate of the DC Multiverse, the Death Metal provides the means to potentially rebuild and restore the worlds as they once were. But firmly in Lobo's grasp, it may take quite a bit for the Main Man to be convinced to let go of a new toy that gives him the power of a god.