WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Dark Nights: Death Metal - Speed Metal #1, by Joshua Williamson, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Adriano Lucas and Steve Wands, on sale now.
From the Spear of Destiny to the Medusa Mask, there are plenty of artifacts and relics within the DC Universe of cosmic importance. One of the biggest is the Mobius Chair, normally used by the New God Metron as he traverses space and time as a largely passive observer, with most of his attention focused on the eternal war between Apokolips and New Genesis. The New 52 era ended with Metron's death, as he conversed with Earth-3's Owlman on the Moon, with the duo discovered and killed by Doctor Manhattan, setting up the DC Rebirth era and the events of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Doomsday Clock. And as the current DC Comics crossover event Dark Nights: Death Metal continues to unfold, the fate of the Mobius Chair has been revealed as it plays a major role in the war against the Darkest Knight.
The Mobius Chair had last been seen at the end of Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth's Flash Forward miniseries, with Wally West discovering the discarded relic during his travels across the DC Multiverse. Upon sitting on the chair, Wally was imbued with residual energy left by Manhattan, gaining his omnipotent powers and cosmic awareness to become one of the most powerful heroes in the Multiverse. An epilogue to the story included in the collected edition of the miniseries had Wally ambushed by the Batman Who Laughs at the root of the Multiverse as the Dark Multiverse villain used Perpetua's power to corrupt reality. And as Wally attempted to stop the cackling Dark Knight, he found himself outmatched, with the Batman Who Laughs trapping him within himself.
Fortunately, Wally's imprisonment would be temporary after Wonder Woman forged the Chainsaw of Truth from her signature invisible jet and used the new, mythical weapon to dismember the Batman Who Laughs at the start of Death Metal. The attack had the unforeseen consequence of freeing Wally from the villain's control and he reunited with Barry Allen and Jay Garrick while the Batman Who Laughs transformed into the Darkest Knight. After the newly omnipotent villain tracked down the three Flashes, the speedster trio ran deep across a vision of the Multiverse conquered and decimated by Perpetua, with the Darkest Knight in hot pursuit.
As the Darkest Knight summoned his own army of undead Black Flashes -- twisted, zombie versions of the iconic DCU characters powered up by the Speed Force from the Dark Multiverse -- the Scarlet Speedsters realized that the only way they could survive and escape was to reclaim the Mobius Chair, which had rejected the Batman Who Laughs' initial attempt to gain its power but has been left vulnerable and adrift in the devastated Multiverse. Receiving the full support from the rest of the Flash Family, Wally was able to outrace the Darkest Knight and his minions, reclaiming the Mobius Chair and saving his fellow speedster heroes from the evil army inside the Speed Force.
Reunited with the Mobius Chair, Wally West has had his connection to Doctor Manhattan's vast powers restored as his fight for the DC Multiverse reaches a fevered pitch. Safe from the Darkest Knight within the confines of the Speed Force, Wally and the Flashes set out to bring the Mobius Chair to Wonder Woman as a reservoir for all the Crisis energy she and the other heroes are gathering from worlds across the Dark Multiverse.
Now reunited with his family, Wally has the support and confidence he needs for an epic, cosmic race to restore the Multiverse from the Batman Who Laughs and Perpetua's insidious influence.