Doomsday Clock #6 May Have Just Spoiled Who Dies in Heroes in Crisis

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Doomsday Clock #6 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, in stores now.

The Justice League's effort to help their colleagues overcome the anxiety and depression that can come with extreme violence has been running smoothly for months, but everything is about to go wrong. Death is coming to Sanctuary in September's Heroes in Crisis, and while the series is expected to be a murder mystery, Doomsday Clock may have spoiled who dies.

While the Sanctuary story will focus on the killer's mystery identity, fans have also been wondering who will bite the dust. Two patients are expected to pay the price in the attack, but considering both heroes and villains are in treatment, it's been a bit difficult to narrow down the victims. An offhand comment by the Tattooed Man from Doomsday Clock #6 may at least narrow the field.

Who Lives and Who Dies

Of course, the mystery behind Heroes in Crisis is all part of the fun and represents an opportunity for DC Comics to really sell the event. In DC Nation #2, the publisher's new full-sized magazine filled with previews, interviews, and ads, there seems to be a clue related to the coming series. There is an ad that includes a group of heroes and villains with the tease stating that two of the assembled characters will die. It's hard to say how accurate this all is, or if DC is just messing with us, but we can narrow the field down a bit to see who might actually be taking a dirt nap.

Right off the bat, we can eliminate Booster Gold and Harley Quinn, because they've already been revealed to be accused of the crime in question. From there, it's easy to say that Superman and Wonder Woman are probably safe, along with Catwoman, Deathstroke, Nightwing, John Constantine, Damage and Green Arrow, who are each headlining their own ongoing series. Mr. Terrific, Cyborg and Beast Boy are all part of team books, and Lex Luthor is currently playing a major role in Justice League.

Realistically, that leaves us with seven likely candidates, if we exclude DC editor-in-chief Bob Harras from the lineup. That gives us Kyle Rayner, Tim Drake, Ray Palmer, Wally West, Roy Harper, the Riddler, and Poison Ivy with no true home at the moment, making them the perfect candidates to die. For all we know, this could all be bunk, but until we receive confirmation, nothing can be ruled out.

Then again, Doomsday Clock may have helped us narrow the list down further with confirmation that one of those characters is still alive. There's also a possibility the most recent issue reveals one of the murder victims, and it's someone we never suspected.

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Set one year in the future of the DC Universe, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Doomsday Clock has yet to interact with the rest of the DC Universe in any meaningful way. It has been hard to say if what we are seeing will come to pass or if this is just another alternate future in a genre filled with them. While issue #6 mostly deals with the backstories of Marionette and Mime, it also focuses on the villains of the DC Universe with the reveal that many perceived bad guys may actually be secret government operatives serving their country inside the costumed villain community.

Still others are simply looking to take advantage of the world's growing anti-costumed hero sentiments in order to ban together and seize power. Enemies of Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman are summoned by the Riddler in an attempt to combine their resources and determine their next course of action. It appears that working alone has left them feeling unsafe, as the Tattooed Man reveals what happened to his predecessor at Sanctuary.

Referring to Abel Tarrant, the original Tattooed Man, Mark Richards asks the assembled crowd, "You all heard what happened to the first Tattooed Man at the Sanctuary place?" It's the first time the series has explicitly made mention of an ongoing storylines in the greater DC Universe. While we aren't told exactly what happened to the character, Richards remarks that "It's screwed up." It's hard to see this reference as just a simple coincidence, and in the context of the conversation, we can be clear that the original Tattooed Man is dead, and that there is nowhere for them to feel safe anymore.

Just the mention of Sanctuary would seem to confirm that this actually does take place in the future of the DCU, and the events of Heroes in Crisis have seemingly already happened. This would mean the the Riddler ultimately survives the coming attack, and that narrows down our potential hit list by one. If the Tattooed Man is one of the real victims, though, it then brings into question whether or not the DC Nation ad can be trusted at all.

Unfortunately, since the Riddler seems to have no reaction to the story about the Tattooed Man, it's hard to say for sure what this means for Tom King, Clay Mann, and Mitch Gerads' upcoming event or Doomsday Clock's connection to it. This could be nothing, or it could be everything, but it's certainly worth consideration until we get more information.