The next DC Comics crossover event Dark Nights: Death Metal, by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, is the culmination of years of comic book storytelling that kicked off with the original Metal in 2018.

Since Death Metal's announcement, DC has seen several high-profile editorial departures, including Co-Publisher and longtime editor Dan DiDio. In an exclusive interview with CBR, Snyder explained how the editorial changes had changed the scope of Death Metal and its role shaping the future of the DC Universe.

RELATED: Dark Nights: Death Metal Will Give Harley Quinn ANOTHER Love Interest

"The landscape over at DC changed a lot over the past year, and while we were supportive of all the plans before the editorial and administrative change, we weren't really part of those plans. We were just kind of doing the story we had planned for three years and, if those stories didn't link up, we would at least be able to create something that we loved," reflected Snyder. "DC was supportive of us and we were supportive of DC. But now that the landscape has opened up on the other side, we're actually a really big part of helping build that architecture, we're very proud of what's coming in the future. So it's an end to one era and we're having a lot of fun setting up what's coming on the other side."

In addition to the event's impact on the DCU, Snyder noted that Death Metal was originally supposed to launch shortly after his run on Justice League concluded this past January but was stretched out as different elements of the lead-up were stretched out as well.

RELATED: Dark Nights: Death Metal Gets Two Tie-In One-Shots, Extra Issue

"The scheduling got stretched out. We wanted everything to happen a lot faster: We planned on doingMetal much earlier with a sort of percussive pace of Justice League, "Year of the Villain," Hell Arisen and -- boom -- Death Metal. So, some of it got elevated in some ways and took on a bigger role, like "Year of the Villain," and some got minimized. All that is fine, we're happy everything worked out and there's no complaints whatsoever," explained Snyder. "Everything we left on a cliffhanger, it's planned for here. The whole architecture was planned this way -- I promise you on my kids -- we're not reverse-engineering something, I have the receipts I'll be able to show you someday, the emails from 2017. At one point, we were going to have the whole DCU infected [by the Batman Who Laughs] and at one point, it was just six people, it was whatever editorial needed. So it all happened at different times but the stories that we were working on, there's nothing that won't be closed out here."

Dark Nights: Death Metal #1, by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion and FCO Plascencia, goes on sale June 16 from DC Comics.