Premiering in June 2017 and lasting until April 2018, the plot was written by Scott Snyder, with art by Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion and FCO Plascencia.
The six-track EP features heavy metal songs by Jerry Cantrell, Chino Moreno, Brann Dailor, Maria Brink, Alexis Krauss and Jason Aalon Butler.
[2] The series, which debuted in June 2017, is the culmination of their Batman story arcs, which includes The Court of Owls, Death of the Family, Zero Year, and Endgame.
"[2] The idea of creating a dark multiverse came from Snyder, who was inspired by watching the science documentary television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey with his five-year-old son.
[3] Dark Nights: Metal also marks the first appearance of Dream of the Endless from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman (1989–1996) in the post-New 52 DC Universe.
DC stated, "Each one-shot story spotlights a different, corrupted version of Batman spawned from the Dark Multiverse to wreak havoc on Earth.
"[7] At the 2017 Comic-Con International, an additional tie-in one-shot was announced called Hawkman Found written by Jeff Lemire with art by Bryan Hitch and Kevin Nowlan.
As the title implies, it focused on the connection between Hawkman and the events of "Dark Nights: Metal" and it is positioned as a sequel to Batman Lost.
[15] The story is framed around the journals of Carter Hall, who reveals a mystery that spans centuries revolving around divine metals that have landed on Earth.
They all come from the Dark Multiverse — temporary negative realities created by the fears of people from their respective counterpart positive universes — and were recruited by Barbatos with the promise of preventing the end of their worlds.
The Batman Who Laughs from Earth-22, who lost his sanity due to his world's Joker, gathered the six other Dark Multiverse Batmen after they each alter themselves to gain superhuman abilities.
Suddenly, Mister Terrific interprets vibrations coming from Plastic Man's egg which indicate the coordinates of four locations that need to be investigated.
Once he arrives, Superman realizes that it was a trap set by the Dark Knights so that they can harness the energy from his cells to power their doomsday device which would unleash their reality into the Multiverse.
Terrific reach Thanagar Prime where they find long-time Thangarian enemy Onimar Synn has conquered the planet with the help of JLA villain Starro.
Taken to Lucien's library in the Dreaming, Daniel proceeds to explain the history of the Multiverse, revealing that alongside the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor, there is a third being: a "Forger" tasked to watch over what had yet to come.
[19][full citation needed] Superman and Batman evade Carter Hall's attack as they struggle to search for a spark in the darkened core of the Forge.
Remembering a legend of how Arion saved Atlantis by using magic from the Earth's core, they begin extracting Nth Metal only to come under attack from Black Manta, who is allied with the Dark Knights.
Refusing to give up, Diana and Kendra proceed to use the Rock of Eternity's core to reach Barbatos and are confronted by his Dark Army.
[20][full citation needed] Clashing their metals together (Diana's bracelets and Kendra's mace), the two heroines succeed in helping Green Lantern, Mr.
An unexpected team-up of Batman and the Joker, however, halts this plan, the Justice League defeats the remaining Dark Knights, and Hawkgirl subdues Barbatos.
After the Over-Monitor explains that all living things have trace amounts of Tenth Metal, the League proceed to use this power to pull Earth out of the Dark Multiverse (which unintentionally also results in the Source Wall shattering).
[21][full citation needed] The Justice League, with the inclusion of the Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl, are invited to a gala dinner at Wayne Manor.
[21][full citation needed] During the event, portals were created over Gotham City which Derek James fell into and gained the abilities of trans-dimensional travel.
[23] Kieran Shiach of Comic Book Resources (CBR) wrote "Ultimately, Dark Nights: Metal is just outright fun.
Snyder, Capullo and their collaborators really leaned into the ecstatic lunacy of superhero comics towards the end of their Batman run and Metal feels like the next logical step.
"[29] Jesse Schedeen from IGN gave the issue an 8.4 out of 10 writing, "Apart from a surprisingly sluggish middle act, Dark Nights: Metal #1 is a terrifically enjoyable read.
"[30] Pierce Lydon from Newsarama gave it an 8 out of 10 saying, "Dark Nights: Metal is a great event book because it is true to its characters and it's deeper than just its surface 'Justice League vs.
"[32] Schedeen gave it an 8.5 saying "While Metal still has a few kinks to iron out before it can rival the best of Snyder and Capullo's work, the series is delivering plenty of drama and spectacle as it explores the collision between the DCU and the Dark Multiverse.
"[34] Schedeen gave it a 7.2 saying "Unfortunately, this issue seems prone to biting off more than it can chew, resorting in a number of exposition-driven sequences that slow down an otherwise exciting storyline.