Top 5 Comics Moments of the Week: 'Dark Nights: Death Metal' dominates, and it's Wonder Woman's time to shine
Spoilers for comics released from June 14 to June 21
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo did not play fair this week. Despite a great collection of comics released this week, from Image's 'Ludocrats,' Tom King and Mitch Gerard's 'Strange Adventures,' to an especially memorable moment from 'Ant-Man', 'Dark Nights: Death Metal' made its debut this week, and in terms of great comic book moments, it blew almost everything else right out of the water. The keyword there is 'almost', however, for despite taking the lead in the events of 'Death Metal', Wonder Woman's most badass moment appears in another issue entirely.
5. Quis custodiet ipsos Batmen?
Who watches the Watchmen? The Batman who Laughs, apparently. After his violent death at the hands of Wonder Woman (don't worry, we're getting to that) in 'Dark Nights: Death Metal' #1, the Batmage puts into effect the Batman Who Laughs' final plan — pressing a button that should be familiar to fans of 'Watchmen' — it's a smiley face button that became an iconic representation of the series.
However, this button's different in a major way — coming from the Dark Multiverse, its smile has been turned to a frown. It works to foreshadow the deadly final plan of the evil Batmen — to bring to life the "Final Bruce Wayne," who is seen in the shadows with Doctor Manhattan's signature Atom Symbol on his forehead.
Doctor Manhattan has already made a significant impact on the DC Metaverse, in 'Doomsday Clock'. It's revealed that he's been tampering with DC's reality for decades. There's no telling what will happen when that kind of power is in the hands of an evil Batman from the Dark Multiverse, but given that it was part of the Batman who Laughs' final plan, no good can come of this.
4. An Anti-Crisis is coming
Speaking of classic DC heroes with the powers of Doctor Manhattan, Wally West makes his own appearance this issue. Brought low by Perpetua, Wally West explains just what makes the Dark Multiverse so powerful, and so dangerous — it wields Crisis energy, that's been plaguing the DC Metaverse ever since 'Crisis on Infinite Earths.' This prompts Wonder Woman to come to the conclusion that the Justice League is going to have to try something it's never tried before — begin the Metaverse's very first "Anti-Crisis."
3. Batman, the Black Lantern
This issue is a wealth of different kinds of Batmen from all over the Dark Multiverse — but there's only one, true, Bruce Wayne Prime, and he's had an interesting history; one that includes having been used to initiate the rise of the Black Lantern army in 'Blackest Night.' Though the body that was used was a cloned corpse of Bruce Wayne, Batman still apparently has enough of a connection to the ring to be able to use it to raise the dead and take the fight back to the evil Batmen who have taken control of the world.
2. The Chainsaw of Truth
When the world has ended, and the Multiverse is leaning distinctly towards Doom, you need a weapon unlike any that has ever come before, and Wonder Woman has crafted just that. Forged from the molten, undetectable metal of her invisible jet, and powered by her Lasso of Truth, Wonder Woman now wields the invisible Chainsaw of Truth — and it's made one hell of an entrance. Hidden by her side until just the right moment, Wonder Woman uses it to take out the most formidable foe — the Batman who Laughs. It may be her deadliest weapon ever — but these are very deadly times.
1. Just his bones, and a beautiful memory
The main DCU isn't the only place where Diana is facing a dark and twisted end of the world. In 'Wonder Woman: Dead Earth,' an alternate universe story of Wonder Woman in a post-apocalyptic world, Diana discovers that she herself was responsible for the world ending. When the Amazons attempted to take over the world to stop humanity from destroying themselves, Diana's attempt to forge peace failed — leading to an all-out war. In the midst of that war, nuclear weapons were sent to Paradise Island, and to stop them, Wonder Woman's full powers were unleashed. It still wasn't enough, however, and Themyscira fell in a nuclear holocaust.
Blinded by rage, trauma and horror, Wonder Woman sought to end the fight once and for all, and took the fight to humanity's greatest protector — Superman. With Wonder Woman's powers unleashed, not even Superman had a chance against her vicious onslaught. She kills Superman, and the fight that led to his death was powerful enough to cause shockwaves throughout the Earth, ending civilization as we know it.
Diana has no memory of this, until one of Superman's robots reminds her. A repentant Diana stands over Clark's body, apologizing. Then, realizing that she needs a weapon to defeat the irradiated Amazons who want to destroy what's left of humanity, she rips out Superman's spine and threads her lasso through it, making a weapon more deadly than even the Chainsaw of Truth. It's a shocking, powerful moment that's only made more horrible for how defeated Diana is at having to resort to it — and earns its spot as the most powerful comics moment of the week.
What were your favorite comics moments of the week? Let us know in the comments!
