Out of all the wild crossovers and reality threatening events to come out of DC Comics, Dark Nights Metal stands head and shoulders above them all as the most metal AF thing that the Distinguished Competition has ever released. Prepare for a sequel, because the next Dark Nights series won't just be metal: It'll be DEATH METAL.

DC’s “Year of the Villain” begins its sin­ister conclusion! Lex Luthor has brought Perpetua back from her cosmic grave and restored her power! Now, the Multiverse lives in fear that she might wipe out all existence. The only thing that could stop her are the forces of the Dark Multiverse— which means it’s Luthor’s mission to defeat the Batman Who Laughs!

The Batman Who Laughs is a dark knight without limits, and arguably the most popular member of the vigilantes who terrorised the DC Comics Universe in the Metal event. How popular? Popular enough to get a statue from Prime 1, which will set you back $1199 for the regular version and $1399 for a deluxe version which throws in an extra Damien Wayne Robin.

The only way to take down this unimaginable threat is for the superhero teams of Earth to forget everything they thought they knew and form new alliances. What secrets of the cosmos will Superman, Martian Manhunter and Team Mystery discover? Will Zatanna, Wonder Woman and Team Wonder awaken alien magic they cannot put back to sleep?

Expect the DC Universe to get a LOT bigger, wilder and crazier as new Justice Leagues rise to fight the good fight. Justice League: No Justice kicks off this May with a four-part mini-series that shows just how different the new DC status quo is now that the dust of Dark Nights Metal has settled.

People need heroes, people need icons and publishers aren’t exactly shying away from creating a more diverse cast of characters for audiences to become emotionally invested in. It’s a double-edged sword however, because rampant change within established comic book characters usually leads to a backlash from the readers who originally supported those titles. A school of thought that has led to “The New Age of DC Comics”.

Backed into a corner in the penultimate issue of Dark Nights Metal #5, things are looking pretty grim for the heroes of a world that faces a new kind of danger. The Dark Multiverse rises, our reality sinks and an army of evil Batmen have run amok as the Justice League was picked apart. Bruce Wayne has been left to rot for decades as his hope was slowly murdered in front of him, Earth’s greatest warriors have been put through the ringer and doomsday is knocking on our front door. Where to from here? Spoilers below.

Once the Dark Multiverse and its nightmares have been defeated in March, expect some big changes to Earth’s first line of defense as the Justice League reassembles to tackle new cosmic-level threats.