Summary
There have been more versions of theJustice Leaguethan anyone could count. Some have been absolute pinnacles of truth and justice, like the main universe version, and still others have been depraved villains, such as the Crime Syndicate But DC never put together the darkest Justice League that fans expected from theDark Multiverse.
After theconcept of the Dark Multiversewas introduced, DC decided to capitalize on it by showing the twisted what-ifs of their most famous stories. These “new” stories almost always included horrific outcomes and characters either turning evil or villains winning where they shouldn’t have, leading to some fans noticing thatthe winning villains would make a fantastic Justice League.
Despite how it seemed that DC was building towards a truly twisted Justice League, the publisher never followed through with the concept, leaving fans wondering what could have been. If DC had put these characters on a team together, there’s no doubt they would’ve been the darkest Justice League fans have ever seen.
Batman: The Coolest Dark Multiverse Batmen DC Needs To Bring Back
Death Metal might be over, but the epic event has given fans a dark multiverse full of evil Batmen with a few that deserve to make another appearance.
Twisted by Grief, Lois Lane Becomes a Horrific “Superman”
The Death of Supermanwas one of the worst moments in Clark Kent’s life; it was also one of the worst moments in Lois Lane’s life. As Superman desperately tried to defeat Doomsday, he was left entirely alone to do it. Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern — none of them were able to be there to help him. They’d either been defeated already or simply hadn’t made it in time. In the originalDeath of Supermanstoryline, Superman succeeds in beating Doomsday, but dies in the process. Lois Lane is overcome with grief, but eventually moves past it, especially when Superman returns.
Superman died, and the world simply moved on.
Unfortunately, that’s notwhat happens in the Dark Multiverse. Instead of moving past her love’s death,Lois is overcome with grief and hatred for the world around her.Superman died, and the world simply moved on. The Justice League continued showing up to press conferences and fighting to save the world. People sold merchandise based on Superman’s death, profiting off the death of a man who gave everything to this world. Overcome with bitterness, Lois Lane is visited by the Eradicator, who gives her Superman’s powers. What follows is a murderous rampage across the planet.
Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night#1 by Tim Seeley, Kyle Hotz, Dexter Vines, Walden Wong, Danny Miki, David Baron, and Allen Passalaqua
The originalBlackest NightGreen Lantern saga was a story where zombie versions of friends and foes alike rose as Black Lanterns to destroy all life in the universe. In the main universe,Hal Jordan became a White Lanternand saved everyone. But in the Dark Multiverse, the Black Lanterns won and eradicated all life in the universe. One of the last survivors was Sinestro, who was transformed into a Limbo Lantern, trapped between his Black Lantern ring and his White Lantern ring. It’s a horrific existence and one that makes Sinestro torn between creating life and destroying it.
The story ends with Sinestro using his White Lantern power to reset the universe with Lobo as a baseline. This creates a pretty awful universe where everything is constantly at war. Horrified by the universe he helped create,Sinestro tries to break through the boundaries of the Multiverseto escape into another universe. His Black Lantern ring constantly urges him to destroy life and, considering how unhappy he is with the result of him using his White Lantern to create life, it could be truly disastrous if he made it to another universe.
Green Lantern Admits Sinestro’s Yellow Lantern Corps May Be More Powerful
It seems that even the Green Lantern Corps’ members don’t think that willpower is a mightier force than the fear used by the Sinestro Corps.
Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis#1 by James Tynion IV, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Rob Leigh
Another major moment inDC’s history wasInfinite Crisis: an event that completely spiraled out of control. It started with a conspiracy only noticed by Blue Beetle Ted Kord. As Ted tried to unravel it, he was unfortunately murdered before he could tell anyone. With the Justice League completely clueless as to what was going on, things continued to escalate, culminating in the satellite Brother Eye nearly taking over the Earth and an alternate universe version of Lex Luthor almost rewriting the universe in his image.
The originalInfinite Crisisevent by Geoff Johns and Phil Jimenez is still a model of superb interconnected storytelling; it’s available now, both digitally and in collected editions, from DC Comics.
In this dark alternate version of events, Ted Kord not only discovers the conspiracy but takes full control of it. With Brother Eye on his side, Ted is able to out-think the Justice League, defeating Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman and transforming them into OMACs to do his bidding. This continues until Ted completely loses his humanity to Brother Eye, becoming an emotionless android himself.
Brother Eye’s main goal has always been the utter destruction of super-humans. If he found out there was an entire multiverse out there, or a universe where he failed, it’s hard not to imagine that Brother Eye would want to destroy those Earths as well. This would give him a perfect reason for wanting to break out of his universe and begin invading others.
Tales from the Dark Multiverse: The Judas Contract#1 by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom, Tom Raney, Hi-Fi, and Tom Orzechowski
One of the darkest members of theTeen Titans has always been Terra.While Tara Markov seemed to be just an innocent fourteen-year-old girl, it was revealed she was actually a spy working for Deathstroke. Some interpretations posit her as truly evil: not just a young girl manipulated into serving Deathstroke, but a cruel villain who actively enjoys hurting others. Terra had no issue betraying the Teen Titans, and while she was defeated, that’s not the case for this dark what-if.
Terra then takes over the planet and torments the few surviving scraps of humanity.
In this alternate take, Tara Markov gets her hands on the same serum Deathstroke uses to increase his brain capacity. With it, her powers vastly increase. No longer seeing herself as a Teen Titan,Terra takes on the name of Gaia and goes on a murderous rampage. She slaughters Deathstroke, murders the Titans, and even manages to kill Superman, as her enhanced geokinetic powers allow her to control Kryptonite. Terra then takes over the planet and torments the few surviving scraps of humanity, which she’d surely be all-too-happy to do on another planet.
The Dark Multiverse Has Tons of Twisted Characters
Including Dark Versions of Reverse-Flash, Wonder Woman, and Batman
After these characters were introduced, a common consensus among fans was that they’d return as their own version of the Justice League. Bizarrely, this team never came to pass.Death Metalcame and went without these characters reappearing. To this day, they’ve never been seen again, which is odd considering Limbo Lantern Sinestro was actively trying to escape his universe, and other characters from theDark Multiverse, such as Duke Thomas' Final Knight, have escaped. As it stands, it seems that this was the oneJustice Leaguethat was too dark for DC to put together.
Tales from the DC Dark Multiverseis available now, digitally and in collected editions, from DC Comics — including all of these stories and more!
