What Dark Days told us about upcoming Dark Matter comics

Dark Days have officially hit the DC Universe. With the release of Dark Days: The Forge (Review) and Dark Days: The Casting (Review), Scott Snyder’s latest epic has finally begun. Yet there is so much more to come.

The two Dark Days issues are simply an introduction to a six issue event comic titled Dark Nights: Metal. This in turn will create five new comic series, seven one-shot tie-ins, and a “Gotham Resistance” issue in Teen Titans, Nightwing, Suicide Squad, and Green Arrow. Today we are taking a look at what we learned about each of these aspects of Dark Nights: Metal through the two issues of Dark Days.

 

(Warning: Spoilers for Dark Days: The Forge and Dark Days: The Casting ahead)

 

The Immortal Men

The first bit of information about The Immortal Men describes the series as following five immortal siblings who were “born at the dawn of time.” These siblings are said to work from the shadows, influencing events across the world in order to prevent Armageddon.

What we see of the Immortal Men in Dark Days: The Forge (Review) seems to match this description exactly. Covertly operating from a campus beneath the city of Philadelphia, the Immortal Men are a group that value secrecy. They appear to be led by the “Immortal Man,” who may or may not be related to an old DC Comics characters who was also named the “Immortal Man.” If they are connected, then there could be conflict down the road involving Vandal Savage, who was the Immortal Man’s biggest enemy.

In addition, Dark Days also shows us that the Immortal Men have some sort of connection with Duke Thomas and his mother. The Immortal Man says that at some point he offered immortality to Duke’s mother, yet she turned him down. This connection could explain the super powers that Duke has be exhibiting, something which began in All-Star Batman #9 (Review).

New Challengers

The New Challengers series has been described as a series about characters tackling “the greatest mysteries, wonders and terrors of the universe.” It appears this will involve a brand new cast of characters which will respect the legacy of the original Challengers of the Unknown.

Within Dark Days, we get to see the first appearance of the Challengers of the Unknown. These Challengers are a team put together by Hawkman in order to explore the mystery behind the metal he is researching. However, before they are able to discover anything, Challengers Mountain is destroyed (or teleported somewhere) and a dark pair of eyes appears.

The Challengers of the Unknown which appear in Dark Days: The Casting (Review), do not appear to be the Challengers who will be staring in the New Challengers series. Instead, the New Challengers series seems to take place years after the original Challengers are disbanded. These New Challengers have to face the mystery behind Challengers Mountain reappearing after its disappearance in Dark Days: The Casting (Review). So it seems like this series will involve a new team of Challengers who are investigating the final mission of the old Challengers.

The Silencer

DC Comics has described The Silencer to be about a woman who is the “world’s deadliest assassin, until she traded it all for a chance at a “normal” life.” However, this “normal life” is interrupted when her past comes back to haunt her, leading her to return to her career as an assassin.

A meeting between Batman and Talia tells us that Talia is the one who has brought “The Silencer” back into a life of crime. It is also tells us that she has done this in order to prepare for the future, specifically to prepare for war. It is unclear whether this war will be against the antagonist of Dark Nights: Metal or if it will be against Leviathan (who Batman mentions has recently moved against Talia). Either way this issue ends with Talia owing Batman a favor, and with her having the “world’s deadliest assassin” working for her, that may not be a bad thing.

Damage

The new series Damage will star a man who was promised to become “the ultimate weapon.” However, instead of this, he is cursed with the “ability to unleash an unstoppable monster for one hour at a time.” The series will cover his attempts to tame this monster and use it for good.

Dark Days: The Casting (Review) gives us a quick peek at what this monster can do and what it looks like. Dubbilex tells Batman that Damage was created by Cadmus scientists who were trying to activate those with metal in their blood. However, this experiment went horribly wrong as the metal is too cursed to work with: “everything it touches, it corrupts.” Shown possessing the strength to rip apart iron bars and fight off a battalion of armed guards, Damage definitely seems like a science experiment gone wrong.

Batman One-Shots

DC announced seven one-shot comics that tie into Dark Nights: Metal, each focusing on a corrupted version of Batman from the Dark Multiverse. Each of these corrupted Batmen seems to be an amalgamation of the Caped Crusader himself and another major DC character.

Not much was revealed about these one-shots within the two Dark Days issues. However, the final page of Dark Days: The Casting (Review) gives us our first glimpse of these seven Dark Knights, outside of press releases.

Sideways and Gotham Resistance

Sideways is a new series spinning out of the events of Dark Nights: Metal. It follows the story of a teenager who gains superpowers from coming into contact with Dark Matter. This allows him to “teleport through the Dark Dimension.”

“Gotham Resistance” is a set of Dark Nights: Metal tie-in issues that will be set throughout various DC comic series. These tie-ins will follow street-level heroes as they fight back against the Dark Universe’s corruption.

However, neither of these aspects of Dark Nights: Metal received any sort of mention within Dark Days. DC Comics has talked about them through press releases but has not shown them within the comics yet. Hopefully more about them will be revealed as Metal begins.

Conclusion

Overall, we learned a lot about the new Dark Universe from just two comic book issues. However, there is still much more to discover. Most of this will hopefully be unveiled once Dark Nights: Metal hits shelves in August.

For more information about Dark Days, check out our earlier examinations of it here and here.

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