Batman The Devastator Destroys Metropolis And Takes The Cosmic Tuning Fork

Again as we have seen in other Dark Nights Metal Tie ins, these sub plots adds more soul to these evil versions of Batman and they do push the story a bit further but not by much. Batman the red death started killing people with his speed force energy in central city, Batman the Murder Machine took over comms and the Justice League Satellite and he also took out their tech expert Cyborg, Batman the Drowned started building her army of undead where she basically took Mera as part of that army. And similar to the other evil Batmen, the drowned basically made a huge statement telling Aquaman that he does not have authority in his own home town of Amnesty Bay where we see Batman the drowned essentially sinks the entire place under water. Then there’s Batman the dawnbreaker. After arriving on earth 0 from Gotham city, he went straight to Hal Jordan’s home town of Coast City, went face to face with the Prime Green Lantern himself and defeats the hero resulting in Dr. Fate having to save another hero. The Dawnbreaker is last seen conjuring up his dark constructs to terrorize the people of Coast City. Batman the Merciless arrives on the HQ of ARGUS where he basically went after the failsafe plan. What happens if the justice League fails to protect earth?

Well the government will jump and we always see a familiar face for this task force, Amanada Waller. She may be a villain in most story arcs but she is on the side of humans and earth itself and her pet project Task Force X is funded by tax payers and the government so she is there wherever and whenever the Justice League fails at their job. And right now, according to the world, the entire justice league is compromised. But to fight a threat this high, the government sent in all their trump cards in the form Amanda Waller’s ARGUS and TASK FORCE X, Director Bones representing the Department Of Extranormal Operations, and Father Time representing SHADE whose main objective is to combat all the creepy monsters that lurk in the shadows. And finally General Samuel Lane who represents the full force of the military with its entire fancy toy at his disposal. They sent their most powerful weapon of mass destruction at Batman the Merciless and he still stands. At the end, these poor government agents arnt lucky enough to have Dr. Fate save them but rather, they bend the knee to one of the evil Batmen.

So as of right now, the entire justice league roster have been taken out or manage to escape from certain death licking their wounds from the Dark Knights. Barbatos basically sent out his army to key spots around North America much like achieving checkmate in a game of chest. The government back up plan failed to take out 1 Dark Knight. What else can these evil Batmen do to cripple the earth?

History Of Batman The Devastator

Enter Batman the Devastator. This Batman was such a surprise to me. After feeling some Tie in fatigue, I was super happy to discover the Devastator’s back story. It appears to draw direct inspiration from the Injustice universe where we see a version of Superman losing it and began to kill people who he believes does not deserve to live and he rules the world with an iron fist with only Batman and his insurgency standing in his way. Well in earth -1, Superman snaps. We don’t know what happened or how it happened but somehow he lost it and began killing civilians and other superheroes.

DC Comics World’s Finest

This world establishes the fact that Batman and superman have been best friends for some time and it is this betrayal that started Bruce Wayne on his dark path. But even after all the murders and criminal acts, Batman still had hopes that his friend superman is still in there until Superman killed his own wife Lois Lane. Something inside the mind of Batman broke and the awesome thing is that this was never explored in any other story. The injustice series saw Superman turning evil but Batman still stuck to his code but this devastator Batman had such a strong bond to his Superman that when the man of steel turned evil, he turned Batman’s whole believe system upside down. So with the Justice League dead, its up to Batman to kill his best friend using a Kryptonite spear, which is a direct nod to the spear we see in Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice. This issue does an awesome job bringing in elements from past stories and somehow making it seem fresh because the spear is rendered useless. Superman is way too fast for batman to get his strike in. But that begs the question: you throw batman into a battlefiend with an unknown meta human, he is basically dead because he is human. He cant withstand a punch from someone with powers like Flash or Wonder Woman let alone Superman. The arguing factor is that Batman’s suit can absorb a huge amount of punishment but there’s always the mouth opening that his opponent can capitalize on. And then the second argument is Batman’s belt. This thing seems to have a black hole into a storage bunker holding everything from paper clips to Kryptonite slivers to every type of bomb I can think of. But the key to Batman’s success is preparation and that is why the fight between Batman and Superman in the dark knight returns is by far my favorite fight between the two. It showcases what the Dark Knight is capable of if he has enough time to get ready enough so that he can take down a literal god in the form of Superman.

But back to the devastator Batman: he had his Kryptonite chance which failed but his trump card was to go Doomsday on Superman. This worked too well and the superman of his world dies. But what is left for Batman? Well the main theme for their fight is betrayal. Due to the fact that no one knows why superman went evil adds to the mystery of it all and how Batman copes with his best friend’s death. This superman appears to be completely normal. There isn’t any sign of evil or transformation so he could have been exposed to red Kryptonite so long that he became permanently corrupted or maybe this is how this world’s superman wanted to fool planet earth: Play the hero to give people hope and then tear it all down. We just don’t know why but it ate away at the heart of this world’s Batman. Then of course like the other Batman Tie ins, the Batman Who Laughs shows up offering Batman a way to survive his dyeing planet but that wasn’t how he got the devastator to join his crusade. The joker Batman told him of a world where Superman is still the shining light of hope and gives Batman the devastator a chance to correct that. Without hesitation and resistance, the devastator joins up with the batman who laughs which completes his private Batman Army for his god Barbatos.

Then in the real world, after arriving in Metropolis, the devastator, in human form goes to Lois Lane telling her that he will save her from Superman. So this shows us that even though he is probably corrupted by the Doomsday Virus, he still cares for key people such as Lois Lane and a handful of other people. This adds a new dynamic to a destructive and chaotic character such as Doomsday whose sole mission is to destroy everything because his heart is so filled with hate. Where Doomsday is just pure brute uncontrollable strength, the devastator shows a unique ability to be gentle when he wants to be. Yes he squeezed Lois’s hand in a hand shake but he didn’t crush it to a pile of liquid ooze. So there is some sanity left in him and we can only assume that his one motivation to work for Barbatos is another rematch with Superman.

Where Is Batman’s Justice League Of America?

There’s one element in this story that pleasantly surprised me and that is the inclusion of Lobo. With our Batman gone, his side team of the justice league of America steps in to try and save the day but there lies the question, we haven’t seen the other members in any other tie in but we got Lobo going toe to toe with the Devastator. Lobo himself is a powerful alien with a healing factor that might be even more efficient than Wolverine and Deadpool. I don’t think Lobo can even die. In his last big event, Lobo was blasted nearly point blank by an unidentified super rifle found in the ARGUS Armory. This gun has gotta be that powerful for it to be presented on its on pedestal in the center of the armory and yet, he survived. Then he gets his head blown off by a brain bomb set of by Batman and of course he survived. Following these events, Lobo joins up with Batman to form his own private little army calling themselves the justice league of America where Lobo is the tank of this new team much like superman to the Justice League.

But then when he goes toe to toe with Batman the Devastator, he gets gutted from a hook and thrown towards the direction of the sun. It goes off screen so we cant confirm that it is the sun but basically, this proves another crippling factor to the forces of earth. The justice league are over powered, the government black ops division and the full force of the military is unable to defeat the threat. The Titans and the Teen Titans have fallen to the joker Batman’s spell and now, Batman’s back up team the JLA are unable to complete the mission where we see their best bruiser get taken out by Barbatos’ strongest Batman. How in the world will the heroes come out of this alive and what repercussions will this event have for the DC Multiverse moving forward?

Return Of The Cosmic tuning Fork/Tower

The last thing I wanna discuss before we close up this article is the devastator’s mission to take the Cosmic Tuning Fork for his master Barbatos. This fork was such an obscure item that was used only twice if memory serves me correctly.

During the crisis on Infinite Earths, the monitor built and placed these tuning Forks or towers across earths in an attempt to save the multiverse from the Anti Monitor. The purpose was that these tuning forks or towers should allow the Monitor to align the vibrational patterns of these multiversal earths and save them from the oblivion that awaited them.

Then in the follow up Infinite Crisis event, Alexander Luthor Jr, a character from Earth 3, brings back the Cosmic tuning fork with a dead Anti-Monitor in hopes of creating the perfect earth.

Now after a few reboots and rebirths, the Cosmic Tuning fork shows up again in Superman’s Fortress of solitude. What blows my mind in this choice of location and hiding place is that superman built his Fortress and he calls it solitude for a reason. He houses endangered species and weapons that needs to be protected but he trusts Batman so much that he allows the caped crusader to have a private storage room where even superman does not have access to it and not even know of its content. This room is revealed to house the Cosmic tuning fork, a machine, or weapon that we haven’t seen in over a decade. How it got in there without Superman knowing, we will never know but Mr. Miracle says it the best, we should not be playing around with a cosmic item such as this. So in the true form of Batman, he plays around with it.

Another thing is always true; history has a mean way of repeating itself. In the case of this Tuning Fork, every time we have seen it, the entire multiverse is in disarray basically on a cosmic level. every hero on earth will do their part to try and save it but it requires the intervention of other heroes from across the multiverse in order for our heroes to win the day.

As we have seen, Earth’s defences are rendered inert. A council was either formed or opened again which contains the oldest characters and immortals in the DC universe to discuss the impending threat. So we do have a backup plan – these immortals which include, Morgaine La Fe, Vandal Savage, the Wizard Shazam, the outsider, and Raz al Ghul, can and probably will attempt to use their ultimate weapon the anti-monitor’s astral brain, fire it through the multiverse at the rock of eternity which will destroy the dark multiverse.

Discovering The Dark Multiverse

The dark multiverse is newly introduced to us in Dark Nights Metal. It adds a lot of wonders and potential to the DC comic’s universe but it could complicate things beyond repair. So if this immortal council destroys the dark multiverse, will they fix the problem? I think no because the dark Knights are already here to stay so it is only Barbatos that need to come and play. I’m perfectly fine with the Dark Multiverse being destroyed because we haven’t clearly explored our main multiverse yet but if the dark multiverse stays, I’m fine with that as well because it adds more layers to the DC universe and more potential for awesome future stories. But time is of the essence because the Devastator completed his mission for Barbatos. He went to the Fortress of Solitude and took the cosmic tuning fork for his master Barbatos. The villains are now in possession of a cosmic item that will change the tide of war and time is running out for our heroes.