Yep @ Drave
I didn't think DC would do another Crisis storyline after Death Metal was basically 'the anti-crisis, everything happened' story...but I DO like the set up a lot for where they *seem* to be going
This is the current DC mythology, as I understand it and also where I think this is all headed...
Years ago The Creator/Presence created life
'The Hands' were tasked by the Presence with creating universes and multiverses
In an old Swamp Thing story, The Great Darkness was first mentioned. It was shown as interacting with the Presence, touching hands and then retreating forever.
There was a big Legion of Superheroes miniseries in the 80s called 'The Great Darkness Saga' which centered around Darkseid awaking in the 30th Century after losing to Orion in battle centuries before. Darkseid was referred to as 'The Great Darkness'
Death Metal was all about making the previous crises into one overlapping story. It revealed the real reason behind the multiple crises that kept rebooting the multiverse was Perpetua. Perpetua was a rogue member of 'The Hands'. Perpetua created the Monitor and Anti-Monitor. She was the whisper in the ear of Superboy Prime for Infinite Crisis, the whisper in the ear of Darkseid that led to Final Crisis, the whisper in the ear of Barry Allen that led to Flashpoint. She wanted to keep the DC in a perpetual state of reboot, because the 'crisis energy' made her more and more powerful each time. Her goal was to one day become powerful enough to overthrow 'The Hands'. She was defeated.
Now that everything matters and everything happened, it created a bit of a problem, as Darkseid is now all previous versions of himself, combined at once. He's never been so powerful.
All powerful Darkseid has become aware of something that exists outside of the Multiverse and has been dormant 'since before the first crisis'...The Great Darkness. Darkseid used The Flash running between universes to cause a crack in the multiverse, revealing the great darkness beyond.
Justice Incarnate, a team of JL made up of members from throughout the Multiverse, and was formed in the series Multiversity to stop The Empty Hand, has decided to stop Darkseid from finding the multiversal crack and using it to absorb the power of the darkness...However, Darkseid is not the ONLY character in DC whose become aware of 'The Great Darkness' and the power it holds...
The Empty Hand
The Upside Down Man
Eclipso
Nekron
First up, The Upside Down Man:
The Upside Down Man was formed when creation gave birth to Magic. The two first beings born of magic were from the bright light, Hecate, and from the dark side of Magic, the Upside-Down Man.
Next up, Eclipso:
Literally a fallen angel and holder of 'the heart of darkness' diamond, giving him many powers
Nekron:
The opposite of life and light in the DC Universe, the Lord of the Dead and Black Lanterns.
And of course, The Empty Hand:
A being of total Darkness, he represents the hand of the reader when they close a book uninterested, and his goal is the opposite of Perpetua, she wanted DC in a constant state of reboot, The Empty Hand wants DC gone forever, no more stories left to be told. I wonder if he's meant to also be the opposite of 'The Hands' that create multiverses as well. I wonder if he comes from 'The Great Darkness' itself possibly.
So that is where things currently are, with Darkseid and The Empty Hand ready to battle one another for the crack in the multiverse. Nekron, Eclipso and The Upside Down Man haven't shown themselves...yet. But whomever wins, we know one thing is certain, 'The Great Darkness' is coming and it will almost certainly be the focus of the next CRISIS in the DCU.
Based on the old Legion of Superheroes story I mentioned towards the beginning of this post, my best guess as to what 'The Great Darkness' is...well I think that:
However, there is still one more variable introduced in the recent DC series Infinite Frontier that has yet to come into play: Pariah
During the first crisis Pariah was a scientist who developed the rather horrible ability of being transported to each world in the multiverse before it was destroyed, forced to witness countless endings. Pariah appeared at the end of Infinite Frontier, eyes blacked out (possessed by The Great Darkness or maybe a servant of it perhaps), revealed he was in the Multiverse The Empty Hand had been feeding on for years, one that pre-dated the First Crisis. Pariah then transported The Flash into his own Earth. Pariah, as you can see below, has a rather different ending in mind for things in the DCU. Hmmm...
