The Justice League has reunited in DC's Death Metal event, taking on the fearsome Batman/Darkseid hybrid known as... the Darkfather.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Dark Nights: Death Metal #3

DC Comics' Dark Nights: Death Metal is well underway this summer, and the third issue has just been released. Thus far, Wonder Woman and Batman have come up with a plan, but they'll need one more ally to complete their classic Trinity: Superman.

The only problem is that Superman is currently captured in this new Dark Multiverse, trapped in a version of Apokolips the likes of which DC fans have never seen before, with an all new Dark Batman deviation as its ruler: Darkfather. Read on to learn more, and what happens to the DC Trinity after this latest threat from Dark Nights: Death Metal.

Dark Nights: Death Metal, from writer Scott Snyder and art by Greg Capullo, reveals a changed world and multiverse thanks to the work of the rogue Super Celestial Perpetua and her second in command, The Batman Who Laughs (who is actively plotting her demise, seeking power of his own). Thus far she has destroyed 44 out of 52 multiverses, leaving only 8 remaining. She thrives on energy created by endless loops of crises and rebirths, so long as there are those who remember that the crises happened. After Wonder Woman kills the Batman Who Laughs, an opportunity has been opened, and she teams up with the true Batman, liberating other heroes to launch an all-out offensive to hopefully restore the multiverse as it should be. However, there's one hero they absolutely need to find and rescue, and that's Superman, who's long been held prisoner on Apokokips by the Darkfather.

Naturally, this Darkseid version of Batman has put his own spin on the fiery realm, complete with a vicious army of Robin-esque parademons. Wonder Woman explains that the Darkfather is a Batman who took on Darkseid's powers, and has also been keeping Superman as his prisoner, trying to get him to succumb to the anti-life equation. When Batman, Wonder Woman, and Harley Quinn find the Man of Steel, he's being subjected to several different types of kryptonite, with colors never seen before in an attempt to weaken his resolve. However, Batman uses his newfound power with his Black Lantern ring to stop the dead cells within Superman to stop being affected and changed by the anti-life equation. Darkfather also tries to shoot Batman with an improved gun that Darkseid once used to send Batman back in time in a previous crisis. This new gun would completely erase Batman from history altogether. However, for some reason Batman is mysteriously unaffected by the blast.

With Superman then freed, he uppercuts the Darkfather out of Apokolips and into assumed oblivion, though it's unclear if he was completely destroyed or not. Who knows? Perhaps the Darkfather could return in a later issue of Dark Nights: Death Metal. Together once more, the very battle-hardened and quite epic-looking DC Trinity are united to stop Perpetua and the evolved Batman Who Laughs, who has plans in motion to live on in a more powerful, final form, despite being killed.

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