The majority of my review on Metal will be under the title itself, but I wanted to say a few things about the Nightmare Batmen apart from my general review.These Batmen are SCARY! Basically, they are a look at what Batman would be like if he had tried to increase his power by killing and absorbing each member of the Justice League (and Joker in the case of BWL). The origin stories made sense and I could definitely see these 7 being enemies for him in the future (though only one is left alive).Ba The majority of my review on Metal will be under the title itself, but I wanted to say a few things about the Nightmare Batmen apart from my general review.These Batmen are SCARY! Basically, they are a look at what Batman would be like if he had tried to increase his power by killing and absorbing each member of the Justice League (and Joker in the case of BWL). The origin stories made sense and I could definitely see these 7 being enemies for him in the future (though only one is left alive).Basic info on them (and what happened on their version of -Earth):The Red Death - a Batman who absorbed Barry Allen and his connection to the Speed Force so that he could be fast enough to stop crime from happeningThe Drowned - Bryce Wayne (female version of Bruce who had a relationship with Sylvester Kyle) loses it when her lover is murdered, killing metas and eventually Aquawoman, who was using the promise of peace to trick Bryce into surrender. For the death of Aquawoman, the Atlanteans flood the surface and Bryce is forced to survive by augmenting her body to survive in water. She conquers Atlantis and then drowns the rest of the world.Dawnbreaker - When the Waynes were killed, Bruce's determination to not be afraid calls a Green Lantern ring to him. He overrides the programming, using the Green light to kill and take revenge. He eventually falls into a darkness he embraces, and begins to channel a dark version of the Green lightThe Murder Machine - Bane breaks into the Batcave, looking to kill Batman and instead kills Alfred. Bruce goes to Cyborg for help in fixing an Alfred AI he had been working on, but it mutates and begins killing all of Batman's rogues. When Bruce goes to fix it, he gets overcome and is cybernetically altered to take away all his fear and debilitating emotions. Cyborg dubs him The Murder Machine.The Merciless - Batman and Wonder Woman team up to fight against Ares, who had just created a helmet to increase his power a hundredfold. They are able to remove the helmet from him, but it seemingly takes Diana's life. In his rage and loss, Batman puts on the helmet and destroys Ares. Wonder Woman is not dead, but when she awakens and tries to remove the helmet from Bruce, he is already so addicted to the power, that he kills her rather than give it up. He then wages war against the world.The Devastator - Bruce is paranoid that Superman would one day try to kill him. When Clark goes crazy and kills Lois, Batman fights against him (think Injustice or the BvS movie). Turns out that Batman had a modified version of the Doomsday Virus on hand, and he takes it to become powerful enough to stop Superman. But.... the virus spreads and everyone begins turning into their Doomsday versions.The Batman Who Laughs -Starting pretty much like our Batman, the Joker of Earth -22 is much more crazy. During a really intense fight where many get killed, Batman makes the decision to end Joker and snaps his neck. Reflecting back on the fight with Superman, Bruce hears about many kids that have been Joker-ized and lets out a short chuckle. Three days later, he is training with the Bat Family when he reveals that not only has he been infected with a extreme Joker virus that is incurable, but that he invited them there not to train, but so he could kill them all, which he does, all while laughing. Next killing the Justice League and using the Joker-ized kids as Robins, he completes his conversion into The Batman Who Laughs.It's at this point that his Earth begins to collapse. Barbatos shows up and tells him all about the Dark Multiverse and his plan to get back at Batman. He then goes around to the other -Earths and collects the rest of the "Dark Knights".See my review of Metal for the rest of the story and opinions.
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