While the DC Universe has been in the Infinite Frontier era for a few months, Joshua Williamson and Xermanico’s Infinite Frontier is set to mark the first major event of the post-Dark Nights: Death Metal era. But before it starts, we’re taking a closer look at how that epic event led to the formation of the DC Omniverse and the path to Infinite Frontier.
After DC’s New 52 reboot, the majority of DC’s history was wiped clean, with 10 years of stories effectively erased. However, the DC Rebirth era saw DC’s heroes start to realized what was lost and rediscover their histories and absent friends. And Now, all of DC’s heroes remember all of their past lives, and the whole multiverse is coming to grips with what that means.
Before Infinite Frontier
In Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s epic Dark Nights: Death Meta, the Batman Who Laughs plotted with Perpetua, the creator of the DC Multiverse, to kill the rest of her race, the Hands, who created the other multiverses in the greater DC Omniverse. They believed that the Hands were coming to the DC Multiverse to erase it from existence and that the only way to save reality was to kill the hands. At the apparent cost of her life, Wonder Woman was able to stop the Batman Who Laughs from destroying the Hands.
The Hands appeared to Wonder Woman in the form of her original Golden Age self, telling her that they admire her and all she has done. They told her that because she and the other heroes tried to save them even though it meant the DC Multiverse would be destroyed, they would spare them and give them a second chance. The Hands restored the entire history of the DC Universe, making every story in DC’s history canon again.
With the Hands restoring everything, Dark Nights: Death Metal ended with an introduction to some of the key elements of the “Infinite Frontier” era which are sure to pop up in the new limited series. Barry Allen introduced Wally West to the Totality, a secret team made up of heroes and villains dedicated to protecting Earth from new multiversal threats. Wally was informed that the restoration of DC’s entire history created an infinite number of branching pasts and futures as well as an infinite web of multiverses — a DC Omniverse. In addition to this new “Infinite Frontier,” it was revealed that Earth-0 is no longer the center of the multiverse, instead replaced by two worlds that are opposites — Elseworld and Earth Omega.
How Infinite Frontier Began
The story continued in Infinite Frontier #0, which revealed more about the infinite possibilities the Omniverse presents and answered some of the questions raised by Death Metal‘s ending. Wonder Woman was warned by the Hands that reality would soon face a new threat and briefly joined the Quintessence, a group made up of the highest beings in the multiverse.
Warning the Quintessence of the threat the Hands mentioned, Wonder Woman and Spectre toured the DC Universe to look for anything amiss but found nothing. During this tour, they saw some events of particular relevance to the upcoming Infinite Frontier series. These events included Alan Scott coming out to his kids and Barry Allen asking Wally to replace him as the Earth’s Flash in preparation for them joining the multiverse’s version of the Justice League, Justice Incarnate, led by President Superman of Earth-23.
Infinite Frontier #0’s epilogue, by Joshua Williamson, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson and Brad Anderson, revealed Wonder Woman’s impending threat to be Darkseid. The Quintessence tried to trap Darkseid on Earth Omega, however, with his power now far greater than it was before the original Crisis, Darkseid killed the members of the Quintessence. Pronouncing himself to be finite and the end, Darkseid looks to be the villain of the new Infinite Frontier series.
Infinite Frontier: Secret Files
Since then, the digital-first series Infinite Frontier: Secret Files has seen a rotating group of creators tell the tales of the key characters of the upcoming Infinite Frontier limited series and where they are going into it. President Superman’s daily routine is revealed, highlighting how little time he has for himself. The resurrected Roy Harper struggles to come to terms with his past and all he’s lost, yet still manages to the right thing. Alan Scott’s children, Jade and Obsidian, question their restored history, revealing that these changes have altered Jade’s powers in some way. The Totality return, coming face to face with the Earth-23 Totality and indicating that President Superman may have problems with the group.
All of these stories are framed by the D.E.O. and Mister Bones. Bones listens to the stories to keep tabs on the key players of Infinite Frontier, as the D.E.O. now sees the multiverse as a threat. Having already discovered that Captain Boomerang kept his Death Metal powers, Bones and the D.E.O. now look set to oppose Justice Incarnate’s mission to chart the new Omniverse. With the D.E.O. and Darkseid against them, Justice Incarnate has one tough mission ahead of them if they want to save the DC Multiverse.
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