'Dark Nights: Metal' Kills Its First Nightmare Batman

The first of the Dark Knights -- a team of nightmare Batmen from the Dark Multiverse -- has died, setting up the finale to Dark Nights: Metal from writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo in March.

In Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt, a creative team made up of writers Scott Snyder, Grant Morrison, James Tynion IV and Joshua Williamson with artists Howard Porter, Jorge Jimenez, Doug Mahnke, and others, finally revealed that not all of the Dark Knights were created equal.

The Red Death -- who was half-Batman, half-Flash -- found himself divorced of Bruce Wayne's lust for revenge and mortified by the acts that he and his fellow Batmen had participated in.

This change of heart was arguably foreshadowed at the time: here is how ComicBook.com's Matt Mueller described the birth of The Red Death back in September:

"As Scarecrow is ready to attack civilians, a red-armored Batman/Flash mashup emerges, ripping the longtime villain in two. It's The Red Death, whose narration reveals he is Bruce Wayne. What can also be seen though is a second speech bubble with a fainter text. At every turn, it challenges Bruce's words and mission, and it seems that Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen both made it through to the other side, but are now two minds in one body.

"Bruce Wayne is clearly much more in control though, as witnessed in his killing of several villains. He makes his way through The Riddler, The Penguin, and Man-Bat in a matter of seconds, but Barry is protesting his actions every step of the way. This comes to a head when Bruce is introduced to the messenger of Barbatos. As Bruce listens to his pitch, Barry's face can be seen morphing out of Bruce's, warning him not to listen and to stay away from him."

After helping The Flash of our Earth for a while in The Wild Hunt, The Red Death found himself murdered by the other Dark Knights, taunted by the knowledge that they had always anticipated his betrayal and not only withheld elements of their plans from him, but based the next steps on the notion that they would have to kill him.

Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1 is on sale now. You can get it at your local comic shop, or pick up a digital copy here.

Dark Nights: Metal #6 will be on sale on March 14. You can pre-order a copy here.