DC Teases Its Next Crisis Event

The DC universe entered new footing with the launch of the Infinite Frontier publishing initiative earlier this year, and fans have been curious to see what it will mean for their favorite characters. In and amongst the ongoing series and new titles, we've started to get a bit of an indication — and this week might have provided the biggest bombshell yet. Spoilers for Infinite Frontier #6, from Joshua Williamson, Xermanico, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Tom Napolitano, and Mitch Gerads, below! Only look if you want to know!

The issue saw the culmination of Darkseid's battle against a number of DC heroes and antiheroes, all of whom had been thrown into a whirlwind of events due to the recent birth of the Omniverse. As Darkseid revealed over the course of the issue, his goal was to unlock a secret power hidden outside of the Omniverse, and potentially use Barry Allen running at a fast speed to create a crack in the Omniverse. Over the course of the battle, Darkseid began to lose his grip on the power that he needed, and decided to send all of the heroes back to their respective locations and declare the battle "over" for now.

As everyone else tried to grapple with the new normal, Darkseid formed a group of his family — Steppenwolf, Desaad, Kalibak, Grail, and Granny Goodness — in hopes that they would put aside their differences and help in the coming "wars", which "all heroes of the multiverse will play a role in." We then saw even more villains under Darkseid's control — the Empty Hand, Upside-Down Man, Eclipso, and Nekron — as he talked about his plan to find the crack in the Omniverse. While Darkseid asserted that he isn't the only one hoping to control the power of what's beyond it — The Great Darkness — he knew he would be the one victorious.

In the issue's epilogue, Barry ended up in a realm known as "Multiverse-2", and was joined by none other than Pariah, who had been involved with the very first Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Pariah asserted that there was another way to stop the multiverse from ever truly dying, and proceeded to use his powers to send Barry to another reality — his own reality, dubbed Earth-Flash.1. The end of the issue proclaimed that the storyline would be "continued in 2022."

While there are no details at this time as to what the event could be, it certainly seems like DC is setting the stage for the next Crisis-level event. It will be interesting to see exactly what it entails, as the idea of Pariah being able to create individual universes for every character has compelling and dangerous ramifications, as does Darkseid seeking to control "The Great Darkness" as he did in the pages of Legion of Super-Heroes in the 1980s. However this new storyline could evolve next could also help further canonize the larger DC multiverse, including other out-of-continuity comics, movies, television, and more.

What do you think of DC's setup for its next major event? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!