Spoiler: Batman Perishes in DC’s Absolute Universe Crossover

Comic Book Club Live tells that in DC K.O, one of the latest of the mainstream’s insufferable crossovers, Batman dies while Darkseid comes out victorious:

For the second week in a row after Absolute Evil #1, it’s clear DC Comics isn’t holding back on wild, game-changing twists. That’s because in DC K.O. #1, which is in stores today — and spoilers past this point — Batman dies, an Absolute Universe crossover happens, and writer Scott Snyder even spoils that at the end of the story, the heroes lose, and Darkseid wins. Seriously.

So there’s stories where Batman wins against heroes like Superman, but he loses against Darkseid? Well, this says all you need to know what’s wrong with modern DC and its contributors. Maybe they thought that with all the stories about Batman defeating everybody thought fit for a loss, this would ease complaints, but no, this only makes the situation ever more dire. That this may be an alternate take on the DCU is no excuse either.

That’s a jaw-dropping amount of twists, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg in what happens in the issue. The broad strokes, before we get into the wild specifics, are that a year after “dying” in the DC All In Special, Darkseid essentially became the Absolute Universe. He conquered the future, where the Legion of Super-Heroes live, and has been working his way back to “our” time in order to take over the main DC Universe, as well.

As DC K.O. #1 opens, we get a glimpse of what will happen seven days in the future, when Darkseid takes over the entire universe all at once, consuming it. To stop him, the heroes hatch a dangerous plan… It turns out that there’s a Heart of Apokolips, the sort of engine that powers Darkseid’s home planet, at the center of the Earth. Darkseid’s goal is to activate it and consume the “Alpha Energy” that comes from Earth Prime, and add it to his “Omega Energy.” Instead, the heroes take the villains of the world off the board (though they don’t — more on that in a second), evacuate the Earth, and decide to restart the Heart of Apokolips using the Omega Energy that Booster Gold gathered from his time in the Absolute Universe.

Once there, they will be sent through five levels of Mortal Kombat style challenges, with 32 contenders. Each level, the winners will gain more Omega Energy, which will corrupt them more and give them more power. But the end result — at least they hope — is that one of them will get enough energy to become King Omega, restart the Heart to make it a positive force to counter Darkseid’s negative force, and bring everyone back to life.

This sounds like an attempt to mimic the premise of Marvel’s One World Under Doom, and if it’s bloodier than Marvel’s event, then once again, DC’s demonstrated how bankrupt they are by turning to jarring mayhem in order to remain relevant. That the story may see resurrections doesn’t excuse the emphasis on bloody mayhem similar to one of the most repellent video games in computer history.

No doubt, DC and Marvel both pay careful attention to each other’s shoddy crossovers to see who can do worse in their imitations than the other. In modern times, neither one’s crossovers are worth wasting money to buy and read, no matter the turnout when it comes to whether Batman lives or dies.

Originally published here