After days of teasing, DC finally announced what we’ve all been expecting since Scott Snyder’s Justice Leaguewrapped: Dark Nights: Death Metal, the follow up to the gonzo 2017-18 crossover Dark Nights: Metal, the event that introduced the Dark Multiverse to the DC cosmology, a nightmare version of the DC Universe full of Bat-themed baddies.

If Metal read like it was born out of Greg Capullo whispering “memento metal” into Snyder’s ear as they walked into a DC writer’s retreat, then Death Metal sounds like what happens when Capullo trebuchets a milk crate full of Megadeth records through a brooding Snyder’s living room window, convincing the writer to become what his enemies fear most: totally fucking brutal.

In case you haven’t been following Metal or Justice League for the past few years, here’s a refresher:

Metal sawevil-Batman versions of the entire Justice League from the Dark Multiverse invade the regular Multiverse and attempt to destroy it. These dark Batmen marched under the leadership of The Batman Who Laughs, a Jokerized version of Bruce who went mad and killed his entire family on his own Earth. The miniseries also featured a giant Hawkman battling the Monitor and Anti-Monitor’s brother, the Forger of Worlds, as well as the dark bat god from “Dark Knight, Dark City” wailing on his axe to start the destruction of the Earth. Oh, and Batman punched a Joker dragon in the nose. While our heroes defeated the evil Batmen in the end, the Dark Multiverse survived, The Batman Who Laughs continued to terrorize the DCU through Snyder’s Justice League run, and a giant hole was punched in the Source Wall, the barrier that kept an even bigger threat from invading the universe.