How Death Metal opens up use of Hypertime, the Metaverse and the Omniverse for Future State, Generations, and Infinite Frontier (January 2021)

 Finally we reach 2021. This is my post post-Death Metal focusing on the cosmology of the DC Multiverse. I specifically deal with what "Hypertime", "Metaverse" and "Omniverse" mean.

Link to the original from Reddit

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Reception of the Death Metal event (which I finally read the final issue of), outside some great tie-ins, has been pretty mixed here and I definitely see why. But one thing I appreciate is how it does its best to tie a lot of things together.

Scott Snyder and company were really ambitious in making this new DC cosmology but they also brought back and used a lot of older ideas.

Specifically, Hypertime, the Metaverse and the Omniverse.

I've seen a lot of people say these things have been done before, which is true, but I think the point is that the concepts are actually going to be used more than ever going forward. I really think they're going to fulfill that promise and lost impact this time, and good or bad it looks like they already are.

Hypertime - Future State

Hypertime

First, what is Hypertime?

In short, Hypertime is the concept that the main timeline of the DC Universe (and later the Multiverse) is not the only one, and outside it are streams of other timelines. Some of which intersect and diverge from the main one at one or multiple points. This takes the 1 dimensional time "line" and puts it in a 3 dimensional sphere with infinite other lines in it.

Possible futures, alternate pasts, and completely separate timelines that influence the main are all part of this. An example Grant Morrison used once: TDKR is not part of the main timeline and never intersects, but at some point it came close enough to influence the main timeline and make Batman darker in modern times.

More on that from Grant Morrison here

"Hypertime heals"

At the end of DM, we're told that Hypertime is finally healing, with the present set, opening up possible futures and alternate pasts once more.

Leading to...

Future State

This is what Future State is. A Hypertime timeline.

Note, FS is not it's own universe separate from Earth-0. It's currently "separate" to Earth-0 in that it's a possible future that hasn't been set yet. Just like Futures End, Batman Beyond Rebirth, Titans Tomorrow etc.

But it's not just a possible future of Earth-0, but of the local Multiverse as a whole (more on this term later). We know this because the Flash of FS JL is Jess Chambers of Earth-11, who first appeared in the present in DC's Very Merry Multiverse last December.

After Future State ends, we'll be coming back to the present, and soon elements of Future State will come true. This is basically the Hypertime idea of a timeline intersecting with the main one. At some point, they'll diverge. The other 51 Earths of the Multiverse we know of is actually also born from Hypertime according to Multiversity. If FS does end up not being the future of the Multiverse, there's a possibility there will be a new universe, if not another whole Multiverse, based on Future State. Which will fit with the third concept.

Metaverse - Generations (Fractured, Shattered and Forged)

The Metaverse

Doomsday Clock is the story that first introduced the idea that every version of main continuity all happened on "one universe".

"one universe"

Dr. Manhattan discovers this and calls it the "Metaverse". We call it Earth-0, Universe-0, Prime Earth etc.

One might say Death Metal just does it again along with Flash Forward, but it does more than that. It actually reveals this truth to everyone through Wonder Woman by "unknotting" the timeline. This makes it an important fact going forward that'll be used for the new continuity. A real anti-crisis/anti-reboot which embraces the previously erased, now restored, history.

Going forward, we're told we'll also see flashes of those old memories occur. In Future State, we see a lot of Pre-Flashpoint concepts come back. But even bigger than that, there's also the Generations Shattered and Forged one-shots.

Generations: Shattered

Following Generations Fractured from 'Tec #1027, this story briefly references Future State, but the main focus are these different versions of the timelines, each representing a past version of main continuity. From the Golden Age, to Silver Age, to Bronze Age, to Pre and Post-Zero Hour. This is the history of the Metaverse.

The solicit even refers to it as the "newest (and oldest)" universe in the Multiverse. Clearly, this is the Metaverse concept being used, whether the name is or not.

Omniverse

An Infinite Web of Multiverses

The biggest thing going forward is the Omniverse, which is revealed to be what "Infinite Frontier" refers to.

Now, this isn't the first time that Multiverses beyond the one we know have been referred to. It goes way back. The most recent outside of Scott Snyder's JL being none other than in Multiversity.

"Multiverse-2"

Here, the Multiverse with the 52 worlds we know is the "local" Multiverse. The Empty "Hand" (more on him in a future post...) destroyed a "Multiverse-2" before.

There's also the end of Convergence which according to interviews, apparently restores the previous multiverses. Because of that some people said "Convergence already did this". But Death Metal did not create the Omniverse. The story points to it already existing. The difference now is that the Hands removed all boundaries.

Unlike Convergence, I think we'll actually get more stories about those other Multiverses, new and old. The big new initiative IS named after the Omniverse:

DC Infinite Frontier

Now we haven't seen a lot of exploration in the solicits yet. But I think we will be getting more soon. If not April, sometime in the future. Scott Snyder in an interview implies Joshua Williamson will be writing an Infinite Frontier series beyond the one-shot special.

And all I'll tell you is that the series that Joshua Williamson is building, Infinite Frontier itself, which begins in March with the zero issue that we're all

and here:

Nrama: Are there any plans to follow up on the Totality and its line-up of heroes and villains, or is that an open-ended gift to the creators that want to pick up the threads?

Snyder: There are definitely specific plans that tie into Josh's Infinite Frontier series. But it's also a gift for anyone else that wants to use it. My hope is that other writers, editors, and artists will want to pick it up. But there are story plans in place already for the kind of spine series that Josh is building.

Whether he misspoke or just meant the line in general, we'll have to see. Hopefully we'll know more soon. In the mean time, we have at least 2 series already exploring the new Multiverse and Omniverse.

The new Earth 3 series

and the one I'm most excited for in March in general, Gene Luen Yang and Ivan Reis'

Batman/Superman

which will feature a Golden Age inspired World's Finest and villains based from black and white serials.

We know that the 52 Earths we knew still exist but this isn't one of them. Earth-3 may also either be the new Earth-3 of the current multiverse or another one in the Omniverse. Either way, I'm betting we really will get more Multiverse (and Omniverse content soon).