Infinite Frontier Theory: The Empty Hand and Darkseid (New Threats to the Omniverse? Following up Multiversity? Jan 2021)

This is my big Infinite Frontier theory post. I recap a lot of things from Multiversity and Final Crisis. 

So far my prediction on more Multiversity elements and Darkseid reforming his Godhead, he's currently the big bad. 

Now a new Justice Incarnate series got announced! Looking forward to Earth 51 making an appearance and I do think the Empty Hand will come back into play.

Still considering making that Darkseid post on how his Godhead and True Form stuff works and how they allude to Judeo-Christian Theology.

Link to the original from Reddit

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DC Infinite Frontier

With the Metal saga finished at last, the Multiverse has been restored and the Dark Multiverse is back to being at the bottom of creation. But that’s not all.

The Metaverse’s timeline is unknotted to restore everyone’s histories, leading to Generations Shattered and Forged. Hypertime is healed, leading to the new possible timeline of Future State. But most importantly, the boundaries of the Multiverse are taken down, opening it up to the Omniverse, also known as the “Infinite Frontier”.

For more on those concepts and how they relate to those outcomes, see my last post..

The New Threats to the Omniverse?

While the heroes have their happy ending though, Diana is told by one of the Hands of a greater lurking threat to the Omniverse that she needs to prepare to face.

Then, we’re told that among all the major figures of the Multiverse, there’s one among them that’s missing. Let’s deal with that first.

That being is none other than.....

Darkseid

Just a quick (simplified) recap of what the god of tyrannical evil has been up to recently:

After being turned into a baby after resurrection in Darkseid War, he’s been through a lot to get himself back to proper age and power. He killed Zeus, went through a space Odyssey, went to a Dark Multiverse where he won Final Crisis, then took care of a baby Anti-Monitor while telling Diana she’d lose at the World Forge before being shocked by regaining all memories of his past lives.

Even Darksied couldn’t keep up with that recap.

So what do I think the Great Darkness up to now?

We’re told that Earth 0 is no longer the center of the Multiverse. 2 new worlds are. One is called an “Alpha” world, an Earth called “the Elseworld”. The other naturally could be the opposite. An “Omega World”. Darkseid is probably behind that one. He did try doing something similar in JL Odyssey.

“Wait, how is Darkseid going to be a threat to the Omniverse or even just the Multiverse?”

I’d like to bring up one of the most complex ideas behind the character created by Grant Morrison: his “True Form” or Godhead, the abstract, multiversal entity that was destroying the Multiverse in Final Crisis.

"Darkseid is."

You see there are multiple sets of New Gods in the Multiverse despite mistakes and misconceptions. Multiversity Guidebook itself confirms this through New Gods existing on Earths 12 (Batman Beyond/DCAU adjacent) and 51 (Kirbyverse) that are separate from the New 52 ones we know, the same issue that introduced the Multiverse map in the first place.

“So how is it that there’s only “one” Darkseid when there are multiple?”

Lowercase gods in DC are 3D emanations or avatars of a 4D, living idea.

That’s why gods are gods of things like war, love etc. That idea is alive, and it exists everywhere and in everyone. Gods are their physical manifestations, lower dimensional aspects of themselves. That’s why New Gods turn into pure energy that returns to the Source when they die and why Doctor Bedlam can animate and possess different bodies. They’re like physical shells containing their essence. Like how a 3D person casts a 2D shadow they don’t necessarily control but are extensions of them. They have their own histories and memories.

The New Gods of Earth-51 as seen in Multiversity. They first arrived there in Final Crisis Pre-New 52, reborn.

“Godhead” comes from a Christian concept related to the Trinity, basically how each person (Father, Son, Spirit) is distinct but all are in essence, one God. Even “Darkseid is” is based on the name of the biblical God being “I am”. If you’re curious about the IRL religious concepts, read this short article and/or watch this short video: https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/821-what-about-the-terms-godhead-and-trinity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAvYmE2YYIU&vl=en

The following is a compilation of what the Godhead or “True” Darkseid looks like:

Godhead/”True Form” Darkseid

Not the men and “gods” possessed by his spirit in front, but the abstract figure in the back.

“What about there being “one” Apokolips in the map?”

It’s complicated. It’s the same reason why there’s only one Rock of Eternity despite it being different when people from different Earths (0 and 5) visit it. It rotates on a higher dimensional plane.

“Okay, why do you think they’ll use this concept again and that they haven’t forgotten it?”

There’s plenty of points to back it up:

• · The Anatomy of a Metahuman book mentioned it briefly as a theory of Batman’s (just like in Final Crisis): https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91Kg9yS7OCL.jpg

• · In Multiversity Guidebook, we’re told that Earth-51 Darkseid was resurrected and he’s setting out to rebuild his Godhead from shattered fragments (shattered by Superman as seen above). Grant Morrison unfortunately is retiring from writing for DC comics and will no longer be making a Multiversity sequel. Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Joshua Williamson however all take inspiration from and apparently consult him on matters like this and they could finally follow up on it.

• · In Tom King’s Mister Miracle (which TK said was in continuity), “Darkseid is” (from Morrison’s Rock of Ages) is popularized, Darkseid as an embodiment of the evil and darkness inside all of us (from Final Crisis) is emphasized, and the whole premise (MM trapped in a false reality by Darkseid as a test by Metron) is similar to Seven Soldiers (also by Morrison) where it first appeared.

• · Scott Snyder had an interview with Imaginary Axis, a really good YouTube channel that made 2 great videos on Darkseid. See those here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iEWTHzzCVg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcJ8QmogoXY . It’s possible he’s seen them or discussed Darkseid with him off screen (Tyler says as much in the description). In another interview article in GamesRadar, he confirms that everything in DM’s epilogue had purpose. Including Darkseid.

The Tom King Mister Miracle stuff specifically made me really think there could be a Final Crisis 2 like story coming with how similar it was to Seven Soldiers with Shilo Norman. Made a post on it and everything.

Now, Future State also has references to Darkseid.

Previews of FS JL showed a crisis where the new JL fight him and his parademon army possessed by Starros. Immortal Wonder Woman set at the end of features Darkseid surviving the destruction of the New Gods and Fourth World under an “undoing” force that he believes is linked to the Anti-Life Equation, not too different from the version of ALE in Cosmic Odyssey. Also quite similar to the Eskaton from JLO. The second issue’s solicit implies he helped fight a force that will undo the Multiverse but failed along with the older Superman.

Of course, all that is just a possible future timeline that may have been part of a cancelled plan of 5G.

Either way, I do think Darkseid will play a role in Infinite Frontier. That future and Future State in general makes no revelation on the Omega World or its Alpha, the Elseworld. We’ll have to wait for March for more.

But now, to look at the other character I suspect to be the big bad...

The Empty Hand

The leader of the Gentry, a legion of archetypal evil beings from outside the Multiverse, and the main villain of Multiversity and the reason the multiversal League (Justice Incarnate) formed.

In a meta point of view, the Gentry represents the corruption of comic book stories while the Empty Hand himself represents the hand of the reader and their apathy once they finish reading a comic book and lets it go. They bring about the conflict needed for the story to continue.

But beyond that, the Empty Hand is said by Morrison to be the ultimate villain of the Multiverse, beyond Anti-Monitor, Mandrakk or any previous Crisis being.

The Gentry used the Anti-Death Equation to corrupt Earths and even briefly turn Nix Uotan into a new Dark Monitor who then resurrected Darkseid. Then all of this was revealed to have been the Empty Hand testing the Multiverse, revealing he had previously destroyed a “Multiverse-2” and was constructing an Oblivion Machine.

“Empty is my Hand!”

In the end, the EH deems that the local Multiverse as a non-threat and claims he will decide when they next meet him.

But now that Grant Morrison isn’t going to write a Multiversity sequel, what makes me think this character will play a large role again?

Wouldn’t be the first time since then that the Gentry came back, they cameod in the Wild Hunt tie-in for the first Metal, but yes Morrison co-wrote that as well.

But what really makes me think they are, are these three points:

• · His name

• · Connection to Darkseid with the Anti-Death Equation and resurrecting him via Nix Uotan

• · Their existence from outside the Multiverse and destruction of another Multiverse implies they exist in the Omniverse, just like Perpetua and the Super Celestials, who go by another name…

The Hands

The Hands are named as such because they create multiverses in the Overvoid and it is their Hands seen at the dawn of time of these Multiverses. They also come from outside the Multiverse.

The Empty Hand’s name is also a reference to Hand that created the universe/multiverse. Multiple times we see imagery that alludes to that and even implies it is the reason for the creation of the New 52 Multiverse and other reboots.

We know now that Dr. Manhattan was behind most of it (Pandora, Mxyzptlk and Vyndktvx had roles) but also that he didn’t even have evil intentions. He did it for curiosity and mostly focused on Superman. We also don’t know how he ended up there in the first place.

Maybe, someone else had a…Hand (I am sorry) in this?

“A darkness from somewhere infected us. It has for a long time now, I think. Even before the Flashpoint.”

“and always behind it all……something vast and patient and terrible. What great Hand casts the lightning and remakes the world?”

Now let me be clear I am not the first to theorize the hand of Rebirth is of The Empty Hand’s. Plenty have before me. But this is something that has yet to be confirmed but can be in the future.

In the end, I just can’t think of a more perfect villain to use for Infinite Frontier.

A rogue Hand just like Perpetua, but unlike her he doesn’t want to keep the Multiverse of heroes to perpetually live on in an evil way, he wants to end the never-ending story.

I also have a theory on where we can see this story start playing in.

Obviously Wonder Woman’s title will likely prepare her for this “lurking threat” with her new role, but where can we see the new Multiverse and Omniverse explored? So far only Crime Syndicate (Earth 3 Reborn) and Batman/Superman (two new Earths not of the 52) are solicited for that.

I think there might be an Infinite Frontier series.

Either a mini or an ongoing.

The Infinite Frontier special is a one-shot, but for some reason unlike DC Universe Rebirth’s one-shot, it’s a #0 and not a #1.

Further, Scott Snyder in this interview from Gamesradar specifically says Joshua Williamson will be dealing more with the main IF story but we don’t have any title with him like that in solicits. In fact, he even specifically refers to it as a series.

If true, I'm really looking forward to this, the following up of Multiversity and the full exploration of the Omniverse in general.

With that, I’d like to end this with some screenshots of the interview:

Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/scott-snyder-explains-how-dark-nights-death-metal-shows-what-dc-is-all-about-for-2021-and-beyond/

Some added stuff in the comments:

Speed Round: Other Cosmic Beings of Multiversal Significance

At the end of Death Metal, Darkseid is the only multiversal figure unaccounted for. So what about everyone else? The League in Snyder’s JL run worked with plenty of them so I doubt they just forgot.

1. Mar Novu (The Over-Monitor)

Last seen as a prisoner of Perpetua in Hell Arisen. Could now be back as the Over-Monitor of the Mutliverse, either from Nil in the Monitor Sphere or the Sixth Dimension.

2. Alpheus (The World Forger)

Also last seen as a prisoner of Perpetua in Hell Arisen. Likely working in the World Forge creating new universes or possibly even multiverses for the Multiverse and Omniverse (a promotion?).

3. Mobius (The Anti-Monitor)

Last seen as an infant with Darkseid. Could still be with him but Kendra’s statement makes it seem like he isn’t. Could be back in the Anti-Matter Universe or in the Sixth Dimension. Probably still a baby.

4. The Quintessence (Ganthet, Phantom Stranger, Wizard Shazam, Hera, Highfather)

Last seen aiding the Justice League before Death Metal. Phantom Stranger was later taken prisoner by the Batman Who Laughs in Hell Arisen. All likely free now and back to their domains.

5. The Spectre (Jim Corrigan)

Last seen with the Quintessence. Seems like he and Diana will be featured in Infinite Frontier #0.

6. Nix Uotan (Superjudge)

Last seen as a prisoner of BWL in Hell Arisen.

Note, he is the son of Zillo Valla and Dax Novu, who was a probe sent by Monitor-Mind the Overvoid. He is not an aspect of Mar Novu, hence why he can still exist when the other Monitors are gone. Since Mar exists again now, his purpose is unclear.

He could be back in Earth 0 undercover again. He may also be working in the House of Heroes with Justice Incarnate. A more active way of monitoring the Multiverse. He could be working with Mar now. His mother was an aspect of him after all.

7. Mandrakk (The Dark Monitor)

Formerly Dax Novu, last seen in the Unexpected series where he was altered to feed on Dark Matter instead of Multiversal Bleed. He basically has Barbatos’ job now. No longer a threat to the Multiverse, but to the near infinite Dark Multiverse.

8. Barbatos

Last seen imprisoned under Castle Bat in Death Metal. Could be free but if Kendra is right, he’s probably imprisoned again in the dark multiverse by Alpheus.

9. Tempus Fuginaut

Last seen in Flash Forward with Wally West trying to fix Earth-0 but failed. Could have been killed by Perpetua. Also the narrator of the Tales of the Dark Multiverse series. Could be monitoring it now.