Infinite Frontier 2022 Theories: Ft. Justice Incarnate vs Children of The Great Darkness - An Omniversal Crisis?

Link to Post on Reddit for Discussion

Disclaimer: SPOILERS for Infinite Frontier #0, Secret Files #1 and #1-6 . The rest of this is all just speculation on my own part and I in no way claim to have any have any inside sources of the sort.

This post is divided into 5 Sections:

I. Intro + Recap

II. Who is The Great Darkness?

III. Justice Incarnate vs Children of Darkness

IV. Rise of the Fifth World

V. Omniversal Crisis

Feel free to read one section at a time at your own pace.

Infinite Frontier #6

I. Introduction + Recap

Quick recap for those who may not have read or heard of my previous posts:

1. In March of last year I made a post about how the Mister Miracle mini-series could lead to a Final Crisis sequel with how it paralleled Shilo Norman's experience in the Omega Sanction during Seven Soldiers, only with Scott who failed to escape this time:

Theory: The Secrets of Tom King's Mister Miracle - Darkseid is (coming?)

Now Scott Free is missing and Shilo Norman is Mister Miracle again.

Shilo Norman in Action Comics (Midnighter)

2. Last January I made a post predicting that Darkseid (True Form reformed) and The Empty Hand as the villains of Infinite Frontier and that an IF mini-series would follow the 0 issue and act as a Multiversity sequel of sorts:

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

Now we're getting a Justice Incarnate mini-series too following this.

Justice Incarnate #1

3. Just over two weeks ago I made another post that was both a guide to Darkseid's Godhead and devil-like qualities based on Grant Morrison's work: 

Definitive Guide to Darkseid's True Form/Godhead; What "Darkseid is" means (Plus Infinite Frontier Theories)

I also very briefly suggested that there may be a connection to the Great Evil Beast/Great Darkness but I said that Joshua Williamson probably won't make that connection.

Well, he proved me wrong.

 

The Great Darkness

The Great Darkness referred to here isn't just a reference to Darkseid's title from the Great Darkness saga (which is relevant), but to something else. Earth-Omega is a part of it dormant since the first Crisis. I and u/Ricky_Ticky_Tangy believe it refers to the Great Evil Beast, also known as the Great Darkness.

But there's more.

Children of the Great Darkness

Eclipso, the Upside Down Man and Nekron are all back.

They are aiming to take control of the Great Darkness, threatening all multiverses.

Meanwhile Pariah holds Barry Allen, the key to cracking the Omniverse, captive in Multiverse-2 (Pre-Crisis) and Psycho Pirate disappears for another event. A new crisis is coming, one bigger than even Death Metal while bringing a lot of pieces back together.

II. Who is The Great Darkness?

"Great Darkness" is a title first given to Darkseid first seen in the Great Darkness Saga, a Legion of Super-Heroes story. 

The Great Darkness Saga

Pre-Crisis, Darkseid returns during the 30th Century after a thousand years of sleep from his final defeat at Orion's hands as prophesied. He initially works behind the scenes, sending servants to take new power sources to refuel himself. These includes magical and cosmic artifacts to Time Trapper and Mordru.

Now, at first in the story the master of darkness' identity is kept secret. After revealing Darkseid to the reader, Brainiac 5 deduces it by identifying Apokolips and Darkseid being evil incarnate with the power of a god. 

However, he also states that the "power of darkness" is also his trademark. 

Strange, that's not a power of the Omega Effect, or anything displayed in the original Jack Kirby Fourth World Saga. Darkseid also was able to telepathically control an army of Daxamites as if he had a part of the Anti-Life Equation and he easily beats a clone of Orion and amped Kryptonians courtesy of a returned Highfather, when Pre-Crisis Darkseid was about even if not at least close to them in power. Yet Darkseid also claims that even with all his additional power drained from external sources, he was weaker than before his "death".

So back to the question, most of you probably thought: 

"Who is the Great Darkness? Darkseid is." 

But was he always? 

To find a new "in-universe" answer to these questions, and possibly figure out what Joshua Williamson is doing, let's take a look at the Great Evil Beast from Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. Also known as The Great Darkness.

When the Presence, DC's adaptation of the Judeo-Christian God who is one with the Source (confirmed in Death Metal see my last Darkseid post for more), said "Let there be light", the darkness retreated. That ancient darkness, the embodiment of the lack of God, the opposite of what He is, is the Great Darkness.

Swamp Thing #50

Around the time of COIE, it was awakened. Many of the best sorcerers and supernatural beings banded together to stop it but all failed, even the Spectre. Only Swamp Thing stopped it by actually talking instead of fighting. This resulted in light and dark meeting hand in hand and the conflict being resolved. 

This Primordial Darkness has been dormant since.

Exactly as Darkseid described Earth-Omega being a part of an enemy dormant since the first Crisis.

This story is still quite relevant to continuity even now. It resulted in the death of Giovanni Zatara which we saw again in flashbacks/visions to Zatanna during James Tynion's Justice League Dark. The same run that introduced the Upside Down Man but more on him later. 

 

Justice League Dark #13

The Great Darkness was also alluded to in the last Lucifer run by Dan Watters as some sort of version of said character. 

This was confirmed on Twitter by Dan Watters. "Distinct but not separate" as I described Darkseid's nature. I've noticed this previously but now I think the connection to Darkseid is even more apparent.

Now if you've read my Darkseid post, then you know where I'm going. If not, I highly recommend it, all the important details are there, but to sum up relevant points as short as I can here's 10 points:

1. Darkseid wants the Anti-Life Equation to erase free will and be the owner of all living things in existence.
2. Darkseid has a "True Form" and his spirit is embodied by all things evil.
3. His physical manifestations are vessels for his essence. Dan Turpin, Boss Dark Side and the many versions of Uxas were Darkseid in this way.
4. The ALE let him possess multiple people at once completely.
5. "Darkseid is" is a claim to divinity, paralleling God's name of "YHWH" "He is".
6. Darkseid's godhead (true form, avatar/emanation, spirit, 1 Darkseid) is based on the Trinity of the Father, Son and Spirit. Three distinct persons, 1 God.
7. The Source is worshipped by Highfather and the people of New Genesis. He interacts with Izaya like God and a prophet. The hand burning messages on a wall is a reference to the Finger of God. God is the Source of life and free will.
8. He's a false god getting Apokolips to worship him instead of the Source.
9. Darkseid is a god who wants to be God. 
10. If the Source/Presence is the DC Omniverse's God, Darkseid is a Satanic figure.

In a way Darkseid's true essence, might've been born of the Great Darkness and perhaps wants to be fully one with it, hence him becoming the Great Darkness. I don't think Lucifer will get involved but who knows they could mention him too.

The Source recently, besides being confirmed as the Presence, is also the supreme being of the Omniverse, master of the Hands creating Multiverses. If Darkseid succeeds in becoming one with the Great Darkness, he will become the ultimate enemy of the Source/Presence and the entire Omniverse. 

It looks like Darkseid's already harnessed enough of the GEB's power to kill the Quintessence and to become power powerful than ever too, thanks in part to all his emanations merging into 1 ultimate form. 

III. Justice Incarnate vs Children of Darkness

At the end of the mini, Darkseid uses his now black Omega Beams to send everyone not aligned with him back home, saying he spared their lives as they will play their role in the wars to come. As u/NomadicJaguar64t theorizes, this is probably because they can distract his competitors while he finds a way to control the Great Darkness.

The Justice Incarnate series solicit confirms it'll be about the team fighting Darkseid across the Multiverse to save the Omniverse with China's Flash representing Earth 0 and Dr. Multiverse (Dr. Strange counterpart?)representing Earth 8 (one of the Marvel proxy Earths) as new recruits. 

From the end of IF, it will likely also be about them racing against Darkseid and the others to find Barry in the Omniverse, which would eventually lead them to Pariah and the Pre-Crisis Multiverse-2. With each of the five issues having different artists for different worlds, I do wonder if we'll see only either Earths from the local 52 multiverse or the greater Omniverse. Likely the latter but I hope its both. In their race they'll likely end up taking on those Darkseid warned about. Time to do a quick rundown of each of them, with some speculation on what they all have in common.

First is the Upside Down Man, created by James Tynion's Justice League Dark. He's one of the Otherkind, powerful beings of horror and reflections of dark magic. Besides magic he's also tied to the Dark Multiverse. Not a surprise to see him and the DM be back. I do wonder if the Dark Multiverse has a connection to the Great Darkness too, and it has been compared to hell. Either way he's an evil primordial being connected to dark magic. IRL, sorcery and witchcraft are associated with demons and satanic cults as well. 

Next is Eclipso. He was formerly God's Wrath, even causing the biblical flood, but in short was basically fired and was replaced by the Spectre (Aztar) who destroyed Sodom and Gamorrah, killed the first born of Egypt etc. This may indicate the Spectre could make a comeback and take him on. With the strong biblical connections I can see it being very relevant to the overall story. Eclipso is literally a fallen angel. Eclipso and the Black Diamond/Heart of Darkness also showed up in Tynion's JLD where he was briefly freed before being trapped again by Doctor Fate (Khalid). Right now he's also appearing in Grant Morrison's Superman and the Authority. 

Nekron was the main villain of Blackest Night, one of the best and biggest non-Crisis DC events. Not a surprise he's back, especially with Bruce and Roy using Black Lantern rings, the latter somehow controlled by Darkseid. Nekron actually predates BN however. He is "Lord of the Unliving" and BN constantly also alludes to the darkness before light was born. He was defeated when the Life Entity briefly created the White Lantern Corps. If you're not a Catholic or Christian like me, God is of course the Source and creator of life and Satan is known as the "Lord of the Dead". 

Last but most certainly not least is the leader of the Gentry: The Empty Hand. He is the ultimate enemy of the DC Multiverse as described by Morrison and was behind the invasion in Multiversity. He infiltrated the Multiverse and did all that just to test its heroes and then left deeming them not a threat. Justice Incarnate was founded because of him. It was TEH and Gentry who fed on Multiverse-2 and possibly others in the Omniverse. 

Metaphorically he's the Hand of the reader when putting down a comic and becoming apathetic of it. The Gentry corrupts and darkens stories. Literally, he's been alluded to be the Hand at the Dawn of Time and remade the Multiverse after Flashpoint. Of course that first one's Perpetua now but unlike her he's stated that he wants to end the story of DC heroes forever, which is the opposite motivation of Perpetua wanting a perpetual multiverse, hence her name.

But I do think they are connected. 

Perpetua is a Super-Celestial being known as a Hand. She and her kind create Multiverses in the Omniverse then return to the Source, their creator. It was the Hands who recreated the Multiverse at the end of Death Metal and opened it up to the Omniverse, while knowing of another threat. 

If The Empty Hand is a Hand like them, which he likely is considering their similar forms, names, and omniversal existence, well there's another Lucifer parallel. The Hands are servants of the supreme being, just like angels, and Perpetua and TEH are basically again rebels to that supreme being. As for the darkness, well just look at him and the Gentry with their dark corrupting appearances and powers. They even have an Anti-Death Equation (corrupting a universe, a monitor and making people undead) and they were in Dark Nights Metal, possibly behind the rise of the Dark Multiverse.

Do you see what they to have in common with Darkseid?

All of them may be connected to the Great Darkness and have parallels to the first divine rebel either in titles, connection to the darkness, death, rebellion against a supreme being etc. They're basically the Children of the Great Darkness that now want that power for themselves. It's all coming together. The only people missing would be Trigon and Mandrakk the Dark Monitor. The former is literally a demon and the latter is also a fallen angel/Lucifer parallel, but with Monitors and  Monitor-Mind the Overvoid. But I digress.

However, all Lucifers have Michaels though, all evil falls for the dark things cannot stand the light.

But clearly there are wild cards here: Pariah and Psycho Pirate. 

Wonder what event the latter was talking about? What's up with the former and what he do to Barry?  u/NomadicJaguar64t suggests Pariah may be connected to the Great Darkness as well. 

Either way Darkseid is definitely aiming to get to Barry before any of them do and take full control of the Great Darkness. He might even take everyone else's powers like in the GDS. He already briefly had a Black Lantern (Omega Lantern?) too.

IV. Rise of the Fifth World

Before that, let's get back to the Fourth World and New Gods. Just to recap what I said in my Darkseid post:

The New Gods of Pre-Flashpoint still exist. They ended up on Earth 51 at the end of Final Crisis, called "The Kirbyverse" in Multiversity where they made cameos discussing how Darkseid works. They were not rebooted and they're New 52 selves are new "emanations" of them. Distinct physically with their own memories and history. Here's E51 Highfather and Mister Miracle explaining it:

(Again read that Darkseid Guide Post if you haven't)

With all that Williamson's brought back and may bring back, especially from Multiversity, I doubt he'll forget about this but again it's possible. These are the New Gods of the Fifth World temporarily suppressed by Flashpoint.

Beyond them though, the Fifth World is on Earth, with humans becoming new New Gods. The Super Young Team is the Forever People reborn, Shilo Norman is the new avatar of Freedom like Scott was etc. We haven't seen the SYT yet but Shilo is Mister Miracle again, there's going to be a new human Lightray on Superman's Authority team and there was a new human Black Racer in Future State and IIRC a child of Black Racer in the Tom Taylor Suicide Squad run.

The Fifth World is rising again and I think they'll be the key to defeating Darkseid, both the new New Gods on Earth 0 and the reborn Kirbyverse New Gods. With Darkseid having his family on Earth-Omega, it makes sense.

Speaking of, one of those is Highfather. As I pointed out in my last post, the Highfather that died with the Quintessence is Post-Flashpoint Highather. Will his predecessor succeed where he failed? Maybe he can even bring them back to life. Takion, a being given power directly from the Source, is there too. 

The other Post-Flashpoint NGs are missing, including Orion. In fact his Earth 51 counterpart is too, as Pre-FP Orion stayed dead.Whatever the case Orion is the one destined to defeat his father, like before. The Michael to his Lucifer. No one else can do it alone. Perhaps Orion has to be reborn too. 

Hopefully we get to see these either in Justice Incarnate or in other books leading up to...

V. An Omniversal Crisis?

This upcoming event definitely feels more like a proper Crisis than perhaps any event since Final Crisis. All these previous characters, events and concepts coming together in a new story with the scale amped up. In a way this is a new COIE, a new Infinite Crisis, a new Final Crisis and a new Multiversity. This could be the biggest and best Crisis depending on how it goes.

Emphasis of course on biggest with an infinite Multiverse of finite Multiverses.

Joshua Williamson's also stated in interviews that he believes the Omniverse includes the live-action Multiverse. 

Live-Action Multiverse (Credit to u/sonofodin25)

We already got a COIE in live-action from the CW. Who knows, maybe there can be a second one that can be indirectly related to these Omniversal shenanigans. With Darkseid in ZSJL and possibly a resurrected New Gods film/series in the future, Eclipso in both Stargirl and likely Black Adam, Superman & Lois' use of the Multiverse and the Flash exploring/rebooting the Multiverse on Film, a JLD movie coming, well anything's possible.

At the very least I can see the animated properties try to tie in with Earth 2 being in JSA WW2 from the new DCAMU. The DCAU is also exploring the Multiverse in the excellent so far series JL Infinity. Heck maybe Injustice 3 isn't cancelled/delayed and we'll get another video game crisis (separate from the Infinite Crisis game or DCUO). Anyone of them can tie into this Omniverse stuff.

Whatever the case, even if none of that happens, I'm still excited for what's coming. Joshua Williamson's been doing a terrific job bringing all these things back, and making his own story and ideas adding to instead of displacing them. I can't wait to read Justice Incarnate and whatever Crisis is next. 

Great Darkness Crisis? We'll see.

Thanks for reading.

Edit: I've had some interesting discussions in the Reddit thread linked above. Some things I didn't discuss here are connections of the Great Darkness to the Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons (used in IF by Psycho Pirate) and the Shadowlands which both the Shade and Obsidian are connected to.