Warning! Spoilers ahead for Justice League Incarnate #4!
Once in a while, DC Comics pulls back the curtain to unveil the truth behind big crisis events, which just happened again in Justice League Incarnate #4. However, this time, the truth goes far beyond what anyone could've imagined as they have revealed that the Great Darkness, who was introduced as a minor Alan Moore creation, has been behind every major event that has happened since Crisis on Infinite Earths. For avid comic book readers, this new development will come as a shock as this issue forces readers to question everything that they've read in the past.
Justice League Incarnate #4 comes from writer Joshua Williamson with art by Dennis Culver, Andrei Bressan, Mike Norton and Chris Burnham. Williamson has been leading the DC universe in this direction since Infinite Frontier #0 hit shelves in March, 2021. In that issue, "the one true Darkseid" was revealed to have been reborn and has big plans for the Omniverse. From this point onwards, readers were falsely led to believe that Darkseid was the next major crisis villain that DC's heroes would have to deal with, which turned out to be only partially true. As it was teased, Darkseid was searching for a greater, darker power that was beyond his reach. The events of Justice League Incarnate started to unveil much more as Darkseid and Doctor Multiverse crossed paths, making it clear that the "great darkness" that the former ruler of Apokolips seeks is a living being trapped outside the bounds of the Omniverse.
The fourth issue of the new Infinite Frontier continuation just recontextualized the DC universe as a whole with a ten-page monologue from Doctor Multiverse. In these pages, Doctor Multiverse explains the bigger picture behind every crisis event in the past. But first off, who is the Great Darkness? First introduced in The Saga of Swamp Thing #49 by Alan Moore and Stan Woch, the Great Darkness had a set of cult-like followers who worshipped its existence. The Great Darkness' followers were, like Darkseid, trying to set it out of its confinement in order to unleash it on DC's universe. Until now, little has been written about the Great Darkness since its inception. Luckily for readers, Doctor Multiverse actually broke down how The Great Darkness influenced each and every one of DC's crisis events.
Crisis on Infinite Earths
The beginning. Doctor Multiverse reveals that "the push and pull" of the Great Darkness and the Light is what caused Crisis on Infinite Earths. Mar Novu, aka the Monitor, was created by the Light to monitor the multiverse, while the Anti-Monitor was a creation of the Great Darkness, who used them to try and destroy the multiverse. In the midst of their great battle, Mar Novu triggered the multiverse's "immune system" in order to protect existence from annihilation. That immune system is superheroes, who were born to protect and serve the Light.
These changes bring up some burning questions. This explanation strips away any sense of choice in DC's superheroes, basically saying that they were always going to be heroes and had no say in the matter. Although it's an interesting revelation, it threatens to take away the importance of every hero's backstory. After Crisis, only one Earth remained, the Light was weakened by their loss and the Great Darkness attacked again, but a treaty was made by Swamp Thing that prevented the destruction of everything. Although the Great Darkness seemingly took a step back, it continued to control events with one of its hands, manipulating nearly every crisis villain to do its sly bidding.
Final Crisis
The actions that Darkseid took in Final Crisis were not as they seemed. This issue reveals that it was all to draw out the Great Darkness so he could "truly control everything." Darkseid's grand scheme succeeded and the Great Darkness was drawn out, but Darkseid didn't count on Batman killing him. From there, the Great Darkness returned in the form of Mandrakk, who was last seen in Final Crisis being killed by the Green Lanterns.
It turns out, at this point, the Great Darkness turned his attention to superheroes, instead of the Light. As the Great Darkness realized that superheroes are the greatest threat to their plans as they are always the ones who have stopped him in the past. So, the Great Darkness turned his attention to the prime Earth in the multiverse, Earth-0. Here, the Great Darkness' left hand got busy manipulating the villains of Earth-0 to try and put an end to their heroes.
The Multiversity
In the meantime, the Great Darkness' right hand, better known as the Empty Hand, formed an army of Gentry to deal with the other superheroes of the multiverse. As most comic book readers know, the Gentry were taken on and eventually defeated by Justice Incarnate. Next, Doctor Multiverse reveals that the Great Darkness, after The Multiversity, concluded they had nothing to fear from the multiverse's heroes, so they turned their attention back to Earth-0. This led to the beginning of the Metal Wars.
The Metal Wars
Led by the Great Darkness' avatar, the demon Barbatos, backed by the Dark Knights and succeded by The Batman Who Laughs, Earth-0 only just managed to survive being sunk into DC's dark multiverse. The concluding events of Dark Knights: Death Metal, as most know, changed the multiverse forever. Two new Earths took Earth-0's place at the center of the multiverse, Earth-Omega and the Elseworld. It's inferred that the Great Darkness' true purpose was to let the heroes win and make way for the Omniverse to be born, so that it could enact its plans to return in the flesh come Infinite Frontier.
Infinite Frontier
Another reveal that Doctor Multiverse makes is that Earth-Omega is, in fact, a fragment of the Great Darkness. And with Darkseid's godhead reassembled, his killing of the Quintessence and taking over of the Omega planet, the Great Darkness' return was only a matter of time as he got his hands on Barry Allen, who was forced to open a crack in the multiverse so that Darkseid could release the Great Darkness once more. However, as revealed in issue four, Darkseid's plans that he had during Final Crisis remained the same, he wanted to draw the Great Darkness out so that he'd become the most powerful being in the Omniverse.
The final lines in Doctor Multiverse's 10-page explainer reveals that Justice League Incarnate have to let Darkseid win, so that he, "evil's god," can destroy the "absolute enemy of existence" that is the Great Darkness. For readers, this long-winded explanation comes as a shock but actually makes a lot of sense. Only someone as powerful as Darkseid, who is his "one trueself," could even stand a chance when facing off against the mythical being of DC Comics' one, true villain. Justice League Incarnate #4 is available in comic book stores and on digital platforms now.