DC Comics has teased that a member of the Justice League will die in the massive ongoing event Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC is no stranger to using the Multiverse as the basis of its stories, having established Earth-One and Earth-Two to explain the difference between the Golden and Silver Age stories. The iconic 1985 event Crisis on Infinite Earths brought the entire DC Multiverse together for an epic conflict that resulted in a new mainstream DC Universe. Dark Crisis may or may not be a hard reboot like the original maxiseries, but it is poised to kill off a Justice League member.
DC inadvertently created its Multiverse upon establishing Barry Allen as The Flash in 1956, replacing Jay Garrick. The 1961 story “Flash of Two Worlds” would go on to explain that both versions of The Flash are canon, albeit existing in different realities, and thus DC could publish stories set in the mainstream Earth-One (Barry’s reality) or the revived Earth-Two (the timeline of Golden Age DC stories, such as those of Jay Garrick). After the original Crisis on Infinite Earths erased Earths One and Two, resulting in the “post-Crisis" reality (New Earth), DC had a new and more consistent timeline, albeit with regular continuity shakeups in events like Infinite Crisis. The DC Universe has gone through many reboots and timeline shakeups including The New 52, DC Rebirth, and the current Infinite Frontier era.
The fifth issue of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, by Joshua Williamson, Daniel Sampere, and Alejandro Sanchez, is set to release on October 18 with what might be the most shocking installment in the ongoing event thus far. In a preview provided by DC, it's teased that the Titans will confront Deathstroke’s forces in the Hall of Justice itself, though the odds will be stacked against them. "But all hope is not lost, as the worlds without a Justice League have begun to loosen their grip...but can the heroes return to Earth if it means one member of the Justice League could be lost forever?"
At 2022's San Diego Comic-Con, Dark Crisis was revealed to be a sequel to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, and with that name comes understandable implications regarding the current DC Universe. Joshua Williamson has said that the event is not necessarily a reboot, however, and that the focus is on its characters rather than the state of the DC Universe's continuity. With this in mind, Dark Crisis may end up being a continuity shakeup like Infinite Crisis or DC Rebirth rather than a hard reboot like Flashpoint or the original Crisis.
Williamson has further teased that Dark Crisis will extremely intense and feature some of the most emotional moments he’s written for DC. This may entail a sacrifice from one of the Justice League’s core members that allows the rest of the team to assist the Titans against Deathstroke. Whether a core Justice League superhero dies or is lost in the nebulous multiverse, the fifth issue of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths promises to be a memorable installment in DC’s multiverse-spanning event.