In the end... All roads lead back... To Darkness. 
- — Barbatos src
History
Barbatos also known as the Bat-God was a being created by the World Forger to consume the universes which fall back decayed. He claim to be the bat that Bruce Wayne saw through the window the night he become Batman.
Origin
In the earliest days of existence, before the Multiverse became reality, a spark of potential created matter and anti-matter. After that, two siblings tasked with monitoring creation came to be. Along with them, though, came a third being known as the World Forger. Unlike the others, it was set to watch over creations that would exist in the future. The World Forger made its home in the Forge of Worlds, a hidden place inside the sea of possibility that would later be renamed the Dark Multiverse. For eons, he created universes based on the hopes and fears of every living thing. While the most stable universes became part of the main Multiverse, The World Forger created a dragon to consume the unstable worlds so their energy could return to the Forge and be used anew. The name of that dragon was Barbatos. Eventually, Barbatos' lust for destruction led him to kill his master and steadily corrupt the Forge of Worlds. Because he was no longer doing his job, the unstable worlds persisted beyond their time and became part of the Dark Multiverse.[2]
Dark Nights: Metal
Eventually Barbatos set his sights on destroying the regular Multiverse. He was able to come to Earth at one point, and when he did, the Tribe of Judas worshipped him as a god. However, he was repelled from the regular matter Multiverse during the Final Crisis.[3] At one point of time, Barbatos chained Mandrakk who was banished in the Dark Multiverse by Superman during the Final Crisis.[4] Batman was sent back in time to the dawn of man by Darkseid with the Hyper-Adapter, he was noticed by Barbatos, who saw the similarities in the emblem that they used. Barbatos decided that he would turn Batman into a portal that would allow him access to the regular matter Multiverse in order to control it, with Hath-Set as his first conduit.[5] Barbatos, at one point of time, was hurt by Hawkman's mace.[6] Some time later, he managed to capture Hawkman in one of his many incarnations, and named him his dragon, mutating him into becoming defender of the Forge of Worlds.[2]
Many centuries in the future, Barbatos' followers started to secretly prepare Batman to become the doorway for Barbatos to enter Prime Earth from the Dark Multiverse. His agents, by now known as the Court of Owls, planned to infect his body with each of the five heavy metals from the Dark Multiverse. In the meantime, Barbatos began looking for allies for his cause through the different dark matter realities. His search led him to one of the worst versions of Batman to ever exist: The Batman Who Laughs. Baiting him with the promise of destroying worlds beyond his own, this Batman became his second-in-command and assembled other evil Batmen to support them, forming the Dark Knights.[7]
Eventually, Batman learned of the Owls' plan, and tried to go back in time and stop Barbatos once and for all. However, Batman fell into a trap and was exposed to the final metal. Batman was transformed into the doorway which allowed Barbatos and his Dark Knights to enter from the Dark Multiverse. At this point Barbatos had his subjects kill the Court of Owls before personally draining Superman and Wonder Woman of their life force.[6]
Barbatos reveals the "truth" to Bruce
In the Dark Multiverse, Barbatos put Batman under the illusion of being an elderly man reading a story about his adventures from his time as Batman to his granddaughter, Janet. However, Bruce noticed that his memories and the story didn't match, and this allowed him to break free from the illusion. Barbatos then confronted Bruce and revealed to him that the only reason Batman had become a great hero is because he willed it, that he had shaped Bruce to became Batman and that he is nothing without him. Barbatos informed Bruce that the Dark Multiverse had created thousands of worlds built by his fears and he picked the darkest among them to be sent into the Prime Earth, and that they were winning. Faced with these revelations, Bruce begged in horror not to see or know anything more, surrendering to Barbatos. Hearing this, Barbatos sent Bruce back to the illusion and Bruce continued to read the story.[5]
While the Dark Knights ravage the world and sabotage the efforts of Earth 0's defenders against them, Barbatos watches the madness unfold from the summit of Challenger's Mountain. To stay appraised of his plan's progress, he would typically talk to the Batman Who Laughs for information. The next time Barbatos actually makes a move is when Batman Who Laughs calls him to aid in stopping Cyborg, who manages to access the full power of his Mother Box, becoming an unforeseen obstacle. When the captured heroes escape with Cyborg's help, Barbatos becomes concerned that Cyborg's power-up could present a real problem, but the Batman Who Laughs is sure that he will not cause any real problems.[8]
Later, Barbatos returns to Gotham and waits until the Earth gets close to fully sinking into the Dark Multiverse. When the Batman Who Laughs gives him the signal, he begins to roar out his Anti-Music. His cry penetrates the dimensional barrier separating the positive and dark matter realities, summoning his dark army to overtake Earth.[9]
Clashing their metals together (Diana’s bracelets and Kendra’s mace), the two heroines succeed in helping Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, Aquaman, and Deathstroke fight back against the Dark Knights, Terrific convinces Plastic Man to awaken, turning the tide of battle. Reaching the Dark Forge, Kendra manages to break Carter out of Barbatos’ corruption (reigniting the Forge in the process), Diana reaches Batman and Superman (donned in Tenth Metal, the prime constitute of the World Forge), and Barbatos is confronted by Flash and Cyborg, who have gathered reinforcements from other realities (including the “53rd Earth”).
Refusing to lose, Barbatos reveals his last resort; using the combined power of the positive energy of his prisoner Over-Monitor, the Anti-Monitor's brain's negative energy, and the Batman Who Laughs’ dark energy, he plans to leave nothing but darkness. However, an unexpected team-up of Batman and the Joker halts this plan, the Justice League defeat the remaining Dark Knights, and Hawkgirl subdues Barbatos. After Over-Monitor explains that all living things have trace amounts of Tenth Metal, the League proceed to use this power to pull Earth out of the Dark Multiverse (it also results in the Source Wall shattering). After the Justice League lifts their Earth out of the Dark Multiverse, Barbatos is left tied down at the bottom of the Dark Multiverse, locked in chains made from Tenth Metal by the Over-Monitor. There, he would be forced to watch the Forge of Worlds burn bright again, creating new worlds.[9]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Great Dragon: As the Great Dragon, Barbatos is a being of pure destruction capable of destroying universes. Even the combined might of the Ultima Thule and Batman's analog from different realities alongside some members of the Earth-53 was not enough to defeat him. Barbatos was described as nearly invincible and he cannot be defeated throught normal means.
- Anti-Music: Barbatos's scream is the wail of billions of failed worlds and shake the strings of the Multiverse and cause the laws of physics to fail like dominoes. During the invasion of the Dark Multiverse, the Multiverse was recoiling in terror at Barbatos' scream. The Anti-Music also cause the music that the Ultima Thule uses to travel between dimensions to break apart. Barbatos can use his Anti-Musics to sink worlds lower in the Dark Multiverse.
- Darkness Manipulation
- Dark Lightning
- Immortality: Barbatos is at least 15 Billion years Old.[9]
- Infection: Barbatos has the ability to infect others with the energy of the Dark Multiverse. These latter experiment the different nightmarish worlds of the Dark Multiverse through an endless nightmare.
- Reality Alteration: Barbatos altered Batman's origin to become responsible of the existence of Batman in every reality [5] and he can create worlds. Every missiles of Carrier contained a dark baby universes handpicked by Barbatos.[10]
- Telepathy[11]
- Corruption: Barbatos is able to influence and torment those who are exposed to the Heavy Metals of the Dark Multiverse and corrupt those submitted to his dark influence.[2]
- Life Force Absorption
- Size Alteration
Abilities
Weaknesses
- Vulnerability to Heavy Metals: Though nearly invincible, Barbatos has the same weakness held by all denizens of the Dark Multiverse: a weakness to contact with the Heavy Metals of the Dark Multiverse. Of these, the Tenth Metal of the World Forge is the purest, and therefore the most effective. Following this, Nth Metal is less effective but is pure enough to harm him. From there, each variant of lesser purity has its effectiveness diminished.
Notes
- This character or object is an adaptation of Barbatos, a character or object in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.
Related
- 42 Appearances of Barbatos (Dark Multiverse)
- 11 Images featuring Barbatos (Dark Multiverse)
- 5 Quotations by or about Barbatos (Dark Multiverse)
- Character Gallery: Barbatos (Dark Multiverse)
Footnotes
- ↑ Dark Days: The Casting #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dark Nights: Metal #4
- ↑ Dark Nights: Metal #1
- ↑ The Unexpected (Volume 3) #8
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Batman: Lost #1
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Dark Nights: Metal #2
- ↑ The Batman Who Laughs #1
- ↑ Justice League (Volume 3) #33
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Dark Nights: Metal #5 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "DNM5" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "DNM5" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1
- ↑ Dark Nights: Metal #3
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