10 Epic Comic Book Fights With Underwhelming Endings
9. The Darkest Knight Vs Perpetua - Dark Knights: Death Metal #6 (2021)
After the Justice League destroyed the Source Wall, they released the creator of the multiverse, Perpetua, who'd been imprisoned inside for eons. Now free, the evil goddess prepared to reshape reality in her image.
Although Perpetua's existence had been implied back in 1965's Green Lantern #40, she didn't officially debut until 2018. Considering she'd been built up for 50 years and was as close to God as one can be, you'd expect the Justice League would have an almighty battle against her.
But while Earth's superheroes faced Perpetua in the Death Metal storyline, something weird happened. At the last minute, Perpetua was swapped out with another villain, The Batman Who Laughs. After this twisted version of Bats absorbed Doctor Manhattan's brain, he transformed into The Darkest Knight - a deity whose power dwarfed Perpetua's. After the Knight bashed Perpetua's face with a few planets, the mother of the multiverse was destroyed.
This bait-and-switch was disappointing since Perpetua clearly served as the big bad of the storyline but was replaced with another character, purely because he was more popular. Not only did this decision hurt the narrative, it ironically made DC's most powerful character come across as weak.