Knight Terrors: How the horror event has moved the Dawn of DC forward
The yearlong initiative crosses its halfway point

DC Comics' big summer crossover event Knight Terrors comes to a close next week. In addition to a four-issue core miniseries, bookended by the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Knight Terrors: First Blood and Knight Terrors: Night's End specials, the horror-driven saga sp💦anned numerous DC titles across July and August, replacing the usual monthly titles with two-issue tie-in arcs.
The event, steered in large part by longtime DC architect Joshua Williamson, marks the culmination of the first half of the wider Dawn of DC initiative. Here's how the crossover repositioned the characters who have been drawn into new supervillain Insomnia's insidious scheme, and the road that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Knight Terrors sets for the DCU moving forward.
It should go without saying, but there are spoilers ahead.
The seeds for Knight Terrors were planted in the closing issue of 2022's crossover event 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, ওby Williamson and Daniel Sampere. After squaring off against the cosmic super✃villain Pariah and being trapped in pocket universes, the Justice League decided to disband for the foreseeable future as they regrouped from their narrow victory.
Shortly thereafter, in the 2023 miniseries 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Batman vs. Robin by Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar, Lazarus Island was consumed by a volcanic eruption. The explosion caused a Lazarus Resin-laced acid rain that engulfed the world, kickstarting the crossover event 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lazarus Planet. Many heroes🐼 and villains found themselves affected by this Lazarus rain, causing their powers to alter. The rain also awakened the latent a𝄹bilities of a normal man who became the supervillain Insomnia.
Knight Terrors begins as a murder mystery, with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman investigating the grisly death of their old Justice League enemy Doctor Destiny inꦬ the abandoned Hall of Justice.
Destiny, whose modus operandi was to trap his victims in their dreams through use of a relic known as the Dream Stone, is revealed to be linked to a newly discovered arti♔fact known as the Nightmare Stone. Insomnia introduces himself as ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚDestiny's killer, and is hellbent on recovering the Nightmare Stone for himself to augment his already powerful connection to dreams.
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By its very premise, Knight Terrors is a story that goes 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:deeper rather than bigger in the conventional narrative sense. The heroes drawn into Insomnia's nightmares are largely isolated from each other, forced to confront subconscious fears and emotional issues physically manifested in the dream world. Heroes like Batman, who are a👍ccustomed to facing their fears, navigate these dreams with a greater sense of self-awareness whereas charactﷺers like Ravager find themselves in more of a predicament.
Eventually they🌜 all either manage to break out of their dream states or are woken, with som🐻e of the characters preparing to take on Insomnia in next week's Knight Terrors: Night's End special.
Eve꧅n with this more introspective focus, there will be lasting consequences to Knight Terrors, particularly for the main characters.
Superman's concerns about stretching himself too thin weigh heavily on him. Catwoman doubts the path that she is pursuing - one we know will lead to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:conflict with Batman soon. Speaking of the Dark Knight, the end of Knight Terrors: Batman reunited him with his son, setting the stage for Williamson and Simone di Meo's upcoming 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Batman & Robin relaunch this September. Other consequences will be revealed in the N🌞ight's End special.
Compared to most big superhero crossover events, Knight Terrors has moved at a breakneck speed across two months and is more interested in the creative possibilities of going deepe༒r into its main characters than delivering bombastic action. Given Joshua Williamson's extensive background writing in the horror genre in his creator-owned works, he's overseen a story that leans into the fun side of terror, presentꦏing a crossover that plays out more like a rollercoaster ride than something unsavory in its scares.
The DCU had emerged a more hopeful place after 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dark Crisis, but Knight Ter💟rors is a stro🌼ng reminder that there are still monsters lurking in the dark - and they're getting voraciously hungry.
Knight Terrors #4 is published today by DC Comics⛄, alongside Knight Terrors: Detective Comics #2, Knight Terrors: Titans #2, Knight Terrors: Action Comics #2, Knight Terrors: Harley Quinn #2, and Knight Terrors: Angel Breaker #2.
Revisit the start of this huge DC event with our interview with key Knight Terrors writer Joshua Williamson.
Sam is a freelance writer contributing to GamesRadar+. Sam has been working in entertainment journalism since 2016 for outlets including CBR, Popverse, /Film, and more, conducting interviews and writing reviews and columns covering comic books, televisio𝐆n, film, and video games. With an expertise spanning the breadth of pop culture, Sam is especially knowledgeable on Star Trek, Nintendo, and DC Comics. In his free time, Sam likes to play guitar poorly and travel around the world.