Infinite Frontier is a six-issuenote limited series that began in June 2021 as part of the eponymous DC Infinite Frontier relaunch, written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by a variety of artists. It is the first part of the "Infinite Frontier Saga".
Following the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, the multiverse has been restored as the 'Omniverse'. However, every world has been made aware of the multiverse. Some are frightened by this new awareness, while some seek to exploit it for their own gain.
Justice Incarnate, the multiversal Justice League, seeks to discover what has happened to the multiverse and combat any rising new threats. Some of the dead have returned but not all; some histories have been restored but some have not; and a new threat emerges on the newly discovered "Earth Omega" after the return of Darkseid, now more powerful than ever.
The series was followed by Justice League Incarnate.
Tropes applying to the series:
- The Atoner: Thomas helps Justice Incarnate to atone for his actions when he was on Earth 0.
- Back from the Dead: Roy Harper is restored to life via a Black Lantern ring, but is a zombie whose appearance matches when he uses the ring's power. We later learn that this is because he was restored to life by Batman during Dark Nights: Death Metal, which we did see, and that when the universe was restored, him ending up with the ring was the result. When he loses the ring to Darkseid, Roy returns to normal.
- The Bus Came Back: Infinity, Inc. return in the third issue, after having been rebooted out of existence in 2011.
- Call-Back: Pariah tells Barry that "Worlds will die... and the multiverse will never be the same again" as a reference to Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- The Cameo: The ending of the series sees Darkseid talking to various big scale villains, which include the New Gods of Apokolips, the Empty Hand, Eclipso, Upside-Down Man and Nekron.
- Continuity Nod: In the final issue, when Chase wonders where Director Bones went afterwards, a panel shows him with the rest of the new Checkmate.
- Dream Land: What seems to happen to Barry Allen, courtesy of Pariah. They're put on an Earth where the Flash Family is all together and Barry's mother is alive, designated "Earth-Flash.1".
- Empowered Badass Normal: Roy Harper is wielder of a Black Lantern ring that he can use to fly, shoot energy and create constructs.
- Evil Counterpart:
- X-Tract, the mysterious multiversal agent, turns out to be an alternate version of Cameron Chase from the original Earth-Two.
- Injustice Incarnate is the multiversal Injustice League to Justice Incarnate's Justice League.
- Expendable Alternate Universe: Deconstructed: Injustice Incarnate is put together by Darkseid, via Psycho Pirate, by promising their worlds protection if another multiverse-altering event occurs. They take this offer because their universes tend to suffer the worst when these happen, being massively altered at best and erased from existence at worst. There's also some resentment in the group towards the heroes of Earth-Prime, who will typically come out more or less intact and celebrate the victory even when whole universes have been erased.
- Face–Heel Turn:
- Machineman turns against Justice Incarnate in order to preserve his Earth.
- Lady Quark, who used to be a heroic figure, is a member of Injustice Incarnate.
- Heel–Face Turn:
- Flashpoint Batman realises that he was wrong to try to force Bruce to not be Batman. He decides to dedicate himself to helping Justice Incarnate in the end.
- While not originally antagonistic, Cameron Chase spent the 2010s in an antagonistic role. After coming to terms with the multiverse in this story, Cameron decides to be the best version of herself.
- Heel Realization: When Thomas asks Harbinger to show him "Bruce Wayne", she shows him every Bruce Wayne — all of whom are Batman. This hits Thomas hard, and he realises he was wrong to try to force his son to live a different life.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Roy pulls one off to save Justice Incarnate and Infinity, Inc. from Darkseid, knowing that this may be the end for him and his possible reunion with Lian.
- Out of Focus: Despite Williamson saying that Alan Scott's coming out would be a focus, Alan and Obsidian are barely a footnote in things in the end. Obsidian does have plot relevance in one specific instance with saving Roy, but Alan basically just tags along.
- Ret-Gone: Based on the quick montage of various Earths shown in issue #1, it seems that the post-Flashpoint Earth 2, as seen in Earth 2, has been removed and replaced with a version more similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-2. The sole character shown is Huntress, but Helena Wayne in Earth 2 had taken up the Batman identity and never wore anything like the pre-Crisis Huntress outfit.
- Sequel Hook: Not only is Darkseid not stopped, but Barry Allen discovers "Multiverse-2", the original multiverse that was destroyed in the first Crisis. That and Pariah has survived and is seeking to create a perfect multiverse.
- Villain Has a Point: Machinehead points out Barry Allen was responsible for causing Flashpoint and the heavy amount of damage it did to the Multiverse, and he's simply been allowed to roam free with no attempt made by anyone to punish him or at least hold him accountable in a meaningful way. While this doesn't excuse that Machinehead was willing to ally himself with Darkseid, he's not wrong about Barry at all and it doesn't help that President Superman acknowledges Barry's guilty actions.
- Wild Card: Darkseid's goals are obvious — he wants to control the multiverse. However, the last issue and scene reveals another player in events, Pariah, who wants to create a paradise for everyone... in a very ominous way that they admit will lead to worlds dying.
