Trivia / Swamp Thing Volume 2 Issue 50 The End

• Referenced by...
  • Various DC titles mention that the demons' divided loyalty, during the battle in this issue, led afterwards to a full-scale civil war in Hell which toppled its status quo. The result, according to The Sandman (1989) #4, was a change in Hell's rulership: it was now a triumvirate consisting of Lucifer, Beelzebub and Azazel.^note In fact, it was DC editorial fiat that enforced this triumvirate. Gaiman subsequently chose, from Sandman #22 onward, to Retcon this by making Lucifer The Chessmaster who, having power second only to God's, had remained in control of Hell all along, but allowed Beelzebub and Azazel to think they had equal authority with him.
  • Sargon's and Zatara's deaths are referenced in the initial Books of Magic miniseries, #1, when Timothy Hunter sees visions of them in his journey through the magical past. In #2, Constantine alludes to the unexpected resolution of the Darkness vs. Light conflict when he tells Tim that he was responsible for their fate.
  Constantine: We were trying to save the world.
  Timothy: And did you?
  Constantine: God alone knows, Tim. And even he's probably still a little uncertain about the final outcome...
  • Zatara's death is also referenced in Secret Origins Volume 2 #27.
  • In The Spectre Volume 2 #1, the title character is substantially depowered as punishment for his hubris-fuelled refusal to stop the Darkness before it awakened. Apparently his plea for forgiveness, in the present issue, was unsuccessful.
  • The consequences of Mento's Freak Out are shown in New Teen Titans Volume 2 #24. Dayton, having apparently repaired his helmet, undergoes a Face–Heel Turn as he creates the Hybrid, once meant to be a replacement for the Doom Patrol, but now, in his madness, conceived as an Evil Counterpart Super Villain team. He refers to his experience, in the battle with the Darkness, as being "zapped by the bad guys and good," but although he acknowledges his mind is different—"You can thank good ol' what's-his-name John Constantine for that"—he denies being mad: "My Mento helmet's shown me truths I never knew existed before. I can now see the ends of the universe."