Barbatos (DC)

"In the end… all roads lead back… To Darkness."

- Barbatos

Barbatos is a major villain in the DC Comics universe and the Master of the Dark Knights. He serves as the main antagonist of the Dark Nights: Metal event and of the entire New 52 Batman series, manipulating all of the events associated with the mantling of Bruce Wayne with the metals of the Dark Multiverse.

History
Many eons ago, Barbatos was a dragon who once served another powerful being who forged new worlds into existence from the hopes and fears of those in the Multiverse. Barbatos was tasked with destroying any malformed worlds that were unstable and destined to decay. However, he eventually killed his master and allowed these malformed worlds to exist, giving birth to the Dark Multiverse.

Barbatos would find himself becoming a resident of the Dark Multiverse after he was repelled from returning to the central one. Despite this, the dark god had still gained many worshipers within the central Multiverse. With some trying to summon him on worlds he was barred from returning to. Many years later, when Batman shot Darkseid with a radion bullet at the end of Final Crisis, the New God retaliated by striking Bruce down with his Omega Beams, seemingly killing him. Earth's heroes mourned the loss of one of their finest, but in reality, Darkseid had not killed Batman.

He had used his powers to warp time around Bruce, infusing him with Omega energy and sending him back to the Stone Age without any memory of who he really was. During this time, Barbatos realized the similarities between his and Bruce's Bat emblems and believed he could use him as a doorway back into central Multiverse. Barbatos' followers manipulated events throughout history in order for Bruce to be injected with four out of the five metals needed to create the doorway, and after the fifth was injected in the present day, Barbatos was able to transport himself and the Dark Knights to Prime Earth with the intent of conquering it.

After his defeat, Barbatos was left chained down to the bottom of the Dark Multiverse by the Over-Monitor, forced to watch the Forge of Worlds burn bright once more.

Personality
Barbatos was extremely aggressive, cruel, despotic, deceitful, misanthropic and power-hungry, so he has no qualms enslaving, butchering and ultimately destroying entire dimensions and realities.

Despite his murderous impulses, Barbatos was sly, cunning, manipulative and willing to wait in order to succeed in his schemes. Barbatos despises all form of life and happiness, so he wishes above all to plunge the central DC Multiverse into darkness, eradicating all life from it.

Perhaps his biggest flaw was that he only knew one thing: destruction. In his eyes, he believed that all worlds are doomed to fall into darkness. To him, leaving the dark at all, to explore outside it, was the ultimate mortal sin.

Trivia

 * Simon Hurt mistakenly believed he summoned Barbatos after the Hyper-Adapter appeared before him during a demonic ritual.