The latest issue of Infinite Frontier: Secret Files reveals that one Flash rogue has kept the powers they received during Death Metal.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Infinite Frontier: Secret Files #5 by Stephanie Phillips, Joshua Williamson, Phil Hester, Ande Parks, Nick Filardi and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s dark multiverse epic Dark Nights: Death Metal has left a lasting impact on the DC Universe. The world that it created saw many DC characters undergo radical changes not just in appearance but with their powers as well. When it ended with a multiversal reset that paved the way for the Infinite Frontier era, the stranger and more drastic changes were reversed. However, Infinite Frontier: Secret Files #5 reveals that this isn’t the case for everyone, especially not a certain Flash villain.
The main focus of the latest issue of Infinite Frontier: Secret Files is the DEO and its director, Mister Bones. The DEO’s usual objectives relate to metahumans and aliens, but it seems that Death Metal has them concerned about the multiverse and the dangers it could present. It is for this reason that director Bones is talking to George “Digger” Harkness, aka Captain Boomerang, a longtime nemesis of the Flash. Director Bones believes that Boomerang still possesses the freakish powers he gained during the events of Death Metal and he’s determined to prove it.
Bones questions Boomerang about the events of the story “Metal Queen of the Desert” by Chip Zdarsky, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez and Dave Sharpe from Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook. After the Batman Who Laughs killed Captain Atom, the nuclear fallout caused by his death created an atomic wasteland that mutated anything that entered it. Harley Quinn ventured into the land in search of members of the Suicide Squad and found a mutated Hulk-like Captain Boomerang. In this irradiated form, Boomerang could throw the bones protruding from his back like his regular boomerangs but was left a mindless monster.
Boomerang’s grizzly Death Metal existence ended when he was eaten by Harley’s giant mutant hyena, something which Bones questions him about. Boomerang denies all knowledge of his time in the nuclear wasteland but Bones doesn’t believe him. Instead, director Bones believes that Captain Boomerang not only remembers his time as a mutant monstrosity but that he still possesses his new powers.
Bones decides to put his theory to the test by trapping Boomerang in a glass chamber and filling it with a green gas, to try and provoke a reaction. Bones’s theory proves correct as, when exposed to the gas, Boomerang begins to transform, once again becoming the mindless mutated monster he was during Death Metal. In his irradiated form, Boomerang is so strong that he easily breaks out of his glass prison.
Director Bones is barely able to escape the deadly clutches of the enraged Boomerang. Even with his cyanide sweat preventing Boomerang from holding him for any length of time, director Bones still has to avoid bone boomerangs. Director Bones resorts to an experimental shock chamber to combat Boomerang’s new form. The plan proves effective, stopping the mutated Captain Boomerang’s in his tracks and calming him down.
When Bones opens the chamber, Captain Boomerang speaks, showing that he has overcome the mindless state of his irradiated form. However, despite his speech, Boomerang’s skin is still green and he appears larger than normal (though not as large as his fully mutated form) which suggests a new status quo for the Flash villain.
It appears that Boomerang’s new form is a permanent addition to his power set. This in-between form from the end of the story, only slightly larger with green skin, could be how Boomerang primarily appears from now on, suggesting added strength to his primary arsenal. It’s also very likely that his larger more monstrous form will appear again, most likely in instances of anger, extreme stress or life-threatening situations, as Bones proved. Even if Boomerang can return to his regular non-green self, his better half will still lurk under the surface ready to wreak havoc on the DC Universe.
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