Trinity: Dark Destiny (Comics) | Review

What happens when the Pandora Pits turn heroes into weapons against themselves? Trinity: Dark Destiny answers that question by throwing the world's greatest heroes into a supernatural nightmare where their possessed allies become their deadliest enemies.

This isn't your standard superhero throwdown. This is Rob Williams taking the threads that writer/artist Francis Manapul (Justice League: No Justice, The Flash: Rogues Revolution) planted in Dead Space arc and weaving them into a story about corruption, sacrifice and whether some evils are simply too powerful to contain or control.

The volume collects Trinity issues 12-16 and Annual #1, marking a creative shift as Rob Williams takes over from Francis Manapul. Where Better Together focused on relationship building and Dead Space tested those bonds, Dark Destiny escalates into full-blown mystical warfare.

The trinity must partner with DC's magic users– John Constantine, Zatanna and Deadman– to save Red Hood, Artemis and Bizarro from demonic possession after Circe and Ra's al Ghul sacrifice them into the Pandora Pits. It's ambitious, chaotic and wildly uneven in execution.

The story picks up directly from Dead Space's Pandora Pits setup. Circe needs to restore her soul before dying. Ra's al Ghul wants to weaponize the pits for immortality. After Lex Luthor abandons their dark trinity, they need new sacrifices to tap the pits' power. Their targets: Jason Todd, Artemis of Bana-Mighdall and Bizarro.

Circe and Ra's lure Red Hood and the Outlaws to the pits and throw them in. What emerges aren't the people who went in but demonically possessed shells with amplified powers. Red Hood becomes a supernatural marksman. Artemis wields demonic ferocity.

Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman respond to the crisis but they're out of their depth. You can't punch demonic possession into submission. They need specialists, which brings in the mystic trinity: Constantine (cynical occult detective), Zatanna (powerful magician with morals) and Deadman (ghost who can possess people).

Williams structures the arc around escalating possession. First, the dark trinity is corrupted. Then an exorcism attempt backfires when Deadman gets infected. Now you have a ghost carrying demonic corruption who can body-jump and his first target is Superman.

Batman and Wonder Woman Vs. possessed Superman fight is the volume's centerpiece. Superman's power is only manageable because Clark chooses restraint. Remove that restraint through possession and you have something terrifying. Diana can match him briefly. Bruce has contingencies. But neither can win, only survive.

Constantine takes point on the magical warfare and Williams nails his voice. Constantine knows they're outmatched, knows people will get hurt, knows the right solution probably doesn't exist. So he makes the least-bad call available and lives with the consequences.

Zatanna provides the magical firepower while wrestling with ethical implications. You're not just fighting demons. You're fighting people you care about who've been hijacked. Every spell that hurts the possessed vessels potentially harms the people inside them. She has to balance effectiveness against harm in real-time.

The Pandora Pits themselves gain depth as the story progresses. They're ancient, predating recorded history and they have a will of their own. They want to spread corruption, to test heroes and break them. Circe thinks she's using them but the pits are using her right back.

Circe's desperation drives much of the plot. She's dying, her soul fragments scattered and the pits offer restoration at the cost of unleashing hell on Earth. It's a villain motivation that works because it's comprehensible. She's terrified of dying and willing to burn the world to avoid it. Williams gives her moments of genuine pathos.

Ra's al Ghul plays his usual long game, manipulating Circe while pursuing his own agenda. He's the least developed villain here, mostly because Williams assumes you know Ra's from Batman comics. He schemes, he poses, he delivers ominous pronouncements.

The resolution involves closing the Pandora Pits permanently, which requires sacrifice from both the trinity and their mystical allies. Williams doesn't go for easy answers. The possessed heroes aren't cleanly restored. The pits don't simply vanish. People are changed by what happens here, carrying trauma that doesn't disappear.

Rob Williams handles writing duties and his style differs from Francis Manapul's character-focused approach. Williams prioritizes plot momentum and spectacle over intimate beats. The pace is relentless, jumping between possessed heroes and mystical battles.

V Ken Marion handles art on the main storyline with Guillem March on the annual. Marion's style is detailed and kinetic, emphasizing horror of demonic possession. His possessed characters look wrong– distorted features, wrong proportions, predatory movements. You see corruption in body language before demonic features.

The possessed Superman sequence showcases Marion's strengths. Clark's face radiates malevolence foreign to the character. His heat vision looks contaminated, his movements predatory rather than heroic. Marion makes you feel Superman's power without restraint.

Marion's mystical warfare visuals lean heavily into traditional superhero action rather than abstract magical approaches. Constantine's spells look aggressive and improvisational. Zatanna's magic is elegant but destructive. Deadman's possession attempts are visualized as ghostly overlays struggling against demonic barriers.

Trinity: Dark Destiny is an ambitious supernatural thriller that struggles under its own scope. The concept is strong: force the trinity to partner with magic specialists to save possessed allies while preventing corruption. The execution is rushed, juggling too many characters.

The possessed Superman fight is genuinely tense, showcasing what makes the trinity work as a cohesive unit. Diana and Bruce face overwhelming power without Clark's usual restraint, trusting their bond while preparing contingencies if things go wrong. It's the volume's best distillation of why these three function as a team.

V Ken Marion's artwork emphasizes horror and action without reaching the visual heights of Manapul's work. The possessed heroes look appropriately nightmarish. Fight choreography is clear and kinetic. But the overall aesthetic lacks the watercolor beauty and innovative layouts that made earlier volumes visually distinctive.

If you're reading the Rebirth Trinity series sequentially, Dark Destiny is necessary but not essential. It resolves the Pandora Pits thread from Dead Space while pushing characters toward future conflicts. The mystical warfare is entertaining. The character work is thin.

You can read Trinity: Dark Destiny in trade paperback physical editions through local comic-book shops, libraries and online retailers. Readers can also get instant access for digital editions across Amazon Kindle, ComiXology and DC Universe Infinite.