Welcome to our weekly Monday Demythify column!
April 2014 brings us the Forever Evil #7, the finale to DC Comics first New 52 spanning event that has redefined what it means to be evil and good in the DC Universe (DCU). The fallout is more significant than once thought as villains will now anchor the new Justice League post-Forever Evil including a branding new female green ring-bearer. The April 2014 DC Comics solicitations also saw a dramatic downsizing in the wake of Forever Evil’s finale with several titles cancelled including Justice League of America, Nightwing, Suicide Squad and three others.
Big Forever Evil mysteries are also set to be resolved such as:
- The identity of the Earth 3 Crime Syndicate’s Hooded Prisoner. The likely candidates have been identified.
- The finale fate of Nightwing. The likely fates have also been noted.
- The identity of the Earth 3 destroyer now on the “Prime Earth” of the DC New 52. The likely culprits have been identified.
Once these are revealed, how many will bleed into DC’s next event?
Well, the May 2014 DC Comics solicitations sees the launch of DC Comics New 52’s DCU-spanning weekly maxi-series The New 52: Futures End. I’m thinking the last mystery above involving the world destroyer may have broader implications for the DC Comics New 52. One of the mission statements of Futures End appears to involve DC’s futures (deliberately plural in the title) and there are at least 10 time-based anomalies currently in the New 52 (including multiple Superboys and the Teen Titans’ Kid Flash debacle) that Futures End could be primed to resolve. And it would appear this weekly series has already been seeded in the two cancelled new 52 series Legion Lost and Legions of Super-Heroes.
The solicitations for May’s The New 52: Futures End #1 to #4 and April 2014’s Forever Evil #7 provide interesting tidbits on the expanded scope of The New 52: Futures End how Forever Evil bridges to it.
Possible SPOILERS for April 2014’s Forever Evil #7 and May 2014’s The New 52: Futures End #1 through #4 follow.
With the exception of #1 on this Top 5 list, the list below includes exclusively includes information from The New 52: Futures End #1, #2, #3 and #4 that are part of DC Comics May 2014 New 52 solicitations.
(5) Miscellaneous Affairs
This cobbling of the solicits is our potpourri edition at number five. We could also include in here the OMAC and Brother Eye threats that will be in the May 2014 Free Comic Book Day offering by DC, namely The New: 52 Future End #0.
- “Plus the secrets of the DCU five years later arrive at Lois Lane’s door!… And why is Frankenstein living in an igloo?!… Where is Red Robin? Who wants to steal from the world’s most famous man?”
OMAC. Lois Lane. Frankenstein (of S.H.A.D.E. presumably still). Red Robin (formerly of the Teen Titans which was a series cancelled in April 2014). And the world’s most famous man (could that be advertising juggernaut Booster Gold?). Not sure how all these characters seemingly fit together, but it certainly looks like The New 52: Futures End will encompass a broad swath of DC Comics properties.
We also know that a big part of this year-long weekly series, as with Batman Eternal, DC’s other weekly, is to introduce new concepts. Perhaps the “worlds most famous man” is such a character and not Booster?
(4) Wildstorm Resurgent
Despite Wildstorm properties seemingly being cursed for the DC New 52, it would appear that Futures End will also continue DC’s efforts to maximize its library of Wildstorm properties.
- “Grifter turns against humanity… And whatever happened to Stormwatch?”
With Grifter siding against humanity, does that means he sides with aliens? Whether Daemonites or other aliens? Does this give credence to the possibility that the Earth 3 world destroyer of Forever Evil is a cosmic character from the Wildstorm library? Is Grifter duped or a willing participant or something else? Why turn on humanity? And, could Stormwarch become relevant in Futures End?
Is 2014 the year that the WildCATs emerge in the New 52? Futures End seems to be the right vehicle.
(3) Justice League… Fricassée
Really tired of deaths in the New 52. Particularly since we’re being promised some to end Forever Evil and it looks like we get more to open Futures End.
- “…a Justice League member DIES!… The entire DC Universe gathers to mourn a fallen hero!… Did Firestorm kill a member of the Justice League?”
The only intriguing part of this is that we see a new’ish Firestorm (see number four on this list above for the The New: Futures End #1 cover and new Firestorm look). He sure appears to evoke his all-powerful elemental incarnation from the 1980’s.
(2) Crisis On Infinite Earths
We’ve speculated for some time that a multiverse type event would follow Forever Evil.
After all, we have Darkseid threatening Earth 2 after killing that world’s Wonder Woman and Batman plus turning its Superman evil. However, a new Batman has emerged for Earth 2 with an interesting lineage and powers.
Plus he tried and failed to conquer Prime Earth and just led to the formation of the Justice League.
Lastly, we have Earth 3 villains as the stars of Forever Evil as revealed at the end of Trinity War.
- “Five years from now, the DC Universe is reeling from a war with another Earth…”
Will the multiverse event be a new creature or a repurposed Multiversity by Grant Morrison.
Will Multiversity become more than a Grant Morrison vanity project, but one that has a real impact on DC Comics’ New 52?
(1) Zero Hour For DC New 52
The Forever Evil #7 solicitation seems to set up, in part, The New 53: Futures End with its last sentence below.
- “It’s evil versus evil in the shocking “take-no-prisoners” conclusion to FOREVER EVIL! What will be the fate of Lex Luthor and his Injustice League? Who will live – and who will die? And why is The Hooded Man the most feared being from the Syndicate’s world?
Do not miss this startling finale that will leave the DC universe reeling and reveal the secrets to the future!”Seems deliberate that DC would mention the “secrets of the future” to end Forever Evil when Futures End is all about DC’s future five years hence; plus a time-travelling Batman Beyond making his DC New 52 in-continuity debut as travels back to the past and is in this five-year forward tale.
The Futures End solicits also include some interesting tidbits about the future.
- “Five years from now, the DC Universe is reeling from a war with another Earth leaving the world unprepared for an approaching evil that threatens to destroy the future. Can a time-traveling Batman Beyond help a massive cast of the DCU’s finest avert the impending apocalypse?… Who is watching Batman Beyond?”
It appears that an evil “is approaching” that threatens the future of the DC Comics New 52. I’m intrigued at the pluralisation of “future” in the title Futures End. I expect to see some alternate futures here and DC rationalizing them considering the several time anomalies currently in its New 52 line of DC Comics.
Thanks for reading. All feedback welcome.
