10 Darkest Future Timelines In DC Comics

DC Comics pioneered the multiverse concept in 1961 with the “Flash of Two Worlds” story from The Flash #123. Ever since, the company has explored alternate universes and many dark future timelines that present a bleak road ahead for heroes like Superman and Batman. Some of the darkest have those iconic superheroes turn into villains or against each other in unimaginable scenarios.

Since the multiverse spans most of the history of DC Comics, the future is sometimes the past depending on when a reader encounters the story. Elseworlds tales like Red Son look back to the origins of superheroes to tell different outcomes while other stories go beyond the present day of the DC Universe to tell apocalyptic tales like Kingdom Come, set many decades in the future.

Future State

Future State closed out 2020 for DC Comics with a jump ahead in the timeline to one of the DC Universe’s darkest futures. Though this future includes fantastic new heroes like Yara Flor as Wonder Woman, Superman is enslaved on Mongul’s Warworld.

The Green Lantern Corps has been completely destroyed in some unknown incident, and a possessed one of the most powerful versions of the Flash, Wally West, kills countless people including the Jay Garrick Flash.

Futures End

Futures End looks ahead 35 years into the future of the DC Universe, and things are bleak. The storyline introduced Batman Beyond into mainline DC continuity, but Earth has been devastated by a war with another Earth in the multiverse.

Among the many dark futures for heroes includes Kate Kane, one of the most powerful versions of Batwoman, transformed into a vampire. She’s ultimately killed when her own sister is forced to drive a stake through her heart.

 Armageddon 2001

Armageddon 2001 is set 50 years in the future of the then present day of the DC Universe, where Monarch rules the world with an iron fist. This terrible future came about after Monarch killed all of Earth’s superheroes in the year 2001 and assumed control.

This 1991 storyline mostly took place in what was then the future, 2001, as several heroes tried to discover which of their own would become the Monarch and stop him from coming to power.

Red Rain

One of the craziest alternate versions of Batman emerges in Red Rain from 1991. In this alternate timeline, Batman becomes a vampire after a battle with Count Dracula, who is feeding off of the homeless in Gotham City.

The vampire Batman goes on a rampage, killing most of his villains including the Joker. He also turns on his friends and allies, becoming an uncontrollable monster who is eventually staked through the heart by Alfred.

The Dark Knight Returns

Though The Dark Knight Returns doesn’t feature any vampires, it might be the bleakest future for Gotham. Over twenty years in the future, Bruce Wayne is retired, broken down, and in some ways defeated by a Gotham that is completely overrun by crime.

This seminal 1986 comic book by Frank Miller delivers its most dystopian element in Superman, who has become a mindless foot soldier for a fascistic government in America, making this one of the darkest future timelines in the DC Universe.

Flashpoint

The Flashpoint universe creates a far different future for the DC Universe after its past is altered. In this dark reality, Thomas Wayne is a dark version of Batman, Superman is a prisoner of the United States government, and most of Europe is underwater thanks to Atlantis.

The 2011 crossover event emerges after a villain named Pandora splits the DC timeline in three back in the past. This forces Flash to go back in time and merge them into a new universe, an event that is likely to have some bearing on the upcoming The Flash movie.

Red Son

Superman: Red Son is one of the best DC Elseworlds comics and one of the bleakest. This alternate future imagines what would have happened if Kal-El had landed in Soviet Russia instead of Kansas, leading to a totalitarian version of Superman.

This drastically alters the fate of the DC Comics universe, with the United States looking to develop its own metahumans, ultimately leading to Lex Luthor creating a clone of Superman called Superman 2. Luthor ultimately becomes President of a weakened America.

DCeased

DCeased is the future of a universe where most of the population of Earth has been exposed to the Anti-Life Equation. It’s imperfect though and mutates into a virus that essentially turns people into zombies. The zombies completely overwhelm the world.

Most of the world succumbs to the virus and many heroes become zombies like Superman. Many other characters die, including the Joker at the hands of Harley Quinn. Washington D.C. is destroyed when Captain Atom explodes, creating a nuclear explosion.

Kingdom Come

Kingdom Come is set decades into the future, where so-called heroes have run amok in society with no regard for the law. This leads to the killing of Parasite and the radioactive poison of much of the Midwest. Superman comes out of retirement to face these new heroes.

Superman had retired, moving back to Smallville after the death of Lois Lane. The story becomes even more apocalyptic as he ultimately faces off against an army of vigilantes led by an older and weaker Batman, who conspires with some of his former enemies in a battle for the ages.

Injustice

Perhaps the darkest alternate future in DC Comics sees Superman become the worst version of himself. After the Joker kills Lois Lane, Superman kills the Joker and abandons any sense of morality and restraint. This leads to unthinkable consequences in the Injustice timeline.

Batman is forced to lead a rebellion against Superman and other members of the Justice League after they impose their will on the world. The story only gets darker as Darkseid uses this moment to launch an all-out invasion of the Earth from Apokalips.

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