DC Comics is entering 2025 in a unique spot. They ended their 2024 with their DC All In direction kicking off. The impact of what DC All In is about will continue to be seen in 2025 as more new comic books launch while other creative runs begin to wrap up. 2025 will also be a big year for DC Comics with the latest Superman movie kickstarts the new DC Universe live-action slate. That makes this one of the most important years in the history of the company. With that in mind, let’s look at five major storylines and themes to follow for DC Comics in 2025.
DARKSEID PLANS FOR LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES
The current DC All In direction was launched around Darkseid. Before his attack on the revived Justice League, Darkseid had a few rough years as he receded to being a secondary villain, at best. That all changed during Absolute Power as we saw teases of Darkseid returning back to being the biggest threat in the DC Universe. That was immediately paid off in DC All In where Darkseid was able to change everything with his attack.
While Darkseid is in the Absolute Universe that does not mean his presence isn’t going to be felt in the DC Universe. In the lead up to the launch of his New Gods series Ram V teased in an interview with Gamesr Radar that “halfway through this run” there would be a crossover involving the series. This crossover would be between New Gods, Green Lantern, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
There is no specifics on when the event will take place but it happening during the second half 2025 would make sense. Afterall the first half of 2025 Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern will be booked up wrapping up major story arcs. But how their respective storylines wrap up could all converge for what is likely the big 2025 event for the DC Universe with the New Gods.
Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern would all fit with their connections to New Gods, other mythological Gods, and cosmic politics, respectively. All four franchises connections would bring what is going on with Darkseid to the forefront. Which would lead to the big return of the Darkseid controlled Legion of Super-Heroes. What the Legion of Super-Heroes return goes like could have an even greater impact on how the Multiverse will be handled in the post-Dark Crisis world.
HUSH LOOMS OVER THE BATMAN FAMILY
Going into 2024 we knew Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez would be ending their Batman run in February. DC Comics made sure to end the year by announcing the creative team that would be Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee. With that creative team combination there is only one direction that they would go, which is doing a sequel to their iconic Batman: Hush storyline. This is something DC Comics pushed heavily across their comic books with Batman: Hush teasers at the end issues released at the end of the year releases.
Based on the teaser to the sequel, Hush is returning not just targeting Bruce Wayne but the entire Batman Family. This new mission statement is certainly something that Hush needs. Ever since the original Batman: Hush storyline Thomas Elliot was driven into the ground by various creative teams across the Batman Family titles. It got to the point where every Batman Family member defeated Hush. So him going after the entire Batman Family along with villains like Joker makes sense to get his heat back.
Given how heavy DC Comics is pushing Batman: Hush’s sequel storyline it does put a big question on the rest of the franchise’s direction in 2025. We are entering 2025 with Batman, Nightwing, Damian Wayne’s Robin, Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl, and Oracle with titles that they lead. There are many other characters with unknown 2025, including Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown, Kate Kane, and Duke Thomas. The roles the characters without ongoing titles take in Batman: Hush sequel could speak to their standing within the franchise.
ABSOLUTE UNIVERSE CONTINUES TO GROW
DC All In has lived up to its name thus far and will continue to do so in 2025. For the Absolute Universe that means expanding the publishing line beyond the Trinity. In March we will see Absolute Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter join the publishing line with their own comic books.
This shows that the staff behind the Absolute Universe understands to get even more buy into the new continuity it will be about selling the individual characters first. It’s a big change from how DC Comics was trying to previously sell individuals through team books. Building up the would be members of the Absolute Universe’s Justice League can help to further build out individual concepts that have their own unique takes.
Choosing Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter specifically should expand on the cosmic concepts of the Absolute Universe. In the introduction to the Absolute Universe the narration spoke about how all the challenges from the changes made to classic characters will force heroes to step up in new, possibly completely different, ways. How that applies to things like the Speed Force and Emotional Spectrum in the Absolute Universe will be interesting for the greater cosmic setting.
As the Absolute Universe continues to develop the other thing to watch for is how its development relates to Darkseid. Darkseid is the bigger threat to the currently locked Multiverse. As we delve more into various heroes and villains in the Absolute Universe we could see the way the Multiverse is unlocked again to be hinted at. That could all lead to an incursion between the two major DC Universes sometime down the line.
SUPERMAN FAMILY EVENT
For all the major things going on in the DC Universe the character with the biggest spotlight will be Superman. That does not have to do with the comic books, at least for now, but rather James Gunn’s Superman live-action movie is set to release this summer. While there are things like Creature Commandos and Peacemaker season two premiering before the movie’s release, Superman is billed as the official kick off of the DC Universe’s live-action offering.
That positions the entire Superman to be the focal point for the DC Comics brand as a whole. This creates the question what the bigger plans will be on the comic book side of things. A big part of the Dawn of DC was expanding the Superman Family so it wasn’t just about Clark Kent/Kal-El. To do that they tried to present the Superman Family as a tight cohesive unit under the House of El. Though that is a direction that felt like went away by the end of 2024 as Superman, Lois Lane, and Power Girl are the only ones getting major attention.
With how much attention there will be to the Superman franchise 2025 is a key year to expand things for them. Kara Zor-El, Jon Kent, Conner Kent, and others haven’t had much success with ongoing titles. While Jon Kent will be appearing in the upcoming Secret Six mini-series he isn’t being made the main selling point of the series. Based on how the brand is being marketed it wouldn’t be surprising if Kara gets a new Supergirl ongoing or mini-series at least.
With the unknown state of the Superman Family it wouldn’t be surprising if we see a big event based around the franchise. That would kickstart a lot of things for the Superman Family in need of showing its power beyond Clark Kent/Kal-El. They’ll have plenty of momentum with the live-action movie to build off from. DC Comics just needs to make sure not to waste that momentum.
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED EXPANSION
2025 will be the year where we see how much of the foundation for the DC All In direction will be built on. The only franchise that is as stable as it can be is the Batman franchise. The Superman franchise will also get a boost from its live-action movie in the summer. But that leaves question marks all around the rest of DC Comics heroes and villains.
There is so much unknown with where DC Comics will invest in. Even characters like Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are being the massive sales hits DC Comics wants them to be. That is clear by how quiet DC Comics is about the sales success titles not named Batman or under the Absolute Universe umbrella.
This makes the way DC Comics decides to expand on the Justice League Unlimited idea something to watch. Already in the first two issues of Justice League Unlimited we’ve seen Mark Waid and Dan Mora create many different sub-plot. These sub-plots are things that could easily be spun off into new ongoings or mini-series. Maybe we see additional teams like Young Justice and Justice League Dark return under the JLU umbrella.
With all of that could be going on 2025 is set to be an extremely important year for the DC Comics brand. It is a year that the company can really capture a lot of new and old readers. It’s an opportunity they should maximize rather than waste. Hopefully that will be the case.
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