Omniverse Rumor

There is recently a rumor going around saying that after Death Metal and Future State, DC is going to go with an Omniverse model in the future. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, basically any single story can exist in it’s own universe. Or a small collection of stories/titles can exist in their own universe together separate from everything else. For an easier explanation, the DC movies do it best. You got Man of Steel, Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, and Justice League. All of that is one continual story or universe that have direct connections. But more recent movies like Shazam, Birds of Prey, and Aquaman have only the bare minimum connections to those movies if at all. We are even getting movies that will completely stand on their own, first Joker and now Matt Reeves’s The Batman.

Personally speaking for myself, as someone who has only recently tried following comics themselves…I really hope this rumor is true. Do you have any idea how EXHAUSTING it is trying to figure how one story connects to other titles or a larger universe? You got the reveal that there are 3 Jokers in the DC Rebirth soft reboot one shot, but now the actual story is - I guess - standalone and unconnected? How does a story like that impact ongoing titles and Batman events like Joker War? Plus you got these huge stories like Doomsday Clock that due to multiple delays, the rest of the universe just completely ignored until after it was finished. And now they have to use a major event - Death Metal - to try and connect it to everything else.

Basically, I think we just need a break and go with an Omniverse where not every single thing has to be connected. Look at it like this - it is a sort of return to the Golden and Silver Age of comics. Every title is doing it’s own thing, not really having to concern with what is going on with other series. Sure there can be an occasional crossover. But I think this will ultimately be a good thing in the long run.

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Spoiler!

Not anymore! :joy:

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Yeah, I think it would be cool to have an omniverse of stories.

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On the one hand, it has potential, and God knows that if I were writing a DC tomorrow, I’d more or less ignore post-Flashpoint continuity as well as a number of terrible reinventions [angrily looks at Tynion].
On the other hand, it feels like an excuse for writers and editors to be lazy, which, given certain comics I’ve been reading from when Rebirth started, that seems to track.

As with many things from DC, it sounds like there’s a possibility for success, but I have no faith in numerous people with power or influence.

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Funny how history repeats itself! Crisis on Infinite Earths was meant to be this great way of unifying everything into one story, and now 30+ years later DC is trying to split everything back up into an omniverse.

In all honestly, I don’t mind. There is value in limiting the amount of continuity in books/movies, especially as time goes on and it becomes a complicated mess. What’s really been adding to the confusion recently is when different creators are tackling the same sorts of storylines in different ways (Doomsday Clock vs. Death Metal, Three Jokers vs. Joker War, etc.). And then compare that to the simplicity (not to mention success) of Dark Knight Returns, White Knight, Kingdom Come, DCeased, Injustice, and the rest. Take all of that into consideration, and suddenly it really isn’t surprising that DC is looking to shift back to an omniverse.

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Honestly this something I’ve been hoping for years to happen. As comic fan I usually hate crossover, and long running tittles with one focused story. I hate having to read eight other tittles of characters and teams just to figure what’s going on with Batman this week. Not only that, it gets really expensive trying to keep up with everything. You’re average comic is about 3.99. So if you’re reading one title a month you’re only spending four bucks, right? I mean that’s how it should be, but there are so many crossover going every other month you end up spending triple just you know what’s happening in the one tittle you like. It’s so frustrating

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Meh. I feel like this wasn’t exactly necessary. We already had a multiverse. We could have assumed a lot of this anyway. I think DC is just addicted to shaking it up every couple of years.

In a couple of years we are going to get the Quintoverse, or the Quantuminuum or the Macroverse, or whatever they feel like calling in the next Crisis in Ad Nauseum event.

I’d rather they just stick with a status quo of some sort for a while rather than screw with it before anyone gets a chance to even get a feel for what it is they are shaking up.

The status quo is basically instability. There is no ground to stand on. I hope this event changes that, but nothing in the past 20 years suggests that will be true.

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I get that stuff like White Knight and other out-of-canon stories have been popular, and great for them. But I don’t know if the solution is to make everything it’s own continuity. I mean, you can like a certain dessert, but if you have it everyday, or as a daily meal, then it becomes less special (not to mention unhealthy).

Continuity isn’t the problem. How that continuity is handled is the problem. Stop with big events, stop trying to connect and cross-over every character, stop trying to make every little think hyper-significant, and stop treating every whim of an overhyped writer like it’s the stuff of legends. Focus more on single-issue, stand-alone stories rather than multi-parters that just end up feeling dragged on. Or, failing that, something more episodic where stories build an overall arc, but feel more episodic, and don’t lose you completely if you miss an issue.
(Also if certain writers would stop ripping off their predecessors to try and “make their mark” on things they had nothing to do with, that’d be great, too.)

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As long as the stories and art are good, and although I love Batman and Superman, more stories bout other characters I’ll be happy.

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I feel like this is going to greatly back fire on DC.

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