Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: 5g, 5g future state, dc comics, future state, The 5G Files

DC Comics Turned 5G Into Future State, Publishing It All In 2 Months

Published Thu, 15 Oct 2020 10:27:35 -0500

Last updated Thu, 12 Jan 2023 16:54:47 -0600

It's Future State time. Originally the plan was for DC Comics to launch its Fifth Generation, by ageing up all the DC superheroes and replacing them with new characters taking their roles. Planned and laid out in the new DC Timeline, this was scuppered when publisher and proponent of this approach, Dan DioDio was fired. Then the shutdown gave DC Comics the chance to pause, realise that this wasn't what they wanted after all, and to pulp the Free Comic Book Day issue that would have kicked it all off.

And now we see how all the prepared created work will be published, as the Future State line – not part of the DC Universe, but its potential future. Less a 5G for 2020, more a DC Comics 2099, a Fifteen Years Later, maybe. And rather than the ongoing DC Comics line, getting it all done and dusted in two months.

DC Future State, a two-month, line-wide event beginning in January. Through February 2021, the full title lineup will feature a combination of monthly and twice-monthly oversize anthologies, as well as a monthly schedule of miniseries and one-shots. And then in March 2021, the regular DC title lineup resumes, continuing existing storylines from 2020 and introducing new arcs for the year. DC has taken the Convergence II two month gap originally used to prepare the publisher for 5G and shoved everything created for 5G into it…

And with Death Metal's ending, originally planned to kick off 5G with the newly aged heroes, now leading into Future State.

"The DC Universe has always been fertile ground for new and refreshing takes on our characters, and DC Future State definitely contributes to this legacy," said DC Executive Editor Marie Javins. "When the event begins in January, some savvy readers will not only pick up on some of the breadcrumbs that have already been tossed out in our current titles, but they will also find new hints and clues of what's to come in 2021."

We're talking Wonder Woman #750, Flash #750 and the rewritten Flash Forward TPB aren't we?

Batman Family

In this future, Gotham City is controlled by the Magistrate. This villainous regime has taken control of the city, now under constant surveillance. All masked vigilantes have been outlawed and Batman has been killed. But led by an all-new Batman, a new assembly of Gotham's guardians rise to give hope to all of those who lost it!

Oversized Comics:

Future State: The Next Batman #1-4
- The Next Batman, by John Ridley, Nick Derington and Laura Braga
- Outsiders, by Brandon Thomas and Sumit Kumar
- Arkham Knights, by Paul Jenkins and Jack Herbert
- Batgirls, by Vita Ayala and Aneke
- Gotham City Sirens, by Paula Sevenbergen and Emanuela Lupacchino

Future State: Dark Detective #1-4
- Dark Detective, by Mariko Tamaki and Dan Mora
- Grifters, by Matthew Rosenberg and Carmine di Giandomenico
- Red Hood, by Joshua Williamson and Giannis Milonogiannis

Monthly Miniseries:

Future State: Batman/Superman, by Gene Luen Yang and Ben Oliver
Future State: Catwoman, by Ram V. and Otto Schmidt
Future State: Harley Quinn, by Stephanie Phillips and Simone Di Meo
Future State: Nightwing, by Andrew Constant and Nicola Scott
Future State: Robin Eternal, by Meghan Fitzmartin and Eddy Barrows

Superman Family

Due to his involvement in an international crisis happening in the near future, Clark Kent has been rejected by Earth, causing him to focus his lifesaving efforts outside his adopted home. He travels to Warworld to rise through the ranks of gladiatorial combat in order to defeat Mongul with the help of some unlikely heroes. Back in Metropolis, Clark's son Jon has taken on the mantle of Superman. After seeing the horrors that befell Gotham, he bottles Metropolis in order to keep it safe, putting him at odds with Supergirl.

Connecting the two oversized Future State: Superman titles, Shilo Norman, the man known as Mister Miracle, finds himself caught between the city he grew up in and the battle-torn planet that could be his downfall.

Meanwhile in the Amazon rainforest, Yara Flor is chosen to be the new Wonder Woman. Years later, the new Superman and Wonder Woman join forces to save their cities in a new superhero team-up the likes of which the world has never seen.

Oversized Comics:

Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1-2
- Superman of Metropolis, by Sean Lewis and John Timms
- The Guardian, by Sean Lewis and Cully Hamner
- Mister Miracle, by Brandon Easton and Valentine De Landro

Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #1-4
- Superman: Worlds of War, by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Mikel Janin
- Midnighter, by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad and Gleb Melnikov
- Black Racer, by Jeremy Adams and Siya Oum
- Mister Miracle, by Brandon Easton and Valentine De Landro

Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #1-2
- Immortal Wonder Woman, by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad and Jen Bartel
- Nubia, by L.L. McKinney, Alitha E. Martinez and Mark Morales

Monthly Miniseries and One-Shots

Future State: House of El, by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Scott Godlewski (one-shot on sale February)
Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman, by Marguerite Bennett and Marguerite Sauvage
Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes, by Brian Michael Bendis and Riley Rossmo
Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman, by Dan Watters and Leila del Duca
Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex, by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh (3-issue series ending March 2021)
Future State: Wonder Woman, by Joëlle Jones

Justice League Family

A thread of great change runs through the Justice League heroes: a new League is built upon secret identities (even from each other), but an old and evolved enemy will use these secrets to try and overthrow the world. For the supernatural heroes of Justice League Dark, the very fabric of reality has shifted, and heroes are being hunted.

For Flash, Shazam, and the Teen Titans, it all begins when the four Riders of the Apocalypse unleash hell in a battle at Titans Academy, Barry Allen is cut off from the Speed Force, a Famine-controlled Wally West may be beyond saving, and Billy Batson makes a deal with the devil that will change Shazam forever. Off-world, John Stewart and the remaining Green Lanterns are stranded in the shadow of a dead power battery; Jackson Hyde and Andy Curry are separated across the galaxy; and Amanda Waller executes her ultimate plan with a new but terrifyingly familiar Suicide Squad on Earth-3.

At the end of time, Swamp Thing reveals its true intention, ruling supreme until a remnant of humanity launches a rebellion, and Black Adam looks to the past as the only way to save the future of the Multiverse.

Oversized Comics:

Future State: Justice League #1-2
- Justice League, by Joshua Williamson and Robson Rocha
- Justice League Dark, by Ram V. and Marcio Takara
Future State: Green Lantern #1-2
- Last Lanterns, by Geoffrey Thorne and Tom Raney
- Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, by Josie Campbell, Ryan Cady and Ernie Altbacker, with Sami Basri and Clayton Henry
Future State: Suicide Squad #1-2
- Suicide Squad, by Robbie Thompson and Javi Fernandez
- Black Adam, by Jeremy Adams and Fernando Pasarin