DC Comics right now is in a stronger position than they’ve been in years, both with their incredible Absolute line, and their regular DCU ongoing series. With their “All-In” initiative expanding, we’re getting titles for beloved (and often long-neglected) characters like Lobo, Batwoman, and Firestorm. But there’s one DC concept we’ve been wanting to see ever since DC first teased it, all the way back in 2019 in the final issue of the event series Doomsday Clock. It stars the DC heroes of Earth-1985. If you’re a big DC fan, and even you’ve never heard of this Earth, that’s because it only ever appeared on one page, in one comic. But for many fans, this is still a very familiar and nostalgic world, one just waiting for the right series.
Doomsday Clock Introduced Earth-1985, and Then Quickly Forgot About It
We’re not going to go too deep into the weeds on the plot of Doomsday Clock, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s 12-part series. It’s a Watchmen sequel, but one that also involves DC universe characters. But one concept the story introduced that we love is the idea that the “main” DC Universe is actually a “Metaverse.” Which is to say, all other worlds in the Multiverse branch off from this Metaverse timeline. This is very similar to how the MCU treats the “Sacred Timeline” in Loki. But in DC, all timelines pivot around changes to its first true superhero, Superman. When Superman’s backstory changes, the previous version of Kal-El remains preserved in a new, adjacent timeline. The recent DC KO event also reinforced the notion of Superman as the center of the Metaverse.
One image shown for this Multiverse reveal was of “Earth-1985.” Judging from the Gary Frank image, it looks like a world where the DCU Bronze Age era (that age being reserved for comics from 1970-1985, roughly) continued on as if the Crisis on Infinite Earths never happened. A world where Supergirl didn’t die saving reality, and presumably neither did the Barry Allen Flash. The caption says Earth-1985 is “a world unexplored, even today.” All these years later, it still remains unexplored, and we think it’s a big missed opportunity for DC. It could also serve as a brighter, shinier counterbalance to the darker take on DC heroes in the Absolute universe.
A New Future for DC’s Classic Heroes
So what’s our pitch for such a series? Well, let’s look at where the DC Universe stood right before the Crisis. New Teen Titans was its most popular series at the time. The Justice League of America title was in the midst of a kind of failed reboot, with the “Big Guns” mostly leaving, and a new team of young heroes taking over. (Most fans designate this “Justice League Detroit” era as a flop.) John Stewart had taken over for a retired Hal Jordan as Earth’s main Green Lantern, and Barry Allen/The Flash had been exonerated for murder, and left this era to join his wife in the 30th century. Batman had left the JLA to run his own group, the Outsiders, who featured in their own comic book. That was the basic status quo of the DCU before Crisis changed it all.
In a world where the Crisis never happened, how did these iconic iterations of the characters evolve? Well, for starters, we’d bring back the original, iconic Justice League, and make it even bigger. A year after Crisis, the Justice League of America team ended, resulting in the first death of a League member, Vibe. We’d just bump the end of that team up a little sooner. Given that he was the team’s first Latino member, the optics of that death were unfortunate, even if the comics portrayed Vibe problematically. In this version, we’d probably kill off his boring comrade, Commander Steel, instead, or Cindy Reynolds, whose superhero name is now considered a racial slur, so we won’t repeat it. But we’d keep Vixen and Vibe, and simply make the latter hero less of a cliché. The CW Arrowverse did a good job with these characters decades later.
In this bigger and better (dare we say Unlimited) Justice League, we’d finally admit iconic heroes like Supergirl and Batgirl into the team, something most fans wanted back in the day, but DC never allowed. (Something about not wanting to have repeating emblems, or some nonsense.) We’d let John Stewart as Green Lantern permanently take over Hal Jordan’s spot on the team. As for Batman, we’d reenlist him, but we’d allow his Outsiders to join the JLA too, including heroes like Black Lightning, Metamorpho, and Katana.
And as for the Flash, Barry Allen was off living in the far future before he died in Crisis. What if Kid Flash Wally West took over for him in the present without Barry needing to die fighting the Anti-Monitor? Speaking of Wally West, at this point, his fellow Teen Titans were DC’s biggest team. They had proven themselves as adult heroes, even if they were technically still teens. So in this expanded roster, we’d let the Titans join the League officially. Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl, serving on one team? That alone is ripe for storytelling potential.
The X-Men ’97 Approach
So would this series just be a nostalgic cash grab for aging fans? On some level, certainly. But we’d look to X-Men ’97 as our touchstone here. That series began with perhaps the most iconic version of the team, just as we picture them in our heads when we hear the words “X-Men.” The versions still on posters and pajamas alike. But from that jumping-off point, the series went in wild new directions. X-Men ’97 took the story places the old ‘90s cartoon never could. We’d love to see that for the most classic versions of the DC heroes as well. Only here, in comic book form, not in animation.
In a post-Crisis world, DC reinvented Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman for the modern age. And those versions are indeed fantastic. But an Earth-1985 series could take the earlier, more wholesome and nostalgic versions of DC’s Trinity they replaced, and give them deeper characterization than they were allowed back in the day. Obviously, this is the perfect book for someone like Geoff Johns to write. He created the concept of Earth-1985 after all. But sadly, he is no longer actively writing at DC. But writers like Joshua Williamson would also be ideal for a series like this one. While we’d prefer an ongoing series, we’d happily take a limited series too. Just as long as DC finally pays off that tease from years ago. Earth-1985 just has too much potential for fun stories not to mine it.