DC’s multiverse is rich and diverse, and features many different alternate stories
and alternate versions of some of our most beloved characters.
Some of these stories are designed as Elseworlds stories - a publication imprint for the comics
giant that features stories that take place outside of the DC universe canon.
Today, we’re taking a closer look at the most surreal, absurd and wickedly different
of them with our list of the top 10 craziest DC else worlds comics.
And, if we’re being perfectly honest, the majority of these stories circulate around
DC’s big three - Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
There’s also quite a few spoilers on this list if you haven’t read these series or
graphic novels, so heads up for that.
So with that in mind, let’s get to it!
10 Batman Holy Terror A one shot published in 1991, Batman Holy
Terror was the first graphic novel to ever bear the Elseworlds logo.
It takes place in an alternate timeline where the US is a commonwealth nation ruled by a
corrupt theocratic government.
In it, Bruce Wayne, 22 years after the death of his parents, plans on joining the clergy,
until James Gordon informs him of the truth behind their deaths - it wasn’t a random
mugging, but rather, a state planned execution.
It’s revealed that the government brainwashes and tortures people, especially those who
are anti-government radicals.
Thomas Wayne was one of those radicals, a physician who attempted to treat those who
had undergone experiments, aversion therapy, had been impregnanted due to experiments,
you name it.
Bruce decides to start a crusade, hunting down the people responsible for his parent’s
assassinations.
He becomes a priest, dons a costume his father once wore in a play, and ends up discovering
that the highest court of government, the Star Chamber, are the ones to blame.
They have testing facilities in which characters like Barry Allen are forced into experiments
that tamper with splicing their genes.
He also stumbles upon the corpse of Superman, known as Project Green Man - an alien child
that was found in Kansas who was raised and studied by the state.
The older he got, the more difficult it was for the government to control him, so they
killed him using an irradiated rock found in his space ship.
9 Superman The Feral Man of Steel The Feral Man of Steel is an Elseworlds one
shot comic published in 1994 that puts Kal-El into the 19th century, having him raised by
wolves.
So yes, you probably guessed it, it’s a story that’s loosely based on the Mowgli
stories, with aspects of Tarzan peppered in.
Supes’ ship crashes into a jungle in India, and the baby Kal-El is saved by a pack of
Indian wolves from a Bengal tiger.
As the boy grows, he develops his powers, along with a new power that allows him to
communicate with animals.
Lois Lane is later brought into the story, falling in love with him, and Lex Author also
makes an appearance as a power hungry explorer in search of fame and riches.
Plus he’s got mutton chops and a full head of hair.
He ends up taking Kal-El to England, and attempts to force the feral man of steel to assassinate
Queen Victoria, using a Kryptonite jewel to attempt to manipulate him.
8 JLA The Nail JLA The Nail is seen is one of best Elseworlds
series to date.
Published in 1998, it’s story surrounded a parallel universe in which the Kent’s
truck hits a nail in the road, giving them a flat tire, and ultimately, starting a domino
effect in which they aren’t the ones who discover Kal-El.
Superman is non existent, and, flash forward to the future, the Justice League still exists,
but sans the man of steel.
But because of the lack of his presence, there’s a whole lot of other difficult factors in
play for our remaining heroes.
Perry White and Metropolis Mayor Lex Luthor conduct an anti-metahuman propaganda campaign.
Hawkman dies after a battle with Amazo.
Green Arrow becomes a paraplegic with a bitter taste towards the JLA.
Metahumans begin to get captured, and eliminated, one by one, starting with villains, but eventually
moving on to the Doom Patrol and the Outsiders.
The Joker liberates Arkham Asylum, kills Robin and Batgirl and traps Batman.
Catwoman saves him, but in the process, the Joker commits suicide, which looks like a
murder, ultimately tarnishing the JLA’s reputation.
Things only accelerate from there.
7 Kingdom Come Created by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, this 1996
four issue mini series is a deconstructionist tale set in an alternate future in which the
world of superheroes has been divided into two types - visibly out of touch heroes, and
a growing population of reckless, irresponsible and amoral vigilantes, many of which are the
children of the traditional superheroes.
Batman is stuck in the middle, desperately trying to damage control the escalating situation.
It’s a story that has been considered Ross’ grand opus about the characters of DC, and
has been compared to the likes of Watchmen and Alan Moore’s Twilight of the Superheroes,
the writer’s infamous ‘lost work’.
The traditional superheroes of the Justice League end up abandoning their positions and
duties when a new superhero the name of Magog rises up, who kills the Joker while the villain
is on his way to a trial for the mass murders of the staff at the Daily Planet.
After Magog ends up accidentally killing millions in the American Midwest and destroying a huge
amount of the country’s food product resources, Wonder Woman convinces Superman to return
to Metropolis and reform the JLA.
Of course, Batman has some beef with his best pal, resenting him for walking away 10 years
ago and letting the world become what it has, and insisting his old methods won’t work
with this new generation of heroes.
And that’s just the first chunk of the story - it gets more intense from there.
6 Wonder Woman Amazonia From 1997, this one shot takes place between
the years of 1888 and 1928 in a steampunk alternate reality after a mysterious explosion
killed Queen Victoria and her entire immediate family.
An American man called Jack Planters appears with a claim to be a distant relative, and
is crowned king.
Turns out he’s responsible for the death of the royal family, and under his rule, the
British Empire becomes more militaristic, declaring war on France, and super misogynistic,
suspending all of the rights of women within this newly established and harsh patriarchy.
So now is where Wonder Woman comes in - Steve Trevor, a villain, comes to Paradise Island
and kidnaps Diana, forcing her to marry him.
She ends up becoming a theatre star in London, but eventually, takes on the Wonder Woman
persona, organizing a resistance against King Jack.
5 Batman & Dracula Trilogy Here we have a trilogy in which Batman crosses
paths with Count Dracula.
Told over the course of three graphic novels, Red Rain, Bloodstorm and Crimson Mist, released
between 1991 and 1998, Batman finds Dracula and his minions feeding on the homeless in
Gotham.
Batman himself gets bitten in order to defeat Dracula in an attempt to match his strength.
He impales the iconic character with a tree, but that’s when his troubles really start.
He develops a blood lust, and starts to go around brutally murdering his rogue’s gallery,
including the Joker.
Alfred and Commissioner Gordon are forced to stake him, but the stake is removed by
Alfred during a crime wave in Gotham, with Two Face and Killer Croc, the only surviving
villains, teaming up to try to get rid of Batman once and for all.
4 Superman Red Son What if Superman was raised in the Soviet
Union?
That’s the question this Elseworlds comic aims to answer.
Nominated for am Eisner Award and recipient of a whole ton of acclaim, this three issue
limited series is set in an alternate reality in which Superman’s rocket ship lands in
the Ukraine, all thanks to his ship departing a little later than it did in the prime timeline,
with the Earth’s rotation changing the location in which it landed.
Superman becomes the soviet union’s champion of the common worker, fighting a never ending
battle for Stalin and socialism.
But because of this, he ends up becoming a bit of a tyrant.
Lex Luthor, a scientist employed by STAR Labs, is hired by the CIA to destroy Superman in
the midst of the Cold War.
He later becomes the president of the USA.
Meanwhile, Batman is in this universe, working as the resistance against Superman - he later
is killed, but becomes a martyr, with a resistance group called the Batmen wearing copy cats
of his costume carrying on the cause.
3 Gotham by Gaslight This one shot released in 1989 is set in the
19th century, and follows Bruce Wayne’s origin story of become Batman during the rise
of Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror in Gotham City.
It’s technically the first else world’s story, despite not being labelled as such,
with it later being given the imprint.
The story begins in 1889 with Bruce Wayne studying under Freud.
After analyzing a reoccurring dream where he recalls his parents murder, he decides
to go back to Gotham city.
When in Gotham, Inspector Gordon shows Bruce the case files behind a man who poisoned his
wife and tried to commit suicide, leaving him with a permanent grin.
Bruce takes up the Batman mantle, and just as he does, Jack the Ripper comes to the city,
and commits a series of murders that some blame on Batman.
Eventually, Batman and the Ripper come face to face as Bruce interrupts him.
It’s revealed that the man behind the Ripper is an acquaintance of Bruce’s, Jacob Parker,
who has been going around killing women who reminded him of Bruce’s mother, whom he
was in love with and rejected him.
Parker was the one responsible for hiring an assassin to kill is parents.
2 Superman: Speeding Bullets Another one shot on our list, Speeding Bullets
was released in 1993, and explores the life of a superhero who is the amalgamation of
Batman and Superman.
Kal-El is sent to Earth and is found by Thomas and Martha Wayne who name him Bruce.
The Waynes one night are gunned down by a mugger, and Bruce uses his heat vision to
kill the mugger.
Flash forward several years later - Bruce has become a recluse, living inside of Wayne
Manor, but his super hearing allows him to hear all of the cries of those in Gotham.
One night when armed robbers break into the house and take Alfred hostage, he uses his
super powers and attacks them.
That’s when Alfred takes Bruce down into a cave below the mansion to show him his rocket
ship, to teach him where he came from.
Bruce dons the mantle of Batman, and begins his crusade in Gotham.
The rest of the story finds Bruce facing off against Lex Luthor, who begins to take shape
as an amalgamation of himself and the Joker after an accident leaves him disfigured, and
later, Bruce ends up adopting the superman persona.
1 The German Expressionist Trilogy The German Expressionist trilogy isn’t known
in name by that - rather, it’s a trilogy made up of three different graphic novels,
all within the same world yet each individually unique.
The reason why these three are referenced as such is because the graphic novels are
based on German expressionist cinema.
The first, Superman’s Metropolis, is based off of the Fritz Lang film Metropolis.
Batman Nosferatu is based off the classic horror film of the same name.
And Wonder Woman the Blue Amazon takes after The Blue Angel.
Metropolis takes place in the future, in the city of Metropolis, in which social inequality
is a massive problem.
An evil scientist named Lutor has the city wrapped around his finger, and ends up seeking
out the leader of the building revolution, Lois Lane, and uses her to create a robotic
duplicate that he names Futura.
After learning about his alien origins, Clark ends up fighting Futura, rescues Lois, defeats
Lutor, and he and Lois end up becoming the new enlightened rules of the city.
You kind of get the gist of that, with the films informing the plots of the stories,
being adapted to fit into the origins of the three DC heroes that star in them.