DC Ultimates line. What should it look like?

[superduperman]

Let's say you're put in charge of creating an Ultimates style line for DC. How would you do it? What changes would you make to major characters? Would you take an existing idea, like say, New 52 or the Earth One line, and just expand it? Or would you start from scratch?

[CRaymond]

Scratch.

Follows the WW1 adventures of Queen Hippolyte of Themyscira, a remixed SHAZAM pantheon, Izaya of Urgrund, and a young Alfred Pennyworth.

[king81992]

I'd take concepts that I liked from various versions of the DC universe and expand on them. There would only be one rule: no rehashing of any storylines that were used in the past.

Since the main DC universe seems intent on degrading legacy characters and being 'dark,edgy and mature',my version of the Ultimate would be 'lighter and softer' and based on treating all characters with respect. I'd also tone down the focus on the Bat family and better establish the Wonder and Super family.

[byrd156]

If it's gonna be like the Ultimates then we will need a lot of cannibalism, incest and more swearing and violence.

I'd personally really like an Earth One style GL book that teams up with Adam Strange and Hawkman. A lot of space based heroes forming a GotG style team to protect Earth.

[Thor-Ul]

Call Mark Millar and ask him to do a "Brightburn" version of Superman.
Or call Warren Ellis and ask him to do a hard sci-fi version of Superman.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Let's say you're put in charge of creating an Ultimates style line for DC. How would you do it? What changes would you make to major characters? Would you take an existing idea, like say, New 52 or the Earth One line, and just expand it? Or would you start from scratch?

The traditional way to do an Ultimate DC would be what they did with Earth One. I'd do an expanded version that comes out a bit faster than once every year. I'm not sure yet if I'll keep the existing ones or start those over. I do wanna expand past the ones we have tho and give a spotlight to lesser known characters.

A more ambitious version would something similar to Bruce Timm's Gods and Monsters. You keep the mantles but with different wielder/setups.

[Ascended]

Well, I think the only real reason to bother with an Ultimates line is to make it vastly different and stand out from the main DCU. What's the point in a second line that only has minimal differences?

Assuming I was the editor in charge of designing the line I think what I'd do is approach some of the best talent, both inside the industry and beyond it, and ask them to pitch something weird and wild and different, then pick the most promising and interesting ideas and build from that.

But if it were me designing it......I dunno, I'd have to see some market research to get a better view of things beyond my own preferences......but if left to my own devices I'd probably consider doing one of the following:

A DCU that begins in the 1930's. A Superman who can only leap tall buildings and actively hunts down corrupt businessmen and politicians and sticks his nose in social issues, a Hourman struggling with addiction, etc. Despite being based on DC's past I'd push my creators to explore new ground and think less about superhero troupes and standards and more about how to make a interesting, new narrative using those pieces. Something like "Mad Men meets Game of Thrones meets Philip Wylie's Gladiator meets Zorro" and there would be actual, major ramifications to the world. None of this "the setting must resemble the real world" stuff; within a handful of years you'd see cars powered by Ted Knight's cosmic energy technology, Atlantis as a part of the UN, etc. Really push the boundary and make the DCU a unique, fantastical place beyond the existence of flying people.

The non-universe universe. Instead of trying to create a full, interconnected world.....how about we just tell good stories with the characters in their own, self-contained settings? Sort of like the earth-1 line of OGN's, but with an actual release schedule, and with a less classic approach to the characters, since a lot of the E-1 stuff could just be plugged into the main DCU and no one would notice.

Justice Incarnate. A multiversal team of peace keepers that travel around different worlds? Seems like a interesting hook to build a line around and you can use Morrison's name to springboard off of. You've got variations on popular names like President Superman and Green Lantern Bruce Wayne, infinite possibility in the kinds of worlds you can use, and you could even bring the imprint in for some crossover Events with the main titles fairly easily.

The public domain/folk tale DCU. Take some of DC's biggest names like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, etc., and then throw them into a setting where most of the other heroes are public domain figures like Paul Bunyan, Santa Claus, etc. Take a look at the stuff Morrison is doing with Klaus (his superhero Santa) over at BOOM! or that cartoon movie The Guardians and you'll get an idea of the stuff I'm envisioning. I dunno if there's enough potential here to build a whole line around, but I suspect the idea of team-ups between Superman and Santa, Johnny Appleseed and Flash, would at least get *some* attention.

[Vordan]

A lot of the New 52 ideas would’ve fitted better here.

I would have made Superman Latino-passing and basically given him the Golden Age attitude and power set. This is not a Clark who doesn’t take a stand on politics or is afraid of roughing people up.

Azz WW basically as it was would fit in fine.

Instead of Hal Jordan I would make either Kyle Raynor, Simon Baz, or Jessica Cruz *the* GL for this Sector, no other Green Lanterns although someone like Guy might show up as a Red. The Corps numbers in the millions not the thousands, and it has a much more “hard sci-fi” feel to it.

Flash would be Wally West who was struck by the lightning bolt along with his Uncle Barry. Barry disappeared and Wally tries to master his powers while also figuring out what happened to his Uncle Barry the night of the accident while also trying to keep his secret from his Aunt Iris.

Aquaman would be Maoma Arthur, a Polynesian man who is summoned back to Atlantis by his mother Queen Atlanna. Arthur must contend with his half-brother Orm while hunting the man who murdered his father Thomas, Black Manta.

Batman has never really needed any changes so I’m not sure what you’d do with him.

For Cyborg I’d go full Deus Ex with him.

[Ascended]

I think Truth actually put Clark in a really interesting position that's worth exploring. The story was awful but the idea of a Superman who lost the duality of his nature (he's lived a split nature his whole life, imagine what the loss of that does to a man?) along with everything else, and had been knocked down to Golden Age levels (in several ways) was fascinating, and I'd love to see that status quo explored outside main continuity. That's something ripe with potential that's different enough from the classic setting to be worth doing.

Generally I dont think the New52 was actually different enough to warrant being the basis of a Ultimates line, but Superman's an exception; there were enough unique/different elements there to build a brand new vision out of.

[Sacred Knight]

Ideally I'd have heavy New 52 inspiration for characters who were actually rebooted during that era, like Superman and Wonder Woman. With those two examples there's enough differences to justify it. But they're really the only ones. The rest I'd use more of a blank canvas. Personally GL wouldn't be Hal. I'd create someone entirely new there. Same with Flash. With Aquaman I'd use the Aquawoman template from Earth 2. With Batman I've recently had an interest in playing with the idea that Bruce was shot too, nearly died, and required extensive therapy which would all eventually segue into him keeping his body tip top. Many years later when the Graysons are killed, Dick is also seriously wounded, making another connection between the two.

I've also had an idea for a good while to use part of Wonder Woman's origin, this time in WWII, as a divergent point in that world's history that would lead to substantital changes to the history and the landscape of that particular Earth from that point forward, so its a character in its own right to learn things about like Robinson was doing with Earth 2.

[Mutant God]

Batman has never really needed any changes so I’m not sure what you’d do with him.

Just for the sake of changing things combine him with Batwoman and make him gay and Jewish lol, he also opens his own school which is how he decides to choose his Robins.



My Ultimates DC Universe (actually I have several alternate universes):
Superman - A simple farm boy with cancer who saves the life of time traveling mercenary Booster Gold and is rewarded with a serum created in the future by scientists who experimented on metahumans for years under the name Project Cadmus that was funded by several powerful men known as The Elite with each man wanting more power. The Omega Serum gives Clark several different powers but because of the cancer in body he needs sunlight to give his powers and to neutralize the cancer cells in his body.

Batman - After his father's death, Bruce Wayne puts the family money into Wayne Enterprise and charity projects, meanwhile tries to be more political and becomes the vigilante known as Batman who funds his crime fighting through stealing money from gangs and stealing equipment from super villains i.e.: Riddler's tech, Scarecrow's fear gas, Firefly's jet pack, Captain Boomerang's boomerangs into batarangs

Wonder Twins - Once upon a time an ancient wizard name Mamaragan wanted to create a new champion of Earth and decides to use two children as contenders with each one being raised different as a study of nature vs nurture to see which one is stronger. He picks twins Billy and Mary Batson, who were separated at birth where Billy ended up in the streets of Fawcett City and Mary ended up on an island called Paradise Island ran by Amazons, Billy is from Man's World while Mary is from The World of Amazons. Some time after giving them the powers of gods/goddesses from all over the world he has them fight each other but they decide to just share the title of champion with each of them believing in the other one making themselves stronger. Mary decides to go back with Billy but takes a different name using her middle name, Diana, and her mother's maiden name, Prince. As heroes they decide to go by the names Wonder Woman and Captain Wonder and together they are The Wonder Twins.

Green Lantern - Alan Scott is a divorce father who wants to prove to his young children that hes a hero and ends up becoming a Green Lantern. Alan finds the ring on a dismembered arm and after picking it up the ring takes him to its former owner Hal Jordan. Jordan lost his arm after his mentor, Sinestro, betray the Green Lanterns to create his own Lantern Corps and took off Hal's ring arm to show fear into Hal and to show how far he was willing to go for his goals. Alan convinces Hal to train him on how to use Hal's ring and be hero.

Flash - Scientist Jay Garrick is transformed into a speedster after time travelling speedster Eobard Thawne lost his powers and manipulated the government into creating a device that can transfer a portion of the Speed Force into a person.

The Sandman - Soldier Wesley Dodds uses his gas guns to battle terrorism and leads his own team called Suicide Squad who are soldiers who volunteered to go on dangerous missions. Thanks to a battle with terrorist Ra's al Ghul, Wesley died but Ras threw his nemesis and former colleague into the Lazarus Pit to show him the Pit's power and Wesley has disturbing dreams about future crimes and terrorist attacks.

[scary harpy]

My Ultimate line would a hard reboot with JLA and JSA on separate worlds; the JSA would not be much older than the JLA. (I don't feel attempts at the shared world has worked. As a plus, we'd have 2 worlds to divide the tooo many characters that DC have.)

Expect some slight variations but nothing radical (like a new Batman cartoon for children).

But my Ultimate universe would start very simply...with Batman.

This first book would be Batman [Bruce] with Robin [Richard], Batigirl [Barbara] and Batwoman [Kate]. In these books (whatever books these are), they would reintroduce many of the 500 plus bat-villains to the ultimate line.

[Factor]

I would call the line Earth Zero (the main continuity would be Earth-1 again) and use it as the starting place for new readers.
Basically a New 52 or Earth-One done right.
A small line of books with fresh takes on the most popular characters to try and attract audiences from other media. I'd also distribute it outside comic shops (much like the Wall Mart line).
This way they could cater to new fans while leaving the main universe open to actual progression. This would be accompanied by a much needed fixing of the DCU's many continuity issues.

[married guy]

Just for shits & giggles, I'd make it a DCU where the characters actually age.
The JSA will be their appropriate ages (Alan with his ring & Jay with the Speed Force get a pass) and STILL around to inspire and advise.
The Silver Age versions are ALL in their late 30s and early 40s.
The Bronze Age characters are all active as well and will be seen to assume the mantles of their mentors over time.
Then you have the teens all training & learning from ALL the above heroes.
Make dead DEAD. NO magical returns or time travel shenanigans.
Give the writers a basic guideline to follow and then let them run wild.

[Vakanai]

Start with Superman, before we begin an ongoing title I'd cover the origins with several minis/maxis/GNs:
Krypton: The Big Bang - Set up the world of Krypton, Zod, and the house of El, ending with the rocket blasting off to safety as Krypton blows up. Take some inspiration from the TV series, make Zod Clark's uncle. Set the seeds up for both Krypto and Kara having left the planet because you know someone will introduce them anyways. Make it a kind of socioeconomic/sociopolitical thriller with superheroics and a pseudo hard science edge to it. Make it a 12 issue maxiseries.

Clark and the Legion - A young teenage Clark meets the Legion of Superheroes for the first time while reeling from the recent death of his father (classic surprise heart attack, none of letting him die in a tornado nonsense). While battling the likes of the Reverse-Flash, minions of Darkseid, and escaped Phantom Zone villains, Clark learns from his new friends how to get through his grief, lead a team, make friends with a diversity of different viewpoints, and become a hero! Very much a hopeful, inspiring coming of age tale. A 12 issue maxiseries.

Road to Metropolis - An anthology story, covering all the bits of the origin story not included in either the Krypton or Legion stories. Covers all the Smallville stories and world trotting stories before heading to Metropolis. A graphic novel.

Lois Lane: Year One - The origin story Lois Lane fans have been waiting for and deserve! Tough as nails investigative reporter gets the dream job of a lifetime with the Daily Planet. Basically find a writer who really gets Lois to tell a ripping good yarn. I mean I don't have any ideas, but I want to read some Lois Lane saving the day and proving that the pen really is mightier than the sword! A 4-8 issue miniseries.

Jimmy Olsen: A 100 Page Spectacular! - Kinda like a Year One for our favorite young photographer (no not Peter Parker!), only a lot more trippy golden age fun. I don't know what the story is or who would write it, but it'd be a fun ride. A 100 page special.

Superman: Welcome to Metropolis - The "traditional" Superman origin story. I want a golden age, New 52, Earth One inspired take on the character again. Whole story takes place after he arrives in Metropolis, kind of like Man and Superman. A graphic novel.

That's covers the first full year. After that we start three ongoing titles, Superman, Lois Lane, and The Legion of Superheroes starting off our year two. Also included during this phase is a 4 issue miniseries for Jimmy Olsen.

This second year would also see the various origin minis, maxis, and GNs for Batman and his world, and then year three would see the same for Wonder Woman, but I'm still thinking up those details. I'm aiming for a slow build up of titles, establishing the foundations of each hero of the Trinity first before giving each only three related titles to begin with. Year four then sees the first team up between Batman and Superman in a special event, along with the origin rollout for Green Lantern. Year five is the first team up for the whole Trinity and the intro for the Flash. Next year sees the big Justice League team up.