Has DC ever had an event where the "villain" or antagonist of the story is nature itself, like in the movie "2012"? If not, how would the heroes deal with what seemed to be the end of the world?
Has DC ever had an event where the "villain" or antagonist of the story is nature itself, like in the movie "2012"? If not, how would the heroes deal with what seemed to be the end of the world?
The closest thing I can think of right now is the Rotworld crossover of Animal Man and Swamp Thing where The Rot is taking over the world
It's not nature as a villain per se, but Superman used to make a regular thing out of short-circuiting natural disasters.
The closest thing to what you're describing that I can think of is from issue 16 of Captain Atom's post-Crisis series, where The Captain tangles with air elemental that used to inhabit Red Tornado.
Do you want to say a natural disaster as a story "villain"( Who/Which heroes need to deal with), Or are you trying to say a villain that was a nature embodiment. Any way, If you were talking about natural disasters, Superman has handled them many times.
"Dangerous Zombie! Transform!! Click And Load! Buggle UP! Danger! Danger! Death The Crisis! Dangerous Zombie!" Kamen Rider Gemn
(In first he's mysterious and evil and now he's psycho and crazy and insane and evil AND "The Meme Lord"LOL.)
I’d have said the Woodrue storyline in the great Alan Moore Swamp Thing run dealt with this explicitly...the Justice League is shown as helpless against the full force of nature (the Green), and Swamp Thing has to deal with the crisis more through convincing Woodrue that his path will lead to ecological disaster, rather than via force.
not counting any major fights vs Swamp Thing or related to the green the only natural disaster in comics was Batman: Cataclysm which lead to No Man's Land
other than that the closest thing to a natural disaster on superhero comics might be the Final Night event in which a Suneater tries to... eat the sun, pretty much the entire event focuses on how this would be a doomsday scenario
Ross' Justice opens with a scene of the JL losing against an escalating series of disasters that culminate in Earth's destruction, with only Superman and The Atom surviving. It's a telepathic fantasy used to convince The Legion of Doom to unite against the superheroes, but it fits your bill.
Last edited by DrNewGod; 11-09-2019 at 08:54 AM.
Closest thing I can think of is "Coldhearted." Wally West runs through an icestorm to deliver a heart transplant. Not a perfect example since Vandal Savage tries to stop him.
Might've been based on this--
But I've never read it.
I don't know if this counts, but I know Poison Ivy was used to sort of address the concept in an issue of Gail Simone's Batgirl run.