One thing that should be expected with alternate futures is that not everyone will get a happy ending. In the world of Future State, some heroes were allowed to soar and reach new heights–especially the next generation of superheroes. Others weren’t so lucky. Superman and Batman both struggled with their own issues while their cities got along without them.
But in truth, Clark and Bruce got off lucky. Some characters were ruined beyond repair in the Future State timeline, and many of their fans were doubtlessly unsatisfied with how their stories turned out. It’s fortunate in those cases there’s a main continuity to go back to.
10 Batman Found Himself Broke And Working Alone, Away From His Family
Bruce took on heavy losses in the future. They brought him down as Batman and still hunted him down as Bruce Wayne. By the time of Infinite Frontier, the character’s already lost all of his money and most of his resources, but things get so much worse for him.
The Dark Detective comic picks up with him in trying not to bleed out and piecing himself back together. He never really puts himself all the way back together either—the best he can manage is taking down Peacekeeper-01 and exposing the Magistrate once more in the hopes of bringing them down for good.
9 Nightwing Lost His Entire Titans Family
Stopping at the right point in time, Nightwing actually did pretty well for himself. Working with Jace Fox and the rest of the Resistance, they were able to bring down a portion of the Magistrate and expose them for who they were.
But continuing the story, his relationship with the Titans is frayed beyond repair, and the group is just narrowly able to get rid of the threat which attacked them in the first place. And in the end, the threat goes on to wipe out existence itself and it’s the fault of the Titans for setting it free.
8 Aqualad Spent Several Years Trapped On Another Planet In Prison
Future State: Aquaman is a powerful story on its own. It has a happy ending…but that’s only the ending. Leading up to it, while teaching Andy how to use her powers, Jackson Hyde finds himself teleported to another planet via the Confluence, the ocean that ties all the other oceans together.
Eventually, he and Andy are separated, and Jackson spends six years trapped on Neptune against his will. He attempts to escape multiple times, but it’s only when Aquawoman arrives that the two are able to go back home.
7 Superman Became A Slave Fighting Under Mongul
No matter how one looks at it, Superman lost so much in this story. At some point, he gets kidnapped by Mongul and lives on Warworld for years, where he doesn’t have his powers and is killed constantly, brought back again and again. Later he finds out he has another son who’s an absolute villain and he tries to stop him from his foolishness.
Though this is successful, it’s still part of his legacy that one of his children is a monster that lays waste to part of the universe. While we get to see the character in peace during the Superman vs. Imperious Lex storyline, that’s a fleeting peace at best. And later still, he’s forever robbed of being the victor of the Superman vs. Goku debate when he gets knocked out by Raven when he’s in his Superman Prime form in the 853rd century. No way Goku’s ever getting knocked out by Raven.
6 Shazam Was Turned Into The Pawn Of Neron
Shazam tried to play the hero, but it didn’t work in his favor. After the Four Horseman were let loose into the world, it took everything the Titans had to seal them off again. In the end, Shazam successfully sealed them all off in the Rock of Eternity. Unfortunately for him, Billy was trapped in his Shazam form for the rest of his life—but eventually he allowed himself to be tricked into being split into two by Neron, who convinced him that Shazam was needed in the world of superheroes.
Shazam would gain the sight of Neron, who would cause him to kill numerous people before he lost his power altogether, handing it over to Raven.
5 John Stewart Lost His Powers And Had To Lead A Group Of Ringless Lanterns
John Stewart certainly got to look cool, but it came at a high cost. Rather than being the leader of the Green Lantern Corps, he was the leader of an army of ragtag members of the former Corps and other spacefaring folk after having his powers taken from him.
In the end, he managed to lead the leftover Corps members into battle against the Khunds and defeat them, but he still experienced quite the fall in terms of power and relevancy in the universe.
4 Conner Kent Found Himself Trapped On Another Earth Where He Was The Only Hero Left
Conner Kent was captured by Amanda Waller. Rather than anyone helping him to get free, he remained captive for so long Amanda was able to get him to work for her. She talked him into being a member of her Justice League, consisting of a number of characters lying about who they were.
In the end, her work lead to all of Earth-3 being sealed off from the rest of the multiverse, and Conner being the only hero left—away from his friends, and after years of being the villain.
3 Raven Turns Into A Monster And Destroys The Universe
It’s hard not to say Raven didn’t lose more than anyone else in Future State…combined. The character was a member of the Teen Titans during its worst period, as they were responsible for unleashing the Four Horsemen into the world that affected the entire world. That part isn’t her fault, but eventually, she captured all the Four Horsemen into her body with her powers and she was trapped on the Rock of Eternity alongside Shazam.
The only problem there is the power eventually corrupted her, transforming her into a monster who would unleash the Horsemen and the Seven Deadly Sins on the future, destroying everything.
2 Legion of Super-Heroes Are Attacked By The Planet Titan And See The United Planets Destroyed
The Legion of Super-Heroes spends much of their storyline trying to gather themselves together after they were attacked by Element Lad’s people. The group finds themselves struggling after the United Planets is shattered by the attack.
Worse, after re-assembling they learn the true culprits are the people of Titan, the telepaths who’ve decided that all other beings are too “dirty” and not worthy of existing. The team survives, but not without lives needlessly lost.
1 Flash Loses His Entire Family While A Possessed Wally Causes Chaos On Earth
Which Flash isn’t important, because it’s the entire family that suffers. Wally West is transformed into Famine, one of the Four Horsemen, and he begins killing people all across planet Earth. Barry works with the other Flash members to try and stop him, but even when he thinks he succeeded he fails and has the very hope he relied on to attempt to stop Wally turned against him.
Multiple members of the Flash family are killed either gathering what’s necessary to stop Wally, or battling Wally himself. The remaining members lose their connection to the Speed Force and retire. Future State: Flash destroys everything these characters have stood for, as the family is torn apart with no possibility of recovery.
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