Is DC Comics Reviving Alan Moore’s “Twilight of the Superheroes” Pitch From 1987?
Yesterday Bleeding Cool ran a very interesting theory, and one my gut tells me will come true. In this week’s Justice League #12, we got the beginning of the much talked about romance between Superman and Wonder Woman. But also this week we got Justice League International Annual #1, which featured the disbanding of the team and and an appearance by a future version of Booster Gold, who sees sureveilance footage of the Super-Wonder hook up and says something to the effect of “now it is too late!!” and vanishes. Not to mention, John Constantine is now a part of the DC Universe for the first time in decades in this New 52 universe. So what does this all add up to?
As Bleeding Cool pointed out, all this circumstantial evidence leads to an intriguing possibilty: DC is planning on digging out Alan Moore’s proposed DC Universe crossover The Twilight of the Superheroes out of mothballs. What is Twilight of the Superheroes you might ask? Back in 1987, before Alan Moore cut all ties with DC over Watchmen, he pitched and sold a proposal to DC as their next epic crossover. He made a detailed plot synopsis, and included a rather long letter explaining just how DC should approach, market and even merchandise this puppy (so very capitalist of you Mr.Moore. tsk tsk) But soon after, his relationship with DC ended badly, and Twilight of the Superheroes went on the shelf. Elements of the story popped up in books like Kingdom Come and Armageddon 2001, but no straight up adaptation was ever made.
That may soon change though, if Bleeding Cool is correct. Here is the full synopsis for the story according to Wikipediea:
The framing device of the story involves future versions of John Constantine and Rip Hunter traveling to the present day, ostensibly to prevent a serious disaster involving the superheroes of their time. The hook through which the series would connect with other titles is the attempts of the two time travelers to recruit others into their quest to alter the future through warning them of upcoming events. Individual books in the DC Universe could tie into the crossover or not, as their creators wished, by having Hunter or Constantine show up and warn the stars of the book of some event. The main narrative of the series involves Constantine relating the story of what has happened in the future to his present-day self over drinks in a bar.
The series was set in the future of the DC Universe, where the world is ruled by superheroic dynasties, including the House of Steel (presided over by Superman and his wife Wonder Woman, now called Superwoman) and the House of Thunder (consisting of the Shazam family) as well as houses built around the Teen Titans (House of Titans, naturally), the JLA (the House of Justice) The House of Mystery (DC’s mystical characters) and an alliance of super villains, known as the House of Secrets. The houses of Steel and Thunder are about to unite through the dynastic marriage of Superboy and Mary Marvel Jr., with their combined power potentially threatening the status quo, and several characters, including Constantine, attempt to stop it. One group of opponents is a shadowy cabal of non-powered heroes from DC and pulp fiction, like Tarzan and the Shadow, led by Batman. Another involves an alien alliance of the Green Lantern Corps, Martians, and Thanagarians. Constantine’s narrative of the future ends with a massive battle between the various factions, resulting in the death of most of the super-powered characters. A side story would show a decaying superhero ghetto where decrepit versions of old heroes live. In the final part of the present time framing device it would be revealed that Hunter and Constantine had traveled back in time not to prevent the future they came from but to ensure its coming true. The final battle depicted in the book resulted in humanity being freed from the control of superheroes, a status that Hunter and Constantine supported.
There are more details on Alan Moore’s proposal here. Now, we know that DC CCO Geoff Johns mined Alan Moore’s old Tales of the Green Lantern Corps stories for much of his Green Lantern run, including Blackest Night. So why not use Alan Moore’s old proposal? This isn’t a Watchmen situation; DC owns Alan Moore’s proposal outright and have since 1987, and all the characters are characters DC owns. If DC goes ahead and does this, they might get some grief from Moore in the form of snarky comments in the press, but that would be just about all he could do. While I felt (and still feel) that Before Watchmen was a slap in Moore’s face, this is a totally different animal. Twilight of the Superheroes also sounds a lot like a super powered version of Game of Thrones, which would be another selling point these days. One way or the others, I suppose we will all find out soon enough.
