Elseworlds is the publication imprint for American comic books produced by DC Comics for stories that took place outside the DC Universe canon. Elseworlds publications are set in alternate realities that deviate from the established continuity of DC’s regular comics. The "Elseworlds" name was trademarked in 1989, the same year as the first Elseworlds publication.
The original Elseworlds imprint was scaled back in 2003 due to DC wanting to "put the luster back on them", before quietly dying in 2005. There were plans to revive the Elseworlds brand in 2010, but those plans would quickly fall apart, with the only publication under the revived label being the four issue mini-series Superman: The Last Family of Krypton.
The Elseworlds name and logo would soon be used again in marketing for the Arrowverse Crisis Crossover, Elseworlds (2018). Beginning in 2023, the name will also be used by DC Studios as a way to distinguish their standalone films and franchises from films set in the DC Extended Universe.
In late 2023, it was announced by DC that the imprint would be revived in 2024, with the first book under the revival being a sequel to Gotham by Gaslightnote titled, Gotham by Gaslight: The Kryptonian Age.
For the Marvel equivalent, see What If?.
For the related trope that is named after the imprint, see Elseworld
List of Elseworlds
Original Imprint, 1989-2005
- Batman: Thrillkiller places the Batman mythos in the early 1960's.
- Batman & Captain America
- Batman Demon A Tragedy
- Batman Vampire: The premise of the trilogy is Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Batman becoming a vampire.
- Batman Houdini The Devils Workshop: Batman and Harry Houdini team up to fight vampires.
- Batman/Lobo
- Batman The Blue The Grey And The Bat: Batman protects a vital gold shipment for President Lincoln in 1863. It includes Redbird, who is Expy of both Robin and Tonto.
- Batman The Book Of The Dead
- Batman Brotherhood Of The Bat
- Batman: Castle of the Bat: A Frankenstein pastiche, which puts our favorite brooding bat-themed hero in the shoes of a young scientist who discovers his father's brain has been donated to science and decides to make a brand-new body for Thomas, and to try out his new bat-serum on it, because if you have a bat-serum, you might as well.
- The Batman Chronicles
- Batman Tarzan Claws Of The Catwoman
- Batman: Dark Allegiances
- Batman Dark Joker The Wild
- Batman Dark Knight Dynasty
- Batman Dark Knight Of The Round Table
- Batman: Detective No. 27
- Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham: In the three-issue miniseries, Bruce Wayne and his proteges Dick, Jason, and Tim face off against eldritch abominations straight out of H. P. Lovecraft in a time between the World Wars.
- Batman The Golden Streets Of Gotham
- Batman Gotham Noir
- Batman Haunted Gotham
- Batman Hollywood Knight
- Batman: Holy Terror: In the comic, Oliver Cromwell's rebellion lasted much longer and spread out all over the world, creating the Commonwealth, a theocratic dictatorship where non-Christians are persecuted. Batman is a Badass Preacher who rebels after learning that the Commonwealth had his parents assassinated for serving in La Résistance.
- I, Joker: A one-shot about a dystopian future version of Gotham where people worship the current Batman (who is also called "The Bruce", but is NOT Bruce Wayne) as a god. It's told from the point of view of The Joker. Or rather, a person who believes himself to be the Joker. This world's Batman likes to take enemies of the state, mind-wipe them, and turn them into carbon-copies of past Batman villains with implanted memories; he then uses them in a yearly bloodsport where the entire city dresses up as Batmen/girls/women and attempts to kill one of the villains so as to get a chance to fight him for the right to become the new Batman. However, after an act of rebellion from his personal doctor/surgeon who converts the rebels into faux villains, this year's Joker gradually regains his memories and, after discovering the original Batcave, defeats the wannabe Bat-god and takes up the mantle of the Bat. He also rescues his girlfriend, who had had her vocal cords removed as punishment for being a rebel; she becomes his Robin.
- Batman: In Darkest Knight: The comic imagines that Bruce Wayne, not Hal Jordan, receives the ring from Abin Sur; in effect, this one is, "What if Batman was Green Lantern?"
- Batman Manbat
- Batman Masque: A Phantom of the Opera pastiche in which the Batman becomes involved with a dancer at the local opera house.
- Batman Nevermore
- Batman Nine Lives
- Batman Nosferatu
- The Batman of Arkham
- Batman The Order Of Beasts
- Batman Reign Of Terror
- Batman Scar Of The Bat
- Batman: Two Faces: A Jekyll and Hyde pastiche, in which a 19th century batman believes he's found a chemical solution which will restore his friend Harvey Dent to sanity. But why not test it on himself first?
- Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham: Set in an alternate universe where Selina Kyle, not Bruce Wayne, became a masked vigilante superhero after her wealthy parents were murdered in front of her.
- Daredevil Batman Eye For An Eye
- Gotham by Gaslight: The first Elseworlds story, in which Bruce Wayne is a young American plutocrat recently returned to Gotham in 1889, and ends up fighting (and is suspected of being) Jack the Ripper, who now has new stomping grounds.
- Robin 3000
- Son Of Superman
- Superboys Legion
- Supergirl: Wings
- Superman A Nation Divided
- Superman: At Earth's End: A particularly
infamous one-shot, that involves an aged Superman with a Santa Claus beard who fights cyborgs before going to Gotham After the End and battling twin clones of Adolf Hitler. The cover shows him wielding a gigantic gun. Which he uses against the aforementioned Hitler clones. Naturally, it's been subject to Memetic Mutation thanks to the likes of Linkara. - Superman The Dark Side
- Superman Distant Fires
- Superman Inc
- Superman Kal
- Superman The Last Family Of Krypton: A story about Superman's family having survived the destruction of Krypton along with him.
- Superman Last Son Of Earth: A story that flips Superman's Origin Story with Jonathan Kent sending his infant son to Krypton to protect him from the Earth's destruction.
- Supermans Metropolis
- The Superman Monster
- Superman: Red Son: A miniseries about what Superman would have been like if he had landed in the Soviet Union (specifically Ukraine, which seems to be the closest the writers could find to a Soviet version of Kansas) instead of the United States, he ends up a Knight Templar Big-Brother figure. President Lex Luthor defends the United States from the Red Menace with Superman's Rogues Gallery and Green Lanterns. Batman has a very sexy hat.
- Superman: Speeding Bullets: A comic which has Kal-El fall to Earth near Gotham City, to be discovered and raised as their own by the Wayne family. Or, "What if Superman was Batman?"
- Superman Tarzan Sons Of The Jungle
- Superman: True Brit: A semi-parodic take on the idea of Kal-El's rocket landing in Britain rather than America.
- Superman War Of The Worlds
- Superman Wonder Woman Whom Gods Destroy
- Superman Yes Tyrone There Is A Santa Claus
- Elseworlds Finest
- Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl: The comic takes place in a universe in which Bruce Wayne was never Batman, and the infant Kal-El did not survive long enough to become Superman. The orphaned Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl, Gotham's near-dictatorial protector, and Kara Zor-El alias Supergirl teams with a Justice Society backed by Luthor.
- Superman And Batman Doom Link
- Superman & Batman: Generations: A story that shows what might happen if Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne weren't subjected to Comic-Book Time, thus showing the casts of both series aging in real time, including the two having adventures in World War II. The Batman & Captain America crossover that's the source of the image in Even Evil Has Standards is also part of the same universe, with The Manhattan Project being called "The Gotham Project".
- Superman And Batman Worlds Funnest
- Superman Batman Saga Of The Super Sons
- JLA: Act of God: A notorious one that involved all the people with inherent superpowers losing them.
- JL Age Of Wonder
- JLA: Created Equal: The comic sees all men on Earth apart from Superman and Lex Luthor being killed by a strange spatial phenomenon that infects all other men with a lethal virus (Superman being naturally immune and Luthor sealing himself away before he could be infected), and the subsequent efforts to rebuild the world.
- JLA Destiny
- JLA The Island Of Dr Moreau
- JLA: The Nail: The comic takes place in a world where Kal-El is found by an Amish couple instead of the Kents because of a flat tire, and as a result, doesn't become Superman. While there's still a Justice League, they face xenophobia and Jimmy Olsen is a super villain.
- JLA Riddle Of The Beast
- JLA The Secret Society Of Super Heroes
- JLA Shogun Of Steel
- Justice Riders
- League Of Justice
- Planetary JLA Terra Occulta
- JSA The Liberty Files
- The Golden Age: The comic imagines an alternate universe where the Justice Society of America became persecuted by a group of second-stringers like Mister America, Johnny Thunder, and the original Robotman, who all joined the HUAC to gain power and influence. It's essentially an attempt to give the JSA the Watchmen treatment.
- Conjurors
- Kingdom Come: A beautifully painted and surprisingly cerebral graphic novel set a few decades into the future after Superman retired and a new generation of superheroes has since arisen.
- Flashpoint (1999)
- Kamandi At Earths End
- Green Lantern Evils Might
- Green Lantern 1001 Emerald Nights: The comic imagines Green Lantern in a "Arabian Nights" Days setting.
- Teen Titans The Lost Annual
- Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone
- Wonder Woman: Amazonia
- Wonder Woman The Blue Amazon
Revived imprint, 2024-present
- Gotham By Gaslight The Krytopian Age, A direct sequel to Gotham by Gaslight that explores the origins of a 19th century Justice League.
- Batman The Barbarian: A retelling of Batman's origin story set in a "rugged, medieval Earth", with Batman being reimagined as a barbarian.
- Dark Knights Of Steel Allwinter
- Green Lantern Dark
- Batman Nightfire
- DC vs. Vampires: World War V: A sequel to 2021's DC vs. Vampires.
The Elseworlds imprint provides examples of:
- Adaptational Nationality: A number of DC Elseworlds do this, either as the central point (Superman: Red Son is "What if Superman was Russian?") or as part of the set-up (Batman: Castle of the Bat is "What if Bruce Wayne was Victor Frankenstein?", so relocates him to Bavaria).
- Alternate Reality Episode: DC Comics pretty much specialized in this form of storytelling, publishing dozens of stories from the 1950s onwards where, either as a one-off "change of pace" storyline or as a back-up story "filler" (common in the days when some issues ran for 80-100 pages without ads in some cases, and needed to be filled). In the 1980s, DC launched its "Elseworlds" line, with followed the same concept, except usually with more serious stories.
