The Els flash fly Prince Wayne in Dark Knights of Steel #7 preview

Dark Knights of Steel #7 art
Dark Knights of Steel #7 art (Image credit: DC)

DC's Dark Knights of Steel follows the publisher's long tradition of putting well-known DC heroes in new situations, new contexts, and new worlds (once upon a time, we called them Elseworlds, but that's a story for another time), with a medieval fantasy setting centered on - who else? - Batman and Superman. And in Dark Knights of Steel #7, Prince Wayne (the DKoS version of Batman) has a violent vision of a world overrun by Kryptonians, who the narration calls "demons" who "come from the stars."

Dark Knights of Steel #7 cover (Image credit: DC)

The idea of Batman having visions of Superman going bad - or even living through that scenario - has become a recurring theme of its own in alt-reality DC stories such as the New 52-era Earth-2 comic title, and as glimpsed in the films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zack Snyder's Justice League. 

And of course the idea of Batman facing down an all-powerful, world-conquering Superman was a long term plot in Dark Knights of Steel writer Tom Taylor's own long-running Injustice comic series, based on the video game of the same name (one of the best video game comics ever).

DC has released a set of interior preview pages for Dark Knights of Steel #7 from writer Tom Taylor, artist Nathan Gooden, colorist Arif Prianto, and letterer Wes Abbot showing the title's take on the concept of Batman's dark vision of a world overrun by Superman and his fellow Kryptonians.

Here are the pages:

There's one other interesting alt-reality component to Dark Knights of Steel #7, seen in the final page of the preview: the DKoS version of the Teen Titans, the young team usually associated in mainstream DC continuity with Batman's sidekick Robin, in this case specifically Raven and Beast Boy.

Dark Knights of Steel #7 goes on sale June 7.

How does Prince Wayne from Dark Knights of Steel compare to the best alt-reality versions of Batman of all time?

George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)