2025 was a triumphant year for DC Comics – can it sustain its momentum in an uncertain future?

2025 has been a very good year for DC Comics. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it was looking like a genuinely great one until the sudden Netflix of it all these last few weeks. The streaming giant made headlines earlier this month when it was announced that it intends to buy Warner Bros., the multinational that owns DC. That has ended the year on a note of uncertainty about what the implications may be for everything from HBO Max, to James Gunn and Peter Safran's nascent DCU, to DC Comics itself.

If the deal goes through – and that's not a sure thing, though it seems likely – it's possible that the publisher's new owners may make big changes, small changes, or no changes whatsoever. At the time of writing we just don't know what this means for DC so, for now, let's put a pin in it and hope for the best...

What is certain is that 2025 saw a lot of big wins for a DC, which felt like it had a certain spring in its step and perhaps a renewed confidence following the immediate success of the Absolute line. In a year when Marvel perhaps felt like it was playing things a little safe, DC seemed to be reaping the rewards of its All In gamble.

An Absolute success

The Absolute Universe launched in late 2024 and dominated sales charts this year. The opening salvo of Absolute Batman, Absolute Superman, and Absolute Wonder Woman have captured the imaginations of hardcore fans and new readers – sometimes more so than their regular monthly equivalents in what we must now grudgingly refer to as the DC All In universe.

This success has also allowed for more experimentation, leading to titles as genuinely innovative as Deniz Camp and Javier Rodríguez's Absolute Martian Manhunter – a wild pop art explosion that completely reinvents the alien superhero and which reads like a fantastic indie, rather than something put out by one of the Big Two. Just as the Ultimate universe gave Marvel a massive shot in the arm back in the 2000s, the Absolute line now feels like DC at its most vital and exciting.

The mainline DC continuity wasn't completely overshadowed, of course. It's been a year of change for the headline Batman book, with no less than three creative teams leading Bruce’s adventures over the last 12 months.

The year started with the departure in February of writer Chip Zdarsky after a sometimes bumpy, but often thrilling, three-year run. That was followed by the return of superstar creators Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee for Hush 2 – a headline-grabbing appointment and an OK comic, but it was the news that Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez would be taking over Batman for the foreseeable future that really got us excited. It's very early days and the book still feels like it's kind of in first gear, but it's good. A solid foundation for better things in the coming months.

A Super summer

Of course, many of DC's plans for 2025 revolved not around the Dark Knight, but the Man of Steel. James Gunn's Superman was arguably the best of this year's crop of superhero movies (find out where we ranked it in our guide to the 25 Best Movies of 2025). Not un-coincidentally DC Comics initiated a "summer of Superman," the biggest development of which was the launch of a third new monthly title to join Action Comics and Superman.

Dan Slott and Rafael Albuquerque were the creative team behind Superman Unlimited, which introduced a status quo-shifting development in the form of a Kryptonite asteroid crashing to Earth. Suddenly, all of Supes' foes, even the lowest street thug, are armed with weapons capable of winging him. That's an interesting idea but one slightly overwhelmed by the introduction of a convoluted new power up where Superman turns gold in order to purge his body and become even stronger than before.

More satisfying was Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum, which let writer W. Maxwell Prince and artist Martin Morazzo loose on a DC Black Label series. It was warm, witty, and mind-expanding – quite different to their horror-focused and bleakly comic Ice Cream Man for Image, though every bit as ambitious.

Crossovers and conclusions

Of course DC is about far more than just its two poster boys and in some ways this was a year of consolidation – and conclusion – for already-running successes.

After a slow burn start, Ram V's The New Gods has really kicked into gear, becoming both a suitably cosmic tribute to Jack Kirby's creations while telling its own intriguing tale. Tom King and Daniel Sampere have just finished their smart, mature take on Wonder Woman after 28 issues, paving the way for the new team of Stephanie Williams and Jeffrey Spokes, who will be taking over in the new year.

Also sadly ending after 28 issues is Kelly Thompson's heartfelt and hilarious Birds of Prey – a brilliant book that has quickly become one of the superteam's defining runs. Mark Waid's Justice League Unlimited, meanwhile, continued to be a thrilling blast of cartoony fun.

The year is wrapping up with DC K.O., the latest big crossover event – and the first to bridge the core continuity (particularly events in the Justice League series) with the Absolute Universe since its initial divergence last year. It's an epic super-brawl that sees various characters duking it out in the Omega Tournament to save all of reality.

These big, line-wide events tend to be a mixed bag and I'd personally prefer the two universes to remain separate, at least for the moment. There's just something satisfyingly neat and clean about the Absolute books right now that I find very appealing.

Then again, given that it was Darkseid's death that caused the universes to divide in the first place, it's hard to begrudge this too much. Crossovers are just a part of the superhero comics landscape and complaining about DC smashing its toys together every now and again feels a little churlish.

Into the future

Speaking of crossovers, 2025 was also notable for being the moment that DC and Marvel finally shook hands and started releasing comics that brought their respective characters together again – the first time this has happened in more than two decades.

A pair of issues connecting Batman and Deadpool were suitably anarchic and especially notable for bringing Grant Morrison back to superhero comics for the first time in a hot minute. They have been followed up by a pair of The Flash/Fantastic Four and Thor/Shazam! titles, and it looks like this may be the start of an ongoing thing, with Spider-Man/Superman and Superman/Spider-Man both penciled in for publication early next year.

Ah, space year 2026… We've only seen solicitations for the first couple of months so far, but it already feels like there’s a lot to look forward to – not least the return of DC Vertigo in February. It’s going to be interesting to see if there's still a space for the imprint in an age where Image Comics has become the natural home for these sort of books.

A line-up that includes the return of 100 Bullets alongside debuts like Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O'Connell's The Crying Doll, and Deniz Camp's Bleeding Hearts, sounds promising, but there's no doubt it's going to be tricky. For many, Vertigo is a quintessentially '90s/early '00s thing and it'll have to shake off the long shadows of Sandman, Preacher, Y: The Last Man, and The Invisibles if it wants to forge a new path.

Still, we have faith. If DC can continue its current momentum, build on the success of the Absolute line, give Kara Zor-El the same treatment that her cousin got this year to tie into Craig Gillespie's upcoming Supergirl film, and weather the potential Netflix storm, then it should be another strong year. That's not too much to ask for, surely? Regardless, I can't wait to read a lot more amazing comics.

Our guide to the best DC stories is packed with classics.