DC Releases ‘Futures End’ Teaser Featuring All Your Favorite Canceled Superheroes

Over the past few years, DC has fallen into the practice of dropping a "Teaser Image" for their upcoming major storyline every few months, and they really do the job. They're intriguing, and when readers see them, they get to talking about what all these pieces could mean, without ever really going back to see if anything panned out. It's a win for everyone

The last one we got was a Batman/First Thanksgiving-themed piece that hinted at the events of Batman Eternal -- which sounds really weird when you actually type it, but which definitely happened -- and now, we have an Escher-inspired tease at what might be happening in the upcoming Futures End event, specifically The New 52: Futures End #0, which is due out for Free Comic Book Day this May 3.  Have a look at the full-sized image below!

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What's really interesting about this, to me at least, is that it's essentially a Canceled Comics Cavalcade for the New 52. With Grifter, Apollo, Midnighter, Hawkman, Frankenstein, Mr. Terrific and Firestorm showing up and references to OMAC, this thing is littered with characters who have seen their own books canceled over the past three years since DC's relaunch. Obviously these are characters DC wanted to use -- for good or ill, they put them all front and center in their biggest publicity stunt of the past 30 years, even if a few of them were clearly destined for cancellation in the first round of cuts to make more room -- so it's actually pretty intriguing to see what DC wants to do, and whether or not they'll be expendable in the series.

I mean, except Hawkman. There is no scenario I can even imagine where Hawkman is not completely expendable.

Also of interest is the presence of the Cadmus Institute logo, a Jack Kirby creation that's the subject of the next episode of Here's The Thing. If you're curious, watch for it.