7 Wild Reinventions From DC’s Absolute Universe That Left Longtime Fans Stunned

The Absolute Universe is DC Comics’ attempt to do something similar to what Marvel did with the Ultimate Universe. The company took its greatest heroes and then reimagined them, updating many of them for a modern-day reinvention, and in many cases, the new versions of these classic heroes are nothing like they ever looked before. The books in this new line of comics include Absolute Superman, Absolute Wonder Woman, Absolute Batman, Absolute Flash, Absolute Martian Manhunter, and many more. With these titles, the origins of many of the characters changed, and in every case, their relationships with others drastically changed as well.

With these new character reinventions, here is a look at the changes to classic DC characters that left many fans stunned thanks to the Absolute Universe.

7) Absolute Martian Manhunter is Not a Martian

Absolute Martian Manhunter changed absolutely everything about the character. In DC Comics, Martian Manhunter is J’onn J’onzz, a Martian who came to Earth to hide when his entire species was wiped out. He is a telepath who was an original Justice League member and is one of DC’s most powerful heroes. That is not who Absolute Martian Manhunter is in any possible way. Debuting in Absolute Martian Manhunter #1 (2025) by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez, John Jones is not an alien at all.

Instead, John is an FBI agent who has his brain infected by an alien consciousness that calls itself The Martian. This means John and the alien (J’onn J’onzz) share a body. While known as Martian Manhunter, this alien is not Martian at all, but comes from a planet light-years away. While the main Martian Manhunter is a noble hero, this version is a reality-warping alien who is unsettling and nearly incomprehensible.

6) Absolute Green Lantern is Jo Mullein

The most shocking thing about Green Lantern is that it isn’t anyone that DC fans know as the intergalactic hero. This isn’t Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, or anyone else from DC Comics. Instead, Absolute Green Lantern is Jo Mullein, the only Green Lantern in this comic book universe. Debuting in Absolute Green Lantern #1 (2025) by Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay, Jo is a small-town cop who comes across the power ring and gains powers she knows nothing about.

She isn’t a member of the Green Lantern Corps either. In fact, there is no Corps, turning Jo into a ground-level character rather than a cosmos-spanning superhero. The other big shock with the title is that Absolute Green Lantern is less of a superhero comic book series and more of a horror story, with cosmic dread and the fear of the unknown. Jo ended up as a great choice, as she also exists in the main DC universe, debuting in a 2019 series by author N.K. Jemisin.

5) Absolute Batman’s Alfred is an Active MI6 Agent

In almost every version of Batman stories, Alfred Pennyworth is the loyal butler who takes care of Bruce Wayne and who is his most loyal ally. When Absolute Batman came along, DC not only took away Wayne’s money but also his trusted butler. Debuting in Absolute Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta, Alfred in this world is an active MI6 special agent tasked with intelligence-gathering and neutralizing designated targets.

This version of Alfred is sent to Gotham City to investigate the rise of a terrorist group called the Party Animals. This mission puts him on a collision course with Batman. While the mainline’s Alfred is a surrogate father and moral compass, here he is a jaded spy-assassin, which severs the relationship between these two iconic DC characters. Alfred eventually becomes Batman’s friend and ally, but he wasn’t there to help raise Bruce before, and their relationship here has to grow.

4) Absolute Flash is the World’s Only Speedster

Absolute Flash in the Absolute Universe is not Barry Allen. Here in this world, the only speedster in existence is Wally West. Debuting in Absolute Flash #1 (2025) by Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles, Wally West gets his powers by accident, but there is one big twist in this new world. There is no Speed Force, which means there is no Flash Family, and there has never been a speedster like him before.

Wally’s father is a military man who is overseeing a top-secret government experiment. When the accident gives Wally his powers, he goes on the run because he doesn’t want the military to control his life. In the main timeline, Barry Allen is inseparable from the Speed Force, but here there are no mentors, no safety net, and as a teenager, Wally is on his own in figuring this out. It should also be noted that this version of the Flash might be the most powerful hero on Earth in the Absolute Universe.

3) Absolute Wonder Woman Spent Her Childhood in Hell

In Absolute Wonder Woman #1 (2024) by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman, the Absolute Universe changed everything about Wonder Woman. Instead of being raised on Paradise Island and trained by the Amazon warriors to become a great hero, Diana was raised in Hell since she was an infant. As a baby, she was left on the Wild Isle of Hell and raised by the witch Circe. She grew up as the princess of Hell and mastered dark sorcery alongside her Amazonian warrior training.

In this world, it also turned out that she was literally the last Amazon, and there is no island with sisters. The god Apollo even banned Circe from teaching Diana about her heritage, so she entered the world of man without any sense of community. Turning Wonder Woman from a symbol of good into a Hell-forged sorceress raised by a villain from classic literature made the character differ from her mainline counterpart more than any other character in the Absolute Universe.

2) Absolute Batman’s Bruce Wayne is Working Class

Absolute Batman took away the one thing that made Bruce Wayne who he is. This universe stripped him of his money and wealth, meaning he had to fight harder to become the Dark Knight. Wayne is a working-class man with a day job as a construction engineer. Thomas Wayne wasn’t a doctor, but a school teacher, and Martha was a social worker. There is no Wayne fortune, no manor, no Alfred, and no dynasty.

The origin story was changed because only Thomas Wayne was shot and killed by a random gunman, while Martha survived because she was not present. She raised Bruce in poverty. This was a shocking change for Batman because there is no way he can afford his gadgets, his Batmobile, his network, and more. He has to build everything himself, making him a raw and scrappy hero, a complete reinvention of Batman’s origin story where he must fight to survive.

1) Superman Wasn’t Raised By the Kents

Absolute Superman #1 (2024) by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval brought in the Man of Steel for another reinvention. Much like how Absolute Batman lost his wealth and Absolute Wonder Woman lost her heritage, Superman lost everything, including his family. In this new universe, Superman grew up on Krypton before its destruction and then arrived on Earth as a young man, where he met, but was never raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent.

This stripped him of his moral upbringing by the Kents and left him as a wanderer with no idea what he was supposed to do with his new life on Earth. When the series opened, he was wandering the Earth, working in mines and on corporate-owned farms. Instead of being raised in the American heartland, he barely even lived in the United States and exists as a radicalized outsider who is pushed on by the injustice he sees in the world.

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