DCeased: Tom Taylor Hints at A Major DC Character's Death

Today, comic book writer Tom Taylor tweeted an image that may give away the death at the center of [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Today, comic book writer Tom Taylor tweeted an image that may give away the death at the center of a DC Comics project he has been teasing on social media with the #DCeased hashtag.

A previous tweet talked about Superman "breaking the jaw of a god," and the latest tweet seemingly reveals which god it was.

In a tweet that includes a white-text-on-black background tease that "Darkseid was," Taylor has fans wondering what kind of story the death of Darkseid would bring about this time.

The "Darkseid was" is a riff on "Darkseid is," a concept introduced by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter during their JLA run but brought front-and-center by Tom King and Mitch Gerads in Mister Miracle, the collected edition for which goes on sale this week.

"'Darkseid is,' that came from a conversation I had with Julian Lytle, who's a webcomic guy out here in DC, probably one of the smartest people who works in comics," King explained during an interview with ComicBook.com. "I was kind of making fun of Darkseid, and Julian said, "No, but you know about 'Darkseid is?' I was like 'What is it?' And he's like, 'When you make a horrible decision, it's Darkseid Is. When you're haunted by your dreams in the middle of the night, it's Darkseid Is.'"

King and Gerads used the phrase in black panels with white text, interspersed throughout Mister Miracle in key moments. The device was similar to something they had done on their creator-owned Vertigo series Sheriff of Babylon, where they would use black panels with simple sound effects rather than showing some of the more violent or disturbing images the story called for.

Darkseid previously died in 2015, in a Justice League issue titled "The Death of Darkseid." In that issue, The Anti-Monitor used the Black Racer as a projectile to destroy Darkseid. That was far from the first time Darkseid died, and almost none of them had much long-term narrative impact. Among others, he seemed to die in Countdown to Final Crisis, again in Final Crisis and briefly died before being resuscitated by a Mother Box in Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey.

Following his 2015 death, Darkseid was literally reborn, returning as a baby. More recently he was aged up to whatever the New God equivalent of a teenager is, and that is the appearance he currently boasts in his appearanced in Justice League Odyssey.

Of course, all of that may be irrelevant if the #DCeased hashtag refers to something that is non-canon or at least tenuously canonical, which has become increasingly common at DC. Following the success of Mister Miracle, series like Martian Manhunter and Freedom Fighters have come along sharing the same 12-issue maxiseries format and similarly aimed at the collected edition and bookstore markets, telling stand-alone stories featuring DC characters that might or might not completely "fit" into the ongoing DC Universe narrative.

Another obvious possibility, given his previous work with the company, is that Taylor could be telling a story set in the Injustice: Gods Among Us universe, which might explain why Superman would be a potential godkiller.

Fans who want to find out more, follow Taylor on Twitter and keep your eyes peeled here at ComicBook.com

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