Every now and then, in the world of comics books, the future will come knocking to upset the lives of the superheroes we all know and love. Whether they are the ones time-traveling or it is time itself that finds them, they come to see a different reality, one they can either strive for, or fight with everything they have to prevent from happening. It's a storytelling device that has been used many times over in comics, from Marvel to DC, Image and many smaller publishing companies. But, curiously, both Marvel and DC comics have very recently released stories that feature one curiously similar element: the future children of their respective super-teams, the Avengers and the Justice League.

The timing of the release of both of these time-hopping stories is peculiar, and it just so happens that it might not be a coincidence at all. Since Marvel and DC both brought similar ideas to the forefront at the same time, it's entirely possible that these future heroes are a signpost of things to come in both universes.

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In fact, over at Marvel Comics, the company is currently in the midst of publishing a maxi-series of ten issues under the Generations banner, a series of stories where each issue focuses on one legacy character from Marvel's present timeline time-traveling to the past to meet their original namesake. X-23 met Wolverine, Amadeous Cho, the Totally Awesome Hulk, met Bruce Banner, and Jane Foster met Thor Odinson, and so on. Each of these meetings brought new found hope and fire for these young characters, and they returned to the present ready to move forward as superheroes. But one of those issues was different than all the rest. “The Iron,” written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Marco Rudy, Szymon Kudranski and Nico Leon focused on a character whose addition to the Marvel Universe is quite recent: Riri Williams, a genius teenager who created her very own suit of armor to become Ironheart.

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But Riri didn't get sent to the past like all the other heroes. Instead, she got taken to the “far-flung future,” a future where Tony Stark is 126 years old and, strangely (pun intended), the new Sorcerer Supreme – Doctor (Stark) Strange. When Riri first arrives in this strange land, it doesn't take long for her to be greeted by the Mighty Avengers of the future. This team is the same, grown-up version of the heroes introduced in the 2008 animated movie Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, and it is comprised of the son of Black Panther and Storm, Azari of Wakanda, the son of the Wasp and Giant Man, Henry Pym, Jr., Thor and Sif's daughter Torunn, the son of Clint Barton Francis, the new Hawkeye, and James Rogers, the son of Captain America and Black Widow. Although they are famous in their time, their superhero antics are largely limited by a beautiful world largely at peace. In fact, we actually come to learn that thanks to Tony, Riri and the world's scientists, Earth, both as a planet and as a society, is now in a much better state. As the Sorcerer Supreme, Stark takes care of the biggest threats to the world without lifting a finger, leaving these children with not much else to do in the way of saving.

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However, over on the DC Comics side, things are much different... and much bleaker. In the current pages of the Justice League comic series, starting with issue #26 by Bryan Hitch and Fernando Pasarin, in a storyline appropriately titled “Legacy,” readers were introduced to the children of the Justice League, 20 years into the future.

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The DCU's Future Is Not So Bright

This team is led by Hunter Prince, the biological son and Wonder Woman and adopted son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane; the children of Jessica Cruz and Barry Allen, Nora, who has her father's speed, and Jenny and Jason Allen, who have the power of the Lantern Light; Cube, the son of Cyborg; and Eldoris Curry, the daughter of Aquaman and Mera. These heroes fight in a broken world, engulfed by darkness. Mount Olympus has fallen to Earth, and its gods have been exiled to parts unknown. Everything is destroyed, billions of people are dead. The children are desperately fighting a losing fight, hoping to change the tide. They are on the run from a monster in the broken image of one of their fathers, and from the dangerous villain known only as Sovereign that rules all. In a world where hope doesn't exist anymore, where there is no love or peace, the children have each other -- they are a family.

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Therein lies the biggest difference between these two teams of super-children. On the one hand, you have the next generation of Avengers, heroes who say they are famous but who actually don't do much of anything thanks to Tony Stark's influence on the world. Actually, in one instance, they arrive to help battle Morgan Le Fay too late, and they lament the fact that they “always miss it.” In a way, they might feel useless, or at least eager to help the world even more than they currently do. But on the other hand, you have the children of the Justice League, battle-hardened characters who had to come into their own by themselves. So desperate is their situation that they are the ones who managed to travel back in time in the hopes of changing things for the better.

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But while the Mighty Avengers' appearance was so far a one-and-done, Hunter Prince and his friends are still featured in the pages of Justice League. Their mission isn't over yet, and we have no idea what will eventually happen to them. If they are successful in their mission, they might erase themselves out of existence. But, if they manage to change things, ever so slightly, they might just find a way to hang around, or get their very own title set in the future. And the same could be same for the Avengers.

In fact, both Marvel and DC are currently in the midst of a line-wide relaunch of sorts, with Legacy and DC Rebirth respectively, and it's quite possible that there are plans for both of these future teams of heroes further down the line. Both companies have focused their relaunches around the idea of honoring the past and looking to the future, and this is exactly what those children could represent. Their series could become a microcosm title to represent what each of the companies are trying to build.

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And with so many teases and questions brought up as to the futures of the Marvel and DC universes, like a final confrontation with Thanos, the disappearance of the Fantastic Four, the Black Lantern rings and the fall of Aquaman, there seems to be a lot of seeds planted for potential future storylines. These children, be they the progeny of the Avengers or the Justice League, they represent the best of us, characters that we can see ourselves in. They represent the future, and they just might hold all the answers we need.