WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for several recent DC Comics releases, including Sideways #2, on sale now.


DC Comics has needed its own cosmic toy chest for a very long time. Thanks to the work of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Jim Starlin in the '60s ad '70s, Marvel currently enjoys a vast array of cosmic characters. From Galactus and the Celestials to the Cosmic Abstracts and The Guardians of the Galaxy, the Marvel Universe has a strong foundation for stories that take place out in the depths of space. Unfortunately, for various reasons, DC Comics doesn't have quite the same wealth of ideas, and in recent years it has been hard to find any kind of consistency in how its cosmic rules function.

DC has (almost) always had a healthy helping of Green Lantern comics, but with the Legion of Super-Heroes off the boards for the past few years, things have been looking pretty slim. Efforts have been made in the past to create a viable stable of cosmic characters, with titles like L.E.G.I.O.N., R.E.B.E.L.S., Darkstars and even the recent Omega Men series. Unfortunately, none of it has led to much long-term success. Given Marvel's ability to turn the Guardians of the Galaxy into a valuable film franchise and a comic book standard, it's shocking that DC hasn't been able to figure out how to do the same.

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However, before the publisher can worry about its super teams, DC needs to establish the board these pieces will be playing on, and who will be sitting down to play. Thankfully, recent comics have done well to establish the foundation of the DC Comics cosmic universe.

A New Multiverse For a New Generation

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For DC Comics, the cosmic world begins with the Multiverse. It has been a staple of continuity for decades, and the elimination of the Multiverse may have been the single biggest mistake the company made since 1985. After about two decades without one, DC has been working to re-establish it for almost as long.

Several false starts later, Grant Morrison's The Multiversity helped to define and explore the different worlds that make up the new DC Multiverse. Though the publisher has yet to fully embrace the usage of these worlds, some comics have played with the toys Morrison left behind. Forever Evil and "Darkseid War" explored Earth 3 and the evil counterparts of the Justice League. Justice League of America has dealt with the characters from Angor, which is a pastiche of the Marvel Universe and has been designated Earth 8. And Superman recently reintroduced Bizarro World of Earth 29.

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Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have also done a fantastic job introducing a brand new concept on top of everything. The Dark Multiverse that was introduced in Dark Nights: Metal adds much needed depth to the cosmic landscape at DC Comics. Without infinite worlds to pull from, the Multiverse is a little too stable and could eventually become stale. This new concept allows new ideas to come together without creators feeling that everything must be left exactly how they left it. We don't know what will happen in the final issue of Metal out later this month, but it would be a shame for the Dark Multiverse to go away so soon.

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Now that we have the lay of the land, we can talk about who will be playing the game and shuffling the board. Marvel has multiple godlike beings capable of manipulating and interfering with the events of sentient life. While DC has some of that, it does not have it organized the way groups like the Watchers, the Abstracts, the Elders of the Universe, and the Celestials are. DC seems to be doing the necessary work to expand the cosmic scope beyond the New Gods.

In Sideways #2, in stores now, we are properly introduced to the being known as Tempus Fuginaut, who is said to hold dominion over all of time and space. Since Derek James gained the ability to travel through dimensions, he has caused a disturbance to the balance of existence, and it is Fuginaut's duty to handle it. This new character is essentially a border patrol agent watching out for those looking to cross between dimensions.

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In the issue, he lays out his role in the grand scheme of the universe, referring back to some old friends. "Where the Monitors were created to watch and observe, as Tempus Fuginaut, I must preserve the boundaries between dimensions." So we not only get his role in all this, but exactly how he differentiates from the Monitors who once watched over the DC Multiverse before they were wiped out in Final Crisis.

Justice League of America #25 and #26 have also established another character within the overall structure of DC's cosmic universe. The Adjudicator, an obscure enemy of Wonder Woman from the early '80s, has been given the task of judging the fate of alternate realities. With Angor having been previously destroyed, The Adjudicator is tasked with determining whether or not the world deserves to be reborn. It's a dangerous Multiverse, so he's clearly been busy over the years. Now, DC has a full system of cosmic checks and balances in place.

More Cosmic Gods Are On the Way

This is just the beginning of the slow build, though. More is needed before DC can really start touting their cosmic heroes again. Snyder has said that the Batman Who Laughs' prisoner will be revealed in Metal #6. It is believed that Nix Utoan, the last of the Monitors, will be revealed to be under the hood. In The Terrifices #1 we got a good look at some giant, Galactus-like entity that is sure to become a major player in the book's first story arc.

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In May, Justice League: No Justice will introduce us to the cosmic embodiments of Mystery, Entropy, Wonder and Wisdom. The Unexpected, by Steve Orlando and Ryan Sook, set to debut in June, looks to explore the fabric of reality across the Multiverse itself.

There are so many pieces being added to the board that creators have more than enough to play with. The way to get these new ideas to stick, though, is through repetition. If someone builds up a concept, another creator has to run with it. Only then can the DC cosmic landscape rival what Marvel was able to build.