WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Justice League #19 by Scott Snyder, Jorge Jimenez, Alejandro Sanchez and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
Nothing gets fans going quite like seeing future or alternate versions of their favorite superheroes. You may not want to admit it, but there is a built-in appeal to witnessing not only the changes that have been made to fan-favorite characters, but also pondering what happened that could have caused these changes in the first place.
All these factors are in place in Justice League #19, which sees DC's premier superhero team venture off to the Sixth Dimension, home of Perpetua, the Monitor, Anti-Monitor and World Forger. The Sixth Dimension is the Control Room for the Multiverse, and if the Justice League wants to have any hope of stopping Perpetua from changing the Multiverse back to its original state, they'll need the magical imp, Mxyzptlk, to take them there.
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The only problem is the Sixth Dimension is out of the realm of comprehension for even powerful beings like Wonder Woman, Flash and the rest of the Justice League. However, once Mxyzptlk reveals Superman is up to the task (thanks to years of being infused with Fifth-Dimensional energy), the Man of Steel walks through a portal to visit the Sixth Dimension. He quickly returned looking much older and very regal, and convinced the Justice League to travel back with him to observe how he found a way to save the universe.
To the surprise of many, the future of the DC Universe is looking bright, and it's all because of the very familiar, yet drastically different, Justice League of the Future.
Sixth Dimensional Justice League
After the Justice League arrives in the Sixth Dimension, the gray-haired Superman greets them outside the Hall of Justice with his present-day teammates. The sun is shining and white doves are shown flying overhead, to really drive home how the future is looking bright for our heroes, but even so, it's shocking to see how different the team looks compared to their present-day counterparts. Superman did say he's spent the last ten years in the Sixth Dimension, and the changes to the Justice League reflect that.
The roster of the Future Justice League is the same as the group that traveled to the Sixth Dimension, with the addition of a young child who happens to be the offspring of Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl. The two heroes have become close over the last several issues after they journeyed to the ruins of Thanagar Prime. Their bond obviously grows even deeper, resulting in them forming a relationship and having a child together who has Martian Manhunter's physical appearance with Hawkgirl's wings.
To the left of Superman is Green Lantern John Stewart, who is now fully in control of the Emotional Spectrum as a White Lantern. Next, instead of one Flash we now have three. We can assume the one in the middle with the white-and-yellow costume is Barry Allen, so perhaps standing with him are Wally West and Bart Allen. Though Wally is one of the many casualties in Heroes in Crisis, we know that superhero deaths rarely ever stick. Another wild possibility is one of the speedsters is Jay Garrick, who only appeared once in the DC Rebirth era during the Batman/Flash crossover, "The Button." The green energy bubbles floating around the Flashes is the Still Force, one of the seven forces Lex Luthor is trying to unlock. It is now under the control of Gorilla Grodd.
The Future Batman shares a striking similarity to the Dark Knight of the Earth 2: Society series, which was also illustrated by Justice League artist Jorge Jimenez. Dick Grayson took up the mantle of Batman in Earth 2 after Bruce Wayne's death, and the shape of his cape is similar to this Batman. One clue to Future Batman's identity may lie with the blood-red Batman symbol on his chest, with what looks to be blood dripping down to his waist. We're told this is the same Justice League but older, so Batman must be Bruce Wayne, but with some kind of added twist.
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Last, but certainly not least, is Wonder Woman. She more or less looks the same except she is now rocking white hair that is braided into a ponytail. Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth still rests on her hip, and her familiar Amazonian armor still covers her body.
We do have to wonder if jumping ahead a decade into the future would really age DC's superheroes to this extent. Superman and Wonder Woman's physiologies -- Kryptonian and Amazonian -- should mean they age at a much slower rate than a normal human. However, the Sixth Dimension could be throwing all of this out of sync. Plus, can these familiar faces really be trusted?
Our Superman is currently caught in a trap specifically designed to kill Supermen from across the Multiverse, so Mr. Regal Superman is probably not the real deal. And if that's the case, then the rest of the Justice League may be fakes as well. Which goes to show you, it's never a good idea to put your faith in a magical trickster imp.
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