Between Injustice and DCeased, writer Tom Taylor has helmed two vastly different alternate incarnations of the DC Universe, and they both are supremely grim, dark takes on DC's iconic heroes and villains that each offers a different nightmarish vision of their respective reality.
In Injustice, the super-powered community of the DCU stood divided after a grief-stricken Superman seized control of Earth and exercised his authority with a steel fist as Batman led a beleaguered resistance movement against him. In DCeased, Darkseid unleashed a techno-organic virus upon his death that transformed much of Earth's populace -- heroes and villains included -- into ravenous zombies. But which twisted tale presents a darker shift for the DCU?
Based on the hit video games of the same name, Injustice was adapted into several best-selling comic book series that expanded upon the world and events of the games. The world saw the Joker trick Superman into believing his pregnant wife Lois Lane was Doomsday, which resulted in the Man of Steel accidentally killing her and his unborn child. With a nuclear bomb secretly linked to Lois' heartbeat, the accidental murder results in Metropolis largely being destroyed and a maddened Superman brutally kills the Clown Prince of Crime while Batman watches on horrified. As Superman installs a regime to rule the planet and take a harder, lethal stance against supervillains with heroes like Wonder Woman and the Flash at his side, Batman leads Black Canary and other figures in hiding against the totalitarian government, with heroes and villains on both sides of the conflict paying the ultimate price.
DCeased had Darkseid's virulent form of the Anti-Life Equation sweep across Earth in less than 48 hours. In that whirlwind period of time, many of Earth's heroes became infected, including much of the Bat-Family, resulting in Alfred Pennyworth mercy-killing Bruce before the virus could progress. The rest of the DCU trinity would similarly be infected and killed, with only a handful of heroes and villains surviving as they departed from their home planet to rebuild civilization elsewhere after enduring tremendous losses from the zombie apocalypse that had consumed their world.
In a thematic sense, even though its body count is significantly less, the world of Injustice is darker and more heartbreaking because it shows a vision of the DCU that couldn't put aside their differences but instead progress deeper into an escalating civil war within the super-powered community. In a world where superheroes are supposed to selflessly rise above their baser instincts to forge a more harmonious world and inspire humanity by their example, the Injustice DCU has humanity caught in the crossfire in a war seemingly without end as old friends become bitter enemies and desperate alliances are forged across every corner of the DCU in the ongoing battle for the fate of Earth.
DCeased plays out more like a traditional horror story and, like any good horror story, no single character is safe from the bloody implications of its apocalyptic premise. Every issue of the various stories in this world have featured the horrific deaths of fan-favorite characters, each seemingly grimmer than the last. Not every death is a heroic sacrifice, in fact, most are heartbreaking and shocking all at once as DC's greatest heroes either join the infected or endure bloodier fates as the hero community regroups in the face of the zombie uprising.
In terms of sheer body count and horrific fates for beloved characters, DCeased is a much darker vision of the DCU as imagined by Taylor. However, for a much bleaker, existential look at heroes breaking bad and foregoing their social responsibilities, Injustice paints its own grim vision of a DCU gone horribly wrong, with its greatest protectors now brutal oppressors and locked in bloody conflict. Taylor isn't known for pulling his punches in his work and this has led to two unforgettable, acclaimed visions of the DCU gone to hell in very different ways.