Future State Reading Order

FS = Future State

Overview

The Future State event presents a vision of a potential future for the DC Universe. This vision is the result of cosmic-alterations that occurred in the aftermath of the Dark Nights: Death Metal (Reading Order) event. This vision is mostly of the near future, within the next few decades, but some stories come from hundreds or thousands of years past that.

This Future State reading order attempts to place the stories from this event into chronological order, whenever possible. The comics at the top are closest to the present while those at the bottom are the furthest. This reading order also places the comics into four separate categories based on the storylines running through them. An explanation for this division can be seen below:

• The Main Storyline
  • While the Future State event primarily consists of tons of completely separate storylines, there is one storyline that stands out a bit more than the others. It involves several groups of heroes dealing with a problem that threatens the safety of the universe.
  • This narrative starts in The Flash, directly continues in Teen Titans, and directly continues again in Shazam!. Then, this narrative takes a break for a while before continuing in the "Black Adam" backup story from Suicide Squad issues. Finally, the narrative concludes in Immortal Wonder Woman. 
• Gotham
  • Another major narrative in Future State comes from events taking place in Gotham City. In this version of the future, Gotham is isolated from the rest of the world and is ruled by an authoritarian police state. Most of the stories here are primarily independent and are only connected by the theme of rebellion against this system. 
  • However, a few stories within this narrative definitely take place before or after each other. The Batman/Superman issues clearly take place long before any of the others. The "Batgirls" story from The Next Batman involves breaking someone out of prison who later appears in Nightwing. The same is true with Catwoman and Dark Detective, as Catwoman releases someone who later appears in Dark Detective. Plus, the conclusion to Dark Detective sees a major development that indicates it takes place at the very end of the stories set within Gotham.
• Metropolis
  • The Superman of Metropolis issues and a backup story from Superman: Worlds of War both deal with a specific event taking place within Metropolis. This narrative starts in Superman of Metropolis #1, is explored in the Mister Miracle story from Superman: Worlds of War #1-2, and concludes in Superman of Metropolis #2.
  • Much later on, the Kara Zor-El Superwoman issues somewhat address Supergirl's role in this narrative. Even later, these events are briefly referenced in House of El. However, these are much less connected to the first few Metropolis stories.
• Independent
  • This is the category in which most Future State stories fall. These are stories that are almost entirely independent and do not start or continue narratives from other comics.
  • There are a few stories here that briefly or vaguely reference each other. Superman and Wonder Woman's friendship in Superman/Wonder Woman carries on into Justice League. Meanwhile, the Legion of Super-Heroes mentions something that is also mentioned in House of El. However, most do not and, thus, readers can jump from one to the other without worrying about missing anything.

Before Reading

Technically, the Future State event is a vision that is delivered immediately after the Dark Nights: Death Metal (Reading Order) event. However, in order to understand Future State, one does not have to have read Dark Nights: Death Metal. In fact, Future State almost never mentions what happened in Dark Nights: Death Metal. Because of this, readers can easily jump into Future State with little to no knowledge of other comics.

After Reading

The primary way in which the aftermath of Future State is seen is through Infinite Frontier #0. This issue gives this vision of the future some context. It also shows a few ways in which this possible future is already coming true in the mainstream DC Universe.

This is then further explored in several, separate comic series. Several post-Infinite Frontier story arcs incorporate characters or story elements from the Future State event.

• The "Gotham" storyline is generally continued in the Future State: Gotham series. This series also takes place in the same future as the rest of the Future State event.
• The storyline from the Green Lantern issues becomes relevant in the Green Lantern Vol. 6 series, which starts with Green Lantern Vol. 1: Invictus.
• Problems relating to Superboy (Jonathan Kent) are further explored in Superman: Son of Kal-El.
• The central character from The Next Batman is introduced to the present DC Universe in The Next Batman: Second Son.
• The mysteries surrounding the Teen Titans, in the Teen Titans issues, become part of the present in Teen Titans Academy, starting with Teen Titans Academy Vol. 1: X Marks His Spot.
• Yara Flor, from the Wonder Woman issues, is introduced to the present DC Universe in Wonder Girl.
• Some elements from the Aquaman issues are picked up on in Aquaman: The Becoming.

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