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Although Marvel has become synonymous with the concept of the multiverse over the past few years thanks to high profile projects like Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the concept originated with DC, way back in 1961 with The Flash #123’s story, ‘The Flash of Two Worlds.’ For decades. DC fans tracked the adventures of the core continuity on Earth-One, which occasionally crossed over with heroes from Earth-Two, Earth-S, or any of a number of alternate worlds, before DC did away with its multiverse in the iconic Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book series. DC’s multiverse eventually returned in 2006’s Infinite Crisis comic book, but creators working for the company wanted to clarify something about its upcoming Absolute DC line at San Diego Comic-Con 2024: this isn’t a multiverse story as fans might expect.

Talking at the Jim Lee & Friends panel on Friday afternoon, Lee and Absolute Batman writer Scott Snyder clarified that the world that the Absolute titles are set in is not just another of the Earths in DC’s existing cosmology of multiverse worlds. Instead, the Absolute Earth is something else entirely… but something intensely connected to the core DCU, and to the main Earth that the regular DC titles are set on. (We’ve already had hints that it might, in fact, be a world designed by cosmic villain Darkseid for his own nefarious purposes, although that might just be speculation.)

Snyder told the crowd that the Absolute titles are central to the core storyline that will be threaded through the DC All In initiative as a whole, in both core DCU and Absolute DC titles. “This is one big meta-story that drives the DCU for the next two years,” he said, describing it as “a ticking clock for the doom of the entire DCU.”

Does that mean that we should expect to see Crisis on Two Earths in 2027? For now, no-one is saying… but knowing that there’s a specific timeline in place for DC All In just might change how fans read the books — and the clues they’re going to be looking for in each and every issue.

DC All In and Absolute DC both launch in October with the release of DC All In Special #1, by Scott Snyder, Joshua Williamson, Daniel Sampere, and Wes Craig.

Get a fuller San Diego Comic-Con experience with a full rundown of our SDCC 2024 stories, as well as all the big SDCC 2024 news, how to make the most out of San Diego Comic-Con, and the real burning question: how much does it actually cost to go to SDCC?