DC Comics, one of the “Big Two” comic book publishers in the United States, traces its history back to 1934, with its first comic book published in 1935. That means that 2025 is the 90th anniversary of comic books from DC Comics. To celebrate this milestone, this puzzle cache is one of 10 that will have you answering trivia questions for each of the 90 years across 10 decades of DC Comics lore. In true comic book fashion, the series of 10 caches will be published monthly, starting in January 2025 with 90 Years of Superheroics #1 – The 1930s.
Sourcing from Wikipedia and the DC Database
Unless stated otherwise, all months and years used are cover dates, rather than the actual publication date of the comic book.
#10 – The 2020s
This has been an interesting decade so far, especially with the elephant in the room: COVID-19. General industry trends include “superhero fatigue” affecting the film industry, after Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame in 2019 and theaters closing in 2020 largely ended peak public interest in superhero movies. This would be a problem for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics who had grown to depend on multi-billion dollar film franchises to keep their comic book divisions afloat. In spite of the most diverse cast of characters and creative talent in 90 years of history, fewer titles are published each month than there have been in a long time, with those on the shelves being retailed at significantly larger prices than was the case in the 2000s and 2010s. This means that DC Comics has become more risk averse and more willing to publish 10+ Batman titles each month rather than a single title for other classic or obscure characters—because it sells. The obsession with rehashing decades-old “classic” storylines, already a problem through the 2000s and 2010s, continued to caused criticism with fans over perceived “dead creativity.” Local comic book stores had always been in a precarious position due to their niche business model and audience, and the COVID-19 pandemic hit them hard, with many closing down. In summary, it seems like superhero media has shrunk since its 2010s peak, but fans remain dedicated enough to show their support just as they always have, even if times have changed.
This cache is NOT hidden at the posted coordinates. Answer the below trivia questions correctly to solve the coordinates:
N 38 QR.STU W 077 VW.XYZ
Q = C - A
R = F - D - D
S = C - D - F
T = C + E
U = (E * F) + B
V = E / A
W = A - B
X = (A + B + C - E - F) * D
Y = D + F
Z = B^(B - D)
2020 – A
Editor-in-Chief Dan DiDio left DC Comics for unrelated, unexplained reasons, setting the stage for fresh changes for the fresh decade. However, the COVID-19 pandemic a month later caused the widest disruption to the comic book industry in history, with the weekly distribution system hitting months of delays. When comic books resumed more-or-less regular publication by the summer of 2020, DC Comics was able to follow up its hit Dark Knights: Metal with the sequel event Dark Knights: Death Metal, with the first of seven issues cover dated for August 2020. The pages of this event expanded the lore of the DC multiverse, now becoming an Omniverse to include every single (now-canonical) story every told by DC Comics (and implying to include comic book canons from other publishers like Marvel!) The Joker got a new sidekick to replace Harley Quinn in Batman #89 (April 2020), which introduced Punchline. Speaking of the Joker, Geoff Johns followed up plotlines he introduced in 2016 in the three-issue Batman: Three Jokers. Johns thought that the Joker’s personality evolved over 80 years in three eras: the Clown, the Comedian, and the Criminal. He tried to establish that those were three different people each using the Joker name, a revelation that Batman, Batgirl, and Red Hood sought to uncover. Except that they never truly did, and fans have mostly ignored this effort at continuity change, preferring for there to be just one archnemesis to Batman. Tom King, Mitch Gerads, and Doc Shaner collaborated on the 12-issue miniseries Strange Adventures, giving cosmic adventurer Adam Strange the Mister Miracle treatment that King and Gerads had done a few years earlier. Tom King also revisited the Watchmen universe (specifically the HBO television series), with artist Jorge Fornés in the 12-issue Rorschach. On the big (and small) screen, Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 premiered to low box office numbers. The latter had hardly any theatrical release at all, thanks to the pandemic. Stargirl premiered on the CW, although it was in a separate continuity from the Arrowverse whose title show Arrow ended after eight seasons. The DC FanDome event replaced the usual comic-cons for announcing upcoming DC Comics projects, all in an uncanny virtual space. Also, DC Comics closed down their popular imprint for mature readers Vertigo, folding its body of work into DC Black Label, although they reversed that decision to bring Vertigo back in 2024. Earth gained its seventh Green Lantern in Far Sector #1 (January 2020), with ______ investigating a murder in the fringes of the universe.
- Keli Quintela [6]
- Volthoom [0]
- Carol Ferris [3]
- Jo Mullein [4]
2021 – B
James Gunn directed his first DC Comics film with The Suicide Squad, a soft reboot of its flawed precursor from five years ago. The fabled Zack Snyder director’s cut of 2017’s Justice League was released this year in all its moody, four-hour, black-and-white glory (for better or for worse). Superman & Lois premiered on the CW starring Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch as the title characters raising their two sons in Smallville. In comic books, Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo published a best-selling, award-winning run for several years that began with Nightwing #78 (May 2021). Tom King and Bilquis Evely began an eight-issue miniseries starting with Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1 (August 2021) that was a bold, darker adventure inspired by the book/film True Grit. With Dan DiDio gone, his vision for rebooting comics continuity through a plan called “5G” (as in “fifth generation”) was scrapped. It would have seen a new generation of heroes outright replace the current generation. However, a version of that vision was used in 2021 through the “Future State” and “Infinite Frontier” events. The former showed a possible future for the DC universe with new heroes fighting alongside old heroes. The latter set the stage in the present for getting to that future (more or less). The most prominent new characters introduced from this era (albeit teased at the end of 2020) were a new Batman and a new Wonder Girl. Jace Fox (son of Batman’s ally Lucius Fox) wore the cowl to fight crime in New York City. Yara Flor was one of the Amazons of the Amazon (also known as the ______) who frequently interacted with native Brazilian mythological characters as the latest Wonder Girl.
- Esquecida [3]
- Bana-Mighdall [7]
- Mulheres Maravilha [9]
- Brasileiras [5]
2022 – C
DC Comics’ parent company WarnerMedia merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery, with CEO David Zaslav at the head. In a widely criticized move, one of the changes that trickled down to DC Comics was the shelving of the now-permanently-unreleased Batgirl film starring Leslie Grace. On the flip side, Matt Reeves’ The Batman premiered with Robert Pattinson in the title role to great critical success. On the flip, flip side, Black Adam (starring Dwayne Johnson) continued the flailing saga of the DCEU, looking less and less capable of thriving the way things were being run. James Gunn (whose smash hit television show Peacemaker followed up last year’s The Suicide Squad) was put in charge with Peter Safran to end the DCEU and create a new shared movie universe for DC Comics adaptations. In the meantime, The Sandman was successfully adapted to television for Netflix, with Tom Sturridge as Morpheus. In the world of comic books, reality-reshaping events continued to exhaust readers with Dark Crisis (later rebranded Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths for issues 4 through 7) once more fiddling with the multiverse. Poison Ivy got her first ongoing series with Poison Ivy #1 (August 2022) from writer ______ and artist Marcio Takara.
- Marjorie Liu [5]
- Gail Simone [2]
- G. Willow Wilson [9]
- Kelly Sue DeConnick [1]
2023 – D
The DCEU ended this year with a whopping four films: Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, all to mixed to bad reviews. After 10 years, 15 films, and one television show, it was time to reboot and try again. On the small screen, The Flash ended after nine seasons; it was the last of the six core Arrowverse shows to end, signaling the finale of another era of DC Comics media. A new animated series, My Adventures with Superman, premiered on Adult Swim with a vibrant art style. In comic books, there were two events in 2023: “Lazarus Planet” and “Knight Terrors,” although neither was very notable. One fun crossover that began this year featured two cinematic monsters fighting the superheroes of the DC universe: Justice League vs. ______ vs. ______.
- Frankenstein; Dracula [3]
- Freddy Krueger; Jason Voorhees [4]
- Alien; Predator [7]
- Godzilla; Kong [1]
2024 – E
The successful 2019 Joker got a poor sequel co-starring Lady Gaga in Joker: Folie à Deux. On the small screen, The Penguin spun off from 2022’s The Batman, starring Colin Farrell to critical acclaim. Batman: Caped Crusader premiered as the latest noir-inspired Batman animated series. Creature Commandos, also animated, was the first full entry in the DCEU’s replacement: the DC Universe (DCU). It became clear that elements of James Gunn’s work in the DCEU (The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker) would carry over into the new continuity with minor changes, while the rest of the new universe would be freshly cast. In comic books, the big event of the year was “Absolute Power,” which saw Amanda Waller take down the world’s superheroes by stripping them of their superpowers, as part of her paranoid vision to keep Earth safe and secure. After that event mostly resolved itself, with the Justice League expanding its roster to feature practically every single hero on Earth, a new universe was introduced for further exploration. The Absolute Universe was envisioned as an antithesis to Prime Earth; whereas Prime Earth had hope and justice at its core evident in Superman, the Absolute Universe had despair at its core through Darkseid. The heroes of this reality didn’t have the advantages of their mainstream counterparts; they were the underdogs. A new wave of titles set in this universe was kicked off with Absolute Batman #1 (December 2024). This version of Bruce Wayne wasn’t a billionaire, but rather a blue-collar engineer who built his Batman arsenal through his ingenuity alone. Absolute Wonder Woman #1 (December 2024) introduced a version of Diana stripped from her Paradise Island home as a baby and raised on the Wild Isle of Hell by the sorcerer goddess ______.
- Circe [0]
- Artemis [5]
- Hecate [4]
- Hera [9]
2025 – F
DC Comics celebrated 90 years in 2025 since its founding in 1935. The main thing to catch this year was the first cinematic entry in the new DCU: Superman, directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet. Taking advantage of the publicity, DC Comics published a smattering of Superman Family titles in the “Summer of Superman,” including new series for Superman, Supergirl, and even Krypto the Superdog. Superman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter received the Absolute Universe treatment in the early part of the year, radically upending the status quo to tell interesting new stories in a world where heroism has a steep hill to climb. But at the time of writing this, the year is not over yet! ______ is an event where the heroes of Earth must fight each other in a battle royale tournament to decide who must fight Darkseid alone.
- DC Brawlers [0]
- DC Fighters [3]
- DC vs. DC [4]
- DC K.O. [7]
And that's a wrap! I hope that you enjoyed this series with each monthly entry. In case you were wondering, no, I do not plan on updating this puzzle each year. 90 years means 90 years! Maybe I'll do something in 2035…