Movies News Talk
Inspired to start her own investigation trips towards all things that go bump in the night, the Batman superfan turned superhero found the local school's Detective Club. Eventually, Batman's radar catches the adventures of maps; she is not only impressive enough to welcome into the family but also his Future Robin, or rather she has the potential to be one. More recently, an adult version of Maps reappears as Meridian, a Time Traveler from the future joining the Birds of Prey to forewarn them of a horrific possible future revolving around Black Canary's sister, as well as investigating the possible future death of Batgirl. Now a full-fledged future investigator, Maps still has textbook optimism about life, which is only enhanced by her knowledge of DC's future. As Maps advises Zealot, DC's future holds much to be enthusiastic about. Originally published in Gotham Academy #1 by Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschi, Geyser, Dave McCaig, and Steve Wands, Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi became increasingly important part of Gotham's extended Bat-Family of superheroes.
Stories like Future State and DC One Million both highlight universes in which the next generation of heroes will place the future in excellent hands. Many DC future narratives appear to rev around that running concept. Generally speaking, DC Comics' visions of the Future match the same bright-eyed optimism found in the Bat Family's Maps. Of course, the norm has exceptions. While New 52's "Futures End" wasn't the most hopeful futuristic narrative arc, The Dark Knight Returns features a futuristic Gotham so dismal that it pulls Batman out of retirement. Though there are few exceptions to the rule, overall DC has stayed somewhat consistent, enough to allow one to distinguish Marvel's future-oriented tales from the norm.
Marvel stories often adopt a more negative attitude, whereas a DC sight of the future is usually entirely hopeful. Marvel's future is often pure devestation, with a situation whereby whoever inherits the planet ends up misusing it. Whether it's a misguided hero or a sinister entity endangering the future, it's usually a former generation of bravery that has to be brought back to correct things. Readers saw just that lately with the Avengers: Twilight series, which mirrors X-Men's "Days of Future Past."
Marvel's future, by contrast, is sometimes drab, dark, and eclipsed by some evil, overreaching dystopian power. At least in DC's universe, such futures do not even retain the charm of the glamor, gloss, and shine that drives their attraction. Usually, Marvel's storylines serve as a method to highlight how the brilliant lights of the future are concealing something dark behind the scenes, if they do preserve such a sleek shine that makes the future seem beautiful.
When most readers consider people who shape Marvel's future, they typically picture two regular visiting Time Travelers from the future: Bishop and Cable. Both characters originate from terrible futures, hence their personalities were toughened in the same vain. Both Cable and Bishop are obviously the settings in which they live, and inevitably, their souls follow their environment—war-torn and miserable as well. They drive home exactly why the Marvel Universe's future is not something to be thrilled about.
Meridian, on the other hand, rings home for the DC Universe exactly the reverse. Maps asks, "doesn't that fill you with hope?" when Zealot notes her seeming optimism. It doesn't for Zealot, but it should for readers and maybe other DC world characters. Her enthusiasm could also be a sign that Maps keeps her cheerful attitude that she had as a youngster, always eager to discover the unknown, but it is much more indicative of her developing future worth living in.
DC's New Time Traveler makes abundantly clear the main difference between DC and Marvel. The Bat-Family's most recent time visitor notes the clear discrepancy between DC's future and Marvel Comics' perspective. This thus makes it possible to examine more broadly how Marvel and DC handle general narrative.
Things have to look better from there when DC's is already at its lowest. Fortunately Meridian is living evidence that DC as a whole, the Bat-Family, and herself have a bright future. This raises one main issue: why is the tone of the futures of both worlds so very different? Though frequently dependent on the age they were formed in, every narrative has inspirations; one can argue that these mostly reflect the stories each world is now dealing with. For instance, it makes sense to lead to a futrue whereby "Days of Future Past" can persist, without advancement, in a universe displaying a human society that generally hates mutants and fears them exactly the same.