DC Universe Online: Legends is a comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 limited series

Limited series

A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....

 published by DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

. It debuted on February 2, 2011, and is an expansion of the story of the DC Universe Online

DC Universe Online

DC Universe Online or DCUO is an MMORPG by Sony Online Entertainment – Austin. Jim Lee serves as the game's Executive Creative Director, along with Carlos D'Anda, JJ Kirby, Oliver Nome, Eddie Nuñez, Livio Ramondelli, and Michael Lopez...

MMORPG

MMORPG

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

 video game. The series is written by the game's story co-writer Marv Wolfman

Marv Wolfman

Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...

 and Tony Bedard

Tony Bedard

Antony "Tony" J. L. Bedard is a writer and editor who has worked in the comic book industry from the early '90s through the present. He is best known for his work at CrossGen Comics, where he was under exclusive contract, and for his run writing Marvel Comics X-Men spin-off Exiles.-Career:Tony...

 with Tom Taylor

Tom Taylor (writer)

Tom Taylor is a comic book writer and award-winning playwright who has also written for radio, musicals, film, magazines, satirical news and sketch comedy...

 penning issues 16 and 17. Originally announced as a 52-issue yearlong weekly series,, it was instead solicited as a biweekly series slated to have 26 issues. Solicitations for DC Universe Online: Legends, along with many other comics, have been dropped from the DC Comics website and Diamond/Alliance pre-order catalogs beginning September 2011 as part of DC's new continuity reboot, but the remaining issues returned to the publisher's lineup with the October 2011 solicitations. It is the only ongoing title featuring DCU characters to not reset its numbering to #1, given its special status as a limited series.

Premise

Released just under a month after the launch of DC Universe Online

DC Universe Online

DC Universe Online or DCUO is an MMORPG by Sony Online Entertainment – Austin. Jim Lee serves as the game's Executive Creative Director, along with Carlos D'Anda, JJ Kirby, Oliver Nome, Eddie Nuñez, Livio Ramondelli, and Michael Lopez...

, Legends will tie directly into the gameplay and stories that develop in the online world. DC Universe Online is set in the present day, but the opening cinematic sequence takes place in a gritty, war-torn future depicting a final battle between the world's greatest heroes and villains.

This battle takes place in the ruins of Metropolis

Metropolis (comics)

Metropolis is a fictional city that appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and is the home of Superman. Metropolis first appeared by name in Action Comics #16 ....

, and features the deaths of several well-known DC Comics characters. The battle culminates with the death of Superman

Superman

Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

 at the hands of Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...

, leaving him and the Joker

Joker (comics)

The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...

 as the survivors. Luthor stands back to proclaim his victory, only to see Brainiac

Brainiac (comics)

Brainiac is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Action Comics #242 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....

's warfleet fill the skies. So far, the comic has served to expand upon the events of Brainiac's return to Earth, and has yet to visit the present-day DC Universe.

Universe

While the game, and consequently the comic, have shown a DC Universe largely similar to the current in-publication DCU, it is unknown if this is meant to be the actual DC Universe-proper or if this is another world in the DC Multiverse. Notable differences exist, such as the absence of Damian Wayne

Damian Wayne

Damian Wayne is a fictional character in the . Damian is the child of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, and thus the grandson of Batman villain Ra's al Ghul....

, Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and illustrator Jerry Robinson, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940....

 and Tim Drake

Tim Drake

Timothy "Tim" Drake is a superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics and in related media. The character was created by Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick. From 1989 to 2009, he was known as Robin in the Batman comics, becoming the third character to take up the identity...

 still operating as Nightwing

Nightwing

Nightwing is a name that has been used by several fictional characters in the DC Comics Universe. It was conceived as a Kryptonian analogue to the character of Batman, with Nightwing's frequent partner Flamebird based on Robin...

 and Robin

Robin (comics)

Robin is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero Batman...

, Bane

Bane (comics)

Bane is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 , and was created by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan. Bane has been one of Batman's more physically and intellectually powerful foes...

's continued use of the Venom steroid, as well as the absence of all other corps of the emotional spectrum, save for the Green Lantern

Green Lantern Corps

The Green Lantern Corps is the name of a fictional intergalactic military/police force appearing in comics published by DC Comics. They patrol the farthest reaches of the DC Universe at the behest of the Guardians, a race of immortals residing on the planet Oa...

 and Sinestro Corps

Sinestro Corps

The Sinestro Corps is a group of fictional characters, a villainous analogue to the Green Lantern Corps in the DC Universe. It is led by the supervillain Thaal Sinestro.-Before the Corps:...

. Certain key events from the mainline DC Universe are still referred to as history in the world presented in the game, including the Crisis on Infinite Earths

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...

, The Death of Superman

The Death of Superman

"The Death of Superman" is a 1992 comic book storyline that occurred in DC Comics' Superman titles. The completed multi-issue story arc was given the title The Death and Return of Superman....

, and the Breaking of the Bat

Batman: Knightfall

"Knightfall" is the title given to a major Batman story arc published by DC Comics that dominated Batman-related serial comic books in the spring and summer of 1993...

.