Metaphysics and the DC Universe

Editor: Matthew Brake

The universe of DC Comics has existed for 85 years. During that time, numerous writers, artists, and editors have expanded and added to the lore of the DC universe. In doing so, a complex storyworld (what JRR Tolkien called a “subcreation”) has emerged, one with its own complex history and internal logic. Part of this internal logic includes metaphysical ideas about how the DC universe functions. This volume seeks to explicate the metaphysical ideas that have emerged in the DC universe.

This volume isn’t trying to use the DC Universe as a faint springboard or pretense to discuss philosophical ideas. Rather, this volume requires contributors to deeply study and understand the history of the DC Universe and its stories. The goal is to understand the storyworld of the DC Universe (in the comics) and write about the metaphysics that are shown “there.” For the sake of narrowing focus, the editor recommends that contributors focus on particular “Crisis” events (i.e., Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, etc.), although stories from elsewhere in the publishing line can also be used.

This volume will favor Ancient and Continental philosophical contributions (although Analytic philosophers are still encouraged to contribute).

The following is a non-exhaustive list of potential topics:

-What is the nature of personal identity in a constantly rebooting universe?

-What is does it mean to “be” Superman on multiple earths? Substance and properties in the multiverse.

-Is time a place? Hypertime in Mark Waid’s The Kingdom

-Multiversal maps and Cosmology in the DC Universe

-Retroactive continuity, time travel, and backwards causation

-Multiple Timelines and Worlds: The One and the Many in the DC Universe

-Anaximander and the DC multiverse

-Does the universe have a moral law? Why bad guys lose on Earth-One

-Free will and Determinism in Grant Morrison’s Animal Man

-Platonic emanations in Grant Morrison’s JLA and Final Crisis

–Nietzsche and the Eternal Return in Bryan Hitch’s Justice League and Grant Morrison’s The Return of Bruce Wayne

Abstracts, with a CV, are due April 30, 2024 and should be emailed to Matthew Brake at matthew.brake84@gmail.com.

Essays for the book should be around 5,000-6000 words.