DC's SDCC Panel Drops STEEL and Darkseid's Origin Story

DC's Metropolis and Beyond panel at San Diego Comic Con brought the heavy hitters, and the announcements hit hard. Joshua Williamson, Mark Waid, Tom King, Stephanie Williams, Jeremy Adams, Morgan Hampton, and Nicole Maines gathered to tease what's coming from the Superman corner of the DC Universe — and there's a lot.

The big swing: All In: Darkseid Vs. The World, co-written by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson. This one digs into Darkseid's past and his obsessive hunt for Omega Energy, reframing one of DC's most iconic threats through a story that explores what drives the New God. It's the kind of character excavation that could reshape how fans understand the character entirely.

Beyond that, DC confirmed Steel is in motion, alongside Kingdom of Zod and a Superman 2026 Annual Year 1000 Special — all part of a larger architecture that's building toward 2027's Absolute Crisis. The panel made clear this isn't just scattered announcements; these are interconnected pieces of something bigger.

The roster of creators speaking to the work signals DC's serious investment here. Williamson's become the connective tissue across multiple Superman-adjacent projects, and pairing him with Snyder on Darkseid's origin suggests this story carries real weight in the larger narrative framework. The presence of artists like Sanford Greene and Yasmine Putri (Darkseid redesign incoming, potentially) hints at visual reinvention too.

If you've been waiting on DC to make a real push into Superman's mythology beyond the surface-level threats, this panel suggested that moment is here. All In: Darkseid Vs. The World and the slate around it point toward a Superman era that's willing to go deep — and that's exactly what this corner of the DC Universe has needed.

Source: ComicsBeat