As long as these have been comics, there have been fan drawings of the characters in those comics. Many of those fan artists later went on to work at the very comic companies whose works they used to follow in their youth. Fan drawings pay tribute not only to what kind of characters there are, but what they could possibly become one day.
Sometimes the effect of aging the characters in these drawings is funny, sometimes whimsical, and sometimes the result is quite tragic. But the end product is always intriguing. After all, one of the unspoken rules of the comic world is to always keep the characters roughly the same age. That is the only way to keep the series of comics about a character chugging along over the years.
It is then left up to the fan’s imagination what those seemingly unaging characters will look like in their old age. Do they lose their youthful vigor? Do they trade in tights and spandex for suspenders and adult diapers? All the questions that you never realized you need the answer to have been enthusiastically drawn up by an army of passionate artist fans and put up online for your benefit.
DC Comics has in its stables some of the most iconic characters ever created. Which also means there is no dearth of fan art regarding those characters. Here are 30 fan drawings of the most popular DC characters that imagine what they would look like in their old age:
26 Bruce Wayne Mentors Batman Beyond
The world of Batman Beyond took us to the Gotham of the distant future. Known as Neo-Gotham, this future city was guarded by a future Batman, who is actually a 16-year-old named Terry Mcginnis. At this point, Bruce Wayne was a 70-something old man who had suffered a heart attack in the middle of a battle some 20 years ago.
This forced Bruce to hang up his cape and retire.
He now acts as a mentor for the new Batman while still keeping an eye on the city that he had sworn to always protect.
25 Superman Has Given Up
Superman is a hero who is known for his unfailing optimism (except when he’s dealing with a gritty reboot under Zack Snyder). But in the graphic novel Kingdome Come, and this fan piece that inspired it, we meet a Superman who has finally given up on mankind.
Following the loss of his wife and parents, and confronted with a new age of heroes who believed in ultra-violent solutions to the world’s problems, Superman hung up his cape and withdrew from public life. He took up residence in his Fortress of Solitude where he set up a private farm he spends his time tending.
24 The Flash With The Stache
This one is from a collection of drawings by famed artist Eddie Liu. As we can see from the picture, the passing of the years has not been kind to the Flash. Based on the hair color we’re guessing this is Barry Allen.
Although he looks like a depressed Ned Flanders with that mustache.
Aside from the disguise-ruining facial hair, don’t miss out on the sunken cheekbones, and the missing sparkle in the eyes that all point towards having had a hard life. This is a Barry who seems ready to throw in the towel.
23 A Merry Old Joker
The Joker is also getting on in years, and that seems pretty surprising. Considering how little he cares for his personal safety, and how often he has put himself in harm’s way just to mess with Batman, you would expect him to have thrown in the towel years ago.
But somehow, he has managed to beat the odds, and he’s still just as committed to his principles of causing chaos and laughing at the ensuing destruction. But we can’t help but wonder what happened to the Batman, and in what scenario he would allow the Joker to still be running loose.
22 Batman Wants Green Arrow’s Hair
Eddie Liu now brings his trademark gloomy look to the future Batman. And for once the results don’t seem as depressing. This Batman may be old, but he still has that keen, piercing gaze that signals a sharp mind behind the bat-cowl.
But it’s the facial hair that really gets your attention. Is Bruce Wayne trying to become Green Arrow in his old age? That beard and mustache combo must take a great deal of time and effort to maintain. Looks like old Batman has a lot of free time on his hands.
21 Green Arrow Needs A Hand
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow recently announced a crossover event in which the heroes travel to 2046, where they meet an older Green Arrow with one arm. This inspired a Melbourne fan named BossLogic to create a photoshopped fan art poster for Arrow’s new look.
The result is impressive, even though Arrow star Stephen Amell took to Twitter specifically to compliment the artist and also tell him his imagining of the character was not at all accurate. It now remains to be seen whether fans will be as impressed by the actual appearance of older Green Arrow.
20 Hal Jordan Is Still A Dangerous Dude
The other entries on this list so far have made it clear that the passing of the years has not been good for the heroes in general. They all look wrinkled and lonely, not to mention much weaker, and in one case even missing an appendage.
But in this case, getting older seems to have done nothing to damped Hal Jordan’s spirit. The Green Lantern may now be sporting a thick white beard and mustache, but he still seems ready to take on whatever galactic level threat is getting ready to attack next.
19 The Out Of Shape Dark Knight
And here we have our answer. The Dark Knight is still kicking, but he’s obviously not as effective as before. His once perfect physique, honed over the years to reach the highest potential of a human anatomy, has given way to saggy loose skin and a prominent gut bulge.
He also seems to have got over his hangup of never taking a life. Judging by the bomb in his hand, he’s perfectly willing to permanently take out any villain. Although at his age, he might consider neighborhood kids playing on his long an act of villainy as well.
18 Uncle Superman Is Not Impressed
And finally, we come to Eddie Liu’s take on the most iconic superhero of all time. Continuing to stick closely to the trend, this picture of a superhero by Liu also shows a depressing version of Superman’s old age.
It’s the expression on his face that seems the most unlike Superman.
There’s a mixture of weariness and cynicism that seems completely out of place on the face of the Last Son of Krypton. Also, what is up with his costume? Why does the ‘S’ on his chest look so dirty? Why would Superman want to put on his costume without even cleaning it?
17 Lex Luthor Is Now Dr. Evil
Remember Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers series? The extremely affable, polite, and not very threatening criminal mastermind played to perfection by Mike Myers?
Well, Lex Luthor seems in the process of turning into him in his old age.
There’s the prominent vein running up one side of his face like he’s also auditioning to play a Bond villain. But the most surprising thing is the smile. It’s almost a simper, and you simply cannot imagine present-day Luthor, the ruthless businessman, and master criminal, smiling like that. Or is he simply going senile in his old age?
16 The League Of Extraordinarily-Elderly Gentlemen
This piece of fan art dares to wonder what it would look like if the Justice League aged just like normal people do, with no superpowers to help them out in their old age. The inspiration clearly comes from the old animated JLU cartoons, set what seems to be like sixty years in the future.
So we have a Superman who still believes in underwear-outside-pants fashion. Bruce Wayne is reduced to using a cane, while a crotchety old Diana needs to be pushed around by a wrinkly Wally West. Hawkgirl has developed a paunch and Green Lantern’s power ring isn’t much use these days.
15 Henry Cavill Is Angry Santa Claus
Facial hair and photoshop have not been kind to Henry Cavill. The existence of his mustache and their clumsy removal via special effects were the reason his triumphant comeback appearance in the Justice League movie was so mercilessly trolled.
This time, however, the result of photoshop is much more interesting.
Although Cavill may resemble an angry Santa, his ripped and torn clothes suggest there is ample reason for him looking so angry. It looks like Superman was engaged in a pitched battle that took a lot out of him. But he’s still standing.
14 Late Return Of The Joker
We’ve already seen that Willem Defoe makes for an excellent Green Goblin. He has the maniacal laugh and the unstable personality down pat, so naturally, a lot of fans think he would make for a great Joker. Even if his Joker is no longer in his prime.
This new Joker looks like he is the criminal mastermind type rather than a physical bruiser. You can imagine him throwing extravagant cocktail parties for his villain buddies while plotting new ways to spread chaos in Gotham. And, of course, continuing to annoy Batman.
13 Joker’s Daddy
This scene gives us a chilling explanation of what exactly made The Dark Knight’s Joker’s childhood so disturbing. What if it was the sociopathic kingpin of crime that we saw in Tim Burton’s Batman who was the father of the Joker we saw in Christopher Nolan’s film?
While the continuity doesn’t line up at all, it is still a fun thing to speculate about. The gleeful chaos that we saw the earlier Joker unleash would have been studied by his son, who in turn came up with his own, darker interpretation of spreading chaos in Gotham. And so the line continues…
12 The Dark Knight Strikes Again And Again
In case this scene feels familiar, its because it is based both on an iconic graphic novel written by Frank Miller and the Batman V Superman movie by Zack Snyder. In both stories as in the picture, an elderly Batman takes on a Superman who is still in his prime.
Everything we need to know about the confrontation is present in the picture.
A kryptonite arrow, presumably fired by Green Arrow, temporarily incapacitated Superman. That allowed Batman to get the upper hand, and he’s making the most of it using a super-powered Iron Manesque exo-suit.
11 The Flash Needs A Walker
The Flash is the fastest man in the world. But even his superspeed is not proof against the ravages of time. In this piece of fan art, we see that the Flash in his old age needs a walker to get around. He might not be as quick as he used to be, but he’s still the fastest man alive in his nursing home.
Perhaps all that running around in his youth did a number on the scarlet speedster’s legs. But he doesn’t seem to be too depressed. In fact, he’s still got a grin on his face.
10 Wonder Woman Takes A Break
Another drawing by Eddie Liu, with another depressing interpretation of an iconic superhero. This time, it’s old Wonder Woman who seems to have relaxed her earlier vigorous physical health routine. Is it possible she has started grieving over the end of Steve Trevor all over again?
Once again, we are forced to conclude that the years haven’t been kind to Diana. Her hair has been shortened, with a few strands of white indicating her great age.
9 Struggling To Take Off
Superman might be the most powerful flyer in the world, but well into what looks to be his eighties, even he struggles to get off the ground. His scraggy old face is screwed up in concentration as he struggles to remember how he used to fly in his younger days.
Also, the bird seems completely startled to see him in flight mode, suggesting that this is not something that he does very often. Let us hope his loose pants manage to stay on during this particular flying session so he won’t end up flashing unsuspecting civilians or criminals.
8 Dick Grayson Is Now The Silver Nightwing
Dick Grayson was always the young guy in all his appearances in DC comics. He was the sidekick to Batman back when the job meant running around the city at night in his green underwear. He was also the leader of the Teen Titans.
As an adult, he became Nightwing, the young, good-natured alternative to Batman for Gotham citizens who needed saving but could do without the whole ‘Scary bat ninja!’ routine. Anyway, in the picture, Nightwing has finally reached a stage where he can no longer be called ‘Teen-anything’. The silver hair means he will most likely soon be retiring from active superhero duty.
7 Batman Is Still Chasing The Joker
If there is one aspect of the Gotham mythos that both the comics and the movies frequently emphasize, it is the idea of Batman and Joker, locked together in an eternal struggle for the soul of the city itself.
Selfless Good Vs Self-destructive Darkness. Order Vs Chaos.
But as cool as that was to watch when they were young, it just seems comical in their old age. Apparently, both characters retire together to the same old age home, where Batman is still in determined pursuit of the clown prince of crime on his scooter.
