DC Detectiverse

The Detectiverse is a shared universe that adapts various DC characters and stories. It focuses on darker and more serious sides to the DC Universe that had previously gone unexplored, as well as experimenting with lesser-known cult favorite characters rather then the usual big stars. It was created by PGD543 for IWFC Wiki's *Fanon Crisis Competition*.

Phase 1 has 4 movies.

## Phase 1

### Hellblazer

John Constantine is a occult detective and single father who lives with his young 14-year old daughter Johanna, whose mother is unknown but is hinted throughout the movie to be Zatanna Zatara. One day, the two of them return home to find a man named Gary Lester, one of John's old friends who had become a drug addict, waiting for him there intending to catch up. Unfortunately, Gary had been touched by a demon that was unleashed on him, as he had failed to exorcise it properly, forcing him into spasms. Recruiting one of his occult friends, Papa Midnite, John and Johanna devise a plan to trap the demon inside him and let their mutual hunger cancel each other out. Unfortunately, this meant allowing Gary to be consumed by the demon, killing him. John, angry over having to kill his friend, discovers that it was unleashed as a test by an organization called the Order of Ancient Mysteries. John and Johanna track them down and discover it is led by a man named Roderick Buress who had stolen a book named the Liber Fulvarum Paginarum, and intends to summon Death to force him into bringing his son back. The Constantines attempt to stop the ritual, but it prevails. John, enraged, kills Buress and the other members of the Order, all except his other son, Alex, who escapes, while Johanna finds a strange pouch of sand that makes her feel something strange when touched. John grabs the book and walks away. In a post-credit scene, John asks Johanna why she decided to keep the pouch of sand. Johanna tells John that whenever she touches it, it makes her feel somewhat euphoric, commenting that "it feels kind of like a Dream."

The movie adapts the first Hellblazer comic and small parts of The Sandman, the most noticeable change being Johanna Constantine being John's daughter rather then a descendant in the Netflix show and an ancestor in the comics. It explores themes of lost friendship and grief, but mainly focuses on John and Johanna's relationship and the struggles of single parenthood. Matt Ryan returns as Constantine.

### Batman: Grim

Bruce Wayne's life was one of pleasure and fun, until one fateful day when a robber named Joe Chill shoots and kills his parents as they walk out of a movie theater. Joe drops the gun and searches for Martha's pearls, but drops his gun. A distraught Bruce picks the gun up and shoots a pleading Joe to death in the alleyway. As Bruce grows up, he decides to declare war on crime across the city. He travels the world, training with some of the best martial artists in the world, and receives training on how to properly use many types of guns. One day, a bat flies across his window. He shoots it almost instinctively, but takes inspiration from it, telling his father's spirit that he will become the Batman. Over time, he is shown killing numerous DC villains - The Penguin, Killer Croc, the Red Hood pre-Jokerfication, and Black Mask. All this murdering captures the attention of the Court of Owls, and they sentence him to death. Their assassin, the Talon William Cobb, attempts to murder him. They battle at the top of Wayne Tower and Cobb is thrown off, but survives the fall. Batman discovers that their society has various secret headquarters throughout hidden rooms in every building established by the Alan Wayne Trust, created by his great-grandfather. Batman tracks down a series of clues leading to a Court headquarters, where he is captured and tortured by Cobb so much he eventually wishes for death, leading to other members of the Court swarming him. But through sheer willpower, Batman comes at Cobb with everything he has and kills him mercilessly, ripping his spine out, before retreating. A horrified Court realizes that Batman is more powerful then they had assumed. In a mid-credits scene, he wakes up in the middle of the night to see a Batman with chains, a green mouth, and a long toothy smile, standing at his bedside. Horrified, he backs away, but when he blinks, it disappears.

Batman: Grim explores themes of political corruption, revenge, and the cost of violence. It is based on the Grim Knight of the Dark Multiverse series of comics. However, unlike the original comics where the Grim Knight joins the Batman Who Laughs, he instead begins to fear and loathe him. It is also based on the Batman: Night of the Owls story. A bearded Robert Pattinson returns as Batman.

### Ragman

Jewish Vietnam War veteran Rory Regan is a junk man who owns a pawn shop in Gotham City named Rags 'n' Tatters. His father always dreamed of making a better life for Rory and constantly promised that someday he would make Rory rich. While drinking with his friends one night, his father discovered 2 million dollars stuffed inside an old mattress that had been sold recently. They decide to save the money for Rory, but it turned out to be the loot from an armored car heist and when the hoods came to the shop to get it, they shot down some electrical wires and used them to torture Rory's father and his friends into revealing where it was hidden. Rory arrived soon after and attempted to free them from the wires. A final shock of power ran through the old men and grounded out at Rory, knocking him out. When he regained consciousness, his father and friends were dead and the hoods responsible were gone. Whilst mourning his loss, he notices a strange glow coming from a ragged suit he had found and repaired in his spare time, meant to be worn for Halloween. He discovers that it had absorbed the souls of the hoods, granting him their strength and speed. Deciding to use the suit for good, he becomes the Ragman, but is quickly overwhelmed by the suit urging him to collect more souls. He discovers that the suit he repaired was actually the Suit of Souls, an ancient Jewish artifact made to protect the Jewish people that was able to house souls in its threads, but was torn by others attempting to gain its power. Rory, compelled by the suit, continues to fight crime and take souls, but is soon confronted by a large Golem, a soulless creature that was originally in Ragman's place as the Jewish protector, but had gone rogue due to its lack of soul. It begins rampaging across Gotham, with Ragman having to put a stop to it. As he destroys the Golem, the Suit of Souls begins to bond with the citizens of Gotham. Realizing the city will forever need the Ragman's help, both the Suit and Rory elect to stay and protect Gotham as Ragman. In a post-credits scene, James Braddock/Gentleman Ghost is seen gathering the Golem's remains.

The film deals with themes of financial struggle, Jewish heritage, and the concept of humanity and souls. It also adapts elements from both the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis Ragman iterations. Rory is played by Logan Lerman.

### Azrael: Lamb of God

Jean-Paul Valley is a French Roman-Catholic man who works as a security guard for Wayne Enterprises. Inspired by the Batman's crusade against all of Gotham's major crime lords, he aspires to one day be a great hero himself. He attends St. Dumas' Church for the Holy every Sunday, and begs the titular St. Dumas for a chance to finally become something more. A few days later, he gets a call about his father, Ludovich. He is in the hospital dying from gunshot wounds. He begs a distraught Jean-Paul to travel to the Alps and make the most of what he has. He trains with the monk Nomoz to become the next avenging angel, Azrael, and is gifted his armor, the Suit of Sorrows. However, Azrael discovers the secret treachery of the Order he once believed to be infallible when Nomoz is killed trying to warn him of a great threat created by the Order. He questions his faith and his very belief in God himself. Later, Gotham City is shown to be under attack by a large humanoid robot, Ascalon, who Azrael tries to fight. However, he fails numerous times due to the robot having used its artificial integration within the Suit of Sorrows to learn Azrael's every move and attack. Azrael, enraged by knowing everything he once believed was all a lie, breaks free of Ascalon's control and destroys it, punching a hole through its chest. However, when he touches the robot's artificial heart, it explodes. Azrael, believing he is about to die, silently says a prayer, thanking God for finally giving him a purpose in life, and the explosion engulfs him. He miraculously survives, and wakes up to see the spirit of Dumas sitting next to his hospital bed, He asks Dumas why he had woken up, and Dumas responds with "it's not the first time God brought someone back from the dead". Dumas tells him that his story is far from over, and that as long as you know you are fighting for what you believe in, you can never truly fall. He disappears, and Jean-Paul watches the birds fly across his window as Sunday church bells ring in the distance.

In a mid-credits scene, Jean-Paul has a nightmare about Gotham City burning and on fire, as a man walks through the flaming streets with blood and bodies lining the floor. The man walks up to the side of a bridge and holds the broken body of Bruce Wayne high above his head. The crowd below him chants "FOR GOTHAM! FOR GOTHAM! FOR GOTHAM!"

The film revolves heavily around Catholicism, Christianity, and faith as a whole, as well as finding your true purpose in life, whether it be through faith or not. It also contains the second tease of the Dark Multiverse, with Jean-Paul's nightmare being the Knightfall story, where he rules Gotham with an iron rod as Saint Batman. Jean-Paul is played by Boyd Holbrook.