Scott Snyder Reveals The Secret Marvel Pitch That Almost Rewrote His DC Legacy

Comic book fans have spent the better part of two years watching Scott Snyder reshape the DC landscape with the Absolute Universe, and ‘Absolute Batman’ in particular has become a genuine phenomenon for the publisher. The writer stepped away from mainstream superhero work for a stretch, focusing on creator owned projects before making his triumphant return. That comeback, it turns out, almost went in a completely different direction.

Before Snyder ever pitched DC on the line wide reinvention that became DC All In, he was already dreaming up something ambitious for the House of Ideas. After leaving DC around 2019 and 2020 to focus on creator owned work, Snyder said he was ready to come back to the superhero world, but he was not just looking to write a single comic book. Instead, he wanted to build something much bigger.

Speaking on the AIPT Comics Podcast, Snyder revealed that before committing to DC All In and ‘Absolute Batman,’ he approached Marvel about returning to superhero comics with a proposal that went beyond simply writing a title. “I did approach Marvel after I approached DC first,” Snyder said during the conversation, hosted by AIPT. He described the idea as a project that would have crossed multiple books, though he kept the exact details close to the vest, only saying it “wasn’t Absolute” and was “a very different thing” entirely.

The timing behind Snyder’s Marvel overture was personal as much as creative. He said he was frustrated by the growing belief that superhero stories were losing popularity and that the genre had reached its peak, and he wanted to prove that superhero comics still had room for new ideas. That mission, born out of frustration with the “superhero fatigue” discourse, eventually pushed him to pitch his multi book concept to Marvel first.

Marvel ultimately passed on the idea because the company already had its own publishing plans underway at the time. That rejection turned out to be a hinge point in Snyder’s career. DC embraced his vision instead, approving what became DC All In and the Absolute Universe in 2022 before launching the initiative in 2024, giving creators more than a year to develop the line.

The rest is recent comic book history. ‘Absolute Batman,’ illustrated by Nick Dragotta, has become one of the breakout hits of the Absolute line, reintroducing a working class Bruce Wayne to widespread acclaim and strong sales. Considering the commercial success of ‘Absolute Batman’ and the broader Absolute line, the decision has clearly reshaped both Snyder’s career and DC’s publishing strategy.

Snyder has said he holds no regrets about how things played out, even as he continues to tease what comes next for the Absolute Universe heading into its next phase. Still, the revelation leaves an obvious question hanging over the AIPT post that first surfaced this story, since a shelved Snyder penned Marvel initiative is not something fans will easily forget about.

What kind of multi book Marvel initiative do you think Scott Snyder had cooked up before DC scooped him up for ‘Absolute Batman’?