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When you look at everything Scott Snyder has done for DC Comics, you have to wonder what things would be like if he was with Marvel instead. Since returning to DC in 2024, Snyder has helped create the Absolute Universe and the overarching story for DC’s All In publishing initiative, which includes last year’s DC K.O. event. The success of Absolute Batman is hard to ignore, with tributes all over TikTok and an animated series on the way.

However, none of this would’ve happened if Scott Snyder had gone to Marvel.

“I’ve approached Marvel before when I was off from DC about going over there, but it just never worked out,” Scott Snyder says during a recent appearance on AIPT Comics Podcast. “When I was coming back, I thought a lot about Marvel or DC, and I did approach Marvel. I approached DC first and I was like, ‘Look, if I come back, I really want to do this thing that I’ve been thinking about. The Absolute Universe and [Joshua Williamson] will do the main universe.’ They were really enthusiastic, but it’s a big initiative and it took a while for them to okay it.”

“During that period, I was very open. I told [Marie Javins], ‘Okay, I’m going to reach out to Marvel too,’ and she was like, ‘That’s fine,’ and I reached out to them. They were enthusiastic in a way, but they didn’t really have a spot for me at that time. They did mention one series, but I just wanted to do more than that. I was really on a mission.”

“I pitched [Marvel] an initiative that I had in my head. It wasn’t Absolute, it was a very different thing. But it was more of a thing that would have crossed into different books. They were really nice about it. They just didn’t have the room at that time. They had other plans. And then DC came through and I did that.”

If Marvel had said yes, there would be no Absolute Batman, robbing DC of one of its biggest successes in the past decade. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll get a chance to see what Scott Snyder had in store for the Marvel Universe. After all, it's where he started in comics even before DC, with a story in 2009's Human Torch Comics 70th Anniversary Special, a short in Nation X 31, and the 4-issue series Iron Man Noir.

Here's an update to date guide on the Absolute Batman release schedule.