Since the age of nine, Ethan Bradley had a dream: to become a real-life superhero.

A genius with a mind far beyond his years, Ethan mastered fields like biophysics, bioengineering, and biochemistry before most kids learned long division. But beyond the accolades and breakthroughs, Ethan harbored an obsession—a vision forged in the fires of comic books and childhood fantasy: to save the world not just through science, but through strength. To uplift the innocent and crush the wicked. To become more than human. To become… the Dead Knight.

After surviving the horrors of war as a soldier and earning worldwide recognition as a brilliant scientist, Ethan’s reality remains hollow. Haunted by the deaths of those he’s loved, plagued by freak accidents, and crushed under a system that rewards submission over innovation, he returns night after night to his dark lab—tinkering, testing, recording—desperately chasing a dream that refuses to die.

When a sudden heart attack leaves him dead on the cold floor of his lab, Ethan believes it’s over. Until he awakens… not in Heaven or Hell, but in a surreal limbo under a blood-red sky. There, a mysterious gentleman in a suit and top hat greets him—an ancient being claiming to be The Presence, the god of fiction, the very embodiment of all comic lore ever written.

And the Presence has an offer.

Ethan Bradley, the failed superhuman, the broken genius, is given a second chance—not in his own world, but in the world of legends. He is sent into the DC Universe, where gods fly, demons scheme, and mortals rise to meet the divine. There, he must forge a new life—not as a scientist or a soldier, but as a hero. 
But he isn't sent to the main universe. He is sent to The Absolute Universe.

I just want to say that this fanfic will follow the comics only to a certain degree,I'll add characters that I have made whom will add to Dead Knight's lore


I also might use altered characters that I doubt the comics will use(Like really old characters that haven't appeared at all).


Because the comic line is still new and not fully fleshed out.


Also,this takes place a few months(or more) before the start of Absolute Batman.


The timeline could also change between this and the comics because we haven't gotten any solid proof of the timeline between the comics.


This will be more like an AU(Alternate Universe) of The Absolute Universe.


But,I'll still follow the comics main plot points and give a fresh take on the universe,even though it in itself is fresh and new.


Also,please comment and review my work.


Chapter 3 - Just wanted to say