Doom Patrol, Harley Quinn, and Titans head to HBO Max as DC Universe transforms

As Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO Max parent company WarnerMedia continues to shuffle its digital offerings around, DC Entertainment has announced some big updates for DC Universe. The subscription streaming service — home of DC’s digital comics library and a wealth of DC-based TV, movies, and animation — will no longer be the home of new episodes of original DC Comics television series. But it’s getting lots of comics to make up for it.

DC Entertainment announced today that DC Universe will rebrand and relaunch as DC Universe Infinite in January 2021, and start a long-awaited expansion into international markets in summer 2021.

At relaunch, the service will boast more than “24k comics” from DC’s library, the company said in a news release, and add new comics six months after they are published, rather than the services’ previous window of a full year. The changes bring the DC Universe Infinite service in line with the schedule of Marvel Comics’ Marvel Unlimited. DC’s weekly digital first offerings, titles like the great Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red and Batman: The Adventures Continue, will join DC Universe Infinite even faster, after a window of only 3 months.

But DC isn’t just filing away its back catalog in DC Universe Infinite, according to the announcement. “Also debuting on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE will be DC Universe Infinite Originals, including new comic content centered around beloved characters.” Details on those books were promised for later updates.

What DC Universe Infinite won’t be gaining is any new episodes of Doom Patrol, Harley Quinn, and Titans. All three series began life as DC Universe exclusives, but their third seasons will air exclusively on HBO Max, DC’s new home for “premium video content.” Through Oct. 30, 2020, existing DC Universe subscribers will be given the option to add HBO Max to their subscription for $4.99 per month.

Existing DC Universe subscribers will automatically get rolled over into DC Universe Infinite when the service relaunches in January. Infinite will have the same pricing structure as Universe: $7.99 per month or $74.99 a full year. Additionally, DC Entertainment is offering every existing DC Universe Infinite subscriber, or those who join during Infinite’s pre-order window, a voucher for the merch found in the DC Universe Infinite shop. “Annual subscribers will receive a $25 voucher while monthly subscribers will receive a $10 voucher.”