AT&T is probably going to shut down DC Comics within the next 12 months. What they'll do then is license out all the characters to a third party who will start producing new comics with those characters

Who would that third party be though? Producing comics is barely profitable and whoever does it won't be getting merchandising or film rights, those will stay with AT&T. So whoever it is will basically be paying AT&T for the privileged to make ads for AT&T

The company most likely to license the DC characters is Marvel. In fact, they almost have to. If no DC comics are being produced, 50% less comics are being produced, every comics shop goes out of business, and thus Marvel comics goes out of business too

The only problem with this is that Disney is not doing very well due to COVID and due to the financial loss they took buying Lucasfilm. Will Disney allow Marvel to license DC or will they just allow the comic book industry to collapse rather than waste money promoting a rival?

Another option is that a Chinese company may try to license the DC characters. A Chinese front company currently owns Valiant Comics, a small superhero comics outfit founded by former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter in the late 80s

So China clearly has interest in owning American superhero IP. Valiant has been a horrible investment though and seems likely to go out of business completely. If that hasn't soured the China's taste, licensing the DC characters seems like the ideal opportunity for them

So by 2022, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman will probably be published by either Disney or the Chinese Communist Party