[8] With Gotham by Gaslight, and in tandem with writer Brian Augustyn, Waid co-created DC's Elseworlds imprint.

[5][9] He worked for DC's short-lived Impact Comics line where he wrote The Comet and scripted dialogue for Legend of the Shield.

[7] In 1992 Waid began the assignment which would bring him to wider recognition in the comics industry, when he was hired to write The Flash by editor Brian Augustyn.

[12] In November of that same year, Waid and Howard Porter collaborated on the Underworld Unleashed limited series, which served as the center of a company-wide crossover storyline.

[18] That storyline ran a full year, after which Waid and Garney returned to the title for another relaunched series, Captain America volume 3, issues #1–23.

[16][20] This story, set in the future of the DC Universe, depicted the fate of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and other heroes as the world around them changed.

DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed that "Waid's deep knowledge of the heroes' pasts served them well, and Ross' unique painted art style made a powerful statement about the reality of the world they built.

[22] Waid and writer Grant Morrison collaborated on a number of projects that would successfully reestablish DC's Justice League to prominence.

The two writers developed the concept of Hypertime to explain problems with continuity in the DC Universe, which was first introduced in The Kingdom.

3 #60 (Oct. 2002) at the promotional price of 9 cents U.S. By June 2003, Marvel publisher Bill Jemas tried to convince Waid to abandon his "high-adventure" approach to the series, and making the book into, in Waid's words, "a wacky suburban dramedy where Reed's a nutty professor who creates amazing but impractical inventions, Sue's the office-temp breadwinner, the cranky neighbor is their new 'arch-enemy,' etc."

[31][32] Waid and Wieringo completed their run on Fantastic Four with issue #524 (May 2005), by which time the previously relaunched series had returned to its original numbering.

[51] An essay posted on October 2, 2013, by Waid, titled "An Open Letter To Young Freelancers",[52] generated attention within the comics industry[53][54] with The Hollywood Reporter describing it as "an important commentary on business practices that are in a state of flux at publishers both large and small.

The following year, Waid returned to the Captain America series beginning with issue #695 working with artist Chris Samnee.

[60] Waid also launched with artist Javier Garrón a Ant-Man and the Wasp miniseries to tie into the release of the 2019 film of the same name.

At the 2018 New York Comic Con, Humanoids Publishing announced it was creating an imprint called H1 whose contributing creators included Waid.

[61] On April 9, 2019, Marvel announced that Waid would write a five-issue miniseries featuring the Invisible Woman, her first solo series since her debut in 1961.

[62] In December 2021, it was announced that Waid would be writing a new ongoing for DC entitled Batman/Superman: World's Finest, with Dan Mora serving as artist and beginning publication in March 2022.

[63][64][65] In April 2022, Waid was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The first is a three-issue DC Black Label miniseries entitled Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor, illustrated by Bryan Hitch.

The series reunites Waid with artist Dan Mora and follows Amanda Waller, having teamed up with Failsafe and the Brainiac Queen, as she seek to put an end to the metahuman population of the DC Universe, once and for all.

[72] In July 2024, it was announced Waid would be reuniting with Chris Samnee for Batman and Robin: Year One, a 12-issue series set to begin publication in October 2024.