Bleeding Cool Says DC Will Try To Remove Marriages After Next Crisis Event

[JAK]

But, I have to express my agreement with the rumor that Batman and Superman shouldn't be married. They really shouldn't.

I completely disagree. If Superman is wish fulfillment (to a degree) why can't that be relationship-wise, too? Back in the 90's, they got married when I was 16, and I couldn't have been happier. At the time, I didn't think I'd ever have a relationship as good as the one I was reading about (it is fiction, after all). Now I definitely do, but back then it was wish fulfillment of a totally different sort than powers/etc, and I was glad to "live vicariously" through it.

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On another note, I've been reading the comments under that article, and the reaction is pretty much the same over there. Most people are pissed about the very idea of it, and hopefully DC is paying CLOSE attention.

[Sacred Knight]

If I had my way Superman would be single. Batman, it hasn't been done since Earth-Two so I'm interested in seeing it. But if I had my choice between married heroes with families and lone wolves, I'd go with lone wolves by and large. That's one of the areas where I generally agree with Didio's mindset. But, that's not the way things are right now and there comes a time when you ask yourself are you doing what's best for business or what's just best for your own personal preference? There's a market for legacy. There's a market the fresh approach. We've seen proof of both things. Is there a market for constant upendings though? At some point I gotta believe all fans will have had enough of that by and large. I supported the reboot in 2011 specifically because it had been about 25 years since the last one. 9 though? Even I know that's crazy talk.

[manofsteel1979]

This is just an FYI regarding the bolded but actually it turned out that Batman's continuity wasn't as untouched as some people initially assumed it was. the reboot changed a lot of continuity so even key Batman stories were basically rendered out of continuity or they may as well have been because they couldn't have happened without key players being involved. Key players that the reboot sent to limbo. Also the characters connected to him got screwed over pretty much to a man (or woman) because of that nonsense 5 year timeline they had going back then. Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain were put in limbo just so Barbara Gordon could be Batgirl and Tim Drake was entirely screwed over so badly that I wished he'd actually been sent to limbo too.

In any case I agree with you there on another reboot. IF that is what this turns out to be I'll be packing things up and heading elsewhere with my money. There's no reason at all for this nonsense and frankly I'm tired of getting settled into a book only to have the rug pulled out from under me just when things are getting interesting.

Yeah, the Batman family got nerfed. Thats true. But Batman himself remained pretty much untouched. You could litterally read the preFlashpoint Batman books and then pick up the New 52 Batman and Detective, and aside from the fact we went from Dick Grayson Batman back to Bruce Wayne ( which was acknowledged within the story) and the fact Gordon's hair and beard suddenly were no longer grey, if you didnt know better, you thought you were still reading the same guy. Same with Green Lantern. The reboot happened but the general direction of things remained the same and it wasn't until like a year in the changes became apparent for those two franchises. For Superman and the rest it was a clear red line. That was the same pretty much PreCrisis to Post Crisis. Yeah Batman and GL got new origin tales, but if you skipped those and just read the main books without knowledge of the reboot , you wouldn't have known anything changed until later on. With Superman it was immediate.

[manofsteel1979]

If I had my way Superman would be single. Batman, it hasn't been done since Earth-Two so I'm interested in seeing it. But if I had my choice between married heroes with families and lone wolves, I'd go with lone wolves by and large. That's one of the areas where I generally agree with Didio's mindset. But, its just man, how many times in one decade will they play this trick? I supported the reboot in 2011 specifically because it had been about 25 years since the last one. 9 though? Even I know that's crazy talk.

I mean if they reboot this time, how long until its undone? Unless it surprises the hell out of all of us and the whole thing is a unanimous smash hit, i give it two and a half years max.

[Sacred Knight]

The pattern would be something like, 2 and a half years or so, major shakeup. Another 2 and a half, blow the whole thing that you not too long ago majorly shook up, up.

[Hopeful Hero]

I'm in agreement that they may as well make a separate universe for this reboot if only to please both sides. I mean why shake up something that's already doing generally well? But of course, DC wants to rock the both some more so why not right?

If anything moving forward with an ultimate universe like many before me have said would open up many opportunities and avenues for storytelling for those that wanted this while the rebirth universe can still remain intact and many others on that wagon can continue making that world prosper and so on and so forth. I mean why chance ticking off fans even further and possibly alienating them to jumping ship for good? That's bad business. No one wants that.

[Sacred Knight]

The one instance where they actually could have their cake and eat it too with little side-effects whatsoever, and they haven't shown an interest in doing it. Ironic considering how much they're always willing to take that liberty in regards to their various continuity changes within the current one.

[Hopeful Hero]

I agree. I mean with their Black Label titles coming out as well as their YA ogn on the way, how hard is it really to make another universe such as the one we're discussing right now come to fruition?

[Cerulean Scarab]

I'm in agreement that they may as well make a separate universe for this reboot if only to please both sides. I mean why shake up something that's already doing generally well? But of course, DC wants to rock the both some more so why not right?

If anything moving forward with an ultimate universe like many before me have said would open up many opportunities and avenues for storytelling for those that wanted this while the rebirth universe can still remain intact and many others on that wagon can continue making that world prosper and so on and so forth. I mean why chance ticking off fans even further and possibly alienating them to jumping ship for good? That's bad business. No one wants that.

It's amazing that, with all the alternate takes on early periods of heroes history, that they haven't really. Like, how many re-interpretation of Superman growing up in Smallville and finding his identity in Metropolis need to get published before DC goes "Hey, why don't we just do that again, but after he becomes Superman, keep going for 10 or 20 years?" >_>

[Hopeful Hero]

It's amazing that, with all the alternate takes on early periods of heroes history, that they haven't really. Like, how many re-interpretation of Superman growing up in Smallville and finding his identity in Metropolis need to get published before DC goes "Hey, why don't we just do that again, but after he becomes Superman, keep going for 10 or 20 years?" >_>

Exactly. We already have countless books detailing his origin with another one along the way by Miller. We can just as well skip that line of thinking and move on to following what comes after and keep it going for 20 plus years or so.

[RepHope]

One issue that's been raised by others and should serve as a caution to New 52 Superman fans who think this could be good, is think of the long term effects of this. Sure maybe you hate the marriage (I don't care at all about it) or Jon (I love him), but think about what DC just abruptly pulling the rug out AGAIN would mean. Maybe sales will be strong at first, you'll enjoy the stories, but what about 2 years down the road? What if sales fall, there's a shift in management, or some new creative talent comes on the book and gets to make whatever changes he/she wants? Bendis helped to bring the trunks back apparently, what if someone else later on gets the freedom to restore elements like that?

Furthermore a reboot now would mean that there is no guarantee that what you like will still be "canon" down the line. It sets the precedent that anytime DC needs to shake things up they can just toss everything out and start over. Why bother getting invested into something like that? Say this new Superman is like the New 52 one. There is zero guarantee that even if he sold well he would stick around. Rebirth Supes has sold decently well, yet in this reboot scenario he's still getting the boot.

Honestly I think Rich is wrong. Both Bendis and Snyder have plans that don't seem to account for a reboot. Why would you put Snyder on JL right now if you're planning to reboot? Why let Bendis come in and shake things up if it all won't matter in a few months? What about Johns and Doomsday Clock, or that three Joker story with Fabok they're both working on? Does anyone think there's a chance in hell they're going to throw Johns JL out of continuity? I sure as hell don't, no way would he be cool with that.

[RepHope]

Exactly. We already have countless books detailing his origin with another one along the way by Miller. We can just as well skip that line of thinking and move on to following what comes after and keep it going for 20 plus years or so.

It's amazing that, with all the alternate takes on early periods of heroes history, that they haven't really. Like, how many re-interpretation of Superman growing up in Smallville and finding his identity in Metropolis need to get published before DC goes "Hey, why don't we just do that again, but after he becomes Superman, keep going for 10 or 20 years?" >_>

There really needs to be a "Super-Embargo" on Superman origin stories. Leave those the hell alone, no more of that stuff. I want stories about him in his prime, or in his old age, but I'm pretty bored of Smallville. I'm checking out Miller's Year One though, but I really hope we get another Black Label Superman story that doesn't cover his origin.

[Sacred Knight]

They're wrong less often than they are right so my money goes to believing that its at the very least being discussed. And also, remember they said 2020. Snyder's JL saga could very likely be complete by then. This isn't something stated to be happening in a few months. Its two years. All those above projects could be done by then. In any case I whole-heartedly believe something is going on. Thing is its still a ways a way so extremely likely nothing is set in stone. Lots of ways I'd imagine the general idea could evolve between now and then.

[JAK]

If I had my way Superman would be single. Batman, it hasn't been done since Earth-Two so I'm interested in seeing it. But if I had my choice between married heroes with families and lone wolves, I'd go with lone wolves by and large. That's one of the areas where I generally agree with Didio's mindset. But, that's not the way things are right now and there comes a time when you ask yourself are you doing what's best for business or what's just best for your own personal preference? There's a market for legacy. There's a market the fresh approach. We've seen proof of both things. Is there a market for constant upendings though? At some point I gotta believe all fans will have had enough of that by and large. I supported the reboot in 2011 specifically because it had been about 25 years since the last one. 9 though? Even I know that's crazy talk.

I can definitely understand that. If I had my way there'd be a mix, to draw in different tastes - some married, some not, all of it organically done in-story. But then, if I had my way, New52 and Post-Crisis (as opposed to Pre-Flashpoint) would be two separate lines (E-1 and E-2, like you said), so there's that.

But I definitely agree on the reboots - we passed overboard by a looooooong time ago.

The pattern would be something like, 2 and a half years or so, major shakeup. Another 2 and a half, blow the whole thing that you not too long ago majorly shook up, up, and away.

Fixed that for you (couldn't help myself). lol

[The World]

I can't really say the marriage does anything to make me excited about Superman. My favorite periods are the 40's, early 50's, and the 70's and he wasn't married during those. That might be the fact that when I started reading Superman he was already married and my view point of him from that period is of a kind but whipped dog. I've never really bought into this idea that Supes marriage to Lois was in anyway essential to the character, it just doesn't make sense given he ran for 45+ years unmarried and he was just fine.

That having been said the continuity shuffles are just creating imbalances within the character. It's interesting to me that this sounds like it's being targeted solely targeted at Clark and Bruce. It's just been my observation from watching the Superman and Batman fanbases over the years but there is a clear difference in how they're viewed by the respective fanblocks. Bruce simply is Batman and whatever he has accomplished or failed at over the years belongs to him whether the current writer groups acknowledge it or not. That just how he is seen so you get Adam West Batman and the Brave and the Bold, but you can also get Nolan!Bats, Batfleck, or something inbetween like BTAS Batman. But with Superman it's just so utterly fragmented to hell and back that he's been robbed of most of his own history. People can't even watch the guy do the very things he started up without some moron getting on their haunches and screaming "BUT THAT'S NOT SUPERMAN". Meanwhile Batman is free to use anything in his long storied history and anything he's done he's free to do again. It's what made the Tomasi/Gleeson story in Action 1k so nice for me, it was nice to see the character embracing his history instead of running away from it like a cowardly simpleton.

Batman has been kind of resilient in the face of these reboots the character perseveres and Superman seems to be wilting under them and in these last couple of years the character has just been the character getting bombarded by these reshuffles of his history and set up. The character has no time to breathe and take a minute before the next mega event that's suppose to change everything forever. Like I don't give a damn about the marriage but at least break it up IN CONTINUITY. Make a story out of it, show Superman isn't the weakling people believe him to be that will crumple under emotional turmoil and keep it moving.