The Unofficial History of the DC Universe - Update '19

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I've finished my latest round of tweaks and updates to my all-encompassing history of the DC Universe. It attempts to combine all the best elements of the DCU into one somewhat cohesive continuity that honors all eras and mediums while also rolling in more recent retcons and additions into the patchwork tapestry that is an 80+ year experiment in collective storytelling.

Please feel free to make suggestions you may have so that I can add them to the next revisions. Thanks to all the many artists whose work I've used in the illustrations and I hope you enjoy what I've put together.

Here's Part 1, spanning the Dawn of Time to Lois Lane's arrival in Metropolis in 1938.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...?usp=sharingPa

Part 2, the rise and fall of the Golden Age of Super-Heroes from Superman & Batman's debuts, the formation of the JSA, World War 2 to the Challengers of the Unknown.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

I'll add more throughout the day as my schedule allows...

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Part 3, the dawn of the Silver Age with the birth of Earth 1 & Earth-2, the formation of the JLA and the Teen Titans, ending with Dick Grayson leaving for college in 1969.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

Part 4. the Bronze Age of the '70s & 80s covering Lois & Clark's new jobs as TV reporters for GBS, Ra's Al Ghul & Talia, the Hard Travelling Heroes, the Challenge of the Super Friends, up to the debut of the New Teen Titans, Justice League Detroit, Infinity Inc. and the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

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Part 5, the Dark Age of the late 80s and 90s to the rise of Wildstorm in 1999

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

Part 6, the Platinum Age of the 21st Century to the New 52 and DCYou Era

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

[Buried Alien]

Engrossing stuff as always, Bored, but a question regarding the continuity of the Marvel/Shazam Family in your chronology: did they begin on the same world as the Golden Age Kal-L, JSA, etc., get split off onto Earth-S after Kal-L inadvertently created the Multiverse, and get collapsed back onto the single, Post-COIE Earth afterwards?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Engrossing stuff as always, Bored, but a question regarding the continuity of the Marvel/Shazam Family in your chronology: did they begin on the same world as the Golden Age Kal-L, JSA, etc., get split off onto Earth-S after Kal-L inadvertently created the Multiverse, and get collapsed back onto the single, Post-COIE Earth afterwards?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I'm of the opinion that the Multiverse was already there in regards to Fawcett, Charlton, Wildstorm and the rest. They were their own worlds until Crisis bound them all up together.

Earth-0 was split into Earth-1 and Earth-2, which became Earth-0 with a bunch of parts from others.

That's the general idea here, to boil down every Earth into a stew of the best parts.

[Buried Alien]

I'm of the opinion that the Multiverse was already there in regards to Fawcett, Charlton, Wildstorm and the rest. They were their own worlds until Crisis bound them all up together.

Earth-0 was split into Earth-1 and Earth-2, which became Earth-0 with a bunch of parts from others.

That's the general idea here, to boil down every Earth into a stew of the best parts.

OK...so there was Golden Age DC Earth (Earth-0), the various parallel Earths that represented Fawcett, Charlton, etc., the Earth-1 and Earth-2 split from Kal-L's attempt to travel back to the Dawn of Time, and all of it was consolidated into a new Earth-0 by the CRISIS.

It was cool how you worked THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS into it, though I wonder if it would have happened farther down the line rather than shortly after THE KILLING JOKE and A DEATH IN THE FAMILY.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Bored at 3:00AM]

OK...so there was Golden Age DC Earth (Earth-0), the various parallel Earths that represented Fawcett, Charlton, etc., the Earth-1 and Earth-2 split from Kal-L's attempt to travel back to the Dawn of Time, and all of it was consolidated into a new Earth-0 by the CRISIS.

It was cool how you worked THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS into it, though I wonder if it would have happened farther down the line rather than shortly after THE KILLING JOKE and A DEATH IN THE FAMILY.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I originally had Dark Knight Returns and Batman Beyond as potential futures, but decided to wrap them up into the time periods they came out during. Miller's Dark Knight Returns is such an 80s story. I think the one-two punch of Death in the Family & Killing Joke sets up a burnt out Batman who's been fighting crime for 50 years.

In my mind, there was about a year of Batman gone between the two, which is when Oracle and the Helena Bertinelli Huntress first come on the scene. Lemme see if I can move it a little further.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I am doing the final tweaks on Rebirth, Doomsday Clock and the Potential Futures later today. I'm still look for a better picture of the Space Museum

[Buried Alien]

I originally had Dark Knight Returns and Batman Beyond as potential futures, but decided to wrap them up into the time periods they came out during. Miller's Dark Knight Returns is such an 80s story. I think the one-two punch of Death in the Family & Killing Joke sets up a burnt out Batman who's been fighting crime for 50 years.

In my mind, there was about a year of Batman gone between the two, which is when Oracle and the Helena Bertinelli Huntress first come on the scene. Lemme see if I can move it a little further.

So the scheme is that when there was an Earth-1 and Earth-2, the characters had separate Golden and Silver Age lives that existed on separate tracks, but everything was brought back together after CRISIS? Hence, Batman really was remembering fifty years worth of adventures by the end of the 80s (how does it work for his supporting cast like Alfred, Gordon, Dick, etc.)?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Bored at 3:00AM]

So the scheme is that when there was an Earth-1 and Earth-2, the characters had separate Golden and Silver Age lives that existed on separate tracks, but everything was brought back together after CRISIS? Hence, Batman really was remembering fifty years worth of adventures by the end of the 80s (how does it work for his supporting cast like Alfred, Gordon, Dick, etc.)?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

The idea is that Earth-0, where Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman & the JSA lived was split into Earth-1 and Earth-2, retroactively splitting certain characters into two pairs. such as the single/married Lois & Clark, and teen/adult Dick Grayson, that lived on two parallel Earths that were originally the same Earth. This explains how the Golden Age Superman, Batman & Robin, and Wonder Woman transitioned into their Silver Age selves.

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Part 7, Rebirth to the various Potential Futures of the DCU

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

The Epilogue, in which I try to explain all the changes I've made in regards to how the Earth-1/2 split works, and how everyone keeps getting younger thanks to various time shenanigans.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

[Buried Alien]

Fascinating. SPOCK fascinating.

Another cool thing you did with the timeline is even incorporate live-action media such as the BATMAN TV series of the 1960s and the Christopher Reeve SUPERMAN movies into it. That was unexpected and awesome.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Fascinating. SPOCK fascinating.

Another cool thing you did with the timeline is even incorporate live-action media such as the BATMAN TV series of the 1960s and the Christopher Reeve SUPERMAN movies into it. That was unexpected and awesome.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Thanks, I tried hard to squeeze in as much outside media as a could, like the 1940s Superman cartoons, which is where Superman first flew, and the George Reeves TV show. I also threw in Linda Carter's Wonder Woman, with their nifty idea of Steve Trevor Jr. (which is way better than what the comics came up with to bring back Steve), along with a very TV's Smallville-esque period for Conner as a tip of the hat to Tom Welling's decade as the character.

There's no way to fit in the more recent TV and movie stuff, though, but I might be able to once the dust has settled a bit on their lasting legacies. The most recent addition from outside media is Razer & Aya from the superlative Green Lantern Animated Series, which I slotted in as a side adventure near the end of Johns's run.

[jetengine]

BvS could be refferenced as a Media Conglomerate attempting to 'Re-envision' the Batman and Superman relationship for the 21st century.

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BvS could be refferenced as a Media Conglomerate attempting to 'Re-envision' the Batman and Superman relationship for the 21st century.

Ha! That's a great idea, but I'm going to hold off referencing any of the newer outside media stuff until their narrative is finished. Snyder's DCEU is still technically going, even if on fumes and has been rejiggered into something less ridiculously grimdark

Same goes for the Arrowverse and the Young Justice cartoon, although I did add the earliest appearances of Vixen, Artemis Crock, and Miss Martian due to their prominence in the CW's flourishing pocket DC Multiverse continuity and the Post-Timm DC animated universe they've cooked up.