The Current Version of the DC Universe - Is it still the New 52

[boltmonster]

If you have been following DC since the start of the New 52:

Do you still consider it the New 52 (with updates)?

Do you see it as a separate version each time that is not connected to the previous version?

What version do you see it as?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

The New 52 was the DCU with pieces removed.

The current DCU has just had most of those pieces put back in, but the details are still fuzzy because they keep getting rearranged over and over.

[Elmo]

The New 52 could be a separate earth. I think people might appreciate a "fresh start" line of comics with its own canon

[boltmonster]

New 52: the Ultimate DCU

[Adekis]

I kind of wish there was a harder delineation between the New 52 and the non-New 52 DCUs, but there's not. I mean, it seemed like a hard break when it happened, mostly because of Superman and Wonder Woman getting relatively concrete reimaginings, but the likes of Batman and Green Lantern were similar enough that having the pre-Flashpoint and post-Flashpoint Batmen co-exist on the shelf of a comic-book shop would just be redundant, unlike with Wonder Woman or Superman.

I've wished before that instead of chucking everything I liked about the New 52, they'd kept it around in a separate, secondary line of books. Unfortunately, like I said, a lot of the New 52 characters were not distinguished sufficiently from the pre-Flashpoint counterparts. Maybe giving the New 52 Barry and the Main 'Verse Wally might've worked? Eh, I don't know. Doesn't help Batman. Maybe Gods & Monsters Kirk Langstrom could fill that void in the separate New 52 'verse, or maybe the Bruce from "First Wave". But I digress!

Basically, a good number of the things that made the New 52 unique were retconned, but there was no hardline delineating that a soft reboot had happened across the spectrum as far as I know, and anyway, I'm pretty sure a handful of certain New 52 elements are still in place. I'd say, on a technicality, the DCU is still the New 52's universe, it's just not "still the New 52" in any way that matters.

[boltmonster]

When they combined the Post Infinite Crisis Superman and the New 52 Superman, he got a new origin that is half Post Infinite Crisis and half New 52. Now he is the New 52 Post Infinite Crisis Superman.

The DC rollercoaster ride continues.

[Lee Stone]

Honestly...
I have no idea.

Which makes it hard to enjoy the books.

[Frontier]

What would DC be without trying to make sense of their crazy continuity ?

Honestly, I don't think they can make up their mind when it comes to New 52 vs. now.

[CaptCleghorn]

Honestly...
I have no idea.

Which makes it hard to enjoy the books.

I agree on the no idea part. Every book seems to have its own tweaks and adjustments and based on the Rebirth special/Button/DClock stories so far there's a feeling something happened, but what and anything about it being "fixed" is up in the air. It's one thing to be too into continuity and following stuff, but if a MAJOR plot is directly dependent on what happened, then it would seem to make sense to make that clearer.

[Ascended]

The New 52 was the DCU with pieces removed.

The current DCU has just had most of those pieces put back in, but the details are still fuzzy because they keep getting rearranged over and over.

This.

So, Manhattan rips big chunks out of the post-Crisis timeline, stuffs chunks of Vertigo and Wildstorm in their place, and the new piece-meal reality is the New52.

Then what Manhattan did starts coming undone; some characters (like Superman) get chunks of their lost history returned to them, (though even that is still altered to one degree or another), Wally West comes back out of the Speed Force (and Conner Kent and Bart Allen return), which puts pressure on the New52 reality to re-adjust to its former (post-Crisis) shape, and some characters like Tim Drake start getting close to figuring out that history was altered, which usually means they start remembering stuff they shouldn't, which again puts more metaphysical pressure on history.

So....yes, it's still the New52 timeline. The "age of heroes" still started 5-ish years ago......except there's huge cracks in the foundation and contradictions in the history, like Jon Kent being ten years old and Batman Year One being essentially back in canon, among other things.

Right now it's a mash of New52 and post-Crisis and a little bit of pre-Crisis and some brand new stuff we didn't have until Rebirth in 2016. And it doesn't fit together at all. But the foundation of history is still, technically, the New52.

Once the heroes defeat the Big Bad and put the stolen time back where it belongs, continuity will (in theory) make senses again. I dont think we're going back to post-Crisis history, but it'll be far closer to that than what it is now.

So, you know those moments in a reality-altering Crisis where everything kind of fuzzes and history breaks apart for a second, threatening the collapse of everything? It's like a one panel thing most of the time? The DCU has been in that state of flux since 2016.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Well I’d say we can still call what we have now “post Flashpoint” if it were up to me. We still called the previous continuity “post-crisis” up to the end even after all the zero hours and infinite crisises etc. Don’t know about calling it “new 52” though, I sorta identify that title with shiny collared armor, skinny Amanda Waller and “pretty” Lobo.

[boltmonster]

If Dr. Manhattan is the culprit then why did he choose Pandora to tell Barry Allen to combine three timelines together to create the New 52?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

If Dr. Manhattan is the culprit then why did he choose Pandora to tell Barry Allen to combine three timelines together to create the New 52?

I believe the idea is that Pandora merged the Vertigo hypertime tributary and the Wildstorm Earth to strengthen the DCU in the wake of Manhattan's attack. Although Doomsday Clock #10 will probably elaborate on this in more detail. Not sure if Pandora herself will get name dropped. Nobody seemed to like that character.

[9th.]

Kinda, sorta...nobody really knows to be honest with you.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

So....yes, it's still the New52 timeline. The "age of heroes" still started 5-ish years ago......except there's huge cracks in the foundation and contradictions in the history, like Jon Kent being ten years old and Batman Year One being essentially back in canon, among other things.

That's actually been out for quite some time now. I'm pretty sure I've read characters say how they've been operating for much longer than that.