DC's "new" timeline revealed at NYCC

[Kevin Street]

If these kinds of timelines and whatnot are to have any real value, the focus has to just be on ordering events rather than using them as a Bible for character ages. Crisis on Infinite Earths happened before Zero Hour, for example. Were there 3 years in between, 5, 9? It doesn’t really matter. There was a non-trivial period of time between them. Time passes in the DCU but characters don’t age in a linear way. Otherwise every time they told a Christmas story everyone would have to be a year older.

Agreed!

I completely agree. When doing these kinds of timelines DC (or Marvel or any other publisher who does not use real time aging) the focus should be on the sequence of events rather than actual years. Just accept that the aging of the characters won't ever really work out if you sit down and add up the years needed. Accept that time moves differently and/or aging happens differently in these universes. That said I think it is a good idea to have a timeline that shows the actual order of events in the universe, as it will make it a lot easier for writers to reference something in the past without ending up making continuity mistakes that could easily have been corrected.

And I agree with your agreement. Maybe the biggest barrier to entry for new DC fans is this sense that everything in the DCU is protean and changeable with each major event. Why bother getting into a story if the consequences will just be retconned away. A timeline of accepted events could make things easier for those new readers, not to mention new creative teams.

All that said, wasn't there an a-ha somewhere early in this thread (let's say around page 150) that the published timeline stated that years weren't to be take literally, but rather were built with an assumed timeline compression? (With a link to a Bleeding Cool article stating the same?) If that's the case, the only real oddity is Batman and Superman appearing before the JSA goes into retirement.
Wonder Woman appears, Golden Age happens, JSA et al appear and then DISAPPEAR. Wonder Woman returns back to Themiscyra.
Nice clean break.
THEN Batman and Superman begin in the "modern era".
Then it all works.

I like your version much better! Hopefully DC does some editing along those lines before finishing their timeline. Superman and Batman should just be in the "modern age," without their timelines being pegged to actual historical events.

[Robanker]

Remember when Steve was a JLA liason? Maybe he was a JSA liason before and happens to jump forward in time along with them...



Immortality potion. I heard it taste like grapes. According to Tom King, Lois will outlive the Earth.



Yes, at least once, during the Ressurection of Ras' Al Ghul storyline. He also had his body reset (I don't remember exactly how) during the latest Snyder run.

That just brings the headache of "how has nobody else figured out she's with Superman" and their identities. The more people try to explain this stuff, the more it all unravels.

[Kevin Street]

What makes it worse is that Lois isn't alone. You can't de-age the main characters and just ignore the extensive supporting casts.

[Tzigone]

That just brings the headache of "how has nobody else figured out she's with Superman" and their identities. The more people try to explain this stuff, the more it all unravels.

What makes it worse is that Lois isn't alone. You can't de-age the main characters and just ignore the extensive supporting casts.

I agree with both these statements. And it's not even just supporting casts - there's all the real-world neighbors or coworkers we never see that would notice the de-aging. And it's even worse people like Bruce, who are at least pretty well known to the wider public.

[Buried Alien]

I agree with both these statements. And it's not even just supporting casts - there's all the real-world neighbors or coworkers we never see that would notice the de-aging. And it's even worse people like Bruce, who are at least pretty well known to the wider public.

They could de-age the entire universe...including the civilians and the extras.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Tzigone]

They could de-age the entire universe...including the civilians and the extras.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Yeah, but in what way would that differ from a reboot? Would the newly 8 year olds remember being 28? Would they be allowed to continue working as teachers or engineers if they did? How much would they de-age them? What about infants who were only weeks old to start with? Do we de-age as a percentage of how old you are?


So, about 5G, do you think it is Generation 5, and if so, what implications do you think that has for same-continuity on the other four?

[Kevin Street]

They could de-age the entire universe...including the civilians and the extras.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Sure, you can do anything in comics. That's one reason they're so cool. Just say it's a side effect of Zero Hour or something.

But we're getting into baby and bathwater territory here, making the world around the characters stranger and stranger just to support the idea they're still young enough to be active heroes. Imo, it's better to avoid referencing real years and real historical events (after Gen 1) in the timeline. Just refer to the events and let people infer ages for themselves.

[Restingvoice]

Can you come up with a way that is non-awkward in-universe? And explain to me.

A whole in-universe reset. I'll post my experiment in a different post since it's long.

Updated the pdf: New DC Timeline - Generation 1-4

Gen 1
Thomas and Martha Wayne marry? It's about 10 years before they died, the average age for Bruce's origin
Arthur Meets The Others
Gen 2
Wonder Woman's Powers Returns?
Gen 3
The first JL is JLI
Year 13 Teen Titans the last member is Static Shock

Last Son of Krypton, can you please please put up the original images again? I can't check how many words left in the blank ones

[dswynne]

Sure, but the world is going to notice that. Not addressing that is bad storytelling. What's a way where their friends and neighbors don't notice? Or it it affects enough outside people that friends and neighbors noticing doesn't make them suspicious. And it gets the necessary supporting casts for multiple heroes.

Yes, but if movies like "Infinity War" and "Endgame" can employ a time skip, in which half the populace disappears for five years, then the world can deal with the ramifications of metahumans disappearing for a while. Plus, since most superhero/villain identities are not publicly known anyway, the general public will just assume that another person has assumed the mantle of a metahuman. Noticeable, yes, but not a big deal.

[Tzigone]

Yes, but if movies like "Infinity War" and "Endgame" can employ a time skip, in which half the populace disappears for five years, then the world can deal with the ramifications of metahumans disappearing for a while. Plus, since most superhero/villain identities are not publicly known anyway, the general public will just assume that another person has assumed the mantle of a metahuman. Noticeable, yes, but not a big deal.

We have very different defintions of "not a big deal."

[Marvell2100]

DCs' new timeline is revealed. Can I call this a Crisis? Or is this an Identity Crisis? I know for sure that this is not the Final Crisis.

[Kevin Street]

That's my biggest problem with Endgame, actually. It's just too hard for me to believe that everything would go back to normal when they went out of their way to show how messed up the world was for five whole years.

[Restingvoice]

Can you come up with a way that is non-awkward in-universe? And explain to me.

Disclaimer for everyone reading, this is just me having fun with the ages. I make no claim that this is what they're doing. Personally I think they don't think this far and only prioritize certain character's ages without thinking about everyone, and the timeline itself it's a blurry work in progress so events can be reordered later.

Edit: We decided it will be called a Reboot and not an age or memory reset. I call it age reset because I was focusing on age, but what I meant was "If Tim was 15 when he's Robin the first time, after the reset, everyone remembers him Robin at age 13"
Like that

Generation 1
Year 1 Rocket Smallville - Clark age 1
Year 6 Thomas Martha married
Year 12 Dinah Lance born to age 1 (the reason I count her age as 1 when born is the Damian timeline later)
Year 13 Superboy - Clark age 13
Year 16 Thomas Martha died - Bruce is 10 as his standard age when his parents died
Year 18 Superboy quits - Clark age 18.
Him being Superboy his middle and high school life make sense
Basically the conclusion is everyone in Gen 1 ages in real-time

Gen 2 begins with the assumption there's no time skip
Year 1 Batman Superman debuts - Clark 26 Bruce 20 Dinah 15

Year 3 Dick debuts as Robin
Clark 28 Bruce 22 Dinah 18 Dick 11 Tim 3
Let's say Tim saw the Graysons died at age 3.
I pick Dick's age by looking at what happens later with his and Tim's age and count backward.

Year 13 Billy Batson debuts as Shazam!
Clark 38 Bruce 32 Dinah 28 Dick 19 Tim 13 Billy 12
I pick Billy's age by what happened to his and Tim's age later and count backward.

Year 15 Crisis on Infinite Earths
Clark 40 Bruce 34 Dinah 30 Dick 23 Tim 15 Billy 15
Universal 5 years Age and Memory Reset to accommodate Billy and Tim

Gen 3
Year 1 Billy joins JLI and Wallace born
Clark 35 Bruce 29 Dinah 25 Dick 18 Tim 10 Billy 8 Wallace 1
I wanted Dick to start at 10 in Gen 1 but he'd be 17-year-old now and that's pushing it for a Nightwing age.

Year 4 Tim debuts as Robin
Clark 39 Bruce 33 Dinah 29 Dick 22 Tim 13 Billy 8 Wallace 1

Year 6 Zero Year - Damian born
Clark 41 Bruce 35 Dinah 31 Dick 24 Tim 15 Billy 13 Wallace 6 Damian 0
Zero Year Universal 5 Years Age and Memory Reset after Damian's born to make Wallace the same age as Damian

So by the end of the year
Clark 36 Bruce 30 Dinah 26 Dick 19 Tim 10 Billy 8 Wallace 1 Damian 1
This makes Tim younger than when he first started but since the youngest Robin age is 8 or 10 I'm personally cool with it.

Year 7 - Cassandra Cain debuts as Batgirl - JLI became JLA - Fawcett Spoiler Box
Suspendium to make Billy and Fawcett City not age
Something happened here. We theorized Fawcett city disappeared using Suspendium plot point. The purpose is to keep Billy 9 years old and everyone around him stays the same age as well, but everyone else grows up. I know you don't like selective aging, Tzigone, but this is a plot point, and it will be a big deal to the outside world, but the important thing is, it isn't just Billy who remain the same age, but a whole city.
Cassandra Cain's age can be whatever you want her to be since she'll retire before Flashpoint and Orphan or Black Bat is an independent title not necessarily tied by age.
Clark 37 Bruce 31 Dinah 29 Dick 20 Tim 11 Billy 9 Wallace 2 Damian 2

Year 9 - Stephanie Brown debuts as Robin - Jon Kent's born
Again I count Jon's age 1 so he can be 10 at Rebirth.
We don't know exactly when Stephanie met Tim in this timeline as Spoiler or if she's ever a Spoiler before becoming Robin, so if she's the same age as Tim, 13 is reasonable to debut as Robin.
Clark 39 Bruce 33 Dinah 31 Dick 22 Tim 13 Billy 9 Wallace 4 Damian 4 Jon 1

Year 11 Billy Batson ????
Fawcett City and Billy returns and start aging
Clark 41 Bruce 36 Dinah 34 Dick 27 Tim 17 Billy 9 Wallace 7 Damian 7 Jon 4
This is the first time Billy is mentioned again and we count it as his returns. Still Age 8, he'll be 15 at Rebirth. Of course, the whole Fawcett City returned and starts aging again as well.

Year 15
Flashpoint has no age reset to make Damian and Jon their age at
Clark 44 Bruce 39 Dinah 37 Dick 30 Tim 20 Billy 12 Wallace 10 Damian 10 Jon 7

Gen 4
Year 3 - Rebirth
Clark 47 Bruce 41 Dinah 40 Dick 34 Tim 23 Billy 15 Wallace 13 Damian 13 Jon 10
It doesn't matter that Tim keeps aging as Red Robin is his grown-up persona and he can mentor Teen Titans as a mid-twenties as Dick and Kori did, and Dick himself will remain sexy no matter how old he is.

Then by the time Gen 4 ends, Billy will hit 18, just in time for another age reset.
At least that's why I thought until I learn about the G5 rumor.

So that's the theory.

[Tzigone]

Year 15 Crisis on Infinite Earths - Clark 40 Bruce 34 Dinah 30 Dick 23 Tim 15 Billy 15
Universal 5 years Age and Memory Reset to accommodate Billy and Tim

What about all the people that are under 5 years old? And if they don't remember the events, they don't impact their actions and so everyone would be totally confused that they're in different houses, they're divorced, their mom or child has died. Barbara didn't debut as Batgirl until year 11, the NTT formed in year 12. They wouldn't remember any of this. Kory has no idea why she's not a slave. Kara is just gone from their perspective. Unless you mean an actual universe-reset for five years. But that's a reboot and the last five years aren't in continuity anymore, so this is not a continuous timeline, but rather each generation is a different continuity.

[Restingvoice]

What about all the people that are under 5 years old? And if they don't remember the events, they don't impact their actions and so everyone would be totally confused that they're in different houses, they're divorced, their mom or child has died. Barbara didn't debut as Batgirl until year 11, the NTT formed in year 12. They wouldn't remember any of this. Kory has no idea why she's not a slave. Kara is just gone from their perspective. Unless you mean an actual universe-reset for five years. But that's a reboot and the last five years aren't in continuity anymore, so this is not a continuous timeline, but rather each generation is a different continuity.

They'll remember, they'll just younger than they were.
No one is under 5 years old. This is fiction. We can make it that way.
Or we can call it a reboot if you like. They're the same for me.
The most important thing that I found for this is that by the looks of this table there's a period where they age in real-time.