My wish for a Soft-Reboot

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Obviously there would need to be more changes to differentiate Earth 0 and Earth Ultimate. I mean just to throw some ideas out there if I was writing the book I’d start off with:
1. Ma and Pa are dead on Earth Ultimate as opposed to Earth 0
2. Clark is working at the Daily Star instead of the Daily Planet, with the Star being a younger competitor to the Planet, more internet savvy and more of a blog than a respected news source
3. Clark and Lana (who is an engineer working at Lexcorp) are living together in Metropolis with Lois being Clark’s biggest reporter rival
4. Clark is wearing a modified version of the t-shirt and jeans look, he’s only at Golden Age power levels, and he’s way more aggressive and hands on like he was at the start of the New 52
5. Metropolis is more cyberpunk than the Earth 0 Art Deco look, it’s divided up between mega corps of which Lexcorp is just one competitor among many
6. Jimmy is Clark’s age and is working as a photojournalist for the Star with Clark
7. Mongul abducting Superman and a bunch of Metropolis citizens to fight in Warworld is how Clark learns his Kryptonian nature, and his victory at Warworld is how he gets the Fortress of Solitude
8. Brainiac is the merger of the DCAU Kryptonian AI and the Coluan Vril Dox
9. Doomsday isn’t Kryptonian, he’s instead a bioweapon that grew out of control like the Xenomorph from Alien
10. Corbyn and Lois are dating at the start, Corbyn is an ex-Navy Seal who works for a mercenary Blackwater-esque company that hides itself out to the megacorps. He passes on info about the corps to Lois, and his transformation into Metallo is an unwilling process that is forced on him after a suspicious accident that comes after he tells Lois several high level secrets that make their way to the public
And so on and on. There’s room to differentiate the Earth 0 and Earth Ultimate guy from one another. I don’t know if the audience will be there for that but I think people would give it a shot.

While some of those are interesting ideas but I think if you’ve got to justify it as an ongoing outside the main earth- well, I think only one of that maybe goes far enough. But to be fair, it’s a really good one. But as for the others, well...
I’m gonna guess some of the other details would be in the ballpark of on one earth he gets his powers as a baby as soon as the Kent’s find him and the other not until he’s a teenager.
Or maybe on one earth the ‘S’ stands for hope and the other it’s the crest of El or just a regular ‘S’
Yeah those are all just details man. You gotta give it a hook, ideally something new and juicy. Maybe make it a time piece or have someone other than the Kent’s find him. The one idea there that has some meat to it is the cyberpunk thing. Go full cyberpunk 2077/BladeRunner/Altered Carbon dystopia. Now that could be interesting, I have no idea how Superman would fit in a world like that, but I wanna find out, I think that’s a promising hook, after that you can totally throw in stuff like the Daily Planet/Daily Star, different love interest, different costumes.

[SiegePerilous02]

I think a fresh start for Superman without any dense continuity baggage and not giving it to the same old creators would be the main hook it would need. Especially if you give it to a big name who still hasn't tackled the character (like Hickman).

A fresh take on all the broad familiar trappings with the chance for new stuff and not rehashing the exact same plot details. It being an ongoing that is largely self contained within its own title and doesn't have to cross over with anything else (essentially an Image title) would be a breath of fresh air for this company.

[Sacred Knight]

I've always felt difference in slighter nuance ended up making a wealth of difference all put together. Maybe this can't be so with other characters but it can with Superman, who has so many of the small details that are different across so many different stories across the decades. Its not individually that they make much which would would consider a different incarnation, but rather all of it put together to form a status quo. I really don't think you need one, singular drastic change. You can do that, like for instance I love the ideas of a slightly more advanced world as the setting, like what they tried to do initially with Earth 2. But with Superman I don't think its entirely necessary to make a different version worthwhile and appealing to certain sub-sections of fandom.

[Kuwagaton]

Eh I don’t really see it as burning bridges, and it’s not really a matter of discriminating because of age. This would be a new take separate from the Earth 0 guy who would still exist. The point in not letting the old guard on him is that so much of the last few years of Supes have been the same handful of creators. An “Ultimate Superman” should be given to the young and upcoming creators to play with, like how Bendis made his name on USM. We shouldn’t be rehashing the same old ideas and stories over and over again.

It relates to a sore spot in the character's history, as that idea has been more or less played out for creators willing and able to do Superman who might also have a hard time landing other projects of interest. These are usually the people you call when "new talent" moves on and those who are willing to divorce themselves from older material as needed anyway (Johns being I think the big exception).

I think people sleep on the idea of a direct return to an older take without these messy compromises, but that means it's accurately stated as having a very limited appeal (to people like me). I prefer a hard reboot in any case because I'm all for getting something that feels unlike what we have, but for all of the difficulty of new voices (Bendis did USM for over a hundred issues, we'd be lucky to get two quality "seasons") I don't think of disassociating from creators as much as I think of quality editorial and more intentional direction.

[manwhohaseverything]

A reboot might help superman. But, them tossing all the robin, flashes, green lantern... Etc is wishful thinking. Especially, if wally, dick, john,kyle..etc are at stake. Nobody would care for a marvel-esque dc with just silverage guys. And dc doesn't have the expansive complex cohesive in vision(almost) world that marvel has. Marvel was built to be a world. Dc even now, is built around characters. There is a difference. It shows. Even power structures are built largely different. In dc the most popular/sold character automatically becomes the most powerful. Largely, that's not the case in marvel. So naturally, people have trouble with getting rid of characters and other things. You are just creating a world without anydraw.
Edit-If they reboot, they would need to world build from scratch. They would need new casts and teams. There would need to be new wonderwoman, superman, green lantern, batman... Etc.And i am not talking legacy either. These guys would have to take the base concept and do whatever with it. It would be like how silverage guys were introduced after goldenage characters fissiled out.So that means a new character instead of clark kent.why is that necessary? Because the older fans need to be completely cut off and given an out. Don't give them any insentive that this the same thing, but abit different.These are totally different characters. Give the old characters a send off ,don't insult old readers like plague and create them a world.This would also be a gamble. If things don't work out, properties could end or change.In the long run that's healthy.Manga industry is generally a healthier industry in my opinion. Just tell new stories and varied stories.

[Korath]

I think the main problem with continuity and all that is mostly that Superhero comics are by nature an inferior media for those, compared to novels, B.D., manga or independent comics, for the simple reason that they are franchise and belongs to companies and not authors.

By the sheer "virtue" of their impossibility to end, the capes comics can't have a strong and coherent continuity, making all attempts to sort it out kind of pointless. Let's say we hard reboot DC and we start from scratch : you'll lose all the fans from the legacy characters. You'll lose a lot of people like myself when it'll became evident that DC won't take a chance and will put the same characters in the same place without addressing any of the underlying elements of their origins (for instance, Lois Lane, daughter of a highly decorated General and then Senator is often portrayed as this woman who had to struggle to reach her position and all that when she is clearly born in the 1% of the US and thus the world, no matter how harsh Sam can be but it's never used to point out that she is extremely privileged by her birth alone).

Sure Clark will meet Lois in another way than he did previously (and it's not even sure, because we can expect some wink and nudges toward older fans with a repeat of some iconic moments) and Lex also. But Lex will remain the arch-nemesis, Lois the love interest and so and so. Because it's what the media needs to sustain itself.

Superheroes comics are not products of great storytelling or anything like that. They aren't strongly impacted by their authors. They are relatively bland characters put in certain situations which repeats ad nauseam. And if one seek clean continuity in those, they can never be more than that. I think DC should just give up with continuity and let writers do as they please. It's what their medium is best at.

[Masterff]

I think the popularity of alternate continuity stuff like Bombshells, Injustice, or DCeased shows that people aren’t really that tied up on the main universe being greater over the others. People tend to just treat the characters as one version in different tales, which is why they get mad or confused when stories contradict one another. They also tend to point to alternate takes in arguments over the main versions which is a source of both frustration and amusement for me.

If a Hickman or Ewing or some other big name got announced as writing an Ultimate Superman title, paired with an artist like Jorge Jimenez? That would absolutely move copies.

It makes no sense...
The people read this stories, because they know and its sure that they are alternate continuity!!

People ARE TIED up on the main universe...

You read these stories, because its clear that they play in another universe.

[manwhohaseverything]

I think the main problem with continuity and all that is mostly that Superhero comics are by nature an inferior media for those, compared to novels, B.D., manga or independent comics, for the simple reason that they are franchise and belongs to companies and not authors.

I completely agree with this sentiment.

[Masterff]

I dont understand the problem.

My Idea for a Soft-Reboot is actually perfect:

You keep some stories as PILLARS and you leave freedom for other stories:

FOR SUPERMAN:

-I landed on Earth, was adopted by the Kents
-I became Superman
-I married Lois Lane
-I "died" during the Doomsday Fight
-Conner,Steel,Eradicator and Cyborg Superman showed up
-I "adopted" Conner as part of the House of Kent
-Supergirl came to Earth
-Lois became pregnant with Jonathan and Jonathan was born 1 year after "Reign of Supermen"
-Conner became also part of the Kent-Family and joined the TT
-Conner died and returned
-Conner gave the title of Superboy to Jonathan Samuel Kent and Conner moved to Hawaii with Cassie

You simply make for every MAIN-CHARACTER: Wonder Woman,Superman,Batman,Barry,Hal....one Book in which he/she describes this in 30-40 pages and then you can begin with new stories.

You just have to explain the stories which have a permament effect (introducing people,marriage,revealing Identity,death.....) and leave the others out.

You dont delete them, they are simply not necessary for a new reader to understand the continuity.

If they become necessary to understand the story, you just give a short flashback in the story.

[superduperman]

I will shout this from the rooftops until they do it: New 52 should have been an Ultimates line and not the main universe. It has all the hallmarks of an alternate universe. Clark and Diana dating. The Kents are dead. Golden Age power set. A "different" Superboy. Maybe characters like GL or Flash were too much like their regular counterparts but their Superman and WW were perfect for the alternate universe treatment. I like the Earth One line but, let's be honest, it's not really a "line" so much as a "put out a book when we feel like it" situation. It's also pretty close to the regular books themselves in many ways. EO Superman is just regular Superman early in his career. Ditto Batman.

[Vordan]

They definitely should’ve made an Ultimate Universe type of line up with the New 52 instead of rebooting the mainline. Hell Marvel was in the exact same position of needing to get sales up or else when they put Bendis on USM, I don’t see why DC couldn’t have done something similar, except for Didio wanting to do a reboot for a while now. I still do think they should launch an “Earth 52” line to take advantage of people who enjoyed those takes.

The Earth One books got overshadowed by the New 52, who needs continuity free OGNs when the main line is rebooting, but the Earth One versions aren’t quite the same as the mainline. Superman is more “what if Superman was Spider-Man?” imo. Clark’s first instinct when his powers manifest is to get rich not help people, he only intervened once Tyrell threatened Jimmy Olsen, and he could be pretty self absorbed. Earth One Batman is an actual “realistic” Batman, he’s not very good at fighting crime, he’s kind of an idiot in over his head, Cobblepot killed his parents, Alfred trained him instead of ninjas in Tibet etc. WW is a Morrison esque Golden Age revamp that’s weird as hell.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I just don’t buy that whatever failings the new 52 and post crisis had came down to parts of the rest of the dc universe not fully rebooting along with Superman. Especially for a franchise like dc, where yeah, shared universe, but all the A listers kinda have their own worlds. The success and failures of Superman shouldn’t be dependent on Batman and Green Lantern doing their own thing. Aquaman got a full reboot in the new 52 and unlike Superman-it stuck, and it stuck despite Batman and Green Lantern doing their own thing. New 52 Superman could have been the same, but while I’m not calling N52 Clark a failure, it had its pluses and minuses, but for several different reasons, it didn’t take.
But as I said before, dc is the kind of place where all the big characters and properties kinda have their own worlds, it’s not like Marvel. If a couple of those get stale or too messy and needs a shake up, one of the perks is you don’t have to throw out what’s working to reboot what isn’t. I wouldn’t mind another Superman reboot, the current direction is terrible. Don’t really need everyone else to get rebooted for that to happen though.

[Vordan]

I just don’t buy that whatever failings the new 52 and post crisis had came down to parts of the rest of the dc universe not fully rebooting along with Superman. Especially for a franchise like dc, where yeah, shared universe, but all the A listers kinda have their own worlds. The success and failures of Superman shouldn’t be dependent on Batman and Green Lantern doing their own thing. Aquaman got a full reboot in the new 52 and unlike Superman-it stuck, and it stuck despite Batman and Green Lantern doing their own thing. New 52 Superman could have been the same, but while I’m not calling N52 Clark a failure, it had its pluses and minuses, but for several different reasons, it didn’t take.
But as I said before, dc is the kind of place where all the big characters and properties kinda have their own worlds, it’s not like Marvel. If a couple of those get stale or too messy and needs a shake up, one of the perks is you don’t have to throw out what’s working to reboot what isn’t. I wouldn’t mind another Superman reboot, the current direction is terrible. Don’t really need everyone else to get rebooted for that to happen though.

Unfortunately some of the other franchises are tied to Superman because for decades he was the big dog. Aquaman was like you said, tucked away in his own little corner, as was Flash. But as an example of someone who wasn’t, take Green Lantern. Johns’ definitive run built heavily off of continuity stuff like Hal’s turn to Parallux which came about because of a Superman story, or Blackest Night which was heavily built off of DC continuity at the time. GL made no sense after the reboot because a lot of the big stories in Johns’ run couldn’t have happened the way they did in the past. Like Sinestro Corps War, how the hell did that happen with no Anti-Monitor, Superboy-Prime, Conner Kent, etc.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Honestly i might prefer the 5G rumors or another Gods and Monsters style take over another Young Clark pitch. Just feels like the former is more daring and would interest me more.

Granted i didn't know I'd like Telltale's take on Batman or Beware the Batman till i gave it a shot. So maybe the next new take on Young Clark could be my favorite.

With reboots, i agree with Sacred Knight. I don't trust DC to commit to either a Hard reboot or a soft reboot. I see them getting cold feet pretty easily.

[superduperman]

They definitely should’ve made an Ultimate Universe type of line up with the New 52 instead of rebooting the mainline. Hell Marvel was in the exact same position of needing to get sales up or else when they put Bendis on USM, I don’t see why DC couldn’t have done something similar, except for Didio wanting to do a reboot for a while now. I still do think they should launch an “Earth 52” line to take advantage of people who enjoyed those takes.

The Earth One books got overshadowed by the New 52, who needs continuity free OGNs when the main line is rebooting, but the Earth One versions aren’t quite the same as the mainline. Superman is more “what if Superman was Spider-Man?” imo. Clark’s first instinct when his powers manifest is to get rich not help people, he only intervened once Tyrell threatened Jimmy Olsen, and he could be pretty self absorbed. Earth One Batman is an actual “realistic” Batman, he’s not very good at fighting crime, he’s kind of an idiot in over his head, Cobblepot killed his parents, Alfred trained him instead of ninjas in Tibet etc. WW is a Morrison esque Golden Age revamp that’s weird as hell.

Ironically, I think his WW is the most normal thing he's done. There's not a lot of "meta" references. I see both Superman and Batman as sort of the "proto" versions that are learning as they go. That's not something you normally get to see. Superman intervening in that one country and overthrowing it's dictator is very un-Superman like and it kind of blew up in his face. That's also unusual. I've said before that my defense of the EO line is that I don't want it to be the main universe. I could see both Superman and Batman becoming the versions we are most familiar with down the line. Assuming we ever get that far. Given the pace of these books, I could see them phasing out this line within the next few years depending on what the long term plans are for the main universe. And with Didio gone, who knows what was his idea and what wasn't.