How should DC's new continuity work *SPOILERS*

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Ted Kord and Supergirl were a bit fuzzier. But you could infer Max Lord missed him and he had a heart attack that sidelined him.

My view is that both Kara and Ted died, but time shenanigans brought them back from the dead, which seems to be how they're going to handle Alfred, Roy, and whomever else they want to bring back.

[Aahz]

Wait, Connor Hawke and Emiko Adachi-Queen have the same mother?

No Olli had also son with with Shado named Robert who was around the age of Lian Harper or maybe a little younger.

[superduperman]

The way I see it is their memories are compartmentalized. So on the surface they have their "now" memories. The current continuity. Under that are their other memories from past continuities. So Wally may remember having a wife and kids in another timeline but they aren't necessarily relevant to his current one. At some point, you have to kind of accept the fact that you're dealing with comics and make it work in your head.

[Goldrake]

The way I see it is their memories are compartmentalized. So on the surface they have their "now" memories. The current continuity. Under that are their other memories from past continuities. So Wally may remember having a wife and kids in another timeline but they aren't necessarily relevant to his current one. At some point, you have to kind of accept the fact that you're dealing with comics and make it work in your head.

Yes Definitely they are comics, but its confusing. Personal opinion it don't think it will help readers, especially ones who haven't read the old timeline stories.
Can't see the purpose of all this, somehow readers got used to the Continuity since New 52.

[Factor]

Superman: Reborn already did most of that including setting the Johns/Lee JL after Final Crisis and having Superman wearing the New 52 suit basically from the end of the Electric Saga (around Jon's birth) through present.

It lined up with everything except Tim Drake's age.

Williamson's Flash implied that Barry died and Wally had been Flash. Titans referenced Wally being in the Morrison JLA.

My take has always been that aside from the Legion and JSA, the Superman books already brought back a familiar 15 year timeline. Doomsday Clock brought them back. Young Justice brought Superboy back.

Ted Kord and Supergirl were a bit fuzzier. But you could infer Max Lord missed him and he had a heart attack that sidelined him.

Keeping this kind of approach and making it official across the whole line would have been preferable.
They just needed to offer a new timeline telling the highlights of the new continuity, without getting into specifics.
Take what works from every version, merge the parts that aren't contradictory and ignore the messes like HiC.

That plus getting to see the previous versions of the Metaverse through Multiverse exploration would have been the best case scenario IMO.

[bat39]

I was wondering...
Now that there seems to be a new emphasis on the Multiverse/Omniverse, why did they feel the main continuity's heroes should reflect all past versions when they could just explore those versions on alternate worlds?
Superman doesn't need to remember his 30s origin if there is an Earth where that version is untouched...
Maybe they should have just picked what worked from each continuity to create the new official timeline without having to say the characters now remember *everything* that have happened to them in previous lives.
A simpler solution would be to have Metaverse's heroes be aware that their continuity is ever changing and that in past lives things didn't happen quite the same way. The possibility of them actually meeting these past lives through the Omniverse could actually provide some cool stories without destabilizing the main universe.

I think this has fundamentally always been DC's conflict when it comes to dealing with past continuities and past versions of characters. Do you bring back past continuity and make it fit in the context of 'current' continuity? Or do you bring it back as another timeline/earth? Or, taking a step back, are different versions of the same character supposed to be the same person or different people?

Pre-COIE, the answer was clear - they are different people on different earths. Post-COIE, they tried to ignore the issue by pretending there were no 'other' versions...at least none that didn't have a 'legitimate' claim to being the 'mainstream' version of the character. Around the time of IC, they went with the idea that they are all the same people who keep getting rewritten...and that was the stance of the New 52 as well. Convergence tried to flirt with the idea of them being different people again, before Rebirth went back to them being the same people. Doomsday Clock actually came up with an explanation to reconcile the two schools of thought...but now it seems like Death Metal is trying to have it both ways again, in a completely different way.

Beyond continuity nitty-gritties though, this all does raise some interesting questions of a somewhat philosophical nature. Batman may be the same character from 1939 to the present. But is he the same person? Is the guy who killed sleeping vampires in cold blood with silver bullets the same person as the guy who got his back broken by Bane? Is the guy who wore a zebra suit the same person who came up with protocols to take down the Justice League? Can a person still be the same person even if his life experiences are at least 25-30% different, and he's part of a different generation in a different era?

Why is all this important? Because if DM is going with the idea that he IS the same person who's had his history constantly rewritten, and he now remembers ALL of it...then that does have some serious implications. Not just for the character, but also for how we perceive him. And how he perceives himself in-universe.

But then, with a Multiverse/Omniverse the whole thing becomes moot because Batman can literally meet his other selves and regard them as separate individuals. And we too can regard them as different versions of the character...or hell, different characters altogether.

[Restingvoice]

So if I understand well, Aquaman marriage is still valid, so why the hell did he and Mera remarry again?

They never married in New 52/Rebirth. What they remember is that they're married in previous continuities.

My view is that both Kara and Ted died, but time shenanigans brought them back from the dead, which seems to be how they're going to handle Alfred, Roy, and whomever else they want to bring back.

Ted Kord never died in New 52/Rebirth, afaik. Kara almost died when she quits Red Lantern, but now they both remember past continuity deaths.

[Heeroyuy_Batman]

I hope this isn't going off topic, but does this affect other media as well and if so, how? The Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book tie-in includes an Earth-N52, an Earth-D, and also an Earth-85 which seems to be the universe/multiverse in which the original Crisis on Infinite Earths takes place or at least resembles the original. Thus, it seems that the comic book multiverse/omniverse would include at least some worlds from other media. Would the inclusion of at least some worlds from other media have an affect on how continuity works?

[Goldrake]

They never married in New 52/Rebirth. What they remember is that they're married in previous continuities.

.

Arthur and Mera married in Rebirth at the end of KSD's run

[Bored at 3:00AM]

The thing is, while this new approach to continuity could certainly be overly complicated and convoluted, in actual practice it likely won't be because what good creator would even want to make their protagonists backstories overly complicated and convoluted?

Good creators are going to continue to tell great stories without having to worry about whether or not any aspects of a character's history can be referenced this year because all the toys are back in the toybox.

Whereas bad creators will continue to produce mediocre to outright bad stories that the good creators can now freely ignore.

Does this mean the death of continuity? Of course not. Comics can still build upon past events for current stories and events from one comic can still play a part in another... but they no longer have to.

All this means is that continuity is taking a backseat to story.

[bat39]

I hope this isn't going off topic, but does this affect other media as well and if so, how? The Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book tie-in includes an Earth-N52, an Earth-D, and also an Earth-85 which seems to be the universe/multiverse in which the original Crisis on Infinite Earths takes place or at least resembles the original. Thus, it seems that the comic book multiverse/omniverse would include at least some worlds from other media. Would the inclusion of at least some worlds from other media have an affect on how continuity works?

Not really. The Arrowverse multiverse would be a different multiverse within the DC omniverse. Ditto for the DC Films multiverse. And some continuities/realities can exist multiple times across different multiverses.

A case in point would be the Burtonverse (i.e. the word of the two Keaton/Burton Batman movies). There's a version of it which exists (existed?) in the Arrowverse's multiverse. That may or may not be the version of it that exists in the DC Films multiverse and shows up in the Flashpoint film.

The thing is, while this new approach to continuity could certainly be overly complicated and convoluted, in actual practice it likely won't be because what good creator would even want to make their protagonists backstories overly complicated and convoluted?

Good creators are going to continue to tell great stories without having to worry about whether or not any aspects of a character's history can be referenced this year because all the toys are back in the toybox.

Whereas bad creators will continue to produce mediocre to outright bad stories that the good creators can now freely ignore.

Does this mean the death of continuity? Of course not. Comics can still build upon past events for current stories and events from one comic can still play a part in another... but they no longer have to.

All this means is that continuity is taking a backseat to story.

Hmm...so what you're saying is that if someone wants to do a flashback to Batman's first year, they can model it after Year One, Zero Year, the Golden Age or any other iteration without needing to worry about how it lines up with 'current' continuity? (Kinda what Tom King already did at the start of his run).

Makes sense I suppose. But there are limits to this sort of thing. Ultimately, Superman can't flashback to Jonathan and Martha Kent dying when he's 18 in one issue, and in the next issue of the same series, visit them in Smallville in the present day...at least not without some clarification that the two stories are meant to be in separate realities OR that in the former instance, Superman was flashing back to a 'past life'.

I mean, you can smooth over the superficial stuff like, say, what the Fortress was supposed to look like at a certain point in Superman's career, or what rank Jim Gordon was during Batman's second year. But you can't handle major contradictions this way. Either Barry and Iris were married, or they weren't. Either Dinah is the one and only Black Canary, or she's the daughter of the original Black Canary.

[Restingvoice]

Arthur and Mera married in Rebirth at the end of KSD's run

Yeah I know. You asked why they're marrying again. They never married before recently in the New 52/Rebirth continuity.

I hope this isn't going off topic, but does this affect other media as well and if so, how? The Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book tie-in includes an Earth-N52, an Earth-D, and also an Earth-85 which seems to be the universe/multiverse in which the original Crisis on Infinite Earths takes place or at least resembles the original. Thus, it seems that the comic book multiverse/omniverse would include at least some worlds from other media. Would the inclusion of at least some worlds from other media have an affect on how continuity works?

No because they're written by different division than comics

[Goldrake]

Yeah I know. You asked why they're marrying again. They never married before recently in the New 52/Rebirth continuity.

They remarried but technically they have always been married, because that's the end result.

WHoever came up with this new continuity nonsense deserves an Oscar for stupidity.

[Aahz]

An intersting question would also be if Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman now remember the whole life of their Golden Age Versions up to Crisis (or his death in Batmans case).

And how this works Kara Zor-El who existed as Super Girl and Powergirl at the same time in the same continuity.

[Heeroyuy_Batman]

Not really. The Arrowverse multiverse would be a different multiverse within the DC omniverse. Ditto for the DC Films multiverse. And some continuities/realities can exist multiple times across different multiverses.

A case in point would be the Burtonverse (i.e. the word of the two Keaton/Burton Batman movies). There's a version of it which exists (existed?) in the Arrowverse's multiverse. That may or may not be the version of it that exists in the DC Films multiverse and shows up in the Flashpoint film.

No because they're written by different division than comics

Some good points. However, there seems to be more of an effort to have the different divisions work together and for even works in other media to count. So, I'm not sure that there will be no effect of how continuity is being dealt with in the comics upon works in other media, especially the Arrowverse shows and the DCEU films.