Explain Rebirth to Me

[ducklord]

After the event Death Metal, The Source Wall that borders the DC Multiverse no longer exist, expanding the universe into an Omniverse. Infinite number of alternate Earths, infinite possibilities for stories, and everything matters.

All of DC mainline publication from Golden Age to now is in a big long timeline (including all the alternate timelines), but after each Crisis events, the Multiverse and its inhabitants reincarnated to a new version, creating new present state and new history.

Usually the inhabitants don't realize they've been rebooted, but this time, after Death Metal, their memory of past versions are unlocked, so that they remember what their past lives like before each reboot (the memories show up in flashes).

Storytelling wise, it does allow authors to pull from previous incarnations but physically, what they experience after each reboot, is still only one version of things. (at least for now, until they start contradicting things again, but I imagine they're gonna justify that as them remembering their past versions)

For example, Deathstroke remembers his daughter Rose taking out her eye in Post Crisis so she can be more like her father, but the current Rose has both eyes, so physically they're the Rebirth Deathstroke and Rose, not Post Crisis. That event where Rose took out her eye didn't happen in their current version, but he remembers.

Some events I'm sure they're gonna keep deliberately vague so they don't have to make a clear timeline, because the purpose is so the writers don't get bogged down by continuity.

This "everything happened" approach is a perfectly fine (and fun!) interregnum take on continuity, until things settle down a bit. But eventually, especially for bigger bits of continuity, I think things are going to need to get a little clearer. If you ask a historian in the DCU "When, why, and how did the JLA come together for the first time," the answer should not be "well, because of a fluctuating multiverse, we really don't know."

[BatmanJones]

This "everything happened" approach is a perfectly fine (and fun!) interregnum take on continuity, until things settle down a bit. But eventually, especially for bigger bits of continuity, I think things are going to need to get a little clearer. If you ask a historian in the DCU "When, why, and how did the JLA come together for the first time," the answer should not be "well, because of a fluctuating multiverse, we really don't know."

Not really disagreeing but I will say that comics are made for readers, not historians.

[ducklord]

Not really disagreeing but I will say that comics are made for readers, not historians.

I was talking about historians *in* the DCU, not here on Earth-Us

Heck, being a reporter who covers super-heroes must be a real pain in the DCU right now.

"Hey Jimmy, was Queen Hippolyta ever in the Justice League before now?"
"Check wikipedia."
"I did. It says 'it depends.'"

[Jekyll]

Pointless. I saved you time.

[Robotman]

A failed attempt by Geoff Johns to bring back the JSA and pre-Flashpoint continuity.

[Slimybug]

So I came across this youtuber who stated that Rebirth was not a ull-on reboot or even on the level of Crisis, that it just change some things in the New 52 but left it mostly intact. That goes very much against what I've learned so far.

So, here are some bullet points.

Superman & Lois are not together in New 52, which begins in Year 6 of his career, IIRC
The Post-Crisis Superman lives in the New 52 world also, where he and Lois raise their son, who grows to 10 years old.
Does this mean 4 years have passed by the time Jon turns 10, or am I lining this up wrong?
Post-Rebirth, the mainstream Superman & Lois are not only together, but parents to Jon who is now a teenager!

So yeah, that doesn't sound like it left things mostly the same.

Is there an official New 52 timeline, or post-Rebirth timeline someone can share?

[KurtW95]

A short attempt to restore what was lost only to be destroyed shortly thereafter.

[Restingvoice]

So I came across this youtuber who stated that Rebirth was not a ull-on reboot or even on the level of Crisis, that it just change some things in the New 52 but left it mostly intact. That goes very much against what I've learned so far.

So, here are some bullet points.

Superman & Lois are not together in New 52, which begins in Year 6 of his career, IIRC
The Post-Crisis Superman lives in the New 52 world also, where he and Lois raise their son, who grows to 10 years old.
Does this mean 4 years have passed by the time Jon turns 10, or am I lining this up wrong?
Post-Rebirth, the mainstream Superman & Lois are not only together, but parents to Jon who is now a teenager!

So yeah, that doesn't sound like it left things mostly the same.

Is there an official New 52 timeline, or post-Rebirth timeline someone can share?

There's no official timeline after New 52 so I'm just gonna list what happened

New 52 timeline
Prom night, Clark lost his parents because 5th dimensional enemy Mr. Vyndktvx
6 years before New 52 first year, during Batman's Zero Year origin, Clark started becoming the t-shirt and jeans Superman
5 years before, he has moved to Metropolis, became known as Superman, and joined Justice League
4 years before, Lois met Jonathon, her would be fiancee, while Superman arrested Luthor
New 52 first year, he found out Lois is with Jonathon, and he started dating Wonder Woman. Kara landed on earth, last thing she remembers she was about to graduate high school.
Kon-El was created to hunt metahuman teenagers, cloned from alternate future Clark and Lois' dying son imbued with Luthor's DNA

New 52 second or later year, Brainiac collected remnants of previous continuity, one of them were post-Crisis Superman and Lois, pregnant and then gave birth to Jon.

Road to Rebirth Timeline
5 years before New 52 first year, post-Crisis Clark, Lois, and Jon found themselves in New 52 and decided to hide from the public because there's already a Superman and Lois here.

New 52 final year, after being exposed to Kryptonite, fighting Rao, and other stuffs, New52 Clark is dying. Post Crisis Clark revealed himself to the New 52 superfamily. New 52 Clark died and burried.
Kon-El said goodbye to Teen Titans and went with his creator, never to be seen again.

Rebirth Timeline
Still in hiding but now Jon is 10 years old, the post-crisis superfamily was approached by mysterious Mr. Oz saying they are not who they think they are.

Mr. Mxyptlk revealed that he and Superman had a deal. 10 years ago, when Jon was born on this Earth, not the Post Crisis Remnant Earth, to keep Jon safe from enemies, Superfamily is split into two. The New 52 version and the Post Crisis version, and they don't remember that they used to be the same people.

Now Mxy recombined the resurrected New 52, Superman and Lois with the Post Crisis version, and the next day, the whole world changed. People don't remember that New 52 Superman died.

Reviewing his memory with Kelex, Superman found out that he's now married to Lois after his Death and Return, had Jon, then dressed up in the New 52 costume. He never dated Wonder Woman but his parents still died in the prom car crash.

No one remembers Conner Kent but there's a sense of familiarity, like they're forgetting something

Mr. Oz revealed to be Jor-El, plucked before Krypton's destruction by Dr. Manhattan and placed on Earth so he grew cynical, as opposed to Clark, in a social experiment.

DC Universe Timeline (after the above Superman Reborn, the publication brand changed)
Clark confronted Dr. Manhattan and convinced him to restore the timeline he's been messing with.

The Kents are now always alive, but other things changed too, such as Wonder Woman now has been active since the 1940s instead of 10 years ago. (it was 5 in new 52, 10 in Rebirth)

Jor-El invited Jon on a trip to space, but Jon was lost time, that when he returned he's now 17

Conner Kent returned after lost in Gemworld. Before going to Gemworld he was attending Smallville High and living with the Kents.

Infinite Frontier timeline

Rebirth and DCU happened in a span of 3-4 years, but after Infinite Frontier, only 1 year passed. New 52 I forget how long but it's now 3 years. Both are based on how much Damian Wayne's aged.

Jon is now 17 going on 18 and going to college. He's born on this Earth after the super marriage after Death and Return, but The Spectre remembers his convoluted meta-history.
The Kents are still always alive.
Conner did die once.
Kara is now 21.

[RJT]

Note that I'm treating Rebirth and Infinite Frontier as a whole rather than two separate things since the two happened very closely together.

Just like to point out there was more time between Rebirth and Infinite Frontier than between the New 52 and Rebirth.