Headcanon Batman timeline

[kevink31593]

Just for fun, I thought it would be interesting to make an outline of my personal headcanon Batman timeline. I'd be interested in reading other opinions. Below is a basic year by year outline, followed in the next post by my more detailed thoughts.

Year 1 – Batman: Year One / The Man Who Laughs
Year 2 – Monster Men / Mad Monk / The Long Halloween 1-3
Year 3 – The Long Halloween 4-13
Year 4 – Dark Victory 0-3
Year 5 – Dark Victory 4-13
Year 6 – Robin: Year One
Year 7 (1963-1966) – Teen Titans: Year One / New Look era
Year 8 (1967-1970) – Batgirl: Year One / Dick Grayson to Hudson University
Year 9 (1971-1974) – Saga of Ra’s Al Ghul
Year 10 (1975-1978) – Batman Family / Strange Apparitions
Year 11 (1979-1982) – New Teen Titans / Gerry Conway’s “Tales of the Batman”
Year 12 (1983-1986) – Judas Contract, Dick Grayson>Nightwing / Jason Todd>Robin / Nocturna Saga
Year 13 (1987-1990) – The Killing Joke / A Death in the Family / A Lonely Place of Dying / Tim Drake>Robin
Year 14 (1991-1994) – Sword of Azrael / Vengeance of Bane / Knightfall / KnightQuest / KnightsEnd / Prodigal
Year 15 (1995-1998) – Contagion / Legacy / Birds of Prey / Cataclysm
Year 16 (1999-2002) – No Man’s Land / New Gotham / Officer Down / Murderer/Fugitive
Year 17 (2003-2006) – Hush / Under the Hood / Batman and Son
Year 18 (2007-2010) – Black Glove / R.I.P. / Batman and Robin Reborn, Damian Wayne>Robin / Return of Bruce Wayne
Year 19 (2011-2014) – Batman Incorporated / Court of Owls / Death of the Family / Endgame
Year 20 (2015-2018) – Superheavy/Bloom / I Am Gotham/Suicide/Bane / “The Wedding”/Cold Days
Year 21 (2019-2022) – City of Bane / Joker War / Fear State / Shadows of the Bat / Shadow War

[kevink31593]

I begin with the basic idea that Bruce has been Batman for 20+ years in current day. James Tynion IV said it better than me in his newsletter from Dec 30, 2020:

What can you do with the core continuity titles to make them must-read? My take is two-fold… First, you have to basically agree with everything everyone loves about Batman… All your favorite stories happened, all the big important moments are there in the history of this character. Every Robin was Robin. Every big Batman story happened. I’m not going to lean into the places where the continuity contradicts itself, I’m going to embrace everything and look forward… And the way I want to look forward is by moving a bit further down the timeline than we’ve ever allowed Batman as a character to move before.

Roughly, I consider us now at the mid-point, continuity-wise, between “Batman: The Animated Series” Gotham City, and the “Batman Beyond” Gotham City. Which isn’t to say that the future of Batman Beyond should be considered the “set” future of the line… Aesthetically, we’re moving the “present” a bit further down the line than we’ve ever seen it in the comics before.

In my personal headcanon, Bruce has been Batman for over 20 years now. Since it has been 82 real years since his debut in 1939, I decided to count 4 years of real time as 1 year of comic book time, which would put us in Year 21 on the timeline for current day.

On the timeline outline above, “Year 1” thru “Year 6” would take up the first 24 years of Batman’s published history (1939-1962), but instead I filled in those years with modern stories set early in Batman’s career. So, for the early years on my timeline, events do not correspond with real calendar years from the publishing history. (For example, Dick Grayson would already be Robin in Year 1 if I was matching up to real publishing history.) I follow the timeline structure from the Long Halloween and Dark Victory, which account for 4 consecutive Halloweens on Years 2 thru 5 on the timeline. It's been a while since I've read Monster Men and Mad Monk, so I don't recall how those stories fit with Man Who Laughs, but they are all very early in Batman's career. Also, most of the “year one”/pre-Robin stories from the classic Legends of the Dark Knight series would slot in various places during the first 5 years of the timeline.

For “Year 7” thru “Year 21”, I have assigned a 4 calendar year period to each timeline year, and filled in Batman events correspondingly. I think that works out pretty well from Year 7 thru about Year 13, corresponding to 1963-1990. From year 14 onwards, the timeline does admittedly get quite a bit cramped, as we enter the 1990s and beyond with event after event. I assume that NML did not last an entire timeline year, despite how it was depicted in story. Also, I’m ignoring references from the late 90s/early 00s to Bruce only having been active as Batman for 10 years, and also the infamous 5 year New 52 timeline. Grant Morrison imagined a 15 year timeline when they started their run in 2006, and I have Morrison’s run spanning from the end of Year 17 thru the beginning of Year 19. Towards the end of the outline above, I mostly only mention certain events from the main Batman title for the sake of brevity.

On character ages:

I go with Bruce as 25 in Year 1, and 30 by Year 6 / Robin: Year One. Bruce was 38 by the time of Knightfall (Year 14) and 40 by the time of No Man’s Land (Year 16). He is 45 in current day Year 21.

Jim Gordon is 15 years older than Bruce Wayne (idea taken from Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, which has Bruce at 55 and Gordon at 70). So, on my timeline, Gordon was 40 in Year 1, and 60 in current day Year 21.

Dick Grayson was 12 in Year 5 when his parents died, and he is 13 in Year 6 when Robin: Year One takes place. Dick joins the Teen Titans in Year 7 when he is 14, and he leaves for Hudson in Year 8 when he is 15 (I imagine Hudson not as college but a boarding high school). Dick is 18 in Year 11 when the New Teen Titans form, and a year later in Year 12, Dick is 19 when he becomes Nightwing. Dick was 25 when he was Batman in Year 18 during in Morrison’s run, and he is 28 in current day Year 21.

(In real life Dick was Robin for 44 years from 1940-1984. It has been 37 years since he became Nightwing in 1984, though there are gaps when he was not active as Nightwing. On my timeline, with five “pre-Robin” years, Dick was Robin for six years, and he first became Nightwing nine years ago.)

Barbara Gordon debuts as Batgirl in Year 8 when Dick is 15. I like to think of Barbara as slightly older than Dick, so let’s say she was 16 when she becomes Batgirl in Year 8. That makes her 21 in Year 13 when The Killing Joke takes place, after 5 years as Batgirl. She becomes Oracle soon after while still 21. In Year 15, Barbara is 23 when she enlists Black Canary to form the Birds of Prey. In Year 19, Barbara is 27 when she gets her implant allowing her to regain use of her legs, and she becomes Batgirl again. Barbara is 29 in current day Year 21.

Jason Todd was 13 in Year 12 when he became Robin, and he was 14 in Year 13 when the Joker killed him. He was revived shortly after his death, but this was not known to Batman until four years later in Year 17 when Jason (age 18) first shows up as Red Hood. Jason is 22 in current day Year 21.

Tim Drake was 12 during A Lonely Place of Dying in Year 13. Tim being in the audience at Haly’s Circus when Dick’s parents died, and also seeing Batman for the first time, is part of Tim’s origin, so back-tracking Tim’s age, he would have been 4 years old in Year 5 when he was at Haly’s, just old enough for it to make an impression and remain in Tim’s memory. Tim deduced Batman and Robin’s identities when he was 9 years old, which would fall on Year 10 of my timeline. Tim was 16 by Year 17 when Damian first showed up, and he was 17 a year later when he became Red Robin due to Damian taking the Robin mantle. Tim is 20 years old in current day Year 21 (despite DC wanting us to believe he’s still a teenager.)

Also, Tim would have been born during Batman: Year One, making him the same age as James Gordon Jr. Barbara Gordon would have been 9 years old during Batman: Year One on my timeline, making her almost a decade older than her brother. On that subject, I prefer Barbara as Jim Gordon's biological daughter, rather than his adopted niece.

Stephanie Brown is one year older than Tim. She was 14 when she became the Spoiler in Year 14. So, her age corresponds to the timeline year, making her 21 in current day. She was 17 when she was briefly a Robin, and she was 18 when she first became a Batgirl.

Cassandra Cain is the same age as Jason Todd. She was 17 when she became Batgirl during No Man’s Land in Year 16. She is 22 now in current day Year 21.

Damian Wayne’s birth is tricky to insert into the structure of my timeline and have it correspond with 4 years of publishing history equaling one timeline year. So, let’s just discuss his current age first. He was 10 years old (at least physically, if not chronologically) when he met his father in Year 17 of the timeline. Damian (age 11) took the Robin mantle from Tim in Year 18. Damian is 14 now in current day year 21.

On the subject of Damian’s birth, going backwards 10 years from his debut in Year 17, that would place his birth in Year 7. However, I don’t have the “Saga of Ra’s Al Ghul” placed until Year 9 of the timeline. And “Son of the Demon” would fall during Year 13, if attempting to correspond the timeline with publishing history. Part of the original Ra’s al Ghul saga was Dick being abducted from Hudson University, so that story could not be moved earlier on the timeline unless that story element with Dick was changed. So to make sense of this in my headcanon, I choose to believe Damian was conceived during the “Saga of Ra’s Al Ghul” in Year 9. That would mean Damian was at most 7 or 8 chronological years old when he meets his father in Year 17. Perhaps Talia didn’t want to deal with a newborn baby, so Damian was artificially aged to a toddler upon birth, making him appear a couple years older then he truly is. Or, we can just refer back to the above quote from Tynion, “I’m not going to lean into the places where the continuity contradicts itself, I’m going to embrace everything and look forward.”

Helena Bertinelli and Jean Paul Valley are both the same age as Dick Grayson. Helena became Huntress when she was 20 years old during Year 13. Jean Paul was 21 during the Knightfall saga. Both would be 28 years old in current day Year 21.

It's been a while since I re-read Rucka's Batwoman: Elegy, but I recall Kate Kane was 32 years old in that story, which would fall in Year 18 on my timeline, a year when Bruce would be 42. That would make her 10 years younger than Bruce, so she would have been born around the same time Bruce's parents were killed. That would contradict flashbacks that showed her attending their funeral from Tynion's Detective Comics run and being about the same age as Bruce, so to make that fit you'd have to both age her up and age Bruce down.

I don't really have an age pinned down for Alfred. He was old enough to have worked for the Waynes when Thomas and Martha were still alive. Since Bruce is 45 now, it has been at least 35 years since his parents were killed.

[Aahz]

I mean it is your head cannon but some things seem a little wired to me:
- you are stretching the about one-two years that passed between Bruce becoming Batman and between Dick Going To Hudson and becoming Nightwing to like 5 each, but are taking out about 3 years of Dicks time as Robin with Bruce and about 1 year of Jasons time as Robin
- you have Tim becoming Robin at 12 and Jason at 13, while in the comics it is the other way arround

[jb681131]

Just for fun, I thought it would be interesting to make an outline of my personal headcanon Batman timeline. I'd be interested in reading other opinions. Below is a basic year by year outline, followed in the next post by my more detailed thoughts.

Year 1 – Batman: Year One / The Man Who Laughs
Year 2 – Monster Men / Mad Monk / The Long Halloween 1-3
Year 3 – The Long Halloween 4-13
Year 4 – Dark Victory 0-3
Year 5 – Dark Victory 4-13
Year 6 – Robin: Year One
Year 7 (1963-1966) – Teen Titans: Year One / New Look era
Year 8 (1967-1970) – Batgirl: Year One / Dick Grayson to Hudson University
Year 9 (1971-1974) – Saga of Ra’s Al Ghul
Year 10 (1975-1978) – Batman Family / Strange Apparitions
Year 11 (1979-1982) – New Teen Titans / Gerry Conway’s “Tales of the Batman”
Year 12 (1983-1986) – Judas Contract, Dick Grayson>Nightwing / Jason Todd>Robin / Nocturna Saga
Year 13 (1987-1990) – The Killing Joke / A Death in the Family / A Lonely Place of Dying / Tim Drake>Robin
Year 14 (1991-1994) – Sword of Azrael / Vengeance of Bane / Knightfall / KnightQuest / KnightsEnd / Prodigal
Year 15 (1995-1998) – Contagion / Legacy / Birds of Prey / Cataclysm
Year 16 (1999-2002) – No Man’s Land / New Gotham / Officer Down / Murderer/Fugitive
Year 17 (2003-2006) – Hush / Under the Hood / Batman and Son
Year 18 (2007-2010) – Black Glove / R.I.P. / Batman and Robin Reborn, Damian Wayne>Robin / Return of Bruce Wayne
Year 19 (2011-2014) – Batman Incorporated / Court of Owls / Death of the Family / Endgame
Year 20 (2015-2018) – Superheavy/Bloom / I Am Gotham/Suicide/Bane / “The Wedding”/Cold Days
Year 21 (2019-2022) – City of Bane / Joker War / Fear State / Shadows of the Bat / Shadow War

You're missing missing Jason Todd's first appearance in "Batman: Second Chance".

You should include "The Killing Joke" somewhere to explain why Barbara Gordon becomes Oracle.

I would add Paul Dini's run after Hush because it complete the Hush storyline:
1. Batman: Detective
2. Batman: Death and the City
3. Batman: Private Casebook
4. Batman: Heart of Hush
5. Batman: Streets of Gotham, Vol. 1 – Hush Money
6. Batman: Streets of Gotham, Vol. 2 – Leviathan
7. Batman: Streets of Gotham, Vol. 3 – The House of Hush

You are missing the big event "War Games/War Crimes". Maybe right after New Gotham.

I would include "Gotham Central" alongside New Gotham.

I would add "Batman: Red Hood" and "Red Hood: lost years" to include Jason Todd's comeback.

You are missing the entire Batman & Son + Robin, Son of Batman by Tomasi and Gleason to conclude Grant Morrison's run.

As a follow up to The Owl Saga you have the maxi-series "Batman Eternal" and "Batman & Robin Eternal".

As an intro to Scott Snyder's run, I would include "The Gates of Gotham", it gives background info to Gotham itself.

To conclude Scott Snyder's run, you have the mini-séries "All-star Batman" and "Batman & the Signal".

Then of course there are many many other stories you didn't include.
You've got nothing on many major vilains such as Freeze, The Penguin, The Riddler, ...

[kevink31593]

You're missing missing Jason Todd's first appearance in "Batman: Second Chance".

You should include "The Killing Joke" somewhere to explain why Barbara Gordon becomes Oracle.

I referenced The Killing Joke in Year 13 of my timeline, and I reference Jason becoming Robin in Year 12 of my timeline. In my headcanon, the majority of the Conway and Moench runs from the 1980s happened, except with Jason's revised origin happening instead of his original origin.

I would add Paul Dini's run after Hush because it complete the Hush storyline:
1. Batman: Detective
2. Batman: Death and the City
3. Batman: Private Casebook
4. Batman: Heart of Hush
5. Batman: Streets of Gotham, Vol. 1 – Hush Money
6. Batman: Streets of Gotham, Vol. 2 – Leviathan
7. Batman: Streets of Gotham, Vol. 3 – The House of Hush

You are missing the big event "War Games/War Crimes". Maybe right after New Gotham.

I would include "Gotham Central" alongside New Gotham.

I would add "Batman: Red Hood" and "Red Hood: lost years" to include Jason Todd's comeback.

You are missing the entire Batman & Son + Robin, Son of Batman by Tomasi and Gleason to conclude Grant Morrison's run.

As a follow up to The Owl Saga you have the maxi-series "Batman Eternal" and "Batman & Robin Eternal".

As an intro to Scott Snyder's run, I would include "The Gates of Gotham", it gives background info to Gotham itself.

To conclude Scott Snyder's run, you have the mini-séries "All-star Batman" and "Batman & the Signal".

Then of course there are many many other stories you didn't include.
You've got nothing on many major vilains such as Freeze, The Penguin, The Riddler, ...

To quote myself, "Towards the end of the outline above, I mostly only mention certain events from the main Batman title for the sake of brevity." Just because I didn't mention a lot of stores, does not mean they didn't happen in my headcanon. I only mentioned certain events in order to give an idea of what was happening at the time, and to keep this post from being even longer than it was. All of those stories you mentioned would fall into the timeline year that corresponds with the actual publishing year on my outline.

As for the villains, I didn't mention first appearances for most of them, because that is harder to place on the timeline. In the original publishing history, Dick was already present as Robin before most of the major villains first appeared. Going by modern retellings, that is reversed and most of the major villains first appear before Dick became Robin. I think the villain first appearances that are most set in stone are Joker in The Man Who Laughs immediately following Year One, and Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face during the events of The Long Halloween.

As I said in my earlier post that "most of the “year one”/pre-Robin stories from the classic Legends of the Dark Knight series would slot in various places during the first 5 years of the timeline", also so could a lot of the major villain first appearances.

[kevink31593]

I mean it is your head cannon but some things seem a little wired to me:
- you are stretching the about one-two years that passed between Bruce becoming Batman and between Dick Going To Hudson and becoming Nightwing to like 5 each, but are taking out about 3 years of Dicks time as Robin with Bruce and about 1 year of Jasons time as Robin
- you have Tim becoming Robin at 12 and Jason at 13, while in the comics it is the other way arround

Jeph Loeb stretched out the early pre-Robin years long ago with The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, I'm just choosing to go along with that. I like the idea of Batman being more experienced by the time he takes on Dick as Robin, and the stretched out 5 pre-Robin years allows for him to gain that experience. It allows allows time for a lot of the major villain first appearances, and it allows time to fit in a lot of the various pre-Robin Legends of the Dark Knight stories.

It's a stretch, but for my headcanon for Dick I'm thinking of Hudson more as a boarding high school he started at age 15, and not as college. Similar to when Tim went to Brentwood at the end of Dixon's run in the early 2000s. Dick was not with Batman full time when he was at Hudson, but he continued operate solo as Robin, and had occasional team ups with Batman when he was home from school. I have Dick at 18 years old at the time of New Teen Titans, and even then he was simultaneously appearing fairly regularly with Batman during Conway's run on Batman and Detective Comics. So Dick was Robin from ages 13 to 19 on my timeline, which I think is reasonable, but he was not with Batman full time all the time during those years. Most of the classic "dynamic duo" adventures would have been when Dick was 13 to 15 years old.

I have Jason becoming Robin in Year 12 and then being killed by Joker in Year 13, so he was Robin for a year or so on my timeline. In real life, he was Robin for four publishing years from 1984-1988, so that fits with my 4 real years equals 1 comic book year assumption.

I ​think back to Detective Comics #790 from 2004 when Bruce and Cass visit Jason's grave on what would have been his 18th birthday (falling in Year 17 on my timeline), and I work both backwards and forwards from that for Jason's age.

For Tim, I remember that scene in A Lonely Place of Dying when Dick calls Tim a 12 year old kid, and Tim responds that he's not 12, he's 13. I've always taken that ambiguously, however I'm not certain of a valid reason not to take Tim's own word for his age in that story. Going farther along, Tim was supposed to be 14 as of the start of his ongoing solo series, when he got his special driver's license allowing him to drive due to his Dad's disability. I think Tim was mentioned as being 15 around the time of a secret origins special in 1998, and his 16th birthday actually took place in 2003's Robin #116. That 2003 issue with Tim's 16th birthday falls in Year 17 on my timeline, so I am basically working backwards and forwards from Tim's 16th birthday on my timeline, which ends up making him 12, going on 13, during A Lonely Place of Dying. None of this is perfect since it's difficult to cram so many stories into a certain number of timeline years, but as a general outline it works ok in my head.

The main thing bugging me now is trying to fit in Kate Kane, have her be Bruce's cousin and be old enough to be at the funeral for Thomas and Martha and speak to Bruce there, per flashbacks in Tynion's Detective Comics. To make that fit, I'd have to de-age Bruce about 5 years, marking him 20 in Year 1 and 40 now in Year 21. I'd leave Kate's age in Elegy at 32, making her 35 now, 5 years younger than Bruce. If Bruce's parents died when he was 10, Kate would have been 5, making her barely old enough to be aware of when Bruce's parents died and talk to Bruce at the funeral. It's a stretch for sure. 20 is the youngest I am comfortable with Bruce becoming Batman, but I prefer him being 25 as stated in Year One.

[bat39]

Just for fun, I thought it would be interesting to make an outline of my personal headcanon Batman timeline. I'd be interested in reading other opinions. Below is a basic year by year outline, followed in the next post by my more detailed thoughts.

Year 1 – Batman: Year One / The Man Who Laughs
Year 2 – Monster Men / Mad Monk / The Long Halloween 1-3
Year 3 – The Long Halloween 4-13
Year 4 – Dark Victory 0-3
Year 5 – Dark Victory 4-13
Year 6 – Robin: Year One
Year 7 (1963-1966) – Teen Titans: Year One / New Look era
Year 8 (1967-1970) – Batgirl: Year One / Dick Grayson to Hudson University
Year 9 (1971-1974) – Saga of Ra’s Al Ghul
Year 10 (1975-1978) – Batman Family / Strange Apparitions
Year 11 (1979-1982) – New Teen Titans / Gerry Conway’s “Tales of the Batman”
Year 12 (1983-1986) – Judas Contract, Dick Grayson>Nightwing / Jason Todd>Robin / Nocturna Saga
Year 13 (1987-1990) – The Killing Joke / A Death in the Family / A Lonely Place of Dying / Tim Drake>Robin
Year 14 (1991-1994) – Sword of Azrael / Vengeance of Bane / Knightfall / KnightQuest / KnightsEnd / Prodigal
Year 15 (1995-1998) – Contagion / Legacy / Birds of Prey / Cataclysm
Year 16 (1999-2002) – No Man’s Land / New Gotham / Officer Down / Murderer/Fugitive
Year 17 (2003-2006) – Hush / Under the Hood / Batman and Son
Year 18 (2007-2010) – Black Glove / R.I.P. / Batman and Robin Reborn, Damian Wayne>Robin / Return of Bruce Wayne
Year 19 (2011-2014) – Batman Incorporated / Court of Owls / Death of the Family / Endgame
Year 20 (2015-2018) – Superheavy/Bloom / I Am Gotham/Suicide/Bane / “The Wedding”/Cold Days
Year 21 (2019-2022) – City of Bane / Joker War / Fear State / Shadows of the Bat / Shadow War

I don't agree with everything here (in particular, I'm not so sure about the pre-Robin era being so long) but broadly speaking I think this is a great effort!

In principle, I agree with the idea of Batman being around for over 20 years in-universe. With regards to the bit you quoted from Tynion about the gap between BTAS and Beyond, here's how I see it - BTAS is set around 10 years into Batman's career, which becomes 13 years by the time of TNBA. This lines up nicely with your timeline, which puts Tim's beginnings as Robin in Years 13-14. Now in DCAU continuity, Bruce quits being Batman 20 years after TNBA, and Terry McGiness becomes Batman 20 years after that. So I think in current DC continuity, we aren't at a midpoint between TNBA and Beyond, but we are at a midpoint between TNBA and Bruce quitting as Batman. Which would mean that, notionally, over the next decade, Bruce should be upgrading to the 'Beyond' suit

[Aahz]

I have Jason becoming Robin in Year 12 and then being killed by Joker in Year 13, so he was Robin for a year or so on my timeline. In real life, he was Robin for four publishing years from 1984-1988, so that fits with my 4 real years equals 1 comic book year assumption.

In universe it was likely more something like 2 years from him meeting Bruce the first time to DitF. one before COIE and one after.

[kevink31593]

In universe it was likely more something like 2 years from him meeting Bruce the first time to DitF. one before COIE and one after.

There is definitely some timeline compression, even on a 20 year timeline. I think Jason's time as Robin has to be compressed in order to fit. Another example of compression is the Greg Rucka era from No Man's Land thru Gotham Central. I loved the character work in Rucka's stories, but his insistence on dropping multiple references to real time passing bugged me to no end. No Man's Land took an entire year in story, and then Rucka continued to move his stories along in real time for the next few years after that. That is all compressed on my timeline. I also completely glossed over the "one year later" jump in 2006 following Infinite Crisis. However, I do chose not to compress The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, in order to allow a longer pre-Robin period.

[kevink31593]

I don't agree with everything here (in particular, I'm not so sure about the pre-Robin era being so long) but broadly speaking I think this is a great effort!

In principle, I agree with the idea of Batman being around for over 20 years in-universe. With regards to the bit you quoted from Tynion about the gap between BTAS and Beyond, here's how I see it - BTAS is set around 10 years into Batman's career, which becomes 13 years by the time of TNBA. This lines up nicely with your timeline, which puts Tim's beginnings as Robin in Years 13-14. Now in DCAU continuity, Bruce quits being Batman 20 years after TNBA, and Terry McGiness becomes Batman 20 years after that. So I think in current DC continuity, we aren't at a midpoint between TNBA and Beyond, but we are at a midpoint between TNBA and Bruce quitting as Batman. Which would mean that, notionally, over the next decade, Bruce should be upgrading to the 'Beyond' suit

Haha thanks! Yes this took some effort to put together, but I had fun doing it. I have been reading Batman comics for almost 30 years now so I've got a lot of Bat knowledge in my head! The Animated Series is what made me a fan, I watched all the episodes brand new when they were first run! That series debuted when I was 10 years old, and I got into the comics the next year when Knightfall hit. I agree with your assessment of the DCAU timeline, so I think Tynion was a bit off on his "mid-point", but I liked the general gist of what he was saying. I thought it was refreshing to see a modern Batman writer want to acknowledge the length of Batman's career, after past years when DC tried to cram things into 5 or 10 year timelines. I also appreciated Morrison's attempt at a 15 year timeline.

[bat39]

Haha thanks! Yes this took some effort to put together, but I had fun doing it. I have been reading Batman comics for almost 30 years now so I've got a lot of Bat knowledge in my head! The Animated Series is what made me a fan, I watched all the episodes brand new when they were first run! That series debuted when I was 10 years old, and I got into the comics the next year when Knightfall hit. I agree with your assessment of the DCAU timeline, so I think Tynion was a bit off on his "mid-point", but I liked the general gist of what he was saying. I thought it was refreshing to see a modern Batman writer want to acknowledge the length of Batman's career, after past years when DC tried to cram things into 5 or 10 year timelines. I also appreciated Morrison's attempt at a 15 year timeline.

Agreed.

Look, comic-book time will never completely make sense (neither does real-world time on occassion ). But I think when you have a character and a universe where there's a fair bit of narrative progression, including multiple status-quo shattering events and several distinct 'eras', it's possible to claim that ''not much time has passed''.

From 1939 to 1969, DC could get away with claiming that Batman and Robin have been around a ''few years'' or some distinct but funtionally negligible number of years. But once Dick went to college, there was no getting around the fact that half a decade, if not more, had passed since Dick became Robin (and a little more since Bruce became Batman). Once you factor in the subsequent Robins and Batgirls, events like Knightfall and No Man's Land, and of course Batman literally having a pre-teen (later teenage) son named Damian who was conceived vaguely around the time of a previous story, you just have to accept the fact that Batman's career is not measured not in years but in decades.

And if you think about it, it's something that is being normalized now at DC, across media. The DCEU had a Batman who was around for 20 years. In the CW's Batwoman, the backstory involves a Batman who was around 20 years ago (and who operated for close to 15 years at least). Titans had a 50-something Bruce Wayne. I think across the board writers and fans are getting comfortable with the idea that Bruce Wayne isn't 30-ish anymore.

[kevink31593]

Agreed.

Look, comic-book time will never completely make sense (neither does real-world time on occassion ). But I think when you have a character and a universe where there's a fair bit of narrative progression, including multiple status-quo shattering events and several distinct 'eras', it's possible to claim that ''not much time has passed''.

From 1939 to 1969, DC could get away with claiming that Batman and Robin have been around a ''few years'' or some indistinct but funtionally negligible number of years. But once Dick went to college, there was no getting around the fact that half a decade, if not more, had passed since Dick became Robin (and a little more since Bruce became Batman). Once you factor in the subsequent Robins and Batgirls, events like Knightfall and No Man's Land, and of course Batman literally having a pre-teen (later teenage) son named Damian who was conceived vaguely around the time of a previous story, you just have to accept the fact that Batman's career is not measured not in years but in decades.

And if you think about it, it's something that is being normalized now at DC, across media. The DCEU had a Batman who was around for 20 years. In the CW's Batwoman, the backstory involves a Batman who was around 20 years ago (and who operated for close to 15 years at least). Titans had a 50-something Bruce Wayne. I think across the board writers and fans are getting comfortable with the idea that Bruce Wayne isn't 30-ish anymore.

Well said!

(Also, speaking as a person who will turn 40 next year, I like hanging onto the idea for a few more years that I'm not as old as Batman yet! )

[JackJustMetMartin]

Well said!

(Also, speaking as a person who will turn 40 next year, I like hanging onto the idea for a few more years that I'm not as old as Batman yet! )

I feel like Bruce being 40+ just makes sense. He's a veteran, he's saved the world numerous times, founded teams and raised sons. DC need to accept that Bruce Wayne having grey hairs is what we want eventually.

[John Venus]

Here is a rough sketch of my preferred timeline. It works with the assumption that Year One, Monster Men, Mad Monk, Prey, Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Daughter of the Demon, the Demon Lives Again, Birth of the Demon, Knightfall, NML and all the other great, classic stories happened in some shape or form. Some stories will be retconned or had to have happened differently in order to fit this timeline.


Year One:

Bruce Wayne (age 25) debuts as Batman. Batman and Gordon meet as they did in YO.

Villains: Primarily the Falcone Family but the Mad Monk, Dr Death, Hugo Strange, Joker, Clayface and Catwoman debut during this time.

Barbara (age 19) gets mixed up in a couple of adventures in her civilians clothes. [I kind of like the idea in 'The Batman' cartoon that Barbara debuted first which convinced Bruce that having a side kick might not be such a bad idea but I think having Batgirl debut first would be too big a break from canon so the compromise if to have Barbara tag along in her civvies before she put on the costume. Similar to Babs early appearances in B:TAS]

Bruce adopts Dick Grayson (age 12) towards the end of his first year but doesn't become his partner immediately. Bruce starts training him in order to help him cope with his parents death.

Bruce's primary love interest is Julie Madison. Although, sparks also fly between him and Catwoman during this period as well.

Gordon is married to Barbara Eileen Gordon. However, he ends up having an affair with Sarah Essen Gordon while they both investigate Batman's identity. Later, Essen and Gordon break it off. Gordon confesses about the affair to Barbara while Essen moves to NY.

Year Two:

-Robin and Batgirl make their debuts about one month apart of each other.

-Batman is reluctant to have side kicks but he also trains and arms them so they don't die.

-Batman fights the Reaper. Though I would rather the story unfolded differently. I like the idea of Batman facing a predecessor who was a vigilante but the story has to be different this time.

-Villains: Penguin, Killer Croc, Killer Moth, Poison Ivy, the Terrible Trio, Mad Hatter, Clayface and a lot of the colourful Silver Age villains debut during this period.

-Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face during this year as well.

-Bruce's love interest is Vicky Vale during this period.

-Gordon and Barbara Eileen divorce. She takes Gordon Jr with him while Babs stays behind with Jim.

Year Three:

-Batman meets Superman for the first time. Both of them debuted in the same year.

-Kathy Kane debuts as the original Batwoman and tries to romance Bruce who turns her down. She also has a niece Bette Kane who occasionally dressed up as Bat-Girl.

Year Four:

-Dick (15) has a near fatal run in with Two-Face that leaves one man injured and Dick himself severely beaten.

-Batman joins the Justice League.

-Babs (22) and Jason Bard begin a romantic relationship. His Post Crisis history is left intact.

Year Five:

-Dick (age 16) becomes a member of the Teen Titans. He also gets on the bad side of Crazy Quilt.

-Batman (age 29) fights Ras Al Ghul after the latter kidnapped Robin. He also meets Talia sparking a romance between the two.

-Barbara (age 23) has hung up her cape and is later elected to become a member of the city council. She takes an interest in cyber security in this period.

-Batman takes on Andrea Beaumont/The Phantasm. Story plays out similarly to how it did in the movie. Just that Andrea didn't come back for revenge after 10 years.

-Year 3-5 is when the O'Neill/Adams and Englhart/Rogers run happened. So by this point, stories like Joker's Five Way Revenge, Laughing Fish, Strange Apparitions have already happened. Deadshot's been revamped into his now iconic look. In the following years, he would go on to join the Suicide Squad.

-Kathy is killed by Bronze Tiger whose been brainwashed by the League of Assassins.

Year Seven:

-Barbara (age 25) is elected to Congress. She makes acquaintances with Waller during this time. The latter is formulating her Suicide Squad during this time.

-Dick (age 18) briefly worked as Barbara's intern before going off to join the New Teen Titans created by Raven. He forms relationship with Raven during this time.

-Bruce (age 31) adopts Jason Todd (age 14) during this time.

-Batman quits the Justice League to create the Outsiders.

Year Eight:

-Jason Todd (age 15) dies in an warehouse explosion caused by the Joker.

-Batman disbands the Outsiders.

-Barbara (age 26) is crippled by the Joker not long after. She begins recreating herself as Oracle by helping Waller's Suicide Squad.

-Dick (age 19) becomes Nightwing and celebrated leader of the Titans.

-Batman: Son of the Demon happens towards the end of this year. Talia gives up baby Damian for adoption.

-Gordon reunites with Sarah Essen and the two begin to romance each other.

Year Nine:

-Tim Drake (age 14) becomes Robin.

-Batman (34) is crippled by Bane and Azrael/Jean Paul Valley takes up the mantle of the Bat.

-Dick (age 20) steps away from the Titans after his wedding with Kory goes bust. He tries to help Bruce deal with the loss of Jason.

-Gordon and Sarah Essen marry.

Year Ten:

-Bruce (35) reclaims the mantle from Jean Paul Valley.

-Bruce lets Dick take over as Batman for a while while he travels the globe.

-The events of 'Birth of the Demon happen around this time wherein Bruce falls into the Lazarus Pit which restores him to his physical prime.

-Barbara (28) forms the Birds of Prey with Dinah Laurel Lance and Helena Bertinelli.

-Gotham is hit by the Plague.

-Stephanie Brown (age 16) debuts.

[John Venus]

Year Eleven:

-NML happens.

-Cass Cain (age 14) debuts.

-Sarah Essen is killed off by the Joker impersonator or by another character altogether.

-Harley Quinn debuts.

Year Twelve:

-Officer Down, Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive, Hush story arcs happen.

-Selina and Bruce are now closer with the two of them now regularly sleeping with each other and Selina becoming the protector of East Side.

-Later in the year, 'Under the Red Hood' happens with Jason Todd (19) returns from the dead.

-Talia is in charge of Lex Corp and later reunites with her sister Nyssa Al Ghul. Nyssa brainwashes Talia into becoming her ally.

-Tim (age 17) joins Young Justice which later becomes Teen Titans.

-Tim's father is killed by Captain Boomerang.

-Renee Montoya is outed to the force by Two-Face as revenge.

Year Thirteen:

-OYL.

-Bruce (37), Dick (24), Tim (19) takes one year off to travel the world to find

-Nyssa recovers Damian Wayne and begins experimenting on him which rapidly ages him into ten years old. She also brainwashes Cass Cain with Deathstroke's help to becoming an ally.

-Talia snaps out of her brainwashing and kills Nyssa via car bomb. Then she takes on Damian as her son and begins rebuilding the League in her image. Damian's body and mind is 5 years ahead of whatever chronological age he is. So he is basically a 5 year old with the body and mind of a 10 year old. Said 10 year old body is still enhanced to be stronger, faster and with increased reaction time than a normal human.

-Jim becomes Commissioner again. Barbara Eileen Gordon and Jim are on talking terms again and the two slowly rekindle their relationship.

-Kathy Kane's other niece, Kate Kane, becomes the new Batwoman.

-Renee Montoya becomes the new Question.

Year Fourteen:

-Bruce meets Damian for the first time.

-Batman RIP happens in this year.

-Barbara (32) is able to move her toe for the first time since her crippling.

-Batman (38) is seemingly killed by Darkseid in Final Crisis.

Year Fifteen

-Dick briefly takes over as Batman.

-Bruce returns from the past and readopts the mantle of Batman and he starts up 'Batman Inc'.

-Luke Wayne becomes Batwing.

-Damian seemingly dies in Leviathan but he gets better.

-Talia's downward spiral into full mustache twirling villainy is due to remnants of Nyssa's brainwashing.

-Barbara (33) disbands the BoP. She goes underground and starts tutoring Stephanie Brown who becomes Batgirl.

Year Sixteen

-Scott Snyder's run on Batman.

-James Gordon Jr is back. There would be some retconning around his birth. The serial killer version of Gordon Jr was born in Chicago when Gordon had an affair with his brother wife, Thelma Gordon when they were young adults. They gave up the baby for adoption and kept the whole thing a secret. Later Gordon married Barbara Eileen Gordon who gives birth to Barbara Joan Gordon. Babs is in college during Year One. A few years before Year One, the Gordons took James Gordon Jr in but sent him to psychiatric facility after discovering his psychotic tendencies.

-The other Jim Gordon Jr is now 16 and reconnecting with Barbara Gordon (34). He is not a super villain.

-Barbara regains the ability to walk and becomes Batgirl again after Steph retired and Cass does not want to be Batgirl at that point. She keeps the Batgirl name out of genuine respect for the current Batwoman. Part of it is also because Barbara wants to relive her glory days. Although these stories would unfold differently and not exactly as it did in the Burnside Batgirl comics.

-Cass becomes Black Bat and later Orphan.

-Duke Thomas is introduced as the Signal.

Year Seventeen

-Bruce (41) proposes to Selina.

-Jace Fox returns to Gotham.

-Bruce's wedding goes bust and later he loses his fortune during the Joker War.

-Dick Grayson (29) is shot in the head and briefly loses his memory and his personality is altered.

-Babs hangs up the Batgirl costume. She goes back to being Oracle, she alternates between using a wheelchair and special prosthetic in order to be able to walk. She begins to mentor Cass (age 19) and Steph (age 23) as her proteges.

-Present day is Year 17.


Hope you're all happy. This took several hours.