Headcanon Batman timeline

[TheRay]

I'd say the present is Batman at Year 16 or so.

I think it makes sense to have Alfred, Kate Kane, and Bruce be the same age.

Year 2 (Beginning): Dick begins his training to become Robin
Year 2 (ending): Dick suits up and fights as Robin for the first time

[Timothy Hunter]

I'd make Pre Crisis Jason Todd and Post Crisis Jason Todd completely separate characters.

Also I would render the 1995 Year One Annuals as well as other villain origin stories that feature them duking it out with Batman before Robin came along more or less non canon.

[Restingvoice]

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.

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

I'm gonna insert Batman Shaman here where it basically happened throughout the year starting with Bruce returns and ending in winter

Between February and April is Zero Year Secret City where Bruce was studying the enemy, he's also infiltrating the rising Red Hood Gang which is the mafia's rival

In April, following his Batman debut fighting lowly criminals as training, he defeated the Red Hood Gang and Red Hood One fell into the acid vat

In Summer, Dr. Death case began and he was presumed dead
The fall of Red Hood Gang gave rise to the Black Mask Gang as per Zero Year Dark City, but it's only a small skirmish with Gordon
Meanwhile Talia al Ghul visited Gotham to eliminate an Untitled undead who infiltrated as a New Red Hood Gang leader who started recruiting young vulnerable people like Jason todd (if he's too young, change this to kidnapping and grooming)
Barbara Gordon having her civilian adventure happened in zero Year Dark City where Gordon had to go out and rescue civilians from flood and she has to keep her brother safe, but since James Jr. isn't born yet we can replace him with their mother

In November, James Jr. was born and kidnapped
In Winter, Joker made his debut and the Shaman case ends in Christmas

I don't know if I want to insert Monster Men and The Monk here or next year since Julie Madison in Zero Year approached Bruce as the summer ends, and I can insert these two cases anytime near the end of the year

However if The Monk's case take Bruce to Romania, then it needs to be next year because this end of the year is packed.

Oh... right now I'm keeping Bruce at 25 until Red Hood Gang's demise, but if it turns out the timeline's too young, I'm pulling him back to 22

[John Venus]

-The Phantasm (Andrea Beaumont) is in my headcanon, but how to account for pre-Joker killing Carl Beaumont? I don't accept Joker having an origin at all (besides wearing that Red Hood). My headcanon is that Carl wasn't a pre-Joker kill, but a very early kill in Joker's career as Andrea breaks it off with Bruce so she and Carl can flee to Europe, and Joker (who I imagine starts out as kinda friendly enough with Gotham's mob community) as Joker kills Carl in Europe. (later Joker's willingness to work with the mob evaporates as his whims or philosophy or ambitions change)

You could just say pre-Joker was a hired gun who worked for them for a few months then disappeared. Nobody knows if that name he gave them was his real one or a fake. Since pre-Joker is mostly a shadow in the MotP flashback, the story works.

[John Venus]

Given the high degree of consistency, Batman should just be the 'standard' for timeline and every DC book should build their timelines around the Bat books and decide on ages relative to the Bat Family.

I'd make Pre Crisis Jason Todd and Post Crisis Jason Todd completely separate characters.

Also I would render the 1995 Year One Annuals as well as other villain origin stories that feature them duking it out with Batman before Robin came along more or less non canon.

That just sounds unnecessary to me. Pre Crisis Jason should just remain gone especially since it makes it easier to move Killer Croc further back in Batman's career. Maybe Post Crisis Jason went through a red hair phase at some point.

[bat39]

Given the high degree of consistency, Batman should just be the 'standard' for timeline and every DC book should build their timelines around the Bat books and decide on ages relative to the Bat Family.

Yeah, that's what I tend to do.

But it gets tricky when Batman has a 20-plus year timeline, but it seems that most of his contemporaries don't, especially since large chunks of their Pre-Flashpoint history haven't been restored yet. What is the age difference between, say, Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen? And does that translate to an age difference between Dick Grayson and Wally West?

That just sounds unnecessary to me. Pre Crisis Jason should just remain gone especially since it makes it easier to move Killer Croc further back in Batman's career. Maybe Post Crisis Jason went through a red hair phase at some point.

Morrison retconned Post-COIE/Pre-Flashpoint Jason Todd into being a redhead too who was forced by Batman to dye his hair to look like Dick.

The harsh reality is that Post-COIE Jason Todd simply is the iconic version of the character now. Jason stealing the tyres of the Batmobile is his origin...the New 52 effort to change that (while mostly leaving his background intact) didn't take.

[JBatmanFan05]

You could just say pre-Joker was a hired gun who worked for them for a few months then disappeared. Nobody knows if that name he gave them was his real one or a fake. Since pre-Joker is mostly a shadow in the MotP flashback, the story works.

No, I can't do that because I won't even allow pre-Joker as a nameless "hired gun" to be a concrete part of his origin. For my headcanon, we know NOTHING concrete except that he wore that Red Hood that night he became The Joker. For me, Joker could have been (or totally could not have been) that nice enough struggling comedian kinda forced into that Red Hood.

So for my headcanon, Joker absolutely has to kill Carl Beaumont as The Joker. Just no way around it given my headcanon on Joker's origin.

MOTP surprisingly can fit, but Andrea doesn't start becoming Phantasm until a little into Batman's career because her father Carl's death has to wait until pre-Joker falls into those chemicals.

[TheRay]

Year 2 (Beginning): Dick begins his training to become Robin
Year 2 (ending): Dick suits up and fights as Robin for the first time

Year 3: The Killing Joke

[daredevil1]

For me it's only possible to make a chronology in pre-Flashpoint/post-Crisis. Who knows what the hell is going on now. But before Flashpoint, I think they definitely stated it had been 20 years or so that the superheroes operated. I think they even said somewhere that Bruce was 43 or 44 when he died in Final Crisis.

[JBatmanFan05]

For me it's only possible to make a chronology in pre-Flashpoint/post-Crisis. Who knows what the hell is going on now.

I want to agree, since I'm definitely a big pre-Flashpoint/post-Crisis type fan. But for me, I refuse to rule out continuity points/changes from whatever this era is of Batman comics. My view is that a good story or good/inoffensive small/large idea/event can persuade me to add this or that from our current main Batman comics. So King, Tynion, etc are all in my chronology.

To this day, it's not like DC has gone on some earthshattering seminal radical departure from pre-Flashpoint/post-Crisis comics (even Batman's "soft" COIE changes basically kept in his Pre-COIE comics), and as long as that continues, all are able to have a chance at being in my headcanon. Because I have a "yearless" headcanon and refuse to dwell on Batman's age and such, the bottomless infinite room in my headcanon is perhaps easier for me than some others and their headcanon.