How would you have done the New 52 differently?

[Falcon16]

Have Brainiac look like his DCAU incarnation

NO SUPES/WONDY

For Forever Evil, show Atomica inside of Scorch, let her go inside of Manta, and show her inside of Manta

Speaking of, put Scorch in the previous Doom Patrol issues (and make him like Clint Barton)

Jefferson Pierce is Black Vulcan instead of Black Lightning

Grid gains emotion in Darkseid War and it makes killing enjoyable for him

Have Grid be an enemy in Cyborg's solo

[SecretWarrior]

At the time, I would've done a hard reboot (with references to similar happenings in the timeline to the previous universe). I'd set the first stories after the heroes had been established for 5-7 years, then I'd do origin stories set earlier. The origins would be limited series like Superman: Birthright. I think starting in media res would allow readers to see that the universe and relationships are established and all the toys are still on the table, which would have helped ward off the blowback. I wouldn't get rid of legacy characters. Points in continuity that are similar to what was published in the previous universe, would be referenced in flashback. So, for example, New 52 Superman would have died before present day, but we wouldn't retell the Death of Superman-- You would just know through flashback that a similar thing happened to this Superman. Some version of Tower of Babel would've happened, etc. That way you could keep the old trades relevant as touchstones. The old creators would be happy since they'd get credit if their stories were adapted.

At the time, I'd have made the roster look like this, but Cyborg would've been as old as everyone else to make him an actual equal and would've had a solo with a good creative team from the get-go. He'd have science stories in the vein of Tom Strong. No face plate.



I wouldn't have given him technopathy since it makes him OP and makes Batman usesless, but I also would have made him more durable and keep the boom tubes. His combat roles would be blaster/teleporter. A relevant Batman would mean no one has to boss Cyborg or anyone else around to posture as the "leader" of the team.

Looking back though, I think this roster would've better served the face of the company, as it has another woman on it, and is more diverse, as it includes two (quasi-)LGBT members (WW and MM).



As it's only 6 members, it would be easy to create a story that the movie studio could adapt. Miss Martian would have a solo from the get go set in Las Vegas, NV, near Area 51. She'd have stories like Martian Manhunter, the Spectre, and Power Girl rolled into one. John Stewart would be the face of the GL franchise, but everyone at the time would stick around. No new GLs. Flash would focus more on humor, so I'd get more comedically talented writers to work on it, like Jimmy Palmiotti or Matt Fraction, if he weren't under an exclusive contract.

[Aahz]

I would have likely made a soft reboot and used it mostly to erase stuff from last roughly 5 years before flashpoint, (so roughly starting arround Infine Crisis/OYL mabe even back to Identity Crisis) since that era had just so many poor creative decisions ...

[JackJustMetMartin]

I'd keep the old universe and have this one as DC's answer to the ultimate universe.

I'd set it 6 years after Heroes first started showing up.

The Justice League was formed two years ago. I don't know who'd I stick on it, the All-Star Justice League one looks good so maybe that.

Hal is dead or not on earth, Jon Stewart is the main GL. Guy's off doing his own thing.

Wally is the Flash, Barry just died.

Black Canary is Black Canary's daughter/descendent.

For the Bats - Jason Todd has just become Robin, Dick is 18 and has just become Nightwing. Full COIE rip off I suppose. Dick was Robin from 13 until he was 18. Dick was Robin from Year 2 here, the same as irl.

This way you can have the most iconic Titans roster, the 80's Titans.

It also limits the amount of Bat-Books you can publish as most of the Bat-Characters aren't active yet, meaning more variety in the market.

[SiegePerilous02]

Have it be an Ultimate style universe. No connections whatsoever to to the previous canon, which would still have some books published in it.

Leave Morrison's Superman as-is (minus the ugly Jim Lee costume), as well as John's on Aquaman and Shazam. Wonder Woman would be similar to the Year One and Godwatch portions of Ruckas Rebirth, with something like Historia being the Amazon backstory. NO Zeus as father.

The JL generation have only been active for a few years, and Dicks generation are the only sidekicks. Race bend some characters to modernize things.

[Thor-Ul]

Have it be an Ultimate style universe. No connections whatsoever to to the previous canon, which would still have some books published in it.

Leave Morrison's Superman as-is (minus the ugly Jim Lee costume), as well as John's on Aquaman and Shazam. Wonder Woman would be similar to the Year One and Godwatch portions of Ruckas Rebirth, with something like Historia being the Amazon backstory. NO Zeus as father.

The JL generation have only been active for a few years, and Dicks generation are the only sidekicks. Race bend some characters to modernize things.

I think the consensus is than the new52 as an "UltimateDC" parallel line would had not feel as a damage and become such a divisory concept.

[Restingvoice]

My other option, instead of doing a reboot, is to not reboot at all, but sell it from a new point of view and some necessary flashbacks.
Do the Aquaman and Swamp Thing where they're supposedly recently brought back to life, but don't mention that and write as if this is the first time you see the characters.
A lot of movies started with the heroes already established, the story's already going, but they explain it to you slowly so you don't get overwhelmed.

Much like how in the 2000 X-Men movie the team is already established with Cyclops, Jean, and Storm and the war between Xavier and Magneto is already ongoing, simply have the Bat family already established with Batman as the head and explain that Dick and the others are former proteges that has grown up and began independent.

The back story told via flashback, while the present story is focused on the introductory characters like Hugh Jackman and Anna Paquin.

No characters need to be erased, no status quo needs to be changed, you can introduce every heroes already having an army of family, but focus on just one or two point of view characters per books, and this can be applied to everyone.

Edit: Wait I already posted this before, but I didn't use the X-Men movie example, so there you go

[G-Man27]

I would probably treat the line similar to how Marvel did both versions of Marvel Now with the titles spread out in their introduction. Of course we would start with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the like. With maybe a new Justice League title forming a few months in. As for timeline I would have it a few years into their career so we can possibly see the beginning of the Justice League. The Teen Titans characters would be introduced in their parent titles and then Teen Titans would premiere about a year in. Of course before the titles even premiere we would have to see who's who, and where the timeline differs from the old

[Sacred Knight]

It would have been a companion Earth alongside Earth-0. That line would have been on a pause for a few months, while the New 52 stuff--some intended to be ongoing, some intended to be limited---got introduced. Then when they brought back the Earth-0 lineup, it would be another One Year Later type situation where the status quo there have moved forward, and from they'd be free to go further beyond into the future.

[Kirk Brent]

It would have been a companion Earth alongside Earth-0. That line would have been on a pause for a few months, while the New 52 stuff--some intended to be ongoing, some intended to be limited---got introduced. Then when they brought back the Earth-0 lineup, it would be another One Year Later type situation where the status quo there have moved forward, and from they'd be free to go further beyond into the future.

I really like the idea of pausing the existing titles for a few months to focus on the new universe's early titles. Doing so would also present a time-jump opportunity that would allow the Earth-0/New Earth titles to get some added attention when they return.

[Kirk Brent]

I don't know that I ever directly replied to the question of how I would have approached the New 52 differently.

First things first, the title was awful. I'm not sure where this fascination with "52" originated, but it was an awful name for a line-wide relaunch.

Secondly, the DCU didn't need to be rebooted. Infinite Crisis wasn't even ten years old by the time someone at WB decided Flashpoint was going to be the catalyst for a reboot. Though I don't like a lot of stuff in IC, it did what it was supposed to do and streamlined Superman's origin while also correcting other issues across the DCU.

I think the solution was to create a new line with the best creative talent possible and allow them to create a new DCU. Instead of having Earth One and the New 52 occurring simultaneously, I think they should have been one initiative instead using the Earth One name. Each character or corner of this DCU would have a team of creators working together on a new continuity that they would unravel in arcs.

For example, Grant Morrison and Rags Morales would write and draw Superman Earth One, which would be the "Men of Steel" arc. JMS would then write volume two, continuing to focus on the jeans/t-shirt Superman.

As much as I don't personally care for his work, Snyder would follow up Geoff Johns' Batman Earth One Vol. 1 with a second volume that would introduce the Court of Owls to a younger and less experienced Batman.

George Perez, meanwhile, would get even more creative freedom with Wonder Woman Earth One than he did with the post-COIE version. Phil Jiminez could handle the art on volume one with Gary Frank taking over for volume two.

Gabriel Hardman and Corrina Bechko would still write Green Lantern while Francis Manapul would handle Flash.

The Earth-Zero/New Earth books could be written by Earth-One writers here and there while new writers would come aboard to take the existing titles in new directions and/or give them fresh voices.