The “New” History of the JSA: *New Golden Age SPOILERS*

[Factor]

Since the New Golden Age #1 is establishing an updated version of the JSA’s history in the current DCU, I think it deserves its own thread so we can talk and speculate about it without needing spoiler tags.

So basically what the special established so far is:

* The JSA debuted in November 1940 and the initial line-up is the classic one (Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, All Pratt, Kent Nelson, Wesley Dodds, Spectre, Carter Hall, Rex Tyler and Johnny Thunder). No different additions at this point and the Trinity is nowhere to be seen.
* Sometime later Wonder Woman joined the team and was active for “decades” before the 70s. This might indicate that like that special from post-Infinite Frontier showed, she was the first hero to publicly debut but may have joined the team sometime later. In that special we saw her debut inspiring Alan Scott.
* 13 new (or revised) characters were retroactively inserted in the past during the Golden Age. They had all been removed from the timeline at some point in the 40s and the young ones, including a never before seen daughter of Jay Garrick, are still missing (Stargirl will presumably find them in her new mini). In 1976 Doctor Fate doesn’t seem to remember his former sidekick Salem.
* In 1951, the American government tries to get the old team (plus WW and Black Canary) to unmask. Originally, the team disbanded for a while after that.
* The JSA is still around in the 70s. It seems Johns is keeping aspects of their All Star Comics run, even though it was set in Earth-2 and featured a conflicting version of Helena Wayne.
* Kent Nelson (Doctor Fate), Charles McNider (MidNite), Power-Girl and Star-Spangled Kid (Sylvester Pembleton) are part of the 70s line-up.
* This cements Power Girl’s debut earlier than Superman’s, which is bound to be a continuity nightmare and may call for yet another retelling of her origin. It also makes her more than 60 years old in the present (but she only seems to have aged by the time the character appears in Huntress’s future.)
* In the present, Kent Nelson is still dead and Khalid is continuing as Doctor Fate.
* We see glimpses of Infinitors such as Jade and Obsidian in some of the Who’s Who files, but it’s not clear where exactly they fit in the timeline. I worry they will be made as old as PG now because they were all Infinity Inc. teammates.
* 18 years into the future, the now teenage daughter of Batman and Catwoman vows to become Huntress to get revenge on her father’s killer (presumably Per Degaton). This may indicate the new Huntress is younger than we thought.
* At the time if Bruce Wayne’s death, JSA members are old Power Girl, older Alan Scott, a Doctor Fate and a speedster that’s probably Judy Garrick.
* The legacy of the JSA lasts at least until the 31st century, but Per Degaton is trying to kill them all. The wannabe JSAers of the 31st century (a Doctor Fate, Atom and GL) are now dead.

Notably, no mentions of characters such as Black Canary, Shiera Hall (Hawkgirl), Wildcat etc so far.

Feel free to add details I missed and speculate on upcoming developments
I didn’t include the Watchmen sections because I want to keep this thread focused on JSA history.

[sifighter]

Black Canary can actually be seen in the classic panel of the JSA at the Red Scare era committee trying to get them to unmask.

As for Powergirls age…I’m not really sure how it works because John’s is treating events like COIE to have happened. So Johns is working with the acknowledgment of reality altercations and time manipulation.

[Psy-lock]

Power Girl debuting before Superman is as ridiculous as Donna Troy debuting before Wonder Woman. DC keeps making the same mistakes over and over!

[Digifiend]

Power Girl debuting before Superman is as ridiculous as Donna Troy debuting before Wonder Woman. DC keeps making the same mistakes over and over!

Yeah - when Wonder Woman was rebooted after the Crisis, Titans should've been too. Either that, or Wonder Woman shouldn't have rebooted. They were too connected. Donna's finally been fixed by the latest continuity changes - if Diana was active in World War II, then Donna's original "rescued from a fire by Diana and adopted by her mother Hippolyta" origin actually works again - and that origin has been confirmed to be restored. That shouldn't have taken 35 years to happen.

Power Girl before Superman isn't so ridiculous though. Remember, Supergirl was born 15 years before Superman, but was stuck in suspended animation for decades and arrived on Earth after Superman had already grown up, still a teenager. Power Girl must've not had that suspended animation. Is it not also possible that she was sent away at the same time as Kal-El, they arrive at the same time, and of course since he's a baby, he's not going to show up as Superman for a couple of decades. Also, if this is Earth-0, she could've gone back in time a bit when coming from Earth-2, which is similar to how Jon Kent was aged up (he spent time on Earth-3 and came back just after he left, seven years older).

[Triniking1234]

Wasn't Kal being Superman and part of the Justice Society of America the main reason Kara even became Power Girl before CoIE?

[Psy-lock]

Yeah - when Wonder Woman was rebooted after the Crisis, Titans should've been too. Either that, or Wonder Woman shouldn't have rebooted. They were too connected. Donna's finally been fixed by the latest continuity changes - if Diana was active in World War II, then Donna's original "rescued from a fire by Diana and adopted by her mother Hippolyta" origin actually works again - and that origin has been confirmed to be restored. That shouldn't have taken 35 years to happen.

Power Girl before Superman isn't so ridiculous though. Remember, Supergirl was born 15 years before Superman, but was stuck in suspended animation for decades and arrived on Earth after Superman had already grown up, still a teenager. Power Girl must've not had that suspended animation. Is it not also possible that she was sent away at the same time as Kal-El, they arrive at the same time, and of course since he's a baby, he's not going to show up as Superman for a couple of decades. Also, if this is Earth-0, she could've gone back in time a bit when coming from Earth-2, which is similar to how Jon Kent was aged up (he spent time on Earth-3 and came back just after he left, seven years older).

It's still another major change to her origin, and having a legacy character debut before the original is just utterly bonkers.

[Factor]

It's still another major change to her origin, and having a legacy character debut before the original is just utterly bonkers.

Agreed. Plus it's just weird to not have Superman be the first Kryptonian to arrive on Earth.
But Johns did choose to dimish Aquaman by having another Aquaman with the same look debuting decades prior to him, so...

[JThree]

Power Girl debuting before Superman is as ridiculous as Donna Troy debuting before Wonder Woman. DC keeps making the same mistakes over and over!

Feel the same way. But there's so much history that DC has written and rewritten already. Doubt if anyone could keep it straight.

--jthree

[Dagothoth]

Power Girl debuting before Superman is as ridiculous as Donna Troy debuting before Wonder Woman. DC keeps making the same mistakes over and over!

They are definitely decoupling clark and power girl

[Bored at 3:00AM]

They are definitely decoupling clark and power girl

I wouldn't be too sure about that. The mental gymnastics that are being done over the 1976 flashback are a bit premature.

[Dagothoth]

Could be a time travel issue


Apparently Helena Wayne is swearing an oath of vengeance to hunt down this nazi(whose famous for time traveling no less)


I wonder…

[Factor]

Black Canary can actually be seen in the classic panel of the JSA at the Red Scare era committee trying to get them to unmask.

As for Powergirls age…I’m not really sure how it works because John’s is treating events like COIE to have happened. So Johns is working with the acknowledgment of reality altercations and time manipulation.

Oh that’s true about BC! I will add the 1951 part.
About PG, I hope Johns offers a less convoluted explanation, because treating the effects of Crisis as canon is just a nightmare, especially considering he seems to be ignoring a lot of stuff already (otherwise 70s Power Girl would soon be meeting Earth-2 Huntress). It opens a can of worms.

[sifighter]

Oh that’s true about BC! I will add the 1951 part.
About PG, I hope Johns offers a less convoluted explanation, because treating the effects of Crisis as canon is just a nightmare, especially considering he seems to be ignoring a lot of stuff already (otherwise 70s Power Girl would soon be meeting Earth-2 Huntress). It opens a can of worms.

I think those particular can of worms have been open since Infinite Crisis and Infinite Frontier.

[kcekada]

Yet more continuity changes?!! Fans have suggested a lot of easier ways to fix this mess -- but instead DC just makes it even more complicated. Pass.

[Ropeburn]

* In the present, Kent Nelson is still dead and Khalid is continuing as Doctor Fate.

Most of this sounds good except for Khalid. Not a fan.