JSA # 1 preview reveals Batman's current age and timeline

[Digifiend]

Yeah, besides, haven't the actual Batman and Justice League books said that Batman's been around for 20 years and the League for 15? If so, Damian's age works out fine. The big continuity issue right now is that Young Justice's timeline is incompatible with Jon Kent's. Given that Jon was born after the wedding, which was after Death of Superman, more than 10 years should've passed since Conner's debut which was during Death of Superman, which would mean that Tim should also be ten years older than he was in the 90s. Dataweaver's right, Jon needs his original origin back.

I'd ignore what JSA is saying - it's probably an alternate timeline that's about to be negated by Per Degaton - thus stranding the time travelling Huntress in the present day.

[Factor]

Yeah, besides, haven't the actual Batman and Justice League books said that Batman's been around for 20 years and the League for 15? If so, Damian's age works out fine. The big continuity issue right now is that Young Justice's timeline is incompatible with Jon Kent's. Given that Jon was born after the wedding, which was after Death of Superman, more than 10 years should've passed since Conner's debut which was during Death of Superman, which would mean that Tim should also be ten years older than he was in the 90s. Dataweaver's right, Jon needs his original origin back.

I'd ignore what JSA is saying - it's probably an alternate timeline that's about to be negated by Per Degaton - thus stranding the time travelling Huntress in the present day.

The fact that Huntress’s timeline is probably not sticking around shouldn’t really affect the past, though. I was under the impression she comes from an alternate future, but the past up until her arrival in the present should still happen the same way IMO.
But I guess that’s a better explanation than us accepting the bizarrely compressed 13 years timeline.

[bat39]

The fact that Huntress’s timeline is probably not sticking around shouldn’t really affect the past, though. I was under the impression she comes from an alternate future, but the past up until her arrival in the present should still happen the same way IMO.
But I guess that’s a better explanation than us accepting the bizarrely compressed 13 years timeline.

Yeah, that's the thing. She's from a possible future of the current timeline, not a totally different timeline/universe altogether.

I suppose it's possible that I've been too hasty...after all, technically all the panel really shows is Selina leaping out of a window '13 years ago'. Maybe Bruce actually became Batman, say, 17 years ago and Selina just happened to be wearing her Year One-era costume four years after that. Maybe that's the workaround we can use. But it seems clear to me that Johns' intent in using that panel from Year One (or a close recreation of it), not to mention keeping an 18 year gap between that moment and the Wayne murders (which is also from Year One), is that the events of Year One happened 13 years ago.

[Dataweaver]

The easiest thing to do is to just call it a gaffe, and add seven years to both figures: 38 years ago for the Wayne murders, and 20 years ago for Batman Year One.

As for Jon Kent, the simplest solution there is just to move the wedding and Jon's birth out of sequence, and have them both happen well before the Death of Superman. If Superman also debuted approximately twenty years ago, that would give him roughly the first half of his career when he was courting Lois, and then the second half where he's a family man.

[dornwolf]

People usually headcanon Bruce into his late 30's/early 40's.

I know I do. I always but Batman closer to 40, Superman about 35, Wonder Woman a little younger along with Flash-Barry Green Lantern Hal and Aquaman. Green Arrow is the only hero I think of as older as past 40 since they constantly hint at him being older than Black Canary and being closer to Batman’s age makes more sense

[bat39]

The easiest thing to do is to just call it a gaffe, and add seven years to both figures: 38 years ago for the Wayne murders, and 20 years ago for Batman Year One.

As for Jon Kent, the simplest solution there is just to move the wedding and Jon's birth out of sequence, and have them both happen well before the Death of Superman. If Superman also debuted approximately twenty years ago, that would give him roughly the first half of his career when he was courting Lois, and then the second half where he's a family man.

If we're making it a 20-year timeline, then there's no need to move anything around. The whole early 90's era of the Death/Return and marriage (as well as stuff like Tim becoming Robin) happened over a decade ago, and Tim is now in his early 20's.

I know I do. I always but Batman closer to 40, Superman about 35, Wonder Woman a little younger along with Flash-Barry Green Lantern Hal and Aquaman. Green Arrow is the only hero I think of as older as past 40 since they constantly hint at him being older than Black Canary and being closer to Batman’s age makes more sense

I kinda like the idea of Superman and Batman being around for years before their other Justice League contemporaries, since it does mirror real-world publication history to some extent (WW is already established as being around since the 40's).

Roughly speaking, in my ideal timeline, Superman and Batman first showed up over 20 years ago. Somewhere between 15-20 years ago, other heroes like Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman etc. started showing up (and Wonder Woman re-emerged) and the Justice League was formed towards the end of that period. I see the original Titans as having been formed maybe 15 or so years ago (putting them in their late 20's or early 30's now). COIE was somewhere between 12-15 years ago, and Tim's Young Justice generation showed up a little over 10 years ago (same time as Jon was born). The likes of Damian, Emiko and their generation have been around less than 5 years.

[MajorHoy]

The fact that Huntress’s timeline is probably not sticking around shouldn’t really affect the past, though. I was under the impression she comes from an alternate future, but the past up until her arrival in the present should still happen the same way IMO.

But since Per Degaton is also messing around with the past, her past may also be subject to change. So those dates of what happened already could still change (or be nebulously undefined) when all is said and done.

[JBatmanFan05]

LOL. In that case, Superman should be perpetually 38.

I'm sure some writer or editor is salivating at that idea (Action 1 cover dated June 1938 means Superman should ideally/perpetually be 38 yrs old), waiting to be deemed so clever and genius.

I really do seriously think Tec 27 being from 1939 decided Batman's age here. I'm not just being flippant.

[bat39]

So I've decided to try making another valiant attempt at figuring out Johns' timeline because...why the heck not

I still believe that Batman (and the rest of the DCU sans the Golden Agers) should be on a 20+ year timeline, but for better or worse, right now, Johns' timeline is the closest thing we have to settled canon on this subject. So I'm trying to work with what he's established here.

The big assumption I'm making here is that panel from Year One of Selina leaping into the night is just a broad visual reference, but doesn't literally mean that Year One was 13 years ago (though that was likely Johns' intention). All it means is that 13 years ago, for whatever reason, Selina put on that costume when she went on a crime spree (and as we know from The New Golden Age, that's when she encountered Dr. Fate).

So when was Year One? Well, here's another assumption I'm making...the Wayne murders were 31 years ago. Maybe Bruce was 10 at the time, and he became Batman at 25, about 15 years later i.e. 16 years ago. Which would mean that Selina encountered Dr. Fate sometime during Year Four.

Incidentially, it makes more sense for Dr. Fate to be around and active during Year Four of Batman's career than Year One...especially if you assume that the JSA returned (from Limbo? the past? another reality? just plain retirement?) only sometime after the JLA was formed.

Now this timeline actually makes Damian's age workable, since we can assume that Damian was conceived sometime during Year Two or Year Three. It requires some retconning, but not a lot, especially if Dick is already around as Robin.

So based on these markers, here's my attempt at putting together a Batman timeline (and a wider DCU timeline where possible, indicated in italics).

41 years ago: Bruce Wayne is born.

31 years ago: Thomas and Martha are murdered.

23 years ago: Bruce leaves Gotham to travel and train.

16 years ago: Bruce returns to Gotham and becomes Batman. Selina becomes Catwoman.

15 years ago: Dick becomes Robin. Bruce first encounters Talia and Ra's. Damian is conceived. The Justice League is formed.

14 years ago: Damian is born.

13 years ago: The JSA, or at least some members like Dr. Fate, re-emerge. Catwoman (wearing her original costume) encounters Dr. Fate.

11 years ago: Jon Kent is born, with Batman and Wonder Woman bearing witness.

9 years ago: Dick becomes Nightwing. Jason Todd becomes Robin COIE occurs? The rest of the JSA integrate into the present-day timeline?

8 years ago: Jason dies. Barbara is paralyzed. Tim becomes Robin.

6 years ago: Jason returns as Red Hood. Selina learns Bruce's identity.

5 years ago: Bruce meets Damian.

4 years ago: Damian becomes Robin. Flashpoint occurs. Barbara returns as Batgirl.

So it all kinda holds together, if you make a few assumptions and retcons. For instance, Dick would have been in his first year as Robin when he was abducted by Ra's instead of being in college. The Death/Return of Superman and the Lois-Clark marriage happened while Dick was still Robin. Where the JSA fits in is pretty complicated...Dr. Fate would have been around in the JLA's sliding timeline 13 years ago...so was that before or after the JLA experienced their version of COIE? When exactly did the JSA get integrated into the JLA's timeline? Or were they all physically around for the decades between the 70's/80's and 10-15 years ago?

Anyway, under this theory, Bruce is 41, Damian is 14, Dick is 27, Jason is 20, Tim is around 19-20...yeah I guess they're broadly the ages at which DC is comfortable putting them. I think Superman may have started out a few years before Batman.