Ages of Characters

[marhawkman]

If we go with the pre flashpoint ages, and go with Damian being now 14, the Titians would Tim's Gen would be 21 and based on that Dick's Gen should imo be arround 29.

If we go with "Shoes is Lian Haper" the Titans would need to be in their mid 30, since she was born when they were arround 20.

So Kon-El and Cassandra Sandsmark would be early 20s?(or late 20s if the Shoes thing is true)

[Refrax5]

Wasn't that in the infamous "who changes the batmobile tires interview"?

I don't believe it was the same one, but my memory of that interview is fuzzy.

[Holt]

The Titans should be in their twenties.

No idea when this is set. Don't really care. 70's maybe since Karen's a member.

Wally is using a smartphone and promoting a twitter hashtag so it’s probably some time nebulously in the 2010s.

[Tzigone]

While not really relevant to current ages, how old do you perceive Barry and Hal when starting their superhero careers?

I recall that Barry had his 10 year college reunion in the silver age. A few years later he had his 10 year high school reunion. I tend to go with the latter, since he's so several times described as a "young scientist."

Hal has some timeslide issues. I recall shortly after he left Coast City, he said he was in the Korean War, but I could be misremembering. How long did pilots have to stay in the military back then?

[marhawkman]

While not really relevant to current ages, how old do you perceive Barry and Hal when starting their superhero careers?

I recall that Barry had his 10 year college reunion in the silver age. A few years later he had his 10 year high school reunion. I tend to go with the latter, since he's so several times described as a "young scientist."

Hal has some timeslide issues. I recall shortly after he left Coast City, he said he was in the Korean War, but I could be misremembering. How long did pilots have to stay in the military back then?

Well, you didn't even get to BE a pilot as a recruit. that was years of training before they even let you touch a real military jet. Sooo probably late 20s.. mid-20s is pushing it. And when you figure in his relationship with CAROL.... early to mid 30s makes more sense.... maybe 40s. Why? well, he was a skilled military Pilot... who got selected to test planes made by Ferris Aircraft as a military contract... then got grabbed after doing that for years. That's a lot of time doing... stuff.

[Tzigone]

Well, you didn't even get to BE a pilot as a recruit. that was years of training before they even let you touch a real military jet. Sooo probably late 20s.. mid-20s is pushing it. And when you figure in his relationship with CAROL.... early to mid 30s makes more sense.... maybe 40s. Why? well, he was a skilled military Pilot... who got selected to test planes made by Ferris Aircraft as a military contract... then got grabbed after doing that for years. That's a lot of time doing... stuff.

I'd had the impression (in the silver age comics) that Hal was rather new to Ferris, for some reason. Maybe because it didn't seem to me like he and Carol knew each other that well. He was making moves on her and she was interested (until her dad made her boss) and they just didn't strike me as people who were doing a "friends to lovers" thing. Though, of course, just because they worked at the same place wouldn't mean they necessarily knew each other well.

I do want to track what it took in the 1950s, and not what it takes today (in terms of training time, etc.). I know now that a pilot has to commit to 10 years service. I believe I read it got upped from 8 years when Top Gun in the 1980s because a lot young men thought it sounded cool. But even that's 30 years too late for what I'm looking for. And, of course, how much did the Korean War affect supply and demand? I looked at the list of Korean War Aces and it looks like the youngest would have been 30 in 1959. Most seem to have been born 1924-1926, and some were 1918-1919.

Of course, you aren't entirely wrong about ages - when I look at the big name test pilots who flew the well known planes in the 1940s, they are guys in their 20s. They got a lot of flight experience during WWII. In the late 1950s...I see a lot of the same names. But Hal could

[Refrax5]

While not really relevant to current ages, how old do you perceive Barry and Hal when starting their superhero careers?

I recall that Barry had his 10 year college reunion in the silver age. A few years later he had his 10 year high school reunion. I tend to go with the latter, since he's so several times described as a "young scientist."

Hal has some timeslide issues. I recall shortly after he left Coast City, he said he was in the Korean War, but I could be misremembering. How long did pilots have to stay in the military back then?

I always figured Barry was in his early to mid 20s when he started out, particularly since, as you said, he's described as young repeatedly in those old stories.

In the older continuity, I would have guessed Hal was late 20s at the youngest. I did the math on the Johns' version, though. It's said in that run, he joined the military on his 18th birthday and left to see his ailing mother four or five years later (according to his brother), which makes him 22 or 23 when he gets the ring in Secret Origin. The present day part of that series said Abin Sur's ship crashed 13 years earlier, making Hal 35/36 at the start of the Johns run.

[bat39]

While not really relevant to current ages, how old do you perceive Barry and Hal when starting their superhero careers?

I recall that Barry had his 10 year college reunion in the silver age. A few years later he had his 10 year high school reunion. I tend to go with the latter, since he's so several times described as a "young scientist."

Hal has some timeslide issues. I recall shortly after he left Coast City, he said he was in the Korean War, but I could be misremembering. How long did pilots have to stay in the military back then?

I think Barry was probably in his early-to-mid 20's.

Hal was likely a bit older...maybe late 20's or 30 at most. But not too much older than Barry and his other JLA contemporaries. Given that they started to show Hal greying early Post-Crisis, I do feel they intended him to be a bit older at some point.

A lot of this is actually down to changing perceptions of age. Back in the 50's and 60's, being a 20-something meant that you were a full-fledged and competent adult. Today, your 20's (particularly the early 20's) is kinda like an extended adolescence

I mean, people used to complain about Grant Gustin's Barry Allen feeling too 'young' and 'immature' early in the show. But the character was 25 in Season 1, probably around the same age as the comic-book Barry was when he was struck by lightning! Yet, early Silver Age Barry feels so much more mature (more like a 30 year old in today's terms).

[Tzigone]

In the older continuity, I would have guessed Hal was late 20s at the youngest. I did the math on the Johns' version, though. It's said in that run, he joined the military on his 18th birthday and left to see his ailing mother four or five years later (according to his brother), which makes him 22 or 23 when he gets the ring in Secret Origin. The present day part of that series said Abin Sur's ship crashed 13 years earlier, making Hal 35/36 at the start of the Johns run.

Oh, sure, but that's later. I was talking about just the silver age, not the bronze. Trying to get an idea what he was intended to be at the time he was created, as for some characters, ideas shift later.

A lot of this is actually down to changing perceptions of age. Back in the 50's and 60's, being a 20-something meant that you were a full-fledged and competent adult. Today, your 20's (particularly the early 20's) is kinda like an extended adolescence

I do think that's accurate, and it's a reason I was thinking about the characters when they were created, and not later. Also, the (non-Gar) NTT were also typically treated as largely as adults even much later, especially after the earliest storylines, but people now find it strange for 20 year olds to act as such. Although it's always a mixed bag. Despite so many adult expectations of younger people, voting age was still 21 until 1971.

[Aahz]

So Kon-El and Cassandra Sandsmark would be early 20s?(or late 20s if the Shoes thing is true)

Yeah or at least Cassandra would be, Kon-Els age is of course a bit tricky.

The Shoes thing would also push push Batman and All Characters of his generation into their late 40s.

I think currently Shoes, Damian and Jon are the characters who's ages feel the most out of sync with the rest of the Universe.

[marhawkman]

Yeah or at least Cassandra would be, Kon-Els age is of course a bit tricky.

The Shoes thing would also push push Batman and All Characters of his generation into their late 40s.

I think currently Shoes, Damian and Jon are the characters who's ages feel the most out of sync with the rest of the Universe.

Batman being in his 40s works with the age of Damian, since Bruce had been Batman for quite a while before he met Talia.

[j9ac9k]

I seem to remember when pretty much ever hero who wasn't a teen was perpetually 29. (Was it "Long Bow Hunters" that broke that ceiling?) But now it seems most heroes of the generation that date back to the Silver Age are hovering between 35 - 40 which I am fine with.

[Aahz]

Batman being in his 40s works with the age of Damian, since Bruce had been Batman for quite a while before he met Talia.

But I think they retconned when they met.

If you go by the original comics they didn't met until Dick was in collage, if we use that as refernce point Damian being 14 would mean that Dick would have to be roughly 33 and Bruce between 46 and 48 i think.

I we assume that Lian is at least 15 Dick would have to be at least 35 and Bruce between 48 and 50.

[bat39]

But I think they retconned when they met.

If you go by the original comics they didn't met until Dick was in collage, if we use that as refernce point Damian being 14 would mean that Dick would have to be roughly 33 and Bruce between 46 and 48 i think.

I we assume that Lian is at least 15 Dick would have to be at least 35 and Bruce between 48 and 50.

That's the thing...I dunno when and where they did this retcon of Bruce's meeting with Talia which people are talking about. As late as Hush, it's explicitly mentioned that Batman first met Ra's when Dick was kidnapped from his college dorm.

The way I see it, Dick had to be at least 17 at the time. I think he started as Robin at 12 at the latest, and that was 2 years into Batman's career at the earliest. So that puts Damian's conception in Year Eight at earliest. We can squeeze things a bit perhaps (let Dick start as Robin a little older, or a little earlier in Batman's career), but I doubt we can push it to earlier than Year Six. And frankly, it's against the spirit of the original Batman/Ra's/Talia story to push it too early because the whole point of those relationships is that Batman is a veteran hero of global renown whom Ra's views as a worthy successor...not some rookie vigilante.

Considering that Damian is now 14, we're at least in Year Twenty-One of Batman's career now, making Bruce around 46. Which I'm perfectly fine with.

[Restingvoice]

If we go with the pre flashpoint ages, and go with Damian being now 14, the Titians would Tim's Gen would be 21 and based on that Dick's Gen should imo be arround 29.

If we go with "Shoes is Lian Haper" the Titans would need to be in their mid 30, since she was born when they were arround 20.

Unless they made when she was born earlier, like how we have to automatically make Damian's birth earlier
Like for example if Roy and Jade met when they're 18, though that still made Lian at most 12

That's the thing...I dunno when and where they did this retcon of Bruce's meeting with Talia which people are talking about. As late as Hush, it's explicitly mentioned that Batman first met Ra's when Dick was kidnapped from his college dorm.

The way I see it, Dick had to be at least 17 at the time. I think he started as Robin at 12 at the latest, and that was 2 years into Batman's career at the earliest. So that puts Damian's conception in Year Eight at earliest. We can squeeze things a bit perhaps (let Dick start as Robin a little older, or a little earlier in Batman's career), but I doubt we can push it to earlier than Year Six. And frankly, it's against the spirit of the original Batman/Ra's/Talia story to push it too early because the whole point of those relationships is that Batman is a veteran hero of global renown whom Ra's views as a worthy successor...not some rookie vigilante.

Considering that Damian is now 14, we're at least in Year Twenty-One of Batman's career now, making Bruce around 46. Which I'm perfectly fine with.

Writers will always refer to how it's originally depicted no matter how it doesn't fit and even if they have an official timeline
It's like how they insist that Jon was born after Clois marriage after Death and Return of Superman, while saying that happened 12 years ago (Jon's Rebirth age plus Infinite Frontier without the age up), which would bump up Tim Drake's age to 26 (as well as bumping up everyone else's ages) even though it's implied he and Bernard is in college age range now