The original plan

[Nightcrawler92]

Was Flashpoint always meant to change the universe? I just recently reread Flashpoint 5 and it occurred to me that this has never been stated (I think). Thoughts on how it would have ended without you know, a reboot?

[GlennSimpson]

If they didn't want to reboot, they could have just had Flash put everything back the way it was.

Except maybe for one or two things that would have driven upcoming Flash stories or something.

[Lee Stone]

Was Flashpoint always meant to change the universe?

No.
I believe it was a Flash story that got shoehorned into rebooting the DCU when they scrambled to hastily revamp the line after heat from up top.
There really was no plan at all.

However, they have thought quick on their feet as Pandora evidenced early on. And Johns has managed to make lemonade by crafting an epic story that manages to give at least Justice League a direction. Same could be said for Snyder's Batman.
Interestingly, those are also the only launch titles still around with the original creators.

[Dataweaver]

Err… wasn't Snyder brought in later? What I remember is that Morrison was still doing his Batman epic when Flashpoint hit.

But no, I'm pretty sure that rebooting the universe wasn't the original plan for Flashpoint. For whatever that's worth.

[Buried Alien]

FLASHPOINT was originally probably meant to be the FLASH franchise's equivalent of SINESTRO CORPS WAR. Geoff Johns wanted to repeat his successful formula for revitalizing the GREEN LANTERN franchise to THE FLASH, but for various reasons, this endeavor was not altogether successful.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lee Stone]

Err… wasn't Snyder brought in later? What I remember is that Morrison was still doing his Batman epic when Flashpoint hit.

But no, I'm pretty sure that rebooting the universe wasn't the original plan for Flashpoint. For whatever that's worth.

I was referring to Snyder on Batman, which he's been writing since #1.
He's been doing a pretty good job keeping a high profile on the title, with Year One, Death of the Family and Endgame.

Batman and Justice League are the only two books that still have the same writers, and they're also the two that have made good use of the reboot.

Any success that New52 has seen in the last four years is not due to the reboot itself... but rather, the efforts of Johns and Snyder on their books.
Granted, both writers didn't have these plans before the reboot.
They had to step up to the plate after the fact.

[superduperman]

It would be interesting to get someone at DC to officially confirm this. We know the reboot was in the works for a while. The Wonder Woman "soft" reboot a few months before was precisely because of it. So was Grounded. So was the ending that the JSA got where Alan Scott dies. Superman kind of got an "ending". With all the hubbub around the New 52, people kind of forgot some of the storylines that were going on right before. Most series just got stopped dead in the water.

[king of hybrids]

as i understand it; Johns originally meant Flashpoint to be the Flash franchise equivalent of SC war and to be the launch point for more flash-related books (Speed force, kid flash etc) but didio, nelson and lee managed to convince/shanghai him, snyder and morrison into making it a reboot fairly late in the game; to the point that everyone else had only a month or 2 to wrap everything up

[Slaughter]

I could see DC using Flashpoint sorta like Zero Hour was used (and aparently Convergence will, too) - to clean house on some things and fix others.
Maybe that's what happened on Earth-Prime 2.