So, Convergence does not count anymore?

[dcdrew]

A year ago Convergence undid 1985 CRISIS and restored the Infinite Earths Multiverse. That's how pre-Flashpoint Superman, Lois and Jon came to New 52 Earth. In Rebirth, however, Wally told Barry New 52 Earth is a revised pre-FP Earth (supposedly by Dr. Manhattan) and Mr. Oz told old Superman that he, Lois, Jon, and fallen Superman are not what they appear.

With Earth 2:Society still being published there must still be a Multiverse, but how many Earths and for how long? Is DC ignoring Convergence and Rebirth will be another 1986 cluttered Earth?

I loved DC Universe Rebirth and plan to follow all the Rebirth titles, but I also love the DC Multiverse and there are still questions about that. Does Watchmen exist on its own Earth for example?

Geoff Johns said the 1st Rebirth stories tie into a 2 years arc. Will it culminate in 2018 (Superman's 80th anniversary) with a battle against Dr. Manhattan?

[Batowl]

Convergence counts. It stated the multiverse is infinite now and the old characters are reborn as the new ones ie earth 2 is the old earth 2 reborn into a new life.

Dc 52 was already culttered, Shazam, Cap atom, wildstorm etc, I think the reveal is that Superman was never folded in and a sandman was instead. A reverse swamp thing saga of sorts.

[Prisoner 6655321]

Sure, this is me grasping at straws here but could it be that Pre-Flashpoint folks were simply abducted by Brainiac before Flashpoint which boils down to Doc Manhattan reshaping reality, adding any "missing" elements (such as abducted Lois and Clark) more or less whole cloth biased on something like historical negative space that he can perceive with his godlike vision.

[Batowl]

Brainiac was using hyper-time before it collasped. The rest got morphed into the worlds we have now in a cosmic feedback.

[Lee Stone]

Geoff Johns said the 1st Rebirth stories tie into a 2 years arc. Will it culminate in 2018 (Superman's 80th anniversary) with a battle against Dr. Manhattan?

Yes, two years... Action Comics #1000.

However...
What's not clear right now is which Superman will be the one to become THE Superman for the Anniversary.
It could be the original Golden Age Superman for all we know.

Also unclear, as of yet, is whether Dr. Manhattan is the 'Big Bad' of the arc or if he's simply preventing a worse evil from taking hold in the best way he knows how.
Or if he is somehow being manipulated.
Or if he is simply a McGuffin to draw attention from the real threat.

[TacoKid]

I know a lot of folks enjoy this whole aspect of comics, being a long time reader myself I admittedly like a little of it myself, but good grief it's getting to the point to where the more I hear, the less I find myself being interested.

It's like talking about what is happening than something actually happening. I want to care, I really do, but it just becomes mind-numbing and hard to enjoy.

[Batowl]

Yes, two years... Action Comics #1000.

However...
What's not clear right now is which Superman will be the one to become THE Superman for the Anniversary.
It could be the original Golden Age Superman for all we know.

Also unclear, as of yet, is whether Dr. Manhattan is the 'Big Bad' of the arc or if he's simply preventing a worse evil from taking hold in the best way he knows how.
Or if he is somehow being manipulated.
Or if he is simply a McGuffin to draw attention from the real threat.

I doubt the Golden age one comes back unless if he still in the glass bubble and infinite crisis undone.

[Batowl]

I know a lot of folks enjoy this whole aspect of comics, being a long time reader myself I admittedly like a little of it myself, but good grief it's getting to the point to where the more I hear, the less I find myself being interested.

It's like talking about what is happening than something actually happening. I want to care, I really do, but it just becomes mind-numbing and hard to enjoy.

Honestly only outside the multiverse and Superman and few characters are like that. You can read others without having to know previous comics before 2011.

[Lee Stone]

I doubt the Golden age one comes back unless if he still in the glass bubble and infinite crisis undone.

I doubt it, too...
But if the Rebirth 'multiple Supermen after the Death of Superman' mirrors the Reign of Supermen 'multiple Supermen after the Death of Superman', then factor in the Anniversary Action Comics #1000 most likely being a return to 'one' Superman...
There's only so many Supermen that fit the bill: Pre-Crisis Earth-2 Superman, Pre-Crisis Earth-1 Superman, Post-Crisis Superman, New52 Superman.

It could even be revealed that the Superman who originally returned from the dead, 'Superdad' if you will, was a either a clone or Valor and that the Post-Crisis Superman who "died" was really a robot double that took Superman's place when he was warned from the future (by the Legion) about his death at the hands of Doomsday.
Which would open the door for a return of the Post-Crisis Superman.

[GlennSimpson]

A year ago Convergence undid 1985 CRISIS and restored the Infinite Earths Multiverse. That's how pre-Flashpoint Superman, Lois and Jon came to New 52 Earth. In Rebirth, however, Wally told Barry New 52 Earth is a revised pre-FP Earth (supposedly by Dr. Manhattan) and Mr. Oz told old Superman that he, Lois, Jon, and fallen Superman are not what they appear.

With Earth 2:Society still being published there must still be a Multiverse, but how many Earths and for how long? Is DC ignoring Convergence and Rebirth will be another 1986 cluttered Earth?

I loved DC Universe Rebirth and plan to follow all the Rebirth titles, but I also love the DC Multiverse and there are still questions about that. Does Watchmen exist on its own Earth for example?

Geoff Johns said the 1st Rebirth stories tie into a 2 years arc. Will it culminate in 2018 (Superman's 80th anniversary) with a battle against Dr. Manhattan?

My track of things is this: Crisis didn't get "undone", only the business about the Multiverse being destroyed was changed. At the end of the Crisis, when we thought the multiverse went away, it actually just got hidden a little. A new combined Earth was still formed, it still had Zero Hour and Infinite Crisis and all that leading up to Flashpoint.

Meanwhile, those other Earths were hidden away. When the events of Infinite Crisis/52 brought back the Multiverse, it actually used those previous Earths as building blocks. Those Earths evolved into the pre-Flashpoint multiverse, and the events of Flashpoint had a ripple effect that modified them a little more (thus changing the Infinite Crisis Earth 2 that had the Justice Society Infinity or whatever into the version we saw in the "Earth 2" book).

That said, I don't think DC really has a desire to make the multiverse a big part of their publishing line. Sure, if someone has an idea that involves one of the parallel Earths, I'm sure they'd entertain it, but they aren't going to go looking for it. I think they are going to focus on the main Earth for a while, which will continue to be the new52 version of things, just with some events and situations that resemble those from before, like Green Arrow and Black Canary getting together.

[Robotman]

the infinite multiverse still exists. in Multiversity it's stated that the 52 earths are just one of countless local clusters of earths. Grant has made each multiverse like a separate galaxy. so like the universe itself the multiverse space could be infinite.

[colonyofcells]

In hypertime, nothing is ever lost.

[dcdrew]

I hope Morrison's Multiversity, Too line of graphic novels is still a go and explore even more Earths than the 52 in the Multiversity Guidebook some of those were listed as unknown.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Since nobody can explain or agree what Convergence actually was, I don't think it "counts" anymore. Add to the generally accepted fact that few, if anyone, actually enjoyed Convergence and you've got yourself a perfect recipe for a story that will have little impact beyond returning Pre-Flashpoint Superman, Lois and Jon Kent to current continuity.

[colonyofcells]

After 2 years, there will probably be a big multiverse story that might use most of the universes seen in Convergence.