Hypothetical DCU: Change ONE aspect of a classic story you like.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

On the Hal Jordan thread, we're in the middle of spit-balling how Geoff Johns' GL run would have worked out had he been asked to use Kyle instead of Hal and it's got my nerd brain a tinglin'...

Here's the premise: Take a classic DCU story you LIKE and alter ONE aspect of it and try to figure out how that would alter it in interesting ways

PLEASE NOTE: This is not yet another avenue to bitch and moan about stories we don't like. We've got enough negativity already, this thread isn't here to contribute further to it.

Here's a few ideas to get you started...

The 90s Batman in which Jason Todd lives.

Giffen & DeMatties Justice League, but if the roster had remained the same as what was established in Legends

[Buried Alien]

Since you went with BATMAN: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, I'll recycle my version of BATMAN: A LONELY PLACE OF DYING:

1. Instead of Two-Face, the enemy would be the JOKER, last seen in A DEATH IN THE FAMILY after killing Robin/Jason Todd.

2. Tim Drake successfully persuades Dick Grayson to reclaim the Robin mantle...but only for ONE LAST time. Dick agrees to do it for Bruce, to snap him out of the reckless, violent streak he'd been on since Jason's death, but only for this one last time.

3. Batman and Robin (Dick Grayson, one last time) take on the Joker, but when they get trapped, it's Tim Drake (in his civilian clothes) who outsmarts the Joker and saves them. Tim saves the day by using his brains, something that does not go unnoticed by Bruce and Dick. Tim's strategic thinking and wit save the day, but in honor of Robin, Dick actually gets the physical, KO punch on the Joker.

4. Seeing Dick fight at his side as Robin again, and seeing Tim defeating the Joker through wit and strategy, persuades Bruce that perhaps he should give Robin another shot. At this point, Tim thinks Dick has decided to resume being Robin permanently, but Dick and Bruce surprise Tim by offering the role to HIM.

Afterwards, DCU history proceeds pretty much as we know it.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[BohemiaDrinker]

Crisis on Infinite Earths: Barry doesn't "die": I mean, he does die, but before dying, he actually gets lost in time. *

When Barry dies in COIE, we see him getting older and older, so my pitch would be that his last race in COIE would be run in parts, in several periods of his life, and each time he came back to run it, he'd be thrown in a different time period.

Now, as far as anyone was concerned, Barry would still be dead at first. Wally would take over, etc, but the end would have an epilogue Final Crisis style showing Barry at say, the 31st century. While we would have Wally's career exactly the same (with a few minor adjustments) up until say the end of Waid's run, we could use Barry to tell time traveling stories alongside the future Flashes. Then, when someone needed him in the Justice League, he could just pop up in the present for a few months, when Wally would go on vacation.

BTW, Iris would follow him along.

I do have this scene in my head about Barry's death. He'd be alongside John Fox, in the 853rd century, really old, besides Iris tombstone, knowing that he would soon have his last race, and one by one all the Flashes from all the time periods would start appearing to run it alongside him, and they would all follow him, one by one, all being outraced until only Barry and Wally remained, Barry then stealing Wally's speed (the only time he would pull this trick) so he could go fast enough and saving the multiverse.

This way we could have Wally as we all love him (well, except those who don't), never really loose Barry while still keeping his ultimate sacrifice and still use any of the two Flashes on demand, whatever the need of the story.

(In my head this is a really well developed solution, but I'm not a fanfic writer nor paid by DC, so I never committed it to paper).


*This is not 100% my idea, but an extrapolation of the solution Marv Wolfman kept hidden in COIE in case they ever wanted to bring back Barry.

[Buried Alien]

Crisis on Infinite Earths: Barry doesn't "die": I mean, he does die, but before dying, he actually gets lost in time. *

When Barry dies in COIE, we see him getting older and older, so my pitch would be that his last race in COIE would be run in parts, in several periods of his life, and each time he came back to run it, he'd be thrown in a different time period.

Now, as far as anyone was concerned, Barry would still be dead at first. Wally would take over, etc, but the end would have an epilogue Final Crisis style showing Barry at say, the 31st century. While we would have Wally's career exactly the same (with a few minor adjustments) up until say the end of Waid's run, we could use Barry to tell time traveling stories alongside the future Flashes. Then, when someone needed him in the Justice League, he could just pop up in the present for a few months, when Wally would go on vacation.

BTW, Iris would follow him along.

I do have this scene in my head about Barry's death. He'd be alongside John Fox, in the 853rd century, really old, besides Iris tombstone, knowing that he would soon have his last race, and one by one all the Flashes from all the time periods would start appearing to run it alongside him, and they would all follow him, one by one, all being outraced until only Barry and Wally remained, Barry then stealing Wally's speed (the only time he would pull this trick) so he could go fast enough and saving the multiverse.

This way we could have Wally as we all love him (well, except those who don't), never really loose Barry while still keeping his ultimate sacrifice and still use any of the two Flashes on demand, whatever the need of the story.

(In my head this is a really well developed solution, but I'm not a fanfic writer nor paid by DC, so I never committed it to paper).


*This is not 100% my idea, but an extrapolation of the solution Marv Wolfman kept hidden in COIE in case they ever wanted to bring back Barry.

I like it, I like it.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[BohemiaDrinker]

I like it, I like it.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I imagined you would.

You know I'm a huge fan of the Flash legacy/dynasty aspect, and Wally is by far my favorite, but I always felt that, for a time traveling hero, Barry had way too little interaction with his successors. This would cement his legend status while keeping the best aspects of the developments from Wally's period. And, IMHO, would be a more elegant and less traumatic solution than the whole "generates the speed force" thing Johns pulled to make him relevant.

[married guy]

Crisis on Infinite Earths: Barry doesn't "die": I mean, he does die, but before dying, he actually gets lost in time. *

When Barry dies in COIE, we see him getting older and older, so my pitch would be that his last race in COIE would be run in parts, in several periods of his life, and each time he came back to run it, he'd be thrown in a different time period.

Now, as far as anyone was concerned, Barry would still be dead at first. Wally would take over, etc, but the end would have an epilogue Final Crisis style showing Barry at say, the 31st century. While we would have Wally's career exactly the same (with a few minor adjustments) up until say the end of Waid's run, we could use Barry to tell time traveling stories alongside the future Flashes. Then, when someone needed him in the Justice League, he could just pop up in the present for a few months, when Wally would go on vacation.

BTW, Iris would follow him along.

I do have this scene in my head about Barry's death. He'd be alongside John Fox, in the 853rd century, really old, besides Iris tombstone, knowing that he would soon have his last race, and one by one all the Flashes from all the time periods would start appearing to run it alongside him, and they would all follow him, one by one, all being outraced until only Barry and Wally remained, Barry then stealing Wally's speed (the only time he would pull this trick) so he could go fast enough and saving the multiverse.

This way we could have Wally as we all love him (well, except those who don't), never really loose Barry while still keeping his ultimate sacrifice and still use any of the two Flashes on demand, whatever the need of the story.

(In my head this is a really well developed solution, but I'm not a fanfic writer nor paid by DC, so I never committed it to paper).


*This is not 100% my idea, but an extrapolation of the solution Marv Wolfman kept hidden in COIE in case they ever wanted to bring back Barry.

Yup. I like this idea too. It's a win-win for everybody.
I always thought Marv's idea was a great way to get people interested in Barry again. Living on borrowed time, never knowing when his death would catch up to him.
That said, if DC did go that way, we never would have had Wally take over the mantle so.....

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I like it, I like it.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I can feel you breathing heavy through the internet, Buried.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I imagined you would.

You know I'm a huge fan of the Flash legacy/dynasty aspect, and Wally is by far my favorite, but I always felt that, for a time traveling hero, Barry had way too little interaction with his successors. This would cement his legend status while keeping the best aspects of the developments from Wally's period. And, IMHO, would be a more elegant and less traumatic solution than the whole "generates the speed force" thing Johns pulled to make him relevant.

If Barry generating the Speed Force actually led to interesting stories, I would have been more on board with it, but it didn't. When DC decided to bring Barry back as the main Flash, I always thought that they should have sent Wally & company off through timestream and the Multiverse having crazy adventures. The crazier and more sci-fi goofy Flash is, the better.

[greatmetropolitan]

*puts on Flak jacket*

I'd have kept Hal Jordan as Parallax, an anti-hero figure who you might agree with sometimes. DC's version of Macbeth and Magneto.

In Death of Superman, I'd have had a real JLA take on Doomsday before Clark shows and takes him down. Just give it more gravitas. And the fight would have have been a global affair with a "We need this off-world before earth breaks" moment.

[king81992]

Terra survived Judas Contract and gradually reforms into an antihero/anti-villain.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

*puts on Flak jacket*

I'd have kept Hal Jordan as Parallax, an anti-hero figure who you might agree with sometimes. DC's version of Macbeth and Magneto.

In Death of Superman, I'd have had a real JLA take on Doomsday before Clark shows and takes him down. Just give it more gravitas. And the fight would have have been a global affair with a "We need this off-world before earth breaks" moment.

You must have loved the recent Death of Superman movie then

[greatmetropolitan]

You must have loved the recent Death of Superman movie then

No complaints here!

[Ascended]

I like a lot of the ideas here.

For me, I'd have changed the ending of Infinite Crisis. Rather than the Trinity all being friends again and the villains' Society in ruins, I'd have kept the heroes fractured and the villains united. And that would've become the new status quo for the DCU; with heroes falling into one of three "camps" each with a different outlook on heroism, and Lex Luthor ruling the Society from the shadows, with no one realizing the bad guys are still working together.

Would've added a little moral complexity to the DCU going forward, rather than wrapping everything up with a bow and sending it back to factory settings status quo.

[Jon Clark]

I'd have given Hal some supporters in Zero Hour.
What if instead of some alternate Barbara Gordon, it had really been Oracle given back her undamaged body?
Wally being given the ability to have Barry back when Hal rewrote the events of Crisis? And with Wally not only considering the impact on him, but Iris as well?
Aquaman offered the chance to get Arthur Jr.'s death undone.
Superman having his memory of Kara restored along with the chance to undo her death?

[BohemiaDrinker]

I'd have given Hal some supporters in Zero Hour.
What if instead of some alternate Barbara Gordon, it had really been Oracle given back her undamaged body?
Wally being given the ability to have Barry back when Hal rewrote the events of Crisis? And with Wally not only considering the impact on him, but Iris as well?
Aquaman offered the chance to get Arthur Jr.'s death undone.
Superman having his memory of Kara restored along with the chance to undo her death?

I don't have the links to it anymore, and it's almost impossible to find again, but I remember that the original idea for Zero Hour would be we ending up with 3 earths: current DCU, Silver Agers Earth-1 and golden-agers Earth-2.

Sadly, Jurgens was blocked.