Time travel..Pro or Con ?

[W8IN4KAL-EL]

I was just wondering how you all feel about the subject of 'time travel'.I personally can not stand it because it takes all the fun out of things.Superman did it in the movie when Lois dies and the flash has done it countless of times. I think it 'cheapens' the stories because, no matter what happens, they can always go back and change it . It's the equivalent of at the end of a stories or movie one is told it was only a 'dream'..Just my two cents.

[Carabas]

It's like any other plot device or trope: it depends on how it is used.

Most of the time, time travel is not used in the way you describe.

[Outside_85]

I think timetravel can lead to some fun and interesting stories if handled properly. Like showcasing that it is actually very hard to actually do and the ramifications could be enormous if something goes wrong, like the following:

-Flashpoint, Zoom goes back and trips time in certain places to make sure the world as we knew it turned out very differently.
-Titans Tomorrow and the followup, the trip to the 31st century was fine, but the really interesting part is TT meeting their future selves, try to prevent them happening when they get home, only the future follows them back trying to make itself happen.

The alternative is ofcourse to tell something like Marvel is currently doing with the lines of Civil War 2... as in asking the question: is the future mallable? can it be changed? or is it set in stone and nothing can actually change it?

A poor time travel story however is, as you say when its just used to quickly undo certain events... like Superman reversing time.

[W8IN4KAL-EL]

https://comicnewbies.com/2016/06/28/...gods-among-us/

I like what the Flash in 'Injustice gods among us' said about not changing time.

[Outside_85]

https://comicnewbies.com/2016/06/28/...gods-among-us/

I like what the Flash in 'Injustice gods among us' said about not changing time.

I think he is right to a degree, and it is a question of morals in this case.

Yes the injustice-verse is terrible, but Barry is weighting up the other end of the problem; if he went back through time and changed something, it could actually turn out much worse than how it is now... like what if the dictatorial brute Superman wasn't around to hammer Kalibak down, or what if the GLC came calling again? (It's taking the devil you know)

[W8IN4KAL-EL]

Just thought of something..When whom ever goes back and changes the current reality (i.e when Superman changed time to save Lois) does that reality cease to exist or does it become some sort of parallel reality? I think of a dvd that you can erase and record over many times..The items that are 'erased' are not really. They are just dubbed over.

[Outside_85]

Just thought of something..When whom ever goes back and changes the current reality (i.e when Superman changed time to save Lois) does that reality cease to exist or does it become some sort of parallel reality? I think of a dvd that you can erase and record over many times..The items that are 'erased' are not really. They are just dubbed over.

In the movie, no, Superman just arrived on time to save her instead of being late.
The the comics, technically there is a billion alternate timelines out there where things had been done differently. They are all 'proper' timelines in their own right, and only alternate to the one we readers are normally following, so yes you could consider them to be parrallel dimensions.

[Lightning Rider]

I prefer it used to revisit or even cause the past as known by the traveler.

It's silly but I subscribe to the belief that you can't change the past, because the past influenced your decision to go back in the first place. So it should loop. Though I can't say it bothers me too much when things are changed here and there. It shouldn't be easy and convenient, and almost never is for the characters.

It should be used sparingly, but I can say some of my favorite moments in comics have come out of time travel. One in particular is a favorite:

[dancj]

I love a good time travel story. Very few good time travel stories make it possible to just go back and fix everything.

What they did at the end of Superman The Movie was a terrible cop-out ending.