How would Earth 1 have evolved without COIE?

[phantom1592]

I think it enriches the Batman character when they portray him as having been relatively lighthearted in his early years, but grew grimmer and darker as time went on and terrible tragedies befell him and his allies, than to portray him as this rather static character who has been dark and grim throughout his entire life and career. The Frank Miller Batman is more poignant when you think that earlier in his life, he was the Adam West Batman.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

It's one of the things that I hate about Miller's idea of Batman. Early Batman had much more compassion. Dark and Gritty Batman would have never adopted an orphaned acrobat and raised him to be a hero.

[Frostbite883]

Here are more theories (in no particular order):

Kimiyo Hoshi wouldn't be Doctor Light if it wasn't for the Monitor (who sent a devastating beam of energy towards her which in turn gave her super powers).

Superboy Prime (Clark Kent of Earth-Prime) wouldn't be active until much later on his Earth.

Alexander Luthor, Jr might've had a normal childhood in the non-COIE Multiverse scenario.

Lyla Michaels would of died after a violent storm sunk the ship she was on.

Superboy (Kon-El/Conner Kent) would've been created and could be referred to as Superboy II of Earth One.

Supergirl might forge a new life for herself in the 30th century (like she did in "Whatever Happened to Superman"), leaving the present.

And Black Canary..well, I'll let y'all draw your own conclusions on her.

[popestu]

There would be no Superboy Prime reality-punches.

[Jovos2099]

I think that had coies had happened that dick Grayson and starfire would have gotten married like in the convergence new teen titans series also I would also love it if dc were make a series that followed up on some of the plotthreads left hanging in many of the convergence series

[Jovos2099]

I think it was the detective comics convergence that had original earth two dick Grayson and huntress as a crime fighting duo fight against the red son superman and teamed up with red son Batman and ended with dick deciding to become the new earth two Batman I would love it if dc were make a series that picked up after that.

[bat39]

It would have been a more contextual, evolutionary development rather than the retroactive "he's been like this since before Day One" approach that was implemented after COIE and BATMAN: YEAR ONE. I imagine that Batman/Bruce would have been comparatively easygoing and lighthearted in his early days and when Dick was Robin, and gradually gotten darker after events such as THE KILLING JOKE, A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, KNIGHTFALL, etc.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Which is pretty much what Morrison did eventually with his run, incorporating EVERYTHING (including Year One) into one cohesive narrative of one guy's crazy and at times plain weird life.

Morrison's account of Batman's life mirrors his real-world publication history. He starts out as a grim avenger, but then Robin comes around and he lightens up, becomes more of a superhero rather than a vigilante, and starts fighting colorful villains and going on all kinds of crazy pulpy and sci-fi adventures. Then, Dick grew up and left and flying solo once more, Batman started to get a little darker and a little more 'serious' again. Then stuff like Jason's death, Babs' paralysis, Bane breaking his back, the quake etc. etc. occurred and Bruce started steadily sinking further and further into darkness, culminating of course with Brother Eye. And, having reached this low-point, he started to slowly build himself up again as a relatively more optimistic hero who trusted others.

Also, if you actually consider Year One, and the whole plethora of stories written in that rough era, the early Batman in those stories isn't really that psychologically dark a figure. Yes, he's a vigilante slinking in the shadows, fighting organized crime and emerging villains. Yes, his costume is dark as are all the trappings of his world. Yes, the stories sometimes got dark and serious. But Batman himself comes across more like a fairly well-adjusted person who's using the perception of being a monster to combat the darkness of Gotham City. Bruce Wayne isn't the hollowed out psychological wreck he was in present-day stories, nor was he presented as this cold, un-trusting, domineering madman for the most part. If anything, he's a younger, less experienced version of the guy in the Adams/O'Neil stories of the 70's and others of their ilk. Its only because Batman was becoming that very dark and tortured soul in the contemporary stories of the time that we assume that Year One and stories like it feature a 'dark Batman'.

[The Shredder]

If COIE did not transpire, then continuity within the DCU/Earth-1 would be a bit different, but I am not sure to what degree. I think the changes staff/editorial wanted to happen at the time, would have assuredly still happened whether COIE was published or not. The effect this would have had on character's and storylines that would take place years later is interesting to think about.

Superman: Obviously, no Byrne reboot. I think he would have been powered down regardless. As as far as character's like Supergirl and Krypto, I believe that if DC chose to not outright kill Supergirl, she would have received a long-term hiatus and references to her put to an absolute minimum. Krypto could have easily been drafted to the Legion, where in the core Superman books, you have the human cast with Superman being the only super powered individual being highlighted for some time. If indeed that was DC's intent, in having Superman fly solo for awhile and from what I understand, it was. Could Supergirl and Krypto rejoined Superman in the core books/Metropolis down the line? Sure. No problem! It's a safe bet that would eventually happen. As it often does.

Batman: I see Batman more or less being the same. With the success of DKR, Year One was going to happen anyways. Robin is a interesting thought though. As if the pre-COIE origin to Jason Todd was left intact, it very well could have resulted in a Jason Todd that was never written as a decidedly more brash Robin, but rather a Robin that was in the mold of Dick Grayson. Taking that into account, the whole Death in the Family storyline may have never transpired because the reader reaction to Todd's more Grayson-like portrayal would effectively be different. To me, Jason Todd would have probably enjoyed a long term stint as Robin, with the character of Tim Drake effectively being voided out. As much as I hate to say that, there would literally be no need for Tim Drake to be introduced if we as readers had a Batman with a Jason Todd Robin that was essentially the second coming of Dick Grayson's Robin.

Wonder Woman: Probably nearly the same as we ended up with. George Perez's reboot might have been a very prolonged Year One scenario where her adventures were happening in her past, and only her appearances as guest starring in other books would portray her in present day. Which would ideally be run by Perez in order for whatever then-current book she was guest starring in not clash with what he was creating in her solo title. With Steve Trevor, I can see Perez simply just scaling him back to some degree, where the ageing him up and pairing him up with Etta would have never happened, but rather just have him be a infrequent supporting cast member rather than a main love interest. If we're going off the scenario that it's going to remain in keeping with all the Earth-1 continuity prior to COIE.

Flash: I can see DC keeping Barry in the future for awhile, and having Wally take over the mantle for awhile, if even just to possibly boost interest/sales since the Flash book wasn't really selling anymore, but I can't see that being anything long term and Barry being brought back to being THE Flash would have happened alot sooner than Final crisis. ALOT sooner.

Hawkman: Would have saved alot of continuity trouble.

There's more, but yeah ... very interesting idea to think about for sure!

[Jim Kelly]

There might have been tweaks and retcons, just as there always had been in DC's previous 50 year history, but DC's president and publisher would not have a professional interest in sticking with these changes no matter what the fans felt about them. So it would have been a lot easier for DC to back off from unpopular changes, using the usual fictional machinery--such as saying that a change in Krypton's history was a mere illusion induced by Mr. Mxyzptlk.

The recent retcon that had Black Canary being her own mother could have easily been ironed out. I'd rather think there were two Dinahs--one on Earth-Two and the other on Earth-One. When Dinah and Larry both died on Earth-Two, Dinah of Earth-One read about it in a comic book magazine and was inspired to become her Earth's Black Canary and then join the Justice League. Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt was responsible for any temporary confusion about the two different Canaries--given Johnny had always carried a torch for Dinah of Earth-Two.