The Unofficial Rebirth Timeline of the DCU: Version 2.1

[Bored at 3:00AM]

So, now pre-Flashpoint Superman took New 52 Superman's place across history, with the latter having never existed?

No, they both existed. It was revealed that Superman & Lois had been split in two by whomsoever is manipulating the DCU. One half retained their memories of the Pre-Flashpoint history, the other half remembered only the New 52 history. When they were merged, they essentially created a new history for the DCU that is a combination of both the pre-flashpoint and new 52 histories, which had already begun to happen when OG Wally West escaped the Speed Force.

This Superman and Lois share elements of all their previous incarnations.

[WebLurker]

No, they both existed. It was revealed that Superman & Lois had been split in two by whomsoever is manipulating the DCU. One half retained their memories of the Pre-Flashpoint history, the other half remembered only the New 52 history. When they were merged, they essentially created a new history for the DCU that is a combination of both the pre-flashpoint and new 52 histories, which had already begun to happen when OG Wally West escaped the Speed Force.

This Superman and Lois share elements of all their previous incarnations.

That sound more confusing than the original idea (pre-Flashpoint Superman and family survived the universe's reboot and took over when his new universe's counterpart died).

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

That sound more confusing than the original idea (pre-Flashpoint Superman and family survived the universe's reboot and took over when his new universe's counterpart died).

Well, in actuality, it so far looks to be pretty much a merger in name only. The Action 977-78 issues pretty much showed us that Superman's history just reverted back to his Pre-Flashpoint history. Superman's relationship and marriage to Lois played out the same way, he met all his villains the same way as he did Pre-FP. Several benchmark moments of his superhero career probably played out the same way. In essence, they basically did erase New 52 Superman from existence.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Well, in actuality, it so far looks to be pretty much a merger in name only...
In essence, they basically did erase New 52 Superman from existence.

I disagree. While the broad strokes of his Pre-Flashpoint career are there, so are elements of his New 52 adventures, otherwise we wouldn't be seeing villains from that era, along with the death of the Kents in the exact same manner they died in the New 52. Obviously, there's a lot more of the Pre-Flashpoint history because that's literally decades worth of stories as opposed to only 5 years of the New 52, much of which isn't going to work within the new merged history that includes a married Superman with a ten year old son. So, yeah, the Wonder Woman romance is gone, but a lot the New 52 stuff is still there. It happened differently, of course, but so did the Pre-Flashpoint stuff because of Jon's retroactive insertion into history

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

I disagree. While the broad strokes of his Pre-Flashpoint career are there, so are elements of his New 52 adventures, otherwise we wouldn't be seeing villains from that era, along with the death of the Kents in the exact same manner they died in the New 52. Obviously, there's a lot more of the Pre-Flashpoint history because that's literally decades worth of stories as opposed to only 5 years of the New 52, much of which isn't going to work within the new merged history that includes a married Superman with a ten year old son. So, yeah, the Wonder Woman romance is gone, but a lot the New 52 stuff is still there. It happened differently, of course, but so did the Pre-Flashpoint stuff because of Jon's retroactive insertion into history

The difference being that we actually see them flashing back to specific moments in Pre-FP's history and reverting the villains, Superman's own relationships, etc. all back to the way they were before Flashpoint. We don't really see any specificity when they address the "New 52" adventures, almost all of which would have to be heavily rewritten and altered to the extent that they basically didn't happen in the first place. The fact that nobody seems to know Clark is Superman anymore points to Truth no longer being canon (which is actually something I'd like to see them explore again, except, you know, better). Mxy being back to his Pre-FP self makes it impossible for the Morrison stuff with Vyn to be canon. Metallo and Brainiac both got their Pre-FP looks back, meaning that Morrison's origin is no longer canon. Jean and T-shirt Superman is out. His relationship with Wonder Woman is likely gone. His trunks are back. Secret Origin has gone back to being his origin. You get where I'm going.

The "new" history is essentially just Pre-Flashpoint Superman putting on the N52 suit for a bit and fighting some of those villains, which is fine. I'm okay with grafting some of the N52 elements onto my Superman, but it does mostly seem as just that: they added N52 onto Pre-Flashpoint, not the other way around. Will something come along to contradict that? Who knows? Maybe.

I still kind of wish they had waited for the end of Rebirth to fully integrate Superman back into the timeline, though. It just seems more convoluted. It would have been more straightforward to simply bring Superman in on the Rebirth mystery.

[Punjabi_Hitman]

How come your history doesn't acknowledge Flashpoint? It's in canon with the Button crossover.

[DCJdog]

The whole thing is confusing and nonsensical to me. I mean, you have two personas living in one body with two different histories . . . but now one merged history? Huh?

I mean, I get that comics put forth all sorts of wonky stuff, and I love wonky stuff, but this is funky. I am going to wait and see how everything is resolved when Rebirth plays out before I get invested.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

The whole thing is confusing and nonsensical to me. I mean, you have two personas living in one body with two different histories . . . but now one merged history? Huh?

I mean, I get that comics put forth all sorts of wonky stuff, and I love wonky stuff, but this is funky. I am going to wait and see how everything is resolved when Rebirth plays out before I get invested.

Aside from their age, the marriage and kid, there wasn't a very big difference between the two. It's no more difficult to swallow than the Post-Crisis stuff being merged with Pre-Crisis stuff following Infinite Crisis.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

How come your history doesn't acknowledge Flashpoint? It's in canon with the Button crossover.

You're right. I will add that to the bare-bones timeline. It's in the more detailed Google Doc timeline though.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

The difference being that we actually see them flashing back to specific moments...
I still kind of wish they had waited for the end of Rebirth to fully integrate Superman back into the timeline, though. It just seems more convoluted. It would have been more straightforward to simply bring Superman in on the Rebirth mystery.

We're in total agreement there. Although I am enjoying the ride for the most part, Rebirth has been far more convoluted than it needed to be so far. Green Lantern Rebirth worked because it did all its continuity fixes midway through a six issue story. It doesn't work so well stretched out over two years.

As for the new timeline, I think its strength is in how vague it is so that fans can read into it however they want, leaving creators free to tell new stories that respect the best of the past while moving forward. You look at it and see Pre-Flashpoint with some New 52 window dressing, whereas I see a mix of everything.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I've updated the timeline to include the latest info from The Button (the reincorporation of the Giffen JLI and Morrison JLA eras), Rucka's Wonder Woman, and the disappointing lack of a New Teen Titans return to continuity in the Lazarus Contract (Starfire's history is still a mess. Beast Boy & Cyborg still don't know each other).

The illustrated and detailed Google Doc will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future in the vain hope that, at some point, DC gets their heads out of their asses and acknowledges that its beyond idiotic to have a continuity where Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven don't have a shared history with each other as teammates

[Lee]

Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt erased all memory of their existence.

I don't think it's been established what the Thunderbolt did.

Barry started dating Iris

This is incorrect. Barry and Iris dating is a recent development in Rebirth continuity.

In New 52 continuity it was established that they had been on one date.

Not long after the Teen Titans first encounter with the mercenary Slade Wilson, Deathstroke, Jason Todd debuted when Dick Grayson left his days as Robin behind to become Nightwing, who had fallen in love with an exiled alien princess named Starfire.

During their battle with Mr.Twister, Dove was killed and Lilith erased the world's memory of the Teen Titans' adventures. Furthermore, Wally West was trapped in the Speed Force by Abra Kadabra.

Dick Grayson was still Robin during the battle with Mr Twister. Jason must have become Robin afterwards.

Events not yet re-established, but possibly will be, are in italics.

On what basis are you selecting these? Couldn't this apply to literally anything DC has ever published? Young Justice hasn't been re-inserted into continuity and there's not been a single hint that it will be re-inserted into continuity, so why bother bringing up Young Justice?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I don't think it's been established what the Thunderbolt did.



This is incorrect. Barry and Iris dating is a recent development in Rebirth continuity.

In New 52 continuity it was established that they had been on one date.



Dick Grayson was still Robin during the battle with Mr Twister. Jason must have become Robin afterwards.



On what basis are you selecting these? Couldn't this apply to literally anything DC has ever published? Young Justice hasn't been re-inserted into continuity and there's not been a single hint that it will be re-inserted into continuity, so why bother bringing up Young Justice?

The kidnapping of Tim Drake by Mr.Oz, along with the mysterious prison, the complete disappearance of Conner, Cassie, & Bart and the imminent arrival of Young Justice season 4 are all pretty big hints that Young Justice will be back. Your mileage may vary.

The Mr Twister stuff was left pretty vague. If I am remembering right, we actually don't know if Dick was Robin or Nightwing when Lilith erased their memories.

I will update the Barry/Iris romance. Did not know they had wiped out their relationship completely.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I've updated the timeline to include the restoration of The Outsiders as a secret team, John Stewart's first time joining the Justice League, and changed Captain Atom's previous membership status to italics due to the events of his miniseries not restoring any of his prior history.