Timeline in a State of Flux: DC has NEVER Rebooted Their Continuity

January 28th, 2020

In his paper, Regeneration & Rebirth: Anatomy of the Franchise Reboot [Proctor.2012], Proctor discusses the roots of the word Reboot and the cycle of movie reboots. “The term reboot, in its original context, is ‘used to describe the process of restarting a computer or electronic device [in order] to recover from an error’ [Reboot Definition.2010]. From this viewpoint, the commercial and critical disappointment of the Burton/Schumacher cycle of Batman films resulted in a kind of central error in the ‘aesthetic processing unit’ that ‘crashed’ the operating system. […] Thomas Willits offers what I believe is a more accurate description: ‘reboot means to restart a serial entertainment universe that has already been previously established, and begins with a new storyline and/or timeline that disregards the original writer’s previously established history, thus making it obsolete and void’[2009:01]” [Proctor.2012:05]. Through Proctor’s research, we can confirm that a reboot is essentially erasing what came before and starting again in that universe. Proctor does make a distinction between a reboot, a sequel/prequel and a remake. This is an important distinction to make, especially with properties that have existed for so long. He specifically looks at the various incarnations of the Batman on film.

When looking at film, it’s easier to distinguish Batman rebooting, as the cast, director and general tone tends to change to a heavily noticeable degree. An example would be the Burton/Schumacher films of 1989 to 1997, compared to the Nolan Trilogy from 2005 to 2012. The Nolan trilogy is far more serious in tone, and while both films do have casting changes, it is very clear which film is a continuation of which series. With comics, this can be a little more difficult. A change in writer, artist or tone, does not necessarily mean that the continuity has changed. A storyline can continue through a specific comic, but still have its artist or even writer change. As Proctor describes it, “A reboot aims to purge the system and begin again with a tabula rosa (a blank slate), onto which a brave new world can be etched” [Proctor.2017:226].

Among DC Comics readers and fans, there is agreed to be at least two times DC has rebooted it’s continuity. The first is during Crisis on Infinite Earths [Wolfman & Perez.1986], and the other being Flashpoint [Johns & Kubert.2011]. Zero Hour: Crisis in Time [Jurgens & Ordway.1994] is often mistaken for a reboot, however the events caused ripples in the timeline that reordered a few events but did not overhaul the timeline in a major direction.

Crisis on Infinite Earths is considered the first major reboot, as its purpose was to streamline the universe to make it easier for readers to understand, and hopefully attract new readers in the process. The series writer, Marv Wolfman later stated in a letter responding to a fan about the mixed up DC continuity, “in my reply I said, ‘one day we (meaning the DC editorial we) will probably straighten out what is in the DC Universe and what is outside.’ At this point in its history DC Comics had Earth-One, Earth-Two, Earth-Three, Earth-B etc. There were superheroes on each Earth and though old-time readers had no problem understanding DC continuity, it proved off-putting to new readers who suddenly discovered there was not one but three Supermans, Wonder Womans, Batmans, etc.” [Wolfman.2000:01]. The story is an epic, spanning 12-issues and involving many alternate universes, characters, incarnations of characters, and an encyclopaedia’s worth of history backing it. The story revolves around the Anti-Monitor waking up and slowly destroying the Multiverse. His opposite, the Monitor, recruits various heroes to attempt to stop the destruction and save as many people as they can. By the end of the story, there is one Earth remaining. New Earth, and this is the one that readers will be following from now on. The series truly does live up to it’s tagline, “world’s lived, world’s died, and nothing will be the same again” [Wolfman & Perez.1986]. In reality, it allowed DC to take their more recent acquisitions, such as Captain Marvel, Blue Beetle and the Question, and roll them into the DC universe with an actual reason.

The other believed reboot is with Flashpoint [Johns & Kubert.2011]. A story that involved The Flash, Barry Allen, waking up in a world where things are incredibly different. His mother is alive, he doesn’t have any powers, no one has heard of Superman and Batman is a gun toting Thomas Wayne. The cause of which is eventually revealed to be that Barry Allen travelled back in time to try and save his mother, causing the timeline to change. Though given the events of The Button [Williamson & King.2017], it’s more likely to assume that Barry just found himself integrated into another Earth in the Multiverse. Barry Allen’s work to correct this time is the catalyst for creating the New 52 ‘reboot’. Later this is retconned to actually be the work of Dr Manhattan in DC Universe: Rebirth and Doomsday Clock. [Johns & Frank.2016] [Johns & Frank.2019]. However, the world in which the Flash ‘returns’ to at the end of the story, is what we now consider the start of the New 52 continuity. This also allowed the characters of the Wildstorm and Vertigo imprints to be fully integrated into the DC universe, much like the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Both of these events are largely considered to be THE reboot moments for DC. However, neither of these actually fit the criteria of a reboot by definition. If these were indeed true reboots, then nothing that came before should be able to be referenced, mentioned or explored without first introducing it as if it were it’s first appearance. The events of Crisis are frequently mentioned by characters in this ‘new’ continuity. During Animal Man #1: The Human Zoo [Morrison & Truog.1988] for example. Buddy Baker discusses the idea of going back to his superhero work. Ellen replies to him by says “Yeah, I heard it. Just like I heard it after we were married. Like I heard it after the Crisis, when you went into space with the forgotten heroes” [Morrison & Truog.1988:06]. Later on in Animal Man #10: Fox on the Run [Morrison & Truog.1989], a visit to Arkham Asylum sees the Psycho Pirate repeating the words “Worlds will live worlds will die” [Morrison & Truog.1989:11] and responding to questions with both “What do you want? Did the Wolfman give you my name?” and “How can I sleep? If I sleep they might decide to remove me from continuity and then I’ll never wake up.” [Morrison & Truog.1989:11], a reference to both the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and it’s writer Marv Wolfman. This is also true of the event Millennium [Englehart & Staton.1988]. The character of Harbinger, an important figure from Crisis on Infinite Earths, makes her return and directly mentions the Crisis. “I was born here on Earth. Given the name Lyla Michaels but then my parents died, and the monitor found me – took me into his ship! I grew there in space for twenty years, serving the great and good man as he prepared to save the multiverse from destruction – and when the Crisis finally came, I threw myself into action, everywhere at once – beside the most important men and women of infinite Earths – and we saved the final essence of Reality! And then, it was over! [Englehart & Staton.1988:11]. Many more examples like this exist, but it’s Infinite Crisis [Johns & Jimenez.2006] that provides the greatest evidence.

The plot to Infinite Crisis involves the Golden age Superman and Lois Lane, Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor escaping the paradise dimension they entered towards the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths. While the plan is primarily that of Superboy-Prime’s and Alexander Luthor’s, they are attempting to undo Crisis and get back to their respected Earths. The very plot of the story disproves Crisis on Infinite Earth ever being a full reboot.

The New 52 was more specifically intended as a reboot. Multiple characters were dialled back to their origin story, characters are reinvented to match the companies new darker, more ‘mature’ tone. We saw the Justice League form for the first time, Superman moving to Metropolis and working at the Daily Planet. However, there are some inconsistencies in this. Specifically, with the titles Batman Incorporated [Morrison.2012-2013]and Batman & Robin [Tomasi & Gleason.2011-2015]. Both series continue from their previous, Pre-New 52, incarnations without any change in continuity. This is true for the majority of the Batman centric books, though especially of these two titles.

To be clear, the New Gods are immune from reboots and retroactive continuity. The worlds of Apokolips and New Genesis exist within the Gods Sphere. A layer above the local Multiverse. Essentially, they are a level above the characters we are reading, but just below us the reader. During Crisis on Infinite Earths #10: Death at the Dawn of Time [Wolfman & Perez.1986], we see Harbinger reading what are listed as the ‘Monitor Tapes’. While explaining what happened to others outside of the core focus of the issues, Harbinger brings up the Forever People and Darkseid; “On the planet Adon, five youths known as The Forever People used their powers to protect their adopted world from destruction. Across the dimensions, their pursuer, Darkseid the destroyer, cloaked only Apokolips from harm” [Wolfman & Perez.1986:12].

The primary piece of evidence to the complete lack of a genuine reboot, is that of Convergence [King & Van Sciver.2015]and Superman Lois & Clark [Jurgens & Weeks.2016]. The plot of Convergence involves a new villain, Telos, forcing captured cities from across the Multiverse to battle for survival. The story, especially the tie-ins, go into detail featuring characters specifically from older continuities. For example, the pre-crisis Shazam (appropriately called Captain Marvel) and the Elseworld interpretation of Batman from Gotham by Gaslight [Augustyn & Mignola.1989]. While these could be considered simple nostalgia trips, the Convergence: Superman [Jurgens & Weeks.2015]tie-in and Superman: Lois and Clark prove otherwise. During the Convergence tie-in and continued on in the Superman: Lois & Clark mini-series, Superman and Lois find themselves against the Flashpoint universe, where they give birth to their son Jon, with the help of the Thomas Wayne Batman. The three, Clark, Lois, and the new-born Jon, find themselves on Prime Earth. The New 52 main continuity Earth. They exist alongside their supposed replacements, hiding out on a farm where Clark occasionally dons a black Superman suit and tries to help the world in secret. The final arc for the New 52 Superman saw him eventually die due to events happening in both his own books, and Justice League: Darkseid War [Johns & Fabok.2015]. When this happens, the Post-Crisis Superman takes over for him, wanting to make sure that Earth still has a Superman. During the Rebirth era, the main Superman is this older, more experience version, complete with his wife and son.

By the definition of a reboot, meaning “to restart a serial entertainment universe that has already been previously established, and begins with a new storyline and/or timeline that disregards the original writer’s previously established history, thus making it obsolete and void’[2009:01]” [Proctor.2012:05]. None of this should be possible. It is inaccurate to refer to any of these events as full on reboots. Instead, it’s more accurate to refer to DC’s continuity as a whole as a ‘timeline in a state of flux’, much like the aftereffects of Zero Hour: Crisis in Time [Jurgens & Ordway.1994].

In short, Both everything is in continuity, and anything is up for retcon.

Bibliography:

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