DC Linnearverse

[johnreiter902]

I'm just going to post my thoughts and ideas here, as I accumulate them, for what this universe would be like. My rules are. . .

1. Heroes age in real time

2. events take place when they were published

3. An exception to rule two, the heroes continue to grow and change just as they did in the comics, but while aging in real time, from when they first appeared.

4. When characters die, they stay dead. And when villains reform, they usually stay reformed.

Batman debuts in 1939 and the age of 24. He takes 8 year old Dick Grayson as his partner, Robin, in 1940. In 1950, 18 year old Dick Grayson leaves for college. In 1953, he is forced to drop out due to poor attendance. He moves to New York and tries to make a living as a writer. In 1958, he adopts the identity of Nightwing, and settles in Bludhaven, working originally as a police officer, though he moves through several jobs over the next 10 years. In 1970, 56 year old Bruce Wayne (who has been relying more and more on gadgets for the last 10 years due to old age) finally sees the writing on the wall and retires, giving the mantel of Batman to Dick, and appointing him CEO of Wayne Enterprises.

Superman debuts in 1938. He marries Lois Lane in 1948. In 1956, the couple are blessed with their one and only child, Jonathan Samuel Kent

Wonder Woman debuts in 1941. Her romance with Steve Trevor remained unfulfilled, and he ultimately died in 1969. Diana married his look-alike, Steve Howard, in 1986

[jonclark]

May 29, 2023 2:17:32 GMT johnreiter902 said:

I'm just going to post my thoughts and ideas here, as I accumulate them, for what this universe would be like. My rules are. . .

1. Heroes age in real time

2. events take place when they were published

3. An exception to rule two, the heroes continue to grow and change just as they did in the comics, but while aging in real time, from when they first appeared.

4. When characters die, they stay dead. And when villains reform, they usually stay reformed.

Batman debuts in 1939 and the age of 24. He takes 8 year old Dick Grayson as his partner, Robin, in 1940. In 1950, 18 year old Dick Grayson leaves for college. In 1953, he is forced to drop out due to poor attendance. He moves to New York and tries to make a living as a writer. In 1958, he adopts the identity of Nightwing, and settles in Bludhaven, working originally as a police officer, though he moves through several jobs over the next 10 years. In 1970, 56 year old Bruce Wayne (who has been relying more and more on gadgets for the last 10 years due to old age) finally sees the writing on the wall and retires, giving the mantel of Batman to Dick, and appointing him CEO of Wayne Enterprises.

Superman debuts in 1938. He marries Lois Lane in 1948. In 1956, the couple are blessed with their one and only child, Jonathan Samuel Kent

Wonder Woman debuts in 1941. Her romance with Steve Trevor remained unfulfilled, and he ultimately died in 1969. Diana married his look-alike, Steve Howard, in 1986

So if Diana marries in 1986- that butterflies out Lyta as part of a 1980's Infinity inc. Does that mean no Infinity Inc or open up the possibility of different "heirs"?

Would this be a sort of Post-Crisis with Earth-Two at the core- so in 1956 Barry Allen debuts in a world where everyone still thinks of Jay Garrick as the Flash (even if they don't know Jay's name)? Or are the non-unique Earth-One heroes (Flash, GL, Hawks...) not part of the picture?

If I ever finished it- Earth Alpha would have been a similar take to this concept by me.

[redsycorax]

I see Helena Wayne isn't there either. Therefore, this isn't Earth Two per se. Does Bruce get married, either to Julie Madison, Selina or someone else during this period and have a daughter or son? Why didn't Diana and Steve Trevor get married- was it due to his insecurities over the fact Diana was stronger than he was? In this framework, it might be possible to have the JSA/All Star Squadron/Seven Soldiers generation of metahumans mentor the Silver Age generation, so Barry might have been originally known as Young Flash, Hal as Young Green Lantern and so on. Incidentally, what about Green Arrow in this framework? Does the same thing happen with him and Roy Harper? What about Aquaman?

[johnreiter902]

I only included information which was, at any time, part of the mainstream DC Universe. So, no Helena Wayne. Fury will exist, but with her post-crisis origin, where she is the daughter of a WW2 Greek hero named Fury.

It's more like Generations, but done better, which more accuracy to the original comics. Things happen more-or-less as they were published up until 1970, when the heroes ages start catching up to them. Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, and the Hawks all still exist in this world, and appeared in 1956, 1959, and 1961 respectively.

Bruce will marry Talia and have a son, Damien. I'm still debating exactly when though. The first marriage of Wonder Woman in the mainstream comics was in 1986, just before the Crisis, so that was when it happened in my timeline. In-universe, It was Diana's fault, as she could never reconcile taking an oath to be a wife until she had fulled her oath to the Gods to bring peace to man's world. To his credit, Steven never stopped hoping, right up until the end.

I'm still working on Green Arrow. Aquaman debuts in 1941, and remains active all the way though the Silver Age. As a human-atlantean hybrid, he ages slowly

[johnreiter902]

The original Joker debuts in 1940. He dies in the electric chair in 1942. However, days later, the Joker returns! Unknown to Batman, this is actually a successor, created by the original Joker in-case of his death

The second Joker was active against Batman until 1969. Feeling his age, he created a successor for himself the same way the original Joker created him. This new Joker was a madman, however, and quickly killed the second Joker to assume his identity.

The third Joker fought against Dick Grayson (the second Batman) until he died in battle against Batman and Robin in 1988

[DocQuantum]

I like that -- similar to Generations but keeping close to the actual published comics.

[redsycorax]

Hmmm. Possibly, the third Joker could be his one-time protege Gaggy, enabled to become average-sized* through an advanced biochemical process
which unfortunately also sent him permanently psychotic and focused on bringing down Dick and Damian (*originally, he was short-statured):
batman.fandom.com/wiki/Gaggy

Gaggy first showed up in Batman 186 (November 1966), so the time's about right too: batman.fandom.com/wiki/Batman_Issue_186

[johnreiter902]

Green Arrow begins his career in 1941. He remained active until his death in 1968. He was succeeded by Roy Harper, who was currently working as a reporter in Star City. The second Green Arrow remained active until his death in 1995.

[redsycorax]

So what do you think of my suggestion to use Gaggy as the third Joker, after some traumatic surgery that caused growth to average stature but with painful induction effects that drove him insane?

[johnreiter902]

Jun 6, 2023 22:58:09 GMT redsycorax said:

So what do you think of my suggestion to use Gaggy as the third Joker, after some traumatic surgery that caused growth to average stature but with painful induction effects that drove him insane?

It could very well be true, and explain why we never see Gaggy again

[redsycorax]

It could also explain why the Joker became increasingly violent and psychotic in his behaviour during the later period, if Gaggy had undergone such an ordeal, particularly perhaps without his consent at his predecessor's hand, o with insufficient information about what would happen to him. Particularly if the process involved brainwashing him to kill Batman, Robin (and Batgirl? Did either Bette Kane or Barbara Gordon become Batgirl in this context?)

[johnreiter902]

Jun 8, 2023 0:53:30 GMT redsycorax said:

Did either Bette Kane or Barbara Gordon become Batgirl in this context?

Both did. Bette finally retired from super-heroics in the 1990s. Barbara was not shot by the Joker, but did retire as a superhero in the early 1990s

[redsycorax]

So, what prompted Barbara's retirement? Was it the renewal of her political career as a Gotham Congresswoman, or even State Governor? Did she decide that she could do more good using her past political experience and networks at City Hall, as Gotham Mayor? And what about Bette? If Barbara started her career as Batgirl II in the sixties, does that mean Bette had vacated the title? What role did Kathy Kane play in this? I assume that if Bette was Bat-Girl, Kathy was Bat-Woman in this scheme of things. Did she die as she originally did on Earth-One in the late seventies, and if so, did Bette become Bat-Woman II?

[johnreiter902]

Jun 8, 2023 1:11:00 GMT redsycorax said:

So, what prompted Barbara's retirement? Was it the renewal of her political career as a Gotham Congresswoman, or even State Governor? Did she decide that she could do more good using her past political experience and networks at City Hall, as Gotham Mayor? And what about Bette? If Barbara started her career as Batgirl II in the sixties, does that mean Bette had vacated the title? What role did Kathy Kane play in this? I assume that if Bette was Bat-Girl, Kathy was Bat-Woman in this scheme of things. Did she die as she originally did on Earth-One in the late seventies, and if so, did Bette become Bat-Woman II?

Barbara became Batgirl after Bette retired to go to college. Later, Bette came out of retirement to join Titans West, and there were two Batgirls (though they spelled it differently)

Batwoman died as depicted on Earth-1. Bette kept the alias of Bat-Girl until Barbara's retirement. Afterward, she became Batwoman, but retired at around 50 years of age due to her reflexes slowing down.

As for Barbara, she also retired in her late 40s-early 50s, partly due to her age slowing her down, partly to focus on her political career.

[redsycorax]

Getting back to Superman... given the birth of Jon Kent in the fifties, one suspects that if he ends up as Superboy, he might well end up involved with a version of the Legion of Super Heroes. So would that mean Jon ends up having modified version of the Earth-One Superboy's adventures and experiences, except in the context of Metropolis?