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With special thanks to Dylan Hall and Tenzel Kim, welcome to the official REBIRTH/INFINITE FRONTIER ERA TIMELINE (aka “Post-Superman Reborn Timeline”), which is home to the Batman of REBIRTH/INFINITE FRONTIER ERA EARTH-0. This chronology comprises Batman and Batman-related DC publications ranging primarily from 2017 onward, beginning with a hard reboot during DC’s Rebirth initiative (specifically with the “Superman Reborn” arc) and including subsequent soft reboot alterations from Doomsday Clock, Flash Forward, and Dark Nights: Death Metal. Be aware that, in terms of nomenclature, the Rebirth/Infinite Frontier Era, like the New 52 before it, is still a part of what is alternately known as the “New Age,” “Current Age,” “New Golden Age,” the “Second Golden Age,” or the “Prismatic Age.” Initially, the Rebirth part of this timeline ran from 2017 to 2020, and the Infinite Frontier part began in early 2021 (following Death Metal). While both parts consist of different publication eras, they both belong to the same unified timeline. In other words, the Modern Age ended for both DC and Marvel in 2011, ushering in the New Age. For DC thus far, its New Age has had two distinct continuities—the New 52 and the Rebirth/Infinite Frontier. We’ll discuss the history of the latter below.
In July 2016, DC published DC Universe: Rebirth #1, the start of their “Rebirth” initiative. This was—to use William Proctor’s terminology—a pre-boot, essentially a precursor to a reboot that would officially occur less than a year later. Let me repeat that with added emphasis: The Rebirth Era aka Post-“Superman Reborn” reboot did not actually start with the publication of “Rebirth” branded stories in July 2016. Despite nine months’ worth of “Rebirth” branded titles, complete with line-wide blue curtain “Rebirth” trade dressing, the rebooted Rebirth Era didn’t technically begin until spring of 2017 with the multiverse-shattering conclusion to “Superman Reborn” (in Action Comics #976). This issue gave us the out-and-out full reboot that ended the New 52 timeline. While some of the murkiest voices of Twitter and Reddit argue that “Superman Reborn” is merely a soft reboot that extends the New 52, this viewpoint is incorrect. Subsequent “Superman Reborn Aftermath” issues, “The Button” crossover, Action Comics #978, Doomsday Clock, Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen, Death Metal, and many other issues corroborate the details surrounding the reboot as well.
Narratively, in “Superman Reborn,” the meddling of Mr. Mxyzptlk and the undefined seemingly-demiurgic powers of Superboy cause the spirits of New 52 Superman and New 52 Lois Lane to merge with Modern Age Superman and Modern Age Lois Lane. With this unholy merger of radically different pairs of characters, not only is Superman reborn, but the entire DCU is as well. A diegetically independent timeline, which combines both Modern and New 52 histories of these characters, is created.
As “Superman Reborn” clearly shows, the New 52 Superman and Lois are from a wholly different timeline than the Rebirth Superman and Lois, thus helping us differentiate between realities and giving us full confirmation of a reboot. Further differentiation between the New 52 and Rebirth Era can be gleaned from the simple fact that Pandora, Dr. Manhattan, and the Great Darkness created the latter whereas Mr. Mxyzptlk and Superboy created the former out of the latter. Creators Dan Jurgens and Peter Tomasi have also verified a full reboot. As have several respected comics journalists—including Andrew Dyce (Screen Rant), Kieran Shiach (Comics Alliance), John Babos (Indie Pulse: Comics Nexus), David Barnett (The Guardian), JK Zi-O (Honest Comic Trailers), James Whitbrook (Kotaku), Rob Jefferson (Comics Explained), Reed Tucker (author of Slugfest), Russ Burlingame (comicbook.com), William Proctor (author of Reboot Culture), Brian Cogan (The Ages of the Justice League), Jeffrey Brown (author of Batman and the Multiplicity of Identity), Alexandre Lampp Berglund (Image & Text), Martyn Pedler (Refractory), and Dan Gearino (author of Comic Shop). Likewise, TV Tropes and the DC Database Fandom wiki have confirmed a full reboot. The great Rikdad, in an article about the history of Jon Kent, speaks to the fullness of the reboot too. And Mark D White (author of Batman and Ethics) calls Rebirth a “partial reversal” of the New 52.
Furthermore, whereas the New 52 timeline started out as a six-year-timeline (and was at Year Ten by 2017), the Rebirth timeline stretched things out and added an extra five years of in-story time (specifically accommodating a new Kent family history), placing the DCU at Year Fifteen by 2017. When the New 52 dies (or, rather, is “archived”) in 2017, just like in prior reboots, the big occurrences of the dead-and-replaced timeline (in this case, the New 52) get folded-into our new timeline. This is akin to how the major occurrences of the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages got folded-into the Modern Age after the original Crisis. In fact, Geoff Johns’ creative intention when mapping out the Rebirth Era was to build a brand new timeline by synthesizing New 52 continuity with Modern Age continuity. (After all, Johns had been dead set against rebooting the Modern Age with Flashpoint in the first place, but Dan DiDio forced the issue.) Some other major differences between the New 52 and Rebirth Era are that the former features the “yearlong Robin internship program” and Superman dating Wonder Woman. The Rebirth Era erases those things. Also, the Rebirth Era significantly condenses Scott Snyder’s “Zero Year” and mashes it up with Frank Miller’s “Year One” and a few reimagined Golden Age yarns, which is a radical departure from the New 52.
In 2020, Doomsday Clock rebooted the DCU, but the majority of its massive narrative changes were immediately neutered by DC publishers, relegating the overall effect to that of a partial or soft relaunch. DC chief Dan DiDio had been planning his own “Generations” reboot at the time, thus axing Geoff Johns’ Doomsday Clock reboot in favor of his own. Shortly thereafter, DiDio was fired. “Generations” was officially cancelled, but it was too late to simply re-validate Doomsday Clock‘s ending because DiDio’s plans had already been set into motion. This obviously led to great continuity chaos for the DCU. (This flip-flop-flip was explained in-story by having the Batman Who Laughs nullify Dr. Manhattan and Wally West’s attempted continuity resets at the end of Doomsday Clock and Flash Forward, respectively.) As confirmed by Teen Titans Vol. 6 #39-40, Young Justice Vol. 3 #18, Flash #750-761, Justice League Vol. 4 #51-52, Wonder Woman #750 Part 9, Dark Nights: Death Metal, and several other titles, the combo Doomsday Clock and Flash Forward soft reboot achieves the following: It undoes the deaths of Ma and Pa Kent, but blocks their history from collective consciousness, making everyone believe they still died (for a period on our timeline). It restores the Justice Society of America’s history, which includes an active Wonder Woman in the 20th century, but blocks said history from everyone’s memories in the present day and future (for a period on our timeline). It restores Kal-El’s time as Superboy with the Legion of Super-Heroes, but blocks said history from everyone’s memories in present day and future (for a period on our timeline). It re-adds Barry Allen’s death in the original Crisis and his resurrection in Final Crisis. It re-adds Stephanie Brown’s brief time as a Robin. And it re-adds both Cassie Cain and Stephanie Brown’s tenures as Batgirls II and III, respectively. Our Rebirth Era timeline reflects these changes. (There are a few other minor re-institutions, but they are trifles not worth addressing here.)
Shortly after the Dark Nights: Death Metal soft reboot in late 2020, the DCU relaunched into its Infinite Frontier Era starting in 2021, reflecting everything mentioned above. (Notably, in 2023, DC had another marketing relaunch, called “Dawn of DC,” but it had no bearing on continuity. As such, Infinite Frontier remains an appropriate era label to this day.) At the outset of the Infinite Frontier Era, DC publishers began stating that “everything counts, everything matters,” a vague claim that everything from prior continuities was or could be canon. However, “everything counts, everything matters” doesn’t actually mean that everything is canon. (If everything is canon, then nothing makes sense, after all.) What it really means is that everything in the past is fair game to reference. Only after creators specifically decide what is canon from history can we the readers make sense of it all. For my chronology-building process, I stick to a set of rules. Every item on my timeline must have a specific reference, meaning something in a comic book that nods to, winks at, directly mentions, or flashes-back to said item. If I can’t locate that, then I don’t include it on my timeline. Does that mean it didn’t necessarily happen? No. But if there’s no proof, I won’t include it.
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