I thought about making this into a fic when I thought of it, but there are too many other things I’d like to write. I read All-Star Squadron #20, which explored some of the reasons that superheroes didn’t simply stop WWII, beyond the fact that they aren’t real. The comic essentially equates a superhero to an atomic bomb, so clearly, it’s a bad idea for them to go to war.
I feel as though in ancient times, like circa 1200 BCE, for example, the effect would be even worse.
The other thing is that if someone went back in time and killed Hitler, then perhaps without such a large-scale genocide, we wouldn’t look at it the same in modern times. There’s been quite a few genocides over the past century that have been overlooked or ignored, even with this, so I hate to think what would happen if there wasn’t such a large negative perception of them. This argument is much weaker than the “atomic bomb” one, because superheroes could simply go back in time and stop all of the genocides and then we’d be good.
In any case, I drew my favorite elements of Teth-Adam’s backstories (Earth-S, New Earth, Prime Earth) into this. It’s the closest to New Earth.
Teth-Adam was born in Khandaq (Third Month of Akhet, the 5th day in the second year of the rule of Rameses II, [1277 BCE]).
When he was a few years old, Egypt conquered Khandaq, and he and his family were taken as slaves for the royal court of Rameses II (First Month of Shomu, the 21st day in the fifth year of the rule of Rameses II, [1274 BCE]).
As a young boy, he is kind and compassionate to others, with a generous soul, despite not having much. When the Wizard Shazam, a hero of the ancient world, visits Rameses, he notices Teth-Adam’s pure soul.
Shazam takes on Teth-Adam as his new champion. Teth-Adam, Blaze, and Satanus form the first ‘superhero team.’ (Fourth Month of Shomu, the 3rd day in the tenth year of the rule of Rameses II, [1269 BCE]).
Blaze and Satanus betray Shazam and Teth-Adam. (Fourth Month of Proyet, the 13th day in the twelfth year of the rule of Rameses II, [1267 BCE])
Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-Ara come across a Thanagarian vessel, becoming Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Teth-Adam, now a member of the royal court, acts as a mentor to them in the ways of heroism. (Fourth Month of Akhet, the 1st day in the twenty-first year of the rule of Rameses II, [1258 BCE])
Teth-Adam builds a family.
Teth-Adam’s family dies (Some taken as slaves) during a war between Egypt and Bialya. However, he is stopped from getting vengeance after Rameses II makes peace with Bialya’s leader. Rameses II claims ownership of Teth-Adam. Chay-Ara is troubled, yet unwilling to go against her father. Teth-Adam leaves the court in a fury, and although the hawks do not stop him, they do not help him either. (Third Month of Akhet, the 15th day in the forty-fifth year of the rule of Rameses II, [1234 BCE])
Teth-Adam starts a rebellion in Kahndaq, taking control of it and separating it from Egypt in under an hour. He frees the slaves, and executes the occupying slaveholders. The Egyptians now call the ‘traitor’ Black Adam.
He is about to go search for any survivors of his family, when Shazam appears and stops him.
Shazam says that his powers were meant to protect the world from supernatural threats, that mortals could not handle on their own. It is the duty of the champion of the Rock of Eternity to do so.
Teth-Adam says that he is not derelict in that duty. The magical forces of evil are not attacking. He has a duty to his family, to protect them, and he has failed. But the mortal forces of evil- the warring, tyrannical Bialyans and Egyptians- are a threat that he must stop.
Shazam says that to do so against other mortals would be irreprehensible- there’s no telling how many innocents he would kill if he were to unleash his full power upon them.
Teth-Adam says that they have done the same, every day, for his entire life. If he must become a plague upon the Earth to stop this, he will.
Shazam says that there is hope, the Historama says that in time, mortals will rise up and for themselves see the evils they have wrought through slavery and war. To do so now would prevent them from learning that lesson, and they might just revert back to their old ways if Teth-Adam ever fell.
Teth-Adam asks Shazam how many die, how many are slaves, in the time it takes to get there.
Shazam answers that many more will suffer if mortals never learn from their mistakes. Will you not stop, my son?
Teth-Adam asks how many.
Shazam answers, billions.
Teth-Adam, disgusted, attacks Shazam.
Teth-Adam and Shazam fight. Shazam seals the soul of his last son away in a magic scarab, for a time when all else is lost.
Two more things about the 1951 Rogues: Trick-or-Treating was becoming a major cultural thing in the early 50′s, since sugar rationing stopped in 1947. The first major holiday after the Rogues get together is Halloween.
:)
Even after Grodd was defeated,* the Rogues kept in touch. They were lucky that after the Flash KO’ed them, he kept his focus on Grodd. Mirror Master was able to bring them back to Gambi’s, aided by some reflective ice courtesy Captain Cold, before Flash could make it back to Central City from Gorilla City.
Not long after, they roped in others of a similar mind. Captain Cold introduced Trickster to the rest of the group about a week after they met up. The teenager was friendly enough, but a bit of a flake- he wouldn’t work with the Rogues on any of their big heists against the Flash until 1957, when the Top’s death and subsequent attack on the city required his cooperation.**
However, he certainly engaged the rest of the Rogues in more legal activities. In the afternoon on October 31st, Trickster joined a few of the Rogues in candid conversation in the back of Gambi’s shop.
“It’s the perfect plan,” said Trickster, “I can’t think of any trick better than this! Come on, it’ll be lame if I have to go out on my own.”
“Just for a handful of candy?” Captain Cold didn’t bother looking up from his magazine, “I thought you said you were 16.”
“You don’t have to give me the cold shoulder. This job will be like taking candy from a baby- there’s no risk!”
“Now listen here, James, the only one who says cold puns around here is me. I’d hate to put you on ice.”
“You don’t think anyone will pick up on the costumes?” asked the Pied Piper, joining in the costumes, “These are nice, Gambi-made outfits- you can’t exactly get them for a song.”
“The rubes aren’t going to know that,” said Trickster.
“Actually,” said Captain Boomerang, “There’s been a few times where I’ve crashed a costume party in full kit- nobody said a word, and I made off with plenty of loot from pick-pocketing. It’s not hard to get away when there’s four other Captain Boomerangs hanging around either.”
“That’s ice to know,” said Captain Cold, “But wouldn’t it make more sense to rob a bank, and then buy the candy? Or maybe just rob a candy store?”
Trickster threw up his hands, “Agh! That ruins the whole point.”
Heat Wave walked in to pick up his costume from Gambi, the only one he trusted to dry-clean any soot off of it.
Trickster got a mischievous grin, “Hey, hot stuff!”
Heat Wave groaned. “Now you listen here, Trickster, I’m the only one who uses fire puns around here-”
“It’s a compliment! Chill out.”
Captain Cold glared at Trickster.
“But seriously Heat Wave, I’ve got a heist but I’ll need your help.”
Heat Wave furrowed his brow, “You never ask us for team-ups.”
“Oh, this isn’t a Rogue job. This requires your expertise. You’re 16, right?”
Trickster put his arm around Heat Wave, walking him out of the door as he explained his plan.
“Heat Wave wanted to Trick-or-Treat?” asked Pied Piper.
“I doubt it.” said Captain Cold.
“Uh, ‘James?’“ asked Mick. He was standing in the doorway of a suburb home.
“What’s up, ‘Mick?’” James was greedily taking handfuls out of the poor lady’s bucket of candy.
“I don’t get how this is a heist.”
“Oh my!” said the lady, “You two are absolutely in character.”
“Thanks!” said James.
A kid in a Robin costume walked up past them.
“Hey kid, no cutting!” James pouted.
“What- I live here!” exclaimed the kid.
“Did you have a good night, Wally?” asked the lady.
“Yeah, I got about four buckets full when I ran- er,” he looked at the two teenagers, “walked out to Central City. The apartment buildings are the best.”
“Really?” asked James, “I didn’t think city-dwellers would get into this.”
“Oh yeah,” said Wally.
“Honey, I think that’s enough candy,” said the lady. James sheepishly took his hand out of the bucket, “Your appetite is almost as bad as my son’s.”
“Mo-om,” the kid whined. He looked at the duo’s costumes, “Hey, those costumes are pretty good!”
“Thanks,” said Mick, “I suppose you could say our uncle is a tailor.”
James elbowed him, “Thanks for the candy! We should head off to the next house.”
As they walked away, James shoved Mick.
“What was that for?”
“You can’t give up information about secret identities! That’s basic supervillainy 101!”
“We’re in costume!”
James tsked at him, “Honestly, you’re still pretty green. You’re lucky you have an experienced villain like myself to show you the tricks of the trade!”
I’m trying to get down the ages and circumstances of the rogues more accurate to the time period. Since the Rogues still appear fairly early in DC’s universe, there’s not too much difference in when they appeared IRL and when they appeared in the Stable DCU timeline.
These are the dates of their first appearances in the Stable DCU, at least for those who appeared in 1950 or earlier:
Leonard Snart: Mid September 1947
Sam Scudder: Early August 1948
Hartley Rathaway: Early September 1948
Mark Mardon: Mid December 1948
James Jesse: Mid March 1949
Digger Harkness: Mid June 1949
Roscoe Dillon: Mid October 1949
Mick Rory: Early December 1950
The first appearance of the Rogues (Flash #155): Early October 1951
Another thing I found was that a lot of people in the 50’s would quit school and start going to work at around the age of 14, as opposed to 18. This means that the ages of a lot of the Rogues can be adjusted- especially those coming from low-income backgrounds. However, the majority of them had some sort of career in their origins, criminal or otherwise.
Leonard, Sam, Mark, Digger, and Roscoe were all crooks of some sort before becoming villains. Mick and James were in the circus. Hartley was a bored member of society.
James and Hartley were both living with their parents prior to being Rogues, so they probably started the youngest. Although in their earliest appearances they were both portrayed as adults, given that kids started working at 14 in the 1950’s, we can put 14 as their minimum age. We also know that Mick stopped being a fire eater at the circus after a short time, due to his obsessive pyromania. To be safe, we can say that he maybe worked for 2 years before burning the place down, putting his approximate minimum age at 16.
The others’ ages are a bit harder to judge. Leonard Snart started thinking about Supervillainy after being captured by the Flash, and when he got out of prison, he stole the necessary blueprints to build his cold gun. Since the robbery was committed with an accomplice, but without causing injury, it’s second degree robbery. I was having trouble finding out if this is different than the 1950’s laws, but currently that would be a Class B felony in Missouri (The approximate location of Central City). This means a prison sentence of 5 to 15 years. Given that he starts his career maybe months after Barry Allen shows up, it is unlikely that this is the Flash who caught him. Jay Garrick was active from 1939 to mid 1943. If we say that Leonard, as a first time offender, got the minimum sentence of 5 years, that means 1942 would be the year he was caught. It’s unclear how long he was a criminal before being imprisoned, but putting his age at a minimum of 17 in 1942 seems right, as that is the age he would be tried as an adult in Missouri.
Sam had finished up a jail sentence for robbery as well when he became Mirror Master. The same math for Leonard puts Sam at 17 in 1943.
Mark was on his way to jail for burglary (Which carries a lighter sentence) when he became Weather Wizard. We can put his minimum age at 17 in 1948, the time of his appearance, since he never actually served his sentence.
Digger is introduced as a criminal from Australia who’s travelled to the United States, now as a spokesperson for a toy company. We don’t know about any jail sentences, but he does mention that he spent “years” in the Australian Bush hiding from the law. This implies at least 2 years of being a criminal, so his minimum age is 16.
In Roscoe’s first appearance, he mentions in his backstory that when he was in jail for the second time, he came up with the idea of using tops for crime. If both times were for robbery, that would be 10 years, but probably much longer since sentencing is harsher for prior offenders, making the actual length closer to 15 or 20 total. However, since Lisa doesn’t show up until 1957, and she’s supposed to be Leonard’s younger sister, this might create too large of an age gap. If he instead was committing burglary (Second degree, without weapon), it would only be a class C felony in Missouri, which could be 1 to 7 years. The first sentence would probably be only a year or two, depending on a lot of circumstances, but for the second sentence, since he’s a prior offender, would likely be longer, but since he had only committed 1 felony before, it would not be ‘enhanced’ to the next class.
I’m not sure if any of that made sense, from the 10 minutes I spent looking up Missouri law, but let’s just say Roscoe served a 2 year and then a 5 year sentence, both for robbery, giving him a total of 7 years in prison. This puts him at a minimum age of 17 in 1942.
From here, we can find their 1951 ages:
Leonard Snart: 26
Sam Scudder: 25
Hartley Rathaway: 17
Mark Mardon: 20
James Jesse: 16
Digger Harkness: 18
Roscoe Dillon: 26
Mick Rory: 17
This also shows an interesting age gap between the more hardened ‘career’ criminals, and the newer guys, with Mark and Digger in the middle as criminals who never served out their sentences before meeting the Flash. I was surprised that Mick turned out so young, but considering his backstory, it makes a certain amount of sense. This also gives another aspect of his long-standing rivalry with Leonard, and his desire for Leonard to help him keep his pyromania in line.
I can also look at the Flash family closer.
Because Barry Allen is a police scientist, it is likely that he has a bachelor’s degree, at minimum. This puts his starting age at 22 in 1947, and thus 26 in 1951. Wally’s starting age of 10 can stay the same, making him 13 in 1951. This also makes the age gap between himself and the Rogues he later befriended (James, Hartley) reasonable, as he would have been 24 when he took on the Flash’s mantle, and the Rogues would have been 27 and 28 respectively, so a close friendship wouldn’t be too odd.
It also meshes pretty well with the fanon (At least in the YJ fanfiction community) of James and Hartley being kids when Wally was Kid Flash. As teenagers, they’re certainly young, and close to Wally’s age, but they’re old enough to be “working.” It’s also nice to think of an irritable Leonard working with a 15-year old during his first team-up with Trickster in 1950 (Flash #129). At 25, he might not be old, but he’s still relatively old.
Here’s some ideas I’ve accumulated based on making this timeline:
· Billy Batson, despite being the ‘new guy’ on the Justice Society of America when he re-enters the world in 1964, knows all sorts of things about any old villains that pop up. With his immature attitude, it’s odd how he’s just as much a mentor to the rookies in the JSA as old-timers like Jay Garrick.
· Black Adam’s involvement in the Middle East in the 70’s
· Billy Hong returns to the US when he hears about Trickster’s death. He gets to go to the Rogue funeral, but ends up starting a scene- perhaps he’s mad at Heat Wave, who at one point attempted to become a monk? Billy Hong becomes Central City’s newest superhero.
· Iris West I has to deal with Josh Jackam’s new powers. She eventually sets up a meeting with Weather Wizard, and perhaps they come to an agreement on Josh’s upbringing.
· John Stewart and Cyborg during the Civil Rights Movement
· Teen Titans and the Civil Rights Movement
· Mirror Master II’s home life
· Pied Piper’s path to heroism- the death of Bart Allen interrupted his reformation, but he’s still trying to be a good guy
· Damian becomes Batman- maybe a young Terry McGinnis as a new Robin?
· Pied Piper in the 1948 LGBT scene
· Extension of Black Adam’s character arc in “The Power of Shazam” series
Another fun thing to do is expand the character rosters. Given that we’re folding everything into one universe, we can grab from anywhere (Movies, cartoons, what-have-you).
Let’s take a look at the Rogues. The ‘classic rogues’ are a bit of a sausage-fest, especially when you consider that the smurfette (Lisa) is dead.
In “A Mirror Darkly,” season 5 episode 5 of the Batman (2004 series), Sam Scudder, AKA Mirror Master I, is joined by a henchman- Smoke. This actually solves another problem- in the new 52, Lisa has been dating Sam, not Roscoe. She also has a different power set. So let’s say that in the stable timeline, Lisa has the old powers (Which is pretty much stabbing people and her brother’s cold gun), whereas Smoke has the phasing powers. Maybe Sam and Smoke are dating as well? Smoke’s not given an alias, but her actress’s name is Amanda Anka. This is alliterative, which is nice for comic book characters, but it’s usually nicer when using real people’s names to at least combine the names of two people rather than simply taking the names. A quick trip to IMDB, and we can see that Mario Azzopardi was a director for several episodes of the 1990 Flash TV show. Amanda Azzopardi sounds like a pretty good alias for smoke. Maybe this also gives a connection to James Jesse? (Azzopardi himself is from Malta, not Italy, but I digress). A lot of this stuff might never come up, too.
So if we say Lisa never died, or came back, now we have two female rogues. Satisfied, right? Ha! No.
Peek-A-Boo, AKA Lashawn Baez, started out as more of an antivillain. She was never an ‘official’ rogue, merely branded as such by Wally West, and she ended up turning herself in to the police, and was never brought up again. Since the Rogues frequent jail often, it’s entirely conceivable that she might be extended an invite. (I’m pretty sure she was in the background at Captain Boomerang’s funeral, too).
There we go! A canon rogue, even if it’s not a canon Rogue.
We can also take a closer look at what the rogues’ roster should look like in 1974. Going completely with canon, we have these Rogues present in the group, prior to Flashpoint, in the storyline “Dastardly Death of the Rogues:”
· Captain Boomerang I (Revived)
· Captain Cold
· Mirror Master II
· Trickster II
· Heat Wave
· Weather Wizard
Other characters in the ‘Rogues’ family who are alive at the time:
· Pied Piper
· Billy Hong – Trickster’s son from the New Year’s Evil storyline
Rogues family who died after 1970:
· Captain Boomerang II (Died in 1974)
· Josh Jackam (Died in 1973)
· James Jesse (Died mid-1972)
Maybe the rogues who died after 1970 came back because of the ‘Time Flux’ from the merging timelines. It’s about as good an excuse as ‘The Entity’ bringing back Captain Boomerang I, anyways. Lisa Snart died too long ago for this excuse, but maybe we can still find legacy characters.
I mentioned earlier the possible descendants of the Rogues. Perhaps the close-call with death that Josh Jackam faced in Final Crisis prompted the rest of the Rogues to look into kids they might have left behind? I can think of a few stories.
Cadet Cold: Given Len’s track record, this one is most likely a child of Lisa and Roscoe.
Heat-Whelp: Naturally, Mick’s concerned about passing on the pyromania.
Weather Whiz-Kid: The powers of 5-year old Josh Jackam act up again. Despite distrusting the Rogues, Iris West I (Josh’s adoptive mother) knows that Mark Mardon is the best chance at figuring out Josh’s powers.
Captain Slingshot: Another kid of the first Captain Boomerang (Is Meloni throwing them back through the timeline haphazardly? Trying to guess the correct time to send them back to?), or maybe he’s Owen’s kid.
Mirror Miss: Evan might’ve known about this one- maybe he deliberately placed her in his old orphanage (Which now has the nice Wayne funds from when Batman bribed him way back when). If we bring in the story from the Justice League Unlimited comic, he also has a son, Colin McCulloch, and is married to ‘Maggie.’ Evan’s always had more of a punch-clock feel to him, so I could easily see him starting a family after he kicked the drug habit, by Len kicking him. During the JLU #44 story, Evan is under pressure to come up with money for medical bills.
Going into this story, I also found Dr. Alchemy’s son. In the comics, his wife Rita was already established, but not the kid. He’s sometimes a Rogue, but he’s usually just a rogue.
Now, the Rogues family looks like this in 1974:
· Captain Boomerang I: 45
o Captain Boomerang II: 23
o Captain Slingshot: 6-12 months
· Captain Cold: 47
o Cadet Cold: 7 to 17 (Lisa died in 1967, so 7 is the minimum age. Roscoe kept coming back to life so his time of death isn’t all that important.)
· Mirror Master II: 31
o Colin: 11
o Mirror Miss: Less than 10
· Smoke: 21, or greater than 32 (Her first appearance was mid-1973, so we could put her age at 20 then. However, Sam Scudder, her partner, died in 1962, and if we say that she worked with him then we put her age at 20 in 1962 or before. However, this could’ve caused issues with Mirror Master II when he showed up. I kind of like the idea of a punch-clock ‘intern’ for the Rogues, too.)
· Trickster I: 45
o Billy Hong: 17
· Trickster II: 24
· Heat Wave: 44
o Heat-Whelp: Less than 3 or age 14-24. If we assume that a reformed Heat Wave would have kept track of his kids, then 1960 is when he reformed and mid-1971 is when he went back to crime. Thus, the child would probably not have been born during this time.
· Weather Wizard: 46
o Josh Jackam/Weather Whiz-Kid: 5
· Pied Piper: 46
· Peek-A-Boo: 24
By the way- I don’t care if anyone uses any of the ideas I’m writing about for fanfic, but I would appreciate being sent a link to read it!
All of this is just set-up for creating fanfiction, of course. The two main periods are before Flashpoint, and after Flashpoint. In regards to the types of fanfiction (http://literallylottie.tumblr.com/post/68832707516/wheres-that-damn-types-of-fanfic-graph), what I’ve built has a lot more to do with extensions, as well as to help ground drabbles or additions in the proper time period. Naturally, the nature of comics doesn’t require you to pay attention to this- arguably, the story of Batman exists just as well in 2017 as it does in 1940. However, I’m not sure if it does anymore.
If you think about Batman’s main threats, you’ll realize that the majority of them rely upon organized crime. There’s still organized crime today (Drugs, gambling, etc.), but it’s changed. With the information age, and acts like the RICO act, organized crime has adapted- now, there’s more discussions about transnational organized crime. Access to tools to commit crime have become easier as well- I bet it wouldn’t take you more than a few hours to find the tools required to hack the password of, say, a Windows 7 computer, and download it. It’s probably available for free. Obviously, don’t do this. Gambling rings are now online- Batman wouldn’t be swooping into a casino in the basement of an abandoned building, he’d be swooping into your mom’s basement. Other problems arise- since modern crime rings are global, it wouldn’t make sense for heroes to confine themselves to a single city.
Note- I’m about to get real lazy with my data. Please cite your own sources if you are writing anything academic, I just wanted to give you a scope of the situation.
Other common crimes in comics, such as bank robberies, are far less common these days as well. In 2010, there were about 5500 bank robberies in the United States (https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/bank-crime-statistics-2010/bank-crime-statistics-2010). Keep in mind that there are about 5000 commercial banks, a few hundred mutual savings banks (http://www.marketplacelists.com/mutual_savings_banks.htm - I didn’t feel like counting them), 6100 credit unions, and maybe 1000 savings and loans institutions (The number may be much lower, I haven’t been able to find any recent statistics on the last one). So only about half of these institutions were robbed. This may seem small, but keep in mind- I didn’t count how many branches there were. In my town, of about 20,000 people, there are 9 banks and credit unions. I would hardly use my town as a good representative of bank density in the United States, but if we were to extrapolate it to the United States’ 300 Million people, you would have about 135,000 banks and bank branches. So, about 4% of these get robbed in a year. Compare this to the number of households- 3.7 million households are broken into each year (https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/vdhb.pdf), out of about 125 million households. This gives us 3%. Which means a bank is only slightly more likely to get robbed than your house. Again, it’s not very impressive to see batman swinging through the suburbs, looking for someone carting off a flat screen.
I’m not saying you can’t make great superhero stories with modern crime- I’m just saying that I don’t want to right now. To me, it’s much more interesting to see lone freaks in flamboyant costumes taking down criminals that threaten the lives and livelihoods of all the people in their cities. There’s a lot of modern criminals who do the same thing, but I’d like to avoid getting too political for now. The point I’m making is that a lot of superhero stories work better in the 50’s then the 10’s.
This can also make some of the more modern characters interesting. How politically or socially oriented the comics were varied by writer and publisher. Cyborg, a black superhero, first appeared in 1980, but in the adjusted timeline, he would have started in 1959. Granted, if we’re looking at this realistically, there was still a lot of racism and prejudice going on in the 80’s, even if it wasn’t legalized like it was before the Civil Rights movement. There still is today. But in 1959? The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. There’d be press talking to Robin about his decision to integrate the Teen Titans. Would Cyborg be present at the March on Washington? Would he take a non-violent approach, or would he have no problem using his powers to defend protesters against police brutality? He’s not a pacifist, he punches aliens and supervillains all the time. It’s possible I missed some, but I’m pretty sure the first black DC superhero was Mal Duncan (AKA the Herald/Vox) who joined the Teen Titans in 1970. John Stewart (AKA Green Lantern) came in 1971, and is probably more commonly known as one of the first black DC superheroes, if only because he’s a more popular character. These characters would both be entering the superhero scene in 1954 in the adjusted timeline (I didn’t plan it this way but that’s actually what Wikipedia puts as the start of the Civil Rights Movement). Spiderman certainly has a lot to deal with the media on a daily basis, but what about the first black superheroes at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement? It makes sense that the first few black superheroes would be part of a teen group and an alien group, both of which are much more likely to overlook or not care about race.
It’s always been a little odd that these lone superheroes, often outcasts from society, are so whitebread. If the powers are random, then so should the people. I suppose it’d be a bit weird for a character like Batman, funded by wealth, to be part of a minority group in the late 30’s- but then again, it’s a bit weird for a guy to dress up like a bat and haunt the night. Maybe what we really need is a story about how Madam C. J. Walker cleaned up Gotham.
Someone smarter than me could probably talk better about the history of diversity in comics, but the short story is that until the 70’s, there wasn’t diversity in comics. As a side note, I really recommend looking into “Judgement Day,” a story published in Incredible Science Fiction #33, as well as the Comics Code Authority.
In any case, if you’re looking to place your story in a particular point in the comics timeline, and want a quick reference to where it’d be in the adjusted “stable” timeline, here you go:
Major Events in the Adjusted Timeline
1938: Superman’s first appearance; start of the Golden Age
1947: Approximate start of the Silver Age (Unadj. 1956)
1954: Approximate start of the Bronze Age (Unadj. 1970)
Mid-1961 to 1962: Crisis on Infinite Earths; Approximate start of the ‘Dark Age’
1966: Zero Hour
1967: Approximate start of the ‘Modern Age,’ if you base it off the Great Comics Crash of 1996 (Unadj. 1996)
1969: Approximate start of the ‘Modern Age,’ if you base it off the start of the Ultimate Marvel universe (Unadj. 2000)
1971: Identity Crisis
Mid-1971: Infinite Crisis
1972: 52/One Year Later
1973: Final Crisis
Mid-1974: Flashpoint (Start of the ‘Reboot Age?’) – This is also the point where I stop relying on events in the comics, given the whole new 52 reboot.
Mid-1976: Convergence – This makes everything here valid (Right?). If the New Earth Superman is chilling out on Prime Earth, then there’s no reason to think that New Earth might be gone, right?
At this point, I started thinking about what their ‘current’ ages should be. I see Flashpoint as the end of the initial DC Universe, so that’s the starting point for the stable DC Timeline’s ‘current’ era, or at least the point in time from where stories should develop and we start to put in new thoughts and ideas. Flashpoint takes place in mid-1974 (Unadj. 2011).
Batfamily:
Bruce Wayne: 55
· Dick Grayson: 37
· Helena Wayne: 27
· Jason Todd: 26
· Timothy Drake: 24
· Cassandra Cain: 23
· Damian Wayne: 22
· Duke Thomas: 15 (Existence uncertain, he’s post-Flashpoint. His first appearance would be mid-1975, and we consider the current time to be 1974).
Selina Kyle: 55
Katherine Kane: 34
Barbara Gordon: 38 (Puts her at 16 at her first appearance)
Stephanie Brown: 23 (Puts her at 13 at her first appearance, and 17 at the birth of her daughter)
· Unknown Daughter – Adopted by someone?: 6
Alfred Pennyworth: 75 (First appearance was in 1946. However, he was with the Waynes presumably during the upbringing of Bruce, so I used the minimum age of 20 at Bruce’s birthday, making his birthday 1899.)
Luke Fox: 19 (Post-Flashpoint)
Harper Row: 14 (Post-Flashpoint)
Speedsters:
Jay Garrick: 55
Barry Allen: 47
Wally West: 35
Iris West II: 3
Jai West: 3
Bart Allen: ??? (1966 would be his first appearance. Speedforce affected his aging, putting his birthday at 2 years prior, despite appearing to be 12. His effective age is about 20 as of 1974, so his civilian records likely have his birth year as ‘1956.’ These are fake, though, as he’s from the future).
For a lot of the more modern comics, the ages of Damian and Timothy seem a bit too old, given their personalities. Even Dick seems a bit too old with this timeline. We can see that although the adjusted timeline works well for the oldest characters in DC, when it comes to legacy characters, the timeline isn’t perfect. It doesn’t help that in some stories, Dick and Wally are seen as young adult peers, and in others, Wally is seen as the father of a young family. This is where the stable timeline starts to change how characters are perceived. This is also why I wanted to minimize any changes to characters I might make to force them to fit the timeline, because introducing a stable timeline will force character growth and maturity.
Another thing I thought about was making certain character deaths permanent. Superman came back to life, Batman came back to life, and Jason Todd came back to life. My thought is, that unless their return created new stories (Like with Jason Todd), maybe they should just stay dead. This means that Superman died in 1965 (Unadj. 1992), Batman died in 1973 (Unadj. 2008), and Barry Allen died in 1962 (Unadj. 1986).
This doesn’t stop their stories. Wally West as the Flash has been thoroughly explored- in many ways, he absolutely trumped Jay Garrick and Barry Allen as the Scarlet Speedster. Dick Grayson as Batman was also interesting- he became Batman out of necessity, to stop the battle for the cowl. His dynamic with Damian was interesting. Given that Damian is “now” 22, perhaps Dick Grayson would step down from the role of Batman, and go back to being Nightwing. Damian always wanted to be Batman’s successor. Jason Todd, Timothy Drake, and Cassandra Cain all seem as though they’ve gone on their own paths of heroism now.
Superman’s permanent death would also be interesting. It was Superman himself that stopped the fighting of the supermen. Had he not intervened, perhaps Steel would have become Metropolis’s hero. Maybe constant battles between Lex Luthor and Superboy would have opened up new avenues- it’s not a straight Darth Vader, given that Superboy’s only a clone, but Lex Luthor has shown some affection for Superboy in the past. What would happen if Lex were able to establish a more permanent sort of mind control? What if he did so, and essentially took control of Metropolis’s ‘Superman,’ being able to play both sides of the board? There’s definitely a lot of room for stories like this.
Those were the biggest 3 deaths at the top of my head, but there were many others where the character came back to life, but didn’t necessarily have to. I’m not counting when they came back within a few months (Like with Wally West or Guy Gardner), of course, just the deaths that were “supposed” to stick- Bart Allen II, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, Martian Manhunter, Captain Boomerang I, etc.
Another thing we can do is look at deaths of minor characters, especially those around Final Crisis and Flashpoint, and determine whether we want those deaths to ‘stick’ or not. For example, Weather Wizard’s son, Josh Jackam, was killed off during Final Crisis. Owen Mercer, son of the first Captain Boomerang, was killed during Blackest Night. Both of these characters were potential ‘legacy’ characters. The Rogues don’t have many of these, so it might make more sense if they didn’t die, especially since their deaths didn’t have any lasting effects on the story.
Rogues (And kids):
Leonard Snart: 47
Lisa Snart: 37 (DEAD)
Hartley Rathaway: 46
Mark Mardon: 46
· Josh Jackam: 5 (Dead?)
Sam Scudder: 46 (DEAD)
Evan McCullock: 31
James Jesse: 45 (DEAD)
· Billy Hong: 17
Axel Walker: 24
Digger Harkness: 45 (Dead?)
· Owen Mercer: 23 (Dead?)
Roscoe Dillon: 45 (DEAD)
Mick Rory: 44
Roy G. Bivolo: 35 (DEAD)
Owen and Josh are soft deaths for the reasons listed above. Digger came back to life, but he should probably just be dead-dead like Superman and Batman. Looking at this, it’s kind of depressing how many of my favorite characters, the Rogues, are dead.
If we were to look at a modern (1974) Rogues, we might also consider Wally West’s hallucination in the Flash v2 #140, with Cadet Cold, Mirror Miss, Heat-Whelp, Weather Whiz-Kid and Captain Slingshot as children of the Rogues. Cadet Cold would either be Leonard’s kid, or perhaps an unknown child of Lisa and Roscoe, who was perhaps sent to an orphanage. Mirror Miss would be Evan’s, Heat-Whelp would be Mick’s, Weather Whiz-Kid is more than likely Josh Jackam, and Captain Slingshot is Owen’s. Billy Hong, AKA Makhalli, with his magical powers, would likely become a superhero of some sort, if so, probably mentored by Hartley. But all of this is just speculation!
The Luthors and the Supermen:
Clark Kent/Kal-El: 56 (DEAD)
Jonathan Samuel Kent: 1? (Existence uncertain, as he’s a post-convergence character who is the son of the New Earth Clark Kent)
Christopher Kent/Lor-Zod: 22
Kara Zor-El (Supergirl): 46 (DEAD)
Kara Zor-L (Powergirl): 39
Alexander Joseph “Lex” Luthor: 55
· Lena Luthor II: 6
· Connor Kent/Kon-El: 9, he was “born” in 1965 with the body of a teenager, so his biological age is anywhere from 22 – 28. (DEAD)
· Jerry White: 32
Lena Luthor I: 45
· Lori Luthor 17, high schooler. Honestly, this one could be anywhere from 14-19, she only appeared in one storyline before Flashpoint.
One thing that I didn’t realize before was that Superboy was yet another person who died and came back to life 3 years later. So my remarks earlier about the dynamic between Lex Luthor and Connor might not apply, depending on where you set the limit on how long until death becomes “permanent.” My initial thought was 1 year max, but maybe this should change. I’m not quite sure what to do with the two Karas, but it’s entirely possible that Superman has 2 cousins.
The Marvels and the Sivanas
Billy Batson: Biologically 23/Chronologically 42
Mary Bromfield: 23/42
Freddy Freeman: 23/42
Thaddeus Sivana, Sr.: 56/75 (Assuming a starting age of 40)
Magnificus Sivana: 36/55
Beautia Sivana: 36/55
Georgia Sivana: 23/42
Thaddeus Sivana, Jr.: 23/42
The Wizard: 9000+
This is another special case. The original run was from 1941 – 1953, and due to a long story about legal issues, didn’t have another ongoing series until 1973, and after Crisis on Infinite Earths, in 1991. In 1973, Billy had been gone for 20 years without aging, due to being exiled by Dr. Sivana, placed into suspended animation. In 1991, the story was that the Wizard froze Fawcett City in time to protect it from the encroaching evils of the outside world. As a result, between 1953 and 1991, we can say that the Marvel family didn’t age. Even adjusted, that’s 1945 – 1964, or about 19 years taken from Billy’s life. Billy began Captain Marvel at age 7 – 14, depending on the version. If we aim low, and take into account the lost years, then in 1964 his age is still only 13, which fits him being a child hero for that series.
The Sivana family, like the rest of Fawcett, only lost 9 years.
Edit: Upon re-reading, I found that the sivanas also lost 19 years. I adjusted the ages accordingly.
I’ve been thinking a while for what a “stable” comics universe would look like- one where time progresses normally, people grow up, etc. It would also be interesting to confine it to a single universe, instead of a vast multiverse. One of the major problems is that characters like Batman, who debuted in 1939, couldn’t plausibly still be running around rooftops in 2017 in peak athletic form 78 years later. However, it’s difficult to find a pacing that will fit all of the characters’ lives.
Under my stable timeline, time advances about ½ as fast in the DC universe as it does in ours. 1938 is the 0 year, with Action Comics #1, and each year after only counts as ½.
I used Batman’s life as a control point. He dies in Final Crisis, published in 2008. Given that in the Dark Knight Returns, he’s fighting crime at the age of 55, I imagine that Bruce Wayne wouldn’t be older than 60 at the time of his death. We can also put his age around 20 for his first appearance in 1939.
As a side note, with the exception of sidekicks, I put the starting age of crimefighters at 20 by default because it’s easy to do quick math with and it maximizes how long their career is.
This sets his birthday at around 1919. If time advanced the same, he would be 89 at the time of Final Crisis, which seems a bit unrealistic without, say, cybernetic enhancements. I wish to create the timeline without altering the characters- the only thing that should change is the setting, and maybe the amount of technology available. Even the tech can be explained away by the large amount of scientists and futurists in the DC Universe.
Another control is the birth of Damian Wayne. He first appears in 1987, and is a pre-teen (Let’s go with 10 years old for simplicity). This puts his birth at 1977. In an unadjusted timeline, Bruce Wayne would have fathered him at 58. In the adjusted timeline, he would have appeared half-way through 1962, which puts his birthday in 1952. Bruce Wayne would have been 33 at the time of his birth. Granted, as a healthy male Bruce would have been more than capable of fathering a child at 58, but Talia is generally presented as a peer so this may have been more unrealistic for her (Again, with the exception of any Lazarus Pit magic or what have you).
The Flash family is also an excellent way to gauge this. On an unadjusted timeline, Jay Garrick enters the scene in 1940. Barry Allen, inspired by comics about Jay, enters in 1956. Because of the indirect nature, any time gap is plausible. However, the Flash of Two Worlds in 1961 establishes that they are both active. I am using the ‘New Earth’ idea of a single, unified world so that we don’t have to worry about the rate of time passing on multiple Earths. So instead of being from another world, Jay is from the ‘sleeping’ Keystone City (Long story- check out Secret Origins v2 #50, pub 1990, for more information). In an unadjusted timeline, this story would be with a 41-year old Jay and a 25-year old Barry, both ages reasonable. Adjusted, it’s the year 1949, and the ages are 30 and 22, which is still reasonable.
The tricky part comes with the Wests. Kid Flash, AKA Wally West, comes on in 1960. Depending on the source, he started anywhere between the ages of 10-13. 10 is a number that’s easy to add, so in an unadjusted timeline, his birthday’s 1950. He becomes the Flash in 1986, in the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths. He’s 36, which is still reasonable. However, he is implied to be college-aged. He also marries Linda in 2000, which would put him at age 50. Again, this is plausible, but still a little odd. The major problem comes in 2005, when they have twins. At age 55, it is very improbable that Linda, a completely normal human, would be able to have twins. Much with Talia, you could claim that it’s just speed force weirdness (Admittedly, in the story speed force weirdness caused her to initially miscarry, but then have kids later…), but I am trying to alter the story and the characters themselves as little as possible.
In an adjusted timeline, Jay Garrick comes on in 1939 at the age of 20. Barry Allen comes on in 1947 at the age of 20. They meet in mid-1949, waking up Keystone. Kid Flash starts in 1949 at the age of 10. He takes up the mantle of the Flash in 1962, during the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths. He is now age 23. He marries Linda in 1969, at age 30, and they have twins mid-1971, at age 32. All these numbers now match up with the approximate tone of the character at the time.
We can also look at the Teen Titans timeline to verify Wally’s age. Unadjusted, Wally was a member of the original teen titans from 1964 – 1978. Adjusted, that’s from 1951 – 1958, so when Wally was 12 – 19. That’s almost spot-on for teenage years. Granted, he was on the New Teen Titans from 1980 – 1984 (Adjusted: 1959 – 1961) as a 20 – 22 year-old, but this team took the name on as a legacy more so than as a description of age.
However, we might see some issues with Dick Grayson, the first Robin. His first appearance was in 1940. Robin starts around age 8-10. Unadjusted, he’s going to be far too old for the teen titans in 1964, even if he was born in 1940. Adjusted, he’s 19 at the very youngest. This would still fit with the ‘teen’ titans, but he’s seen as a peer of Wally West. A 7-year age difference wouldn’t mean much once they got to their 30’s, but at this age, it’s a bit extreme. Additionally, he became Nightwing in 1988, not too long after flunking out of college (Which he only started attending in 1987). Adjusted, this would still be 1962-1963 that he’s in college, which is a bit late for someone in their early 30’s.
One solution would be to use the first earth-one appearance in 1952 as his origin. This would fit with later stories about Batman that imply Robin joined him much later in his career. Adjusted, this puts his origin in 1945. If he’s 8 at the time, setting his birthday at 1937, then he would be joining the Teen Titans at 14, being on the Titans from 14 – 21 (As well as from 22-24), and attending college from 25-26. We can now see a Dick Grayson who delayed going to college to support his team/crimefighting, and then attempted college. A 2-year difference between himself and Wally puts them as peers.
Additionally, this also means that instead of a 21-year old adopting an 8-year old, we have a 26-year old adopting an 8-year old. It doesn’t seem like much of a difference, but it can be significant at these ages.
We can also look at the other Robins to gauge their approximate age differences. Jason Todd’s first appearance was in 1983. Adjusted, that’s mid-1960. His age hasn’t been explored, but he was more than likely older than Grayson when he was adopted. I ended up choosing 12, setting his birthday at 1948. When he was adopted, Grayson was 23. Later stories note that there wasn’t much interaction between the two, and the big age gap can explain why. He died in 1963 at age 15 (Unadj. 1988) and came back in mid-1971 at age 23 (Unadj. 2005).
Timothy Drake is also a different case, given that we know he’s 13 when we first see him in mid-1963 (Unadj. 1989), putting his birthday at 1950. He always seemed younger than Jason Todd, which is why I decided to aim high on Jason’s age.
Damian Wayne, discussed earlier, first appeared in mid-1962 (Unadj. 1987), and was born in 1952. He’s the youngest robin. In fact, he’s the youngest of the family by a year.
Cassandra Cain is the only Batgirl adopted by Bruce Wayne. She first appears in mid-1968 (Unadj. 1999) at the age of 17, putting her birthday at 1951. Since she was adopted at an older age, she’s more independent, which is why we don’t see her as often.
Other things to think about were the Earth-two members of the Batman family (Notably, Helena Wayne, daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle). Helena was born in mid-1947 (Unadj. 1957), making her the oldest Wayne daughter.
