Over and over I've seen reboot after reboot of the DC Universe, from comics to tv to movies... Some of these reboots I enjoy, others not so much. The DCU has a vast supply of history to pull from and merge together, to create one very cool universe.
Superman
I'd like to begin this series with Superman. I would keep the majority of Superman's origin in tact. I think Superman is better if Ma and Pa Kent are still alive when he reaches his destiny. Ma and Pa should be drawn to be younger than in previous incarnations. I think early to mid 30's when they find Kal-El would be perfect.
Krypton was actually destroyed by a massive ship of their own creation. Jor-El created the Brainiac system to act as the collection of all Kryptonian intelligence and history. While at the same time General Zod who was at the time close friends with Jor-El and just so happens to be a Kryptonian supremest similar to Hitler before the Nazis, creates what becomes known as the Eradicator. The Eradicator is a Kryptonian weapon with artificial intelligence. It was constructed to work with the Brainiac and protect Krypton. Zod rises to power of an army of Kryptonian supremacists. He believes that Kryptonians should move through space conquering planet after planet of inferior species. Faora is Zod's wife and Ursa is Zod's right hand. Ursa's back story is that she's one of the few Kryptonians who is bi-sexual. She's extremely militaristic and a master of all forms of Kryptonian combat. Non is a military scientist loyal to Zod. Zod programs the Brainiac/ Eradicator ship to destroy Krypton if anything ever happens to him.
Jor-El discovers Zod's plans of galactic conquest and provides proof to the science counsel. Zod and his loyalists are found guilty of crimes against Krypton and sentenced to banishment in the Phantom Zone. In this version of the DCU, the Phantom Zone is not another dimension, but rather a desolate planet in a galaxy on the edge of the universe. The planet is the only one in this galaxy and revolves around a blue sun. The blue sun affects terrestrial life in a similar way as a yellow sun to Kryptonians. The blue sun transforms terrestrial life into immortal beings incapable of feeling cold, starving, needing sleep, etc. It does not however provide them with powers like a yellow sun. They become trapped on the planetary waist land for years and years, never knowing one day from the next because the planet may move around the blue sun but the planet in and of itself does not turn so it's constantly facing the sun.
Eventually after Krypton's destruction, the ship comes for Zod and his loyalists. It places them into a deep hyper sleep in order to rejuvenate them. When the ship reaches Earth's Solar System a group of astronauts are sent to explore it, lead by Hank Henshaw. Upon boarding the ship, the astronauts are are destroyed with the exception of Henshaw. The Brainiac then transforms Henshaw's DNA from human to Kryptonian while at the same time converts part of his body into Kryptonian technology and transfers a copy of the Eradicator program into Henshaw's brain. It's this event that transforms him into a Kryptian war machine.
While Zod and his loyalists are still in hyper sleep, the Brainiac constructs a robotic body for itself (designed to look similar to the Brainiac on Super friends). Brainiac then plans to ready Earth for the coming of Zod. In order to do so, it makes contact with Lex Luthor and begins manipulating Luthor in order to ready the planet. Luthor however is far too brilliant to be manipulated and manipulates the Brainiac in return. Luthor and Brainiac share technology and information, which is how Luthor is able to create Metallo using Kryptonian technology and kryptonite and at the same time alters the DNA of others on his pay role to create a force that is able to battle the Kryptonians even Superman; some of which are Plastique, Livewire, Parasite, an unstable Superman Clone known as Bizarro and finally a Superman clone which also contains his human dna known as Nuclearman. Nuclearman becomes the prototype for the eventual creation of Superboy.
Eventually, Zod and his forces awaken and plan to attack and conquer Earth. The Eradicator program realizes the flaw in the Brainiac's plan and transports itself into Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Secretly working with in the fortress without Superman knowing, the Eradicator manages to create a clone of Superman but altering the dna so that he could project energy blasts from his hands rather than eyes. By making this alteration to the dna, it leaves the clone far weaker possessing on the powers of flight, super strength, invulnerability, and hand energy blasts. The alteration also leaves the clone's eyes light sensitive, forcing him to wear a visor. The Eradicator then transfers it's program into the clone and is forced to wear a solar suit as the clone absorbs far less solar energy and depletes it quickly when his powers are in use. Finally, the Eradicator reveals itself to Superman and explains the coming of Zod.
The Brainiac discovers the Eradicators betrayal and begins work on a new Kryptonian weapon to take it's place. Using forced Evolution of Zod and Faora's baby, the ultimate weapon is forged as Doomsday is born and kept under lock and key deep within the ship.
Batman
I wouldn’t alter the Batman franchise too much, because I think it’s currently spot on with the exception of some of the villains and Damien Wayne.
So let’s go ahead and begin with Damien. His origin would stay intact, however I would make him have a hidden agenda. By the time he reaches 18, I would have him turn on the Bat Family and forge his own off shoot of the League of Assassins called the League of Shadows. I would restore Jean Paul Valley as an Agent of the Bat and part of Batman Incorporated. He would be restored to his Red and gold Batman armor, and would act as a spy to the League of Shadows from Batman Inc.
Let’s move on to Stephanie Brown. As her time as Batgirl has ended, I would place her back into her Spoiler persona. Her uniform as Spoiler would incorporate each of her previous personas. She would wear her Batgirl uniform but rather than a cowl, she’d wear her hooded spoiler cape and her green Robin Mask. She would incorporate her green Robin Gloves into the costume and use a retractable staff.
It’s time now to move on to the villains. Let’s begin with the Joker. He would be born albino, into an abusive family. His father, a lieutenant in one of Gotham’s mobs. Ashamed of his son’s appearance, he had his skin tattooed a natural color. As young Jack grew older, his father became more and more abusive, until one night he had enough of it and slaughtered his father as he slept. When the rest of the mob discovered what he had done, he was recruited to be the Head of the Family’s personal hitman. As his reputation grew, he took on another persona, that of the Red Hood. As the Red Hood, he built an army of his own in order to over throw the mob boss and seize control of Gotham. Then his origin begins converging with his accepted origin of a chemical plant. When he fell into the vat of chemicals, the tattoo ink was burned out of his flesh. He was then pulled out of the vat by his boss’ mob soldiers. Realizing he was still alive, and knowing what he had attempted, the group of mobsters lead by the mob Boss, Carl Grissom. Grissom ordered his minions to burn his face as a lesson to those who may try to take up Jack’s cause of over throwing him. Jack’s eyes were branded with round metal irons, and his mouth was sliced open cheek to cheek. Grissom then ordered the execution of Jack’s wife and unborn child right in front of him. These events transformed Jack permanently, forcing him to lose his humanity and become the sinister Joker.
The chemicals in that vat not only burned the ink out of Jack’s albino flesh but also permanently colored his hair green. His first stop after his change, was to Arkham Asylum where he had admitted himself, while also admitting to Commissioner Gordon his crimes. Once there, he was assigned a therapist, that of Harleen Quinzel. He successfully manages to convert Dr. Quinzel’s mind into a version of his own, and together they make their escape. Together, they build a hideout in the old Gotham Carnival and begin searching for others to join them in order to take down Grissom and seize control of his mob family. They discover a serial killer living in Gotham’s sewers who was born with a rare disease that made his appearance similar to that of a crocodile. Finding him, they talk him into joining them and Joker renames him Killer Croc. Joker then locates another mob victim like himself who use to work for crime boss Roland Daggett. The man he comes into contact with is Clay Face, and his origin is identical to that of the animated series. Joker recruits Clay Face into his new organization.
As the Joker was recruiting Clay Face, Harley went back to Arkham and recruited Dr. Jonathan Crain, because of his fear induced experiments with the inmates of Arkham, and dubs him Scarecrow. Together, Scarecrow and Harley release Edward Nigma from suicide watch in Arkham’s medical wing along with the recently deformed Harvey Dent and renames them The Riddle and Two-Face. Eventually, others join the Joker’s army such as; The Mad Hatter, Man-Bat (which the Joker makes into his pet), as well as several others. First, Joker’s organization takes down Roland Daggett’s mob family and Clay Face brutally slaughters Daggett and drops him from the roof of Police headquarters onto the hood of Bruce Wayne’s limo. The Joker merges Daggett’s mob with his own and then continues in the same way with Carmine Falcony’s mob and Salvadore Maronee’s mob. Eventually, the Joker makes his way back to Carl Grissom’s home and kidnaps him. After a week of Grissom’s mob searching for him, the Joker takes control of every media outlet in gotham and tortures Grissom on live tv. The Joker ends Grissom’s torture by burning his eyes just as he had done to Jack Napier and slicing his mouth cheek to cheek. The Joker then orders Man-Bat to take Grissom as high as it possibly can and drop him to his death in the middle of Gotham Zoo. The Joker then announces on live tv that he is taking over Grissom’s business and issues a warning to The Black Mask, who controls the only other organized crime organization in Gotham that he’s coming for him next. Before signing off, the Joker issues a challenge to the Batman, taunting him hoping that he joins in on the fun.
Black Mask is a ruthless crime boss who controls the largest crime syndicate in Gotham until Joker ties him. Victor Freese is an employee of the black Mask’s, and it’s the black Mask who transforms him into the criminal genius Mr. Freeze. Also on Black Mask’s pay role are Scarface and the Ventriloquist, Pamela Isley who he experiments on and transforms into Poison Ivy, and Fire Fly. Oswald Cobblepot is a private club owner called the Iceberg Lounge and a heavy arms dealer on the black market providing weapons to both the Joker’s men and Black Mask. Most of Bane’s origin will remain unchanged, with the exception that when he moves to Gotham he releases all of the inmates of Arkham and Black Gate and forces them to join his criminal empire. Zsasz is a serial killer who on occasion is hired by both the Joker and Black Mask but secretly feeds information to Bane and Oswald Cobblepot (who most people refer to as The Penguin because of his appearance and love for tuxedos.
In my reboot, Commissioner Gordon secretly knows the true identity of Batman and on occasion makes slight references to it. John Blake is also in the reboot as Commissioner Gordon’s right hand man and also knows the true identity of Batman with whom he’s let the cat out of the bag too. Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya are also close to the commissioner and apart of his special task force with John Blake to work with Batman and his allies. In this version, Lucius Fox is also a main character who’s just as important to the series as Alfred and knows the identities of the Bat family and assists them when need arises. Lesley Thompson is a major recurring character as well acting as a surrogate mother opposite Alfred as a surrogate father and the two who were once lovers have a close bond.
As I said in my previous Rebooting of Batman article, I wouldn't change to much of Batman's story with the exception of the villains. However I just purchased the March 2002 issue of Batman the 10 cent Adventures today and came across a great character I wasn't aware of before. The character I'm referring to is Sasha Bordeaux.
For those who don't know, Sasha was a body guard of Bruce Wayne's, hired against Wayne's wishes by Lucius Fox. Sasha eventually discovered Wayne's secret life as Batman and became his apprentice. Eventually Sasha fell in love with Bruce and after time, Bruce returned her feelings but she told him to let her go. There's a lot more to Sasha's back story, but far to much to delve into here. You can however read up on her here: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Sasha_Bordeaux_%28New_Earth%29.
In my reboot, I would have it where Sasha is Batman's first apprentice and eventual sidekick/ partner, before Dick Grayson. She was never given a superhero name in the comics but I would have it be "Night Raven". The back story for the character would be very similar only take place years earlier, such as shortly after Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham and takes control of Wayne Enterprises. Bruce and Sasha would become romantically involved some point after his relationship with Vikki vale. Shortly before the murder of Dick Grayson's parents, Sasha disappears from Bruce's life. It becomes revealed later on that she spent her time away from Bruce arranging his meeting with Jean Paul Valley, finding Jason Todd and nursing him back to health (as in this reboot Batman never found his body after Joker's attack), leaking information to Barbara Gordon about certain criminal organizations, and even discovering Ra's Al Ghul and his League of Assassins prior to Batman's first encounter with the immortal. Over the years since her disappearance, she's kept in secret contact with Lucius Fox and Leslie Thompson and even took in Stephani Brown after Leslie sent her away claiming her to be dead. This rebooted timeline will eventually catch up with the previous as Sasha secretly begins working for Maxwell Lord in order to obtain evidence against him and eventually becomes the Black Queen of the organization Checkmate.
Shortly after Bruce Wayne announces the creation of Batman Incorporated, Sasha secretly meets with Bruce to tell him about her involvement in everything that's happened in his life since she left and to inform him of her role in Checkmate. The two part ways one more time, with her telling him that she'll continue to work as an insider for his mission and contact him with any and all information. Before she disappears, she passionately kisses him goodbye.
Flash & Green Arrow
I wouldn't do to much to the Flash mythology to drastically change it, however there are a few things I'd alter about Wally West and the rest of the supporting cast.
For years, we've seen Wally as DC's Flash after Barry's death and then we received 2 Flashes. Barry returned from the dead and became the Flash once more of Central City, while Wally remained the Flash of Central City's neighbor, Keystone City.
While having two Flashes around, both in neighboring cities is a good idea, it is a bit confusing. Barry Allen and Wally West's costumes are similar but to the avid fan, a difference can be seen. Barry's symbol is a double dash lightning bolt while Wally's is a single dash lightning bolt that resembles an "S" for starters. Barry's lightning belt wraps completely around his waste while Wally's separates at his torso. Since Wally's symbol resembles an "S" in appearance, I would change his name to "Surge" and make Impulse his sidekick while new Kid Flash would be Barry's sidekick.
Jay Garrick would remain the Original Flash but having retired from crime fighting he acts as a mentor to Barry and Wally. The Flash Museum, since dedicated to all of the Scarlet Speedsters, would be located directly on the border of Central and Keystone Cities, with Jay Garrick as the curator. I would return Wally to being not wealthy but well off after winning a lottery. Iron Heights Penitentiary would also be located on the line that separates Keystone from Central City. Wally will act as a member of the parole board for Iron Heights.
Now let's take a look at the world of Green Arrow. I would maintain most of his origin and history as well as his marriage to Black Canary. I would however change Conner. I think it's important for Ollie to have known about his son and having built a secret relationship with him from birth and training him. Conner Hawk would join his father in Star City and become known as Black Arrow. Conner chooses this name to honor both his father, Green Arrow and his step mother Black Canary. It would be revealed that Roy Harper was the original Speedy but shortly after Ollie fired him, he was kidnapped and cloned. Roy would discover his clone who shares his memories and skills while in the laboratory and the two would escape together only with the real Roy missing an arm do to it having been surgically removed for the cloning process. Oliver discovers what happened to his former ward and takes both him and his clone in, and builds a new arm for the real Roy Harper. The clone takes the name Red Arrow while the original takes the name Arsenal. Also included into this rebooted timeline are a new Speedy, Arrowette and Artemis. Arrowette and Artemis are sisters and the nieces of Oliver.
Green Lantern & Firestorm
Continuing with my Rebooting the DC Universe article series, this time I'll be revealing my reboot of both Green Lantern and Firestorm. The reason I chose to do these two or millions however you choose to look at it, together is because they're so similar I wanted to have their stories inner twined.
In the beginning there was nothing, the universe was a blank slate of emptiness. No light, no darkness just a void in space and time. Out of the void, a spark ignites which releases a wave of energy throughout the emptiness, filling it with both light and darkness. The first life is brought into the universe known today as "The Entity", the spark which ignited it was "The Matrix". Together the Matrix and the Entity brought more life to the universe as the mother and father of life. The two became one, what we call today "The GOD Particle".
When the universe was formed, the first creature to will itself to move became the embodiment of Will Power known as Ion, and from it all life throughout the universe gained the Will to move. Then came Fear, which was Parallax followed by the Hope of Adara, the Avarice of Ophidian, The Love and obsession of the Predator, the Wrath of the Butcher and the Compassion of Proselyte. Each one became Gods over the universe much like the ancient greek, norse and egyptian Gods of Earth. Civilizations prayed to their own entity, for the Maltusions it was all of them. The civilization which was the oldest in the universe held each entity in equal standing. Eventually, the civilization of the Maltusions split apart into factions who worshiped their own individual entity as well as the The White Entity as their creator. Those who worshiped Ion and it's power of Will became the Oan self proclaimed Guardians of the Universe. Those who worshiped Parallax and it's power over fear became known as the Controllers and so on. Eventually the power of Parallax became to much for the Controllers and they separated into smaller factions and traveled the universe seeking the illusive Grey Entity which was the opposite of Ion and represented the lack of Will Power, the first slave to the universe.
The Guardians of the Universe chose to build an inner galactic police force to defend the universe from the power of the other entities. Like dictators they promoted themselves as the Saviors of the universe, but in reality they had plans of dominating it by taking away all of emotion. Their first police force was the Manhunters who became influenced by the Grey Entity and destroyed an entire sector of the universe. Guardians explained to the people that the reasoning for this was due to a programing flaw. The Manhunters became obs-elite and were reprogrammed to became their robotic slaves and guards of the Science-cells which they used as prisons, rather than their police force. The Guardians then tapped into Ion's green light. The first Guardian to accomplish this was Krona.
Krona was originally the leader of the group of Guardians and designer of the Manhunters. As leader, Krona was placed in charge of capturing Ion in order to obtain it's power. After capturing the entity, he created what is now known as the power gauntlet. Krona became obsessed with power and used the power of the green light to travel back in time to witness the birth of the universe. It was this event which lead to the creation of the multiverse. When the other Guardians discovered what he'd done, they banished him to the Anti-Matter Universe where the grey entity had taken refuge.
After Krona's banishment, the Guardians created a collective among themselves. Telepathically linked to be of one mind and emotionless. Together they created the Green Lantern Corps as their next police force, while also making plans for a third army that would eventually conquer the universe. They used the Green Lantern Corps as goodwill ambassadors throughout the universe to manipulate civilizations into believing that the Guardians only wanted to protect them.
Over time, the Green Lantern Corps became a powerful force in the universe. Originally, only 1 per sector but as the Controllers developed a rival police force known as the Dark Stars, the Guardians realized the need for more lanterns in order to full fill their plans of cosmic domination.
The story of Hal Jordan and the other Earth bound Lanterns is left relatively unchanged with one exception. When Jordan came to the Corps and proved himself as the human lantern, a spark ignited in Ganthet and Sayd. This spark would break their link to the collective, giving them minds of their own and will power. When Carol Ferris became the Zamorans' first Star Sapphire and the emotions that were shared between Hal and Carol were realized by the Guardians, their love for each other was felt entirely by the two Guardians. The emotions between the two became contagious to the telepathic guardians and so Ganthet and Sayd to fell in love with each other.
The two guardians realized the wrong that the Guardian Collective had been planning, and chose to go off on their own secretly building their own force to work along side the Green Lantern Corps and the Star Sapphires in order to protect the universe from the Guardians' conquest. They chose to find Adara and ask her for access to the blue light of hope. The Blue Lanterns were then born and their light increases the power of both the Green Lantern Corps and the Star Sapphires because both Will Power and Love are strongest when there's hope to help them along.
Now let's move backwards a bit. Before the Maltusians split apart into factions, The White Entity foresaw the Maltusians eventual war over the power of the entity gods and created a home around itself to where it could remain unnoticed until the time came for it to reveal itself. The home it created was Earth, the planet which gave birth to all emotion and power. The Matrix remained with the White Entity as it's protector, in order to keep it's power from falling into the hands of the Maltusians.
Eventually, The Matrix found 3 humans to give it's power to. The 3 who were pre-destined long before they were born to become Firestorm. The first to receive the power of the Matrix was Prof. Martin Stein. Stein received the power when he discovered the GOD particle in his laboratory. Five years later, College student Ronny Raymond was transformed into Firestorm when he found his way into a nuclear test sight. Martin Stein as Firestorm attempted to save the young student before a blast was set off. However, the blast activated the Matrix within Raymond and he to became transformed into Firestorm. High school student, Jason Rusch would become Firestorm when during an accident near a Nuclear Power facility caused a meltdown and the radiation leaked activated his dormant matrix. Each of the 3 Firestorms only had access to a small portion of the Matrix's power, but could merge together to create The Fury, which had total access to the power of the Matrix.
Any time a Firestorm transforms near a user of the emotional spectrum such as a Green Lantern, the two merge to become Lantern Storm, an entity who's power exceeds that of The Fury and Ion. The Lantern Storm has full access of both the Matrix and unlimited access to the Green Central Battery. When the 3 Firestorms fuse with all of the Green Lanterns of Earth as well as the Earth bound Star Sapphire, a magnetic pulse from their combined power is cast out through the universe in a single second which pulls the 7 entities Ion, Adara, Predator, Parallax, Ophidian, The Butcher, and Proselyte into the being to create a new entity which has the power to awaken the White Entity from it's slumber.
The Grey Entity is used by Krona to create an Anti-Lantern Corps. Krona uses it to release himself from the Anti-Matter Universe and manipulates a small faction of Controllers into creating the first wave of this Anti-Lantern Corps known as the Anti-Green Lanterns. The power of the Grey Entity overloaded those who were chosen to be AGLs and they eventually exploded during battle. Krona realized the reason for this was because the chosen had access to some emotion or will power and were not true slaves. He used the power to take control of the Manhunters who as robots lacked emotion and will power. He sent the Manhunters out as his second army to battle the Green Lanterns and the Guardians who banished Krona. Eventually, when Sinestro created his Sinestro Corps, Krona would send the Manhunters to assist the Sinestro Corps secretly as worrier batteries for the corps. Krona would even use them to manipulate the Cyborg Superman.
In present time, Krona secretly works behind the scenes continuing to control the Manhunters. He faked his death at the hands of Hal Jordan and is working on a new Anti-Lantern Corps beginning with the newly reborn Alexander Nero, Amon Sur and Joe Gardner (the clone of Guy). Krona collected their remains when he had control over OA and used them to create new bodies for them. Once the bodies were re-established, Nekron released their souls from the realm of the dead after a deal he struck with Krona. The souls were filled with death and thus emotionless, they had been enslaved by Nekron for what seemed like an eternity and so their will power was completely drained. When they were resurrected, they were emotional zombies for Krona to give Anti- Lantern rings too.
When the Black Lanterns invaded the universe, and Death Storm was forged out of the Firestorm Matrix when it became infected, a new Matrix was forged. The Deathstorm Matrix grew and became self sustaining. Using the black ring of Nekron it created a body for itself and became the complete opposite of the Lantern Storm. Where Lantern Storm could awaken the White entity, Deathstorm could open the gateway to release Nekron and the Black Lanterns upon the world. The ring which created Deathstorm was the ring which Black Hand forged using the skull of the clone of Batman.
Krona's plans are now coming full circle and will soon be realized after the Guardians unleash The Third Army. When the White Lantern does rise, Abin Sur will be resurrected to become the new White Lantern and Guardian of the Universe. Abin will choose Ganthet, Sayd, Alan Scott and Sodum Yat to give White power rings too, because all that power is to much for only one person and together they will unite the 7 Corps of the emotional spectrum.
End of Volume 1, in the next volume I will be bringing to you my reboot of The Justice League, Wonder Woman, Infinity Inc. and The Legion of Doom. Tune in next time Comic book fans!