Could someone catch me up on the DC Universe? (Spoilers appreciated)

I’ve been out of mainstream superhero comics for a while, but occasionally I’ll check in on what it happening in the DC Universe.

I’m reading all this stuff about a new Crisis and a possible reboot of the DCU.

Are they going to do that? If so how? What is the fanboy reaction? Are they trying to bring back pre-crisis continuity or are they doing an Ultimate DC?

Thanks.

Basically, it looks like there will be an all out war between the characters of Earth one, and earth two.

Personally, this fanboy says “Bring it on!” I wanna see a confrontation between “Wins if he’s prepared, doesn’t kill” Batman v. “Kills gangster dead” Batman.

Woo boy. Long story, and still going on.

(major spoilers follow)
As you may know, in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the alternate Earths were either destroyed or folded into the history of Earth-1, creating the post-Crisis continuity. The Superman and Lois of Earth 2 survived, and they went into some kind of extradimensional paradise with Alexander Luthor and the Superboy of Earth-Prime. They’ve been there ever since.

In the meantime…
Years ago, Dr. Light raped Sue Dibney. The Justice League decided to have Zatanna brainwash him to make him less of a threat (they ended up pretty much lobotomizing him). Batman tried to stop them, so they erased his memory of the event. Both Light and Batman have regained their memories (and Light’s smart and scary again), and they’re both pissed.

Light’s story has circulated around villainous circles, and virtually every badguy (with a few very notable exceptions) has united under Lex Luthor’s leadership to stop the heroes from ever pulling such a stunt again. They’re building a device ostenibly to mindwipe the heroes, but we’ve since learned that this Luthor is an imposter (the real guy is elsewhere, and pissed) and the device is for something else.

Batman, also deciding he can’t trust the heroes, built a satellite AI , Brother I, to watch them. It was stolen by Max Lord, who attatched the satellites to over a million unwitting nanite-driven Super-Soldiers, the OMACs. Max killed Blue Beetle (who figured it out first), brainwashed Superman, and sent him after Batman. Wonder Woman killed Max to free Clark. The heroes took out most of the OMACs, but several thousand still remain, each capable of giving Superman a good workout. As revenge, Brother I broadcast the footage of Wonder Woman killing Max, pretty much destroying her rep), and has launched a massive OMAC assault on Paradise Island. Nobody likes Batman, nobody likes Wonder Woman, and Superman is consumed with guilt and self-doubt.

At the same time, the Spectre, at Eclipso’s urging, has decided that magic is the source of all evil, and has set out on a campaign to destroy it. We’ve been told that this is fruitless and that the Spectre is, by pulling down all the old spells and wards, is just making magic even more wild and dangerous than it was before, but Ghostface won’t listen, and he’s racked up some impressive kills, among them the wizard Shazam and smashing up Atlantis pretty good.

Meanwhile, in space, pretty much every inhabited world save Earth is involved in an enormous interstellar war. And there’s a giant hole opened up in the middle of space…

Superman-2 sees all of this going down from his prison/paaradise, and decides hes had enough. He breaks free and plans to remake the univserse, this time using Earth-2 as the base template. Will he succeed, what will the DCU become? Only time will tell.

Fan response, except for some gnashing of teeth over the deaths of some fan favorite characters (especially Blue Beetle), has been pretty positive. It may seem like a lot. but it’s been very well written, so far.

Wasn’t the Earth 2 Batman dead, even before the Crisis on Infinite Earths? Not that that couldn’t be overcome somehow, of course.

Yes, Earth-2’s Batman was killed in the late 70’s, if memory serves.

:smack: D’oh, you’re right. That is part of the origin of the original Huntress. For more on Helena Wayne, see Why I Loved Earth-2, Part II: Batman Wasn’t an Asshole

Of course, I did see Batman on Superman of Earth-Two’s video monitor/crystal, when we were last at the fortress of Solitude, so…

And the Earth-2 Batman really has nothing to do with the purple-gloved 1939 Batman that killed a few people in his earliest appearances. I suspect anyone looking for Batman to kill gangsters is going to be S.O.L…

Then again, I’ve been reading Infinite Crisis, trying to derive some entertainment from it, and I suspect I am also S.O.L…

The Batman as Asshole meme has been brought to a head in recent months, basically so they could have something for him to work through. On top of creating a rogue AI that now theatens every metahuman on the planet, Jason Todd’s come back from the dead and gone on a killing spree, causing Bruce much angst.

If he survives and continues as a costumed hero (neither is certain at the moment! But I think he will), I’d venture that Batman will chill out considerably.

[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou]
And the Earth-2 Batman really has nothing to do with the purple-gloved 1939 Batman that killed a few people in his earliest appearances. I suspect anyone looking for Batman to kill gangsters is going to be S.O.L…QUOTE]I suspect you are right that we will not see Batman of earth Shooting anyone, since he did so in the past, he doesn’t do so any more. Unless the take him from when he was younger….
As far as I can tell, your opinion that 1939 guy isn’t the same person as the husband of Selina Wayne is just wishful thinking, though.

Scott, I never know what the hell you are talking about.

What I am talking about is that you are wrong.

Bruce Wayneof Earth-Two, Husband of Selina Wayne, father of Helena Wayne, once Batman, now Police Commisoner of Gothem City IS “the purple-gloved 1939 Batman that killed a few people in his earliest appearances”, just older. Give me a cite that syas diffrently. Untuil then, I will just go with what I know.
[QUOTE=
Craig Reade]
Superman and his wife, Lois Lane, of Earth-2 (the original Superman and Lois Lane, the ones who first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and launched the entire superhero genre).
[/QUOTE]
from DECONSTRUCTING INFINITE CRISIS #1

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, Scott. Nobody in the Golden Age cared much about maintining continuity, and Lou’s right that the earliest Batman adventures were pretty much by the wayside well before Crisis – well before the end of his first decade, even.

–Cliffy

That is your opinion. Last time I looked, I may or may not have the opinion of the writers of the current project on my side. However, I do have the chronology of the character on my side, even in keeping with the multi-verses. Do you have a cite for what you are saying, or just your opinion that this is how the writers feel? Oh, as as for your feeling disgust over my wanting things to be consistent, tough. That’s what I am like.

You see, THIS is why I hate getting into conversations at comic shops and conventions.

“Anyone one believes more strongly then I do is an fanatic”, eh Lou?

Is that how the old quote goes?

I have to agree with BBVL

Asking for cites trying to hold together continuity from nearly 70 years ago? Puh-leeeze. (And I’m specifically not saying which side I fall on, just that seeing people arguing comic ontinuity to near-fisticuffs is simultaneously hilarious and pathetic).

Sigh. I really shouldn’t get into this but…

Devil’s advocate, Scott - what evidence other than poetic ramblings of Roy Thomas and the coincidence of sequential issue numbering do you have to connect Batman of 1939 to Batman of 1949?

Because when the whole Earth-One / Earth-Two division came up, it wasn’t clear when the Bat-title stopped telling Batman-2’s stories and started with Batman-1’s. Considerable scholarship has been expended to research that dividing line, in fact.

We probably should assume the Batman of 1939 is the Earth-2 Batman, but your jibbering joy at the prospect of him wasting gangsters has me more than a little concerned.

The sequence numbering is enough. It seems up to me that if the writers went and said “This Batman started in the sixties. He has never shot anyone. All his first few adventures were the same., save for the not shooting part, and the dates.”

“This other Batman started in the late 30s.” then that means that all stories which refer to him starting in the 30 acknowledge the early issues.

Would you rather have 3 guys, one who started in the thirties, shot people then never did again and was not part of Hypertime, somehow, another who started in the 30, never shot people, and the third one being Earth-One?

Crazy. Last time I looked, if there is continuity from nearly 70 years ago, it is not up to me to prove that what happened, happened. It did. 2 shot people, moved on with his life.

1 simply never went through the shooting phrase.

Now, I am not asking for a Batman to show up and start shooting people right and left. Nor am I even asking for there to be a visual or verbal reference to his early years. Instead, I am simply expressing that I will bug-out if the Earth-Two Bats has a line like “No, I have never shot anyone, self-defense or not.”

This is why I don’t visit conventions at all, as a rule.

I read somewhere he kicked the shit out of the current Robin (Tim Drake?) wearing Earth-2 Robin’s uniform, making some speculate he’s Jason Todd from another Earth. Is this true?