Neverending Crisis

From Infinite Earths to The New 52: a history of DC reboots.

Designed to simplify DC’s convoluted continuity by eliminating many of its endless alternate dimensions, creators have been undoing and redoing Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s handiwork ever since Crisis On Infinite Earths was first published in 1985. Indeed many of its other timelines were subsequently restored in its two sequels, 2006’ s

Infinite Crisis and 2008’ s Final Crisis, the latter of which was penned by Grant Morrison, whose 2014 opus The

Multiversity celebrated DC’s multiverse in all its wondrous, oddball glory.

In contrast, 2011’ s Flashpoint once again radically streamlined the DC Universe, paving the way for The New

52 in September of the same year, which controversially saw DC’s entire publishing line start all over again with 52 brand new first issues. Yet only four years later, many previously redundant versions of characters from the pre- Flashpoint era returned in

Convergence, a two- month long crossover, which in turn gave way to

Divergence last June and saw the official retiring of the New 52 branding, although its continuity has continued, at least until DC Rebirth arrives.