D.C.'s The Flash (tv series)

[DuneMuadDib]

They could be extra mean and just not air episodes for other shows because 'their universe/reality no longer exists"

Nah, if they want to really screw with viewers they replace Arnell with Justin Hartley for that week's episode.

 

[Treadwell]

There is another problem with crossing that over...

Syndication.

They could do what they did with the Bionic shows, include the crossover episodes in BOTH packages, rebranded with the other show's titles.

Still, nowadays they'd probably just cover their bases with the recap at the beginning of the show catching you up.

 

[Fly4v]

That's exactly what Flashpoint was, Barry went back in time to save his mother, but in so doing, essentially destroyed the world he loved. He never became the Flash. Bruce Wayne died and his father became a very unsuccessful Batman, etc. Eventually, Barry had to go back and ensure his mother did die so that the intricate chain of events that led to the then DCU would occur. Of course, the same thing will have to happen here, they've built the entire story around Flashpoint from the very first episode, that's why I don't know how they can not have the storyline affect other series like Arrow and Rogues, assuming it's going by the time this story comes to a head.

Thanks for the read ahead. The only Flash comic I read was "The Invasion" tie in.

 

[Vivek]

Ballad of Serenity- Gospel Version - YouTube

 

[Xtafa]

Nah, if they want to really screw with viewers they replace Arnell with Justin Hartley for that week's episode.

Ha! That'd be great! Only if they acted as if there was no chance and didn't reference it in any way possible.
I haven't seen him in anything since smallville actually

----

Just wiki'd. He's in the young and the restless... poor guy

 

[Solo4114]

That's exactly what Flashpoint was, Barry went back in time to save his mother, but in so doing, essentially destroyed the world he loved. He never became the Flash. Bruce Wayne died and his father became a very unsuccessful Batman, etc. Eventually, Barry had to go back and ensure his mother did die so that the intricate chain of events that led to the then DCU would occur. Of course, the same thing will have to happen here, they've built the entire story around Flashpoint from the very first episode, that's why I don't know how they can not have the storyline affect other series like Arrow and Rogues, assuming it's going by the time this story comes to a head.

But didn't Flashpoint also allow the creation of the "New 52"? So, rather than return the DCU to its state prior to Flashpoint, it returned it to a "mostly similar" state, but with a ton of retcons? Like, a whole bunch of dead characters who appeared in the "Blackest Night" story ended up...not being dead at all?

 

[DuneMuadDib]

It did. It merged the DC universe with Wildstorm and Vertigo, which somehow resulted in the latter two barely being used, and over half of DC being rebooted while the remainder carried on as if nothing changed. It also somehow compressed the 13-15 years of in-story continuity into roughly 5 years (debut of the heroes to the "present"). They reboot much of the line and they still were having errors with the new continuity in less than a year :behave.

 

[Solo4114]

Yeah. I've noticed a trend where the time between reboots seems shorter and shorter.

Prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths, you have, what, 40 years of continuity? Complex, difficult-to-manage continuity, but still they made an attempt.

Then Crisis reboots it and the multiverse becomes the universe. Ok. That lasts for about 20 years and then you get Infinite Crisis which blows up the universe back into the multiverse.

Then you have Flashpoint in 2010 so the Infinite Crisis reboot lasts a whopping 5 years, and now here we are 1 year later and they've already borked it up.

You know, there was a run in the mid-2000s where I was digging DC's stuff. Especially the relaunch of Green Lantern and the Green Lantern Corps. That was pretty cool. But now...I just have zero interest in them. They seem adrift, much like their film wing.

 

[Laspector]

wow....Crisis on Infinite Earths......I haven't thought about that series in decades....I've got 'em all somewhere, plastic wrapped in a footlocker. Gotta dig 'em out now and re read 'em.

That was so much better than Secret Wars.

 

[Cephus]

But didn't Flashpoint also allow the creation of the "New 52"? So, rather than return the DCU to its state prior to Flashpoint, it returned it to a "mostly similar" state, but with a ton of retcons? Like, a whole bunch of dead characters who appeared in the "Blackest Night" story ended up...not being dead at all?

It was an excuse for DC to reboot their universe, it wasn't really necessary to do that though. Considering how often both Marvel and DC just hit the bit red reset button, it isn't like they need that many excuses. Marvel is about to do it again in May.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks for the read ahead. The only Flash comic I read was "The Invasion" tie in.

Seriously, Flashpoint in the comics was 4 years ago, if you were going to read it, you would have done it by now. It isn't a recent storyline.

 

[Paul Andrew]

When has Marvel done a universe-wide reset before this one coming up? Certainly things have been fudged and patched up on occasion, but I don't think they've ever done a sweeping, hard reset before.

 

[DuneMuadDib]

Generally Marvel editorial doesn't care as much about continuity as DC does. Rather than reset things to streamline the continuity like DC did a few times they just ignore what they don't like that month.

Heroes reborn did soft reboot just about everything that wasn't mutant, inhuman, or Spider-man, and One More Day did hard reset a lot of Spidey's history.

 

[Cephus]

Generally Marvel editorial doesn't care as much about continuity as DC does. Rather than reset things to streamline the continuity like DC did a few times they just ignore what they don't like that month.

Heroes reborn did soft reboot just about everything that wasn't mutant, inhuman, or Spider-man, and One More Day did hard reset a lot of Spidey's history.

Marvel doesn't tend to reboot their entire universe en masse, they tend to do it constantly and in smaller doses. House of M reset the bulk of their mutants, Cataclysm reset a lot of the Ultimate Universe and you mentioned some other examples. Unfortunately, Marvel also doesn't know how to keep resets because they constantly reset the resets because readers don't actually want these things. Readers want good stories. Marvel wants gimmicks. I have no doubt that Secret Wars will be reset within 2 years because their sales will continue to drop.

 

[Solo4114]

It's been a long time since I followed Marvel comics' newer stuff, but the thing that always got me was how some team would suddenly find itself massively revamped when a new creative team took over, or something would result in massive character changes. The thing that most sticks out to me is how the X-books were massively rebooted in the early 90s when you had: X-men, The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, X-Force, and New Mutants. And stories would jump from title to title, requiring you to buy multiple different titles just to stay current. That was when I checked out, but I gather they do this pretty frequently.

It was at that point that I discovered Dark Horse Comics and its various movie-related lines.

 

[DuneMuadDib]

I wouldn't say those are reboots. "House of M" depowered the mutants, it didn't negate the in-universe history of those characters having been mutants. Not sure about cataclysm, since I stopped buying Marvel books after "One More Day."

By and large it seemed to me Marvel prefers to just retcon everything left right and center every six months when they have another ALL NEW MARVEL NEW MARVEL NEW NOW NEW NEW NEW! event. They can't leave the status quo alone long enough for there to be a status quo anymore, which I think is even more frustrating than DC throwing out their continuity completely twice in the last 30 years. Though with Convergence coming who knows what the continuity will look like in a year.

 

[Crazybug00]

Any ideas who this is? It was in one of the CW Flash trailers.

 

[ThreeToeSloth]

Sportsmaster?

 

[Cephus]

I wouldn't say those are reboots. "House of M" depowered the mutants, it didn't negate the in-universe history of those characters having been mutants. Not sure about cataclysm, since I stopped buying Marvel books after "One More Day."

By and large it seemed to me Marvel prefers to just retcon everything left right and center every six months when they have another ALL NEW MARVEL NEW MARVEL NEW NOW NEW NEW NEW! event. They can't leave the status quo alone long enough for there to be a status quo anymore, which I think is even more frustrating than DC throwing out their continuity completely twice in the last 30 years. Though with Convergence coming who knows what the continuity will look like in a year.

Both companies are desperately looking for something that makes them money and neither has figured out that just telling consistently good stories that appeal to their core audience is the way to go. They both go with constant events, Marvel is the worst offender, instead of having one or two events per year, they run constant events to the point where nobody even cares anymore. It's just a gimmick and everyone knows it. There's no point in getting invested in any of the stories because it's all going to be retconned away in a couple of months anyhow. It's sad that Marvel Cinematic can have such closely plotted stories that make tons of money but Marvel Comics is so horrible at it.

 

[kegas76]

OMG that was awesome. That episode more than anything else has made me most excited for the new Star Wars.

This was like two separate episodes and both were worth it on their own. And once again the previews are an amazing tease.

 

[The Mad Professor]

Tonight's episode was awesome!

Oh dear sweet merciful Zeus, THE REFERENCES!!!

Mark Hamill must have had an insanely fun time playing Trickster again. He killed it.

Best line: "I am your father." I bet he giggled like a maniac for finally being able to say that line.

Nice new information on the Wells backstory. Apparently Wells was telling the truth about his wife dying in a car crash. He just left out the part where Eobard Thawne killed him as well to take his identity and get S.T.A.R. Labs up and running.

I thought it was great seeing John Wesley Shipp in that grey trench coat again.

Now Eddie knows Barry's the Flash as well. How long until they make them related as they did in the comics?