#doomsday (2022)

[ufonaut]

It is a bullet. And I am the gun.

Ruby Sokov in Justice Society of America (2022) #8

(Geoff Johns, Mikel Janin)

[lesser-mook]

Now and Then-Here And There *full version* (Superman-Limitbreaker)

Even Supes had to start somewhere.

[painless-innit-colourful]

so SOMEONE had clearly a lot to say about doomsday for a very long time. I just wrote nearly a thousand words of purple-y prose of frankly apocalyptic description and I feel GREAT

L’Manberg’s last hour had come and gone. And this was all that was left. Tubbo’s suit felt like a mausoleum on his shoulders.

[sovamurka]

Alexander Runevsky and Azik Mitrohin really looked at the most feral, unhinged and reckless young woman and said 'yeah :D I choose this one as the love of my life!'

[x-heesy]

Now you've got something to die for 🍭🫶🏽

Now you've got something to die for

Infidel

Imperial

Lust for blood, a blind crusade

Apocalyptic, we count the days

Bombs to set the people free 🖕🏽

Blood to feed the dollar tree

Flags for coffins on the screen

Oil for the machine

Army of liberation

Gunpoint indoctrination

The fires of sedition

Fulfill the prophecy

Now you've got something to die for

Now you've got something to die for

Send the children to the fire

Sons and daughters stack the pyre

Stoke the flame of the empire

Live to lie another day

Face of hypocrisy

Raping democracy

Apocalyptic

We count the days

Oh

We'll never get out of this hole

Until we've dug our own grave

And drug the rest down with us

The burning home of the brave

Burn 🔥

Now you've got something to die for

Now you've got something to die

For

Now You've Got Something to Die For by Lamb of God

@len0r 🫶🏽

[loadsofcats]

Incredibly funny that upon thinking how to depict Azazello, the “Конец света” team decided to make him a tiktok enby twink. And it worked

[ammg-old2]

How close is humanity to destruction? Not very far, according to the Doomsday Clock, which has been metaphorically ticking since 1947. Its hands now sit at 90 seconds to midnight—closer than they’ve ever been. 

This morning, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reset the clock based on how close it believes the world is to disaster, with midnight symbolizing doomsday. The group takes into account factors ranging from nuclear weapons to climate change.

“We are living in a time of unprecedented danger, and the Doomsday Clock time reflects that reality,” says Rachel Bronson, who oversees the Bulletin, in a statement. “Ninety seconds to midnight is the closest the clock has ever been set to midnight, and it’s a decision our experts do not take lightly.”

The clock’s new position is due “largely but not exclusively” to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has increased the risk of nuclear escalation, says the Bulletin in a statement. The group also attributes its decision to various ongoing concerns, including the climate crisis and the “breakdown of global norms and institutions” needed to navigate “advancing technologies” and biological threats like Covid-19.

Conceived in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the clock was originally an analogy for the accelerating threat of nuclear war during the Cold War arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The group of scientists behind the original clock included some who had participated in the Manhattan Project, which created the world’s first nuclear weapons.

Artist Martyl Langsdorf designed the first version of the clock. It was set at seven minutes to midnight because, Langsdorf said, “it looked good to my eye,” per the Bulletin’s website.

Since then, the Bulletin has been regularly resetting the clock to warn the public about “how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making,” writes the organization. “It is a metaphor, a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet.”

Twice a year, the bulletin’s science and security board, composed of experts on nuclear weapons and climate change, meets to deliberate. The board considers factors such as the number of nuclear weapons in the world and the rate of sea level rise, then convenes to make its judgment, which is reflected on a physical version of the clock that lives at the University of Chicago.

The clock is “not a model spitting out a number,” Bronson tells the Washington Post’s Ellen Francis. “It’s a judgment among experts about whether humanity is safer or at greater risk” compared with the clock’s setting in previous years.

The clock’s hands can move backwards, forwards or stay the same. They were farthest from midnight—a record 17 minutes—in 1991, a decision informed by post-Cold War optimism. The last time the clock changed was in 2020, when the Bulletin set the hands at 100 seconds to midnight.

Some critics see this process as arbitrary or useless. As Anders Sandberg, an expert on global catastrophic risk at the University of Oxford, wrote in the Conversation in 2015, the Doomsday Clock “is not a measurement of time, probability or distance.” Instead, he argued, “it is a measure of the ‘strong feeling of urgency’ the people who run it have when watching the world-system.”

“Doomsday predictions are rarely informative,” he continued, “but good ones can be directive: They urge us to fix the world.”

That’s the takeaway many of the clock’s supporters have: A sense of urgency, they argue, can spur action.

“The Doomsday Clock is sounding an alarm for the whole of humanity,” says Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, in a statement. “We are on the brink of a precipice. But our leaders are not acting at sufficient speed or scale to secure a peaceful and liveable planet. From cutting carbon emissions to strengthening arms control treaties and investing in pandemic preparedness, we know what needs to be done.”

[bugflies00]

more polls because the other day i saw someone say they recently got into dsmp and that blew my mind because i dont even know one manages to Become a dsmp fan in 2024 i wish you so much strength . But so :

[charlott2n]

Charlotte Genre Guide

My top 5 favorite/recommended albums from each of my favorite genres!

Stoner/Doom Metal

Master of Brutality by Church of Misery (2001)

Variations on a Theme by OM (2005)

Blood Lust by Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats (2011)

Soma by Windhand (2013)

Book of Rituals by Saturniidae (2023)

Dream Pop/Shoegaze

Love Songs for the Chemical Generation by Daniel Land and the Modern Painters (2009)

The Glow by Gold Celeste (2015)

Lucid Express s/t (2021)

Daydream Twins s/t (2022)

A Fusion of Two Hemispheres by Sphere (2022)

Vaporwave

无限渴望 by Virtual Dream Plaza (2016)

一人で by desert sand feels warm at night (2019)

Soul Visioning by MindSpring Memories (2021)

Dream Desert by desert sand feels warm at night (2022)

Desert Memories by desert sand feels warm at night & MindSpring Memories (2023)

Psychedelic Pop

The Satanic Satanist by Portugal. the Man (2009)

Multi-Love by Unknown Mortal Orchestra (2015)

Skiptracing by Mild High Club (2016)

Jinx by Crumb (2019)

Raw Honey by Drugdealer (2019)

Psychedelic Rock

Parachute by The Pretty Things (1970)

In the Mountain in the Cloud by Portugal. the Man (2011)

Nonagon Infinity by King Gizzard (2016)

High Visceral Pt 1 by Psychedelic Porn Crumpets (2016)

Face Stabber by Thee Oh Sees (2019)

Progressive Rock

Shine on Brightly by Procol Harum (1968)

Lizard by King Crimson (1970)

Crime of the Century by Supertramp (1974)

Hope by Klaatu (1977)

blomljud by Moon Safari (2008)

Hard Rock

Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath (1970)

The Man Who Sold the World by David Bowie (1970)

Restrictions by Cactus (1971)

Satori by Flower Travellin' Band (1971)

Pieces of Eight by Styx (1979)

Rap

Licensed to Ill by Beastie Boys (1986)

3 Feet High and Rising by De La Soul (1989)

The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest (1991)

6 Feet Deep by Gravediggaz (1994)

Shade of Blue by Madlib (2003)

Funk

Hot Pants by James Brown (1971)

Fantastic Planet Soundtrack (1973)

Standing on the Verge of Getting it On by Funkadelic (1974)

Hustle With Speed by The J.B.'s (1975)

Directstep by Herbie Hancock (1979)

Jazz Rock

Chicago Transit Authority by Chicago (1969)

Aja by Steely Dan (1977)

Junta by Phish (1989)

A Thoughtful Collapse by Vathaken (2020)

Middle Hand by Tytus & The Left-Handers (2024)

Jam Band

Rhythms From a Cosmic Sky by Earthless (2007)

Summer Sessions Vol. 2 by Causa Sui (2009)

Solar Corona by The Machine (2009)

The Doomsday Machine by Electric Moon (2011)

299 by Bull of Heaven (2013)

Disco

I Remember Yesterday by Donna Summer (1977)

Dazzle by Dazzle (1979)

Hills of Katmandu by Tantra (1979)

Tako Tsubo by L' Impératrice (2021)

Chorus by Mildlife (2024)

[magical-grrrl-mavis]

There have been 82 Doctors at this point!

Keep reading line because the list is so damn long.

Main Continuum

(In order of appearance)

Classic Who

First Doctor (William Hartnell 1963 – 1966, Richard Hurdnall 1983, David Bradley 2017, 2022)

Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton 1966 – 1969)

Third Doctor (John Pertwee 1970 – 1974)

Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker 1974 – 1981)

Fifth Doctor (Peter Davidson 1981 – 1984)

Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker 1984 – 1986)

Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy 1987 – 1989)

Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann 1996 movie)

Nu Who

Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston 2005)

Tenth Doctor (David Tennant 2005 – 2010)

Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith 2010 – 2013)

The War Doctor (John Hurt 2013)

Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi 2013 – 2017)

Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker 2017 – 2022)

Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant 2023)

Fifteenth Doctor (Ncutu Gatwa 2023 - ?)

Pre - Memory Doctors

(Timeless child my beloathed)

Morbius Doctors (Robert Holmes, Graeme Harper, Douglas Camfield, Philip Hinchcliffe, Christopher Baker, Robert Banks Stewart, George Gallaccio and Christopher Barry 1976)

The Other (Sylvester McCoy, 1990)

The Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin 2020)

The Timeless Child(ren) (TBA, Grace Nettle, Leo Tang, Jac Jones, TBA, Jesse Deyi 2020)

Brendan (Evan McCabe 2020)

Possible Future Doctors

(italicized parts of names are the title of that Doctor's first appearance, if I can't find a better name)

Father of Time (No Actor, 1987)

"Merlin" or The Battlefield Doctor (No actor, 1991)

The Army of Shadows Doctor (No actor, 1991)

"Fred" (No actor, 1993)

The Relic (no actor 1997, 2002)

The Storytelling Doctor (Tom Baker 1999)

The Web of Caves Future Doctor (Mark Gatiss, 1999)

The Blue Angel Future Doctor (No Actor, 1999)

The Curator 1 (Tom Baker, 2013)

The Curator 2 (Collin Baker, 2022)

Pseudo-Doctors

The Watcher (Adrian Gibbs 1981)

The Valyard (Michael Jayston 1986)

The Obverse Eight Doctor (No actor, 1999)

The Metacrisis Doctor (David Tennant 2008)

The DoctorDonna (Catherine Tait 2008)

The Dream Lord (Tony Jones 2010)

The Ganger Doctor (Matt Smith 2011)

The Spriggan (David Tennant 2022)

Alternate Realities

Dalek Films

Dr. Who (Peter Cushing 1965, 1966)

The Inferno Universe

The Leader (Jack Kine, 1970)

Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday

The Doctor (Trevor Martin 1974)

Previous Doctor (Nocholas Briggs 2008)

The Lenny Henry Show

The Seventh Doctor (Lenny Henry 1986)

What If?

The Eighth Doctor (No actor, 1997)

The Infinity Doctors

The Infinity Doctor (No actor, 1998)

The Curse of Fatal Death

The Doctor (Rowan Atkinsen 1999)

The Quite Handsom Doctor (Richard E Grant 1999)

The Shy Doctor (Jim Briadbent 1999)

The Handsom Doctor (Hugh Grant 1999)

The Female Doctor (Joanna Lumley 1999)

The Chronicles of Doctor Who?

The Doctor (no actor, 2000)

Klein's Story

Johann Schmidt (Paul McGann, 2010)

Father Time

The Emperor (No actor, 2001)

Scream of the Shalka

The 9th Doctor (Richard E Grant 2003)

Doctor Who Unbound

The Doctor (Geoffrey Bayldon 2003)

The Unbound Doctor (David Warner 2003)

The Heartless Doctor (David Collings 2003)

The New Heartless Doctor (Ian Brooker 2003)

Martin Bannister (Derek Jacobi 2003)

The Victorious Valyard (Michael Jayston 2003)

The Previous Doctor (Nicholas Briggs 2003)

The Exile Doctor (Arabella Weir 2003)

The Warrior (Collin Baker 2022)

Gallifrey - Disassembled

Lord Burner (Collin Baker 2011)

Gallifrey - Regenerators

Commentater Theta Sigma (Collin Baker, 2011)

False Negative

The Doctor (No actor, 2017)

The People Made of Smoke

The Sixth Doctor (Dan Starkey, 2020)

Unspecified Doctors

Yeah sometimes they just say "The Doctor" and don't bother specifying...

The Cabinet of Light Doctor (No Actor, 2003)

The Dalek Factor Doctor (No actor, 2004)

[basedhighsenberg]

99% of climate activists have absolutely no good point of reference for their personal experiences with how the climate has changed in their life. They watch videos of weather patterns happening miles away on their screens from their sterile urban apartments they hardly ever leave, and are so sure the climate has rapidly changed because they only experience it in depth once every 5 years and don't understand the normal climactic patterns for the area they live in.

In 2022 my state of Utah- a desert state, was in a terrible drought. Everyone was so sure it was evidence of climate change and celebrities were pointing fingers at the conservative state government for not doing more to "fight climate change" and help fix the problem before the Great Salt Lake "dried up".

In in the winter of 2022/2023 my state had the heaviest snowfall ever recorded since the state was founded in 1896, and in 2023 it has one of the wettest summers on record. Throughout all of 2023 and 2024 so far not a single bit of the state has been in a drought. The Great Salt Lake went back to its peak water level, and all the climate doomsday proselytizers pointing at Utah suddenly vanished.

This is perfectly normal for the climate in which I live. A desert climate that has periods of excessive dry and excessive wet, had a longer than normal dry spell that was followed up by a wetter than normal winter/summer? Makes perfect fucking sense if you're not a fucking moron who never goes outside.

[loud-whistling-yes]

All i know is the Season 9 of Hermitcraft, hc x dsmp crossover and Tilly do us apart. The rest you mention is foreign to me. So yeah and also I agreed that no person should see the entirety of dsmp history. Like damn... many things have occur in a short period of time?!

Glad you've asked! Here is a list of things part of mcyt history that has happened in the last 4 years:

Hermitcraft season 7 will be 4 years old in a month (February 2020)

The dsmp will be 4 too in a few months (April 2020)

Dream SMP War by Sadist, the video that caused one of the largest surges of popularity for the dsmp, turns 4 in August

Doomsday celebrated it's 3rd anniversary about a week ago (6th January 2021)

Yes. Almost ALL of the dsmp story up to that point happened within the span of about 5 months. From the VERY BEGINNING OF THE DISC SAGA TO THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF LMANBURG. It all took place from July to early January. What the fuck.

3rd life will be turning 3 in April (April 2021)

Penismp turns 3 in May. I cannot stress this enough. Remember the fake smp that predated goncharov BY A FUCKING YEAR AND A HALF and trended 3rd on Tumblr for 2 days straight??? That was almost 3 years ago now.

The surge of popularity for Passerine happens around May of 2021, following Sadist's animation Sunsprite's Eulogy

Empires season 1 will be 3 years old in June

Hermitcraft season 8 will also be 3 in June (exactly one week apart! Esmp started on 12th June while hcs8 started on the 19th)

Yes, you heard it right, the life series and empires predate season 8! Pearl and Gem became hermits roughly a week AFTER the cactus ring.

June 2021 is ALSO the month where MCC Pride 2021 took place. Y'know, the one with Wilbur's office on fire and technoblade getting nicknamed Tech by grian. THIS IS ALSO turning 3 this year. June 2021 was a wild month.

Techno's escape from prison will be 3 years old this year too. September fucking 2021. It's been 3 years since this happened.

The canary's curse has been a concept in the fandom for a little over 2 years now, following jimmy's final death in last life (early November 2021)

Moon Big also occurred around this time frame, which means it's turning 3 this year!

Mangoball becomes a dsmp fandom staple around early December 2021

The 2 year anniversary of @/chrisrin's curses last life animation is in 2 days! (16th January 2022)

Following the end of empires season 1, hermitcraft season 8 and the lore drought of the dsmp, this is where the big Content Drought of 2022 happens. This is where dreamempirescraft became a thing. This is also where that drawing came from.

Hermitcraft season 9 will also be 2 soon (March 2022). Longest season, everyone.

Double life is currently a year and a half old! (June 2022) Every mention of tilly, pearl being the devil, the scarlet pearl, something wicked this way comes, ALL of it, came from a year and a half ago

Yes, this means that season 9 saw the beginning and end of not one, not two, but THREE seasons of the life series. Longest season, everyone.

Speaking of longest season, anyone remember the esmp crossover? This will also turn 2 this year (November 2022)

Qsmp is about to turn a year old soon! This is less of a fact to make you feel old but a fact that makes you think "ALL THAT IN LESS THAN A YEAR?????", and you'd be right! What the fuck! How did this all happen in less than a year!

[genevawrenn]

Two years.

Two years without him.

In August of 2022 I was hanging in a VC with a close friend, when both of us have trouble sleeping we will often hop in a VC and chill until we get tired. During one of these sessions he introduced me to Technoblade by showing me the Sad-ist animations, and I was enthralled *instantly*. Then that bastard /aff left for a week, leaving me to dive headfirst into one of the longest running fixations I have ever had.

I watched a single EvanMCgaming video about the DSMP lore, then proceeded to binge the rest and the rest is history.

My first few videos of Techno's content were : Doomsday, the jail podcast and Techno & Ranboo's excellent adventure, kicking off my love of Boreal Trio. I consumed every bit of content I could, falling into watching both Phil and Ranboo who regularly streamed between long sessions of watching every Techno video I could.

I found a dynamic in that trio in the north I will forever be fond of, eventually extending to the Syndicate as well before I found SBI. I then mained SBI for about two years until...well...y'know. [Wilbur, for fucks sake, you rat bastard /neg].

I found so many people who I enjoy the content of through the silly pig man with an honourable nature and silly banter. At first it was simply just Boreal Trio, then it slowly extended to include so many : Eret, Sam, Tubbo, Niki, Fundy, Jack Manifold, Badboyhalo, Quackity, Karl Jacobs, HBomb, Foolish, Slimecicle, Michaelmcchill, Tina, Seapeekay, Aimsey...

Since then I have accomplished so much. I became a Twitch Mod for Eret [still am, they are an amazing person and streamer]. I've written over 700k on A03. I have made lifelong friends. I found my passion for creativity and was able to channel it once more. I found a home and a safe place.

It lead me into following DSMP to the bitter end, same with QSMP and now I mainly hang around Hermitcraft while still indulging my past fixations.

And it always comes back to Technoblade. He was the key to me finding a sanctuary to be myself in this crazy world and provides me comfort to this day, a little bit of his soul living on through each of his friends and every time we tell his stories.

So do this Voice a favour. Keep telling those legends. Speak the tales far and wide about this fantastic man who was gone too soon but fought a fantastic fight. He brought joy and light to everyone, inspiring hundreds of thousands. He is special enough to be remembered by millions, and has helped bring funding to a rare form of cancer after his death.

Technoblade changed the world, both mine and everyone else's.

I miss Technoblade, but he will never die in our hearts.

I just wish I could tell him thank you, just once, for how much he helped and inspired me.

[sovamurka]

Azazello // Satan // Nelly

The most chaotic trio of this series. Basically Satan and his entourage from 'Master and Margarita' but with its own kind of unique flavour. If I told you that they stole Lenin's body from the Mausoleum at one point, you probably wouldn't believe me, but they did.

[overlordmetal]

Art Rewind: DC

Similarly to what I did last time with a few of my Dragon Ball artworks from over the years, I selected some highlights out of some DC fanart I’ve created.

"The Dark Knight"

A sketch work I drew in 2018 to test out an art journal I’d just gotten at the time. While he could have benefitted from longer ears, I still really like how this one has aged.

"Batman"

An artwork based on the iconic still toward the ending of the iconic opening from "Batman: The Animated Series". I drew it as a gift for a friend’s birthday in 2019.

"Batman and Robin"

An art collaboration between @eigs and I, she drew Robin while I drew Batman. Originally only a sketch in 2019, I returned to it earlier this year and digitally colored over it.

"The Kill(ing Joke)"

A couple of Joker artworks I drew, this first in 2020 based upon his comic appearance, and the second in 2021 based upon Jared Leto’a appearance in the music video for Thirty Seconds To Mars’ "The Kill".

The Penguin

Penguin is (usually) my favorite Batman villain, and as a result, I wound up showing him a little appreciation in 2020 with an artwork of his own.

"Man of Steel"

I drew the DCEU iteration of Superman in anticipation of Snyder’s cut of the Justice League film in 2021. I know the trend was black suit Superman at the time, but I hadn’t drawn Superman in so long, I just wanted to get him in his standard colors.

"Doomsday"

An artwork I’d drawn of Doomsday in 2021. Fantastic Superman villain.

"Batgirl"

Drawn in 2021 as my entry in a "what-if?" challenge where I depicted Stephanie Brown in my own redesign continuing as Batgirl while Barbara Gordon remained as the Oracle instead of reclaiming the Batgirl title like she did in the New 52.

"It's Not Easy"

Drawn to celebrate Superman Day in 2022, I aimed to capture both the brilliant hopeful side of his character while simultaneously addressing the alienation and burdens he battles behind closed doors. I’m not too crazy about how this one turned out, largely because I didn’t put enough work into the background but I am proud of the shading and coloring and I still really like the overall concept.

"Superman"

Drawn in 2024 to celebrate Superman Day again. I couldn’t go for anything too complex due to my work schedule but I think I succeeded in a simplistic approach a lot better this time. It’s also probably my best Superman artwork to date.

—

I’d like to thank you if you’ve read this far, I hope you enjoyed and that you’ll have a good rest of your day. If you have thoughts or comments you’d like to share, you’re more than welcome to. These are characters I grew up with and I’d love to draw them more should the opportunity arise.

[androxys]

Comic Ages: Quick Breakdowns of the Dark and Modern Ages

Yesterday I wrote a quick writeup of the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages of Comics. Savvy readers may have noticed that those ages ended at 1986, and yet comics have continued to be published. So what Age are we in now? That's what this writeup discusses!

The Dark Age (1986-2016)

After Crisis on Infinite Earths ended in 1986, DC got to make a whole new continuity! The comics that came at this point in time form the foundation of a lot of the characters and stories that we know today. For a good bit of time, we called The Dark Age the Modern Age, because at that point it was modern! But now that we’re nearly forty years removed from Crisis and comics are still being published, there was a fair question about just how “Modern” it was. I’m using the verbiage that DC seems to be endorsing themself—I learned the phrase “The Dark Age” from 2022’s Batman—The Ultimate Guide reference book. Calling this period a Dark Age is not an indictment about the quality of work in this period, rather, it’s to reflect the doubling down on darker, grimmer stories. Crisis ended in 1986, followed almost immediately by Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, two stories very interested in deconstructing the figure of a hero with a cynical eye. While these stories were not in the main DC canon, they would reverberate on the tone of what was to come.

Within the main DC canon, huge shakeups were occurring. There were no more multiple Earths; instead, there was a single New Earth that incorporated the histories of several Earths. The Justice Society had fought in WWII and retired in the 50s, but were still around and able to mentor the younger generation of heroes. There was only ever the one Superman and Batman figure, though DC would later figure out a way to have a Wonder Woman both in the present and among the Justice Society. Many of DC’s biggest heroes were getting revamps to introduce their new continuity: The Man of Steel miniseries detailed Superman’s new origin and once again established him as the sole survivor of Krypton. The Batman: Year One story that ran thorough Batman #403-407 detailed the early history of this Caped Crusader, revamping Jim Gordon and Selina Kyle in the process. Wonder Woman saw her title relaunched with a new #1, with George Perez taking the helm of a sprawling epic that redefined the character. The darker tone of the Dark Age continued to manifest. The Killing Joke was published in 1988, depicting the shooting of Barbara Gordon by the Joker, followed quickly by Jason Todd’s murder in A Death in the Family. Major comic events of the early 90s involved the villain Bane breaking Batman’s back and the monster Doomsday killing Superman.

In the mid 90s, DC was forced to reconcile with the truth that while Crisis had mostly succeeded in tidying things up, things were once again getting messy. To solve this, DC published the Zero Hour event, officially titled Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! (DC really loves to slap the “Crisis” title on anything load-bearing) Zero Hour, published in 1994, featured the Silver Age hero Hal Jordan becoming the villain Parallax and trying to undo time. Heroes banded together to stop him, though the timeline was slightly altered. This introduced many soft retcons—retroactive continuity fixes—that aimed to make things make a bit more sense. The jury still seems to be out on if it succeeded. 

By the early 2000s, DC decided that it was ready for a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, which they helpfully named Infinite Crisis. This event saw the return of several characters from the original Crisis, and more crucially, the return of a multiverse to DC Comics. This multiverse would be refined such that rather than an infinite multiverse of infinite Earths, there were now 52 parallel worlds. Some of the new worlds were established as callbacks to previously depicted alternate Earths, while some were new. Other major events within the Dark Age were Final Crisis, which saw the “death” of Bruce Wayne by Darkseid, and Blackest Night, which saw deceased heroes and villains resurrected as zombies by Black Lantern rings to feast on the emotions of the living.

In 2011, DC decided it was time for another major revamp. They wanted the characters younger and less burdened, and decided to launch The New 52 and end the era of post-Crisis New Earth. This was done with the Flashpoint story, which featured Barry Allen, the Flash, attempting to go back in time and prevent the death of his mother. While well intentioned, this event created a wildly branching timeline that he then had to set right. Though he mostly succeeded, the world Barry returned to was not quite the same. The post-Flashpoint world was dubbed “Prime Earth,” and was… controversial. Much of the post-Flashpoint continuity seemed to harken back to previous Ages–as mentioned, the characters in general were younger. Barbara Gordon, the Silver and Bronze Age Batgirl, was returned to the Batgirl role while her two New Earth successors were written out of continuity. Barry Allen was made the primary Flash of the DC Universe, with the Golden Age’s Jay Garrick and the Bronze/Dark Age’s Wally West removed. 

In 2015, DC would publish the “Convergence” event, which featured an extant Brainiac capturing specific slices from several timelines and pitting them against each other. This included seeing the pre-Crisis Teen Titans operating at the same time as the post-Crisis, pre-Zero Hour Suicide Squad, or the post-Zero Hour but pre-Flashpoint Batgirl. It was messy! But importantly, it showed DC acknowledging their older characters and characterizations, and restoring some of the multiverse that came before.

The Dark Age would eventually come full circle, with the Doomsday Clock event heralding the end of the Dark Age and beginning what we call (for now) the Modern Age. Doomsday Clock was a direct sequel to Watchmen, the iconic comic that helped set the tone for the Dark Age in 1986. Doomsday Clock suggested that part of the reason the New 52 was so different than the pre-Flashpoint New Earth was because Doctor Manhattan, the massively powerful Watchmen character, had removed several years from the timeline to observe how the world would change. Batman and the Flash discovered this meddling during “The Button” storyline, and DC subsequently began its Rebirth initiative.

The Modern Age (2016-Present)

It’s fickle to decide precisely when the Modern Age begins. DC Comics themselves states that the Dark Age ended in 2011, with Flashpoint, though I disagree. Many of the initial New 52 storylines hold on to the darker tone, though there is evidence that around 2014, DC began to pivot away. The DCYou initiative, for example, focused on refreshing some characters to a younger, more upbeat characterization–such as Barbara Gordon in her Batgirl of Burnside era–or by introducing new comics altogether–such as the more lighthearted Gotham Academy series. You may disagree with me on precisely where these eras begin and end, however, and that’s okay.

In 2016, DC began its Rebirth event that sought to reconcile some of the pre-Flashpoint elements into the Prime Earth continuity. This was spearheaded by the return of Wally West, and continued to gradually fold back in pre-Flashpoint elements into the Prime Earth timeline. The events of 2020's Dark Nights and Dark Nights: Death Metal finalized it, placing characters in a sort of super-state of having access to all of the memories of all previous versions of themselves, while still ostensibly having only lived the one life. It’s complicated, but it crucially gave writers the opportunity to have characters make reference to past events that happened on New Earth, canonizing them for the Prime Earth continuity.

The end of the Dark Nights saga resulted in DC’s Future State and Infinite Frontier projects in 2021. Future State’s premise was showing possible futures for various DC characters, and then Infinite Frontier launched characters on possible paths. The emphasis was on this being a new starting point for many characters, both old and new. Jon Kent, the son of Superman, had his own title launched during this time, and Yara Flor, a new Wonder Woman, got a miniseries. On the Nightwing title, a new creative team took over to steer the character out of the “Ric Grayson” amnesia arc, restoring Nightwing to his traditional hero status.

In 2022, DC would publish Dark Crisis, later rebranded Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (see what I mean about them just reusing the same words for emphasis?) which saw many classic DC villains from across different eras brought together by a powerful force. This continued to delve into the DC Multiverse and establish that everything was metaphorically on the table, leading to the Dawn of DC initiative. Similarly to Infinite Frontier, Dawn of DC was about fresh starts, new beginnings, and updates so that new readers could jump in. The Justice League was disbanded in the wake of Dark Crisis, leading the Titans to become the preeminent Superhero team. The Superman title was relaunched at #1, and many books got new creative teams.

It’s always easier to retrospectively talk about something that has concluded rather than to actively analyze something ongoing. However, I think so far it’s fair to say that DC is attempting to use the Modern Age to craft a more expansive, perpetually new universe. Old characters are getting new attention, new characters are being created, and the depth and breadth of DC’s publication is getting highlighted. The current Modern Age has seen DC focus on expanding its Young Adult graphic novels since 2019, and DC announced in 2024 that they would be bringing back the Elseworlds imprint to tell alternate universe stories. DC has committed to telling more diverse stories in the Modern Age, which I think is crystalized in the various “Celebration” issues published. DC’s annual Pride anthology started in 2021, and subsequent celebration anthologies have featured Asian American and Black heroes and creators. While we don’t know when the current Modern Age will end (I’m already hedging my bets on this eventually being called the “Rebirth Age”) I do think the future is bright.