History ContinuitySnarl / TheDCU

** Cyborg Superman, Hank Henshaw is essential in Hal Jordan's fall from grace, which was still canon in New 52 GL works. But in stories taking place in ''ComicBook/Supergirl'', Zor-El (ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s father) is Cyborg Superman and completely new to the world. Okay, let's just assume he's the ''second'' Cyborg Superman and Kara just doesn't know about the original because she's new to Earth... And then ''ComicBook/SupermanLoisAndClark'' happened and features the pre-Flashpoint Superman actively trying to prevent the New 52 Hank Henshaw from becoming Cyborg Superman in the present day when he returns from a space mission, so it's ''impossible'' that ''any'' Cyborg Superman existed when Hal turned evil. With the advent of ''Rebirth'' and especially ''Superman Reborn'', ''Lois & Clark'' has been reworked and Henshaw is established as having been Cyborg Superman in the past and somehow was transformed back into his human form. He returns to his Cyborg Superman form using a gem... one he acquired ''in Lois & Clark when he was an ordinary human!''

** Then ''ComicBook/New52'' hit, and after limping along for a while with poor sales, the final issue revealed the current Legion was actually the Legion of a world similar to ''ComicBook/Earth2''.

** Cyborg Superman, Hank Henshaw is essential in Hal Jordan's fall from grace, which was still canon in New 52 GL works. But in stories taking place in ''ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth'', Zor-El (ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s father) is Cyborg Superman and completely new to the world. Okay, let's just assume he's the ''second'' Cyborg Superman and Kara just doesn't know about the original because she's new to Earth... And then ''ComicBook/SupermanLoisAndClark'' happened and features the pre-Flashpoint Superman actively trying to prevent the New 52 Hank Henshaw from becoming Cyborg Superman in the present day when he returns from a space mission, so it's ''impossible'' that ''any'' Cyborg Superman existed when Hal turned evil. With the advent of ''Rebirth'' and especially ''Superman Reborn'', ''Lois & Clark'' has been reworked and Henshaw is established as having been Cyborg Superman in the past and somehow was transformed back into his human form. He returns to his Cyborg Superman form using a gem... one he acquired ''in Lois & Clark when he was an ordinary human!''

** ComicBook/{{Metamorpho}} mentions in an issue of ''[[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Batman, Inc.]]'' that he used to be a member of the [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]. This was a ContinuityNod to Morrison's ''JLA'' run, which ''no longer exists'' in the current canon. It's also stated in a later issue of ''Justice League'' that the team's membership did not change at all during the 5 year TimeSkip aside from a brief inclusion of Martian Manhunter, meaning that there's no way Metamorpho was ever part of the group.

** There's always issues trying to work out how various appearances of characters with multiple books fit together, but this is ''particularly'' true for the Bat-Books in 2023. In ''Comicbook/BatmanChipZdarsky'', when Bats returns to regular Gotham after the events of "The Bat-Man of Gotham" there's reference to the Orgham Building, so it's set after at least ''some'' of Creator/RamV's run on ''Comicbook/DetectiveComics''. But in V's "Batman, Outlaw", Catwoman refers to her and Batman being "at war" lately, which is almost certainly a reference to "Comicbook/TheGothamWar" in Zdarsky's book. And trying to interweave the two stories leads to the conclusion that Batman is ''simultaneously'' possessed by a demon which is being held back by his own force of will and the bat-demon Barbatos ''and'' slowly having his mind taken over by his emergency back-up personality, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. The inside of Bruce's head must be quite a place!

** It was subjected to this again as Morrison's run ending with the Big Seven heading off to face Dr. Destiny, both an AndTheAdventureContinues ending and as a BookEnd to the fact that ''Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare'' helped set-up Morrison's run and featured (an albeit unwilling) Dr. Destiny being confronted by the Big Seven. Waid's run, which included issue 50[[note]]the issue where Batman rejoins the League after being kicked off in the aftermath of ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel''[[/note]], depicted the League's fight with Dr. Destiny in that issue as the first time they've met since ''A Midsummer's Nightmare''.

** Where did the Amazons come from? Did Aphrodite make them on her own? Are the Amazons Mars and Aphrodite's children? Did Mars make all the men and Aphrodite all the women in the world? Do they adopt women from outside the island or are they deeply isolationist? Are the other Amazons superpowered or is their physical prowess merely peak-human? Are they immortal? Are they only immortal as long as they don't fall in love? Are the only immortal if they stay on the island? Do they reproduce by raping sailors? Is their culture based around combat or love or both?

** The run itself has [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 the Corinthian's skull]] can be seen in Daniel's chest--despite Morpheus already restoring the creature.

** There's always issues trying to work out how various appearances of characters with multiple books fit together, but this is ''particularly'' true for the Bat-Books in 2023. In ''Comicbook/BatmanChipZdarsky'', when Bats returns to regular Gotham after the events of ''The Bat-Man of Gotham'' there's reference to the Orgham Building, so it's set after at least ''some'' of Creator/RamV's run on ''Comicbook/DetectiveComics''. But in V's ''Batman, Outlaw'', Catwoman refers to her and Batman being "at war" lately, which is almost certainly a reference to ''Comicbook/TheGothamWar'' in Zdarsky's book. And trying to interweave the two stories leads to the conclusion that Batman is ''simultaneously'' posessed by a demon which is being held back by his own force of will and the bat-demon Barbatos ''and'' slowly having his mind taken over by his emergency back-up personality, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. The inside of Bruce's head must be quite a place!

** ''ComicBook/GreenArrow2023'', when Ollie is bouncing around time and space, has him meet Hal as Parallax in the 31st century. While he is said to have got there by time travel, it's extremely questionable when in his personal timeline it occurs; he refers to his actions in ''ComicBook/FinalNight'' and ''ComicBook/GreenArrow2001'' as if they're things he remembers doing, even thought the first one ''killed'' him and the second one was as the Spectre. It also presents him (mostly) as the Parallax entity puppeteering Hal's body when, even following the original Parallax retcon in ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'', he's been shown to be really Hal, but ''influenced'' by the parasite.

* Most Creator/{{DC|Comics}} characters (ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/{{Batman}}, Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/GreenLantern, Franchise/TheFlash, ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}, etc) were created during in the 1930s and 1940s. At that time, a man dressed in the American flag taking down Hitler was everything that readers needed. World War II ended, the interest in such things died down, and most comic books began to close or to move to other genres. In 1956, Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino created a new Flash, unrelated to the old one in everything except the name (and indeed, confirming in his first appearance that [[ShowWithinAShow the old one only existed as an in-universe comic book character]]), and the superhero genre was reborn, followed by similar relaunches of old DC glories. Did you follow up here? Well, one day Fox wanted a cameo appearance of the old Flash, and wrote "ComicBook/FlashOfTwoWorlds". Flash (Barry Allen) appears by accident in another world, "Earth 2", where the original Flash lives. They meet, save the day, Barry comes back home, and their meeting opens the Pandora's box. What happens with Superman and Batman, whose titles had never been canceled? Which stories are in Earth 1 and which ones in Earth 2? If Barry knows Jay's secret identity because there are in-universe comics about the Earth 2 characters, what happens with Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne? And why stop it with 2 Earths and not [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse create new ones]]? All this led to DC deeming that the multiverse had become too "convoluted" and torching the whole thing in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', which destroyed all alternate Earths save for the main one, which is not pre-Crisis Earth-1 but a new one that combines several aspects of both (location, characters, backstory, etc). However, it was not followed by a full continuity reboot: some comics were rebooted, and others continued as always, rebooting just specific things they needed. Of course, this leads to several pre and post Crisis things that were equally canon, despite the inconsistencies. Ninety percent of DC's continuity snarls and messed backstories can be traced back to the Crisis and its aftermath.

** The ''ComicBook/New52'' stated that the events of the ''War of the Light'' still occurred, but that would also mean that all the events leading up to it are also in continuity including Hal Jordan becoming ComicBook/TheSpectre after Jim Corrigan gave it up, and then passing it onto Crispus Allen who helped the character during the various crisises (including subduing the red Butcher entity). In ''the New 52'', the Spectre is once again Jim Corrigan, and has never stated to be any one else. The Alan Scott Green Lantern, who acted in a mentoring role to Kyle Rayner and is now located on a different Earth, which means that he now never helped during the ComicBook/BlackestNight or the Power of Ion storyline. Comicbook/PlasticMan first appears in ComicBook/ForeverEvil2013, which also has Sinestro in his post Parallax-inspired Wrath of the First Lantern costume, which means it takes place after those events, but Plastic Man was present with Kyle Rayner when he was part of the Justice League while Hal Jordan was gone after Emerald Twilight. It just goes on and on.

** ''Comicbook/GreenArrow2023'', when Ollie is bouncing around time and space, has him meet Hal as Parallax in the 31st century. While he is said to have got there by time travel, it's extremely questionable when in his personal timeline it occurs; he refers to his actions in ''Comicbook/FinalNight'' and ''Comicbook/GreenArrow2001'' as if they're things he remembers doing, even thought the first one ''killed'' him and the second one was as the Spectre. It also presents him (mostly) as the Parallax entity puppeteering Hal's body when, even following the original Parallax retcon in ''Comicbook/GreenLanternRebirth'', he's been shown to be really Hal, but ''influenced'' by the parasite.

** Post-Crisis ComicBook/PowerGirl went through sooo much of this - she's a Kryptonian, she's an Atlantean - she's a weird metahuman - nobody knows. Finally, it was declared that she was a survivor of the pre-Crisis multiverse and her Continuity Snarl was the universe trying to "fit her in" and failing. After ''ComicBook/PowerTrip2005'' she is considered to be the Supergirl analog of the ''original'' (Pre-Crisis) Earth-Two. Yes, this means there's a ''second'' Power Girl in a ''duplicate'' Earth-Two. And during the ''ComicBook/New52'', Power Girl was again the Supergirl from Earth-2, only it's a completely different Earth-2 from the previous versions. In the aftermath of the ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' relaunch, this Power Girl went back to being the original Superman's cousin, and the New 52 version has been limboed. As of ''Comicbook/DawnOfDC'', ''Comicbook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica2022'' says she was a JSA member on Prime Earth in the seventies (which would make her Prime Earth's ''first'' Kryptonian hero), while her back-up strip in ''Comicbook/ActionComics'' and her solo title have her as feeling like an outsider on Prime Earth, and generally don't portray her as a ''more'' established hero than the ones in the S-shields. (At one point she was unfamiliar with idiomatic English, although that was dropped quite quickly).

** Some problems also sprang up over the issue in which Doctor Light drained Kimiyo Hoshi of her powers. She appeared in ''Infinite Crisis'' and ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' with her powers intact, while other stories ran with the premise of having her powerless. This was eventually handwaved in an issue of ''Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}'', which had Kimiyo mention that while she still retained her abilities, they were now malfunctioning and only worked on certain random occasions.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** The Bat-Family has been rendered a near-complete mess thanks to the "soft reboot" of the Comicbook/{{New 52}}, where the BroadStrokes of previous continuity have been kept in numerous cases until explicitly contradicted. Among the changes are a compressed timeline, where superheroes have only been widely known to the public for five years. The problem is, Batman and company get up to a ''lot'', and the franchise's reliance on sidekicks makes the passage of time a bigger factor than with other heroes, so cramming all of Batman's history into five years seems outrageous at the best of times. A HandWave is attempted by having Batman operate in secret an extra year before the rest of the hero community, but this only helps so much. Another HandWave eventually got given that the Batman timeline spanned over ten years, which once again didn't clarify matters since the original timeline had been fifteen. It is a complete mess:

** Comicbook/{{Metamorpho}} mentions in an issue of ''[[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Batman, Inc.]]'' that he used to be a member of the [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]. This was a ContinuityNod to Morrison's ''JLA'' run, which ''no longer exists'' in the current canon. It's also stated in a later issue of ''Justice League'' that the team's membership did not change at all during the 5 year TimeSkip aside from a brief inclusion of Martian Manhunter, meaning that there's no way Metamorpho was ever part of the group.

*** The series takes place during ''DV'', caused another. While ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' would render it moot by restoring Franchise/WonderWoman's status as a founding member of the Justice League, at the time, the status quo was that she's only become active around the time of ''ComicBook/{{Legends|DCComics}}''. The problem? Even with the idea of Hippolyta going back in time to fight in World War II during her tenure, Cheetah appears in the story -- and is both clearly the Barbara Minerva werecat incarnation and explicitly stated to have fought Wonder Woman before in the story.

** The removal of the Titans' history also led to a comment in ''Batwoman'' being altered, where Bette Kane mentions that she'd been a member of the team and had fought Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}}[[note]]although this itself had to be a retcon, as Flamebird never got such a chance or was on the main team. Of course, she could have also been bragging[[/note]]. The Titans reference was completely erased in the TPB edition.

-->''For example: if you read "The Lightning Saga" in JLA #8-10/JSA #5-6, it appears to take place as an unbroken sequence of events. Likewise, if you read ''Amazons Attack'' ([[TakeThat and if so you deserve great sympathy]]), it appears to take place as an unbroken sequence as well, dominating everyone’s attention for several days. But if you read ''Countdown'', and assume (not unreasonably) that it relates events in at least roughly sequential order, then based on when it chooses to have scenes tying in to these other storylines one would have to conclude that the JLA and JSA teamed up and set out to find the Legionnaires... then put that on hold when Diana got kidnapped and the Amazons attacked DC... then (somehow) put that on hold to get together again for the climax of "Lightning Saga" and Wally West's return (which All-Flash #1 tells us corresponds with Bart Allen’s death), and then all headed off to Keystone City for Bart’s funeral... before returning to DC and turning their attention to the Amazons again... and then left that alone again (with no sign of any resolution) and turned to other business like, e.g., going to work at the Daily Planet or spying on Mary Marvel... all before the final scene of "Lightning Saga" in which the Legionnaires leave our era. Oh, and all in the space of about four days. Make sense to you?''
* Speaking of the Flash, there's the West family in the New 52. Initially, Wally West was the thirteen year old nephew of Iris West, son of her brother Rudy West, as he had been pre-Flashpoint. He had a CoolUncle in the form of Daniel West (the Reverse-Flash). However, ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' featured the return of the ''original'' Wally West, who is established to be the son of Rudy and Mary West as he'd always been, and both Wallys were named after their great grandpa, Wallace. Wally West II (the New 52 Wally) is retconned into being the son of Daniel... except Daniel very clearly established that he's, at oldest, about 24 when then-current stories take place, as he was caught committing a robbery by the Flash on his eighteenth birthday. Meaning he had a son at the age of ''eleven''! This was ''eventually'' softly retconned by giving Daniel an AgeLift, as an adult Daniel was present alongside Rudy and Iris for Wally West's birth.
* When Bart Allen became the fourth Flash, it's shown that Barry Allen, the second Flash and Bart's grandpa, had an active role in Bart's upbringing in Bart's series ''The Flash: Fastest Man Alive''. This flies in direct contradiction with what has been previously said: Barry died before seeing ''his'' kids reach adulthood, never mind Bart. This ''might'' be explained with ''Infinite Crisis'' happening and retconning some of Bart's upbringing... but when Barry returns in ''The Flash: Rebirth'', Bart is outright hostile towards him and the subsequent ''Flash'' series has him try to be closer to Barry because ''they were never close''. Given the unpopularity of ''The Flash: Fastest Man Alive'', it's likely that Geoff Johns (the writer of ''The Flash: Rebirth'' and the subsequent ''Flash'' series) just ignored its retcon, but it's still jarring if you read them back-to-back.
* ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'':
** All of which seem to stem from Morrison's apparent uncertainty of whether or not their run has connections to the wider DC Universe. In ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', Bruce Wayne's skull is dug up and transformed into a Black Lantern to invoke an emotional response in all of Batman's allies while Dick Grayson is busy attempting to ward off all the undead villains that are attacking Gotham. Meanwhile, in Morrison's run, the Blackest Night is apparently not happening in Gotham ''or'' in London as Grayson had transported Wayne's body (which is kept under Wayne Tower as opposed to the unmarked grave ''all other DC works'' claimed it was buried in) to the latter in an attempt to resurrect Batman using a Lazarus Pit. Also, Morrison went on to reveal that the body of Batman wasn't his real body (it was made fairly evident even at the time that he wasn't dead for real), raising the question of how the League all formed emotional connections to a mindless, insane clone.
** ''Batman'' #700, "Time and the Batman" features Chief O'Hara alongside Commissioner Gordon when they come to the aid of Batman, Robin, and Professor Nichols. The problem? Post-Crisis, the death of Chief O'Hara kicked off the events of ''ComicBook/DarkVictory'', his death being a full year before Dick became Robin.

** Between the events of ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'' and the "WorldWarIII" arc, the ComicBook/MartianManhunter officially took a sabbatical from the League because of the events of the former. Creator/MarkMillar, Creator/MarkWaid, and J.M. [=DeMatteis=] were all too wiling to ignore this when they guest wrote, having J'onn still be present (and this ''does'' include the issue Millar guest wrote that had J'onn and Franchise/{{Batman}} [[RealMenWearPink know about]] ''Franchise/SailorMoon'')[[note]]and is in fact, the biggest offender as the third Hourman came back in time, who was meant to sub in for J'onn, told them about the events of the upcoming "Crisis Times Five" and J'onn and Bruce were meeting with Superman to discuss this very thing[[/note]].

** The run itself has [[ComicBook/TheSandman the Corinthian's skull]] can be seen in Daniel's chest--despite Morpheus already restoring the creature.

* In ''Comicbook/TheFlashRebirth'', Barry Allen learns about two other forces that act like the Speed Force; the Sage Force and the Strength Force. At the same time, in ''Comicbook/JusticeLeague2018'', Lex's new Legion of Doom is harnessing seven hidden forces that are the opposite of the League's powers, including the Still Force, which is the reverse of the Speed Force. A few issues into the ''Flash'' story, Barry says he's also recently learned there's a Still Force which is probably related to the Speed, Stage and Strength Forces as well, but a) it's not clear how the ''Justice League'' story could have happened ''during'' the ''Flash'' story, b) the idea that there are ''four'' related forces doesn't tie in with the LOD's equal and opposite theme and c) there's no mention in ''Flash'' of Grodd harnessing the Still Force, which instead empowers a new character called Steadfast. They do their best, but there's a definite sense of trying to tie together two concepts that were just similar enough to contradict each other if they didn't at least make the attempt.
* Franchise/WonderWoman:

** Post-Crisis ComicBook/PowerGirl went through sooo much of this - she's a Kryptonian, she's an Atlantean - she's a weird metahuman - nobody knows. Finally, it was declared that she was a survivor of the pre-Crisis multiverse and her Continuity Snarl was the universe trying to "fit her in" and failing. After ''ComicBook/PowerTrip2005'' she is considered to be the Supergirl analog of the ''original'' (Pre-Crisis) Earth-Two. Yes, this means there's a ''second'' Power Girl in a ''duplicate'' Earth-Two. And during the ''ComicBook/New52'', Power Girl was again the Supergirl from Earth-2, only it's a completely different Earth-2 from the previous versions. In the aftermath of the ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' relaunch, this Power Girl went back to being the original Superman's cousin, and the New 52 version has been limboed. As of ''Comicbook/DawnOfDC'', ''Comicbook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica2023'' says she was a JSA member on Prime Earth in the seventies (which would make her Prime Earth's ''first'' Kryptonian hero), while her back-up strip in ''Comicbook/ActionComics'' and her solo title have her as feeling like an outsider on Prime Earth, and generally don't portray her as a ''more'' established hero than the ones in the S-shields. (At one point she was unfamiliar with idiomatic English, although that was dropped quite quickly).

** Post-Crisis ComicBook/PowerGirl went through sooo much of this - she's a Kryptonian, she's an Atlantean - she's a weird metahuman - nobody knows. Finally, it was declared that she was a survivor of the pre-Crisis multiverse and her Continuity Snarl was the universe trying to "fit her in" and failing. After ''ComicBook/PowerTrip2005'' she is considered to be the Supergirl analog of the ''original'' (Pre-Crisis) Earth-Two. Yes, this means there's a ''second'' Power Girl in a ''duplicate'' Earth-Two. And during the ''ComicBook/New52'', Power Girl was again the Supergirl from Earth-2, only it's a completely different Earth-2 from the previous versions. In the aftermath of the ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' relaunch, this Power Girl went back to being the original Superman's cousin, and the New 52 version has been limboed.