AKA, the entire goal behind DC Rebirth.
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General
- At a Q&A session at the Wondercon reveal, Dan DiDio, Jim Lee, and Geoff Johns revealed that going with the "blank slate" approach of the New 52 was a mistake as no one knew where to take anyone. Rebirth is set to correct that, to give a unifying voice and narrative to their titles.
- A lot of the relaunch was geared around bringing back elements of the Pre-Flashpoint continuity that had been done away with prior to the reboot, such as Tim Drake ditching his Red Robin suit in favor of an outfit closer to his classic Robin design.
- After being criticized for the lack of diversity in the first wave of Rebirth books, DC has since announced a mini-series with Midnighter and Apollo, a new Justice League team with a racially and sexually diverse roster, a Batwoman ongoing solo, among others.
- After DC got crap for being very anti-marriage, DC Universe: Rebirth #1 has Aquaman proposing to Mera.
- But this didn't affect every DC character, during Tom King's Batman run, Catwoman is convinced to refuse to marry Batman because she believes he shouldn't be Happily Married and protecting the city at the same time (though it turns out Bane orchestrated this as part of another attempt at breaking Batman).
- Super Sons of Tomorrow (the Superman/Super Sons crossover) reintroduces Conner Kent, Cassie Sandsmark and Bart Allen.
- After the ending of DC Universe: Rebirth #1 revealed that Dr. Manhattan was the one who turned the pre-Flashpoint universe into the New 52 universe, many fans took it as a meanspirited jab towards both Watchmen and Alan Moore, accusing DC and Geoff of "not understanding" the book. Geoff Johns clarified
that that wasn't the case at all, that it's actually a jab at those who use it as the ultimate manifesto on how to write superhero comics, losing themselves in the dark and grittiness and creating unfeeling superheroes who'd rather just punch things until they fall, something the New 52 was incredibly guilty of.
Superman
- One of the biggest problems fans had with the pre-Flashpoint Superman was the fact that he didn't go back to his traditional costume, red trunks and all. Action Comics #967 reveals that he didn't go back because he wanted to wear something familiar and inspirational, essentially saying he wanted others to remember the Superman before him. After the Superman Reborn storyline, he changed to a different costume that looks more like his traditional suit, and come Action Comics #1000, it was confirmed that his classic suit would return in full.
- There was some worry when the Chinese main character of New Super-Man was named "Kenji", a traditionally Japanese name. Writer Gene Yang clarified that that "Kenji" is indeed a Chinese name, just Romanized differently for easier pronunciation for American readers. Then, just to make sure there wouldn't be any confusion, he had the name changed to "Kenan".
Batman
- Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown return to prominence after DC's previous attempt to blacklist them, with a lot of their previous relationship dynamic restored, while Harper Row gets kicked to the peripheral.
- After the New 52's reviled changes to Mr. Freeze's backstory (making Nora a woman who was cryogenically frozen in the 60s that he just became obsessed with), his appearance in All-Star Batman undid this new backstory, making Nora into Freeze's wife again and restoring his Tragic Villain characterization.
- The New 52's changes to Tim Drake's backstory were also undone, as confirmed in issue #965 of Detective Comics.
Wonder Woman
- The very first issue of Wonder Woman shows that Etta Candy is fat once again, after the New 52 reboot had previously slimmed her down to make her more conventionally attractive.note
- The first three arcs are dedicated to revealing that the murderous, man-hating Amazons from the New 52 series are fake, and that the real Amazons are much more in line with their traditional, utopian depiction.
- Greg Rucka allowed for the removal of the idea that Diana's powers are due to her father, a highly controversial addition to her New 52 backstory. While this made it possible for her to return to the core of her character as originally intended, as a woman whose powers and strength come from her relationships with other women and have no ties to men. This particular save was later dashed by Robinson pulling back in her New 52 origin as Zeus' daughter.note
Flash
- DC Universe: Rebirth #1 finally confirms the return of the original Wally West. Furthermore, this doesn't mean the exclusion of the new, younger, Race Lifted Wally. Turns out they are not only cousins (the first Wally being the son of Rudy West and the second Wally being the son of Daniel West), but both were named for their great-grandfather, Wallace West. More importantly, it's revealed everything that happened prior to Flashpoint and the New 52 is still considered canon, with Wally retaining his old memories, and that both versions of Wally will stick around, thus satisfying the Broken Base between those who wanted the old Wally back and those who wanted to see more of the new Wally now that he's not being written as a walking cliché.
- This throw is later fumbled when Wally has a breakdown and inadvertantly becomes a mass murderer. Fortunately, this got its own saving throw with The Flash #761 revealing that Flash nemesis Eobard Thawne used the Negative Speed Force to send hypnotic messages to all the members of the Flash Family, causing all of them to behave out of character. This also included coaxing Wally into covering up the accidental murders. It also helps that Dan DiDio, his most notorious hater, was ousted from DC for good around the time this story was released.
- The annual for the Infinite Frontier Flash book would finally reveal that the Speed Force explosion that caused the murders in the first place was caused by Savitar trying to break free. Wally wasn't responsible.
- And one final fix in The One Minute War: Nobody even really died! Gold Beetle rescued them all, then kept them at Vanishing Point while she figured out what to do next.
Green Arrow
- A lot of Green Arrow and Black Canary fans were pissed that, not only are the two not a couple in the New 52, but they are strangers to each other. DC Universe: Rebirth #1 has them clearly pining for each other, and the first issue of Green Arrow: Rebirth has them team up and even end up in bed together.
Nightwing
- Many fans were glad to hear that Grayson writer Tim Seeley would be staying on to write for Nightwing after the previous Nightwing ongoing was considered So Okay, It's Average.
- The return of the classic black and blue costume. Before, it was changed to red (which made him more like a villain by accident, and perhaps brings uncomfortable Batman & Robin memories), then he stopped being Nightwing entirely as Agent 37, giving him a generic look. Here, he looks just like how Nightwing should.
Teen Titans
- One of the many criticisms of the New 52 Teen Titans was that, in an initiative advertised as being friendly to new readers, the well-known and well-liked Teen Titans cartoon apparently had absolutely no influence (none of the show's cast was on the team, the ones that could be found elsewhere were almost In Name Only, and the good-humored all-ages tone was nowhere to be found in the book itself). In response to this, Teen Titans (Rebirth) seems to be wearing the original cartoon on its sleeve, with a similar art style, a close recreation of the castnote , and a much brighter tone than the New 52 Titans. It even features Damian Wayne, the current Robin of the team, delivering a Take That! to the previous team, dismissing them as a bad joke.
- Titans (Rebirth) finally, at long last, reintroduces Lilith Clay/Omen as a true hero and member of the Titans. While she got highlighted as a mentor figure in Teen Titans (1996) and some casual appearances in Titans (1999), she was Killed Off for Real as if she was just C-List Fodder in the poorly-received Bat Family Crossover Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, getting her death hugely downplayed by the death of Donna Troy (who didn't truly die, and came back a few years later), staying dead for the rest of the original continuity (except as a zombie. TWICE.), then being brought back in the New 52 as a villain, the writers decided to revert her appearance back to one akin to her early Silver Age appearances in Titans Hunt before finally gaining a costumed superhero era as Omen.
- After the Badass Decay that Bette Kane went through in Batwoman, having her Flamebird mantle get Exiled from Continuity in replacement for Hawkfire, and then outright Put on a Bus at the start of the Rebirth run of Detective Comics; the 2023 anthology one-shot story "The Birds and the Bees" from DC's Legion of Bloom finally returns Bette Kane to her original mantle as Flamebird as well as includes the first appearance of the Titans West since the 1970s.
Blue Beetle
- Blue Beetle not only brought back Ted Kord as a Blue Beetle, but also restored the original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett, to continuity. The New 52 had attempted to make Jaime Reyes the only Blue Beetle of the setting, instead of being part of a well-known legacy. Even Jaime's fanbase wasn't exactly pleased by that decision, so the changes were welcomed with open arms.
Deathstroke
- The series restored Rose Wilson's Hmong heritage after she was previously whitewashed during the New 52.
- The most controversial aspect of The Judas Contract has long been the revelation that Slade was in a sexual relationship with the underage Terra, which constituted statutory rape. Christopher Priest's updated recap of the event for the Rebirth continuity reveals that Slade never had sex with Terra, with the relationship instead changed to a one-sided Precocious Crush on her part. However, he did kiss her on the mouth to calm her down when she was about kill both Slade and herself, which keeps Deathstroke's manipulative nature intact. Even Wintergreen, Slade's longtime confidante, flat-out tells him what he did was reprehensible and crossed the line, even if it wasn't genuine.
Suicide Squad
- Preview art confirmed that Amanda Waller is looking more like her Pre-Flashpoint self after previously being redesigned to appear Hotter and Sexier during the New 52.
Hellblazer
- Hellblazer returns John Constantine to London while bringing back supporting characters from the original Hellblazer series like Mercury and Chas, basically acknowledging the entire Vertigo series as canon (despite John's age) in the post-Rebirth universe.
WildStorm
- There were Wildstorm fans concerned those characters are nowhere to be seen. DC gave them above-mentioned miniseries about Midnighter and Apollo, then announced Wildstorm to be getting their own imprint, similar to Young Animal, and put in charge of this project none other than Warren Ellis himself.
Lobo
- There were fans who were not happy with the popular version of Lobo being replaced with a teenage-looking version with the original version being declared a fake. There were fans happy to learn that this would be declared a lie, with the real Main Man returning in the pages of Justice League of America. As an added bonus, the "pretty boy" Lobo was disposed of by being shrunken down and trapped in one of Brainiac's jars.
Captain Atom
- After many complaints about how Captain Atom was derailed into being too much like Doctor Manhattan, ironically his Expy, the mini-series The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom reverts his powerset to that of his 1980s launch. It also reintroduces several elements from that run that were praised by readers. Doesn't hurt that Cary Bates and Greg Weisman are behind his Character Rerailment.
