Constructing a Continuity - Building the DCAU Timeline. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was.

Transcription

1 Constructing a Continuity - Building the DCAU Timeline In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was. Well, it depends on your sources. John 1:1 claims the word was God. According to The Trashmen, bird is the word, and then Cameo seems to be convinced it s word up! (But that's two words?). And I guess that's what it boils down to. Given evidence (some of it contradictory) what do we believe and why? In 2005 Bruce Timm, perhaps the largest guiding force of the DCAU (hence the nickname Timmverse) stated the following: the dcau observes "peanuts time", not "dick tracy" time (and certainly not anything like "real time"): batman is always in his early to mid-thirties if the story is set in "the present"...the BATMAN BEYOND world is always 50 years from NOW, whenever "now" is, not 50 years from 1997 (note that we NEVER put an actual date in the shows, and try to avoid topical references whenever possible, in a blatant attempt to extend the respective series' shelf-lives)... - Toonzone Boards 2005 Now, while to most people, it would make sense to leave it at that and just watch the shows as aired, I'm not content with that answer. Let's break it down and I'll give some reasons why: Most of it stems from this part of the quote: note that we NEVER put an actual date in the shows, and try to avoid topical references whenever possible, in a blatant attempt to extend the respective series' shelf-lives which, whether Timm intended it or not, is a bold faced lie. As early as Batman s 18th episode Beware the Gray Ghost we see a magazine dated Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero shows Gregory Belson s vehicle registration dates between July 10th 1996 and The New Batman Adventures Cold Comfort shows a recording of Bruce Wayne holding a check dated Static Shock s Brother-Sister Act refers to Y2K as last year (not to mention a multitude of topical references throughout). The Zeta Project s Quality Time gives us 2041 as the date Zeta went renegade (and Batman Beyond s Zeta happens mere days later). We also have references to The Near Apocalypse of 09 in Batman Beyond and Justice League Unlimited.

2 From there we have countless references to time passing between shows making it possible to place years and dates on almost everything just from those couple of slip ups. With that deconstruction, we know a few other things from Timm s statement don't hold water: If at least 5 years pass from Gray Ghost to Cold Comfort, Batman can't always be early 30s. Time doesn't work that way. If Batman Beyond and The Zeta Project are firmly set around 2041, it can't always be 50 years from now, whenever now is. So if the word of the creator can't be trusted as infallible, how do we determine the continuity? The easiest route is to go by what's presented in the television shows and related movies. Let's set up a few simple rules: 1. Time passes the same as the real world. Any reference to exact amounts of time should follow real world rules. Days are days, weeks are weeks, etc. a. Caveat 1: the longer a time period, the more open to interpretation it is. I.E. two years could mean two years to the day/month or could mean two calendar years ago (as small a gap as December year 0 to January year 2). b. Caveat 2: there are times in the DCAU we see loose interpretations of time passing. This occurs as early as On Leather Wings when we see dates on Batman s computer from June 28th-July 13th, a time period of 15 days, yet he states the robberies listed on those dates occurred this week. In cases like this leniency can be given so long as it's within the bounds of reason. 2. So long as it can, real-world events referenced within the DCAU coincide with their real-world dates. This includes, but is not limited to, pop culture and history. If it can't coincide due to references of time passing in the shows, then that event occurs where it would have to take place in the DCAU rather than in the real world. a. Example: Despite evidence revolving around Static s age placing Hoop Squad in February 2003, Karl Malone didn t join The Lakers until October of that year in the real world. However, with a universe spanning over 14 years (25 and counting now with the new Batman and Harley Quinn movie) there's obviously going to be a lot more to take into consideration. You know, because marketing! With tie-in comics, novels, video games, books on tape, etc. how does one decide which trumps the others? Obviously, the first tier of canonicity would include all the animated properties. This includes: Batman: the Animated Series Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero Superman: the Animated Series

3 The New Batman Adventures Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman Batman Beyond Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker The Zeta Project Static Shock Justice League Justice League Unlimited In this first tier we can also include adaptations of anything from these shows and movies. This includes novelizations, comics, and the like. For the sake of thoroughness, we ll include a subsection for debatable animated projects in this tier. These aren t necessarily canon, but do share character models or have other reasons that fans may think they re in line with the shows. These properties shouldn t be considered canon unless they fit into what was presented in the original shows. This subsection includes: The Dark Knight s First Night (1992) Justice League Test Footage (2000) Gotham Girls (2000) Lobo (2000) Teen Titans (2003) Superman: Brainiac Attacks (2006) Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) Batman the Brave and the Bold: Night of the Batmen (2011) Justice League: Doom (2012) Batman Beyond (2014) Batman: Strange Days (2014) Batman and Harley Quinn (2017) At this point is where I want to introduce something I call The Epilogue Clause. For some reason, Timm and co. decided they didn t like that Batman Beyond was 40 years into the future instead of 50. We see this laid out for us in Epilogue, where despite dialogue telling us Terry and Dana have been dating for 15 years, we see a 65 years later title card during the intro. With piling evidence placing JLU in 2004, this would place Epilogue in 2069, and Rebirth in 2054 directly contradicting the 2041 date we re given in The Zeta Project. They also tried slipping a second retcon into the mix, in implying that the flashback from Return of the Joker occurred over 40 years ago. If it had been almost 40 years at the time, and it s been about another 15 years, then it would stand to reason the dialogue should have been at least 50 years ago or something to that effect. Because of these attempts at retconning, we try to move with caution when placing anything that came out post- JLU.

4 Secondarily, this is a universe based on comic book characters, so it only makes sense to hit the comics next! In 2012, Bruce Timm stated (in regards to The Batman Adventures Annual #2) Of course, we'd teamed them up previously in the comics- we'd done that annual. The comic book animated continuity is actually different than the actual animated continuity- they'll do things that contradict what we do and vice versa. But for the sake of the Demon story we did in the animated show, we subsumed the annual we had done into the animated continuity just to get things moving faster. - Modern Masters Vol. 3: Bruce Timm This is one of those things that I feel like Bruce can be both right and wrong on. While it's clear that there are differences between the comics and the cartoons (for instance, Batman meeting Superman during the Batman Adventures title) it's very clear that the animated continuity heavily influences the comic continuity (to the point the aforementioned Superman meeting was retconned into oblivion when an adaptation of World s Finest was published for Superman Adventures. Or a Booster Gold/Blue Beetle issue of Justice League Adventures being canceled because it might contradict the show ). That being said, if Bruce Timm can subsume a comic or two here or there (and we've already established his word isn t 100% law) why can't we subsume some as well? So long as we have hard-set rules. 1. Of course, the very first rule is the simplest: the comic cannot contradict the TV show in a way that's non-reconcilable. a. See aforementioned Batman/Superman meet-up b. Caveat: if in doubt, contact a member of the creative team. i. For instance, in Gotham Girls we see a flashback of Poison Ivy watching the groundbreaking of Stonegate on TV rather than in person as seen in Pretty Poison. When asked, series author Paul Storrie stated that while that was a writing mistake on his part there were multiple reasons within the narrative of the DCAU that could explain the inconsistency. 2. That being said, just because a comic treats the DCAU (or parts thereof) as canon, that doesn't necessitate canonicity of that comic. We ll call this The Batman Beyond Clause. a. Writer Kyle Higgins run on Batman Beyond 2.0 was a follow-up to Adam Beechen s run and influenced by the DCAU to the point of multiple flashbacks to BTAS/TNBA/BB episodes and movies. However, as a follow up to Beechen s run we have to accept that canonically the Joker was still active near Batman s retirement, which doesn't work with on-screen evidence from the DCAU. 3. So long as they re set in DCAU style, and don t contradict on-screen events, Timm/Dini stories are always canon. Comics that contradict these are to be thrown out. 4. If over 50% of the tie-in series contradicts on screen events then the whole thing is out a. Caveat: See rule #3 i. Example: Adventures in the DC Universe #3 - Cruise to Nightmare ii. Example: Harley Quinn (2016) - Harley Loves Joker

5 5. If written by a show writer, even if a comic contradicts, it can be considered partially canon if it either gives more detail to an episode they wrote, or later became adapted to an episode. a. Example: Batman Adventures Holiday Special b. Example: Superman Adventures #21 c. Example: Mad Love d. Example: Batman Adventures: The Lost Years Since the showrunners didn t have a hand in any of the other related media past the comic books, we can place production team statements next on the list of importance. This could include anything from interviews, series bibles, DVD commentaries, published works that the team had a hand in, etc. These statements are only valid so far as they don t contradict what we see in the shows or their supporting comics. For example, when Dwayne McDuffie said It hasn't happened yet. I'd be surprised if our "present" ever caught up with Return of the Joker. I'm confident that the Joker will recover from his drubbing at Ace's hands and bedevil Batman many more times before tht [sic] final battle. his comment is good so far as the flashback of Return of the Joker occurring post JLU, but can be thrown out when referring to the present never catching up to it. We know Return of the Joker happens relatively soon past August 2041, Tim states that the flashback occurred almost 40 years ago (i.e years) = 2007, and that s the latest that the events can canonically occur. Next, we have other tie-in material from that tells a new story. This could be anything from books, to video games, to what have you. On top of the retconning mentioned in The Epilogue Clause, there s also the fact that the DCAU models have become so iconic that they re used for the sake of familiarity rather than to imply stories actually occurred within the DCAU. Any non-animated/non-comic property released past 2006 (especially when not specifically pointed out by their creator as intended to be DCAU) falls behind any other storytelling on our canonicity totem pole. Next is promotional material. This includes things such as guide books, official bios from show websites, toy packaging, etc. And finally we have canceled projects. With a universe spanning so much material, obviously not everything pitched is going to be made. Plenty of scripts were finished and never moved on, comics were started and never published, a few deleted scenes have found their way into the public, etc. These stories are debatable on whether or not to even include. Just to recap, here s the breakdown: 1. The animated shows + movies + adaptations a. Subsection: Debatable animated properties 2. Tie-in comics 3. Commentary from production staff

6 4. Pre-2006 tie-in materials 5. Post-2006 tie-in materials 6. Promotional materials 7. Canceled projects We re well aware that the entirety of this set of rules is subjective. With a universe so vast it s hard to set rules that every single fan will agree with. This set of rules however is an attempt to make sense of everything in the most agreeable way possible, and is the result of countless hours debating information and input from members of a community that have long studied the DCAU and its properties. If you d like to join the discussion, feel free to contact us with your ideas at timeline@watchtowerdatabase.com!