VI.  T h e  F u t u r e

Timeline Overview | 21st-29th Centuries | 30th-31st Centuries (current version) / (version 1) / (version 2) | The Far Future

Introduction

The future of the DC Universe was once well-mapped terrain, but that map was torn apart by the Crisis on Infinite Earths—and DC’s future was hit harder than any other other aspect of its history by the events of Zero Hour, as well. In the intervening years, however, pieces have begun to fall back into place… some familiar, some never before seen.

Just to keep things interesting, though… it’s no longer clear whether all the pieces are supposed to fit into a single map. Originally, DC’s post-Crisis reality was said to have only a single unified timeline, from past to future; alternate futures may have been depicted as anomalies or potentialities (e.g., in Armageddon: 2001 <5-10.91>), but it was taken as inviolate that all those possibilities must ultimately collapse into a single “true” timeline. The Linear Men were especially firm on this point, and the events of Zero Hour seemed to cement the rule. Alternatives were “elseworlds,” mere imaginary stories.

However… the events of Kingdom #2 <2.99> revealed to DC’s heroes, and its readers, that this “primary” timeline is but one of many in a much vaster realm known as “Hypertime,” in which alternative “hypertimelines” can branch off from the primary and continue to exist independently, under certain conditions even interacting with or rejoining the primary timeline. Suddenly all the possibilities we can imagine… are all true.

The full ramifications of this have yet to be explored in stories, and many questions remain. For my purposes, however, until there’s evidence to the contrary I’ll assume that the 30th-century future currently depicted in the tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes is part of DC’s “primary” timeline, along with certain other periods treated as such prior to the Hypertime revelation. This also appears provisionally true for the far future of DC One Million, and possibly the near future of Kingdom Come (or at least aspects thereof), but it remains to be firmly established. All other possibilities are hypertimelines—some of which I’ve attempted to distinguish, informally, by using letters (“A”, “B”, etc.), although I’ve made no attempt to be exhaustive. Within the limits of mutual consistency, any of these may fold into the “primary” timeline, or they may not.

Note that the Legion of Super-Heroes, in the 30th-31st Century period, has existed in multiple canonical versions (apparently independent hypertimelines). I’ve dealt with them individually below.

For this period, I’ve once again stuck to listing fairly significant “milestone” events between which others can be interpolated—though that’s a judgement call, and where the Legion is concerned I’ve delved into considerably greater detail. All the other previously-established rules and methodology still apply. Enjoy!

(And, as for the ever-popular Summary of Highlights…)

21st-29th Centuries | 30th-31st Centuries (current version) / (version 1) / (version 2) | The Far Future

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Last updated 12/17/2005.