Legion reboot road map
Put this together for a comment on a Facebook post, trying to put together a road map of what "version" of the Legion is what. What do you think?
Don't read anything into the "point" numbers here, it doesn't signify importance or anything, just there to denote what is branched off of what.
- 1.0: 1958-1985 (everything up to the beginning of Crisis on Infinite Earths; Adventure Comics #247 to LSH v3 #17)
- 1.1: 1985-1989, Crisis happens (Crisis to the end of the Magic Wars; LSH v3 #18-63)
- 1.1.1: 1989-1990, Great Collapse happens (Five Years Later pre-Mordruverse; LSH v4 #1-4)
- 1.1.1.1: 1990-1994, Mordruverse happens (Five Years Later post-Mordruverse, ends at Zero Hour; LSH v4 #6-61)
- 1.1.1.2: TBD, Mordruverse doesn't happen (as yet unseen, a world in which the Mordruverse never occurs)
- 1.1.2: 2007-2011, Great Collapse doesn't happen (Retroboot; LSH v6)
- 1.1.2.1: 2011-2015, Flashpoint happens (New 52; LSH v7)
- 1.1.2.2: TBD, Flashpoint doesn't happen (as yet unseen, a world in which Flashpoint doesn't affect the Legion)
- 1.2: 2020-present, Crisis doesn't happen (as yet unseen Earth-1985 post Doomsday Clock #12)
- 2.0: 1994-2004 (post Zero Hour reboot; LSH v4 #62-125)
- 3.0: 2004-2009 (Threeboot; LSH v5)
- 4.0: 2019-present (Rebirth; LSH v8)
- In 1985, either the Crisis happens (1.1, as published 1985-89) or it doesn't happen (1.2, as seen on Earth-1985 which we haven't seen yet)
- At the end of the Magic Wars in 1989, either the Great Collapse happens (1.1.1, as seen in LSH v4 #1-4) or it doesn't (1.1.2, the Retroboot)
- Mordruverse created a world in which there never was a Superboy or Supergirl, and Valor and Laurel Gand filled their spots, giving 1.1.1.1 (we have not seen a timeline in which the Mordruverse did not happen, which would be 1.1.1.2)
- New 52 was arguably different from what had been before in the aftermath of Flashpoint, so that becomes 1.1.2.1 (and 1.1.2.2 would be a world where Flashpoint didn't affect the Legion)
Note that "Legion of the Damned" does not make a 2.1 because there were no retcons or continuity interruptions.
And of course, we know that the 1.2 Legion is out there somewhere, we just haven't seen it yet. But given that Dr Manhattan shows the scene with both Flash and Supergirl alive, I'm assuming that on Earth-1985, the Crisis never happened.
(I stumbled across this guide that I wrote in 2006 for this here blog, my thoughts are somewhat similar to today's, though my numbering was slightly off because we've had a lot more continuity in the last 14 years. In that one, early into the Threeboot, I had considered 1.1 and 1.1.1 to be the same continuity, and my old 1.2 is now the same as 1.1.1.1. But I had the Mordruverse as 2.0, Reboot as 3.0, and Threeboot as 4.0 as well.)
(I stumbled across this guide that I wrote in 2006 for this here blog, my thoughts are somewhat similar to today's, though my numbering was slightly off because we've had a lot more continuity in the last 14 years. In that one, early into the Threeboot, I had considered 1.1 and 1.1.1 to be the same continuity, and my old 1.2 is now the same as 1.1.1.1. But I had the Mordruverse as 2.0, Reboot as 3.0, and Threeboot as 4.0 as well.)
Posts
9 comments:
You could have an entry for the Mordruverse as well as the Glorithverse.
The animated/LSH31C Legion are, as shown in LSH31C #20, in a subcontinuity attached to v1.0. Don’t know what you’d call it.
Others, too, like in V2#300 or in various possible futures shown like for the reboot Legion at times. Superboy’s Legion. Elseworlds. What was that event recently with the cities under domes? Star Trek, Bugs Bunny, Batman’66, all slightly distinct. Even the Lemire Justice League story was a little different. Would you want a separate entry for SW6 or no?
I considered those types of things, but this was supposed to be at the macro (series) level, not a complete map of every single version of the Legion that has ever been shown to have existed - that's a whole separate project, one that I know has been done at least once (by Don Sakers, click here), and it's too much for me right now to update or put my own together.
I get you. I do think the animated/LSH31C Legion should have an entry, though.
That came out wrong; sorry. Please pretend that that suggestion was made by someone who knew how not to sound obnoxious.
No, I get it, I took your comment in the spirit in which you intended it.
Honestly, I had stopped reading the LSH31C series before it ended, so I wasn't sure what you were referring to. I went back and skimmed it, and found that the last issue of that series (#20) showed that this version of the Legion as seen on the animated show and the adjacent comic was actually on another Earth (let's call it Earth-31C). But since the focus of this roadmap is to only show the reboots from the main publishing history, I choose to include LSH31C in the category of alternate timelines outside the scope of this article, alongside Earth-DCAU and Earth-Lego.
Fair enough. Did you take it as an alternate Earth? I read it as (and I think the writer confirmed it), the whole animated/LSH31C continuity was a simulation run by original-Legion Brainy to see if it’d be a good idea to go back and recruit Superboy. Thus placing it kind of in, but not exactly in, original Legion continuity. (Lightning Lad’s arm being an art error.)
OK, I can see how it could be seen as a simulation, but that wouldn't explain season 2 of the cartoon with Kel-El (Superman-X of the future), or even all of the Legionnaires and other characters who hadn't even been introduced by the time Superboy joined (Timber Wolf, Star Boy, Blok, Tyroc, Booster Gold, Impulse, etc.).
But even if it is a simulation, then that's essentially the same as an Imaginary Story and I wasn't including those in the Reboot Road Map.
Oh, I didn’t mean, ‘therefore you should include it’; I think it’s an interesting device that brings a new level to reading Silver Age Legion stories.
As for the other stuff, well, he is Brainiac 5. He can do some really prescient projections.
Hi Michael - What about the version of the 2.0 Legion that appeared in Justice League United? It's distinctly after Lo3W and Flashpoint, as 'dead' characters are in the picture.
Post a Comment