Flashpoint (comics)

"Everything you know will change in a flash!"

What would you do if you woke up one morning and discovered that everything around you had changed, so much so that even the familiar is so alien, they are almost unrecognizable? And not only that, but this new world is teetering on the brink of superpowered war? This is the world which Barry Allen finds himself in; this is the world of Flashpoint.

Superman is nowhere to be found; in his place, Cyborg is the world's greatest hero. Likewise, Barry's enemy Captain Cold -- or rather, Citizen Cold -- has filled his spot as Central City's protector. Hal Jordan never became Green Lantern; Abin Sur remains the protector of Sector 2814. Batman is uncharacteristically brutal. And most pressingly, Wonder Woman is at war with Aquaman with the former conquering the United Kingdom and the latter sinking the rest of Western Europe into the sea; if left unchecked the Amazons and Atlanteans will devastate the world.

Flashpoint is a Crisis Crossover published by DC Comics, written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Andy Kubert; the series details an altered DC Universe in which only Barry Allen seems to be aware of very significant differences between the regular timeline and the altered one he awakes in. Consisting of a limited five issue run, the series will also involve sixteen 3-issue mini series, four one-shots, and a tie-in arc in Booster Gold. It was preceded by four issues of "The Road to Flashpoint" in The Flash #9-#12. This event led to a complete relaunch of the DC universe starting with Justice League #1 on August 31st 2011.

Not to be confused with the TV show nor the Elseworlds story of the same name (though that also involves the Flash).

Main Titles

 * The Flash #9-12
 * Flashpoint #1-5
 * Booster Gold #44-47

Three-issue miniseries:

 * Whatever Happened to Gotham?
 * Batman: Knight Of Vengeance
 * Deadman And The Flying Graysons
 * Whatever Happened to the World's Greatest Super Villains?
 * Citizen Cold
 * Deathstroke & The Curse Of The Ravager
 * Legion of Doom
 * The Outsider
 * Whatever Happened to the Aliens?
 * Abin Sur The Green Lantern
 * Project: Superman
 * Whatever Happened to Science and Magic?
 * Frankenstein & The Creatures Of The Unknown
 * Secret Seven
 * Whatever Happened to Europe?
 * Emperor Aquaman
 * Wonder Woman And The Furies
 * Lois Lane And The Resistance
 * Everything You Know Will Change in a Flash
 * Kid Flash Lost
 * The World Of Flashpoint
 * He Never Got The Ring
 * Hal Jordan

One-shots:

 * Grodd of War
 * Reverse Flash
 * Green Arrow Industries
 * The Canterbury Cricket

"Outsider: You've attacked my home. You've killed my employees. And you've ruined my suit. YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR!"
 * Adaptation Expansion: Flashpoint allows for Abin Sur's character to be expanded upon significantly, unlike his regular universe counterpart who died in his first appearance and was only seen in flashbacks following afterwards.
 * A Day in The Limelight: This series is for Flash what Blackest Night was for Green Lantern. Other than that, though, many of this universe's major heroes are second stringers (Cyborg is practically this universe's Superman), or in the case of the Green Lantern Abin Sur are dead in the main DCU.
 * All the Myriad Ways: Played with; Flash is, understandably, rather eager to restore the universe back to its original state as opposed to the rather sucky place it has become, but comes to realize that there are still real people living and dying here and is willing to help save the world as it currently is. Batman, however, inverts this; although he's part of the Flashpoint universe, he's even more eager than Flash to wipe this version of reality away and replace it with the original reality so that
 * Alternate Timeline
 * Amazon Brigade: Yes, even the Amazons have one. The Furies are an elite group of female warriors who serve Wonder Woman in her conquests. So far they include Artemis, Wonder Girl, Hawkgirl, Huntress, Cheetah, Starfire, and Vixen. Also present is Terra, whose powers have allowed the Amazons to keep New Themyscira (the British Isles) out of the reach of the Atlanteans.
 * Anyone Can Die: This, of course, being much of the fun of alternate time lines.
 * Apocalypse How: The world already suffered through a Class 0 caused by the war between Atlantis and the Amazons, which caused England to be taken over and most of Western Europe and part of North Africa to drown, resulting in 32 million and 100 million casualties respectively. The rest of the world isn't doing much better. Before Barry fixes things, the world heads for a Class X thanks to the Atlanteans
 * Area 51: What "Project: Superman" functions as. It's a top secret, heavily protected government facility located two miles beneath New Metropolis devoted to studying three alien "subjects" that arrived on Earth by rocketship. By the events of Flashpoint, Subject 1 – Kal-El – is the only surviving alien specimen, having spent his entire life within the facility.
 * Project: Superman also functions as a storage locker for “Subject 0”, Neil Sinclair, a jaded, failed first attempt at a super-soldier program.
 * Even further below it are the remnants of “Project M”, the military program which spawned The Creature Commandos during WWII. Once the war was over, Frankenstein and the rest were all forced into stasis and locked away to be forgotten, much like Subject 0.
 * Arranged Marriage: Wonder Woman and Aquaman were supposed to be in one, before things went to Hell.
 * Arson Murder and Jaywalking: The Outsider considers having his home attacked and his employees killed inconvenient, but ruin his suit and there will be hell to pay.

": When you're in the middle of a war... Don't stand still."
 * Berserk Button: Don't mention Mera around Aquaman.
 * Also, don't mess with the Outsider's suit. Ever.
 * Beware the Superman: Not necessarily with Superman himself, but it appears that his "predecessor" in Project Superman, Lt. Sinclair, has let his incredible powers go to his head.
 * In general, the Flashpoint universe appears to have had to deal with a lot of this, what with such matters as the Atlantean / Amazonian war which has seen Western Europe submerged and 100 million killed (except for the United Kingdom -- which has been occupied by the Amazons, with 32 million dead) and various other horrific superhuman battles and wars and such.
 * Big Bad: Though Aquaman and Wonder Woman are the more immediate problem, the Reverse-Flash seems to be the bigger threat.
 * Biker Babe: Zatanna.
 * Black and Grey Morality: Brion Markov, king of Markovia and known in the regular continuity as Geo-Force, was willing to form an alliance with Aquaman after Wonder Woman and the Amazons took over England. This was despite the implication that Arthur was the one responsible for the assassination of Diana's mother, Hippolyta, on their wedding day. In the conversation with his advisers, Aquaman and Wonder Woman wound up being compared to Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler, respectively.
 * Black Dude Dies First: Heatwave desires to be a part of the Firestorm matrix, but in order to do so he figures he must kill either one of the two people who currently share it: Jason Rusch (Black) or Ronnie Raymond (White). Guess who he kills?
 * Bond One Liner: Batman/ gives us one when he.
 * Black Dude Dies First: Heatwave desires to be a part of the Firestorm matrix, but in order to do so he figures he must kill either one of the two people who currently share it: Jason Rusch (Black) or Ronnie Raymond (White). Guess who he kills?
 * Bond One Liner: Batman/ gives us one when he.

"Cold: I do what I want--when I want. And they love me for it."
 * Butt Monkey: Initially, Barry Allen.
 * The Caligula: Without anyone challenging him Grodd has turned into this, and turned most of Africa into one mass grave after killing half of the human population.
 * Canon Immigrant: Grifter is a member of Britain's resistance. And it's implied that Neil Sinclair, a.k.a. Subject Zero, is Apollo from The Authority. The Wildstorm 'verse as a whole was incorporated into the DCU in the relaunch (as was the Vertigo Comics 'verse, but that was based in the DCU to begin with).
 * Technically there was/is no regular Vertigo universe. The characters that made up the first books when Vertigo became an imprint were still a part of the regular DCU, for the most part. A good chunk of their adventures were relegated to Canon Dis Continuity due to conflicting portrayals in the regular DCU.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Element Woman.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: It's telling that this universe's Aquaman wears blood red instead of his usual orange.
 * Continuity Nod: Clayface is a member of Deathstroke's pirate crew. In regular continuity, the second Clayface, Matt Hagen, tried to make a living by discovering sunken wrecks and pilfering whatever was inside. This is how he came upon the protoplasm that would (temporarily) turn him into a shapeshifter.
 * Slaughter Swamp, where Frankenstein and his team are headed, played a major part in Seven Soldiers, where Frankenstein was introduced (though Frankenstein himself didn't go there). Also known as the "birthplace" of Solomon Grundy in the regular DCU.
 * Cool Old Guy:
 * Cosmic Retcon: Not the Flashpoint universe but the one after it. DC used this event to relaunch the entire DC universe and had 52 issue ones. The in-story explanation is that
 * Covers Always Lie: Amethyst appeared in her original costume on the cover of Secret Seven #2. She didn't appear like that anywhere in the story.
 * Played with in a cover for the fifth issue of Flashpoint: it features Batman being impaled on a sword by the Reverse Flash.
 * Crapsack World: Let's see... Wonder Woman has invaded the United Kingdom with 32 million casualties. Aquaman has sunk the entirety of Western Europe under the sea, with 100 million dead. They seem poised to break the world. Brazil is occupied by the Nazis, and Alaska is apparently the "Land of the Undead".
 * Half of Africa has been conquered by Gorilla Grodd and his genocidal super-gorilla army, and this is seen as a background event.
 * Space isn't faring so well either. Abin Sur's sister is dead, along with his entire world which has been shattered to pieces. The universe is spiraling into chaos as entire sectors of space are being decimated by the Manhunter robots or Nekron & his Black Lantern Corps, as a slightly altered version of the Blackest Night prophecy which has come to pass started off by Atrocitus' murder of William Hand.
 * It Got Worse by the 31st Century: Earth is completely controlled by Brainiac.
 * Crisis Crossover
 * Crusading Widower:
 * Terry Thirteen, who is trying to avenge the deaths of his wife and sons.
 * Cry Cute / When He Smiles:
 * Cry for The Devil: This universe's Joker seems to be even crueler than the normal universe's Joker, reaching The Dark Knight levels of torture, including turning Selina Kyle into a quadriplegic and tricking Jim Gordon into murdering Harvey Dent's daughter. And then you find out the Joker's identity:
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Heatwave vs. Buddy Baker. Buddy didn't stand a chance against the ruthless, suicidal Heatwave.
 * Cursed With Awesome: The Canterbury Cricket was once an ordinary university student who was caught up in the middle of the Amazonian invasion of the U.K. and, for reasons he still isn't fully sure of found himself as a giant cricket thing with superpowers. It's unknown even to him if he can turn back, but he has decided to use his situation to try to help the U.K Resistance against the Amazons.
 * Cycle of Revenge: The Atlantis/Amazon War seems to be this. To reflect this the covers for the #3 issues of Wonder Woman and Aquaman's focus series feature them beating up the other.
 * Daddys Girl: Implied. Raven more closely resembles her father Trigon, with red skin and four eyes. But given the fact that he was a member of the previous Secret Seven, and she's a member of the current one, he may not have been as evil in this world as the mainstream one.
 * Darker and Edgier: Many of the DC heroes in this altered timeline.
 * Wonder Woman and Aquaman are both fierce warlords attempting world domination against one another and committing massive genocides for varying reasons.
 * Batman has no qualms over killing people; it's hinted that he has a habit of offing criminals who don't give him information. ...
 * Instead of crash-landing in a small, rural field in Kansas, the rocketship containing little Kal-El crashes right in the middle of Metropolis, along with a meteor shower, pulverizing the city to rubble and killing thirty-five thousand people.
 * In addition, instead of a passing motorist rescuing him and putting him in an orphanage, the government got its hands on Kal-El and formed Project: Superman. They later took Krypto the Superdog and Kara Zor-El as well when their rockets arrived on Earth. Currently, Kal-El is barely alive, but free from captivity thanks to Flash, Batman, and Cyborg; Krypto has withered away into a skeleton; and Kara's fate is unknown, though some throwaway dialogue hints that she did not survive either.
 * They also found an entombed Doomsday, and attempted to use him as a weapon. It worked about as well as could be expected, really.
 * After years of being tormented through experimentation and abuse at the hands of The Outsider and others, J'onn J'onzz has become a cold-hearted leather jacket-wearing mercenary, willing to kill anyone who stands in his way.
 * The Legion of Doom mini-series both averts and subverts this heavily. Regular Flash Rogue Heat Wave becomes protagonist, as we follow his intense hunt for revenge against this universe' main hero, Cyborg. He willingly and brutally slaughters any and all in his way to get revenge against a hero, who wronged him, whilst saving hundreds of lives from unnecessary deaths.
 * Plastic Man as well; normally a Reformed Supervillain, his Flashpoint incarnation is a sociopath mercenary, who performs some rather...graphic acts during his employment under Heat Wave.
 * Dark Magical Girl: Traci 13 in this universe. As well as Zatanna and Raven.
 * Death Seeker: Grodd keeps making intentionally risky decisions (surrounding himself with untrustworthy subordinates, engaging in pointless fights to the death, etc.) because he wants a Worthy Opponent to kill him.
 * Decapitation Presentation: A variant cover has Diana (wearing Mera's helmet) holding up Mera's severed head.
 * Delayed Ripple Effect:
 * Despair Event Horizon: Even after the murder of Hippolyta and the destruction of Themyscira, Aquaman remained extremely reluctant to declare war upon the Amazons and had desperately attempted to seek peace with Wonder Woman. But then Diana killed . This tipped Arthur over the edge once and for all and prompted the sinking of Europe.
 * Determinator: His entire body scorched to a crisp and bandaged like a mummy after a failed first attempt to regain his powers, Barry Allen immediately insists on attempting the lightning accident again...
 * Development Gag: In the Flashpoint-verse, the Shazam powers were given to a group of six kids, one power each, who can join forces to summon "Captain Thunder". The use of six heroes was the original concept for Captain Marvel before the writers decided to give all the powers to just one guy, and "Captain Thunder" was the original choice for his name before they found it was trademarked.
 * It's also the name of the Captain Ersatz of Captain Marvel that DC introduced to fight Superman before they secured the rights to the actual character.
 * Disguised Hostage Gambit: The Joker pulls this on Jim Gordon, causing Jim to shoot one of Harvey Dent's kids.
 * Downer Ending: The end of Booster Gold #47, which depicts.
 * Distaff Counterpart: Element Woman to Metamorpho. Barry even thinks it's him right before they properly meet.
 * Dude Where's My Respect: Part of Grodd's troubles is that no matter how successful his expanding empire is, everyone is too focused on the Amazon-Atlantean War to give him any time of day.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Plastic Man, after helping Heatwave brutally murder every mook standing in their way of taking over Queen's Prison, is shocked when Heatwave reveals his intentions to crash the prison into a packed city full of innocent people and tries to stop him..
 * Expy: Michael Desai, the Outsider, bears a very close resemblance in character to another bald, Machiavellian corporate mogul. Except he has superpowers. He also physically resembles the main timeline's Outsider, Alfred Pennyworth (it's a long story; needless to say, Alfred looked different at the time).
 * Fifth Week Event: Of a sort. The final issue shipped on a fifth week, and DC hyped up the fact that it (and Justice League #1, the first relaunched title) were the only comics they published that week.
 * Flash Sideways: Traci 13, who gets glimpses of her life in the main DCU.
 * For Want of a Nail: This seems to be the main theme of the series, with Barry Allen trying to find out what changed history so radically.
 * Frame Up: The murder of Queen Hippolyta by
 * Also apparently one of the Outsider's tactics.
 * Freak Lab Accident: Barry tries to replicate the one that made him the Flash. He winds up demonstrating that it doesn't work when it's a Freak Lab On-Purpose.
 * Friend to All Living Things: Abin Sur.
 * Gambit Roulette:
 * General Ripper: General Nathaniel Adam (known in regular continuity as Captain Atom) who is probably one of the worse human villains in the story. Surprisingly averted by General Sam Lane, who actually treated Kal-El (or "Subject 1") as an actual child in a complete reversal of his DCU counterpart where he was one of the worst human beings ever portrayed in recent memory.
 * The Ghost: Or rather, ghosts. The previous members of the Secret Seven, Trigon, Klarion, Simon Magus, Stiletto, and Miss X are never shown, unlike their teammate Black Orchid, who appears in all three issues for various reason despite being dead. Trigon could be briefly seen in a warped flashback Shade suffers in #1, though.
 * Go Mad From the Revelation:
 * The Gump: Frankenstein killed Hitler.
 * Heel Face Door Slam: For a brief moment, Wonder Woman manages to earn Aquaman’s trust again as she explains her discovery of the conspiracy behind their war. Arthur even calls off his Geo-Pulse Cannon to hear her out. then secretly detonates several Atlantean war vessels, causing Arthur to reorder the sinking and invasion of New Themyscira with a vengeance.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard:
 * Hurricane of Puns: DC has pulled out quite a few plays on the word "Flash", starting with the title and going from there.
 * I Am Not Left Handed: Sinestro cuts off one of Abin Sur's hands in an attempt to sever his connection with his Green Lantern Ring. The ring simply goes to Sur's other hand instead.
 * I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: "Slaughter Swamp" is where Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown must go in hopes of regaining their humanity... (It's not very nice in the main DCU either, being the place where Solomon Grundy was created.)
 * Impaled With Extreme Prejudice:
 * Infant Immortality: Averted in the cases of
 * In Spite of a Nail: Seems to be the case with Batman, who despite all of the alternate history shenanigans, up to and including still exists and shows there will always be a Batman, which echoes the ending of Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader by Neil Gaiman and other stories that have played with the same concept.
 * This also seems to apply to Oracle, whose role here has been filled by rather than Barbara Gordon, who.
 * La Résistance: The Resistance against Amazon occupation of the U.K. (which they call New Themyscira), an underground organization of humans and meta-humans alike. Led by Grifter, its members include Etrigan, Godiva, Ms. Hyde, The Canterbury Cricket, Count Vertigo, Kid Devil, The Question, Lois Lane, and aka Dick Grayson.
 * Lady Land: Citizen Cold implies Wonder Woman has turned the U.K. into this.
 * The Mole: for the Amazons.  is a subversion, because
 * Monster Mash: Frankenstein and his commandos, who include a vampire, a wolfman, and a fishwoman.
 * Mythology Gag: Seen in the two-page view of Gotham - there's apparently a Green Lantern movie in theaters.
 * Mary Batson (Mary Marvel in the normal 'verse) is seen holding a rabbit, a reference to Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.
 * Most of the spinoffs are grouped under titles beginning with "Whatever Happened...?", referencing the Superman pre-Crisis sendoff Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow? and the later Batman eulogy Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader?
 * Also a more literal mythology gag is the letter Flash delivers to Bruce Wayne from his father. Making him a messenger like Hermes, the god the original flash is sort of patterned off of.
 * Nakama: Mary refers to the Shazam kids as a family. Freddy disagrees, pointing out that only Billy and Mary are actually related.
 * Nice Job Breaking It Hero: According to Zoom,
 * Noodle Incident: What caused the death of the original Secret Seven.
 * No Sympathy: A key difference between the regular Aquaman & his Flashpoint counterpart is that Tom Curry attempted to raise Arthur with a sense of kindness, patience, & humility. Regular Aquaman took it with his heart. Flashpoint Aquaman saw it as weakness, especially since his father's virtues couldn't help him from being killed by Atlantean soldiers.
 * Off With Her Head: Diana beheads Mera, takes her helmet, and sends her headless body to Aquaman. Though its not revealed what she's done with her head, though she likely kept it as a trophy.
 * Oh Crap: Barry Allen realizing his Flash ring is missing before tumbling down a flight of steps.
 * Again, Barry the split-second before realizing his attempt to recreate his Super Hero Origin to recover his speed isn't working and has instead burned all of his skin off.
 * Old Shame: Black Orchid's death to Shade. She's the only member of the original Secret Seven besides Shade who's ever fully shown in all three issues, implying that her death hit him the hardest.
 * Papa Wolf: Deathstroke, who in this reality is a pirate captain, is searching for his missing daughter, Rose Wilson. It's implied that this reality's Deathstroke hadn't stooped to the same level as his regular continuity counterpart did in order to control her. When she's finally shown, the two actually appear to love each other in a way that's no longer possible for their mainstream counterparts.
 * Also Sam Lane, in what has to be an entirely GIGANTIC reversal of his previous portrayal in the mainstream DC Universe. Despite the underlying feeling that he's looking towards Kal as the son he never got (instead he got Lois - and Lucy, too, but she's never seen or mentioned), he refers to them both as "my children" when he goes up against Subject Zero in order to prevent any harm towards the two.
 * Person of Mass Destruction: This series shows just what Aquaman could do if he wasn't so nice. Mainly, kill millions of people. Wonder Woman has been implied to have done the same thing to the people of England in order to turn it into New Themyscira.
 * Raygun Gothic: Rac Shade's superiors.
 * Red Eyes Take Warning: The Batman of the Flashpoint timeline is not a nice guy.
 * The Reveal: In Flashpoint issue 5 it's learned that
 * Ripple Effect Proof Memory: Barry, Booster Gold, Kid Flash and Hot Pursuit.
 * In fact, its the gradual failure of this that causes Barry to forget that
 * Ruthless Modern Pirates: Deathstroke and The Warlord.
 * Screw This I'm Outta Here: Traci 13 discovers Circe, trapped in the Antarctic. She was imprisoned because she tried to warn Diana of her aunt's plot to kill her, but because the Amazons effectively turned their backs on her she's decided to leave them to their fate when Traci saves her.
 * Sequel Hook:
 * Shout Out: One of the casino locales is called "Wayne's World".
 * Sliding Scale of Anti Heroes: Many heroes are on the lower ends.
 * Batman is a Type IV
 * Citizen Cold is a Type V
 * Somebody Elses Problem: Batman's opinion of everything outside Gotham.
 * Spin Off: Arguably, Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown written by Jeff Lemire and Secret Seven written by Peter Milligan verge on this trope despite being in an alternate reality. Both feature less popular cult characters (Frankenstein and Shade the Changing Man) that are starring in new series (Frankenstein stars in Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. and Shade in Justice League Dark) as part of DC's relaunch of their entire line and are being written by the writers of their respective mini-series.
 * Frankenstein is definitely this trope - Lemire got the ongoing because DC liked the mini.
 * Stripperific: Zatanna's outfit in Secret Seven. Take a look at this.
 * Take Up My Sword: In Kid Flash Lost, Hot Pursuit turns out to be
 * Lois Lane winds up taking Jimmy Olsen's place as Cyborg's contact in the U.K., after Jimmy is killed during the flooding of Paris.
 * Dick Grayson,, retains the helm of Nabu and joins The Resistance as.
 * Tarot Motifs: The World of Flashpoint #2.
 * Tele Frag: How The Outsider kills.
 * Time Crash:
 * Villain Protagonist: Heatwave & The Reverse Flash in their respective side stories.
 * Villain With Good Publicity: Citizen Cold, who lampshades this several times.
 * Time Crash:
 * Villain Protagonist: Heatwave & The Reverse Flash in their respective side stories.
 * Villain With Good Publicity: Citizen Cold, who lampshades this several times.
 * Villain With Good Publicity: Citizen Cold, who lampshades this several times.

"Tell me about . What does he do, after we're dead?
 * Villainous BSOD:

He... He follows in his father's footsteps.

He's a doctor? *looks at her husband with a defeated look on her face*

*not looking at her* No...

oh, god..."


 * Viva Las Vegas: What Batman has effectively turned Gotham into, using Wayne Casinos to fund his war on crime.
 * Well Intentioned Extremist: Terry Thirteen and the H.I.V.E. Council, who plan to stop the Atlantean / Amazonian war by killing 118 million people.
 * Wham Episode: Batman: Knight of Vengeance #2.
 * Wham Line:


 * What Could Have Been: An in-universe example. Jim Gordon never had kids or got married.
 * What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs: Secret Seven.
 * White Haired Pretty Boy: Subject Zero.
 * Worthy Opponent: In a world without anyone (mainly a Flash) to oppose him, Grodd has taken control of his race of hyper-intelligent gorillas, taken control of what's left of the entire African continent and killed nearly half the human population on said continent. He's also incredibly bored with the situation, feeling that there isn't anything to truly challenge him. Desperate to find anyone who could challenge him intellectually or in combat, he is willing to surround himself with enemies who want to kill him and directly inspire anyone to try to seriously kill him.
 * Would Hurt a Child: The Joker and Wonder Woman's aunt. The Joker is specifically referred to as a "child murderer"
 * Xtreme Kool Letterz: Trixter.