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In 2011,DC’sevent comicFlashpointushered in the company ’s groundbreaking ceremony revamp and publish go-ahead , The New 52 . proceed was the Post - Crisis history that exist for near three decades , replace with a sweet , raw continuity for any reader , newfangled or sure-enough , to jump onboard . Despite DC ’s best efforts to get fan invested , elements of the reboot rubbed readers the wrong way . For representative , persistence snafus and the entire fade of lover - favorite fictional character upset reader .
The responsibility for the displacement to the DCU has fallen on many role ’s shoulders . The New 52 hadso many moving piece , so there ’s sure as shooting enough inculpation to go around . But the interrogation must be asked : which fictitious character is in reality responsible for for the biggest alteration to DC Comics sinceCrisis on Infinite Earths ?
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It All Started With The Flash’s Best Intentions
When it comes to the self-aggrandising change to the DC Universe ’s timeline , the first and frontmost character merit of attention is the Scarlet Speedster . Barry Allen may be one of the Justice League ’s most noble heroes , but he kick everything off thanks to his mucking around in the yesteryear . ineffective to cope with the loss of his mother ’s death at the hands of Reverse - Flash , the Flash traveled through fourth dimension , go back to save her life story . But in doing so , Barry created the unstable Flashpoint timeline , a world that would have torn itself apart thanks to a state of war between the Amazons and Atlanteans . Thankfully , Flash realized the gravitational force of his mistake , and prevented his past self from causing the diverging timeline .
But when Barry Allen got back to his place , everything was different . Years had been slay from the timeline , personal history were falsify and costumes had much more wasted lines . Though Barry Allen did n’t actualize it , his screwing around in the past had helped drasticallychange the DC Universeforever . In the time it submit Barry to unmake his mistake , he allowed forces greater than he could get the picture to get in and make revolutionary changes to the humankind he experience . Did the Flash consciously and intentionally create a new timeline to supplant the one sports fan were familiar with ? No , but because of his desire to save his mother , he opened a door he ’d never be able to close . Without the Flashpoint , it ’s very unlikely there would have been a New 52 .
Enter Pandora And Her Attempt to Save the DCU
Barry Allen may have opened the threshold , but the notable presence who walked through wasDC ’s powerful magic character , Pandora . When Barry was stopping his past self from undo the past , an enigmatic comportment made itself known to him . warn Flash of a great , yet vague , threat , Pandora takes the shift timeline and merges the main DC Universe with the Wildstorm and Vertigo worldly concern . The end resolution was the Post - Crisis New Earth becoming the untested and radically different Prime Earth . It ’s eventually expose that the cryptic being isthePandora from the ancient myths and that her timeline manipulation was part of her travail to defeat the evil that manipulated Pandora into opening her fabled box seat .
Pandora was show to be the most culpable character behind the changeduring the New 52 . She merged multiple worlds , made eerie appearance in every # 1 issue of the New 52 ’s serial and was the focus of the " Trinity War " crossing . But Pandora was never demo to be malicious or fell . She want to protect the DC Universe from great iniquity and cypher the serious way she could achieve that was with a completely young universe . But beyond vague view , Pandora ’s goal were never clear . Despite the role she dally inFlashpoint , she was finally discard during the Rebirth epoch in favorofWatchmen’sDoctor Manhattan . Pandora may have , at one point , been the designer behind the New 52 but subsequent revelations have put her literal impact in doubt .
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In The End, Was Doctor Manhattan Really Responsible?
Nearly five class after the New 52 was established , DC Universe : Rebirth # 1turned everything on its head with the revelation that Doctor Manhattan was present in the DCU . After a few twelvemonth of tease teases , the maxiseriesDoomsday Clockconfirmed ( without a shadow of a question ) that Manhattan was therealcause of the New 52 ’s existence . After leave his macrocosm at the end ofWatchmen , Jon Osterman began observing the heroesof the DC Universeand experimented with their timeline . He plucked character out of their natural state , removed key relationships and even prevented heroes from rising altogether . For the first time since the New 52 begin , there was a reason why the young timeline had so many inconsistencies and odd occurrences : it was all because of Doctor Manhattan ’s experiments .
Though Doctor Manhattan infamously said , " Nothing ever terminate , " that explanation would not be the terminal say on how the New 52 come around . Justice Incarnate # 4added a new layer to the Manhattan revelation that really serve absolve theWatchmencharacter . Apparently , the Great Darkness of DCsubtly charm Osterman once he come over from his world . Because the villain want to weaken the heroes of Earth-0 , the Great Darkness manipulated Doctor Manhattan into stealing 10 eld of history from New Earth . So once Barry ’s Flashpoint shenanigans provided the chance , Manhattan was able-bodied to act on the Great Darkness ' orders and make the immature and heavily altered New 52 timeline .
So Who Is Ultimately to Blame?
avowedly , this is a hard question to respond . Flash fail back in clip and dampen the timeline . Pandora merged three world into one . Doctor Manhattan stole ten years and altered the universe . And the villainousforce , The Great Darkness , have reward of the entire thing for its own welfare . In the last decade , it seems that the constant twists and turns and shocking Revelation of Saint John the Divine have served only one real purpose : to pass the buck . The tormented Pandora was n’t as blameful for the New 52 when Doctor Manhattan ’s deed come to spark . And Jon was shew not act of his own accord once the Great Darkness ' program was revealed . While this helps to keep an innocence to sure characters , it does n’t apologise the fact that everything that happened line back to one person : the Flash .
Granted , Barry Allen ’s founding ofthe Flashpoint timelinewas an fortuity and he had no way of knowing that saving his mother could have such intense ramifications . But if Flash never proceed back in clip , he never would have set up the chain of events that run to the New 52 ’s creation . No Flashpoint intend no chance for Pandora , Manhattan or Great Darkness a chance to make their move . The New 52may be the termination of multiple powerful being represent at once , but theDC Universechanged evermore all because of the Flash ’s biggest mistake .
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