Comic Book / DC Rebirth

It's not a reboot, and it never was.

"I love this world...but there's something missing."

— Wally West

DC Rebirth is the 2016 relaunch of DC Comics, and their first major rebranding since the New 52 began in 2011. Unlike the latter, DC Rebirth isn't a Continuity Reboot of the DC Universe; it's more akin to Marvel's contemporary line-wide relaunches of late, with notable status quo shifts and new creative teams taking over certain titles, as well as some books being renumbered and others getting new #1s. However, there are notable retcons that move the universe closer to how it was before The New 52.

DC Rebirth is a product of The New 52's dissolution in 2015, which gave way to another (short-lived) initiative called DC You. While some of the creative decisions made during the DC YOU era were acclaimed by critics and readers, it hadn't boosted sales; in fact, DC's overall comic figures dropped to what they were before The New 52 launched. Because of this, they decided something had to be done to reignite interest in their books.

Geoff Johns —who was personally responsible for the "rebirths" of Green Lantern and The Flash a decade or so earlier— is at the helm of this ambitious project, citing an emphasis on "legacy" and doubling down on what readers have always loved about DC Comics. Additionally, a one-shot called DC Universe: Rebirth (penned by Johns himself) was published, laying the groundwork for the rest of the new line.

See Young Animal for another series of new book launches designed to bring in new readers, this time harkening back to early '90s Vertigo Comics. See The Wild Storm for yet another relaunch: Warren Ellis' reboot of the universe formerly owned by WildStorm Productions.

Marvel Comics a year later announced its own version, Marvel Legacy, with a Fall 2017 launch. Though that didn't work as well as expected. They made a second attempt in May 2018 with Marvel: A Fresh Start, which was much more successful in comparison.

At New York Comic-Con 2017, it was confirmed that the branding would be removed come January 2018, though the main plot will conclude a fair bit later. It would later be followed by the Infinite Frontier rebranding initiative in March 2020, following the Future State event.

General Developments

• Most books will get new #1s, after the remaining New 52 launch titles reach their #52 issues
• All regular titles will be priced at $2.99; roughly half of them will go biweekly.
• Detective Comics and Action Comics will return to their pre-New 52 numbering (#934 and #957, respectively)
• Tom King (The Omega Men, Grayson), Clay Mann (Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death), John Timms (Harley Quinn), Steve Orlando (Midnighter), Dan Abnett (Aquaman), Evan "Doc" Shaner, Jesus Merino, Amanda Conner, and Scott Snyder have signed DC-exclusive contracts

DC Rebirth - Wave One

Wave One (May 2016 — December 2016)

The following titles are set to launch during DC Rebirth. Bolded titles are ongoing or upcoming. ^RB denotes a title launching with a one-shot "Rebirth" issue.

• DC Universe: Rebirth — An 80-page one-shot meant to establish the new status quo of the DC universe and set up its new slate of titles. Written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, Ivan Reis, Phil Jimenez, and Ethan Van Sciver.

Batman

• All-Star Batman — A villain-centric Batman book, set to feature foes like Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Mister Freeze, and Catwoman. Written by Scott Snyder, drawn by John Romita Jr., Jock, & Sean Murphy. Monthly.
• Batgirl — Barbara leaves Burnside and goes backpacking through Asia to improve herself. Written by Hope Larson, drawn by Rafael Albuquerque. Monthly.
• Batgirl and the Birds of Prey — Barbara joins forces with Black Canary and Huntress (Bertinelli) to track down a false Oracle. Written by Julie & Shawna Benson, drawn by Claire Roe. Monthly. ^RB
• Batman — Two mysterious new heroes arrives to protect Gotham. Written by Tom King, drawn by David Finch & Mikel Janin. Biweekly. ^RB
• Batman Beyond — The return of Terry McGinnis. Written by Dan Jurgens, drawn by Bernard Chang. Monthly. ^RB
• Detective Comics — Continues with issue #934; Batman and Batwoman lead a "Gotham bootcamp" for Spoiler, Clayface, Tim Drake, and Cassandra Cain. Written by James Tynion IV, drawn by Eddy Barrows & Alvaro Martinez. Biweekly.
• Gotham Academy: Second Semester — Written by Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, & Karl Kerchl. Artist TBA.
• Nightwing — Fresh off his stint as an agent of SPYRAL, Dick returns to the identity of Nightwing, and takes on the Parliament of Owls. Initially written by Tim Seeley, drawn by Javi Fernandez and Marcus To. Biweekly. ^RB

Superman

• Action Comics — Continues with issue #957, Lex Luthor and Superman must team up to battle the pre-Flashpoint Doomsday while trying to solve the mystery of the man calling himself Clark Kent. Written by Dan Jurgens, drawn by Patrick Zircher, Tyler Kirkham, and Stephen Segovia. Biweekly.
• New Super-Man — A Shanghai-based teenager named Kenan Kong becomes infused with Superman's powers. Written by Gene Yang, drawn by Viktor Bogdanovic. Monthly.
• Supergirl — Kara ponders her place on Earth and wonders if she truly belongs on Krypton. Written by Steve Orlando, drawn by Brian Ching. Monthly. ^RB
• Superman — Jon Kent is exhibiting strange powers far beyond those of mortal men. It's up to his "Pa Kent", the pre-Flashpoint Superman, to decide how he should handle that power. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, drawn by Gleason and Doug Mahnke. Biweekly. ^RB
• Superwoman — The New 52 Lois Lane gains the powers of Superman to continue his legacy, but those same powers are killing her. Written by Phil Jimenez, drawn by Jimenez and Emanuela Lupacchino. Monthly.

Green Lantern

• Green Lanterns — Rookie Green Lanterns Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz become the new protectors of Earth, fighting off Red Lanterns. Initially written by Sam Humphries, drawn by Robson Rocha and Ardian Syaf. Biweekly.^RB
• Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps — Sinestro moves Warworld to the center of the universe and the Green Lanterns are not happy at that. Written by Robert Venditti, drawn by Ethan Van Sciver and Rafa Sandoval. Biweekly.^RB

Teen Titans

• Teen Titans — Damian Wayne decides to lead the Teen Titans^note Beast Boy, Starfire, Raven, Kid Flash...whether they like it or not. Written by Ben Percy, drawn by Jonboy Meyers. Monthly. ^RB
• Titans — Following up on threads left by Titans Hunt, featuring Nightwing, Donna Troy, Arsenal, Garth, and pre-Flashpoint Wally West. Written by Dan Abnett, drawn by Brett Booth. Monthly. ^RB

Justice League of America

• Justice League — Green Lanterns Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz and the pre-Flashpoint Superman join the Justice League, but can the League trust the other-universal hero? Written by Brian Hitch, drawn by Tony Daniel and Fernando Pasarin. Biweekly. ^RB
• Trinity — Written by Francis Manapul, drawn by Manapul and Clay Mann. Monthly.^RB
• Aquaman — The King of the Seas wants to bring peace to the surface and undersea worlds. Too bad Black Manta thinks otherwise. Written by Dan Abnett & Brad Walker, drawn by Walker, Jesus Merino, & Phil Briones. Biweekly. ^RB
• Cyborg — Written by John Semper, drawn by Will Conrad and Paul Pelletier. Biweekly. ^RB
• The Flash — A Speed Force storm hits Central City, producing lots of new speedsters, one of whom becomes a Serial Killer. Written by Joshua Williamson, drawn by Carmine Di Giandomenico and Neil Googe. Biweekly. ^RB
• Wonder Woman — Diana reconciles inconsistencies in her past while flashing back to her origin. Initially written by Greg Rucka, drawn by Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott. Biweekly. ^RB

Solo titles (other)

• Blue Beetle — Jamie Reyes and Ted Kord. Written by Keith Giffen, drawn by Scott Kolins. It will deal with the fact that the Scarab is a Magical artifact disguised as Xeno-tech. Monthly. ^RB
• Deathstroke — Written by Christopher Priest, drawn by Carlo Pagulayan, Igor Vitorino, & Felipe Watanabe. Biweekly. ^RB
• Green Arrow — Green Arrow and Black Canary finally meet as Ollie questions how he can stand up for the little man when he's the big man who represses the little man. Written by Ben Percy, drawn by Otto Schmidt & Juan Ferreyra. Biweekly. ^RB
• Harley Quinn — Written by Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti, drawn by Chad Hardin & John Timms. Biweekly. ^RB
• The Hellblazer — John Constantine and Swamp Thing work together to save Abby Arcane. Written by Simon Oliver, drawn by Moritat. Monthly. ^RB

Team titles (other)

• Red Hood and the Outlaws — Red Hood recruits Bizarro and Artemis. Written by Scott Lobdell and drawn by Dexter Soy. Monthly.^RB
• Suicide Squad — Featuring Amanda Waller, Captain Rick Flag, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Katana, Killer Croc, Captain Boomerang, Enchantress^note El Diablo is getting his own limited series, on-par with Boomerang. Written by Rob Williams, drawn by Jim Lee & Philip Tan. Biweekly. ^RB

Limited series

• Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love — Deadman answers a distress call at the haunted Glencourt Manor, where he meets a young woman who can see ghosts. Written by Sarah Vaughn with art by Lan Medina.
• Death of Hawkman ^note originally solicited as Adam Strange: Out of Time — Adam Strange is drawn out of retirement and brought into a bloody conflict between Rann and Thanagar. Written by Marc Andreyko with art by Aaron Lopresti.
• Midnighter and Apollo — Written by Steve Orlando with art by Fernando Blanco.
• Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo & Boomerang — An anthology comic starring each of the titular characters in their own solo stories. Written by Michael Moreci and Jai Nitz with art by Oscar Bazaldua and Cliff Richards.
• Raven — Written by Marv Wolfmann with art by Alisson Borges.

Events and crossovers

• Night of the Monster Men — The first Bat Family Crossover, involving Batman, Detective Comics and Nightwing. Batman, Nightwing and Batwoman must deal with Dr. Hugo Strange and each other as they deal with the doctor's titular monsters.
• Justice League vs. Suicide Squad — The first inter-company crossover event. The Justice League learns the existence of Task Force X, but before they can shut it down, a mysterious group from the DC's past reemerges. Six issue mini-series plus tie-ins with JL and SS.

DC Rebirth - Wave Two

Wave Two (January 2017—)

The following titles are set to launch during DC Rebirth. Bolded titles are ongoing or upcoming. ^RB denotes a title launching with a one-shot "Rebirth" issue.

Ongoing titles

• Justice League of America — Spinning out of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, a new JLA ^note Vixen, The Atom (Ryan Choi), Killer Frost (Caitlin Snow), The Ray, Black Canary, Batman, Lobo is formed. Written by Steve Orlando with art by Ivan Reis. Biweekly. This title is preceded by four one-shots focusing on each teammate:
  • Justice League of America - The Atom: Rebirth — Written by Orlando with art by Andy MacDonald.
  • Justice League of America - Vixen: Rebirth — Written by Orlando and Jody Houser with art by Jamal Campbell.
  • Justice League of America - The Ray: Rebirth — Written by Orlando with art by Stephen Byrne.
  • Justice League of America - Killer Frost: Rebirth — Written by Orlando and Jody Houser with art by Mirka Andolfo.
• Batwoman — Spinning out of Detective Comics, Batwoman performs black-ops missions in pursuit of supervillains around the globe who have escaped Gotham's jurisdiction. More of her backstory, especially during the time after she was expelled from West Point, will also be explored. Written by Marguerite Bennett (with James Tynion IV co-writing the one-shot and first arc) and art by Steve Epting. Monthly. ^RB
• Super Sons — Damian Wayne and Jon Kent team up. Written by Peter J. Tomasi, drawn by Jorge Jimenez. Monthly.

Limited series

• Odyssey of the Amazons — Before Wonder Woman, there were the Amazons of Themyscira. Written by Kevin Grevioux with art by Ryan Benjamin. Six issues.
• The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom — After being MIA for years, the true fate of Captain Atom is revealed. Written by Cary Bates and Greg Weisman with art by Will Conrad. Six issues.
• Bane: Conquest — Bane reunites with his old associates to find new cities to take over. Written by Bane creators Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan. Twelve issues.
• Mister Miracle (2017) — The greatest escape artist has to escape death itself. Written by Tom King with art by Mitch Gerads. Twelve issues.
• Suicide Squad: Black Files — A double-billed series as Kobra goes after Katana while Amanda Waller introduces the new Suicide Squad Black, comprised of El Diablo, the Enchantress and Gentleman Ghost. Six issues.
• Deadman — Boston Brand delves into the circumstances around his original murder and learns that it was part of a larger conspiracy. Written and illustrated by Neal Adams. Six issues.
• Ragman — Ragman's origin is reimagined as he returns home to Gotham, and an ancient evil follows him.Written by Ray Fawkes with art by Inaki Miranda. Six issues.
• Batman and the Signal — Spinning out of Dark Nights: Metal, Duke Thomas takes up a new moniker and becomes a daytime hero for Gotham City. Written by Scott Snyder and Tony Patrick with art by Cully Hammer. Three issues.
• Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands — Black Lightning's hometown of Cleveland has been invaded by a new gang rocking deadly super-weapons. Written by Tony Isabella with art by Clayton Henry. Six issues.
• Raven: Daughter of Darkness — Raven faces a new otherworldly menace which is all too grounded in reality, all the while her personal life as Rachel Roth is in an uproar as her mother and aunt struggle for the soul of a Titan. which leads Baron Winters of the Night Force to intercede on Raven's behalf while she's on the adventure called The Girl with the Anime Eyes. written by Marv Wolfman with art by Pop Mhan. Twelve issues.

One-shots

• Wonder Woman: Steve Trevor — Steve Trevor must confront an ancient threat without Wonder Woman's help. Written by Tim Seeley, art by Christian Duce.

Events and crossovers

• Superman Reborn — Four issue crossover taking place in Superman and Action Comics through the month of March 2017. Superman learns the truth of himself, his family and the fallen New 52 Superman as Jon is kidnapped.
• The Button — Four issue crossover running through Batman and The Flash in April and May of 2017 as Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen investigate the Comedian's blood-stained button from DC Universe: Rebirth #1.
• The Lazarus Contract — Four issue crossover running through Deathstroke, Titans, Teen Titans and a special Teen Titans annual in May 2017. Slade Wilson learns his son Grant can be revived, but needs Wally West to do so.
• Dark Nights: Metal — A Summer event running through various (but currently unnamed) comics, it will feature the Justice League's discovery of the "Dark Multiverse", a story that spans generations and also launch the Dark Matter line of comics. Preceded by numerous one-shots:
  • Dark Days: The Forge
  • Dark Days: The Casting
  • The event will also have numerous one-shots:
    • Batman: The Red Death
    • Batman: The Murder Machine
    • Batman: The Dawnbreaker
    • Batman: The Drowned
    • Batman: The Merciless
    • Batman: The Devastator
    • The Batman Who Laughs
    • Batman: Lost
    • Hawkman: Found
• Doomsday Clock — An event starting in November of 2017. The story will feature the first meeting between Superman and Doctor Manhattan. It will be a self-contained event (though it will have wider ramifications) taking place a year ahead of the other Rebirth titles. Twelve issues, written by Geoff Johns with art by Gary Frank.
• Super Sons of Tomorrow — Four-issue crossover taking place in Superman, Super Sons and Teen Titans in December 2017 and January 2018. The mysterious "Batman of Tomorrow" arrives from the future to kill Jonathan Kent to prevent a grim future.

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DC Rebirth provides examples of the following tropes:

• Actually a Doombot: In Supergirl #2, Kara fights Cyborg Superman. She wins, but she is disappointed when she discovers that it is only a drone.
  Supergirl: Of course...Another lie. Another fake. A drone. It exploded but...I barely touched it.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Hugo Strange, of all people, became now much more muscular. He even has a slight Fanservice moment when he's working out naked. His face, however, is as Gonkish as ever, which was actually a trait that Matt Wagner tried to associate with Strange in his Dark Moon Rising duology back during the Year One days before Flashpoint.
• Adaptational Badass: There were various rules and limitations to Doctor Manhattan's powers in Watchmen, to the point that despite developing Casual Interplanetary Travel if every silo on Earth launched a nuclear weapon at once he still would not be able to stop them all. Rebirth Manhattan has no such rules or limitations, however.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • The second Aqualad is gay in this continuity. His original incarnation in Young Justice (2010) was confirmed via Word of God to be polysexual.
  • Traci 13 and Natasha Irons aren't straight either, but if they are bi or lesbians is yet to be determined. They are dating each other, though.
  • Stallion, a minor villain in DC lore, shows up in Nightwing and is revealed to be gay.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy: Some are getting noticeable pushes:
  • Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz are sharing the role of Earth's Green Lantern(s).
  • Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle (although he's had the position even before the New 52).
  • Jackson Hyde is once more Aqualad, and is now also gay.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: Justice League: Rebirth #1. An insect-like Eldritch Abomination called a Reaper who is "harvesting" humans on Earth, and the vanguard of thousands of said creatures...say what? Is an Intercompany Crossover with Commander Shepard on the way? Many are noting the shocking similarity, and also noting that Bryan Hitch worked on The Christmas Invasion episode of Doctor Who as well.
• Alternate Continuity: Subverted. It turns out that "Prime Earth" is the same universe as "New Earth", but with histories and memories erased, changed, or otherwise altered, thanks to Dr. Manhattan's machinations.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: In Part 3 of "Night of the Monster Men", Nightwing and Gotham Girl get infected and transform into monsters.
• Archnemesis Dad:
  • Supergirl fights her father (the second Cyborg-Superman) in the first arc of her book.
  • Batwoman turns against her father after finding out that he is the leader of the Colony.
• Arc Welding:
  • Prime Earth is not Barry Allen's fault. It's Doctor Manhattan of Watchmen's attempt to create life.
  • Prime Earth (post-Flashpoint continuity) and New Earth (pre-Flashpoint continuity) are one and the same.
• Arc Words: "Every second is a gift."
• Ascended Fanboy: Wally's relationship with Barry is explored more in Rebirth, as he focuses on his idolizing of Barry well before he became Kid Flash himself.
• Audience Surrogate: Wally West as the person who essentially misses the old way of things and Dr. Manhattan as the clueless writer seeking to enforce the bleaker world.
• Back for the Dead: Pandora, essentially the face of the New 52, is callously murdered by Dr. Manhattan in the same way he murdered Rorschach.
• Badass Boast:
  • Wonder Woman's boast in Justice League: Rebirth #1 is simple but tremendously effective:
    Wonder Woman: We're the Justice League. Run.
  • Before the Leaguers went inside the Reaper, Batman said:
    Batman: We're going to find its brain, and negotiate the terms of its surrender.
• Badass Family: You thought Superman was tough? Wait till he tag-teams with his wife, his son, his dog and his cousin.
• Bad Future:
  • Justice League has one where the Justice League have been killed off, with the kids of the current Justice League travelling back to prevent it.
  • Detective Comics has a version of the Titans Tomorrow universe, where Tim Drake has become a Fallen Hero.
  • And Titans has an evil, future version of Donna Troy, who's gone more than a little mad from living past all her friends and loved ones.
• Bait-and-Switch: DC have made a big deal about how most of their titles are getting reduced in price to $2.99. However, since a lot of these titles will now be shipping twice as often, fans will actually end up paying more each month.
  • From a story perspective, Superwoman was sold on the premise that Lois Lane would be the main character, with Lana Lang taking on a supporting role. In reality, Lana Lang is the main character, with Lois Lane dying at the end of the first issue with the implication that there is no way to bring her back.
• Bat Family Crossover: "Night of the Monster Men", which began in late September 2016 and ended in early October 2016, running through rotating issues of Batman, Nightwing, and Detective Comics, in that order. The cast of all the books joined forces to battle Dr. Hugo Strange and an army of kaiju threatening Gotham during a massive storm.
• Batman Gambit: In Detective Comics, Batman himself actually is a pawn in one. He gets ambushed by the Colony and gets the everloving crap beat out of him before getting captured. This causes Batwoman to assemble the rest of the team at the Belfry. She also contacts her father, a Colonel, after recognizing the Colony is a military organization, and invites him as well in order to get his advice. Unbeknownst to her, her father is the leader of the Colony, and he uses the opportunity to disable and take control of the Belfry. The intent all along was to gain access to Batman's data in preparation for a strike on another target, and Kate played right into her dad's hands by doing what he expected her to do.
• Battle Couple:
  • Red Robin (Tim Drake) and Spoiler (Stephanie Brown) in Detective Comics (Rebirth). He is a tactical genius. She is completely unpredictable. The two of them are used to bickering and bantering while they kick butts.
  • Jeremiah and Eiza Danvers, Supergirl's foster parents in Supergirl (Rebirth). They are a Happily Married pair of agents trained to deal with and take down alien threats.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: How Clayface joins Batman's little "Bat-army" - Bats agrees to help him regain who he was in exchange for joining him and learning to be a hero.
• Berserk Button: After spending nearly a decade in quiet hiding with his wife and son, it's the sight of Lex Luthor claiming the title of Superman that instantly has Pre-Flashpoint Superman donning the red and blue costume and revealing himself to the world.
• Big "NO!": Batwoman lets off one when Colony soldiers open fire on Cassandra and fill her full of tranquilizer darts, since she initially thought they were using live ammo.
• Big Bad: Appears to be the sinister Mr. Oz, maybe. Later events imply that it's actually Dr. Manhattan.
• Book Ends: Inverted Trope. Action Comics ended its run with a storyline involving Doomsday. It's starting its restored run with a storyline involving Doomsday.
  • A variation. Both the beginning and the end of an era have a Flash arriving in the Batcave.
• Breaking Speech: Aquaman gives a stunning one to Black Manta.
• Breakout Character: Jonathan Kent as Superboy, and by extension Damian Wayne, chiefly because they're being written as young boys, and not short adults.
• Bury Your Gays: Red Racer, the gay alternate counterpart of the Flash introduced in The Multiversity, sacrifices his life to save a captured gathering of alternate Supermen from a villain.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • A lot of characters that have been MIA for awhile, hinted at or mentioned and rarely used, such as Ted Kord (last seen in Forever Evil (2013)), Jackson Hyde (the new Aqualad introduced before Flashpoint), and Jaime Reyes are getting pushes once more.
  • Character design and synopsis seems to hint that the Doomsday in Action Comics is actually the beast that killed the post-Crisis Superman.
  • The original red-haired Wally West returns in DC Universe: Rebirth #1
  • In a surprising move, Bibbo Bibbowski made his return in Superman #4, having not been seen in the comics since Dan Jurgens left the Superman title back in 2000.
    • And the guy who came all the way from Gotham to arm wrestle with him? None other than Hacken.
  • Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong, aka The General, made his Post-Flashpoint debut in Detective Comics #937, as a teenage member of The Colony.
  • In All-Star Batman #3 Harold Allnut, Bruce's mute, kyphosis-suffering genius mechanic, shows up for the first time since his apparent death during the Hush Saga.
  • Traci 13 shows up in Superwoman.
  • A somewhat cooler Kite-Man appeared during the end of I Am Gotham. He still got beat up.
  • In the biggest bus ride ever, New Super-Man #8 reintroduces Ching Lung, the villainous Chinese figure from the very first issue of Detective Comics all the way back in 1937, a whopping 80 year bus ride!
  • Roxie Rocket, a character originally from the DCAU, reappeared in Justice League of America #1. Her last appearance in the comics was in Batgirl in April, 2007.
  • Bird, Trogg and Zombie, Bane's associates from Knightfall returns for the storyline "I Am Bane," having been MIA since said storyline.
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk returns in Superman Reborn, having been absent since Countdown to Final Crisis.
    • And soon after that story, the next story arcs in Action Comics and Superman feature the return of Pre-Flashpoint versions of Cyborg Superman and Manchester Black.
  • Dark Nights: Metal first prologue, The Forge, sees the return of the Carter and Shiera Hawks, Hath-Set, Plastic Man, Mr. Terrific, the Outsiders team, the Immortal Man, and a Joker. The event also brings back the Challengers of the Unknown, The Blackhawks, the Will Payton Starman, Red Tornado, Dream of the Endless, and Detective Chimp.
  • The Cab came back with Space Cabbie in the Green Lantern books.
  • Action Comics #993 sees the return of Booster Gold to the DCU.
  • Detective Comics #966 sees the return of the Titans of Tomorrow Tim Drake.
  • Supergirl #15-16 sees the return of Strange Visitor, who died in 2001 event "Our Worlds At War".
• Call-Back:
  • The phrase "My name is Wally West. I'm the fastest man alive," that began during Mark Waid's Flash run is used during Wally's grand reintroduction.
  • In Flash: Rebirth #1 Wally admonished Barry when the latter realizes he forgot he could create a costume out of Speed Force, something established during Mark Waid's run.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: In Justice League: Rebirth #1, Clark has reservations over joining the Justice League. Lois invokes the trope by saying at some point, the League will need Superman, and Clark won't be able to put off membership for long.
• Came Back Wrong: Cyborg Superman turns the people of Argo into Cyborgs to bring them back from the dead. However they are only soulless zombie robots.
  Supergirl: This isn't the future. Look at them. Look at their eyes. You made them monsters! [...] These things aren't alive. You perverted our people's bodies. It isn't right. They move but they don't talk and they aren't really alive.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Angela Chen from Superman: The Animated Series appears in the Vixen one-shot, marking her first appearance in the DCU.
  • Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers from Supergirl (2015) and Selena from the 1984 Supergirl feature exist now in the main DCU.
  • The titular villain of Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu appears in Suicide Squad: Most Wanted and in an issue of Killer Croc's own series.
• Canon Welding: This reboot introduces characters from the previously non-canon Watchmen in order to explain why characters forgot their true histories after the Flash untangled a mess of time paradoxes he created in Flashpoint.
• Central Theme: Love, and by extension, legacy. According to Scott William Foley:
  With the New 52, DC abandoned the very thing that made it unique – love, and the legacy that consequently results from it. In this book we see the pre-New 52 Lois with Clark with their son – love. We see Ryan Choi working with Ray Palmer – legacy. We see a meaningful glance between Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance – love. We see Jaime Reyes side by side with Ted Kord – legacy. We see Arthur Curry proposing to Mera – love. We see the other Wally West living up to the name “Kid Flash” – legacy. We see classic versions of Dr. Fate and Johnny Thunder – legacy. We see the classic Legion flight ring – legacy.
• The Chessmaster: Mr. Oz, manipulating and pushing things to suit his needs and if certain characters are doing things not according to his plans, he pulls them off the board. So far, he has captured the pre-Flashpoint Doomsday, the Future's End Tim Drake, the normal Tim Drake, Mr. Mxyzptlk and the multiversal villain Prophecy.
• Collective Identity: DC Universe: Rebirth #1 confirms there have been three Jokers - the original Golden Age version, the one birthed from The Killing Joke and the A Death in the Family one, though it's only Batman: Three Jokers that clarified it as this.. Meaning that the Joker's Multiple-Choice Past takes a whole new meaning!
• Comes Great Responsibility: In Superman #2, Jonathan tells Superdad that the shirt with the S shield was bought second hand at a thrift store. Supes tells him gravely that while the boy who wore it outgrew the shirt, at some point Jonathan is going to have to grow into the role of Superman.
• Continuity Nod: In Nightwing #2, Batgirl makes mention of "Batwoman's bootcamp crew" and "the Gotham Twins", references to Detective Comics (Rebirth) and Batman, respectively.
• Continuity Porn:
  • Rebirth by definition has to indulge in this, but Batman #6 takes it up to eleven in dusting off old D-list Batman villains like Colonel Blimp and Kite-Man.
  • The mother of all examples appears at the end of New Super-Man #8: the reintroduction of Ching Lung, the first ever villain published by DC Comics, drawn precisely how he appeared on the front of Detective Comics #1. Even the layout of the TEXT is the same as Detective Comics #1.
• Continuity Reboot: DC was very strident to establish that this was not the case before officially announcing Rebirth. It's essentially a merging of the Post-Crisis DCU with the New 52 setting, which in practice means Rebirth is a new continuity, one created in an entirely different way than DC ever had before but in practice the effect is the same. It is also a starting point for new DC readers, much in the same way All-New, All-Different Marvel is for Marvel readers.
• Cosmic Plaything: The DCU for Dr. Manhattan. It wouldn't be the first time an omnipotent being decided to toy with universes - see Rift from the Worlds Collide crossover.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Batman takes on fifty Colony soldiers at the end of Detective Comics #935. Early in #936, it's revealed that he got his ass utterly kicked, complete with getting captured.
• Dare to Be Badass: In Superman #4, Jon's caught between helping his father against the Eradicator and helping protect his mom. He's also wary of using his powers after the death of his cat Goldie. Lois tells him that he has the best of both worlds and he can be great if he chooses to be. He zips up his Superman jacket, solders on Krypto's cape to his coat and charges into battle.
• Death Is Cheap: When discussing the New 52 Superman's death, both the pre-Flashpoint Superman and Lois realize that this sort of thing never happened in this timeline and it's only a matter of time before he somehow comes back.
• Decomposite Character:
  • One of the big reveals is that the New 52 Wally West is NOT a Race Lifted, Younger and Hipper version of the original Wally West, but is actually his younger cousin. It turns out both boys were named after their great-grandfather, Wallace West.
  • Batman discovers that there are actually three Jokers.
  • There also seem to be two different Clock Kings.
  • There's a Clark Kent who believes the New 52 Superman only impersonated him briefly. It was Mr. Mxyzptlk, who used his Reality Warping powers to make it look like Kent and Supes were separate people all along, and brainwashed himself to Become The Mask.
• Decon-Recon Switch: As one critic stated in an essay: "Geoff Johns is drawing a straight line from Watchmen to The New 52. He’s saying that the deconstructionist comic books of the 80s - great books, seminal classics - have so poisoned the well that they have negatively impacted what came after. It’s the ultimate piece of comic criticism (and one I think a lot of old-timers, who were alive and energized when Watchmen first hit stores, would agree with) and it’s in the form of a comic. Yes, Geoff Johns says, DC is too dark and unhappy today. And what’s more, it’s a direct result of chasing the dragon of Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and getting ever diminished returns."
• Defiant to the End: Pandora, who screams defiantly at Dr. Manhattan before she is struck down.
• Despair Event Horizon: When Linda Park tells Wally that she doesn't remember him, he's devastated enough to just go find Barry and speak to him one last time before he's pulled into the Speed Force.
• Deus ex Machina: Expect this whenever Mr. Oz is eyeing the scene. He's so far directly responsible for capturing Doomsday in Action Comics and "killing" Tim Drake in Detective Comics. His reasons are still unknown.
• Do Not Spoil This Ending:
  • The DC Comics page for issue #1 states: "It all begins here. Do not skip to the last page. Do not let a friend or message board ruin this comic for you. The future (and past) of the DC Universe starts here. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!" Of course, scans of the comic were leaked a week before release.
  • Any comic directly related to the big reveal in the above special are also tagged in the solicits with a warning to read Rebirth first before reading (specifically The Flash: Rebirth and Titans: Rebirth).
  • The final issue of DCYou's Teen Titans starts off with a note warning that the events therein take place after Detective Comics #940, as the former is an immediate follow up to the ending of the latter. Which is fine for anyone keeping up, but for anyone who chooses to ignore the warning, they are in for a rude awakening.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Batwoman adopts this role for herself in relation to the trainees in Detective Comics.
  Batwoman: I will be hard on you, because if I am not, you will die.
• Driven to Madness: The Suicide Squad ended up taking the Black Vault and, within Belle Reve, took out General Zod to learn its and his secrets. However, without Zod inside it, everyone in the prison ended up going insane. Except for Harley Quinn, who was already insane and became sane.
• Driven to Suicide: Batman #12, with its appropriately named "I am Suicide" story arc, reveals that young Bruce attempted to slit his wrists after his parents died. When that didn’t pan out, he dedicated himself to fight crime, using his suicide attempt to justify the end of Bruce Wayne and from that moment forward, Batman would be all there was to him.
• Driving Question: Who is Mr. Oz and what does he want with Superman and his family?
• Dying to Be Replaced: The Death of Hawkman kills off Katar Hol, the Silver Age Hawkman who had been the sole Hawkman post-Flashpoint. Dark Days: The Forge brings back Carter Hall, the Golden Age Hawkman who had been retgone'd in the New 52. Noticeably, this was after the foreshadowing of the JSA's return.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Kenan Kong makes his first appearance during The Final Days of Superman.
• Evil Counterpart: Many fans pointed out that new Deathstroke book draws attention to a lot of similarities between Slade and Batman and that many things pointed out about Slade's relationship with Rose could also apply to Bruce relationship with several of his sidekicks. And that this way of thinking leads to Wintergreen being such counterpart for Alfred.
• Exact Words: Lois has to explain Doomsday to Jon; she tells him he's a monster whom Superman fought on their Earth. Jon asks, "What happened then?" With a pained expression, Lois says, "Daddy won... that's the most important thing."
• Face Death with Dignity:
  • At the end of DC Universe Rebirth, Wally loses all his hopes of reconnecting with universe after finding out his wife and lightning rod Linda Park no longer remembers him. He accepts his ultimate fate of fading into Speed Force forever and uses his last willpower to give a farewell to Barry. Barry remembers his surrogate son and manages to pull him out of Speed Force after hearing these words:
    Wally West: Every second was a gift. That's why I won't die in anguish, I'll go out with love in my heart.
  • Batman in Batman #1, when he has to steer a crashing plane into the bay while standing on the roof. Gotham and Gotham Girl swoop in before the plane makes impact, sparing him.
  • In Detective Comics #940, Tim Drake is left barely standing after surviving a wave of military drones meant to attack the city. Thinking he's caught a break, he realizes to late that a second wave is incoming and he's in no condition to find a way out. He accepts his fate, makes peace with his loved ones, and signs off in a way that shows he finally acknowledges a part of himself everyone always believed him to be.
    Tim Drake: Robin out.
• Face–Heel Turn: Spoiler, lost in her grief, decides to turn against Batman and his team. However, after Tim returns, she kinda rejoins the team.
  • Ted Kord, of all people is The Man Behind the Man in the 2019 Suicide Squad run.
• Failed a Spot Check: In "Return to the Planet", no one realizes the Lois Lane who waltzes into the Daily Planet isn't the New 52 version, despite this Lois being much older and with a different hair color. The only one who doesn't buy it is Superwoman, who saw her die. Justified as that Lois had been gone for weeks, and the general staff aren't going to assume there might be a duplicate Lois running around out there.
• Final Speech: Pandora gets one in DC Universe: Rebirth before Doctor Manhattan kills her:
  Pandora: This won't hide what you've done. It's been my burden to carry. My curse to suffer through. The naive little Pandora unleashed evils upon the world. Skepticism. Doubt. Corruption. All things your cold heart believes in. But in the end, there was hope. And the heroes of this universe embody it. Their hope, their devotion, their love for one another will vanquish what you've done. It may be over for me but they will prove you wrong. They will prove that you are nothing but a lonely, cruel monst—
• Foreshadowing:
  • DC Rebirth #1 contains several not-so-subtle hints regarding the involvement of Dr. Manhattan even before the Wham Shot of the smiley button from Watchmen:
    • The opening page not only has the prominent watch motif, but also Dave Gibbons' signature nine-panel layout.
    • The entire page of Pandora's death is layed out exactly like the page of Rorschach's death◊, frame-by-frame. Doubles as a Mythology Gag.
    • Before that, the final issue of the Darkseid War storyline in Justice League shows Owlman trying to get the secrets to the universe, only to be reduced to a splotch of blood. A very familiar splotch...
    • At the end of Action Comics #976, someone is waiting on Mars. Guess who exiled himself there in Watchmen?
  • Regarding the original Wally's return, the final issue of Titans Hunt—which dropped just before Rebirth—ended with the revelation that there was a tenth member of the original Teen Titans whom nobody could remember, which was followed by an ominous bolt of lightning crashing down.
  • The "death" of Tim Drake, which was first referenced in post-Convergence Batman Beyond #12. Barbara recounts one of the greatest mysteries to ever plague Bruce's career as Batman, the disappearance of Tim Drake—a mystery he could never solve. We learn now how that is even possible, in Detective Comics #940: Mr. Oz zaps Tim out of continuity and imprisons him, right at the moment of his death. Incidentally, the fact that Futures End!Tim Drake also gets zapped out of continuity in the prelude to Batman Beyond's Rebirth run also foreshadows the fate of Tim Drake.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In Aquaman #6, Arthur explains this to Superman, claiming that he's hated living under the shadow of the Trinity and the friendship of Barry, Hal and Cyborg within the Justice League.
• Giving Them the Strip: In DC Rebirth #1, the elderly Johnny Thunder is attempting to get out of his nursing home. The orderlies grab him and he escapes them by slipping out of the bathrobe they have grabbed hold of.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Jonathan has heat vision that can hurt his father Superman, yet gets a mild concussion falling from a broken tree branch.
• The Heart: Pre-Flashpoint Superman tells Dick Grayson that in every universe, Dick is this. If Dick says someone is trustworthy, even Bats will take him at his word.
• Helicopter Parents: Deconstructed with Supergirl and Batwoman's parents. They truly love their daughters and want to protect them at all costs. However, neither Kara nor Kate appreciate their over-controlling, outright evil methods.
• Heroic BSoD: Batwoman has a bit of one while watching footage of Batman receiving a beatdown from Colony soldiers. Not only because she's fought Batman before and knows exactly how tough he is, but because Batman is her cousin, and she has a history of not taking things well when her family is in danger.
• Heroic RRoD: Batwoman invokes this as part of her training regimen. She pits her trainees against waves of Joker constructs for three hours to stress-test them, so she can find out when and how they'll break in a full-on battle.
• He's Back!:
  • At the end of Superman #6, the world has accepted the pre-Flashpoint Superman as this.
  • Action Comics #976 features the return of the real Superman (in a costume closer to his classic one, no less), formed by the New 52 and pre-Flashpoint versions of him fusing into one.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Jor-El comes to learn of this from humanity when Dr. Manhattan sends him to Earth. He believes humanity isn't worth saving and wants to convince Kal-El to abandon humanity and get the hell out of Dodge.
• I Did What I Had to Do:
  • Clark Kent's non-answer to Jimmy when asked about how it's possible he's not Superman when he was outed as him in front of the whole world. It was Mr. Mxyzptlk in disguise, who had escaped Mr. Oz.
  • Cyborg Superman defends his actions stating that he did what he needed to do to guarantee Supergirl's happiness.
    Cyborg Superman: I heard you, Kara. You longed to return to Argo City. I did only what needed to be done to give you that.
• Important Haircut: Gotham Girl shaves her head after the death of her family.
• In Name Only:
  • All-Star Batman has absolutely no connection to another certain title that uses "All-Star" and "Batman" in the same title.
  • Aside from featuring the sons of Superman and Batman, there's little else connecting Super-Sons with the 1970's series of stories of the same name.
• Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: Lex Luthor signifies his rejection of Superman's ideals and legacy, and perhaps becoming a villain again, by tearing the symbol of the House of El off his armor and melting it in front of Superman.
• Jerk Jock: Kenan Kong is a flat out bully. His fearlessness captures the attention of a secret organization, however.
• Jet Pack: Cyborg Superman equips all Argonian zombies with jet packs.
• Kneel Before Zod: The Trope Namer bellows this out after he kills Captain Boomerang and frees himself from the Phantom Zone.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • Pandora's last words can essentially be read as a commentary, not on Dr. Manhattan specifically, but on the legacy left by Watchmen. It's the most obvious DC Universe: Rebirth #1 can get in terms of explaining its thesis.
  • In Flash #24, Eobard Thawne notes that even though he knows all of the Flashes of the past, the New 52 Wally West is new to him. He then asks if he's "impulsive" or "the kind who is forever lost in The Flash's shadow", and dismisses him as a "fake Kid Flash".
    Eobard: I have many questions about what has been...rebooted.
• Legacy Character:
  • Of a sort. DC Rebirth is set to reestablish what made DC titles fun again in the same way Green Lantern: Rebirth and Flash: Rebirth had done to reestablish the core characters and what made them interesting.
  • The event brings back a lot of identities or side characters and sidekicks that had been done away with in the New 52 in order to "streamline" the continuity. Jackson Hyde (Aqualad) and Ryan Choi (The Atom) make their return in the one-shot.
  • Whoo-boy, the Legacy left behind by the New 52 Superman with at least five heroic S-Shield bearers.
  • Rebirth sees the debut of a new Kid Flash (New 52 Wally West) & Superboy (Jon Kent).
  • DC Universe: Rebirth #1 brings the pre-Flashpoint Wally West back into continuity & establishes that he was the original Kid Flash, retroactively making Bart Allen into the second person to use the name, and the New 52 Wally West the third. Wally will also be using the Flash name going forward, meaning that the Flash is once again a legacy character.
• Love Makes You Evil: In Supergirl: Rebirth, Cyborg Superman makes horrible, horrible things such like turning corpses into reanimated, soulless zombie cyborgs and making human sacrifices. And everything -everything- he does is because he loves his daughter and wants her to be happy. He says "I'm doing this for you!" over and again, and he means it.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: In Supergirl #2, Cyborg-Superman tells Kara he is her father (who she had previously thought dead). Understandably, she didn't take this revelation well.
  • Jor-El says this line almost word-for-word when he reveals to Superman that he is Mr Oz. as above, Superman doesn't accept this, and keeps looking for a trick or trap.
• Mama Bear: Don't mess with the pre-Flashpoint Lois Lane and don't threaten her son as the Eradicator learns the hard way when she dons Batman's old Hellbat Armor from the Robin Rises storyline and starts pummeling him.
• Meta Plot: The story connecting the vast array of independent titles in the DC Rebirth initiative involves the revelation that everyone in the DC universe has had years of their memories, histories, and loved ones ripped away from them by some mysterious force that's meddling with the universe. The mysterious force turns out to be Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, although none of the characters realize just who he is and find signs of his presence, from rumors of a man waiting on a Moon in Action Comics to the brutal murder of the Reverse-Flash from The Button.
• Mind Screw: Clark Kent shows up during the battle between Lex and pre-Flashpoint Superman in Action Comics #957. Is it any surprise it turned out to be ole Reality Warper himself, Mr. Mxyzptlk?
• Morality Pet: Lex Luthor's reason for putting on the fallen Man of Steel's cape and mantle? To honor his comatose sister, Lena Luthor, who he knows wouldn't approve of him being the ruler of Apokolips. Heck, she shot him.
  • This comes back to bite him as an experiment to restore her, which he believed had failed, actually worked. Unfortunately, her first order of business upon waking is to raise an army of Bizaress clones, capture him, and transform herself into a new super-villain called Ultrawoman.
• Movie Superheroes Wear Black:
  • Superman's Rebirth costume is a really dark almost bordering on black blue◊, with only his cape. S shield, red line on the boots and silver armbands providing any contrast, justified. as it's visually based on Superman's first◊ and second (as well as current)◊ DCEU costumes.
• Mr. Fanservice: Deathstroke seems to be getting shirtless or more, up to outright naked, every two issues of his new book.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The Teen Titans are almost how they are in both Teen Titans shows, albeit replacing Cyborg with Kid Flash. Then again, Kid Flash has made appearances in both shows as well.
  • The Suicide Squad line-up is heavily inspired by the one from the movie.
  • Super-Sons, the book featuring Damian Wayne and Jon Kent, gets its name from a series of non-canonical stories that originated from World's Finest #215 in January 1973 featuring the hypothetical college-aged sons of Superman and Batman.
  • Pandora was Geoff Johns' "escape switch" of sorts for New 52. Apparently, Johns realized he had no use for her.
  • Batman #3. Hank and Claire training and studying to be superheroes in exactly the same poses as Bruce's origin story in Detective Comics #33.
  • Batman #4, Gotham handles a suicide bomber in exactly the same way Superman handled the suicidal goth teen in All-Star Superman #10. Unlike Superman, however, he fails.
  • In Supergirl: Rebirth #1, Kara fights the Kryptonian werewolf Lar-On, who first appeared in World's Finest #256 way back in 1979.
  • Basil Karlo/Clayface uses the name Matt Hagan in an audition. Doubly so, since Batman: The Animated Series gave Hagan a background in acting like Karlo.
    • On the same topic while his origin was reimagined, the film he tries to star in borrows heavily from Basil Karlo's first apperance in that the plot certains around an actor from a silent horror movie killing the actors of a talkie remake.
  • Superwoman features digital media tech conglomerate The Daily Star, the rival of traditional news publisher The Daily Planet. This is a nod to the history of Superman comics, as the original name for the iconic newspaper Lois and Clark worked for was originally "The Daily Star". This was an Homage by Joe Shuster, who grew up selling newspapers for the Toronto Daily Star before moving to America (and was how he became interested in comics in the first place). The name was changed due to legal reasons, but as the Toronto Star has since dropped the "Daily" from their name back in 1971, it makes sense for the original name to make a comeback.
  • Superwoman #1 also has Lois catch a fighter jet, leading to a memorable exchange borrowed straight from Superman: The Movie:
    Superwoman: I've got you!
    Fighter Pilot: You've got us?! Who's got you?!
• New Season, New Title: Gotham Academy: Next Semester fits the bill here.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: In issue #3, Cyborg Superman brings the people of Argo City back from the dead by turning them into cyborgs. So they are alien zombie cyborgs.
• Not Quite Dead: Pre-Flashpoint Lois and Clark believe this of New 52 Superman, as Pre-Flashpoint Clark was the same Superman killed by Doomsday, and then returned shortly after. And with signs of a "Reign of the Supermen"-like storyline approaching (see Recycled Premise below), this might be a strong possibility. And that's not even getting into what the mysterious Mr. Oz meant by saying neither Pre-Flashpoint Lois and Clark, and New 52 Superman "are what they seem". Ultimately, Clark discovers that there's no Regeneration Matrix within the Fortress of Solitude like his had, thus he realizes that the New 52 Superman truly is Killed Off for Real - then Clark Kent shows up.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: In Supergirl (Rebirth) appears Kryptonian werewolf Lar-On. His lycanthropy is caused by Red Kryptonite poisoning (Red K does weird things to Kryptonians), and he turns into a muscled, huge, red-furred humanoid wolf armed with Eye Beams.
• Out-Gambitted: Whoo, boy, the first issue of Deathstroke: A dictator hires Deathstroke to get a Congressman re-elected to get the US to stay out of his genocide campagin, but asks a favor by getting him to kill the Clock King, who was under his (the dictator) protection. The plan was that Deathstroke would kill the Clock King and the dictator would kill Deathstroke. However, Deathstroke outwitted him back doubling the pay then blackmailing the senator into killing himself, thus putting the dictator in trouble with the Clock King. Then, it's ultimately revealed that the dictator did all that just to get Deathstroke to change costumes, leading to him taking his old costume.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Superman. Hurt his wife, son, cousin, dog...and you'll be lucky if he only beats the crap out of you.
  • Batman. After Tim Drake's alleged death, he was even scarier than usual, at least within the pages of Detective Comics and "Night of the Monster Men"
  • Deconstructed with Zor-El, who does horrible things because he wants to protect his daughter and make her happy. And he doesn't listen when Supergirl tells she doesn't approve of his actions.
• Pietà Plagiarism: In issue #3, Cyborg Alura holds Supergirl's foster mother's body in her arms.
  • In Superman #16, Superman of Earth-23 holds Red Racer's body in his arms
• Power Creep, Power Seep: Ask people who dwell a lot into Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny and they would tell you that, while powerful, Doctor Manhattan in Watchmen never showed to be able to do things on a level comparable to higher-tier Marvel and DC heroes. Rebirth pushed him way above them, into the league with some of the most powerful characters from the Big Two. It's implied he could accomplish this thanks to Barry Allen's and Pandora's actions in Flashpoint, but it's still impressive. He also killed a member of the New Gods.
• Prisons Are Gymnasiums: Possible explanation for how Hugo Strange got so muscular.
• Put on a Bus: Many characters who debuted or had great prominence during the New 52 (Bunker, Strix, Element Woman, Harvest, the Shauna Belzer Ventriloquist, the Bar Torr Kid Flash, the Jon Kent clone Superboy, and many of the WildStorm characters save for Midnighter and Apollo) were phased out close to or at the beginning of Rebirth.
• Race Lift: More like undoing one, but Rose Wilson is biracial once again, with a white father (Deathstroke) and a Hmong-Cambodian mother. While this was also the case in the pre-Flashpoint continuity, her origin had been altered in the New 52 so that both of her parents were white.
• Reconstruction: The whole point of the DC Universe Rebirth one-shot.
• Recycled Premise:
  • A few people have said that the Superman titles would be going through something of a "Reign of the Supermen"-like storyline going into DC Rebirth. Indeed, with the Eradicator making his first New 52 appearance and the Cyborg Superman returning, Supergirl trying to make up for Superman's loss, we also have expies of Superboy and Steel in the form of Jonathan Kent (who is taking up the Superboy title) and Lex Luthor. And this isn't even counting Kenen Kong, the New 52 Lois Lane and the pre-Flashpoint Superman!
  • Raven's miniseries is about her moving away from the Titans and trying to live a normal life and attending high school, until one of her classmates goes missing, leading her to find a mysterious threat. It's pretty much the same premise as her miniseries from 2008.
  • The first arc of Green Arrow sees Oliver losing his fortune and left for dead, a premise that had been done before, most recently during Jeff Lemire's run.
  • Red Hood and the Outlaws has Red Hood working undercover by allying himself with Black Mask's crime organization. Not only is this a callback to Batman: Under the Red Hood, it's also rather similar to Grayson as well as its followup Nightwing.
  • The first arc of Titans features Linda Park not remembering her relationship with Wally due to the machinations of Abra Kadabra. Something similar happened within the pages of The Flash, where Linda was retconned out of existence by Abra Kadabra.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Lois Lane Superwoman and Lana Lang Superwoman. It turns out this is the case for "pre-Flashpoint" Superman and New 52 Superman, pointed out by Mr. Mxyzptlk, saying that each have those color energies, and strongly hinting that they're both parts of the real Superman.
• Refusal of the Call: Up to the beginning of Superman: Rebirth, the pre-Flashpoint Superman doesn't bother donning the red and blues, essentially twiddling his thumbs until the New 52 Superman returns. When Superman learns that there's no Regeneration Matrix for his New 52 counterpart, he averts it and decides to return to being Superman.
• Ret-Canon:
  • Nightwing's new outfit recalls his appearance from The New Batman Adventures.
  • National City from the Supergirl (2015) TV show now exists in the DC Universe.
  • Katana has adopted her costume from the Suicide Squad (2016) movie after her previous suit was damaged. She also now wields a wakizashi as a side arm, much like she does in the film.
  • Likewise, The Joker's alleged new design is similar to Jared Leto's portrayal of the character.
  • Wonder Woman has a new costume resembling the one worn by Gal Gadot in the DCEU.
  • Bumblebee has a new hairstyle inspired by the one she wears in DC Super Hero Girls.
  • The League of Shadows from The Dark Knight Trilogy are used in Detective Comics.
  • Aqualad's Rebirth look is virtually the same as how he looked in Young Justice (2010), as opposed to his initial appearance.
  • The Royal Flush Gang appeared in All-Star Batman's opening arc sporting the costumes of the version in Batman Beyond.
• Retcon:
  • The younger, black Wally West is now Daniel West's son instead of his nephew, since Rudi West is once again the original Wally's dad.
  • Clayface is now depicted as a Tragic Villain who never wanted to hurt anyone, and who was transformed as the result of a horrible accident. His prior New 52 appearances depicted him as a violent murderer who only became Clayface in the first place because he wanted to get revenge on the people who ruined his acting career. The Tragic Villain angle was an aspect of a different Clayface, however.
  • In the pre-Flashpoint continuity, Rose Wilson was the daughter of Slade Wilson and Lillian "Sweet Lili" Worth, a Hmong bordello owner Slade met in Cambodia. The New 52 changed Rose's mother to Adeline Kane, erasing her Asian heritage in the process. Rebirth strikes the New 52 origin from canon, with Rose once again being the biracial daughter of Lillian and Slade. Her backstory was also heavily retconned, as she makes no mention of N.O.W.H.E.R.E., and was instead trained by Nightwing at Slade's behest.
  • A heavily reimagined version of Doctor Light was previously introduced in Trinity War as a heroic scientist with a wife and three daughters. He also joined the Justice League of America very shortly after he gained powers in an accident. Though his wife and daughters are still canon in Rebirth, Deathstroke's take on Doctor Light suggests that he was already a costumed supervillain (complete with powers) well before the events of Trinity War, and that his brief time with the Justice League was merely a failed attempt to reform.
  • During Geoff Johns' run on Justice League, Cheetah was portrayed as being okay with the Cheetah's powers, gained from cutting her hand on a knife. This is changed to her being anything but happy with them, which were forced on her by Urtzkartaga, as with the Post-Crisis version. Also, where the New 52 version was a serial criminal, this version has been changed to having once been Wonder Woman's friend.
  • Etta Candy has been returned to her normal larger proportions. She's also got a promotion, going from being Steve Trevor's underling to being his superior.
  • The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom establishes that Captain Atom never left the his Moon exile at the end of his New 52 series, thus many of his appearances between then and now are rendered non-canon.
  • Superman Reborn effectively meshes the pre-Flashpoint and New 52 Superman storylines into one continuity. Superman: Secret Origin and all of Dan Jurgens' run of Superman past the Electric Superman saga, then switches around to doing both the New 52 storylines and Superman: Lois and Clark. It also reveals that Clark and Lois never dated other people.
  • The Detective Comics storyline "A Lonely Place of Living" reestablishes Tim Drake's original origin from "A Lonely Place of Dying" - a young teen who deduced the identities of Batman and Nightwing who became the third Robin to save Batman from the darkness that overtook him when Jason Todd died.
  • Christopher Priest's Justice League run has a flashback showing Martian Manhunter as a member of the original Justice League, despite it previously having been established that he was not a member of the team in the post-Flashpoint continuity. What's more, Cyborg and Raven act like old friends when they meet during Dark Nights: Metal, while another flashback in The Flash Annual seemingly shows Cyborg as a member of the original Teen Titans.
• Retirony: In Detective Comics, Tim Drake gets accepted to a prestigious university, and decides to give up the superhero life after doing One Last Job for Batman. He nearly gets gunned down to death in a Heroic Sacrifice, saved only by an interfering Mr. Oz, but to the family, he's apparently dead. Stephanie even invokes this to Batman while mourning over him.
• The Reveal:
  • By the end of the first issue of Rebirth, it turns out Dr. Manhattan of Watchmen is the true party responsible for the New 52 universe by altering the pre-Flashpoint universe.
  • The original red-haired Wally West is still around.
  • The Joker who first fought Batman, the one who crippled Barbara Gordon, and the one responsible for the events of Death of the Family and Batman: Endgame aren't the same man, but three separate people.
  • The Scarab isn't Xeno-technology that was mistaken for Magic after all, it's the other way around.
  • Superwoman: Lana Lang is the Red Electric Superwoman.
  • Titans #2: Abra Kadabra is apparently the one responsible for erasing Wally West from history.
  • Wonder Woman #11: Wonder Woman hasn't been to Themyscira since she originally left with Steve Trevor. The version she's visited during the New 52 is a fake, and Diana's memories have indeed been tampered with.
  • The mysterious human Clark Kent is revealed to be Mr. Mxyzptlk.
  • The identity of Mr. Oz: Jor-El, the father of Kal-El.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Mr. Mxyzptlk is really pissed Superman didn't even notice he was gone for four years, and intends to make him pay by playing on his natural fears.
• Save the Villain: The end of Action Comics #958 has Superman with the prospect of saving Lex Luthor from Doomsday. Mr. Oz treats it like a What You Are in the Dark moment.
• Secret Secret-Keeper:
  • Batwoman already knew Bruce Wayne was Batman, and even lampshades it as to asking when he was going to reveal it to her.
  • Kathy Branden witnessed Jon killing a hawk and his cat with heat vision. She visits the "Smith" household, ostensibly to confirm Jon lives there, but leaves without saying anything about the incident.
• Sequel Hook: The Death of Hawkman ends on a huge one. While Hawkman obviously dies, his last words are "see you in the next life", invoking the reincarnating Golden Age version of the character. Despero is imbued with Nth Metal and is on a warpath. Adam Strange is lost in an unknown space. Even the final page says "Not the end. Nowhere near it."
• Sexy Santa Dress: The DC's Rebirth Holiday Special 1 has Harley Quinn lead the comic wearing a (green and red) sexy Santa dress.
• Sidekick Graduations Stick: Wally West remains the Flash and remembers all his old history after taking up the mantle when Barry Allen died (though his memories may have changed once he was fully integrated into the new timeline). He is still using the same codename as Barry Allen, even though his new costume adopts the most prominent feature of his old Kid Flash costume (his hair being visible), and he has returned to the Titans rather than resuming a place with the Justice League. He hasn't reverted to kid sidekick, but he's moved back into company with that generation of characters rather than remaining with "the grownups".
• Something Only They Would Say: Barry realizes who the strange Flash in front of him is when he says, "Every second is a gift", which was inscribed on the back of a pocketwatch Wally was given.
• So Proud of You: Before the destruction of Krypton, Zor-El told Kara he was proud of her during a school excursion:
  Zor-El: The Kamnium in the lake petrified these animals ages ago. They're not going anywhere.
  Kara: Exactly. They're stuck here. But If I holo-photo them all, then a little piece of them can escape with me. It's pretty strange, I know. Everyone else thought so.
  Zor-El: That's because no one else would ever see it that way, Kara. I would never say that's strange. That's Hope. That's what the crest we wear stands for. That's why I'm proud you're my daughter.
• Spanner in the Works: As it turns out, Mr. Oz absolutely hates the idea of chaos running around in his plans, thus explaining why he took out Doomsday, the Prophecy, Paradox, Red Robin and Mr. Mxyzptlk.
• Spiritual Successor: Superman, focusing on the pre-Flashpoint Superman and his family, will be this for the old Batman and Robin title, especially since the creative team that handled it will be on this book.
• Spotting the Thread: Some characters have noticed that time has been played with, such as Ryan Choi and the rogue Guardian.
• Start of Darkness: Gotham ends up dumping his heroic ideals after a mistimed Dramatic Unmask ends up leading a surviving soldier to put two and two together, then finding and killing his parents. It's assumed, though, that this is because of the Psycho-Pirate, who slipped out of Amanda Waller's grasp thanks to Hugo Strange.
• Status Quo Is God: A minor one, but Batman: Rebirth #1 has Bruce's fortune and control of Wayne Enterprises, taken away during the events of Batman Eternal, restored to him in full. There is even some Lamp Shading over the fact that Bruce loosing all his money only to get it back later has happened several times.
• Stop Being Stereotypical: The basic on conflict on both sides between Ministry of Self-Reliance and their Justice League of China and the Great Ten in New Super-Man. The Ministry sees the Great Ten as a bunch of stereotypes and relics that China has outgrown and believes that by creating their own versions of the Justice League members, they are beating westerns at their own game. On the flip-side, the Great Ten feels the Ministry is abandoning Chinese pride in order to make cheap knockoffs of western superheroes (without even fixing any flaws they have shown), playing into the stereotype of China as bootleggers' paradise.
• Story-Breaker Power: In the 2016 Holiday Special, there's a Titans story of them fighting the Mad Mod and his girlfriend, and a short followup involving both Nightwing and Batgirl being late to a date. Conveniently, Wally West is nowhere to be found in that story, even though they even mention him. He's not in any of the other stories either. Obviously, if he were around, both stories would've ended rather quickly.
• Strong as They Need to Be: How Gotham and Gotham Girl's powers work. They fluctuate to the minimum needed for the situation, which is why Batman can make Gotham bleed, but Gotham's able to fight the Justice League because his powers go up when facing someone like Superman. Their powers are also Cast from Lifespan.
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: Lor-Zod, aka Chris Kent is reintroduced in Action Comics as the Evil Counterpart to Superboy.
• Superheroes Stay Single: Defied Trope. The Happily Married Pre-Flashpoint Superman returns, Aquaman and Mera get married, and other former marriages are at least under consideration.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham:
  • Defied when in Batman #5 the entire Justice League is deployed to the city to combat the now insane Gotham. Alfred even notices that Bruce has never done this before, nor even considered it.
  Superman: Hello Gotham. My name is Superman, and this is the Justice League. We're Batman's friends. And we'd greatly appreciate it if you would surrender.
  • Defied in Superman #22 when Lois runs to call the League when Superman and Batman (and their sons) vanish in a Town with a Dark Secret.
• Take That!:
  • From Geoff Johns himself, the story as a whole is this to those who use Watchmen as the ultimate manifesto on how to write comics but misread the story's true message to not lose what makes DC Comics what it is, something he feels the New 52 did. To this point, Dr. Manhattan is cast not as the Greater-Scope Villain of the DCU, but an Audience Surrogate of sorts, a type of clueless writer who thinks people would enjoy ridiculous Darker and Edgier stories but doesn't understand why it isn't working. This is heavily shown throughout DC Universe: Rebirth #1 with Pandora's death, Johnny Thunder being locked up in a mental institute, Saturn Girl in police custody with her Legion Flight Ring confiscated and Linda Park's not knowing who Wally was.
  • Johns also made comments which could be very easily interpretted as displeasure with the direction Arrow had taken in its fourth season.
  Geoff Johns: Let’s say you’ve been given the position of writing Green Arrow from scratch. Clean slate. You might say, ‘Okay, I’m going to write this new character,’ and when someone says, ‘Well, what about Black Canary,’ you might say...‘nope.’ That means you completely misunderstand these characters.
  • Detective Comics #938 has a line where Spoiler mocks Red Robin's unpopular costume from Scott Lobdell's previous New 52 Teen Titans run.
  • Teen Titans #1 has another dig at Lobdell's run, with Damian Wayne claiming that under Red Robin's leadership, the Teen Titans became a complete and utter joke.
  • Wonder Woman #11 more or less highlights the criticisms aimed at Brian Azzarello's run, with Steve Trevor mentioning how unrecognizable Themyscira and the Amazons are, telling Diana everything feels wrong. Diana later says it feels like she's in a parody of her home, and sure enough Diana realizes the New 52 version of Themyscira is a fake.
  • Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #12 has Guy Gardner preparing to spike a bottle containing the New 52 Lobo in his attempt to free them from Larfleeze and the 80s Brainiac. Hal Jordan shows up to stop him, saying "Not this one. Trust me. Better to leave that one on the shelf."
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • The Teen Titans are going to be led by the current Robin, Damian Wayne...and they don't like that very much, which is justifiable since he basically kidnapped them into helping him fight his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul.
  • Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz must share the mantle of Green Lantern of Earth and work together. Hal further enforces their need to stick together by merging their Lanterns so that they must share it to recharge their rings. Neither are too keen about this at first, and their personalities couldn't be more opposite.
• The Bus Came Back: Veronica Cale returns in Wonder Woman issue 9.
• Tragic Keepsake: Superboy's cape originally belonged to Krypto, who sacrificed himself by taking the Eradicator's beam meant for Jon. Subverted later, as the Eradicator had actually eaten Krypto whole. Superman is able to get Krypto out, but Superboy still keeps the cape.
• Traumatic Haircut: Gotham Girl gives herself one after her brother and parents died and while still under some of the effects of the Psycho Pirate's influence - and becomes a Death Seeker.
• Un Reboot: One of the primary driving forces behind Rebirth, though the case is something of a "Soft Un-Reboot". While the preceding New 52 was advertised as a full-scale Continuity Reboot of the DC Universe, what actually happened in practice was a revamp in creative direction that would set up a new status quo, only for older continuity to creep back into canon, thus creating a massive conflict of interests between not just audience and creator, but creator and creator due to there being no agreement on was or wasn't canon, making the pretense of it being a reboot almost entirely pointless. Rebirth addressed this with the approach that the events of the New 52 era did happen, but "revealing" that the characters, elements, and status quo were really more along the lines of their earlier incarnations, allowing them to discard elements of the era that didn't work, preserve some that were worth keeping around, while also allowing the universe to revisit its roots and pay respect to the oodles of continuity it spent the last few years half-heartedly trying to ignore.
• The Un-Reveal: Batman unmasks for Kate Kane, who smiles and tells Bruce she knew already, and asks him why it took so long for him to tell her.^note She shot him in the leg during a confrontation shortly after she became Batwoman, and when Bruce met her with a limp in the same leg days later, she put two-and-two together.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Played with in Detective Comics. Clayface may have some really cool powers, but when it comes to hand-to-hand combat he's woefully inept. One of the goals of Batwoman's training program is to teach him how to fight without the aid of his powers.
• Variant Cover: Every issue of every title got one, even the ones shipping twice-monthly, and the actual "one-shots".
• Viewers Are Geniuses: Batman Rebirth #1 was a metacommentary on comic book relaunches. Batman #1 was very action-driven, readers to be able to keep up with its theme without narration. Many readers who were Just Here for Godzilla had trouble following, however.
• Villainous Breakdown: The other Clark Kent suffers this when Lois outright rejects his advances and he finds out that she's married and has a kid. It triggers something that brings back his memories and sets him off further. He becomes a Stalker with a Crush because he knows he's supposed to marry Lois at some point. Turns out it was Mr. Mxyzptlk who had made himself believe he really WAS Kent.
• Wham Episode: DC Rebirth #1, for the entire DCU.
  Wally West: I can feel it. Even now, Barry...we're being watched.
  • A Red Herring variety: New 52 Clark Kent reveals he and New 52 Superman were always separate people, and New 52 Superman took his identity when he went into hiding. The real Wham? It was Mr. Mxyzptlk who disguised himself to get away from Mr. Oz.
    • Another one in the same series when That Clark turns out to have been given fake memories.
  • New Super-Man #8: Baixi has a falling out with his little sister and she fully embraces being Alpaca, the Joker of China. This is followed by the reveal of Super-Man Zero, Dr. Omen's attempt at creating Super-Man of China before Kenan, who was imprisoned but is now freed by returning Ching Lung, DC Comics first ever villain.
• Wham Line:
  • Omen is able to get one word from a voice in Wally's mind that is foreign to this universe: "Manhattan," the omnipotent character from Watchmen who left the Earth to create life elsewhere in the Universe. From there, he somehow got to altering the reality of the DC Universe.
  • When Maxwell Lord asks, "Is this the part when you invite me to Task Force X?", Amanda Waller dismisses that, saying his talents would be wasted with the Suicide Squad. "But you're perfect for Task Force XI."
  • When Super-Man Zero is confronted by a mysterious man and he is asked who he is, Ching Lung responds: "Without me, Super-Man Zero, there would be no you. Without me, there would be no superheroes at all. For I am the very beginning."
  • The Flash #19:
  Professor Zoom: I remember...The Batman...Thomas Wayne...He killed me in the Flashpoint. I should teach his son a lesson.
  • Batman #21:
    Professor Zoom: God. I saw...God...
  • Batman #24:
    Batman: Selina. I love you. Marry me.
  • Batman #32, in response to the Wham Line from #24:
    Selina: Yes.
• Wham Shot:
  • DC Rebirth #1 ends with Batman finding The Comedian's blood-stained smiley face badge that is synonymous with Alan Moore's Watchmen.
  • Action Comics #957 ends with the original Doomsday attacking, green containment suit and all. If that weren't enough, Clark Kent also appears - confusing Lex, Superman, Lois and Jon.
  • Superman #2 ends with the return of the Eradicator.
  • Suicide Squad: Rebirth #1 ends with Captain Boomerang dead at the hands of General Zod.
  • Titans #3 has Abra Kadabra unintentionally repeating Wally's mantra, while looking at a pocket watch pointing at ten to midnight
  • The Flash #9: As Barry tells Wally what he saw in the Speed Force vision, the audience sees what he saw: The original Jay Garrick's helmet.
  • New Super-Man #8: A mysterious figure confronts the mysterious "Super-Man Zero": Ching Lung, positioned in the same way he was when he first appeared on the cover of Detective Comics #1
  • Mr. Oz frets at the end of Action Comics #976 about how that guy on Mars will react to the "real" Superman returning.
  • The Button ends with Dr. Manhattan obtaining the Comedian's smiley face badge.
  • Superman #29 reveals one very alive Sinestro wanting Parallax back.
  • The Superman/Super Sons crossover reveals Conner Kent, Cassie Sandsmark, and Bart Allen are alive in the future.
  • In the 2019 run of Suicide Squad, the team’s command has been turned over to the greatly disliked Lok. When Osita demands a goon to contact who Lok reports to, she’s put on a video call with.... TED KORD.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Unlike both The New 52 and DC YOU, there's no sign of anyone from WildStorm at all, at least in a headlining title. This has since been revealed to be due to the fact that a new Wildstorm imprint is in production and due to begin in February 2017. It is unconnected with Rebirth as Wildstorm is now a separate canon once again, though the two are bleeding into each other, with DC keeping versions of Midnighter and Apollo and variants of the DC characters appearing in Wildstorm.
  • Similarly the Milestone Comics characters have also dropped off. They are slated to receive their own world again in 2018.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: In-universe, the Gotham cops who pick up Saturn Girl can't figure out what her accent's supposed to be, beyond sounding vaguely French.
• What You Are in the Dark: In Superman #2, Superman explained to his son that wearing the S-shield means doing the right thing even when you think no one is looking.
  Superman: I'm afraid someday soon — too soon — you will have to pick it up and embrace the "S" for yourself. It's not about our powers, or strength, or heat vision. It's about character. It means doing the right thing when no one else will, even when you're scared...even when you think no one is looking.
• The Worf Effect: Batman #5 does this to the Justice League as Gotham beats the bejeezus out of them. However, thanks to how his powers work, it is a factor in him dying.
• Worf Had the Flu: True, Batman gets the living crap beat out of him by a group of Colony soldiers. But there were fifty of them, and they had just wrecked his Batmobile. Plus, he did take a few of them out before losing.
• Yellow Peril: Ching Lung has been Retconned into being someone who deliberately presented himself as the stereotype to play to Western fears and influence a rift between America and China.
• You Are in Command Now: Played with in Detective Comics. Batman and Batwoman are equal in terms of their authority in the new team, but Batwoman suddenly finds herself forced into being the sole leader of the group after Batman is captured by the Colony. This is all in the midst of Kate experiencing some doubts about her new position, since even though she started out wanting a leadership role back when she was in the military, subsequent life experiences have tamped down that aspect of her personality somewhat.
• Zerg Rush: As noted above, Batman trying to take on fifty Colony soldiers alone ends with him being beaten and captured.

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I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end.

"In the end?" Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.

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