Flashpoint Beyond is a seven-issue mini-series from DC Comics, written by Geoff Johns, Tim Sheridan, and Jeremy Adams with art by Xermanico. It's the sequel to the Flash storyline Flashpoint, also written by Johns.
The Flashpoint universe was a dark timeline created when Barry Allen went back in time and saved his mother from dying. It was meant to have been destroyed, with Thomas Wayne surviving thanks to the intervention of a spiteful Eobard Thawne. Just when Thomas had finally found a place in the wider DC multiverse with Justice League Incarnate, he was killed by Darkseid...
Except Thomas Wayne now finds himself back in this aberrant timeline which has mysteriously returned. Now, he must figure out how it was restored and how to get rid of it once and for all.
Tropes Featured in this Book:
- Alien Invasion: As Krypton is about to be destroyed, Jor-El and the rest of the Kryptonians decided to invade Earth and turn it into their new home. They do so by sending their children, including Super-Man, to Earth as a vanguard to disarm humanity in advance of their arrival. Fortunately, Super-Man is not on board with this and plans on uniting Earth's heroes against the Kryptonians.
- Alliterative Name: Dexter Dent, Judge Harvey Dent and Gilda's son, and the Robin to Thomas Wayne's Batman.
- And the Adventure Continues: Though the Flashpoint timeline survives, there's still the Kryptonian invasion coming from the horizon. However, with a renewed purpose, Thomas Wayne and Dexter (now Robin) jump into the fight to save their home.Martha Wayne: You two have fun out there. And if you need any help finding Krptonite, let me know. I've got connections you don't. Let's kill some Kryptonians!
- Back from the Dead:
- Thomas Wayne is resurrected here after falling to Darkseid's Omega Beams back in Justice League Incarnate.
- In Issue 4, Martha Wayne, aka the Joker, is also revealed to be alive.
- Back for the Dead: Eobard's identity as the Reverse-Flash had previously been retconned from his life, after Barry Allen grounded him and removed his status as a living paradox. This resulted in Eobard Thawne now being the happy curator of the Flash Museum in his time. He briefly returns as the Reverse-Flash in this series, with his dead body being discovered as another victim of the Clockwork Killer.
- Back from the Dead: Back in "Knight of Vengeance", it was mentioned Thomas Wayne had killed Poison Ivy. Early on, the story mentions she's up and about again, and she does indeed appear in issue 3, very much alive again.
- Badass Boast: Bonnie Baxter informs Mr. Terrific that while he may be the eighth smartest man on Earth, she is categorically the smartest woman.
- Batman Gambit: Guess who? Bruce hinges everything on the idea his father will overcome his self-hatred and choose to live, sparing the Flashpoint universe.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Flashpoint world is saved and separated, but the Time Masters want to punish Bruce for it all, settling for letting some old enemies of Martha Wayne attack him when he's not looking. However, thirteen previously-unseen Golden Age heroes - Betsy Ross, Molly Pitcher, Ladybug, Salem the Witch Girl, John Henry Jr., Cherry Bomb, Judy Garrick, Quiz Kid, the Harlequin's Son and the Golden Age versions of Mr. Miracle, Red Lantern, Aquaman, and a Golden Age Legionnaire - are released from the prisons the Time Masters stuck them in. And in the Watchmen universe, the girl who idolized Ozymandias back in Doomsday Clock's ending is messing with the machine that created Dr. Manhattan.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Mime and Marionette from Doomsday Clock are shown aiding the Bruce Wayne Batman in something.
- Corky Baxter, a member of Rip Hunter's old Time Masters team, reappears in Issue 0. He also threatens that Rip is going to recruit the rest of them — Corky's sister Bonnie and Dr. Jeffery Smith — to get back at Bruce.
- Issue 5 brings back Angela Chen, who had been absent since 2018.
- Came Back Wrong: This version of the Flashpoint timeline is even worse — the war between the Atlanteans and the Amazons has ended with Atlantis winning and the world seems to be on the verge of fearing a Kryptonian invasion.
- The Cameo: The thugs Thomas attacks at the end of issue 2 are the Flashpoint universe versions of the Top, Rainbow Raider and Captain Boomerang.
- Comically Missing the Point: Confronting the Flashpoint universe Barry Allen, Thomas says he's repeating what Barry told him; "I'm Batman." He means himself, obviously, but his wording makes Barry think Thomas is saying he is Batman.
- Continuity Nod:
- Issue 5 have Martin Stein mentioned casting aspersions on Corky Baxter's character. Corky shoots back he's not a reliable source, after the reveal in Doomsday Clock that Stein was secretly a government agent.
- Corky also goes over some of the major time related crises the DC universe has had over the years, such as Zero Hour, The Kingdom, and Convergence.
- Angry at Batman, Corky suggests they mess up his personal timeline by bringing Nocturna back. Nocturna famously fell in love with Batman and adopted Jason Todd right before the original Crisis.
- Thomas references his actions in Batman (Tom King).
- Decomposite Character: The Flashpoint timeline's equivalent to Harvey Dent gets killed, with his wife Gilda becoming Two-Face in his place.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: General Nate Adam, a minor recurring character in some of the original Flashpoint tie-ins, is among the Clockwork Killer's victims.
- Foreshadowing: Among the crazed scribblings Thomas finds in Psycho-Pirate's cell is a note about a "Joan Garrick".
- Frame-Up: The Scavenger claims he was hired by Aquaman to kill Barry Allen. Thomas travels all the way to England to interrogate him. Aquaman has no idea what he's talking about, and it's only after this Thomas realizes whoever hired the Scavenger did so to lure him away from Gotham.
- Fun with Acronyms: Batman has a whiteboard with the words "Divine Continuum" inscribed on it in issue #0. Divine Continuum, as in, DC Comics.
- Given Name Reveal: In issue #5, Martha finds out from Psycho-Pirate the real name of the Comedian of the three Jokers: Jack Oswald White.
- Head Pet: Corky Baxter's coonskin cap turns out to be a living raccoon. It's named Crockett, after Davy Crockett, and probably specifically in reference to Davy Crockett (1954), which started a trend of kids wearing coonskin caps in Corky's original time period.
- Heel–Face Turn: Jason Woodrue is the Swamp Thing and is responsible for building the Oasis which sheltered displaced refugees. Poison Ivy became one with the Parliament of Trees and is an ally of Super-Man.
- Heel Realization: Looking back at his actions as he tried to force Bruce to retire as Batman, Thomas can now acknowledge that his son was a better Batman than him, able to use the Dark Knight to inspire hope where Thomas only ever inspired fear.
- Hypocritical Humor: The Joker remarks that Mr. Eraserhead is insane.
- Insanity Defense: It's mentioned that Tobias Whale, normally an enemy of Black Lightning, tried going for the insanity defence in his trial in order to be sent to Arkham. Funnily enough, after just one night there, he changed his mind and suddenly decided he was quite sane after all.
- Kirk Summation: Internally, Batman denounces the Time Masters as self appointed arbiters of how the timeline should go. He calls their self appointed Omniscient Morality License, as well as Rip's unearned familiarity, the most arrogant attitude he's ever seen, outcompeting Lex Luthor and Hal Jordan in his eyes.
- Never Suicide: Debbie Dent apparently committed suicide after the Trauma Conga Line she went through back in Knight of Vengeance. Issue 4 reveals Gilda killed her.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Thomas refuses to help Super-Man and his allies in preparing Earth against an imminent invasion by the Kryptonians.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Somehow Martha Wayne, an otherwise normal human, managed to overpower and kill the super-speed endowed Reverse-Flash.
- Pet the Dog: The Flashpoint Joker reveals she found the regular reality's Joker, living as an ordinary family man in Gotham City. She left him alone, and even made sure to spare his life when she blew up Wayne Casinos.
- The Reveal: Issue 5 reveals that Martha Wayne had actually survived her fall at the end of the Knight of Vengeance mini-series and found a Time Bubble, using that to not only restore the Flashpoint universe, but to kill those who could remove it once more.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Turns out the Psycho Pirate is from Earth-Zero/Prime Earth and hid out in the Flashpoint world because of a "Dark Crisis".
- Sequel Hook: The storyline ends with set ups for The New Golden Age line of comics. The Time Masters find that a dozen superheroes, and Per Degaton, have escaped from their headquarters.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong:
- Averted, sadly. Thomas Wayne, knowing this timeline shouldn't exist, kidnaps Barry Allen and attempts to kickstart his powers like he did back in the original Flashpoint. Scavenger snipes at and misses Thomas, and destroys the vials of chemicals, causing Barry to be fatally electrocuted and forcing Thomas to figure out another way.
- Martha Wayne forced the time travelers they killed to build them a time machine so they could go back and prevent Bruce's death.
- Shooting Superman: Thomas tries punching Kal-El. Repeatedly. As a trained medical man, he notes the damage he's doing to his fists doing so.
- Shout-Out: In issue #5, Martha-Joker reveals how she survived their previous encounter, and says she was washed through a stream to the basement of the Arkham Asylum. She then describes it as "a lonely place to die", which is the title of a Batman story arc.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: Given the dark tone of both this miniseries and the storyline it is a sequel of, it's rather surprising that it ends with the Flashpoint universe potentially reaching a brighter future as well as Thomas and Martha Wayne reconciling and adopting Dexter Dent as their new son.
- Take That!: Bonnie threatens to give Corky a time out during the much maligned Bloodlines crossover event from the 1990s.
- Time Crash: The Time Masters want the Flashpoint timeline, metaphysically contained within a snowglobe on Earth Prime, erased because it's unstable and risks merging with the Prime Earth timeline. Rip recants this when the Flashpoint timeline stabilizes.
- Uncertain Doom: What was left of Cyborg's band of heroes apparently failed to stop the Atlantean-Amazon war, and were last seen in Argentina hunting Per Degaton's forces when they all vanished. Only Sandman returned alive.
- Wham Episode:
- Issue 3: The Kryptonians are going to invade within five days. The Reverse-Flash becomes a recent victim of the Clockwork Killer.
- Issue 4: The Clockwork Killer is revealed to be a still-alive Martha Wayne.
