History ComicBook / SupermanAndBatmanGenerations

An Creator/{{Elseworlds}} series written and illustrated by Creator/JohnByrne, ''ComicBook/{{Superman}} & ComicBook/{{Batman}}: Generations'' is built upon one central conceit: the complete and total {{Aversion}} of ComicBookTime. ''Generations'' consists of three different series:

An {{Elseworlds}} series written and illustrated by Creator/JohnByrne, ''ComicBook/{{Superman}} & ComicBook/{{Batman}}: Generations'' is built upon one central conceit: the complete and total {{Aversion}} of ComicBookTime. ''Generations'' consists of three different series:

** MwdiaNotes/TheModernAgeOfComicBooks: Book 4 (1999), which has a back-to-basics, optimistic approach free of the goofiness and darkness of the past.

** UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks: Book 1 (1939-1949), which covers the development of Superman and Batman's friendship and their growth as heroes.
** UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks: Book 2 (1959-1969), which shows some of Superman and Batman's sillier adventures, before getting darker with [[spoiler:the death of Dick Grayson in 1969]].
** UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks: The first part of Book 3 (1979), following the previous spoiler, with the marriage of Bruce Jr. and Kara Kent, and ending with [[spoiler:ComicBook/LexLuthor's murder of the Kent family]].
** UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks: The second half of Book 3 (1989), where the heroes get angrier and more violent [[spoiler:thanks to the deaths of their families]], ending when they acknowledge their downward slide and take steps to correct it.
** UsefulNotes/TheModernAgeOfComicBooks: Book 4 (1999), which has a back-to-basics, optimistic approach free of the goofiness and darkness of the past.

* {{Depower}}: Gold Kryptonite, as in [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Superman comics. [[spoiler:Lex Luthor uses it on Joel Kent ''in utero'', robbing him of powers forever. He does the same to Superman later on using Gold K cuff links. In ''Generations III'', Supergirl uses it on herself on purpose.]]

* FaceDeathWithDignity: ''Generations II'' establishes that Bruce Wayne's parents Thomas and Martha knew they were going to die that night in Crime Alley because Jonathan Kent tried to warn them after seeing their deaths unfold on the Chronoscope, but willingly let their murders happen anyway due to the knowledge that their deaths would result in their son growing up to become Batman and [[HeroicSacrifice feeling that their lives were a necessary price to pay for Gotham City to recieve its most renowned crime-fighter]].

* PrengantHostage: Lois Lane was once held hostage by the Joker while she was pregnant with her son Joel Kent.

* SecretSecretKeeper: In 1953, James Gordon confides to Bruce that he always knew he was Batman.

* ChildhoodFriends: It's established in this continuity that Superman and Batman first met when Superboy rescued a kidnapped Bruce Wayne, the two heroes being close companions ever since.

* CrazyPrepared: One of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s hallmarks would appear in a story centered around him and his family. In particular, [[spoiler: Bruce Jr. develops machines that let him fight off the Justice League single-handedly.]]

* StartMyOwn: In the 1964 chapter, the teenage sidekicks and children (Supergirl, Robin II, Wonder Girl II, and Kid Flash) decide to create their own hero group for themselves, eventually deciding on the name "Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}".

* {{Crossover}}: Shortly after the third miniseries, this continuity would be revisited in the 14th issue of John Byrne's run on ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'', which involved Robotman shifting through different timelines, one of which is very similar to the ''Superman & Batman: Generations'' continuity.

* ComicBookTime: Averting it and having things age and develop in a realistic passage of time is the central conceit of the series.

** The Hyena's henchmen wear black polo necks with their themed nicknames in white, just like henchmen in the sixties ''Series/{{Batman}}'' TV series.

** In a mix between this trope and DecompositeCharacter, it's established that the Ultra-Humanite had impersonated Luthor after stealing his body, with Luthor's brain subsequently being put into a robotic body powered by kryptonite, making him this continuity's Metallo in place of John Corben.

* DecompositeCharacter: There are essentially two Lex Luthors in this continuity, with the Ultra-Humanite turning out to steal the body of and impersonate Luthor after the latter was rendered brain-dead during his stint as the Ultra-Humanite's henchman and the brain of the real Lex Luthor eventually being put in a robotic body powered by kryptonite, [[CompositeCharacter making him this continuity's Metallo in place of John Corben]].