Hard to believe it has been over a decade since this event comic and the beginning of the New 52. While that era of DC wasn’t devoid of good stories, titles & characters, they tended to be the exception as opposed to the norm. But most people tend to be all right with the story that started DC on this path, “Flashpoint”. I wanted to take the time to air some of my frustrations with this story in regards to the time travel logic it uses.

Before I get into it, something we should discuss. The rules of how time travel can work varies a lot in fiction. Lots of different approaches to how to travel & how changes to the timeline work. One theory you might have heard about that was popularized by fiction is The Butterfly Effect. The general idea is that if you step on a butterfly in one part of the world while time traveling, an earthquake happens on the other side of the planet. I believe this…to an extent. I understand we are dealing with a type of fiction that plays with stuff like this on a daily basis. But I believe there should still be a sense of logic for how these timeline changes occur. And a number of them don’t really add up. So, the big change that happens in this story is that The Flash – Barry Allen – goes back in time and saves his mom from dying. This results in a lot of timeline changes that we see through the story.

With that being said – how does that cause Bruce Wayne to die instead of his parents? Barry is in Central City and Bruce is in Gotham. Hard to tell how far apart the two cities are supposed to be, but let’s assume it’s a fair amount. How does saving Barry’s man cause a mugger to shoot Bruce instead of his parents? Actually, now that I think about it…how old are Bruce and Barry supposed to be canonically? If Bruce is supposed to be older, chances are this origin already happened for him. Even if they are the same age, we again still have the issue of geography. As far as I can tell, Bruce’s origin shouldn’t have been affected at all.

And why does Barry’s time traveling act affect how Billy Batson’s powers work? In case your unfamiliar, Billy Batson is Shazam. He says the name and he is magically transformed into a superhero. But in this timeline, multiple kids have to say the name and then they all collectively become the superhero in one body. While an admittedly interesting idea, I doubt Barry’s mom has any influence on how Shazam’s power is supposed to work. This concept doesn’t even appear in the New 52 afterwards! Yes, Billy does share the power of Shazam with some people, but it’s still just one person turning into one person and not six into one. I know this is a smaller issue in comparison, but still something to bring up.

Back on track – how does saving Barry’s mom cause a war between Atlantis and Themyscira? I understand that in this timeline Barry doesn’t become The Flash. But would his existence as a hero really prevent this? But more importantly, I don’t think this would happen in the way this story chooses to go with. Arthur & Diana have an affair which leads to Mera getting killed by Diana and that leads to war. I think I remember coming across something how in the main DC Universe Arthur admitted to having feelings for Diana. Probably while under the influence of the Lasso of Truth. But I don’t think that means Diana would have the same feelings and go through in exploring them in that way. Even IF she did, she wouldn’t kill Mera! I’m not an expert on Wonder Woman, but I have read up on the majority of her comics post Crisis on Infinite Earths up to the modern day. And she is not written to be like that. She is in touch with her feelings, including empathy, and has too much respect for everyone she considers a friend to ever do anything like this. Would Barry’s time travel affect her very personality?

And how the HELL does Barry saving his mom affect where Superman’s ship lands?! I’m sorry, but this is a BIG one for me. Clark’s ship came from an alien planet many light years away and comes to Earth and – unless this is an Elseworlds story where the whole purpose is to fundamentally change a character – lands in Kansas. But in this timeline, it lands in a city and causes some damage and is secretly experimented on. But Barry’s time travel shouldn’t affect the speed of the Earth’s rotation! Seriously, that would be the only way how this new timeline could explain how Clark’s ship lands in a different spot. And that’s just nonsensical and illogical.

Last thing, this story is supposed to start the New 52, where all heroes are starting off and they don’t know each other yet. Except the ending of “Flashpoint” doesn’t establish that. The ending of the story has Barry talking to Bruce and they know each other to the point where they don’t need to wear masks around each other. There is no way this is supposed to start the New 52 if they aren’t supposed to even know each other yet. Oh my god, this story has so much that doesn’t make sense! But I guess that’s not uncommon for anything in the New 52, so I guess in that way it connects. Look, this isn’t an awful story. But I’m glad that we have recovered from the long lasting damage this story has brought to the DC Universe.