Divergent Series - Flashpoint

In DC Comics, Flashpoint was the mini-series that led to the New 52 line-wide reboot of the DC Universe. At the time, when Flashpoint was first teased at the end of the Flash: Rebirth mini-series, I had hopes that it would serve to reinvigorate and expand the Flash Family mythos in the same manner as Sinestro Corps War had done for the Green Lantern mythos following the return of Hal Jordan in Green Lantern: Rebirth. To my great disappointment, what was done instead was a generic dystopian alternate timeline tale followed by a Deus ex Machina excuse to reboot the comic line and toss out large swathes of DC continuity, notably much of the legacy aspects that had helped differentiate DC from other comic universes.

This setting of this DC Heroes Rebirth campaign is predicated on the conceit that Flashpoint was not an excuse to reboot the DC Universe but rather was the story I had hoped it would be, a tale celebrating and rejuvenating the vast Flash mythos. Presented here is Flashpoint as it happened in the DC Heroes Rebirth universe, a tale that mixes some of the alternate timeline elements of the original Flashpoint story with key elements from the Flash War storyline published years later.

Flashpoint

Spurred on by recent events, Barry Allen travels back in time to save his mother from being killed by Reverse Flash. He finds himself in an altered present with no powers, but his mother still alive. The new present is a dark world where there is no Justice League and the Amazons under Diana are at war with Atlantis under Aquaman. The Reverse Flash reveals his presence and taunts Barry how saving his mother has caused this dystopia.

Having originated from the future, Kid Flash is thrown to the 31st Century by the timeline changes. He encounters police scientist Patty Spivot, who escaped the timeline changes herself by using the equipment taken from the murdered Hot Pursuit. This is not the same future that Kid Flash remembers, the timeline changes have caught up with it and in this new timeline 31st Century Earth is under attack by Brainiac. Patty is killed helping Kid Flash, who gets supercharged with Speed Force energy and is able to pull his cousin XS to him despite the timeline changes. Together they race back in time and use their combined connection to the Speed Force to rescue Jay Garrick and Wally West from the timeline changes. Wally's kids Irey and Jai are pulled along due to their connection to their father.

The Speedsters arrive in the alternate presence, where their arrival reconnects Barry Allen to the Speed Force. Reverse Flash flees into the timestream and the Flash Family pursues him back to the 25th Century. They arrive at Central City, which is in turmoil from the timestream changes. Thawne is waiting for them with his own allies, a "Legion of Zoom" consisting of enemies of all the Flashes from different periods in history, including the Turtle, Rival, Gorilla Grodd, the Top, Inertia, and Cobalt Blue. The Flash Family and the Legion of Zoom start fighting while the Reverse-Flash Task Force, aka the Renegades, attempt to intervene to stop the carnage.

Thawne keeps going back in time and altering the histories of the combatants, bringing in replacements for defeated Legion of Zoom members while effectively erasing members of the Renegades. The Flash Family are able to avoid the effects in the short term thanks to their connection to the Speed Force but are at greater and greater risk the longer the battle lasts. They discover that the Flash Museum has time shields so they maneuver the battle inside. There the Judge of the Temporal Courts explains how Thawne's channeling of the Negative Speed Force is how he is free to constantly alter the timestream with no effect to himself, and reveals that it was not Barry saving his mother that created the dystopian Flashpoint timeline but more of Thawne's manipulations. The Judge then explains that the only way to stop Reverse Flash is to destroy the Negative Speed Force.

Using equipment from the Flash Museum, Barry and Wally race into the Speed Force. Thawne realizes what they plan to do and races after them. Despite his efforts they succeed in shattering the Negative Speed Force, which causes all the paradoxes to catch up with Thawne, apparently consuming him. Barry and Wally return to the 25th Century only to learn that the real villain was the Judge, who reveals himself as Hunter Zolomon, aka Zoom. Zoom had manipulated Thawne's hatred of Barry to trick him into tormenting Barry throughout his younger years, culminating in murdering Barry's mother. He then manipulated the Flashes into shattering the Negative Speed Force, which has allowed Zolomon to gain access to other, previously unrevealed sources of power known as the Sage Force, the Strength Force, and the Still Force.

Now possessing the power of all four Forces (Speed, Sage, Strength, and Still), Zoom declares that he will be the Ultimate Flash and that he will erase all the other Flashes from history. He is on the verge of triumph when Max Mercury arrives with an army of speedsters from across time including Jesse Quick, Johnny Quick, John Fox, the Tornado Twins, and other descendants of both Barry and Wally who are destined to take up the Flash mantle over the centuries. Together they defeat Zoom and the Legion of Zoom now under his command, with Zolomon seemingly destroyed when the four Forces overload within him.

With the destruction of both Thawne and Zolomon the effects on the timestream start to reverse. The Legion of Zoom are sent back to their proper times, and the assembled speedsters also begin to fade away. Jesse Quick has a brief reunion with her father, as do Kid Flash and XS with their father and mother respectively. Finally the Flash Family find themselves back in the present day where all of Thawne's changes have been undone. This means that not only has the dystopian Flashpoint timeline been erased, but Barry's own history has been restored. All of the past torments are gone, and Barry remembers that both his parents lived full lives, passing away peacefully a few years after his own apparent death in the first Crisis.

Despite this relatively happy ending, there is still the matter of the revelation of the existence of the sister Forces to the Speed Force and what the consequences of Zolomon's actions will be.