8. No One Can Tell What Has And Hasn't Happened - New 52
DC Comics
Apologies to those who found their gateway to DC with the New 52, but the whole thing was a complete mess. Although it achieved a short-term resurgence for DC, so much of what fans came to love about the old reality was lost in the transition, and led DC to take corrective steps to change things back to how they were with DC Rebirth, with the prospect of further retcons still to come.
The New 52's problems were myriad and extensive, and resulted in issues both on and off the page. One of the biggest issues with the whole thing, however, was that despite the event having been planned as a clean break from the older continuity, no one could seem to tell what was and wasn't canon. Classic Batman storylines like the Killing Joke and Long Halloween remained, while others were stricken from the record.
This 'pick and choose' attitude ended up making the New 52's timeline somehow more confusing than its predecessor's, and had the adverse effect of disrupting Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated.
If DC wanted a new universe, they should've just made one. Nuking the old one and choosing bits and bobs that carried over whilst introducing a restrictive timeline in Justice League just made things so much worse.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
