10 Reasons Why The New 52 Was Doomed To Fail

10. It Came Out Of Nowhere

The Flash New 52
Marvel Comics

Granted, fans knew that 2011's Flashpoint was building to something big, but a complete reset of the DCU seemed like an outlandish prospect to entertain back then.

Indeed, the event was billed as nothing more than an interesting look into an alternate earth when it released, with a story featuring the Flash roaming through a mad (and very entertaining) distortion of the mainstream DCU that harkened back to classic Elseworlds tales like Superman: Red Son and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. By the time the big reveal came, however - and all of the old DCU lied in tatters - fans were left totally confused by how left-field the whole affair felt.

Now, that's not to say that comics shouldn't surprise their audience from time to time, but a relaunch as big as the New 52 needed to be built towards in a way that didn't leave old readers surprised and, it must be said, frankly horrified in regards to what was going to happen.

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Content Producer/Presenter
Content Producer/Presenter

Resident movie guy at WhatCulture who used to be Comics Editor. Thinks John Carpenter is the best. Likes Hellboy a lot. Can usually be found talking about Dad Movies on his Twitter at @EwanRuinsThings.