Crisis On Infinite Earths - Post-Crisis

Post-Crisis

Because of the extensive and substantial changes that Crisis on Infinite Earths implemented on many titles published by DC Comics, the series became a defining and critical moment in DC Comics' long-standing continuity. Characters and other elements established before the series, especially those eliminated by it, were referred to as pre-Crisis, while revised ones were considered post-Crisis. As a result, the series and its events eventually became known simply as "The Crisis", an informal title that would persist among fans, readers, and even the DC editorial staff, for almost 20 years.

However, with the advent of the 2005–2006 mini-series Infinite Crisis, another continuity-altering storyline, pre- or post-Crisis alone is no longer a definitive identifier; it is now necessary to make clear which Crisis one is referring to. Recent terms have been adopted by both fans and DC Comics when referring to anything after Infinite Crisis, such as "post-Infinite Crisis", "One Year Later", or simply "New Earth". The terms "post-CIE," referring to Crisis on Infinite Earths, and "post-IC," referring to Infinite Crisis, have also been used to avoid confusion between the two storylines.

Crisis was used by DC as an opportunity to wipe much of its slate clean and make major changes to many of their major revenue-generating comic book series. Frank Miller's revamp of Batman with Batman: Year One, George Pérez's relaunching of Wonder Woman in Gods and Mortals, and John Byrne's reboot of Superman in The Man of Steel all took place shortly following Crisis on Infinite Earths, and changed substantial elements of the characters' backstories. The Green Lantern title was also changed to Green Lantern Corps, chronicling the adventures of a group of Green Lanterns led by Hal Jordan and stationed on Earth.

Several other titles which were not significantly retconned were taken in very different directions following Crisis. However, to give readers breathing room, these revamps were delayed for a year so that they could be tied into DC's next "big event" storyline, "Legends". The Flash was relaunched starring a younger main character, the previous Flash's sidekick, Kid Flash (Wally West). The Justice League of America title was cancelled, to be replaced by a new series entitled simply Justice League, featuring a new cast drawn from what had been different universes in DC's pre-Crisis multiverse. A new Suicide Squad title was launched, and Captain Marvel was given his own new mini-series to establish his new post-Crisis origin.