Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: 5g, 5g cancellation, c2e2, dc comics, The 5G Files, timeline

The C2E2 DC Gossip About 5G and the New DC Timeline – What's Left Of Them

Published Tue, 03 Mar 2020 11:00:10 -0600

Last updated Thu, 12 Jan 2023 16:48:36 -0600

Okay, so lots of rumours and gossip came out of C2E2, and as ever I usually start to get to hear them on the Sunday night of the show, when lips are looser and wetter. One of which is that DC Comics has further plans for Wally West beyond his current Dr Manhattan state, and that he will be known as Pariah. Another is that we will be getting a WarWorld comic book.

But the problem is that both of these stories are coming out of gossip that has its origins in the pre-Dan DiDio DC. Some may still carry through. Some may not. Some will be dropped because they are now 'tainted' as having been championed by Dan, others may survive if they find new champions.

And so, yes, there's 5G. Generation Five, which has been planned for almost a year now. In which we would have seen the entire DC Universe aged up, along the lines of the planned new DC Timeline, with new characters replacing familiar figures in the classic roles. This was to be Dan DiDio's big new thing, and a lot of work had been done on it across editorial, with a planned editorial two-month-skip to get everyone up to speed, with an announcement at San Diego Comic Con and a launch in October. And Dan DiDio planning to keep it going as long as he did.

Or at least that was the plan, the exit of Dan DiDio over repeated resignations at the company. means that everything is up in the air. But, as Bleeding Cool reported, 5G has buy-in from Warners/AT&T who saw how this might be easily turned into appealing animated movies too. So yes, it is still going ahead, but it is no longer line-wide. It is now been reduced to a smaller line of books that have already had a number of issues completed. It is not going to be the huge relaunch that was originally planned. And the DC Timeline that would accompany it is also still happening, but it will be trimmed, and no longer tied down to specific years or real-life events aside from World War II.

It will be interesting to see if there are any changes made between the pre-DiDio published Flash #750 Generation One story, published this week, and the version that will be out for Free Comic Book Day. Is so, they will probably be reflective of the wider changes DC will be making to the big plan…