"5G" -- DC main characters to be "replaced," including Hal

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Bleeding Cool: DC's 5G Comics Still Going Full Steam Ahead – Launch in October?

The departure of Dan DiDio as DC Publisher over the weekend has left many wondering what this might mean for the planned 5G/Generation Five relaunch of the DC Universe. Which would have Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Diana and the rest aged out of their roles and replaced with new characters under old names, gathering a huge amount of attention – while tales of the classic characters would play out in premium prestige titles.

Truth is, I didn't know myself. Dan DiDio was so much behind that move, but it was signed off by the top bods at Warner/AT&T and even without its champion, momentum is strong. I am told that worried creators who have been working on the new 5G titles for some time, under editor Brian Cunningham, have been told it is full speed ahead on all their comics. The plan is to announce at San Diego Comic Con and launch in October, with half a year's worth of comics already completed.

However, the absence of DiDio may mean that if Generation Five comes to a natural end, it may be replaced sooner that later, lacking someone with an ideological dedication to The New in charge.

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Bleeding Cool: AT&T and Warner Bros – The Real Driving Force Behind DC Comics' 5G

Some people have decided, it seems, that Dan DiDio was fired as Publisher at Warner Bros because of the 5G/Generation Five relaunch he instigated within the company over the last nine months. This is not true – and yesterday, Bleeding Cool reported, after talking to creators, that 5G was very much still on the books, and worried creators who read the news about Dan DiDio have been reassured – it's all systems go for launch in October.

But there is some link between 5G and Dan's departure, it's just far more nuanced than some reactionary commentators might prefer. As it stands, the 5G plans look to be largely intact. Editors and creators are still excited – and so is AT&T/Warner Bros, the big pushers of this initiative. Some things might get re-evaluated to make it a more natural launch, rather than replace everyone at once. There may be a growing a consensus that it was becoming "too much, too fast" – something Axel Alonso suffered from at Marvel with his All-New Marvel Now Now Now Now.

So we may be looking at a gradual relaunch over a number of months rather than all-at-once. Bleeding Cool has also been looking at the role that Generation One: Gods Among Us, free on Free Comic Book Day will play, and it seems that this comic will give all sorts of cover for two, three, four versions of reality existing side-by-side in DC shared universe comics – as if it was intended all along (which it wasn't). But it makes issues with Leviathan Dawn and Justice League simply melt away.

So what about Dan DiDio and 5G? Well, I am told that at the beginning stages of 5G, Dan seemed to be less hands-on and everyone involved was convinced it wasn't going to become another New 52, where Dan had final say on everything (which is how it's been since then). When Dan leaked the unfinished timeline at NYCC, people started to get worried internally, and the last month especially has seen Dan returning to his trademark levels of micromanagement that's caused some to freak out. And that may have been the final straw regarding the charge of 'fostering a poor work environment' which led to his dismissal.

Because AT&T/Warner Bros are very, very serious about this 5G thing – not just for the comics, but this is also where they see the future of Warner Bros films and TV going as currently-established actors age up.

Bleeding Cool: Post-Dan DiDio Changes, Already Happening at DC Comics?

I understand that it is too late to affect Flash #750, out at C2E2today and in comic stores on Wednesday. But it appears that a number of writers who have been working on upcoming comic books in line with the new DC Timeline, as of yesterday are being asked to make significant changes.

The original plan, as outlined by Dan DiDio at NYCC last year, was to rewrite the chronology of the DC Universe, with Wonder Woman first emerging in World War II rather than five years ago, and then live through the twentieth century, inspiring all other DC superheroes.

As revealed by Bleeding Cool analysis, this would also see Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent born around this time and so age them significantly, as well as spread what had been a truncated timeline in the New 52, out across the decades. One example of the changes this would make would be giving each Robin a decade or more with Batman, before moving on. This is part of the 'everything happened, everything matters' mantra that was going to put everything published into DC Comics history, somewhere, rather than previous Crises and reboots which were more likely to cut things out. And, spread out across four generations- with a new Fifth Generation looking at what happened when the big names stepped down and their legacy continues with other characters – would allow creators to tell stories across their entire lives, as one can do with the likes of James Bond, Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood. The opportunity to do both Year One and Old Man stories. And then to go further beyond…

But now I am told that major changes are coming in. First, the dates, the specified years' timespans laid out in the DC Timeline are no longer being as tied down. Creators are rewriting and redrawing as a result. The 5G books are all still happening, as are the Generation one-shots – but they may now be placed in a different context.

For some, this will be welcome. For others, this may be abandoning what seemed as a very exciting idea. Bleeding Cool will keep an eye on how this rolls out, as we have for the entirety of our reporting on 5G and the DC Timeline.

But at what point will people start calling for The DiDio Cuts?

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Because AT&T/Warner Bros are very, very serious about this 5G thing – not just for the comics, but this is also where they see the future of Warner Bros films and TV going as currently-established actors age up.

This isn't logical. Just replace the actors. You've done it before. Countless times. If they had replaced Bruce Wayne in the comics when Adam West aged out of the role in the 70s, we never would have gotten some of the most successful Warner movies like Batman 89 or The Dark Knight. If you want to do a younger Batman with Bruce as a mentor, just make a Batman Beyond movie. But there is no reason to reinvent the wheels all across the DCU, and all at once to boot.
Are you actively trying to sabotage your own company?

[Big Blue Lantern Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Big Blue Lantern]

How much is Bendis involved in 5G? Yeah, I'm still thinking there's probably a decent chance that his Young Justice kid GL will become aged up rammed out there as the new GL. Which is going to be a hell of a thing to explain. GL isn't like a mantle... and what, would Hal, Guy, John and Kyle all suddenly retire?

From the rumors that I'm seeing online, it seems that Jo Mullein is the most likely character to take the headliner reigns if and when DC decides to do whatever modified version of 5G that they do. However, I wouldn't necessarily count on a mass-retirement of current GLs, especially with the HBO Max show on the way. There will likely be a (or a couple) different ringslinger in the JL, while others make appearances in other titles, ala Kyle in Titans.

[Tazer That Evil, Yellow Bastiche Find all posts View Profile Close Tazer]

Yo.

Bleeding Cool: AT&T and Warner Bros – The Real Driving Force Behind DC Comics' 5G

Because AT&T/Warner Bros are very, very serious about this 5G thing – not just for the comics, but this is also where they see the future of Warner Bros films and TV going as currently-established actors age up.

WB cant even figure out how to NOT fuck-up a comic movie project less than 10% of the time, and they now wanna dictate how the source material work/should look like??

shitheaded ideas were the reason CoIE happened in the 80s, and the "one & ONLY one Earth" -concept from that lasted maybe some 3 - 5yrs b4 writers started to to ignore it? yea, I see the same thing happening here. :/




Tazer

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

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…

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This sounds like it's bad news for Hal Jordan, so I'm probably not going to be a fan of this.

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Bleeding Cool: DC Telling Different People Different Things About 5G – And More New Creators Involved

At C2E2 in Chicago last weekend, DC Comics sent a crew to calm people's nerves about DC's future. DC Publisher Jim Lee took point at his spotlight panel, as Bleeding Cool reported, telling people "DC has been around for 85 years and will be around for another 85 years… We're a huge important part of Warner Bros, we've been with Warner Bros for decades, when you look at DC, the strategy of DC is to put publishing at the centre of everything we do, it's the source material that drives the media engine, all these movies and TV shows and video games and merchandise and all that kind of stuff. They see the value we bring to the greater whole."

And regarding the much-rumoured and occasionally-leaked 5G, that it's "hard to talk about what we haven't officially announced but I realise we have teased somethings out… our intent is not to do a line-wide reboot that ages up characters and kinda shuffles them off to the side, our focus is to continue what we've done best, which is to really create character-driven stories, pairing the right creators on the right characters, organically developing a universe that is inclusive, diverse and can tell amazing stories that you guys love."

But not everyone at the show seemed to be singing from the same songsheet. And it seemed to come down to the seniority of the person to whom they were speaking. Younger, newer, less senior editors were telling the hoi polloi of comic book creators that everything was fine and ticking along as normal. But certain senior DC creators at the show, who got more private meetings with the DC bigwigs got a different story.

They were told that things were now totally up in the air with 5G/Generation Five, plans that had been previously outlined under Dan DiDio were being put on hold, and artists already drawing projects were being told to pause for now. There were assurances that everyone would be paid for the work they had already done, but that the scope of the plans were being re-evaluated. The phrase used repeatedly was that the original plans for 5G were intended to be the new status quo at DC as long as Dan DiDio was publisher. And now, totally unconnectedly, this was no longer the case. This division of message may be why I was getting a few mixed signals coming out of C2E2

As for the new writers for 5G and other projects, some of whom Bleeding Cool profiled recently, it appears DC has stretched out further than animation showrunners, production assistants and Oscar-winning screenwriters. They are also looking at writers who may have been cast aside in recent years, including their New Talent initiatives for comic book writers that seemed to lead to very little work for them at DC, with other publishers being the beneficiaries of their slightly raised profile.

And 5G, what remains of it, may be the way to get them back and show that the programmes that DC ran for them were worthwhile after all. So who out of Michael McMillian, Hena Khan, Joëlle Jones, Emma Beeby, Vita Ayala, Adam Smith, Chris Sebela, Erica Schultz, Michael Moreci, Owl Goingback, Erica Harrell, Desirée Proctor, Al Letson, David Accampo, Aaron Gillespie, Ryan K. Lindsay, Tony Patrick, Sanya Anwar, Ryan Cady, Joey Esposito, Robert Jeffrey, Phillip Kennedy Johnson or Magdalene Visaggio will be a part of DC's 5G? Those who aren't already working at DC? Or will some of them be quite happy to keep working for Marvel, or at other publishers, TV and movie studios instead?

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I've heard about this 5G event, it looks like DC basically copying Marvel gender-bendering and race-changing everyone for the pure sake of doing it. It's not going to bring in more minority readers, it'll just alienate the core readers that were already there or they could have brought back. DC stop need to stop wanking around with continuity and constant reboots like they've been doing for the past eight or nine years and just focus on titles individually. The gimmick's worn off.

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Bleeding Cool: SCOOP: Why Was DC Comics' Generation Two: Age of the Metahuman Not in June 2020 Solicitations? The Changing 5G…

Despite being announced as a monthly series of one-shots, the second volume Generation Two: Age of the Metahuman was not included in DC Comics' June 2020 solicitations. Some divined from this that a) the Generation one-shots were being dropped and b) so was 5G. Well… not entirely. But there are changes.

Intended to be published on May 27th, Generation One: Age Of Mysteries was solicited as being the first of five 48-page prestige format one-shots, followed monthly by; Generation Two: Age of the Metahuman, Generation Three: Age of Crisis, Generation Four: Age of Rebirth and Generation Five: Age of Tomorrow. They will also follow the Free Comic Book Day title Generation Zero: Gods Among Us, in stores on Free Comic Book Day, May 2nd, 2020.

Bleeding Cool has been asking around and, from very senior sources, was told that Generation Two hasn't been cancelled but delayed so that 'tweaks' can be made. It is possible that Generation One, solicited for May may be also delayed for similar tweaking.

The Generation one-shots were originally intended to lay out the new DC Timeline and lead into 5G or Generation Five, a remaking of the DC Universe, spearheaded and sold into Warner Bros by the former publisher Dan DiDio. But as Bleeding Cool has reported, all those plans are now up in the air and there is a lot of rewriting going on.

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Are there as of yet any creative teams listed for these upcoming issues for 5G? Other than cover artists?

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Are there as of yet any creative teams listed for these upcoming issues for 5G? Other than cover artists?

If you're talking about the Generation one-shots we don't know what the exact teams on each issue would be beyond the first one which was solicited but we have the creators involved:

Readers of Generation One: Age of Mysteries will witness firsthand major events from throughout the history of the DC universe as seen through the eyes of characters like Wonder Woman, Lucius Fox, Alfred Pennyworth, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), The Spectre (Jim Corrigan), Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane), and others. The series of one-shots will also expose secrets from DC’s history, such as:

• What was the previously undocumented “big bang” of the Age of Mysteries?
• Which character truly ushers in the dawn of Super Heroes, inspiring all the rest?
• What was the real reason behind the Justice Society of America’s retirement?
• Which Golden Age hero will become history’s greatest villain?
• What contentious alliance kept the Wayne family dynasty alive after Thomas and Martha’s deaths?
• Who are the new, never-seen-before wildcards that will be instrumental in fashioning DC’s push to the future?

The five Generation issues will feature a who’s who of creative talent, with an overarching story by Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Jurgens, Andy Schmidt, Robert Venditti, and Joshua Williamson, illustrated by artists including Doug Mahnke, Bryan Hitch, Mikel Janín, Ivan Reis, David Marquez, and more.

Generation One: Age of Mysteries is scripted by Andy Schmidt, with lead art by Doug Mahnke. Each of DC’s Generation one-shots will feature a cover by Jim Cheung and a variant cover by Gary Frank. Generation Two: Age of the Metahuman, Generation Three: Age of Crisis, Generation Four: Age of Rebirth and Generation Five: Age of Tomorrow will follow monthly after Generation One: Age of Mysteries.

No idea on anything that was slated to come out after the one shots.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

That doesn't bode well if DC can't even brag about the top talent they are putting on this project. Sounds like they want to get the project out, and they will fill in the blanks as they go.

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Bleeding Cool: John Ridley, Luke Fox Batman, 5G, No More?

If I were John Ridley, I would begin to suspect that I was under some kind of curse. Admittedly, I would have won an Oscar for writing the screenplay for 12 Years A Slave. But when I returned to my true love, writing comic books, things seemed to fall apart. I got to revisit and finish my Wildstorm comic book The American Way, but that was meant to be an appetiser for the main course.

Former DC President Diane Nelson used an entire event, The Many Shades of Heroism: DC Heroes Through the African-American Lens, laid on at the Newseum on Martin Luther King Day, to announce John Ridley's The Other History Of The DC Universe, also placed on the cover of Diamond Previews. Solicited, but then disappeared, amounts rumours of legal wrangling over another, seemingly identical project that had been previously greenlit. However, its disappearance has not been addressed by DC, of by Ridley, in the months – years – since.

But that was okay, because John Ridley had an even higher profile gig lined up for DC Comics. As Bleeding Cool reported, courtesy of publisher Dan DiDio, he was to take over the Batman ongoing comic book with Batman #100, relaunching it with a new #1 to follow, and as part of the 5G relaunch recasting the lead character from Bruce Wayne to Luke Fox, a new Batman working with an elderly Bruce Wayne, with all of the eyes of the industry upon him.

Then Dan DiDio was fired and the industry went into shutdown. We heard that some 5G work had been put on the back burner but this takes it further. Bleeding Cool has now been informed that high profile creators working on or alongside this Batman relaunch have been told to stop work, and have received kill fees for completed work. A kill fee is usually a payment made when a publisher decides they will no longer publish completed work.

Unlike The Other History, Batman 5G and John Ridley's part in it were never announced by DC Comics, that was originally the plan for San Diego Comic-Con. Now, it seems they will no longer be. Possibly the work may reappear in another form. What this means for the other planned tiles is not clarified, maybe Brian Bendis will still see Jonathan Kent as the new Superman, but a line-wide fifth generation of DC Comics heroes, featuring a new line-up of lead characters is no more. And for some, that will mean it never was, and was just Bleeding Cool making it all up.

The crumbs left on the table do suggest otherwise, however… but this change of heart may be good news for one creator, whose work has gone down rather well on the title…

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Given Tom Taylor's recent Twitter hints about writing an in-continuity Clark-Kent-as-Superman, I'd say the Jonathan-Kent-as-Superman book by Bendis is off the table.