THE ELSEWORLD
The alternate timeline referred to as The Elseworld was inadvertently created by the heroes Tarantula,
Quiksilver, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, and Blue Devil. The group had traveled back in time
in an effort to rescue Rip Hunter, who had been trapped in the prehistoric past. After
finding Rip the group would need to make the return journey to the present in several jumps
due to limitations with the time travel equipment they were using. One such jump brought the group to Europe in 1940, where they accidentally made a
small change to history that would result in a familiar yet radically different in some ways present day.
HISTORY
In the original timeline, Allied agent Commander Steel killed Nazi superhuman Otto Frenz, who was codenamed Parsifal, but due to the
inadvertent interference of the time travelers Steel was prevented from carrying out this mission and instead he went after a secondary
target. While the change to the timeline by this did not impact the overall events of World War II, it did have a progressive effect on the
lives and fates of many of the heroic members of the wartime All-Star Squadron, an effect that would echo down this new timeline to the
present.
The Golden Age
The first major change came near the end of the war, when Tex Thompson aka the Americommando was captured. Unknown to the Allies, Thompson's
brain was replaced by that of the Ultra-Humanite, who returned to American after the war posing as Thompson. Leveraging Thompson's connections,
Ultra entered government service and began slowly building a political career. As he moved towards a future 1952 presidential bid, Ultra/Thompson
began sowing public distrust in the Mystery Men and Women and instead formed a government-controlled superhuman team with individuals he could
trust or manipulate. These included former All-Star Squadron and Justice Society members Johnny Thunder, the Atom (Al Pratt), and Robotman.
Another recruit was Dan Dunbar, formerly known as Dan the Dyna-Mite. Using methods developed by detailed examination of the Atom, who had
gained superhuman powers after exposure to radiation during the war, Ultra/Thompson was able to grant even greater powers to Dunbar who became
the superhuman Dyna-Man. Unknown to virtually anyone at the time, Dunbar's brain had been secretly replaced with that of Adolph Hitler, saved
from death by the Ultra-Humanite at the end of the war.
In 1949 members of the Justice Society and other heroes learned the truth about Thompson and Dunbar, leading to a confrontation in Washington
DC where most of the old members of the All-Star Squadron had been assembled for a public display of loyalty to the United States government. The
true identities of Thompson and Dyna-Man were revealed, and they went on the attack. In the battle that followed Thompson and Dyna-Man were ultimately
killed, but so were several of the Golden Age heroes like Miss America, Human Bomb, Red Bee, and Tarantula. Another major change resulting from
this confrontation was the public debut of Adam Blake two years earlier than in the original timeline. Though he had only barely participated in the
fight, a photograph of the young hero from the battle would turn the spotlight onto him as the hero of the future. Like in the original timeline
Blake would take the name Captain Comet, but his heroic career would have a very different trajectory.
The Silver Age
In the original timeline the Golden Age of Heroes ended not with a bang but a whimper and it would be decades before superheroes emerged once
again onto the public stage. Now the public had fresh new hero Captain Comet to pin their hopes on as the Cold War dawned. Captain Comet served
as the premiere American hero through the 1950s, and as the decade entered its final years more heroes started to emerge. One of these was alien
refugee J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, who in this timeline felt comfortable revealing his existence thanks to Captain Comet. Alongside
Justice Society veterans Atom and Hawkman, All-Star veteran Airwave, and the new heroes Martian Manhunter and Blue Beetle (Dan Garret), Captain
Comet formed the Freedom Brigade, keeping superheroes in the public consciousness through the 1960s. As time wore on these heroes would fade,
with Atom, Hawkman and Airwave retiring and Martian Manhunter withdrawing from sight to explore the Earth. On the heels of the Apollo program
raising awareness of space, Captain Comet elected to leave Earth to explore the cosmos.
The Modern Age
The Modern Age of heroes is considered to have started when Superman made his public debut saving the Constitution space plane from
crashing into Metropolis. In the altered timeline the crash of the Constitution coincided with Captain Comet returning to Earth and it was he,
not Clark Kent, who would save the space plane. As a result Clark Kent would never reveal himself publicly and become Superman, remaining private
and using his powers sparingly to help others in secret. Captain Comet's return would spur on the new Heroic Age, leading to a wave of heroes
coming forth, including a new Flash (Barry Allen), new Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Wonder Woman (Diana of Themyscira), Triumph, and others; the
mysterious vigilante Batman of Gotham City had been operating in secret for a few months prior to the Constitution incident, but he would venture
into the public eye with the rise of new heroes, and the Martian Manhunter would return as well. They would be joined over the years by many
other familiar names and faces, though some would differ slightly from their main timeline counterparts.
Captain Comet and several of these new heroes formed the Justice League of America and they would face and defeat many of the same threats as their
counterparts in the original timeline. Many of these heroes would have teenage sidekicks who would band together as the Teen Titans much as they
had in the original timeline. In this timeline events would proceed in a similar fashion to the original, again with some notable differences. The heroes of Earth managed to stop the Anti-Monitor
from destroying all of creation, but in this timeline the second Flash did not give his life in the Crisis. The heroes would weather the
Legends crisis, and stop the Invasion of the alien alliance, but the android Manhunters would not threaten the Earth having been destroyed
years earlier by one of their own agents, Paul Kirk, who now governed new Manhunters organization with agents of his own to fight evil. Without
Superman, the events that led to the destruction of Coast City never happened, and so Hal Jordan never became Parallax to threaten all of
time with the Zero Hour.
This was the new world that the time travelers from the original timeline found themselves in when they returned to what they thought was
their own present day. Unfortunately their arrival would also precipitate a series of events that would plunge this new world into a catastrophic
war.
The WORLD of ELSEWORLD
When the time travelers arrived in the present day of the new timeline they quickly discovered things had changed. When they materialized
they were outside what they thought was the Hero Museum they had departed from, but in this timeline it was the Hall of Justice headquarters
for the Justice League. The travelers also found themselves merged with their counterparts from this timeline. Rip Hunter, being a veteran time
traveler, felt little to no effect while Blue Beetle found himself in a new costume with no other discernible change, as did Quicksilver though
the changes to his costume portended greater alterations. The others had more profound effects, however. Blue Devil, who had been magically bonded with
his suit, found he could now remove it; Booster Gold had suffered grievous injuries and was in a suit of armor that was keeping him alive with
cybernetics, but was now in danger because he had no injuries and had to be stripped of the armor; and Tarantula, whose grandfather had died
in this timeline before having any children, was vanishing from existence in front of everyone's eyes. The sudden appearance of the strangers
in front of their headquarters brought out several members of the Justice League to investigate, including the Flash. This Flash was Barry
Allen, who was still alive in this timeline, and he was able to use his mastery over vibrations, gained from years of experience traveling across
dimensions thanks to his superspeed, to stabilize Tarantula so that he was no longer in danger of ceasing to exist. Once the immediate danger was
past, the travelers learned that there were even more changes.
Justice League of America
As previously noted, the Justice League of America was formed by Captain Comet alongside Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash,
Green Lantern, the Martian Manhunter, and Triumph, with Batman joining a short time later. Here Captain Comet took
the place of Superman with the League, and founding member Triumph was not lost to a time anomaly as he had been in the original timeline and here
remained a stalwart member of the team through several of its incarnations. The present lineup consists of the original founders except for
Martian Manunter plus others like the second Atom (Ray Palmer, who never left to live with a hidden colony
of miniature aliens in South America), the second Hawkman and Hawkwoman (Thanagarians Katar and Shayera Hol, who arrived on
Earth years earlier in this timeline), Green Arrow and Black Canary (who never experienced the events of the Longbow Hunters),
Red Tornado, Elongated Man and Captain Marvel. Batman is no longer a member (see the Batman Family
below).
A second team called the Justice League Task Force is led by Martian Manhunter and is made up of Firestorm (who was still
a gestalt of Ronnie Raymond and Prof. Martin Stein), the second Steel (Hank Heywood III) and second Amazing Man,
and Zatanna, as well as Blue Beetle and Booster Gold.
Flash Family
Barry Allen did not die in the Crisis destroying the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon. Instead it was Kid Flash (Wally West)
who ran faster than the speed of light to destroy the cannon and entered the Speed Force but was pulled back out by the Flash.
Wally emerged with his speed powers boosted beyond his control, so Barry placed a hypnotic block in his nephew's mind to lock
away the new abilities until Wally could learn to control them. So in this timeline Wally never took up the Flash mantle from
his uncle and instead changed his name to Impulse. The main timeline's Impulse, Bart Allen, never existed as in this timeline
Iris Allen continued to live with her husband in the present and they have no children.
Green Lantern
Without the trauma of the destruction of Coast City, Hal Jordan never went insane and so did not become Parallax. He remains the primary
Green Lantern of Earth and Sector 2814 and John Stewart is his backup. Guy Gardner never received a power ring and instead joined
Paul Kirk's Manhunters organization, having never needed to seek out new powers and so never discovering his alien heritage and
becoming the Warrior. The Green Lantern Corps is still intact, and the Guardians of the Universe still guide them from Oa. Kyle
Rayner was never given a power ring by Ganthet so never became Green Lantern.
Superman
Clark Kent never became Superman. Instead it is Quiksilver who is the hero of Metropolis. In this timeline Will Talbot is a
billionaire philanthropist, having taken control of the LexCorp assets when Lois Lane exposed Lex Luthor's crimes and he was
arrested. Seeing a need for Metropolis to have a hero, Will Talbot developed an advanced formulation of Hourman's Miraclo formula
and used it to become the masked Champion of the city. Lois Lane has a romantic interest in the Champion, while in his secret
identity Will Talbot attempts to woo her. Clark Kent has married his high school sweetheart Lana Lang and they have taken over
his parents' farm in Smallville. He still uses his powers from time to time in secret. Power Girl is an active hero, but she
wears a costume that is similar to that of Supergirl from the original timeline.
Batman Family
In this timeline Dick Grayson never had a falling out with his mentor. As a result he never adopted the Nightwing identity and
remained as Robin and Batman never replaced him with Jason Todd as a new Robin. Bruce Wayne is dead, Batman and the Joker having
killed each other in a fatal final battle after the latter murdered Commissioner Jim Gordon. Dick Grayson has taken up the Batman
mantle and taken a young teen named Tim Drake as his new Robin. Barbara Gordon was never paralyzed by the Joker, but the murder of
her father has hardened her and she has dropped her Batgirl identity for that of the Huntress. The new Batman has been offered
membership in the Justice League but has refused, preferring to focus his attention on Gotham City. His archenemy is the Harlequin,
a former ally of the Teen Titans who claimed to be the Joker's Daughter who has gone insane and taken her alleged father's place.
Teen Titans
The former Teen Titans are now split into two teams, the Team Titans and Titans West. The main Team Titans are now led by
Arsenal (formerly Speedy) and consist of Impulse (Wally West), Minerva (Donna Troy, formerly Wonder Girl), Robin (Tim Drake) and
Starbrand (Starburst in the original timeline). Titans West is made up of
Changeling (Gar Logan, formerly Beast Boy), the second Robotman (Cliff Steele), Riptide (Garth of Atlantis, formerly Aqualad),
Hawk (Hank Hall) and Dove (Dawn Granger), Golden Eagle, and Flamebird.
Other Heroes
As previously noted there is a new Manhunters organization led by Paul Kirk, who had been the Manhunter during the Golden Age
and had been given extended life by a group called the Council. The Council had also created a series of clones of Kirk and these
now serve as his principal foot soldiers. Among his global agents are Guy Gardner, Mark Shaw (also a former Manhunter in the original timeline),
Helena Bertinelli (Huntress in the original timeline), and Patricia Grayce (the third Vigilante in the original timeline).
Power Girl leads a team called the Super Squad that also has Starman (Will Payton) and a new Crimson Avenger (José Delgado,
Gangbuster in the original timeline); and Batman leads an Outsiders team in Gotham City that is
made up of Metamorpho, Halo, Geo-Force, and Huntress (Barbara Gordon). There are several independent heroes, most notably Booster
Gold's sister Michelle, aka Goldstar, who had been killed in the original timeline.
ELSEWORLD at WAR
The new timeline appeared to the time travelers to be a better one than the original, with fewer tragedies having befallen the
heroes of this world. That, however, began to change shortly after the arrival of the time travelers. Afterwards they would theorize
that somehow their presence was corrupting this timeline, causing tragedies from their own world's history to happen here.
The first of these events sees the alien Mongul arrive in the Warworld and launch an invasion of Earth. Among the first casualties was Green Lantern's
home of Coast City, which now found itself a ruined crater much as it had been in the original timeline. The world's heroes are called into
service to fight off the invasion, much as the All-Star Squadron had been in World War II. During the conflict Guy Gardner is captured
and subjected to torturous examination, events which trigger his Vuldarian traits and he gains the Warrior powers similar to those he
possesses in the original timeline.
Under the command of General Nathaniel Adam (who was never transformed into Captain Atom in this timeline), the heroes eventually
defeat Mongul and the invaders, and Warworld is destroyed. As part of the war, however, many of Earth's super villains had also been
recruited to fight off the invaders and in the aftermath these villains band together under the leadership of Lex Luthor and Brainiac
and launch their own attack on the planet.
The villain army is able to conquer the planet, easily defeating the weakened defenders. The heroes are scattered and many are
captured. The time travelers are able to rally several of the heroes into striking back at several of the villains' bases of
operations in occupied cities across the globe. Many of these cities had only just been liberated from the alien invaders of Warworld,
and several still had the aliens' prison camps which were now being used by the super villains.
The final battle goes poorly for the heroes, but the tide is turned by two separate events. First, in an echo of his sacrifice in
the main timeline, Barry Allen is killed battling a super-charged Amazo; but before he dies Barry speaks the phrase that unlocks Wally's
hypnotic block. With access to the greater power of the Speed Force, Wally leads a vengeful counterattack against the villains. Elsewhere
Tarantula and other heroes are liberating one of the former alien prisoner camps when Tarantula notices that the alien computer system
listed one of the prisoners as having been identified as Kryptonian. Realizing what this means, Tarantula tracks down the prisoner and
convinces him to reveal who he truly is. Tarantula hastily provides a familiar cape and symbol to the man's prisoner uniform and Clark
Kent joins the fight as Superman.
The arrival of Superman and Wally West assuming the mantle of Flash with his new powers are enough to reverse the course of the
battle against the super villains and Luthor and Brainiac's army is defeated, liberating planet Earth from their grasp. The time
travelers proceed to assist in the cleanup, but Rip Hunter points out that it might be their very presence that is causing these
disasters; that they have to go back and undo their mistake. Despite reluctance from Booster Gold, Blue Devil, and Quiksliver the time
travelers all eventually agree with Rip. With help from the Justice League, the time travelers journey back into the past. Under Rip's
guidance they are able to correct the actions made in 1940 that led to the new timeline. With that done Rip sends the others back to
the proper present day, though he himself must return to exile in the distant past, explaining that he is not destined to be rescued
until later. With that the time travelers return to their proper place in time, with all the changes of the alternate timeline undone;
meaning Booster and Blue Devil are once again trapped in their respective suits and Booster must mourn his sister all over again.
Though the changes to the timeline were undone, the alternate timeline of the Elseworld theoretically still exists somewhere in
Hypertime and could be encountered again someday.
