Major events of the DC Universe

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During its 75 years of publication, DC Comics has produced many noteworthy stories set in its fictional DC Universe. The following is a list of the major storylines that took place within the "Modern Era of Heroes", a period that covers a fixed number of years before the present (regardless of when the stories were published.) (see: sliding timescale) Only major crossovers, or stories with major impact on leading characters, are included.

For events that took place before the Modern Era, see Timeline of the DC Universe.

[edit] Events

Event Year Published Notes
Great Darkness Saga 1982 In the 30th century, The Legion of Super-Heroes battles Darkseid.
Crisis on Infinite Earths 1985 The Anti-Monitor tries to destroy the DC Multiverse but succeeds only in merging it into a single universe; numerous characters die, including Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and the Flash (Barry Allen). Series to spin out of event; Man of Steel, Green Lantern Corps.
Legends 1986 Darkseid and his servant Glorious Godfrey attempt to ruin humanity's faith in superheroes. First Post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel in normal continuity, and forms a new JLA roster.
Cosmic Odyssey 1988 Darkseid strives to gain the Anti-Life Equation. Series to spin out of event; New Gods.
Millennium 1988 After the Guardians and Zamarons exile themselves from this dimension, one of each remains and seeks out 12 Chosen to become the New Guardians. The robotic Manhunters aim to prevent this and several supporting characters were revealed to be Manhunters. Series to spin out of event; New Guardians.
Invasion! 1988-1989 The Dominators have put together an Alliance to invade Earth and eliminate the threat posed by their unpredictable "metahumans".
War of the Gods 1991 Wonder Woman and the Amazons are caught in the middle of a war between the ancient Roman gods and the Olympian gods. Meanwhile, Circe frames Themyscira for crimes that leads to a war between America and the Wonder Woman's home.
Panic in the Sky 1992 Earth's superheroes fight Brainiac and his Warworld.
The Death of Superman 1993 Doomsday kills Superman, then four different "Supermen" try to take his place.
Knightfall 1993 Bruce Wayne is crippled by Bane and replaced as Batman by Azrael.
Trinity 1993 The Green Lantern Corps, The L.E.G.I.O.N., and The Darkstars go up against the beings called "The Triarch".
Bloodlines 1993 The DC superheroes go up against alien parasites; new superheroes are created from some of their victims.
Worlds Collide 1994 The DC superheroes meet their Milestone Comics counterparts.
Zero Hour 1994 Extant and Parallax attempt to recreate the Multiverse; a new timeline emerges.
Year One 1995 Released in the annuals of their comic titles; stories are told on how the characters met and dealt with situations they were inexperienced on when they happened for the first time.
Final Night 1996 A Sun-Eater threatens life on Earth by devouring the Sun.
Genesis 1997 Darkseid battles Earth's heroes when the Genesis Wave strikes; many superbeings have their powers altered or negated.
No Man's Land 1999 Batman fights to retain control in a quake-ravaged, anarchic Gotham City.
Day of Judgment 1999 Demonic forces threaten the Earth; Hal Jordan becomes the Spectre.
Our Worlds at War 2001 Imperiex threatens the universe.
JLA/Avengers 2004 Krona seeks to destroy the universe, and a game by The Grandmaster is put in place.
Identity Crisis 2004 Sue Dibny is mysteriously murdered; the Justice League of America is revealed to have performed "mindwipes" on various supervillains.
Countdown to Infinite Crisis 2004 Consists of the one-shot Countdown to Infinite Crisis and four miniseries which spin out of this comic: Day of Vengeance, in which Shadowpact is formed to defend magic from the Spectre; Rann-Thanagar War; Villains United, in which the Secret Six is formed to fight the Secret Society of Supervillains; and The OMAC Project, in which Batman's mistrust of his fellow heroes leads to the creation of an army of cyborgs.
Infinite Crisis 2005 Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-Two, and several other characters return to attempt to change the universe for the better. History is altered at the end of the series.
52 2006 The "missing year" between Infinite Crisis & One Year Later where the world is without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The series establishes the existence of a new Multiverse.
One Year Later 2006 All DC comics jump forward in time to one year after the end of Infinite Crisis. Diana has a secret identity of Diana Prince and reclaims the Wonder Woman mantle, Bruce Wayne resumes as Batman, and Clark Kent gets his powers back and returns as Superman.
Amazons Attack 2007 Lead up with Wonder Woman v3 #6-8, Circe manipulates the Department of Metahuman Affairs and the Amazons after bringing Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Woman's mother, back from the dead that leads the Amazons to fight America and the country's heroes. The only way Wonder Woman could end this war, besides defeating Circe, is fighting her own mother.
Sinestro Corps War 2007 The Sinestro Corps gather strength by freeing Superboy-Prime and reactivating Warworld.
Countdown (to Final Crisis) 2007 A new weekly series that started a week following the end of 52, Countdown acts as the "spine" to the DC Universe that, as the name suggests, counts down to a new event for 2008. The series crosses over with certain titles and deals with Jimmy Olsen getting super powers, Mary Marvel trying to get her powers back, and a plot with the Monitors that involves the new Multiverse and the three characters that were supposed to die in Infinite Crisis: Jason Todd, Donna Troy, & Kyle Rayner.
Final Crisis 2008 The upcoming event coming at the conclusion of Countdown. Starts May 2008.
Trinity 2008 A third weekly series starting in June, starring Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. It is set aside from events in the DC Universe as 52 was.