The opinions and speculations expressed herein on the possible implications of the DCU Rebirth Special and The Doomsday Clock event which include, but not limited to, those of a political, social, metaphysical, psychological, or alternate reality – reflect the actual opinions, views, and theories that I have actually given a lot of thought about while reading this comic . Any so-called “errors” or “misrepresentations of fact,” should be considered because my brain is a sieve when it comes to trying to remember events in the DC Universe. Any tangent that I go on below (and there are a lot) should be attributed to my passion for the medium when unchained by slavish convention.

If a scapegoat is required, let us look to the dark, depraved times of the Comic Book Industry in which we live and the fact that Dan Didio was adamant that the New 52 was going to be the status quo going forward, no backdoor return to the old Universe.

Praise be to the writing of Tom King and his love for the DC Universe.

Heroes in Crisis event recaps

Heroes in Crisis #1

Heroes in Crisis #2 and Tie-ins

Heroes In Crisis – Issue #3

Heroes In Crisis – Issue #4 recap and Tie-ins

DC Comics Event: Heroes In Crisis – Issue #5 recap and breakdown

DC Comics Event: Heroes In Crisis – Issue #6 recap and breakdown and tie-in issues

Too Fast To Save the World

Full Recap:

The Past:

Five-day future Wally is standing in a field of flowers outside the Sanctuary. As he stands there, he thinks about the poem that Linda read at their wedding in the Pre-Flashpoint timeline as he plants the rose that Harley through off the bridge in issue 2.

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The Present

Gotham City:

Harley is attacking Booster Gold as Batgirl and Blue Beetle watch. Batgirl says that she usually works with Nightwing and not used to working with a crazy person, Beetle says that this is normal for him and Booster.

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Interview Session: Wally West – Day 0ne

It is Wally’s first day at the Sanctuary as he goes from his happy, confident self, to admitting he knows why he is there.



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The Present

Central City / Batcave:

Barry wakes up after being attacked by Booster and Blue Beetle and runs to the Batcave where he tells Batman what happened.

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Gotham City:

Harley has Booster pinned to the floor, and she says that she saw him kill him Booster says he saw her kill him.

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Blue Beetle and Batgirl continue to watch. Batgirl says that she thought that Booster’s shield was broken. Beetle says it was, but as a temporary fix, he hooked it to the Bug’s operating system which Batgirl asks if he means the one hooked to his consciousness. Beetle says that is the one and Batgirl knocks him out to give Harley the upper hand.

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Batgirl reminds Harley that she said, “no killing” as Booster panics.

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Interview Session: Wally West – 1 Week at The Sanctuary

Wally’s Interview after one week at the Sanctuary



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The Present

Central City / Batcave:

Flash runs all over the Earth looking for Booster and Blue Beetle as Batman takes the calm and cool approach.

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Gotham City:

Booster finally gives up and tells Harley to just get it over with and kill him. Harley goes to deliver the killing strike but doesn’t kill Booster, instead of collapsing beside him. Booster asks Harley what was up with her reciting nursery rhymes while she was attacking and she replies that she thought that she was supposed to talk while “superheroing.” Harley and Booster both admit they aren’t good at “superheroing” as they lay on the ground.

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Interview Session: Wally West – Week 2

Wally talks about what he feels he has learned over the past two weeks

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The Past:

Five-days in the future Wally is the field of flowers and zaps the rose with lightning somehow bringing Poison Ivy back to life.

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The Present

Gotham City

Booster, Harley, Batgirl, and Blue Beetle are sitting on the floor of the building. Ted and Booster tell them about Wally’s body being five days from the future. Harley wonders if they are supposed to find Wally and put him back, Batgirl says they need to try and save Wally not kill him. Booster says Skeets could help identify any anomalies, but they would need to be able to boost his signal. Ted also suggests informing the Justice League, but Batgirl says it would be best if they kept it to their little group. Booster agrees especially since no one would expect them to be able to figure it out…announcing the new team up of Blue and Gold and the Dynamicker Duo.

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Batcave:

Batman gets the signal of Blue Beetle and Booster have triggered all the alarms

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The Past:

Wally apologizes to Ivy for hurting her and says that he brought her back to witness his death.

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Interview Session: Wally West – Week 3



Counseling Session

Overall Thoughts on the Issue

Who’s Who / Sanctuary Timeline

Story threads in this issue

Sanctuary Interviews

Theories Moving forward into Issue #8

At the close of this seventh issue, leading to the penultimate issue of the event, it seems pretty clear that Wally West or Future-Wally West is the one who killed everyone at The Sanctuary. This issue is a huge step forward after issue #6 which focused more on the events leading up to the massacre rather than solving the mystery surrounding the killings.

This issue moves the story forward by focusing on three story threads and a look at Wally’s interview sessions during his stay at The Sanctuary.

I feel as though this issue makes this “event” a midpoint in the whole Rebirth to Doomsday Clock timeline of the current DCU as Wally not only talks about returning and being a symbol of Hope but the fact that Wally kind has more than one Doctor Manhattan moments (discussed below).

I thought that the Blue and Gold and the Dynamicker Duo sections added the needed humor relief to the trend of the overall story, while the Batman/Flash scenes give a sense of what the main heroes are doing while the Booster/Blue Beetle/Batgirl/Harley moments unfold.

As the overall story alternates action and introspection, Heroes in Crisis continues to be a consistently visually stunning book.

The art in the issue is done by the trio of Clay Mann, Travis Moore, and Jorges Fornes worked for me as each artist handled one of the three main story thread:

Clay Mann – scenes involving Wally West, including Sanctuary interview sessions, and delivers some of the best art in comics today.

Travis Moore – Harley, Booster, Batgirl, and Blue Beetle.

Jorge Fornes – Batman and Barry Allen Flash interludes

Mann’s characters display a wide range of expression which works perfectly for a story dealing with emotional issues, while Moore continues to work alongside him providing a similar aesthetic as Mann. While Fornes’ style is very different from Mann and Moore’s, it worked for me because it was so different that it was distinct from the other threads.

The Suspects:

Booster Gold

Harley Quinn

Alive…brought back by Five-days in the future Wally:

Poison Ivy – Issue #2 (Interview session Issue #2)

Confirmed Dead:

Hot Spot – Issue #1 (Interview session Issue #1)

Blue Jay – Issue #1 (Interview session Issue #1)

Arsenal – Issue #1 (Interview session Issue #1)

Wally West – Issue #1 (Only interview session in issue 3, about the length of time at Sanctuary, Chamber session issue #3)

Commander Steel – Issue #1 (Interview session Issue #5 (see below))

Lagoon Boy – Issue #1 (Only interview session in issue 3, about the length of time at Sanctuary, Chamber session issue #3)

Kid Devil – Issue #3 (Only interview session in issue 3, about the length of time at Sanctuary,

Gunfire – Issue #3 (Only interview session in issue 3, about the length of time at Sanctuary,

Tattoo Man – Doomsday Clock #6 (Only interview session in issue 3, about the length of time at Sanctuary)

Gnarrk (Interview session in issue 3, about the length of time at Sanctuary and this issue )

Protector (Interview session Issue #5 )

Solstice (Interview session Issue #5 (previously listed as assumed dead until I realized she is in the splash page of Issue 1 where Superman us hovering over the bodies.

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Assumed Dead:

Nemesis (Only interview session in issue 3, about the length of time at Sanctuary)

Not revealed yet:

A Green Lantern?



Timeline of Heroes Arrival at Sanctuary (as constructed from Issue 3 interviews)

***not included are Arsenal, Hot Spot, Harley* and Blue Jay as to when they arrived/length of stay at the Sanctuary has not been revealed*** (Harley obviously comes soon after Poison Ivy).

***There seems to be inconsistency as Poison Ivy should have been at the Sanctuary before Wally as events that led to Ivy being taken to Sanctuary are referenced as already happening over in Batman before the events of Flash War ***

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Story Threads:

Wally West Wally and his continued struggle with life without his family take center stage in both the activities shown leading up to the Sanctuary killings and the interview sessions which Wally attended once arriving. – In the opening of the issue when Wally is repeating the poem he said that Linda recited at their wedding seems to be a new thing that King added, as I went back to both Wally and Linda’s weddings (too much to go over right now) in The Flash vol. 2 which took place Pre-Flashpoint and could find it to reference. – As I mentioned Wally has a few Doctor Manhattan moments (probably reading too much into it) as he is able to use his connection to the Speed Force to grow the dead flower that Harley through off the Gotham Bridge and bring Poison Ivy back to watch him die. — Wally’s Interview sessions: The interview sessions with Wally seem straight forward except the last one where he says that he has been there for three weeks. In issue three he says that he has been there 2.5 weeks if we go with the fact that everyone was answering that same question on the same day as Booster. — Poison Ivy: Wally hits the rose from Harley with lightning which causes the rose to sprout a pod-type bud in the middle of the bloom. As Wally talks about poetry being about the creation of things and how love makes things, the pod/bud grows bigger, and a green Swamp Thing-esque Poison Ivy appears. Since the New52, DC has been saying that Poison Ivy, like Alec Holland. is connected to The Green (Scott Snyder’s Rotworld: Kingdom or the Future’s End tie-in) This leads me to think of something that has been in the back of my head for a while: In the New Age of Heroes era (post-Dark Nights: Metal) series DAMAGE and the New Justice era series, Justice League Dark, Swamp Thing has suggested that Poison Ivy has been being groomed to be the new avatar of the Green, replacing Alec Holland/Swamp Thing. In Justice League Dark #2, as magic is being attacked by the Dark Multiverse beings called The Others, Constantine confronts Swamp Thing saying he expected him to have a longer run of it before joining the Parliament of Trees, which was later destroyed. Swamp Thing doesn’t deny John’s assertion saying the Green will be better served by a defender who is still rooted in this world This, along with the Parliament being destroyed by The Others perhaps sets the stage for the current Swamp Thing, Alec Holland, to restart the Parliament of Trees and passing on the title to Ivy. – In Damage #6, Alec Holland comes right out and pretty much says that Poison Ivy is being groomed by the Green to be his replacement. After Poison Ivy breaks free of Grodd’s control (this takes place before the events in Batman), Holland shows up and tells Damage/Ethan Avery that the Green is searching for a new avatar. — — Blue & Gold / Dynamicker Duo I want this to be Tom King’s next maxi/ ongoing series Batman/Flash The Batman / Flash panels seem to happen before the Batman/The Flash “The Price” mini-crossover — — Sanctuary Interviews see Wally discussion above Issue #8

Questions and theories Moving forward into Issue #8

How was Wally able to travel in time as Time Travel is supposed to be impossible following the events of Flash War which resulted in Wally being at the Sanctuary in the first place?

Does Nemesis, the only character we haven’t confirmed to be dead, somehow play into the murders?

Is Future Wally somehow connected to Doctor Manhattan?

Heroes in Crisis Tie-Ins





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