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

DC Comics Event: Heroes In Crisis – Issue #7 recap and breakdown and tie-in issues

Other related posts can be found at:

Doomsday Clock #9 recap and breakdown ­

Alive

Solicitation

You’ve seen all the clues. You’ve heard the testimony and eavesdropped on the secret confessions of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes. Now, with the killer revealed, it’s time to find out why. What could have driven a hero to the brink, to turn a savior into a murderer? Rifts will form between old allies, and the trinity of Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman will have their leadership challenged and will question their own judgement. Sanctuary has become something they never imagined…and it’s still potentially carrying on without them!

Full Recap:

Sanctuary

Interview room:

We begin with Wally talking to the Sanctuary camera after the attack on Sanctuary. Wally introduces himself and explains how he was at the facility for three weeks and was there to recover and to stop hiding.



–

As he is talking the panels show other heroes at the Sanctuary

Gnarrk is back in prehistoric times

Red Devil hugs Blue Devil

Roy Harper stares at a needle.

Gunhawk is shooting aliens

Lagoon Boy is facing the blast that put him in a coma

A shrunken Blue Jay sits on the bed in his room

Poison Ivy kills The Joker with vines

Commander Steel beats up some street thugs

Solstice watches TV

Hotspot fights Doctor Light

Tattoo Man seems to be thinking

Wally is hugging with Linda, Iris, and Jai

—

Wally says that he had to look at himself and see why things had hit him so hard through the use of the chambers. He says that by reliving things, he saw who he was. He says he was the problem, that was not anyone else’s fault but his own and that he is not blaming anyone. He says that he was alone even though the Sanctuary kept telling him that he wasn’t the only one and that there were other heroes there with similar struggles. Wally says that the Sanctuary told him that everyone there was a hero and that they were in this together. However, Wally said that despite being told this, he felt alone.

Wally said that when he thought all of the other heroes there that they were fine and that he was the only one with a problem. Wally said that he believed that all of the other heroes there were cool and got better but not him.

Wally says that maybe it was Linda not remembering who he was or the life they had together that set him down this path. Wally says that he is not blaming her, but it was about her and how they used to share everything and he could talk to her but he couldn’t once he returned from the Speed Force. He says that all he ever wanted was his family, and now he felt alone.

Wally is shown traveling through Time as he continues his monologue:

Wally says that he started thinking that the Sanctuary was fake and that the Sanctuary was all just set up for him. He says that he believed that the other superheroes said that they had gone through things just to fool him because as Heroes they do what it takes to save people and that is their everyday thing.

He questions why Sanctuary said that it was anonymous and that something was being hidden from him as all the information kept on the other heroes was deleted. He says that because others saw him as a symbol of hope that they had to save us the ruse and the façade because he was alone. He says that he needed to see it so he knew it wasn’t a lie and he wasn’t sick at all. Wally says he begged the Sanctuary to show him the other occupants but that the Sanctuary responded that it is anonymous so people won’t be afraid to open up. He talks about how the data was cracked into billions of bits and scattered in a billion places so that it became a puzzle that would take the average man a billion years to put back together. Wally says that it took the fastest man alive only a few seconds to put all the data back together again.

Interview session

Wally says that he was weak for an instant, and in that instant, he was everywhere and collected all the data and pieced it back together which allowed him to see every confession, every accident, every horror, and every tear of all of the heroes. In that instant, as he experienced the totality of a thousand heroes in crisis and was not alone, but that it broke him.

Outside Sanctuary:

Wally says that he went outside to catch his breath and that ironically, he wanted to be alone. He says that by running out of the Sanctuary, he must have triggered the emergency alarm ordering everyone in Sanctuary to proceed to the nearest exit. Wally says that as those at the Sanctuary were evacuating that they saw him suffering and came to help him. He says that this was when the bad stuff started to happen.

—

The field outside the Sanctuary:

Wally says that the thing about the Speed Force is that it is a gift of the greatest power and the greatest burden. He says that trying to control the Speed Force takes control every second of every day because you have to make the world’s most dangerous weapon stay put by pushing back at it. He continues and says that after seeing all that hurt that he lost control of it

In the field, Wally sends out a blast that knocks all the others down

Wally recounts that he raced back into Sanctuary looking for something that might help and that when he entered the Sanctuary computer, he had reprogrammed it which gave him control over it. Wally says that he saw Booster Gold and Harley Quinn still inside of Sanctuary and wondered why they hadn’t come out with the others. Wally says he then used his super speed to put both Booster and Harley back into the Chambers, reprogrammed their V.R., so it looked like they had not left, then had Sanctuary show them the dead bodies. Then Wally had Sanctuary show Harley killing Wally to Booster and Booster killing Wally to Harley.

—

Wally says that he went to borrow some of Booster’s tech which activated Booster’s shield. But, Wally disabled the shield which allowed him to use Booster’s tech to travel five days into the future.

— —

Five days in the Future:

Wally finds himself and Poison Ivy in the field of flowers. Future Wally says that there is a rose floating in the Gotham River and for Present day-Wally to find it and plant it. Future-Wally then says that there is one more thing. Present-Day Wally seemingly kills Future-Wally and brings the dead body of Future Wally back to the Sanctuary in the present. Wally confesses that he set up the crime scene so it looks like the heroes could have been killed by either Booster or Harley saying that he did work alongside Barry, the greatest CSI of all time and he knew what clues had to make and then account for Batman also.

Wally says he then carried Booster out of Sanctuary at super speed after he saw the V.R. of Harley killing everyone that he didn’t know it was not real. He says that Booster was so shaken at the scene that he immediately fled. Then he says that he carried Harley out of Sanctuary at super speed and immediately chased after Booster.

Wally says he then went back inside and destroyed the Sanctuary robots and wrote all the gibberish on the wall about the Puddlers, which he explains he learned about from Barry.

— — —

Interview Session:

Wally says that his plan worked and distracted everyone by having them focus on murderers who weren’t and suspects who didn’t do it.

Wally concludes by saying by doing what he did and was free, and it gave Wally five days from the moment he lost control to do something as good as what he had done bad …to finally tell the truth to Lois Lane.

—

Counseling Session

Overall Thoughts on the Issue

Theories Moving forward into Issue #9

Contrary to what seems to be the conventional wisdom of the Internet, Heroes in Crisis #8 was an extremely powerful and moving part of King’s overall story. While the issue is Wally’s confession it was nice (though sad) to finally learn about the events surrounding the murders at Sanctuary.

While the issue is very heavy on the exposition and what some may see as repetitive narration rehashed with old content and information that has already received numerous times before, I feel like King is giving a glimpse of what it is like for people who suffer from PTSD as their whole thought process revolves around how they see themselves and their place in the world as they deal with their traumas.

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.

—

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 ***

—

Some discussions I have had and seen about this issue and story overall suggest that King is just trying to “fill pages.” One example that people like to site is that he tells the reader about “The Puddlers” which Wonder Woman explained back in the first issue as they were looking at the crime scene. Wally talking about it seems like it fit in because he explains how he came to know about the term which in a weird way, seems like he was leaving a clue for Barry even though he says that he fixed the crime scene to confuse Barry and Batman.

I understand that Wally West is a favorite character of many Flash fans as he was the Flash from Crisis on Infinite Earths till Barry returned in Final Crisis. Much like everyone else I was disappointed when Wally was killed in the Flashpoint universe and didn’t return in the New52.

Here is a Flash Fact… Wally is not the first hero to go, rogue and King, is not the first creator to take a beloved icon and take them down a dark path… Ron Marz and his turning Hal Jordan into Parallax is a prime example… Guess what… Spoilers Hal got better and is back to being a good guy and it is part of his ongoing character development.

Who is to say that being trapped outside of time and then coming back to a universe where things are both similar yet there are major differences wouldn’t be traumatizing. What Wally experiences in Heroes In Crisis is a continuation of the story started in the Rebirth Special

Wally, in his moment of weakness essentially pulls the equivalent of Hal killing of the Corps in an effort to rebuild Coast City. Also, I can understand that Wally could have a hard time controlling the Speed Force as in this time in the DCU the Speed Force is broken (as the result of Flash War) and the other forces are gaining strength as a result of the events of the Source Wall destruction over in the Justice League New Justice storyline.

While on the subject of how this ties into the current-future DCU this series and this issue begin the journey to where the DCU finds itself at the beginning of The Doomsday Clock event. In Issue #9 of that series, Manhattan mentions that HOPE erodes and Lex tells Lois that things started with Wally West.

I am going to save the rest of my thoughts and verdict on the event until I have read the final issue because there are still some loose ends to tie up such as if the heroes find out that it was Wally and the ramifications throughout the DCU.

Questions and theories Moving forward into Issue #9

Will we get more information on the Sanctuary heroes like Tattoo Man, Nemesis, and Gunfire?

What will the heroes think when they learn that Wally is the one responsible?

What will Iris have to say as she blames Batman and Barry for Wally’s death?

Is the event somehow a lead into the events of Doomsday Clock as I believe it is?

Heroes in Crisis Tie-Ins

—

Final Issue:

The most-talked about miniseries of the year reaches its stunning finale! The mystery behind the murders at Sanctuary is solved, but the mind behind it is one the heroes never expected. With their deepest secrets exposed, the Trinity has to consider how to carry on. Should the tragedy cause them to redouble their efforts to help their hurting comrades. or will they need to close up shop? The answers will be found in the ashes of this final showdown, and the fates of Booster Gold, Harley Quinn and the rest hang in the balance.