Every character in this timeline is different from who they are in the main DC Universe. Wonder Woman is no different. Diana is like Moana and she is obsessed with seeing what is beyond the Island. She grabs a boat one day to sail beyond the mist shielding their home. A kraken attacks and this brings Wonder Woman face to face with the first man she has ever met in Aquaman. They remain friends for years going forward and even plan on getting married. When tragedy strikes at the wedding Diana's mother is struck down by an Atlantian spear thrown by Artemis and Garth is framed for it. This is truly a Game of Thrones styled story. Diana sacrifices her homeland and destroys Themyscira in hopes of killing all of the Atlantians along with Arthur. Because they are a people without a home the invade England take it over as New Themyscira. Meanwhile Arthur and Atlantis come up with a plan to get revenge and showcase their power. They sink mainland Europe but the Amazons raise the British Isles up high. Mera discovers where Diana is going to be and set out on her own to end this war. But Wonder Woman beheads Mera and and keeps the helmet as a trophy. This drives Aquaman mad leading these two to the final showdown in battle. It was revealed that Artemis did not act alone in creating this conflict but that she and Orm have been manipulating one another's sides to bring us to the point of madness. By the time Wonder Woman and Aquaman find out the damage is already done.
This volume also showcases the origin of Aquaman in this new reality. It starts off with how the Atlanteans came into the possession of power that can sink and entire continent. We have seen the death of Mera from multiple points of view in this story and it truly reminds me of Game of Thrones as a mentioned earlier because we are shown the emotions and motives from both sides of the conflict; the drama is high here. Aquaman's origin is different in that he is not raised entirely on land like in the main DC Universe but instead as soon as he becomes a teenager Atlanteans barge into his home and kill his father and take him away. This reinforces that a lot of what made Aquaman the hero we know and love today needed that influence from his father. The Aquaman and Wonder Woman stories are mirror images of each other and work quite well together painting a complete picture.
The next story is titled Lois Lane and the Resistance. Lois Lane is always in the wrong place at the wrong time and in this case nothing has changed. Lois and Jimmy are in Europe when the disaster strikes and Jimmy is washed away. The Amazons arrive to rescue female and child survivors if you are male you are S.O.L. Great Britain has been turned into an occupied fortress by the Amazons. The refugees are taken to detention camps and brainwashing centers assimilate the refugees. Right away Lois sees that there is something wrong with this and goes looking for answers. She comes into to possession of a piece of tech that she thought was from Jimmy but was really from Jimmy but was really from Cyborg. This leads her to the resistance in Britain. The resistance is a group misfits that is lead by Grifter. This group and Lois Lanes story is quite intense and interesting. In the end one of England's greatest heroes returns in Britannia. Britannia has her showdown with Wonder Woman while Lois Lane puts out a call to all of the heroes for the final showdown.
The final story in this volume is about the Outsider. This book gives us the origin of the Outsider This is an interesting story because of who the Outsider is, he is a villain. Seeing how the Terrifics are portrayed in this story and how the DC Universe is twisted is just amazing. Black Adam plays a prominent role in this story as the Outsider is going on a quest to see who has set him up and is playing him. At every turn you expect one of the other characters to take down the Outsider because of the prior knowledge. But at every turn he comes away unscathed even when he goes up against Martian Manhunter. All of this takes place between the call that Cyborg made to the heroes at the beginning of Flashpoint and the final showdown.
Again this story delves into the story behind the Reverse Flash and how he struck at Barry's mother in the past. This is one of the most unique and terrifying villains of the DC Universe. This tale is key to how the Flashpoint timeline came to be. The following story is about Captain Cold in this new reality. He is a a criminal who is playing hero to hide in plain sight as the savior of Central City. He goes by the name Citizen Cold and starts off with a showdown between him and Mr. Freeze. If you think the DC Cinematic Universe is dark and soulless the Flashpoint timeline is just as dark. Cold kills freeze easily. Cold is trying to romance Iris West while worrying about whether anybody has recognized. Meanwhile the surviving rogues are attempting a jail break and revenge on Citizen Cold. Wally is working with a mystery character and Iris. He finds out that Cold is really Snart and the body count rises some more. If this story proves anything it is that Cold is by far one of the most dangerous Flash characters because of how crafty and tactical he is. In the end when the truth comes out and most of the rogues are dead the real downfall of Leonard Snart is his own ego. The death count is high in this but we are only halfway done.
The next story is titled Legion of Doom and is a Heatwave centered story. Shock value from the get go as Heatwave kills half of Firestorm until he is brought down by Cyborg. Once in prison he starts making a plans for an escape and his plan involves an evil version of Plastic Man. But even with all of the odds stacked against him Heatwave takes out vengeance on individual cellmates brutally with an homage to American History X. All of this brutality and mayhem to escape and crash the prison into Detroit so he can take out Cyborg. But in the end Heatwave didn't accomplish his goal and was sent back to prison. While in his cell Plastic Man returns. In another story Gorilla Grodd has taken over the majority of Africa and become a Planet of the Apes style African warlord. But Grodd is not satisfied with is life and he is looking for meaning and purpose.
In the final story of this collection Kid Flash is lost. Bart Allen remembers everything from the previous timeline like Barry Allen. However he has been captured by Brainiac because he is an anomaly. However he is not the only anomaly in the timeline there is a new Hot Pursuit who is a female. Throughout the story we learn that Bart Allen is disappearing like Marty McFly in Back to the Future and it turns out that the new Hot Pursuit is Patty Spivot. Bart Allen discovers that he has a mission to save Barry Allen and to due that he has to run he runs so fast that he disappears into the speed-force similar to the way Barry Allen died in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Flashpoint is a DC Comics event similar to Marvel's House of M, something has happened and the world that these heroes knew no longer exist. This was an okay event I think it could have been executed a little better. You are thrown into this world with our hero the Flash but you don't know what caused this new reality and that is the mystery.
Barry Allen wakes up and realizes the world has changed first off he has no super speed, his powers are gone. He is still at the police station but then he is hit with a second shock to the system, his mother is still alive. Barry is running around losing his mind because of all of the changes but it isn't just the physical changes to the world but his memories are also starting to change. In Barry's quest to get his powers back he seeks out the Batman of this time.
This version of Batman was truly a twisted take on the character. Thomas Wayne has become the Batman of this time because of the death of his son at the hands of gun violence. Thomas Wayne helped Barry get his powers back by having him struck by lightning twice. Now that Barry has his powers back he has a plan to right all of the wrongs of this timeline. He knows the Reverse Flash is behind it but he just doesn't know how he did it. Barry's one thought is that since Atlantis along with Aquaman are tearing the world apart while they war with Wonder Woman and the Amazons. Europe is underwater and many of the heroes of that the world used to have are no where to be seen. In fact the most well know hero of the United States is Cyborg.
The Flash along with Batman and Cyborg have set out on a mission to rescue Superman from a government project. Barry believes by bringing the Justice League together they can stop Aquaman and Wonder Woman from fighting. There are other characters who make their appearances in this series such as Element Woman, Shazam or should I say Captain Thunder and even Hal Jordan as just a pilot no powers. With the help of some of these other heroes the Flash arrives in the middle of a battle where Aquaman and Wonder Woman are about to kill each other. Enchantress turns out to be a double crossing bitch and we see the death of Shazam. Billy Batson is by far not the only death in this timeline of a prominent character, there are lots of them. It is only during this battle that the Reverse Flash arrives. I have to say I love the Reverse Flash as a concept and a villain he is in some cases the most horrifying villain in all of comics he is definitely up there with the likes of Norman Osborn, the Joker, many others.
The big reveal of having the Reverse Flash show up is not because he created this reality but because Barry did when he stopped the Reverse Flash from killing his mother. Imagine if Batman stopped the gunman or Spider-Man stopped the death of his uncle how would their worlds have been changed. This is where the event is stronger than House of M because unlike House of M the person behind the problem is the same person trying to fix the problem. The Reverse Flash is ecstatic because in this new timeline he can kill Barry without erasing himself from existence. But before he can do that Batman kills the Reverse Flash. As the battle is raging on around them Superman shows up to balance the scales and Barry sets off running as fast as he can. He runs so fast that he shatters three different timelines and those three lines mold together into one which becomes the New 52. If Barry's sacrifice gave us the modern age of the DC Universe in Crisis on Infinite Earths. His running gave us the New 52 proving again when the time stream is involved Barry Allen is the greatest hero of the DC Universe.
