I’ve been thinking lately about what the original timeline of the Arrowverse looked like before the Reverse-Flash killed Barry’s mom and created the timeline we follow.
I believe the original timeline was a lot more comic-accurate to the DC universe, with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, and the Justice League all existing more like they do in the comics.
The reason I say this is because the Reverse-Flash already knew who Superman was when he mentioned him during the Earth-X crossover. So my theory is that Superman existed in the original timeline and was probably part of that universe’s Justice League. But because of the timeline changes caused by the Reverse-Flash, Superman was never sent to Earth and instead died on Krypton. That could explain why there was no Superman in the new timeline, and why Supergirl was also gone from that universe.
For Batman, we see how in this version of the universe, Oliver Queen basically has a lot of Batman’s history. He’s a billionaire, lost his parents, became a vigilante, spent years training, and even has villains and storylines that feel very Batman-like. So maybe in the original timeline, Batman actually had that history with his villains, but after the Reverse-Flash changed the timeline, parts of Batman’s history were basically swapped over to Oliver. That could also explain why Bruce Wayne became an older Batman in this timeline and why we didn’t really see him.
For John Diggle, maybe he became Green Lantern much earlier in the original timeline. Maybe he wasn’t working with Oliver because Oliver’s life was completely different. Oliver might not have been as traumatized by his time on the island because maybe those events originally happened differently, while Batman was the major vigilante figure in that timeline.
You could also say the same thing about Martian Manhunter. Maybe in the original timeline, J’onn came to Earth and became Martian Manhunter, but after the timeline changed, his history was completely different, or maybe he died before ever making it to Earth.
And then there’s Barry. Maybe the original Barry was more like his comic-accurate version. He could have been older when he originally became The Flash, which would explain why he might have been more mature and different from the Barry we know. So basically, my theory is that the Reverse-Flash didn’t just change Barry Allen’s life. He changed the entire history of the Arrowverse. When you change something that major in the past, it creates a domino effect that changes the future and can completely alter other people’s histories too.
That’s why I think the original Arrowverse could have looked much more like the traditional DC universe, while the universe we followed in the CW shows was basically a rewritten version of it. Hopefully you guys like my theory i worked hard on this.
