DC Rebirth is the 2016 relaunch of DC Comics, and their first major rebranding since The New 52 began in 2011. Unlike the latter, DC Rebirth isn't a continuity reboot of the DC Universe; it's more akin to Marvel's contemporary line-wide relaunches of late, with notable status quo shifts and new creative teams taking over certain titles, as well as some books being renumbered and others getting new #1s.

DC Rebirth is a product of The New 52's dissolution in 2015, which gave way to another (short-lived) initiative called DC YOU. While many of the creative decisions made during the DC YOU era were acclaimed by critics and readers, it hadn't boosted sales; in fact, DC's overall comic figures dropped to what they were before The New 52 launched. Because of this, they decided something had to be done to reignite interest in their books.

Geoff Johns —who was personally responsible for the "rebirths" of Green Lantern and The Flash a decade or so earlier— is at the helm of this ambitious project, citing an emphasis on "legacy" and doubling down on what readers have always loved about DC Comics. Additionally, a one-shot called DC Universe: Rebirth (penned by Johns himself) will be published, laying the groundwork for the rest of the new line.

See Young Animal for another series of new book launches designed to bring in new readers, this time harkening back to early '90s Vertigo Comics. See WildStorm for yet another relaunch: Warren Ellis's reboot of the universe formerly owned by Wildstorm Productions.

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DC Rebirth provides examples of the following tropes:

• Actually a Doombot: In Supergirl Rebirth #2, Kara fights Cyborg Superman. She wins, but she is disappointed when she discovers that it is only a drone.
  Supergirl: Of course... Another lie. Another fake. A drone. It exploded but... I barely touched it.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Hugo Strange, of all people, became now much more muscular. He even has a slight Fanservice moment when he's working out naked. His face, however, is as Gonkish as ever.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • Aqualad is gay in this continuity.
  • Traci 13 and Natasha Irons aren't straight either, but if they are bi or lesbians is yet to be determined. They are dating each other, though.
• Affirmative Action Legacy: Some are getting noticeable pushes:
  • Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz are sharing the role of Earth's Green Lantern(s).
  • Jamie Reyes as Blue Beetle.
  • Jackson Hyde is once more Aqualad, and is now also gay.
• Alternate Company Equivalent/Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Justice League: Rebirth #1. An insect-like Eldritch Abomination called a Reaper who is "harvesting" humans on Earth, and the vanguard of thousands of said creatures... say what? Is an Intercompany Crossover with Commander Shepard on the way? Many are noting the shocking similarity, and also noting that Bryan Hitch worked on The Christmas Invasion episode of Doctor Who as well.
• Alternate Continuity: Subverted. It turns out that "Prime Earth" is the same universe as "New Earth", but with histories and memories erased, changed, or otherwise altered.
• Aluminium Christmas Trees: "Kenan Kong", or in Chinese name order "Kong Kenan", is a plausible Chinese name, even if it reminds some of the very un-Chinese Kenan & Kel and King Kong. Parsed by Chinese characters, it would be Kong Ke-nan. And Kong is the surname of none other than Confucius (derived from Kong Fu-zi).
• And Then John Was a Zombie: In Part 3 of "Night of the Monster Men", Nightwing and Gotham Girl get infected and transform into monsters.
• Archnemesis Dad:
  • Supergirl fights her father in the first arc of her book.
  • Batwoman turns against her father after finding out that he is the leader of the Colony.
• Arc Welding:
  • Prime Earth is not Barry Allen's fault. It's Doctor Manhattan of Watchmen's attempt to create life.
  • Prime Earth (post-Flashpoint continuity) and New Earth (pre-Flashpoint continuity) are one and the same.
• Arc Words: "Every second is a gift."
• Ascended Fanboy: Wally's relationship with Barry is explored more in Rebirth, as he focuses on his idolizing of Barry well before he became Kid Flash himself.
• Audience Surrogate: Wally West as the person who essentially misses the old way of things and Dr. Manhattan as the clueless writer seeking to enforce the bleaker world.
• Back for the Dead: Pandora, essentially the face of the New 52, is callously murdered by Dr. Manhattan in the same way he murdered Rorschach.
• Badass Boast:
  • Wonder Woman's boast in Justice League: Rebirth #1 is simple but tremendously effective:
    Wonder Woman: We're the Justice League. Run.
  • Before the Leaguers went inside the Reaper, Batman said:
    Batman: We're going to find its brain, and negotiate the terms of its surrender.
• Badass Family: You thought Superman was tough? Wait till he tag-teams with his wife, his son, his dog and his cousin.
• Bait and Switch: DC have made a big deal about how most of their titles are getting reduced in price to $2.99. However, since a lot of these titles will now be shipping twice as often, fans will actually end up paying more each month.
  • From a story perspective, Superwoman was sold on the premise that Lois Lane would be the main character, with Lana Lang taking on a supporting role. In reality, Lana Lang is the main character, with Lois Lane dying at the end of the first issue with the implication that there is no way to bring her back.
• Bat Family Crossover: "Night of the Monster Men", which will begin in late September and end in early October, running through rotating issues of Batman, Nightwing, and Detective Comics, in that order. The cast of all the books join forces to battle Dr. Hugo Strange and an army of kaiju threatening Gotham during a massive storm.
• Batman Gambit: In Detective Comics, Batman himself actually is a pawn in one. He gets ambushed by the Colony and gets the everloving crap beat out of him before getting captured. This causes Batwoman to assemble the rest of the team at the Belfry. She also contacts her father, a Colonel, after recognizing the Colony is a military organization, and invites him as well in order to get his advice. Unbeknownst to her, her father is the leader of the Colony, and he uses the opportunity to disable and take control of the Belfry. The intent all along was to gain access to Batman's data in preparation for a strike on another target, and Kate played right into her dad's hands by doing what he expected her to do.
• Battle Couple:
  • Red Robin (Tim Drake) and Spoiler (Stephanie Brown) in Detective Comics (Rebirth). He is a tactical genius. She is completely unpredictable. The two of them are used to bicker and banter while they kick butts.
  • Jeremiah and Eiza Danvers, Supergirl's foster parents in Supergirl (Rebirth). They are a Happily Married pair of agents trained to deal with and take down alien threats.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: How Clayface joins Batman's little "Bat-army" - Bats agrees to help him regain who he was in exchange for joining him and learning to be a hero.
• Berserk Button: After spending nearly a decade in quiet hiding with his wife and son, it's the sight of Lex Luthor claiming the title of Superman that instantly has Pre-Flashpoint Superman donning the red and blue costume and revealing himself to the world.
• Big "NO!": Batwoman lets off one when Colony soldiers open fire on Cassandra and fill her full of tranquilizer darts, since she initially thought they were using live ammo.
• Bi the Way: Issue 2 of Wonder Woman implies Diana was The Casanova during her life on Paradise Island. (Or to be more accurate, some gossiping Amazons speculate that she is.) It is canonized that she was closer than friends with at least one female peer, but the exact nature of their relationship is deliberately left vague.
• Bookends: Inverted Trope. Action Comics ended its run with a storyline involving Doomsday. It's starting its restored run with a storyline involving Doomsday.
  • A variation. Both the beginning and the end of an era have a Flash arriving in the Batcave.
• Breaking Speech: Aquaman gives a stunning one to Black Manta.
• Breakout Character: Jonathan Kent as Superboy, and by extension Damian Wayne, chiefly because they're being written as young boys, and not short adults.
• Bury Your Gays: Red Racer, the gay alternate counterpart of the Flash introduced in The Multiversity, sacrifices his life to save a captured gathering of alternate Supermen from a villain.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • A lot of characters that have been MIA for awhile, hinted at or mentioned and rarely used, such as Ted Kord (last seen in Forever Evil), Jackson Hyde (the new Aqualad introduced before Flashpoint), and Jaime Reyes are getting pushes once more.
  • Character design and synopsis seems to hint that the Doomsday in Action Comics is actually the beast that killed the post-Crisis Superman.
  • The original red-haired Wally West returns in DC Universe: Rebirth #1
  • In a surprising move, Bibbo Bibboloskwi made his return in Superman #4, having not been seen in the comics since Dan Jurgens left the Superman title back in 2000.
    • And the guy who came all the way from Gotham to arm wrestle with him? None the other than Hacken.
  • Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong, aka The General, made his Post-Flashpoint debut in Detective Comics #937, as a member of The Colony.
  • In All-Star Batman #3 Harold Allnut, Bruce's mute, kyphosis-suffering genius mechanic, shows up for the first time since his apparent death during the Hush Saga.
  • Traci 13 shows up in Superwoman.
  • A somewhat cooler Kite-Man appeared during the end of I Am Gotham. He still got beat up.
  • In the biggest bus ride ever, New Super-Man #8 reintroduces Ching Lung, the villainous Chinese figure from the very first issue of Detective Comics all the way back in 1937, a whopping 80 year bus ride!
  • Roxie Rocket, a character originally from the DCAU, reappeared in Justice League of America #1. Her last appearance in the comics was in Batgirl in April, 2007.
• Call Back:
  • The phrase "My name is Wally West. I'm the fastest man alive," that began during Mark Waid's Flash run is used during Wally's grand reintroduction.
  • In Flash: Rebirth #1 Wally admonished Barry when the latter realizes he forgot he could create a costume out of Speed Force, something established during Mark Waid's run.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: In Justice League: Rebirth #1, Clark has reservations over joining the Justice League. Lois invokes the trope by saying at some point, the League will need Superman, and Clark won't be able to put off membership for long.
• Came Back Wrong: Cyborg Superman turns the people of Argo into Cyborgs to bring them back from the dead. However they are only soulless zombie robots.
  Supergirl: This isn't the future. Look at them. Look at their eyes. You made them monsters! [...] These things aren't alive. You perverted our people's bodies. It isn't right. They move but they don't talk and they aren't really alive.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Superman and Jonathan end up discovering Dinosaur Island as well as the epitaph concerning The Losers, both from DC: The New Frontier, in Superman #8.
  • Angela Chen from Superman: The Animated Series appears in the Vixen one-shot, marking her first appearance in the DCU.
• Canon Welding: with Watchmen
• Central Theme: Love, and by extension, legacy. According to Scott William Foley:
  With The New 52, DC abandoned the very thing that made it unique – love, and the legacy that consequently results from it. In this book we see the pre-New 52 Lois with Clark with their son – love. We see Ryan Choi working with Ray Palmer – legacy. We see a meaningful glance between Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance – love. We see Jaime Reyes side by side with Ted Kord – legacy. We see Arthur Curry proposing to Mera – love. We see the other Wally West living up to the name “Kid Flash” – legacy. We see classic versions of Dr. Fate and Johnny Thunder – legacy. We see the classic Legion flight ring – legacy.
• The Chessmaster: Mr. Oz, manipulating and pushing things to suit his needs and if certain characters are doing things not according to his plans, he pulls them off the board. So far, he has captured the pre-Flashpoint Doomsday, the Future's End Tim Drake, the normal Tim Drake and the multiversal villain Prophecy.
• Comes Great Responsibility: In Superman: Rebirth #2, Jonathan tells Superdad that the shirt with the S shield was bought second hand at a thrift store. Supes tells him gravely that while the boy who wore it outgrew the shirt, at some point Jonathan is going to have to grow into the role of Superman.
• Continuity Nod: In Nightwing #2, Batgirl makes mention of "Batwoman's bootcamp crew" and "the Gotham Twins", references to Detective Comics (Rebirth) and Batman, respectively.
• Continuity Porn: Rebirth by definition has to indulge in this, but Batman: Rebirth #6 takes it Up to Eleven in dusting off old D-list Batman villains like Colonel Blimp and Kite-Man.
• Continuity Reboot: Averted, which DC was very strident to establish before officially announcing Rebirth. It's essentially a merging of the Post-Crisis DCU with the New 52 setting. It is however, a starting point for new DC readers, much in the same way All-New, All-Different Marvel is for Marvel readers.
• Cosmic Plaything: The DCU for Dr. Manhattan. It wouldn't be the first time an omnipotent being decided to toy with universes - see Rift from the Worlds Collide crossover.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Batman takes on fifty Colony soldiers at the end of Detective Comics #935. Early in #936, it's revealed that he got his ass utterly kicked, complete with getting captured.
• Dare to Be Badass: In Superman #4, Jon's caught between helping his father against the Eradicator and helping protect his mom. He's also wary of using his powers after the death of his cat Goldie. Lois tells him that he has the best of both worlds and he can be great if he chooses to be. He zips up his Superman jacket, solders on Krypto's cape to his coat and charges into battle.
• Death Is Cheap: When discussing the New 52 Superman's death, both the pre-Flashpoint Superman and Lois realize that this sort of thing never happened in this timeline and it's only a matter of time before before he somehow comes back.
• Decomposite Character:
  • One of the big reveals is that the New 52 Wally West is NOT a Race Lifted, Younger and Hipper version of the original Wally West, but is actually his younger cousin. It turns out both boys were named after their great-grandfather, Wallace West.
  • Batman discovers that there are actually three Jokers.
  • There also seem to be two different Clock Kings.
  • The New 52 versions of Kal-El and Clark Kent are two different people.
• Decon-Recon Switch: As one critic stated in an essay: "Geoff Johns is drawing a straight line from Watchmen to The New 52. He’s saying that the deconstructionist comic books of the 80s - great books, seminal classics - have so poisoned the well that they have negatively impacted what came after. It’s the ultimate piece of comic criticism (and one I think a lot of old-timers, who were alive and energized when Watchmen first hit stores, would agree with) and it’s in the form of a comic. Yes, Geoff Johns says, DC is too dark and unhappy today. And what’s more, it’s a direct result of chasing the dragon of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns and getting ever diminished returns."
• Defiant to the End: Pandora, who screams defiantly at Dr. Manhattan before she is struck down.
• Despair Event Horizon: When Linda Park tells Wally that she doesn't remember him, he's devastated enough to just go find Barry and speak to him one last time before he's pulled into the Speed Force.
• Deus ex Machina: Expect this whenever Mr. Oz is eyeing the scene. He's so far directly responsible for capturing Doomsday in Action Comics and "killing" Tim Drake in Detective Comics. His reasons are still unknown.
• Do Not Spoil This Ending:
  • The DC Comics page for issue #1 states: "It all begins here. Do not skip to the last page. Do not let a friend or message board ruin this comic for you. The future (and past) of the DC Universe starts here. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!" Of course, scans of the comic were leaked a week before release.
  • Any comic directly related to the big reveal in the above special are also tagged in the solicits with a warning to read Rebirth first before reading (specifically The Flash: Rebirth and Titans: Rebirth).
  • The final issue of DCYou's Teen Titans starts off with a note warning that the events therein take place after Detective Comics #940, as the former is an immediate follow up to the ending of the latter. Which is fine for anyone keeping up, but for anyone who chooses to ignore the warning are in for a rude awakening.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Batwoman adopts this role for herself in relation to the trainees in Detective Comics.
  Batwoman: I will be hard on you, because if I am not, you will die.
• Driven to Madness: Suicide Squad ended up taking the Black Vault and, within Belle Reve, took out General Zod to learn its and his secrets. However, without Zod inside it, everyone in the prison ended up going insane. Except for Harley Quinn, who was already insane and became sane.
• Driven to Suicide: Batman #12, with its appropriately named "I am Suicide" story arc, reveals that young Bruce attempted to slit his wrists after his parents died. When that didn’t pan out, he dedicated himself to fight crime, using his suicide attempt to justify the end of Bruce Wayne and from that moment forward, Batman would be all there was to him.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Kenan Kong makes his first appearance during the Superman: Super League storyline.
• Evil Counterpart\Not So Different\Shadow Archetype: Many fans pointed out that new Deathstroke book draws attention to a lot of similarities between Slade and Batman and that many things pointed out about Slade's relationship with Rose could also apply to Bruce relationship with several of his sidekicks. And that this way of thinking leads to Wintergreen being such counterpart for Alfred.
• Exact Words: Lois has to explain Doomsday to Jon; she tells him he's a monster whom Superman fought on their Earth. Jon asks, "What happened then?" With a pained expression, Lois says, "Daddy won... that's the most important thing."
• Face Death with Dignity:
  • At the end of DC Universe Rebirth, Wally loses all his hopes of reconnecting with universe after finding out his wife and lightning rod Linda Park no longer remembers him. He accepts his ultimate fate of fading into Speed Force forever and uses his last willpower to give a farewell to Barry. Barry remembers his surrogate son and manages to pull him out of Speed Force after hearing these words:
    Wally West: Every second was a gift. That's why I won't die in anguish, I'll go out with love in my heart.
  • Batman in Batman #1, when he has to steer a crashing plane into the bay while standing on the roof. Gotham and Gotham Girl swoop in before the plane makes impact, sparing him.
  • In Detective Comics #940, Tim Drake is left barely standing after surviving a wave of military drones meant to attack the city. Thinking he's caught a break, he realizes to late that a second wave is incoming and he's in no condition to find a way out. He accepts his fate, makes peace with his loved ones, and signs off in a way that shows he finally acknowledges a part of himself everyone always believed him to be.
    Tim Drake: Robin out.
• Face–Heel Turn: Spoiler, lost in her grief, decides to turn against Batman and his team.
• Failed a Spot Check: In "Return to the Planet", no one realizes the Lois Lane who waltzes into the Daily Planet isn't the New 52 version, despite this Lois being much older and with a different hair color. The only one who doesn't buy it is Superwoman, who saw her die.
• Famous Last Words: "Robin out." Except we know he's fine.
• Final Speech: Pandora gets one in DC Universe: Rebirth before Doctor Manhattan kills her:
  Pandora: This won't hide what you've done. It's been my burden to carry. My curse to suffer through. The naive little Pandora unleashed evils upon the world. Skepticism. Doubt. Corruption. All things your cold heart believes in. But in the end, there was hope. And the heroes of this universe embody it. Their hope, their devotion, their love for one another will vanquish what you've done. It may be over for me but they will prove you wrong. They will prove that you are nothing but a lonely, cruel monst—
• Five-Man Band: The cast of Detective Comics fits this role to a T:
  • The Leader: Batman
  • The Lancer: Batwoman
  • The Smart Guy: Red Robin
  • The Big Guy: Orphan
  • The Chick: Spoiler
  • Sixth Ranger: Clayface
• Foreshadowing:
  • DC Rebirth #1 contains several not-so-subtle hints regarding the involvement of Dr. Manhattan even before the Wham Shot of the smiley button:
    • The opening page not only has the prominent watch motif, but also Dave Gibbons' signature nine-panel layout.
    • The entire page of Pandora's death is layed out exactly like the page of Rorschach's death, frame-by-frame. Doubles as a Mythology Gag.
    • Before that, the final issue of the Darkseid War storyline in Justice League shows Owlman trying to get the secrets to the universe, only to be reduced to a splotch of blood. A very familiar splotch...
  • Regarding the original Wally's return, the final issue of Titans Hunt—which dropped just before Rebirth—ended with the revelation that there was a tenth member of the original Teen Titans whom nobody could remember, which was followed by an ominous bolt of lightning crashing down.
  • The "death" of Tim Drake, which was first referenced in post-Convergence Batman Beyond #12. Barbara recounts one of the greatest mysteries to ever plague Bruce's career as Batman, the disappearance of Tim Drake—a mystery he could never solve. We learn now how that is even possible, in Detective Comics #940: Mr. Oz zaps Tim out of continuity and imprisons him, right at the moment of his death. Incidentally, the fact that Futures End!Tim Drake also gets zapped out of continuity in the prelude to Batman Beyond's Rebirth run also foreshadows the fate of Tim Drake.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In Aquaman #6, Arthur explains this to Superman, claiming that he's hated living under the shadow of the Trinity and the friendship of Barry, Hal and Cyborg within the Justice League.
• Giving Them the Strip: In DC Rebirth #1, the elderly Johnny Thunder is attempting to get out of his nursing home. The orderlies grab him and he escapes them by slipping out of the bathrobe they have grabbed hold of.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Jonathan has heat vision that can hurt his father Superman, yet gets a mild concussion falling from a broken tree branch.
• The Heart: Pre-Flashpoint Superman tells Dick Grayson that in every universe, Dick is this. If Dick says someone is trustworthy, even Bats will take him at his word.
• Heroic B.S.O.D.: Batwoman has a bit of one while watching footage of Batman receiving a beatdown from Colony soldiers. Not only because she's fought Batman before and knows exactly how tough he is, but because Batman is her cousin, and she has a history of not taking things well when her family is in danger.
• Heroic R.R.O.D.: Batwoman invokes this as part of her training regimen. She pits her trainees against waves of Joker constructs for three hours to stress-test them, so she can find out when and how they'll break in a full-on battle.
• He's Back: At the end of Superman #6, the world has accepted the pre-Flashpoint Superman as this.
• I Did What I Had to Do:
  • Clark Kent's non-answer to Jimmy when asked about how it's possible he's not Superman when he was outed as him in front of the whole world.
  • Cyborg Superman defends his actions stating that he did what he needed to do to guarantee Supergirl's happiness.
    Cyborg Superman: I heard you, Kara. You longed to return to Argo City. I did only what needed to be done to give you that.
• Important Haircut: Gotham Girl shaves her head after the death of her family.
• In-Name-Only:
  • All-Star Batman has absolutely no connection to another certain title that uses "All-Star" and "Batman" in the same title.
  • Aside from featuring the sons of Superman and Batman, there's little else connecting Super-Sons with the 1970's series of stories of the same name.
• Jerk Jock: Kenan Kong is flat out a bully. His fearlessness captures the attention of a secret organization, however.
• Jet Pack: Cyborg Superman equips all Argonian zombies with jet packs.
• Kneel Before Zod: The Trope Namer bellows this out after he kills Captain Boomerang and frees himself from the Phantom Zone.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Pandora's last words can essentially be read as her commentary, not on Dr. Manhattan specifically, but on the legacy left by Watchmen. It's the most obvious Rebirth #1 can get in terms of explaining its thesis.
• Legacy Character:
  • Of a sort. DC Rebirth is set to reestablish what made DC titles fun again in the same way Green Lantern: Rebirth and Flash: Rebirth had done to reestablish the core characters and what made them interesting.
  • The event brings back a lot of identities or side characters and sidekicks that had been done away with in the New 52 in order to "streamline" the continuity. Jackson Hyde (Aqualad) and Ryan Choi (The Atom) make their return in the one-shot.
  • Whoo-boy, the Legacy left behind by the New 52 Superman with at least five heroic S-Shield bearers.
  • Rebirth sees the debut of a new Kid Flash (New 52 Wally West) & Superboy (Jon Kent).
  • DC Universe: Rebirth #1 confirms there have been three Jokers - the original Golden Age version, the one birthed from The Killing Joke and the New 52 one. Meaning that the Joker's Multiple-Choice Past takes a whole new meaning!
  • DC Universe: Rebirth #1 brings the pre-Flashpoint Wally West back into continuity & establishes that he was the original Kid Flash, retroactively making Bart Allen into the second person to use the name, and the New 52 Wally West the third. Wally will also be using the Flash name going forward, meaning that the Flash is once again a legacy character.
• Love Makes You Evil: In Supergirl: Rebirth, Cyborg Superman makes horrible, horrible things such like turning corpses into reanimated, soulless zombie cyborgs and making human sacrifices. And everything -everything- he does is because he loves his daughter and wants her to be happy. He says "I'm doing this for you!" over and again, and he means it.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: In Supergirl Rebirth #2, Cyborg-Superman tells Kara he is her father (who she had previously thought dead). Understandably, she didn't take this revelation well.
• Mama Bear: Don't mess with the pre-Flashpoint Lois Lane and don't threaten her son as the Eradicator learns the hard way when she dons Batman's old Hellbat Armor from the Robin Rises storyline and starts pummeling him.
• Mind Screw: Clark Kent shows up during the battle between Lex and pre-Flashpoint Superman in Action Comics #957.
• Morality Pet: Lex Luthor's reason for putting on the fallen Man of Steel's cape and mantle? To honor his comatose sister, Lena Luthor, who he knows wouldn't approve of him being the ruler of Apokolips. Heck, she shot him.
  • This comes back to bite him as an experiment to restore her, which he believed had failed, actually worked. Unfortunately, her first order of business upon waking is to raise an army of Bizaress clones, capture him, and transform herself into a new super-villain called Ultrawoman.
• Movie Superheroes Wear Black:
  • Superman's Rebirth costume is a really dark almost bordering on black blue◊, with only his cape. S shield, red line on the boots and silver armbands providing any contrast, justified. as it's visually based on Superman's first◊ and second (as well as current)◊ DCEU costumes.
• Mr. Fanservice: Deathstroke seems to be getting shirtless or more, up to outright naked, every two issues of his new book.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The Teen Titans are almost how they are in both Teen Titans shows, albeit replacing Cyborg with Kid Flash. Then again, Kid Flash has made appearances in both shows as well.
  • The Suicide Squad line-up is heavily inspired by the one from the movie.
  • Super-Sons, the book set to feature Damian Wayne and Jon Kent, gets its name from a series of non-canonical stories that originated from World's Finest #215 in January 1973 featuring the hypothetical college-aged sons of Superman and Batman.
  • Pandora was Geoff Johns' "escape switch" of sorts for New 52. Apparently, Johns realized he had no use for her.
  • Batman: Rebirth #3. Hank and Claire training and studying to be superheroes in exactly the same poses as Bruce's origin story in Detective Comics #33.
  • Batman: Rebirth #4, Gotham handles a suicide bomber in exactly the same way Superman handled the suicidal goth teen in All-Star Superman #10. Unlike Superman, however, he fails.
  • In Supergirl: Rebirth #1, Kara fights the Kryptonian werewolf Lar-On, who first appeared in World's Finest #256 way back in 1979.
  • Basil Karlo/Clayface uses the name Matt Hagan in an audition. Doubly so, since Batman: The Animated Series gave Hagan a background in acting like Karlo.
  • Superwoman: Rebirth features digital media tech conglomerate The Daily Star, the rival of traditional news publisher The Daily Planet. This is a nod to the history of Superman comics, as the original name for the iconic newspaper Lois and Clark worked for was originally "The Daily Star". This was an Homage by Joe Shuster, who grew up selling newspapers for the Toronto Daily Star before moving to America (and was how he became interested in comics in the first place). The name was changed due to legal reasons, but as the Toronto Star has since dropped the "Daily" from their name back in 1971, it makes sense for the original name to make a comeback.
  • Superwoman: Rebirth #1 also has Lois catch a fighter jet, leading to a memorable exchange borrowed straight from Superman:
    Superwoman: I've got you!
    Fighter Pilot: You've got us?! Who's got you?!
  • Aqualad's Rebirth look is virtually the same as how he looked in Young Justice.
• New Season New Title: Gotham Academy: Next Semester fits the bill here.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: In issue #3, Cyborg Superman brings the people of Argo City back from the dead by turning them into cyborgs. So they are alien zombie cyborgs.
• Not Quite Dead: Pre-Flashpoint Lois and Clark believe this of New 52 Superman, as Pre-Flashpoint Clark was the same Superman killed by Doomsday, and then returned shortly after. And with signs of a "Reign of the Supermen"-like storyline approaching (see Recycled Premise below), this might be a strong possibility. And that's not even getting into what the mysterious Mr. Oz meant by saying neither Pre-Flashpoint Lois and Clark, and New 52 Superman "are what they seem". Ultimately, Clark discovers that there's no Regeneration Matrix within the Fortress of Solitude like his had, thus he realizes that the New 52 Superman truly is Killed Off for Real - then Clark Kent shows up.
• Obliviously Evil: Dr. Manhattan is not exactly a Greater Scope Villain, but rather is portrayed as a writer who doesn't understand why people would not want dark and depressing stories.
• Off Model: In Titans: Rebirth, Wally in his Kid Flash suit. Specifically, his logo is a red lightning bolt in a white circle with a red outline. When it shouldn't be, and in fact isn't in anything else, including DC Universe: Rebirth and subsequent issues of Titans. Wally never used the circle on his Kid Flash suit; that's a Bart Allen thing, Wally's has always just been a simple red lightning bolt.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: In Supergirl (Rebirth) appears Kryptonian werewolf Lar-On. His lycanthropy is caused by Red Kryptonite poisoning (Red K does weird things to Kryptonians), and he turns into a muscled, huge, red-furred humanoid wolf armed with Eye Beams.
• Out-Gambitted: Whoo, boy, the first issue of Deathstroke: A dictator hires Deathstroke to get a Congressman re-elected to get the US to stay out of his genocide campagin, but asks a favor by getting him to kill the Clock King, who was under his (the dictator) protection. The plan was that Deathstroke would kill the Clock King and the dictator would kill Deathstroke. However, Deathstroke outwitted him back doubling the pay then blackmailing the senator into killing himself, thus putting the dictator in trouble with the Clock King. Then, it's ultimately revealed that the dictator did all that just to get Deathstroke to change costumes, leading to him taking his old costume.
• Outside-Context Problem: Watchmen's Dr. Manhattan, who up until that point wasn't even part of DC continuity!
• Overprotective Dad: Deconstructed with Supergirl and Batwoman's parents. They truly love their daughters and want to protect them at all costs. However, neither Kara nor Kate appreciate their over-controlling, outright evil methods.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Superman. Hurt his wife, son, cousin, dog... and you'll be lucky if he only beats the crap out of you.
  • Batman. After Tim Drake's alleged death, he was even scarier than usual, at least within the pages of Detective Comics and "Night of the Monster Men"
  • Deconstructed with Zor-El, who does horrible things because he wants to protect his daughter and make her happy. And he doesn't listen when Supergirl tells she doesn't approve of his actions.
• Pietà Plagiarism: In issue #3, Cyborg Alura holds Supergirl's foster mother's body in her arms.
  • In Superman #16, Superman of Earth-23 holds Red Racer's body in his arms
• Power Creep, Power Seep: Ask people who dwell a lot into The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny and they would tell you that, while powerful, Doctor Manhattan in Watchmen never showed to be able to do things on a level comparable to higher-tier Marvel and DC heroes. Rebirth pushed him way above them, into the league with some of the most powerful characters from the Big Two. It's implied he could accomplish this thanks to Barry Allen's and Pandora's actions in Flashpoint, but it's still impressive. He also killed a member of the New Gods.
• Prisons Are Gymnasiums: Possible explanation for how Hugo Strange got so muscular.
• Race Lift: More like undoing one, but Rose Wilson is biracial once again, with a white father (Deathstroke) and a Hmong-Cambodian mother. While this was also the case in the pre-Flashpoint continuity, her origin had been altered in the New 52 so that both of her parents were white.
• Reality Ensues: As noted above, Batman trying to take on fifty Colony soldiers alone ends with him being beaten and captured.
• Reconstruction: The whole point of the DC Universe Rebirth one-shot.
• Recycled Premise:
  • A few people have said that the Superman titles would be going through something of a "Reign of the Supermen"-like storyline going into DC Rebirth. Indeed, with the Eradicator making his first New 52 appearance and the Cyborg Superman returning, Supergirl trying to make up for Superman's loss, we also have expies of Superboy and Steel in the form of Jonathan Kent (who is taking up the Superboy title) and Lex Luthor. And this isn't even counting Kenen Kong, the New 52 Lois Lane and the pre-Flashpoint Superman!
  • Raven's miniseries is about her moving away from the Titans and trying to live a normal life and attending high school, until one of her classmates goes missing, leading her to find a mysterious threat. It's pretty much the same premise as her miniseries from 2008.
  • The first arc of Green Arrow sees Oliver losing his fortune and left for dead, a premise that had been done before, most recently during Jeff Lemire's run.
  • Red Hood and the Outlaws has Red Hood working undercover by allying himself with Black Mask's crime organization. Not only is this a callback to Batman: Under the Red Hood, it's also rather similar to Grayson as well as its followup Nightwing.
  • The first arc of Titans features Linda Park not remembering her relationship with Wally due to the machinations of Abra Kadabra. Something similar happened within the pages of The Flash, where Linda was retconned out of existence by Abra Kadabra.
• Refusal of the Call: Up to the beginning of Superman: Rebirth, the pre-Flashpoint Superman doesn't bother donning the red and blues, essentially twiddling his thumbs until the New 52 Superman returns. When Superman learns that there's no Regeneration Matrix for his New 52 counterpart, he averts it and decides to return to being Superman.
• Retcanon:
  • Nightwing's new outfit recalls his look from The New Batman Adventures.
  • National City from the Supergirl (2015) TV show now exists in the DC Universe.
  • Katana has adopted her costume from the Suicide Squad (2016) movie after her previous suit was damaged. She also now wields a wakizashi as a side arm, much like she does in the film.
  • Likewise, The Joker's alleged new design is similar to Jared Leto's portrayal of the character.
  • Wonder Woman has a new costume resembling the one worn by Gal Gadot in the DCEU.
  • Bumblebee has a new hairstyle inspired by the one she wears in DC Super Hero Girls.
  • The League of Shadows from The Dark Knight Saga are used in Detective Comics.
• Retcon:
  • The younger, black Wally West is now Daniel West's son instead of his nephew, since Rudi West is once again the original Wally's dad.
  • Clayface is now depicted as a Tragic Villain who never wanted to hurt anyone, and who was transformed as the result of a horrible accident. His prior New 52 appearances depicted him as a violent murderer who only became Clayface in the first place because he wanted to get revenge on the people who ruined his acting career. The Tragic Villain angle was an aspect of a different Clayface, however.
  • In the pre-Flashpoint continuity, Rose Wilson was the daughter of Slade Wilson and Lillian "Sweet Lili" Worth, a Hmong bordello owner Slade met in Cambodia. The New 52 changed Rose's mother to Adeline Kane, erasing her Asian heritage in the process. Rebirth strikes the New 52 origin from canon, with Rose once again being the biracial daughter of Lillian and Slade. Her past also appears to be retconned, as she makes no mention of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and claims to have been trained by Nightwing, much to Slade's chagrin.
  • During Geoff John's run on Justice League, Cheetah was portrayed as being okay with the Cheetah's powers, gained from cutting her hand on a knife. This is changed to her being anything but happy with them, which were forced on her by Urtzkartaga, as with the Post-Crisis version. Also, where the New 52 version was a serial criminal, this version has been changed to having once been Wonder Woman's friend.
  • Etta Candy has been returned to her normal larger proportions. She's also got a promotion, going from being Steve Trevor's underling to being his superior.
  • The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom establishes that Captain Atom never left the his Moon exile at the end of his New 52 series, thus many of his appearances between then and now are rendered non-canon.
• Retirony: In Detective Comics, Tim Drake gets accepted to a prestigious university, and decides to give up the superhero life after doing One Last Job for Batman. He nearly gets gunned down to death in a Heroic Sacrifice, saved only by an interfering Mr. Oz, but to the family, he's apparently dead. Stephanie even invokes this to Batman while mourning over him.
• The Reveal:
  • Dr. Manhattan of Watchmen is the true party responsible for the New 52 universe by altering the pre-Flashpoint universe.
  • The original red-haired Wally West is still around.
  • The Joker who first fought Batman, the one who crippled Barbara Gordon, and the one responsible for the events of Death of the Family and Endgame aren't the same man, but three separate people.
  • The Scarab isn't Xeno-technology that was mistaken for Magic after all, it's the other way around.
  • Superwoman: Rebirth #1: Lana Lang is the Red Electric Superwoman.
  • Titans #2: Abra Kadabra is apparently the one responsible for erasing Wally West from history.
  • Wonder Woman #11: Wonder Woman hasn't been to Themyscira since she originally left with Steve Trevor. The version she's visited during the New 52 is a fake, and Diana's memories have indeed been tampered with.
• Save the Villain: The end of Action Comics #958 has Superman with the prospect of saving Lex Luthor from Doomsday. Mr. Oz treats it like a What You Are in the Dark moment.
• Secret Secret-Keeper:
  • Batwoman already knew Bruce Wayne was Batman, and even lampshades it as to asking when he was going to reveal it to her.
  • Kathy Branden witnessed Jon killing a hawk and his cat with heat vision. She visits the "Smith" household, ostensibly to confirm Jon lives there, but leaves without saying anything about the incident.
• Sexy Santa Dress: The DC's Rebirth Holiday Special 1 has Harley Quinn lead the comic wearing a (green and red) sexy santa dress.
• Sidekick Graduations Stick: Wally West remains the Flash and remembers all his old history after taking up the mantle when Barry Allen died (though his memories may have changed once he was fully integrated into the new timeline). He is still using the same codename as Barry Allen, even though his new costume adopts the most prominent feature of his old Kid Flash costume (his hair being visible), and he has returned to the Titans rather than resuming a place with the Justice League. He hasn't reverted to kid sidekick, but he's moved back into company with that generation of characters rather than remaining with "the grownups".
• Something Only They Would Say: Barry realizes who the strange Flash in front of him is when he says, "Every second is a gift", which was inscribed on the back of a pocketwatch Wally was given.
• So Proud of You: Before the destruction of Krypton, Zor-El told Kara he was proud of her during a school excursion:
  Zor-El: The Kamnium in the lake petrified these animals ages ago. They're not going anywhere.
  Kara: Exactly. They're stuck here. But If I holo-photo them all, then a little piece of them can escape with me. It's pretty strange, I know. Everyone else thought so.
  Zor-El: That's because no one else would ever see it that way, Kara. I would never say that's strange. That's Hope. That's what the crest we wear stands for. That's why I'm proud you're my daughter.
• Spiritual Successor: Superman, focusing on the pre-Flashpoint Superman and his family, will be this for the old Batman and Robin title, especially since the creative team that handled it will be on this book.
• Spotting the Thread: Some characters have noticed that time has been played with, such as Ryan Palmer, and the rogue Guardian.
• Start of Darkness: Gotham ends up dumping his heroic ideals after a mistimed Dramatic Unmask ends up leading a surviving soldier to put two and two together, then finding and killing his parents. It's assumed, though, that this is because of the Psycho-Pirate, who slipped out of Amanda Waller's grasp thanks to Hugo Strange.
• Status Quo Is God: A minor one, but Batman: Rebirth #1 has Bruce's fortune and control of Wayne Enterprises, taken away during the events of Batman Eternal, restored to him in full. There is even some Lamp Shading over the fact that Bruce loosing all his money only to get it back later has happened several times.
• Stop Being Stereotypical: The basic on conflict on both sides between Ministry of Self-Reliance and their Justice League of China and the Great Ten in New Super-Man. The Ministry sees the Great Ten as a bunch of stereotypes and relics that China has outgrown and believes that by creating their own versions of the Justice League members, they are beating westerns at their own game. On the flipside, the Great Ten feels the Ministry is abandonning Chinese pride in order to make cheap knockoffs of western superheroes (without even fixing any flaws they have shown), playing into the stereotype of China as bootlegers' paradise.
• Story-Breaker Power: In the 2016 Holiday Special, there's a Titans story of them fighting the Mad Mod and his girlfriend, and a short followup involving both Nightwing and Batgirl being late to a date. Conveniently, Wally West is nowhere to be found in that story, even though they even mention him. He's not in any of the other stories either. Obviously, if he were around, both stories would've ended rather quickly.
• Strong as They Need to Be: How Gotham and Gotham Girl's powers work. They fluctuate to the minimum needed for the situation, which is why Batman can make him bleed, but is able to fight the Justice League, as his powers go up when facing someone like Superman. Their powers are also Cast from Lifespan.
• Suddenly Sexuality: Jackson Hyde is revealed to be gay in Rebirth #1.
• Superheroes Stay Single: Defied Trope. The Happily Married Pre-Flashpoint Superman returns, Aquaman and Mera get married, and other former marriages are at least under consideration.
• Superman Stays out of Gotham: Defied when in Batman #5 the entire Justice League is deployed to the city to combat the now insane Gotham. Alfred even notices that Bruce has never done this before, nor even considered it.
  Superman: Hello Gotham. My name is Superman, and this is the Justice League. We're Batman's friends. And we'd greatly appreciate it if you would surrender.
• Take That!:
  • From Geoff Johns himself, the story as a whole is this to those who use Watchmen as the ultimate manifesto on how to write comics but misread the story's true message to not lose what makes DC Comics what it is, something he feels the New 52 did. To this point, Dr. Manhattan is cast not as the Greater Scope Villain of the DCU, but an Audience Surrogate of sorts, a type of clueless writer who thinks people would enjoy ridiculous Darker and Edgier stories but doesn't understand why it isn't working. This is heavily shown throughout DC Universe: Rebirth #1 with Pandora's death, Johnny Thunder being locked up in a mental institute, Saturn Girl in police custody and her Legion Flight Ring confiscated and Linda Park's not knowing who Wally was.
  • Johns also made comments which could be very easily interpretted as displeasure with the direction Arrow had taken in its fourth season.
  Geoff Johns: Let’s say you’ve been given the position of writing Green Arrow from scratch. Clean slate. You might say, ‘Okay, I’m going to write this new character,’ and when someone says, ‘Well, what about Black Canary,’ you might say… ‘nope.’ That means you completely misunderstand these characters.
  • Detective Comics #938 has a line where Spoiler mocks Red Robin's unpopular costume from Scott Lobdell's previous New 52 Teen Titans run.
  • Teen Titans #1 has another dig at Lobdell's run, with Damian Wayne claiming that under Red Robin's leadership, the Teen Titans became a complete and utter joke.
  • Wonder Woman #11 more or less highlights the criticisms aimed at Brian Azzarello's run, with Steve Trevor mentioning how unrecognizable Themyscira and the Amazons are, telling Diana everything feels wrong. Diana later says it feels like she's in a parody of her home, and sure enough Diana realizes the New 52 version of Themyscira is a fake.
  • Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #12 has Guy Gardner preparing to spike a bottle containing the New 52 Lobo in his attempt to free them from Larfleeze and the 80s Brainiac. Hal Jordan shows up to stop him, saying "Not this one. Trust me. Better to leave that one on the shelf."
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • The Teen Titans are going to be led by the current Robin, Damian Wayne...and they don't like that very much, which is justifiable since he basically kidnapped them into helping him fight his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul.
  • Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz must share the mantle of Green Lantern of Earth and work together. Hal further enforces their need to stick together by merging their Lanterns so that they must share it to recharge their rings. Neither are too keen about this at first, and their personalities couldn't be more opposite.
• The Bus Came Back: Veronica Cale returns in Wonder Woman issue 9.
• Tragic Keepsake: Superboy's cape originally belonged to Krypto, who sacrificed himself by taking the Eradicator's beam meant for Jon.
• Traumatic Haircut: Gotham Girl gives herself one after her brother and parents died and while still under some of the effects of the Psycho Pirate's influence - and becomes a Death Seeker.
• The Unreveal: Batman unmasks for Kate Kane, who smiles and tells Bruce she knew already, and asks him why it took so long for him to tell her.^note She shot him in the leg during a confrontation shortly after she became Batwoman, and when Bruce met her with a limp in the same leg days later, she put two-and-two together.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Played with in Detective Comics. Clayface may have some really cool powers, but when it comes to hand-to-hand combat he's woefully inept. One of the goals of Batwoman's training program is to teach him how to fight without the aid of his powers.
• Variant Cover: Every issue of every title got one, even the ones shipping twice-monthly, and the actual "one-shots".
• Viewers Are Geniuses: Batman Rebirth #1 was a metacommentary on comic book relaunches. Batman #1 was very action-driven, readers to be able to keep up with its theme without narration. Many readers who were Just Here for Godzilla had trouble following, however.
• Wham Episode: DC Rebirth #1, for the entire DCU.
  Wally West: I can feel it. Even now Barry...we're being watched.
  • New 52 Clark Kent reveals he and New 52 Superman were always separate people, and New 52 Superman took his identity when he went into hiding.
• Wham Line:
  • Omen is able to get one word from a voice in Wally's mind that is foreign to this universe: "Manhattan."
  • When Maxwell Lord asks, "Is this the part when you invite me to Task Force X?", Amanda Waller dismisses that, saying his talents would be wasted with the Suicide Squad. "But you're perfect for Task Force XI."
  • When Super-Man Zero is confronted by a mysterious man and he is asked who he is, Ching Lung responds: "Without me, Super-Man Zero, there would be no you. Without me, there would be no superheroes. For I am the very beginning."
• Wham Shot:
  • DC Rebirth #1 ends with Batman finding The Comedian's blood-stained smiley face badge that is synonymous with Alan Moore's Watchmen.
  • Action Comics #957 ends with the original Doomsday attacking, green containment suit and all. If that weren't enough, Clark Kent also appears - confusing Lex, Superman, Lois and Jon.
  • Superman: Rebirth #2 ends with the return of the Eradicator.
  • Suicide Squad: Rebirth #1 ends with Captain Boomerang dead at the hands of General Zod.
  • Titans #3 has Abra Kadabra unintentionally repeating Wally's mantra, while looking at a pocket watch pointing at ten to midnight
  • The Flash #9: As Barry tells Wally what he saw in the Speed Force vision, the audience sees what he saw: The original Jay Garrick's helmet.
  • New Super-Man #8: A mysterious figure confronts the mysterious "Super-Man Zero": Ching Lung, positioned in the same way he was when he first appeared on the cover of Detective Comics #1
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Unlike both The New 52 and DC YOU, there's no sign of anyone from WildStorm at all, at least in a headlining title. This has since been revealed to be due to the fact that a new Wildstorm imprint is in production and due to begin in February 2017. It is unconnected with Rebirth as Wildstorm is now a separate canon once again, with the notable exceptions of Midnighter and Apollo, who appear to be staying in the mainstream DCU.
  • Similarly the Milestone Comics characters have also dropped off. In this case, they were initially announced to be relaunching as their own independent earth again, but have since undergone Development Hell.
• What You Are in the Dark: In Superman: Rebirth #2, Superman explained his son that wearing the S-shield means doing the right thing even when you think no one is looking.
  Superman: I'm afraid someday soon — too soon — you will have to pick it up and embrace the "S" for yourself. It's not about our powers, or strength, or heat vision. It's about character. It means doing the right thing when no one else will, even when you're scared... even when you think no one is looking.
• The Worf Effect: Batman #5 does this to the Justice League as Gotham beats the bejeezus out of them. However, thanks to how his powers work, it is a factor in him dying.
• Worf Had the Flu: True, Batman gets the living crap beat out of him by a group of Colony soldiers. But there were fifty of them, and they had just wrecked his Batmobile. Plus, he did take a few of them out before losing.
• Yellow Peril: Ching Lung has been Retconned into being someone who deliberately presented himself as the stereotype to play to Western fears and influence a rift between America and China.
• You Are in Command Now: Played with in Detective Comics. Batman and Batwoman are equal in terms of their authority in the new team, but Batwoman suddenly finds herself forced into being the sole leader of the group after Batman is captured by the Colony. This is all in the midst of Kate experiencing some doubts about her new position, since even though she started out wanting a leadership role back when she was in the military, subsequent life experiences have tamped down that aspect of her personality somewhat.

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I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end.

"In the end?" Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.

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