WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Action Comics #1008 by Brian Michael Bendis, Steve Epting, Brad Anderson and Josh Reed, on sale now.
A longstanding question has finally been answered. Just how many crisis events are in continuity these days? Apparently, the answer is seven. Back in January, Brian Michael Bendis and Patrick Gleason made this declaration in the opening pages of Young Justice #1. The Earth has been hit by seven different crises, and Gemworld has been affected by the continuity changes that result. However, we didn't know exactly which events were among the seven... until now.
On the first page of Action Comics #1008, there is a scrap of paper on Jimmy Olsen's bulletin board that reveals the answer. Bendis has used this motif several times to tease upcoming storylines, including the current "Leviathan Rising" arc unfolding in the book. If you look hard enough, you'll see a list of the seven crisis events in Rebirth continuity.
RELATED: King's Latest Heroes in Crisis Teaser Pits Harley Quinn Against Joker
All the Crises in the World Revealed
Buried under several pieces of paper is a handwritten list titled "Crises we know," and what follows is a list of seven crisis events as seen from the perspective of a DC Universe civilian. Jimmy Olsen's list includes references to major events that any DC fan would expect to find. However, there are also a few titles thrown in that may come as something of a surprise.
RELATED: Man of Tomorrow: Does Superman Need to Be White?
The event called "The Infinite Earth Crisis" is obviously Crisis on Infinite Earth from 1986, where the Anti-Monitor destroyed almost the entire DC Multiverse. The few surviving worlds were merged together into one universe, which greatly altered continuity. Many of DC's greatest heroes -- including Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman -- underwent major changes.
Next on the list is "The Crisis in Time," which can only be a reference to Zero Hour, since "Crisis in Time" was the 1994 event's subtitle. This is when Hal Jordan, as the evil Parallax, attempted to recreate the timeline. The event ended with the creation of a new big bang, which altered continuity for several major franchises, including Batman and the Legion of Super-Heroes.
The next two are obvious inclusions, with the 2005 Infinite Crisis and 2008 Final Crisis series mentioned. "The Infinite Crisis" refers to Alexander Luthor Jr. and Superboy Prime's attack on Earth and the recreation of the DC Multiverse. "The Final Crisis," meanwhile, is Darkseid's takeover of the planet. Continuity changes were minimal during both events, though there's no doubt that each attack wreaked havoc on the universe.
NEXT PAGE: The Official List Comes With Some Offbeat Choices
Then comes the not so obvious choices, considering none of them were released with the word "crisis" in the title. "The Flashpoint Crisis" means that the 2011 event Flashpoint is considered to be a crisis in the DC Universe. It makes sense, considering the universe was completely altered and it resulted in the creation of New 52 continuity (or at least that's what everyone believes).
"The Convergence Crisis" is, of course, the Convergence event series that took place in 2015 while DC Comics moved offices from New York to California. It greatly altered DC continuity and pitted the world's heroes against different versions of themselves. In the end, though, few changes came out of the series.
Finally, it would appear that the most recent crisis event is "The Dark Multiverse Crisis," which can only be the events depicted in the 2018 series Dark Nights: Metal. In this story, the DC Universe is invaded by the twisted Dark Multiverse, and in the end the heroes literally break the universe in order to save the day. DC is still feeling the effects of this series, as seen in the pages of Justice League, Justice League Dark and Justice League Odyssey.
RELATED: Superboy Will Be Getting a New Codename
What About the Best of the Rest?
Of course, by DC coming out and naming the seven events that are considered "Earth Crises" it leaves fans to wonder why other storylines didn't make the cut. For instance, the word "crisis" was associated with crossover stories between the Justice League and Justice Society for decades before the advent of company-wide crossovers. There have been over 20 stories with that word in the title, but many of them did not make the list.
There are many other events that could have been considered worthy of the title if the word "crisis" no longer had to be in the name. Events like 2001's Our Worlds at War, 2009's Blackest Night, 2014's Forever Evil and "Darkseid War" from 2015-2016 all included epic battles that put all of reality in danger. The difference, perhaps, is that none of these stories contained lasting effects to DC continuity, despite their massive scope.
RELATED: Heroes in Crisis: DC Sets Up [SPOILER]'s Return - We Hope
It is also interesting to note that neither Identity Crisis from 2004 or the currently running Heroes in Crisis are listed among the events. While neither are on the grand scale that other crisis events are, the use of the word "crisis" made some believe they would make the cut.
Now there is only one question remaining: Where do we go from here? With Bendis talking about crisis events in two different books he is writing, could the creator be hinting at things to come? The writer is clearly building to a Superman-related event, but could he take things to a more cosmic level? Perhaps this is all setting the stage for the Rebirth continuity's eighth crisis.