Hypertime is a
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...
al concept in
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
which first appeared in the 1999 ''
The Kingdom'' limited series.
It is a variation of the
Multiverse
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of all universes. Together, these universes are presumed to comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describ ...
concept that existed in DC Comics before 1985's ''
Crisis on Infinite Earths
''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' is a 1985 to 1986 American comic book fictional crossover, crossover series published by DC Comics. Written by Marv Wolfman and penciller, pencilled by George Pérez, it was first released as a 12-issue limited ser ...
'' limited series and was created by
Mark Waid and
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, Humanism, humanist philosophy and counterculture, countercultural leanings. Morrison has writt ...
.
Hypertime, described in ''The Kingdom'' #2 as "the vast interconnected web of parallel time-lines which comprise all reality", was an attempt by Waid to resolve the various tangled continuity issues that were supposed to have been solved by ''Crisis on Infinite Earths''. Keith Dallas and Jason Sacks wrote: "Through Hypertime, Waid sought to resolve the contradictions in DC's continuity once and for all. Indeed, Hypertime allows for contradictions because anything that didn't make sense can be attributed to overlapping timelines".
Separately, in philosophy, hypertime (or supertime) is a concept proposed as part of the Moving Spotlight Theory of time.
Concept
''The Kingdom''
Hypertime is a network of alternate timelines that branch off from the
DC Universe
The DC Universe (DCU) is the shared universe in which most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC Continuity (fiction), continuity. It contains v ...
. These timelines sometimes overlap with each other, causing alterations in reality. Characters can cross from one timeline to another if needed. It has been analogized to a river network that branches out and then runs 'up stream' to feed back into itself before splitting off again.
Hypertime has been used as a device to explain
continuity errors. Some fans welcomed the idea as an explanation for earlier continuity errors while others criticized it for being a license to create more narrative problems.
The Hypertime concept was first introduced in ''The Kingdom'', Mark Waid's sequel to ''Kingdom Come'', and exists within the larger multiverse used within
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
publications.
Writer Mark Waid stated that "the possibilities are endless. Hypertime is an unashamed reaction to nearly 15 years of comics being made 'more realistic', less 'larger than life'. As far as we’re concerned, DC Comics shouldn't be about rules and regulations and ‘can’t happen’s and ‘shouldn’t be’s; they should be about anything and everything that tells a good story and gets fans excited".
''Infinite Crisis''
When
Superboy-Prime fractures reality from the pocket universe he is residing in, images of the world of ''Kingdom Come'' including
Gog from ''The Kingdom'' limited series appears while doing so, showing that Superboy-Prime's actions created Hypertime.
''52''
Mister Mind
Mister Mind is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as an enemy of Captain Marvel (DC Comics), Captain Marvel. Created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics, the character made a cameo appea ...
, disguised as
Skeets, refers to
Waverider as "the seer of Hypertime".
Booster Gold
An older
Booster Gold, while explaining his duties to his son
Rip Hunter, mentions the concept of Hypertime.
''Multiversity''
Hypertime is used to explain the formation and alteration of the 52 universes formed at the end of ''
52''.
Rebirth
Hypertime has been mentioned several times in the Prime Earth continuity.
Flashpoint Beyond
Hypertime is presented as one of two halves of “the Divine Continuum”, the other half being the Omniverse. The Omniverse represents Space, while Hypertime represents Time. Where the Omniverse is characterized as being fundamentally conceptual in nature, Hypertime is characterized as being emotional, with branches happening whenever decisions of great importance take place. Previous Crises are reclassified as being either Omniverse Crises (the Crisis on Infinite Earth,
Infinite Crisis
"Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, ...
,
Final Crisis
"Final Crisis" is a crossover storyline that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics in 2008, primarily the seven-issue miniseries of the same name written by Grant Morrison. Originally DC announced the project as being illustrated solely ...
,
Multiversity, Dark Nights, and
Dark Crisis) or Hypertime Crises (
Zero Hour, The Kingdom,
Flashpoint,
Convergence
Convergence may refer to:
Arts and media Literature
*''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen
*Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics:
**A four-part crossover storyline that ...
, and
Doomsday Clock).
[''Flashpoint Beyond'' #5 (2022) Citation info provided by Erdag Ahmet Yılmaz ]
See also
*
Multiverse (Marvel Comics)
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
Unofficial Hypertime Website
*{{cite web , url= https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=hypertime+dc+comics&qpvt=hypertime+dc+comics&view=detail&mid=2FF7BE60D38ECC8EC5862FF7BE60D38ECC8EC586&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dhypertime%2Bdc%2Bcomics%26qpvt%3Dhypertime%2Bdc%2Bcomics%26FORM%3DVDRE , author=IamMemoAcebo , via=
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
, date=May 18, 2017 , title=DC Comics {{ndash Hypertime , format=Video
Time and Hypertime
1999 in comics
Continuity (fiction)
DC Comics dimensions
Fictional elements introduced in 1999
Fiction about physics