The DC Universe has become known for line-wide reality-shattering events like the various crises that have led to massive changes and even huge reboots of the comic universe with events like Flashpoint and DC Rebirth that further separates the company from the Marvelous Competition.
Of course, not all of the crossovers and events have impacted the DC Universe as much as something like Crisis on Infinite Earths— and these events are usually the first to be forgotten by fans as newer and more important storylines came along.
10 Millennium Introduced The New Guardians Who Were Quickly Forgotten
1987 saw the arrival of the Millennium event that launched in the main series from Steve Englehart and Joe Staton and tied into every ongoing title, which usually only happens for the really big events. Millennium focused on the introduction of a group that was destined to become the New Guardians of the Universe.
However, the Manhunter robots revealed sleeper agents hidden among the allies of DC superheroes to try and stop the formation of the new group. The New Guardians were quickly abandoned after a spin-off series, and the Manhunter sleeper agents were largely retconned or forgotten after the event.
9 Armageddon 2001 Teased A Number Of Dark Futures That Never Happened
One of the more controversial events in DC's history was Armageddon 2001 from Archie Goodwin, Dennis O'Neil and Dan Jurgens, which saw the ending changed at the last minute after it was leaked, resulting in a confusing end that didn't make much sense.
Multiple futures were seen in the various tie-in issues, though none of them came true and the only impact was in follow-up series that tried to explain the event. New characters like Waverider and Monarch continued to appear in later events as writers tried to retcon events so they made sense following the altered climax of the storyline.
8 War Of The Gods Featured An Epic Battle That Was Pretty Self-Contained
Wonder Woman headed her own event in 1991 called War of the Gods from George Pérez, which saw Circe instigate a war between the various pantheons of gods that ranged from Greek and Olympian to even Thangarain and Kryptonian.
The event itself featured a number of epic battles between some of the most powerful DC heroes, though the event was fairly self-contained and had little impact on the rest of the DC Universe beyond the celebration of Wonder Woman's 50th anniversary and DC's temporary loss of Pérez after editorial issues with the event.
7 Bloodlines Introduced An Alien Threat & New Heroes That Soon Disappeared
The Bloodlines event ran through 1993's Annuals and introduced a new threat of alien parasites that arrived on Earth to feed on humans, though their bite also activated the metagene in some characters that transformed them into new DC superheroes.
Each annual introduced a new hero before the event concluded in the Bloodbath limited series from Dan Raspler, Chuck Wojtkiewicz and Sal Velluto. Only Hitman and the Blood Pack managed to outlast the event though most were killed off in later appearances. The New 52 even tried to reboot the event in a limited series, though the characters shared a similar forgotten fate.
6 Underworld Unleashed Transformed Some Characters But Did Little Else
1995's Underworld Unleashed from Mark Waid and Howard Porter saw a number of heroes and villains transformed by the demon Neron after accepting dark bargains in his bid to raise hell on Earth by corrupting the purest soul in the DC Universe.
There were definitely some lasting transformations with characters like Blue Devil who was turned into a demon and Killer Moth who became the monstrous Charaxes, though aside from the continuing threat of Neron there wasn't much impact on the DC Universe as a whole.
5 Genesis Saw Heroes Lose Their Powers While Darkseid Tried To Capture Godwaves
1997's Genesis event from John Byrne and Ron Wagner featured Fourth World characters like the New Gods and Darkseid and introduced a new concept known as the Godwave that emanated from The Source which was revealed to have been responsible for the creation of gods and superheroes in the DC Universe.
Darkseid spent the majority of the event attempting to harness the power of the Godwave after it returned to remove the powers from DC's metahumans in an event that crossed over into most ongoing titles, though it ended without a bang and the Godwave concept fizzled out.
4 DC Vs. Marvel United Superheroes From Both Worlds In A Non-Canon Event
Comic fans finally got the crossover they had been hoping to see for years in 1996's DC vs. Marvel Comics crossover from Ron Marz, Peter David, Dan Jurgens and Claudio Castellini, which saw popular heroes and villains from each universe pitted against their counterparts by two cosmic brothers hoping to settle an argument over whose universe was better.
While the series featured a number of fun battles that saw the universes later combined to become the Amalgam universe, it remains a non-canon story like most company crossovers and had zero impact on either the DC or the Marvel universe.
3 The Final Night Only Served To Wrap Up Hal Jordan's Parallax Storyline
Karl Kesel and Stuart Immonen teamed up for 1996's The Final Night event, which saw Earth's sun consumed by a giant cosmic being known as a Sun-Eater which threatened to extinguish life on the planet in less than a week following the death of the sun.
The heroes were eventually able to reignite the sun thanks to the sacrifice of Hal Jordan, following his evil acts as Parallax. While Hal Jordan's redemption would continue for years after this event, The Final Night didn't impact the DC Universe in many other big ways besides serving as Oliver Queen's unknown return to life and the beginning of Superman's energy form phase.
2 Our Worlds At War Featured A Number Of Deaths That Were Almost All Undone
The DC Universe fell under attack from a powerful being known as Imperiex during the Our Worlds At War storyline which also featured the return of Brainiac as they attempted to destroy and rebuild the universe in their image.
While it was set up like a Crisis-type event that claimed a number of heroes and even featured a trip to the Big Bang that launched the DC universe, almost all of the deaths were quickly undone and the biggest lasting change from the event was Superman's adoption of his dark 'S' shield and a new armor for Natasha Irons/Steel.
1 Amazons Attack! Saw Hippolyta & Circe Lead A Pointless War Against Man's World
2007's Amazons Attack! event from Will Pfeifer and Pete Woods isn't the biggest DC storyline and only crossed over to a few titles like Teen Titans or Supergirl due to a connection to Cassandra Sandsmark/Wonder Girl, though it is well-known as one of the worst events fans have read.
Not only was the whole attack misguided and out of character for the Amazons, but the lack of attention in other titles made it seem like it didn't matter to the rest of the DC universe. While the Amazons dealt with some lasting ramifications of the event, the DC Universe was largely untouched.
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