DC has always done event books differently than Marvel. While Marvel belches out event after event with seemingly no end, with multiple releases every year all over their line, DC is more selective. DC events are actual proper events and this makes them some of the best around. This different approach has led to DC's major events having consequences that mattered more in the long term than Marvel's often do.
This isn't always the case. Some events might seem like a big deal but their impacts have been entirely jettisoned rather quickly, doing away with any of the ideas these changes could have brought to the DC Universe.
10 DC: Rebirth #1 Recasting Wally West As The Return Of Hope Never Really Happened
DC: Rebirth #1 was a massive return to form for DC and brought a lot of changes that made things better. One of the linchpins of the entire book was how Wally West was meant to represent a return of hope to the DC Universe and while it worked in the book itself, it never actually happened. Wally was sent over to Titans to hang out with his old friends and his return impacted barely anyone but them.
Titans was a great book but bringing Wally West back, casting him as hope personified, and then doing nothing at all with him until deciding to destroy him as a character a few years later made no sense. DC never did anything with Wally that made what DC: Rebirth #1 was selling seem worth it.
9 Amazons Attack! Had No Consequences For The Amazons
Amazons Attack! was put in the unenviable position of being between Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis and has gone down as one of the worst DC events in recent memory. The entire crux of the story was the Amazons attacking the US after Wonder Woman was imprisoned and the heroes fighting back. One would think that after attacking a world power, the Amazons would get in some kind of trouble.
One would be wrong. Amazons Attack! had no bearing on anything and was quickly forgotten by fans and DC alike. The reveal that Granny Goodness was behind the whole thing also fizzled, as it was meant to tie into Countdown On Final Crisis, another disappointment of a book to many readers.
8 Countdown To Final Crisis Didn't Even Set Up Final Crisis
After the success of 52, DC went back to the weekly series well with Countdown To Final Crisis, which was meant to be the run-up into Grant Morrison's mega event. The problem is that no one really knew what Morrison was going to do. The writers and editorial had very different views on what was going to happen in Final Crisis, so Countdown had basically zero impact on the story that it was setting up.
Beyond that, very little of what the book did for characters like Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, Superboy-Prime, or Red Hood mattered in the long run as the series was pretty much immediately swept under the rug.
7 The Death Of The New 52 Superman Was Rendered Meaningless Quickly
The New 52 Superman is one of the most infamous versions of Superman. Some think he's the worst version of the Man of Steel out there, something which isn't entirely fair. The character's relative failure in comparison to past versions of Superman led to his death at the end of the New 52. He was immediately replaced by the pre-New 52 version of Superman, something that destroyed any impact his death had.
Some characters referenced it a little bit at first but it quickly went away until it was retconned out of continuity by Superman Reborn. Comics deaths have a quick turn around but this one was instantaneous.
6 Doomsday Clock Was A Victim Of Its Own Delays
Doomsday Clock was supposed the big event that made everything make sense again, explaining what effect that Doctor Manhattan had on the DC Universe. The problem came in that book was hit with massive delays, which meant the rest of DC had to just move on without it eventually. This took any impact the book's ending would have had and rendered it meaningless.
By the time the end of the book rolled around it was over two years after it started. DC's other writers couldn't just wait for it to play out, so Doomsday Clock's changes and plot lines were just swept away and never referenced.
5 The Sinestro Corps War Was Cool But The Ending Wasn't Really An Ending
The Sinestro Corps War was the opening salvo in Geoff Johns' big War of Light story that would culminate in Blackest Night. This was the story's main problem as far as having any kind of impact because the book's ending was just meant to set up the next part of the story. So, while Sinestro was imprisoned at the end of the story, he was broken free almost immediately to set up the next part.
The Sinestro Corps' defeat wasn't much of a loss because they had to be ready to play their next part in the story. It was one of the best Green Lantern stories in recent memory but it was just a to be continued story with no proper ending.
4 DC One Million's Ending Has Never Really Been Referenced Ever
DC One Million holds an interesting place in DC canon. The introduction of the 853rd century's Justice League and Prime Superman would have a huge effect on Grant Morrison's personal DC canon but the story itself had little effect on anything else, including the nuclear destruction of Montevideo, Uruguay.
While it makes sense for a lot of the other things to not matter to the DC Universe, it seems like the destruction of a world capital by repurposed Rocket Red suits armed with nuclear weapons would have some kind of big effect on things but it didn't. It was immediately forgotten after the book ended.
3 Heroes In Crisis's Ending Was Undone When Wally West Escaped Jail In Flash Forward
Heroes In Crisis acted as DC's last word in the tearing down of Wally West's return that they already had mostly ignored since DC: Rebirth#1. The book is infamous among fans, as Wally accidentally murders a bunch of heroes at Sanctuary, where superheroes go to deal with their issues, frames Booster Gold and Harley Quinn for it, and then kills his future self so he can get away from it.
The book ended with Wally being apprehended before he could kill himself and was put in jail, something that would not matter when Flash Forward came almost immediately after Heroes In Crisis ended, seeing Wally gain the power of Metron and travel the Multiverse for a while after escaping jail.
2 Brightest Day Brought Back Some Of DC's Greatest Heroes And Villains But Flashpoint Rendered It All Meaningless
Blackest Night ended with a group of DC heroes and villains being resurrected. Each of them had a purpose and that purpose was laid out in Brightest Day, a bi-weekly series that explored why they had been given a second chance at life. It was a good story and seemed to be meant to set up a lot of other new plot lines.
Then Flashpoint happened. Flashpoint took all current at the time DC stories and nuked them, including this one, which felt like it was going to be very important going forward.
1 Nearly All Of Final Crisis's Changes Were Completely Ignored By DC
Final Crisis is Grant Morrison's DC opus and they used it to set up all kinds of great things for DC to play with in the future. DC pretty much ignored all of that. Morrison set up a way to bring Hawkman back, redo the Aquaman mythos, and left a new blueprint for a Fifth World of gods starring new versions of the Forever People and Shilo Norman.
DC never used any of that, ignoring all of it as if it never even happened. It was a huge disappointment as while some of the book's changes stuck, including the end of Darkseid until the New 52 and Batman's fate, everything else the book set up was treated as if it never happened.
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