DC Reading Orders & Events
Every DC reading order and crossover event, in one place.
Reading Orders
PART I: Pre Crisis on Infinite Earths
Golden Age journey from the roots of the DC Universe straight into Crisis on Infinite Earths. This section starts heavily with Superman before introducing the wider roster of heroes. Expect plenty of classic, campy Silver Age logic and plot coincidences along the way!
PART II: Pre Crisis on Infinite Earths
The Bronze Age leg of the pre-Crisis road, picking up as the DC Universe grows denser and its heroes step out of Superman's shadow. Team-ups, sprawling crossovers, and a darker, more grounded tone take over here, steadily pulling every thread toward the reality-shattering events of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Part I: Post-Crisis Era
The foundational leg of the post-Crisis road, picking up as the DC Universe is wiped clean and its greatest icons are rebuilt from the ground up. Street-level grit, geopolitical thrillers, and a surreal, deeply psychological tone take over here, steadily weaving every fresh thread toward the definitive modern age of heroes and the dark dawn of the Vertigo imprint.
Part II: Post-Crisis Era
The quiet renaissance of the modern DC epoch, picking up as the dust of blockbuster spectacles clears and the universe makes room for profound character studies. Street-level grit, working-class heroism, and an eccentric, indie-minded aesthetic take over here, steadily forging deeply personal mythologies free from the noise and gravity of crossover events
Part I: Post Zero Hour
The post-Zero Hour reset era. New legacies take hold - Kyle Rayner alone with the last ring, Wally West at the edge of the Speed Force, Impulse turned loose in Alabama - while Starman quietly builds the decade's best family saga in Opal City and Morrison's JLA puts the icons back on the throne. Runs from Underworld Unleashed to Genesis; Part II picks it up from there.
Part II: Post Zero Hour
The back half of the post-Zero Hour road, picking up as Morrison's JLA turns the League back into myth. The universe goes big again here - a far-future Justice Legion, the Flash at the edge of the Speed Force, Starman's quiet family saga in Opal City, and a new generation taking the field in Young Justice - carrying the DC Universe to the end of the century.
Events
JLA: Zatanna's Search
Zatanna is on a quest to find her father's lost soul and encounters several members of the Justice League of America along the way.
Crisis on Infinite Earths
The Crisis on Infinite Earths was a Multiversal catastrophe that resulted in the destruction of countless parallel universes, and the recreation of a single positive matter universe (and an antimatter universe) at the Dawn of Time.
Millennium
Guardian and Zamaron visiting Earth to start the next wave of human evolution. Ten humans are chosen to advance and become immortals, given special powers. They are attacked by Manhunter agents, part of an alien conspiracy posing as close friends and relatives to every single superhero.
Legends
Darkseid stands in his throne room on Apokolips, admiring his own tyranny. Despite this, he is unsatisfied. DeSaad suggests that this is because the heroes of Earth still defy him. Darkseid believes that the people of Earth are inspired by their legends, and he must destroy these legends to make them more compliant.
Invasion!
A hostile alien alliance led by the calculating Dominators targets Earth to eliminate the unpredictable threat of its rapidly growing metahuman population. Earth's heroes and villains are forced to unite, fighting a massive global and interstellar war to repel the overwhelming extraterrestrial forces.
Cosmic Odyssey
Highfather and Darkseid unite with Earth's heroes to stop a sentient Anti-Life Equation
Death of Superman
A deeply emotional arc showcasing the Justice League and the DC Universe mourning the loss of the world's greatest hero
Underworld Unleashed
Demon lord Neron tricks Earth's supervillains and some heroes by offering them their deepest desires, power upgrades, and new forms in exchange for their souls
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!
Mysterious force begins collapsing alternative timelines and erasing reality from both the past and the future.
Final Night
Earth's heroes struggling to survive after a cosmic "Sun-Eater" biologically consumes the Sun. As the world plunges into freezing darkness and ecological ruin, the disgraced former Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, returns to make the ultimate sacrifice to reignite the star
Genesis
The Source itself ruptures, every god and hero in the universe feels their powers falter, and the Fourth World's wall between New Genesis and Apokolips comes down. Grant Morrison's 1997 weekly crossover - the event DC put between The Final Night and DC One Million.
Batman: Cataclysm
A 7.6 earthquake levels Gotham City. Cataclysm runs the quake through every Bat-title in real time, and the Aftershock arc that follows watches the government decide the city is not worth saving - the road that ends in No Man's Land.
DC One Million
In the 853rd century, the Justice Legion Alpha travels back to the present to celebrate the return of the original Superman - and walks into a trap laid by Vandal Savage and the sentient sun Solaris. Grant Morrison's time-spanning crossover, where every DC title jumped to issue #1,000,000.
Batman: No Man's Land
Gotham is declared no longer part of the United States, the bridges are blown, and the gangs carve the ruins into territory. A year of Batman comics told as one continuous siege - Batman's absence and return, Gordon's bargain with Two-Face, the arrival of Cassandra Cain, and Barbara Gordon holding the line as Oracle.
Identity Crisis
When Sue Dibny is murdered, the Justice League hunts her killer and uncovers its own darkest secret: years ago, members of the League voted to mind-wipe villains - and one of their own. A murder mystery that tore the heroes apart and set the road to Infinite Crisis.
Infinite Crisis
Surviving heroes from alternate realities return to restore a fragmented Multiverse. Viewing the modern DC Universe as corrupt and unworthy, their extremist methods force Earth's greatest heroes to unite and battle for the preservation of their reality.
Flashpoint
Barry Allen wakes up to discover he is in an altered timeline in which Citizen Cold is Central City's greatest hero, his mother Nora is alive, his father Henry, died of a heart attack three years ago and that the Flash, the Justice League and Superman do not exist.
Batman: Zero Year
Presumed dead after years away, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City to fight a new era of costumed criminals. Disguised and locked in combat with Red Hood One, he quickly realizes that conquering Gotham's rising underworld will require far more than sheer determination
Supergirl: Red Daughter of Krypton
Following months of relentless cosmic battles against threats like Cyborg Superman and H'el, a deeply traumatized Kara Zor-El returns to Earth. Overwhelmed by a profound sense of isolation, past betrayals, and the unbearable grief of losing her home planet, Kara finds herself on the absolute brink of a psychological breakdown.
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths
With the Justice League fallen, Earth's surviving heroes stand alone against a relentless wave of attacks from DC's deadliest villains. At the head of this chaos is a newly empowered Slade Wilson driven by a dark and unnatural rage.