Reboot (continuity)
Reboot, in series
fiction, means to discard all previous
continuity in the series and start anew. Effectively, all previously-known history is declared by the writer to be null and void and the series starts over from the beginning.
This differs from a creator producing a separate interpretation of another creator's work; rather, the owner of the creation declares that the rebooted continuity is now the official version.
This term is often applied to (and may come from) certain comic books, where prevailing continuity is important since several titles' characters may interact in certain ways.
Examples
- DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes comic book had its continuity rebooted in the events surrounding Zero Hour in 1994. The previous 36 years of continuity were discarded, the characters' stories came to a decisive close, and a new Legion, made up of similar characters with the same names as the original team, began their careers without any mention of the previous continuity.
- Marvel Comics, in the mid-1990s, turned over several of their titles to creators from Image Comics, and these titles (Fantastic Four, Captain America, The Avengers, Iron Man and Thor) were rebooted, while the rest of Marvel's line maintained the original continuity in a separate universe. The rebooted titles lasted only a year, at which point the heroes involved returned to the original universe. (Their absence and return was a major plot point of the Thunderbolts title.)
- Also in DC Comics, the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986 had many far-reaching effects on several DC titles, and prompted a complete reboot of Superman, Wonder Woman and Hawkman, among others. (This may be the earliest use of the term "reboot" in this way.)
- In 2002 the He-Man story was rebooted.
- In 2003, the Robotech Universe was rebooted with the launch of Wildstorm's new comic book series. While it does occasionally borrow characters and situations introduced in lore that existed prior (most notably,Robotech II: The Sentinels), Harmony Gold U.S.A now considers only the original 85 episode animated series (and possibly the current Wildstorm comic as canon.
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