(by Phillip Bocci)

The Domesday Book, 1086

"The Domesday Book was a survey of England, ordered by William the Conqueror in 1085 as an administrative and financial record of the land he had seized . . . The Domesday Book report took its name from both the Old English word 'dom' meaning 'assessment' (as it was assessing the value of the King's realm) and the comparision between it and the Day of Judgement (because of the survey's seemingly definitive and unchallengeable nature)."



The Domesday Book, 2021

A book in two parts (following the pattern of the original) which assesses the series of events that produced the third heroic age. The first book, or "Little Domesday," gives a general overview of events from 1998 to 2021. The second, or "Great Domesday," delves into more detail about certain aspects of both the history leading up to 2021 and life in 2021 itself. Presented below is the lesser of the two works. Look for information about the Great Domesday to be released soon.

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Book One,
The Little Domesday

Chaos Theory is a branch of mathematics that in recent years has gained prominance due to the peculiar nature of its studies. One example of Chaos Theory is the so-called "Butterfly Effect," that maintains that a butterfly flapping it's wings in China can cause atmospheric changes that may effect the world's weather patterns for months to come. In the formation of the world known as 2021, two words, spoken by Lois Lane Kent, had the effect of the butterfly's flapping wings: "I'm pregnant."

Almost simultaneously other events occured in the DC Universe that had effects on the future, like small ripples in a pool of water slowly spreading. A seemingly minor twist of fate effected the life of Ray Palmer, the man known as the Atom. Instead of being returned to his rightful age at the end of his tenure with the Teen Titans, Palmer remained the age the villian Extant had returned him to during the Zero Hour crisis. Another ripple effected the former Wonder Woman, Diana. At this point in her life Diana still retained her title of goddess, and she would hold the title far longer than expected, meaning her mother Queen Hippolyta would remain active as Wonder Woman and as a member of the JLA.

But, other than Lois' shocking announcement, perhaps the greatest domino came in the form of an unholy alliance. Angered at his unsuccessful attempts to best the Man of Steel and the superheroic community at large, millionare Lex Luthor clandestinly sent out messages to a select few "associates." Shortly thereafter, he met with Ra's Al Ghul, Vandal Savage, and a resurrected Brother Blood and formulated a long term plan that they hoped would get rid of their "hero problem."

The start of this plan's unfolding coincided with a major change in the views of Superman. By early 1999, Lois had become further along in her pregnancy, and Clark continued to regret leaving her to attend to his duties as the Man of Steel. For once, however, Luthor's schemes actually helped Superman. For the quarted had begun to coerce and cajole the vast majority of the metacriminal population to retire or step away from the spotlight, in the hopes that this would cause the hero's guard to become lax and giving the group the chance to strike. And because of the power these groups held, crime in general also began to fall in addition to metahuman crime. Which ment that the burgoining hero population increasingly had less and less to do. In light of this, and the fact that Lois was fast approaching her due date, Superman called a press conference and announced to a startled crowd . . . that he was retiring from active duty.

Surprisingly, the population at large reacted very positively to this news. While they trusted Superman explicitely, they had always been in favor of less metahuman activity where possible. To support this, crime continued to decline even after Superman's retirement.

While the people reacted well to Superman's leaving, the hero community took the news hard. Many heroes questioned their role in society now that Superman (the man who had directly or indirectly inspired many of them) was gone. Following his lead yet again, heroes began to retire in large numbers. Soon the hero population was a fraction of what it had been. One of the last heroic institutions to go was the Justice League, which had none-the-less suffered a large blow to it's self-esteem. The core membership (sans the Man of Steel) were the last to remain when J'onn J'onzz announced at another press conference that the League was disbanding. That was the final straw. With the exception of a few heroes who never really gave up the fight, the world agreed that the second heroic age had come to a close.

This entire sequence of events occured between roughly mid-1998 and mid-1999. From 1999 through the end of 2020, the world was a quiet place for the most part. The first woman president of the United States was elected in 2009, but historically speaking very little else happened of any significance. The United Nations' role in the world changed slightly, as it worked more with the US government (which found itself being gradually cleaned up from the inside). Conflicts world-wide were reduced to occasional skermishes, with the exception of the Bosnian War of 2012. This war had been building for some time, but thanks largely to heavy negotiations was ended swiftly. The significant changes the war brought about were a more established and peaceful status quo in Bosnia, and a change in the nation of Iraq, which shifted from a dictatorship to a more democratic form of government. Returning to the United States, the major change was in Cuban relations. After the death of Fidel Castro Cuba seemed to flounder, and a public outcry led to a lifting of embargoes and relief being sent in. Following negotiations, Cuba asked to become a territory of the United States and was granted it's request. While it could be said that conflict was still there, just not openly displayed, the political waters that 2021 opens into are generally calm.

Years pass, and the plan of the four villians continues. The fully planned originally to assume power themselves after a time, but individual interests have kept that goal distant. To make matters worse, a new breed of criminal has arisen. This new breed doesn't respect the "unwritten law" Luthor and his band put into effect. Their actions, and those of criminals like them, have lead to the nearly 97% increase in crime. But this increase has not gone unnoticed. Timothy Kent, the son of Lois and Clark, realizes something needs to be done, and that there is a legacy that he can't ignore forever. Acting secretly, without telling even his parents, Tim ventures out . . . and the headline on the Daily Planet the next day shouts: "Look, Up In The Sky!"

It took little more than that, the reappearance of the figure who was hailed as the forefather of superheroes and an inspiration for countless people, both super and non. Soon afterwards brave individuals arose to combat the menaces once again plaguing society, and noone could deny that a third heroic age had begun, one that could perhaps even eclipse those that had gone before it. One that began with merely one SUPERman, in the year 2021 . . .

The Beginning