(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.
***
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