Absolutely not.

Those are great sites and resources. What they provide charts the development of a character within those worlds or timelines.

It’s just not what I wanted to do or how I wanted to do it.

When we are kids and we’re exposed to these different elements, we don’t necessarily separate them. They’re all toys in the toybox. Even if we subconsciously recognize them as being inherently different, we ultimately don’t care. We care about our creativity.

This is not a whole lot different from other fan theories, projects, or media.

Though it’s officially debunked, there are fans that still hold to the idea that “James Bond” is a codename and Sean Connery’s “James Bond” ended his story in The Rock. There are still fans that hold that Danny Trejo’s “Machete” is the same “Machete” from Spy Kids.

This is a similar idea. It’s all Batman, man. Just let the absurdity of the story of a man completely losing his shit and pretend that he can publicly keep it together wash over you.

It’s a chronology that puts head canon the the forefront and strict interpretation on the backburner.

During a conversation with a friend, it was realized that if everything written since 1939 had actually happened in the life of Bruce Wayne, he’d basically never rest. Every day would be a series of “Man, what the fuck is it now?!”

So, I kinda wanted to see what that looks like.

Well, you kinda have to use a variation of the “unreliable narrator” concept.

The “unreliable narrator” is, essentially, when the narrator of the story is compromised for whatever reason. The story you receive is affected by bias, memory, time frame, limitations of understanding, etc. The story you receive did in some way happen, but the details have been shifted to meet the narrative of the communicator.

Within this perspective, every story of Bruce Wayne/Batman did actually happen, but the details were subject to time, place, writer, artist, director, etc. Some version of everything actually happened, aligned to fit with the internal reality and consistency.

The Batman of Tom King is the same Batman of Bill Finger, Gardner Fox, David Vern Reed, Dennis O’Neil, Archie Goodwin, Frank Miller, Chuck Dixon, Ed Brubaker, Scott Snyder, Matt Fraction, and everyone in between that would take way too long to type.

Michael Keaton is Adam West is Kevin Conroy is Robert Lowery and everyone to physically or audibly represent the Dark Knight.

The Batman of Batman ’66 is also the Batman of Batman: The Ultimate Evil, as well as the Batmanga of Jiro Kuwata.

In some way, these things all happened. It’s just that the details as to how exactly it all went down have shifted.

I own a lot of Batman stuff.

A lifetime of collecting has given me a tremendous base to start.

• First and foremost, the timeline is reflective of strictly Bruce Wayne/Batman’s POV and what he discovers as he discovers it. Were it to include other characters and their own developments, it would quickly become a convoluted mess. So, as it stands, B-plots and tangents, as well as other character developments are only mentioned in regards to Bruce/Bat’s storyline.
• Detective Comics, and then Batman, make up the immediate and most pertinent core of the chronology
• This is followed by any major story arcs, original graphic novels, short stories (e.g. Batman: Black and White), and any sort of series that fills in gaps (e.g. Legends of the Dark Knight)
• Time is compressed to corresponding ages of listed characters, and story elements are time-aligned with specifically mentioned dates (e.g. Batman: Year One or Batman: The Long Halloween)
• Following these elements, TV shows, movies, movie serials, etc. are aligned with the timeline events
• Lesser known, paperback stories (e.g. Further Adventures of the Batman, The Batman Murders, Batman: Captured by the Engines) are then folded in
• Previously posted timelines are updated as more is read, published, or discovered
• Elements are charted and arranged with source notes, and then placed on the site calendar
• Elements that set up a real-world context for the chronology may be included for depth
• There’s also a bunch of minutiae about the process that I don’t need to put here

There are limitations to this, as this takes a lot of time and . . . well . . . let’s face it: we all have lives and other things going on. So, unless this was a paid job (which would be cool, but it’s just a fansite), it’s not going to be rapidly changing day-by-day. Compiling the first year and a half took almost a year.

Additionally, not everything makes the cut

• As part of maintaining a cohesive story, things that directly contradict plot points or major elements are excluded
• Names and characters that show up too early are dropped or changed. Modern storylines often have Batman encountering the Joker on his own, but the Joker’s original first appearance has Robin present. In this case, to fit with overall cohesion, Robin is not present. This was a stylistic choice in order to better connect with the majority of stories utilized.
• Other Earths and chronologies are incorporated under the idea that in a variable multiverse, some version of a story from one world may have happened in some way in another (e.g. in my chronology, some of the events of Batman: Earth One happened, but someone like the Penguin was not the mayor at the time). However, something like Absolute Batman has no reflective influence on the chronology as the universe in it was designed intentionally by Darkseid to have no developmental equivalent within a mainstream continuity, so it would not be used.

Finally, If something is left out of a current timeline, it might just be due to the fact that I either do not own it or have not yet gotten to read it. Give it some time to see what happens (and when).

A chronology such as this, where elements are introduced or dropped, provide a varied series of outcomes that different people may find interesting.

• New fan theories
• A new timeline that sits outside of, or a source for, other timelines
• New creative opportunities to fit between storylines
• A view of recurring and connected (or, even disconnected) themes and elements

I think a lot of people have these kinds of experiences. So, though these are my specific ones, I think a lot of fans have some sort of equivalent.

This is my grandfather coming home for lunch in the summers and napping on the couch while I watch Adam West’s Batman reruns.

This is seeing Batman in the theater in 1989.

This is return-ing to the Theater in 1992.

This is a birthday shopping spree at Toys’R’Us with my aunt and uncle.

This is coming back late from the circus to find a new Batman lunchbox.

This is saving up loose change to buy an incredibly oversized cape at a garage sale so I can jump around the living room in the dark.

This is making my Kenner action figures watch Batman so they learned how to “Batman” correctly.

This is setting up those figures so they’d protectively watch over me while I slept.

This is feeling even slightly less scared by the world.

This is hopping the fence at night in AstroWorld’s Batman-The Escape as a kid just to sneak up and touch the Batmobile from Batman Returns.

This is countless days watching Batman: The Animated Series with my little brother after school, leaving me with a particularly indescribable nostalgic feeling.

This is buying Batman 447 at a resale shop while out with my grandmother and letting my imagination run wild while trying figure out the context and outcome.

This is randomly remembering moments that are fading like old photos, leaving me with only fragments of sunny days, people no longer here, and disembodied voices.

This is for the night that it snowed in South Texas while I was simultaneously listening to Prince and playing Arkham Knight.

This is reading in my bed at all hours of the night as a kid.

This is autumn afternoons with my friends.

This is reading in one of my first apartments with a childhood friend as a roommate.

This is reading alone in a house, wishing I could be this resilient and strong, hoping that things could be better one day.

This is me reading in bed at all hours of the night, but now next to my wife.

This is what keeps us feeling young and hopeful, unbreakable and ingenuitive, human and heroic.

This is for anyone who felt like me.

This site is an attempt at a comprehensive timeline of Batman, his life and his stories sorted by time to show how damn tired he is.

Man, I dunno.

Until a better, more snappy name can be developed, let’s just call this the Multi-Hyper-Linear-Verse-Earth-A-1-Prime.

Or, the Sleepyverse-Prime.

Or, Origin-Earth.

Whatever. I’ll workshop it.