DC Rebirth Main Storyline Reading Order

* These entries are less essential to the main narrative

Overview

There are two mostly separate narratives running through DC's Rebirth era. The first follows mysteries that were introduced in DC Universe: Rebirth and the second involves an ongoing problem with the DC Multiverse. We'll be referring to these as the "Rebirth Narrative" and the "Metal Narrative" respectively, though these are not official terms for these narratives.

Rebirth Narrative

The mystery-focused narrative starts with DC Universe: Rebirth, the comic that officially started the Rebirth era. This comic introduces a lot of plotlines that are then explored in other comics: the mystery of the enigmatic Button is further explored in Batman/The Flash: The Button (Reading Order), the mystery of the two Supermen is further explored in Superman: Reborn (Reading Order), and the mystery of Mister Oz's (Reading Order) role in events is further explored in Superman: The Oz Effect (Reading Order). Each of these story arcs also connect back to the central mystery teased in the final pages of DC Universe: Rebirth. Finally, this main mystery is fully addressed in the Doomsday Clock event (Reading Order). This event finally resolves this mystery while also clarifying other mysteries that have been around since Flashpoint (Reading Order). 

Metal Narrative

The other narrative in this era focuses on problems with the DC Multiverse. This starts with the introduction of the Dark Multiverse in the Dark Nights: Metal (Reading Order) event. The fallout from this event then leads to problems that take place in Justice League: No Justice (Reading Order). This directly sets up Scott Snyder's full run on the Justice League (Reading Order) series. This series details a rising threat to the Multiverse, mostly coming from Lex Luthor (Reading Order), Perpetua (Reading Order), and the Batman Who Laughs (Reading Order). The finale of this run then directly sets up the Dark Nights: Death Metal (Reading Order) event. This event incorporates many characters and concepts that were introduced before and even utilizes elements from Doomsday Clock. The conclusion of Death Metal then ushers in a new era of the DC Omniverse, which fans get a glimpse at in Future State (Reading Order).

Before Reading

Rebirth Narrative

The narrative here picks up right where the narrative in the New 52 era (Reading Order) left off. The fallout from the Justice League: Darkseid War (Reading Order) event weakened the walls separating the Multiverse, which led to DC Universe: Rebirth taking place. In addition, the universal reset that took place in Flashpoint (Reading Order) plays a big part in what happens here and is often mentioned.

Metal Narrative

The narrative here does not extend from the "Main" narrative in the previous era. Instead, it picks up on small details from Scott Snyder's run on Batman (Reading Order). Over the course of this run, there are brief hints that allude to something bigger in the future, which ends up being the Dark Nights: Metal (Reading Order) event. However, fans do not have to have read Scott Snyder's run on Batman in order to understand what is going on here.

After Reading

After the Omniversal changes that took place in Dark Nights: Death Metal (Reading Order) and the prelude that is given in Future State the next DC Comics era officially begins. This is the Infinite Frontier era. This new era has its own central storyline that is only just beginning. This narrative starts in Infinite Frontier #0 and is continuing through the rest of the Infinite Frontier event series.

All DC Comics Event Reading Orders