Rebooting within the continuity is a thing, more seen in comics than movies, and is usually called a "soft reboot". Going back to the beginning and starting a new continuity is a "hard reboot".
Examples: Superman was hard rebooted in the mid-80s in the Man of Steel miniseries, and the Superman comic restarted from a new issue #1 after the miniseries. Many aspects of the characters were tweaked, and made more realistic, but it was a clean slate for relationships and plot lines.
Batman was soft rebooted in 1987 by the Batman: Year One four-part storyline, which was not a separate series, just a four-month run in the mainline book. There were some details about Batman and other characters fleshed out more than in the past, and some longtime blanks filled in, but the continuity was untouched overall and the issue numbers didn't reset to #1, but going forward some characters were different than they used to be.
Examples: Superman was hard rebooted in the mid-80s in the Man of Steel miniseries, and the Superman comic restarted from a new issue #1 after the miniseries. Many aspects of the characters were tweaked, and made more realistic, but it was a clean slate for relationships and plot lines.
Batman was soft rebooted in 1987 by the Batman: Year One four-part storyline, which was not a separate series, just a four-month run in the mainline book. There were some details about Batman and other characters fleshed out more than in the past, and some longtime blanks filled in, but the continuity was untouched overall and the issue numbers didn't reset to #1, but going forward some characters were different than they used to be.
Last edited by a moderator: