A msconception in the Superfamily myth

[llozymandias]

That thing about time travellers being unable to meet themselves, seemed to only apply to stories that involved Superman.  Other time travellers (in pre-crisis DC) were able to "meet" themselves.  Without the time traveller becoming a "phantom".

[dto]

I was wondering if there was any consistent "rules" over time travel in the DC Universe, pre or post-Crisis.  I thought that Superman could not enter his own past and thus meet "himself".  (Supergirl mentions this rule in "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" unaware that she and the Legion have traveled to a time where Kara is truly "in the past".)   :cry:

But could you go into the future and meet your future "self"?  Or perhaps a POSSIBLE future "self"?  We've just recently seen the Teen Titans meet their future selves ten years hence.  So have the laws of time travel changed by the Crisis, or is it simply up to the writer?

[TELLE]

I seem to remember a story wherein Superboy and Superman had to charge each other head-on, blowing each other back to their respective times, when they meet.

Apparently Supes has a run-in with a sort of time-cop, ala Grant Morrison or Star Trek Voyager in Action 502, 1980.  Haven't read it.

[Captain Kal]

That was a story where Superboy somehow time-travelled to present-day Metropolis where he met Superman, his adult self.  They found it impossible to time travel after meeting each other since Superman's super-mind calculated that after meeting yourself in time travel, it would take power and speed greater than they could muster to break the time barrier after that.  After some adventures in our time, the two thought of a way to break the time barrier.  Superboy stood firm on a deserted mountaintop while Superman charged at him.  Superboy if he stands firm is the immovable object.  Superman if he charges full out is the irresistible force.  The meeting of irresistible force upon immovable object created enough of a paradox that Superboy was automatically jettisoned back to his home time era.

A later DCCP race with the Flash through time had Superman stranded in the 30th century since he and Superboy were coexisting in that era.  Superman remembered the above story on how they freed themselves for time travel again, so that's why they collided with each other this time, with the same results: They were flung back to their respective home eras.

[Bill 9000]

Heh! I remember that one. Guess the writers forgot that the same matter can't occupy the same space at the same time. Otherwise, Superman and Superboy would've destroyed each other a la Timecop.  :wink: