Abstract: This study systematically investigated the influence of pre-aging treatments on the microstructure and subsequent hot deformation behavior of a superalloy with a 54% γ' content. Pre-aging was conducted for four hours at temperatures ranging from 1090 °C to 1130 °C to establish controlled initial microstructures. These were then subjected to isothermal hot compression at 1050 °C and a strain rate of 0.01 s⁻¹. The results demonstrated that pre-aging successfully created bimodal γ' structures, consisting of coarse primary (γ'_p) and fine secondary (γ'_s) precipitates. Increasing the pre-aging temperature led to the coarsening of γ'_p (from ~300 nm to >850 nm) and the dissolution of γ'_s, reducing the total γ' area fraction from ~33% to ~12%. During hot compression, a higher pre-aging temperature resulted in a lower peak flow stress, indicating improved flow softening. However, a counterintuitive effect on dynamic recrystallization (DRX) kinetics was observed: lower pre-aging temperatures promoted an earlier onset of DRX, evidenced by a lower critical strain. This was attributed to the dense population of fine γ'_s precipitates acting as potent sites for particle-stimulated nucleation (PSN). Conversely, higher pre-aging temperatures delayed and suppressed DRX by eliminating these nucleation sites. EBSD analysis confirmed that discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX), initiated by strain-induced grain boundary migration (SIBGM), was the dominant softening mechanism. This work reveals a critical trade-off between deformation resistance and DRX kinetics, providing a fundamental basis for optimizing the thermomechanical processing of superalloys with a high γ' fraction.