DC characters not living up to their potential

[Rorschach II]

Which DCU character(s) do you folks think is not living up to his literary potential? I'm talking guys that could be like The Batman or Superman...characters that even the Marvel diehards would give a **** about.

I'm gonna go with Nightwing. Year One should've been a masterpiece but was consumerist trash and he's still treated like Batman, Jr., though he's far more appealing as a character than that.

[BrianWilly]

Aquaman.

[LadyVader]

Kyle Rayner... Actually most of the Green Lanterns are currently underpowered.

I would've loved to see Superboy live up to his potential, but sadly that super-ship has sailed. Same goes for Bart Allen.

[trustyside-kick]

Aquaman. I was trying to think of more...but he seems to be the one most screwed over. Sometimes he is shown great, other times not.

[ImrtlLimpWrist]

Since nearly all of DC heroes are over-powered (a good 6-7 are "supermen/women), it's a hard call. DC sets no limits on most of their heroes - Lantern can make anything, Flash is the fastest, Marvel, Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Sentinel - there are few limits to their powers.

Martian Manhunter - what can't he do?

[trustyside-kick]

I wouldn't say they are all or mostly over-powered; that's a bit of a stretch.

definitely aquaman

[Darthphere]

All of them.

[Fledermaus]

Originally Posted by ImrtlLimpWrist

Martian Manhunter - what can't he do?

Damn near everything Superman can plus shape-shifting, invisibility, and phasing through objects. J'onn has never been used to his full potential, because then, he would rival to Superman, and only villains can do that.

[trustyside-kick]

Originally Posted by Fledermaus

Damn near everything Superman can plus shape-shifting, invisibility, and phasing through objects. J'onn has never been used to his full potential, because then, he would rival to Superman, and only villains can do that.

Well, isn't his "physical power" not as powerful though? I know J'onn is powerful, but I thought he was "physically" when it came to hits and blows that he was weaker than Supes and Wondie.

[Fledermaus]

You could be right.

[TheCorpulent1]

The Martian Manhunter isn't as strong as Superman, but he's close. He's probably right up there with Wonder Woman. He took down the entire JLA when his burning Martian side, Fernus, took control and used their shared powers.

Originally Posted by ImrtlLimpWrist

Since nearly all of DC heroes are over-powered (a good 6-7 are "supermen/women), it's a hard call. DC sets no limits on most of their heroes - Lantern can make anything, Flash is the fastest, Marvel, Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Sentinel - there are few limits to their powers.

That's a ludicrous statement. Superheroes are only "over-powered" if their writers aren't creative enough to come up with challenges for them. Whatever power level Superman has been at, he's never wanted for reasonable challenges if the writer takes the time to think one up or use an existing threat that could conceivably challenge him.

[ImrtlLimpWrist]

Yo Corpulent One,, that's part of the problem when you "over-power" your super-heroes. You then have to create villians equal in epic power and the storylines get completely convoluted (like Infinite Crisis 2 or just about every run in JLA, for instance).

While I read pretty much read a balance of DC/Marvel, I find the lower-amped heroes or those with flaws in their powers (for example, Cyclops not having full control over his optic beams) more compelling. DC has even over-powered Batman.

When you have the "supermen", their characters can become alot less interesting. Look at 'Trinity' for example -- Superman gets sent off to intercept a missile while Batman and WW have a much more interesting storyline.

[TheCorpulent1]

Read more Superman stories, preferably from Alan Moore, Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, or Mark Waid. Good Superman stories aren't that hard to find, and if you think he's intrinsically uninteresting, you're as wrong as if you were to say that about any other character. It all comes down to the writers.

[Spike_x1]

Superman's rogues. I bought a dozen copies of Superman #652 from the "Up, Up, and Away!" storyline, just to use as toilet paper.

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, OYL Lex Luthor is definitely not living up to his potential. He's living up to the potential that Bryan Singer seems to think he has instead.

[Darthphere]

Originally Posted by TheCorpulent1

Yeah, OYL Lex Luthor is definitely not living up to his potential. He's living up to the potential that Bryan Singer seems to think he has instead.

****ing Bryan Singer.

[Spike_x1]

I remember back when the Silver Banshee was introduced, her scream wasn't just a lame sonic blast. It caused the death of whoever she was looking at and targeting with it. Whenever she appeared, you'd be thinking that Superman would have to use his brain and think of some way to get around the scream. Nowadays, Superman just toughs it out.

Livewire knowingly heading into a waterfall and Hellgrammite being knocked out from falling a few stories? WTF? And where were Bloodsport's heavy duty weapons, sci-fi blasters and missiles that could level buildings? Instead he was using assault rifles?

The Prankster was the only villain in that whole storyline who was written to the potential of what he's actually capable of.

[TheCorpulent1]

The saddest part of "Up, Up, and Away" is that it was actually not a bad story. It just did everything with the villains utterly wrong.

[GL1]

Their literary potential?

Lets go the other way around:
Characters that ARE living up to their literary potential right now:
Hal Jordan. Roy Harper. Black Canary. Batman. (Wonder Woman is getting there). Guy Gardener. Tim Drake. Maybe Kid Devil. And possibly, MAYBE Supergirl.

That's all I know of everyone else: Superman, Black Lightning, HAwkgirl, Babs, Cassandra Cain, Martian Manhunter, John Stewart, Vixen, Nightwing, Wondergirl and especially Aquaman, among many others... they all fall short.

[TheCorpulent1]

Hahaha, he says "Hal Jordan" like it's actually true.

[Darthphere]

I find that to be LAWL worthy.

[TheCorpulent1]

Actually, I thought about it some more. Hal currently sucks, and all Hal can ever really do well is suck, so I guess he could be construed as living up to his potential. The real question, of course, is whether he's sucking enough.

[Darthphere]

Originally Posted by TheCorpulent1

Actually, I thought about it some more. Hal currently sucks, and all Hal can ever really do well is suck, so I guess he could be construed as living up to his potential. The real question, of course, is whether he's sucking enough.

Kyle + Parallax x Hal not being blamed for ****= Yes.

[Spike_x1]

Originally Posted by TheCorpulent1

The saddest part of "Up, Up, and Away" is that it was actually not a bad story. It just did everything with the villains utterly wrong.

Yeah, the potential was definitely there if the villains/conflicts weren't written so horribly.

While I'm at it, Lex should've kicked a powerless and kryptonite-irradiated Clark's ass. Easily. Unless, of course, his combat training from Hope and Mercy, as well as his Neron-granted physical perfection was Reality-punched away.