The Official DC Stupid Question Thread....

[BrianWilly]

I don't know that Marvel superpowers are really all that useless or that their villains are really so generic..

 

[Spike_x1]

Near-uselessness? How so? Was there ever a time where he found something that he couldn't lift? No, he didn't toss planets around or punt the moon at a villain (then again, those early stories that were still establishing who he was in post-CoIE continuity never called for such ridiculousness from Superman, so who even knows if he was ever meant to be strong enough to do those things?), but he was still catching falling space shuttles and carrying cruise ships around without showing any real sign of effort at all. Every time that a feat of strength (or any of his other powers) was required, Superman met the challenge. So yeah, how was he powered down in any way that affected the stories, for better or worse?

 

[Andy C.]

Near-uselessness? How so? Was there ever a time where he found something that he couldn't lift? No, he didn't toss planets around or punt the moon at a villain (then again, those early stories that were still establishing who he was in post-CoIE continuity never called for such ridiculousness from Superman, so who even knows if he was ever meant to be strong enough to do those things?), but he was still catching falling space shuttles and carrying cruise ships around without showing any real sign of effort at all. Every time that a feat of strength (or any of his other powers) was required, Superman met the challenge. So yeah, how was he powered down in any way that affected the stories, for better or worse?

That, exactly that, is the long and short of the problem I have with the Post-Crisis Superman. With his powers toned down, all of his adventures were toned down too. There was nothing unique about any of the situations he was in or the villains he fought--with the exceptions of Doomsday and Brainiac 13. Superman didn't go up against anything that any other hero couldn't handle just as easily, so in that sense, powering him down made him useless on the grander scale of things. It took all of the 'Super' out of Superman, and made him just another guy in tights.

 

[Spike_x1]

When Superman can move faster than light by using abilities derived from a finite power source like the sun, can fly fast enough to travel through time, and can casually push the Earth out of the way of an energy beam or an asteroid, it's impossible to read it as anything other than a comedy, rather than an exciting sci-fi/action story. Frankly, I could go my entire life without ever even wanting to read about Superman being called on to crack a planet in half or anything else on that level of ridiculousness, both in terms of story and in power.

Superman didn't go up against anything that any other hero couldn't handle just as easily, so in that sense, powering him down made him useless on the grander scale of things.

Yes. He did.
And even if he didn't, Superman retained the same rogues gallery that he had prior to CoIE, so most complaints about the types of threats that he faced are applicable to both Pre and Post Crisis Supermen. There are only two villains that I can think of as exceptions, where their threat level was unfortunately toned down: Mongul and Neutron; both of whom had proven themselves physically stronger than Superman in Pre Crisis continuity, but are now probably just below Supes' current strength level. To balance that out in the world of Superman villains, however, both Metallo and the Parasite were given an astounding upgrade in power in the post-crisis world.

For example, before recently being toned down to the point of uselessness and tossing away his character development, I can't really think of a way that just "any other hero" could have handled Metallo, when Corben had strength rivaling Superman's, could mentally control technology, form new weaponry and equipment (letting him fly, shoot energy blasts, etc), assimilate any machinery into himself, and could increase his mass at will to become a giant with strength surpassing Superman's. Now, Metallo is back to just relying on kryptonite and rarely, if ever, using his mediocre superstrength. Hurray for the return of the Silver Age.

In the wake of Reality Wall Punches, the Parasite is also back to having his lame, limited Silver Age powers and personality. Gone are his multiple personalities creating internal conflict for the character, the ability to steal other forms of energy than just life force (electricity, momentum, etc), and the need for Superman to outsmart him instead of confronting him in a direct fight for any prolonged time. Honestly, if he still had the power to consume electricity, Rudy Jones would have laughed his ass off at Black Lightning's threat to zap him in JLA #13, and just let BL try to electrocute him. Parasite has commented before that electricity tastes bland, but it still satisfies his hunger. New Earth's Parasite, however, has been shown to have overloaded on Superman's energy alone. Just like the old days. Yippee.

I might be able to stomach those guys having reverted back to their weak Silver Age characterizations, but only if Mongul and Neutron can go back to their strong SA selves. Seems like a fair tradeoff. Instead, though, all of these changes back to the Silver Age way of things is a joke.

 

[Manic]

I always found "Superman can push the Earth out of the way of oncoming comets" to be ridiculous. To the average person, it'd look like Superman was doing a handstand, and one would wonder why he's moving the entire planet rather than drilling himself underground.

 

[Superunknown]

Hey, who's this new "Bat-Female" that with FC: Revelations? I sort of fell off the FC bandwagon a couple months ago.

 

[CBG]

Batwoman.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Been around since 52, too.

 

[Superunknown]

Been around since 52, too.

The same "Bat-Woman" that's with Batman & The Outsiders?, maybe I need to start picking up more DC stuff again.

 

[sethcohen]

lesbats was in outsiders?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No, that's Batgirl.

 

[sethcohen]

i hate lesbats... she can go back from whence she came...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm not a fan either.

 

[sethcohen]

shes been around for what... 3 years? and done NOTHING. litterally, what has she done? almost died and got possessed... and maybe sexed up the questbian... booooooooring!

 

[WolfCypher]

What's the current state of Final Crisis's plot? I stopped reading. Spoilers?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Darkseid's basically taken over Earth with the Anti-Life Equation, which, it turns out, transforms people into zombie-like psychos who spout crappy dialogue like "Anti-Life justifies my hate!" The preview for the next issue shows Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Rayner getting together a group of Green Lanterns from the Corps to try and stop Darkseid after [blackout]the Alpha Lantern who brought Hal up on charges turned out to be possessed by Granny Goodness[/blackout].

 

[WolfCypher]

Thanks...sounds mediocre. Gotta say the two big events of this year really disappointed. FC could pick up. But I doubt it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's supposed to be quite good, actually. The consensus seems to be that it had a rocky start but picked up around #4. I dropped it after #2, so I don't know.

 

[Superunknown]

No, that's Batgirl.

Okay... so that I won't sound like I'm totally lost when I go to shop to pick up the back issues... there's now (2) "Bat-Chicks" one that's none for having an 'alternative lifestyle' (being politically correct) and the other one that was on the cover of FCR a month or two back ans supposedly will be part of this new Justice League? Is that right?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No, the one on Final Crisis: Revelations' cover was Batwoman, and Batwoman is also the one who'll be on the new Justice League. Batgirl is just on the Outsiders and has her own self-titled mini-series concluding soon.

Visually, they're pretty easy to tell apart: Batwoman has a red bat symbol on her chest and red hair, Batgirl has a yellow outline of a bat symbol on her chest and her hair is covered by her cowl.

 

[Manic]

Does anyone know if the new New Earth Batwoman has had any interaction with Flamebird? It seems like such an obvious thing to do.

 

[SuGarRush]

Lesbats and the Questbian, I laughed out loud at those.


Ok guys, it's been a couple months, so I'm back in here asking again,

Any news on when the Real Aquaman is coming back?

Thanks so much!

Oh and are the mega-events almost done with? I'd really like them to go back to just telling normal stories again. I miss those days...

 

[Superunknown]

No, the one on Final Crisis: Revelations' cover was Batwoman, and Batwoman is also the one who'll be on the new Justice League. Batgirl is just on the Outsiders and has her own self-titled mini-series concluding soon.

Visually, they're pretty easy to tell apart: Batwoman has a red bat symbol on her chest and red hair, Batgirl has a yellow outline of a bat symbol on her chest and her hair is covered by her cowl.

Okay, then my next question would be, isn't Batman getting tired of these two ripping off his gimmick? t:

 

[Manic]

Batgirl sorta has his permission, but I don't know if Batwoman has ever met Batman. I know she has Nightwing's approval, but that's only because he nearly ****ed his tights the first time he saw her.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Lesbats and the Questbian, I laughed out loud at those.


Ok guys, it's been a couple months, so I'm back in here asking again,

Any news on when the Real Aquaman is coming back?

Thanks so much!

Oh and are the mega-events almost done with? I'd really like them to go back to just telling normal stories again. I miss those days...

No one knows when Aquaman is coming back. Johns and Van Sciver want to work on him, but they're doing Flash: Rebirth right now.