What would you do with: Vixen

[CRaymond]

I'd change her name to Animal Woman. Vixen is problematic. It's not utterly terrible, but it lacks the authority of the peers I'd suggest for her. And anyway, she can be the Kate Kane to Buddy Baker's Bruce... with Beast Boy as their Nightwing, Monster Girl as her Red-Hood-meets-Batgirl.

A question I struggle with is "who are Mari's peers?" It's not as though she is considered a Big 7 alternate the way Cyborg, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and Plastic Man are... She was accepted into the League along with Steel, Vibe and G*psy, and survived that only to be put into the Suicide Squad's roster of expendables. Brought back time and again for stints and guest star roles, and given a significant push through JLUnlimited's series, she's made to bounce back and forth between established chemistries. The effect is that she's ultimately a team player who consistently walks alone. Which is why I wanted to introduce her to the Superbuddies/FKATJL stalwarts, and give her the leadership role that wouldn't fit anyone already there. With Mari in charge, I'm envisioning a cross between Claremont's early 80s X-Men and the Legends of Tomorrow series.

And I'd like to say nahhhhh to whoever suggests Mari should lose her totem necklace. Kids need consistency in their superheroes, and for Superman it's a cape, for Green Lantern it's a ring, Wonder Woman has her tiara, and Mari should have her necklace. Maybe her powers aren't lost when she doesn't have it... but maybe wearing the totem enhances her abilties?

[Confuzzled]

Animal Woman is even worse than Vixen. Might as well change it to an African language term for Queen, Goddess or Heroine.

Speaking of Queen, I'd go full Black Panther on her backstory. Make her the exiled heiress of her nation after a violent coup. Have the country annexed by the Queen of Bialya, which would make her Mari's archnemesis. Emphasize more on Mari's supermodel status by not just showing her globetrotting and looking glamorous, but also having it translate to her superheroism in terms of costumes (constantly changing animal print/themed costumes, each based on the animal she majorly draws from during the particular fight she wears it for).

For a powerset as dynamic as the one she has, her costume always seemed unimpressive and unable to translate the appeal of her powers and personality to me.

[Barbatos666]

Um Talia al Ghul is the Queen of Bialya currently

[baycitybomber]

Scrapping and rewriting her origin story is the worst thing you can possibly do to her character. If you don't favor scrapping and rewriting Superman's origin story because it's iconic, have the same respect for Mari, otherwise we'll either end up with another Donna Troy or a Wonder Woman situation where she can't hold onto a stable supporting cast because everyone thinks they can "improve" her.

As for what to do with her: worldbuilding. Green Lantern's popularity exploded when their corner of the DCU was dramatically expanded and built on and while I think the rainbow Corps idea was ultimately shallow, it did keep people excited while it was happening. You can approach the worldbuilding from a number of angles:

• the comic could explore how the totem's power ties into the wider DCU concepts like the Red and all the other characters who are explicitly connected to it. You can create temporary team-ups or a permanent team Vixen could lead to attract fans of various characters.
• you can explore the culture that originally got hold of the Tantu Totem and develop it into as big of a deal as the Amazons and the Atlanteans.
• someone in the thread mentioned introducing other totems which could be a good idea to expand her world as long as you don't hand those out like candy. Make sure to keep her power special.
• build up her supporting cast in a way that not only relies on brand new characters you wouldn't see anywhere else but also ones who show up in other teams (Animal Man?). Make sure she is the linchpin that connects all those characters, providing a convenient excuse for her to show up in a number of different books that could give her more exposure.
• alternatively, focus on the magical side of her powers and tie her into the magic side of the DCU (I personally don't really like this option).

Basically, turn her corner of the DCU into its own franchise where she is the unquestioned center point. And yeah, put her on the Justice League, too.

[Ascended]

I like the idea of using Buddy as Mari's "Jay Garrick" and Beast Boy as her "Nightwing" but there's someone we seem to be forgetting: Buddy's daughter Maxine, who is supposed to grow up to become the Red's biggest, baddest Avatar ever (or something, been ages since I read Lemire's Animal Man).

Seems to me that Mari helping train Maxine offers a lot of story potential.

I also agree with taking the stuff the animated show introduced; the evil sister and the additional amulets. etc, and using that. Perhaps there's an amulet for the Green as well as the Red and the classic Elements like fire and water?

What's Jason Woodrue up to these days? He seems like he'd be a great "plant" based villain, especially with Ivy slowly being pulled into anti-hero territory.

How about Nimrod the Hunter? He was introduced in Morrison's New52 Action Comics and is a combination of a revamped Terra-Man and Kraven the Hunter. Nimrod got two issues with Morrison and hasn't been heard from since so Mari stealing him for her rogues gallery isn't going to impact Superman on any level.

Given the eco-terrorist leanings of Ra's al Ghul, and especially with Tiger's connection to the League of Assassins, I'm thinking there's gotta be a way to use that without stepping on Batman's toes as well.

[Aahz]

Animal Woman is even worse than Vixen. Might as well change it to an African language term for Queen, Goddess or Heroine.

Speaking of Queen, I'd go full Black Panther on her backstory. Make her the exiled heiress of her nation after a violent coup. Have the country annexed by the Queen of Bialya, which would make her Mari's archnemesis.

Don't think you need to change her Origin, just bring her Uncle Back to live as her arch nemesis, and explore the History of her Totem (if that wasn't allready done).

[CRaymond]

I guess I’m so deep into DC I don’t even hear the troll interpretations of “Animal Woman”. I’m so used to “Bat” “Super” and other prefixes that adding Man Woman Lad Boy Girl just seems correct and proper.

Maybe the Totem necklaces are originally from the magician cities of Kor, to function as mediums between the elemental parliaments and human shamans.

[kilderkin]

I'd have her as the champion of the red (I think that's animal version of the green iirc)

Give her an uber power up

Bop her onto JL main team, drop a lantern maybe

Have her have a prestige mini where she leads all the animal based heroes against some anti Gaea threat

Lead a new team of global guardians

Love this character

[MoneySpider]

Animal Woman is even worse than Vixen. Might as well change it to an African language term for Queen, Goddess or Heroine.

Speaking of Queen, I'd go full Black Panther on her backstory. Make her the exiled heiress of her nation after a violent coup. Have the country annexed by the Queen of Bialya, which would make her Mari's archnemesis. Emphasize more on Mari's supermodel status by not just showing her globetrotting and looking glamorous, but also having it translate to her superheroism in terms of costumes (constantly changing animal print/themed costumes, each based on the animal she majorly draws from during the particular fight she wears it for).

For a powerset as dynamic as the one she has, her costume always seemed unimpressive and unable to translate the appeal of her powers and personality to me.

For me, part of Vixen's appeal is that you never know which animals she is mimicking at any given time when she's coming at you, which makes her even more dangerous and unpredictable, and having a constantly-changing costume to reflect the animals she is currently mimicking would be a huge giveaway to her opponents (this is one of the reasons why I think Beast Boy is at a disadvantage with his powers because his opponents can literally see what animal he has turned into...plus he remains green, which makes him immediately stand out and be noticed).

Also the constantly-changing look of her costume would probably be very difficult to pull off in animation and live action.

[Marvell2100]

Have Christopher Priest write her. Have her lead a new Task Force X or Checkmate and bring back Bronze Tiger. Have her tie in more with titles like Dick Grayson, Green Arrow and Deathstroke.

Just don't put her in a corner of the DC universe with little to no interaction with other heroes in the same tier group.

[CRaymond]

Just don't put her in a corner of the DC universe with little to no interaction with other heroes in the same tier group.

What heroes are in her tier group?

[Marvell2100]

Heroes that deal with espionage, crime thrillers, political thrillers like Dick, maybe Birds of Prey and Green Arrow. The Outsiders, Red Hood and the Outlaws, I'd even put Catwoman in that category at times.

There should definitely be a Wonder Woman crossover if Mari ever gets her own title.

[Confuzzled]

For me, part of Vixen's appeal is that you never know which animals she is mimicking at any given time when she's coming at you, which makes her even more dangerous and unpredictable, and having a constantly-changing costume to reflect the animals she is currently mimicking would be a huge giveaway to her opponents (this is one of the reasons why I think Beast Boy is at a disadvantage with his powers because his opponents can literally see what animal he has turned into...plus he remains green, which makes him immediately stand out and be noticed).

Also the constantly-changing look of her costume would probably be very difficult to pull off in animation and live action.

It would be easy in live action for a mega budget film like JL or Suicide Squad. They could even go for the Best Costuming nominations the way Black Panther seems to be going for.

As for animation, hey, if Cardcaptor Sakura can do it... I also think this concept sells its own merchandise And we definitely need more strong female POC representation for children.

You make a good point regarding Vixen's visuals vs. Beast Boy's, but I was approaching it from a more marketing perspective. A diorama artwork of all her different costumes would look so epic. And people would be equally excited to see which animal she taps into next via her costumes. And as I mentioned before, she doesn't have to only use the powers of the animal whose print she's currently wearing, she can use secondary sneak attacks of other animals too.

[Powertool]

One thing I'd do right away is taking everyone at DC who had any input in making Mari a billionaire out of the blue and defenestrate them so to prevent any more "great ideas" like that from being produced in the near future. Then retcon that whole nonsense away and make her a former top model who managed to carve out for herself a small but comfortable place in the industry over the years. She would therefore be in a grey area where she's still technically a model but she's booked for fewer and fewer runway shows (get to 23 and you're practically toast in most cases) while dedicating more time to some other activity (design, photography...). In a single stroke she'd be rescued from the dreaded ivory tower more and more superheroes end up in and put in the middle of a context, the world of high fashion, which in our world still has an incredibly huge dark side, in the role of somebody who had to withstand all of its twistedness when she was younger. And, thinking about the whole thing, it could even go beyond that.

In the hypothetical scenario of a Vixen solo series following my vision, the first two or three issues should be entirely devoted to establish Mari as a heroine who consciously chooses to operate in contexts where splendor and luxury hide terrible secrets and black souls. A background made of poverty, loss and exile as a child in her exploited native land and having to fight tooth and nail for pretty much everything once she came to the US just to find some stability just because she had a great-looking body is the perfect recipe for a protagonist who doesn't let herself be dazzled by the shiny things rich people use to signal their status as wannabe gods-on-earth. The general atmosphere of the series would be most similar to that of a spy story: Mari having to navigate shark-filled waters watching every step she makes and keeping accurately away from showings of raw power unless she finds herself in a situation where cutting loose is the only sensible option. Less invoking the strength of a rhino/beetle/rhino-beetle/elephant/whale and more acquiring the stealth of a cat, the olfactory sense of a dog, the wall-crawling abilities of a gecko, etc. Or at least I would always make sure to depict her always trying to explore new animal abilities, so to show that her connection to the morphogenetic field is not something that should be taken for granted and must be routinely exercised in innovative ways.

Her supporting cast would obviously feature at least some known faces but her friends, allies and enemies should include for the most part new characters or utterly reinvented obscure ones from the past. The way I see it, Cynthia Reynolds/Gypsy should have an important role as Mari's best friend. She could even be presented as the first friend she ever made after the future Vixen crossed the Atlantic, at the time when her economic conditions was little better than Cindy's. Given Gypsy's dissimulation powers, she would also be the perfect teammate during missions where one superheroine is not enough. And it may be my undying love for J'onn J'onzz speaking, but I'd pay double the cover price for a series where he functions as her mentor of old, the one who helped her in the first phases of her superhero career. Animal Man (I could see her calling him her "roommate at Red University") and his family to complete the picture of her closest superhero acquaintances and the rest would be non-superpowered people. Colleagues both new and old, investigators and reporters also keen on unveiling the rot hiding under the glittering surfaces, "defectors from decadence" who just took a liking to Mari's frankness and incorruptible dedication to her principles. There are a lot of ways to make all of her human comprimaries compelling characters and God knows if we don't need more interesting human comprimaries in modern superhero comic books.

And on an aesthetic note, I'd go back to the short-hair look or alternatively to the cornrow braids she sported in the pre-Infinite Crisis period. Her current hairdo is neither flesh nor fowl.

[alton]

It just happens I had "All By Myself" stuck in my head for the last few days and I had already looked up everything about it on Wikipedia. So there you go. I might have guessed it was by the Raspberries, if I didn't know Carmen had left that band to go out on his own and this was one of his first hits as a solo artist. And to correct an error--"All By Myself" was based on Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, the second movement. It was "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" that was based on Symphony No. 2's third movement. Stupid transpositional error.

And all of this banter about a pop tune nobody remembers or cares about that didn't respect Rachmaninoff's source material has to do with Mari exactly how? I'm a little confused here people. Just kidding.