What would you do with: Vixen

[Uncanny Mutie]

It's too bad Vixen never got her own comic from Gerry Conway and Bob Oksner, when she looked like this--

When she showed up in the Detroit Justice League, I really didn't like her much, because of how she was drawn--

I thought her JL Detroit costume was average and much better than the old animal themed one, but I was never a fan of her knockoff Wolverine hairdo either.

[LordAllMIghty]

Whaaaat?!? You must not have a pulse!!! lol

Agreed. She is a beautiful woman.

Even more when you hear her accent.

[WonderScott]

Globetrotting undercover supermodel superheroine superspy do-gooder with her compatriots; Fire, Donna Troy, and Extraño as their "Her Guy Friday." Juxtapose Vixen and Fire's respective Suicide Squad and Checkmate backgrounds with the glamorous and frivolous, yet also darker, side of celebrity, power, and corruption in a world where metahumans, magic, myth, etc. not only reign on the runway, but also clandestinely (and maliciously) behind the scenes.

[Confuzzled]

It's too bad Vixen never got her own comic from Gerry Conway and Bob Oksner, when she looked like this--

It has potential as a concept but the actual costume needs work. Maybe the entire thing should be golden yellow in color and not have that weird side midriff window. Love the golden headdress/mask as it is instantly recognisable and unique. Her hair could be dreaded or more natural/curly though.

I think a talented current professional artist could do wonders if asked to update this. Afua Richardson is the first who comes to mind.

[Alpha Male]

I would make her an international supermodel with ties to the entertainment, fashion, intelligence and superhero community. Vixen would be the Tyra Banks of superheroes and have her own fashion line and cosmetics. She would occasionally have adventures with Wonder Woman, Animal Man and Birds of Prey. She would also have developed shamanistic powers with the Red.

[Alpha Male]

Globetrotting undercover supermodel superheroine superspy do-gooder with her compatriots; Fire, Donna Troy, and Extraño as their "Her Guy Friday." Juxtapose Vixen and Fire's respective Suicide Squad and Checkmate backgrounds with the glamorous and frivolous, yet also darker, side of celebrity, power, and corruption in a world where metahumans, magic, myth, etc. not only reign on the runway, but also clandestinely (and maliciously) behind the scenes.

This would make a great pitch for a Vixen series! I'm sold!

[Robotman]

I would definitely make the god Anansi one of her main antagonists. She’s connected to The Red so she’s a supernatural superhero.

[Alpha Male]

I would definitely make the god Anansi one of her main antagonists. She’s connected to The Red so she’s a supernatural superhero.

Speaking of which, the thing that bothered about the Animal Man series is the Parliament of Limb (The Red) didn't even acknowledge Vixen as an Avatar. Does Vixen get her abilities from another source? I'm not sure if the New 52 Animal Man Series is still in continuity but if it is I would like to see that question answered.

[kurenai24]

I still forgot to post my reply to the best 3 posts here.

Speaking of which, the thing that bothered about the Animal Man series is the Parliament of Limb (The Red) didn't even acknowledge Vixen as an Avatar. Does Vixen get her abilities from another source? I'm not sure if the New 52 Animal Series is still in continuity but if it is I would like to see that question answered.

There is only one Avatar, Buddy was and now it's his daughter who is the Avatar of the red, Swamp Thing is an Avatar of the green and and we know Poison Ivy is not.

Vixen is connected to the Red, but her abilities is magic based b/c her totem was created by Anansi unlike Buddy's which is science based ..I believe.

[Robotman]

Speaking of which, the thing that bothered about the Animal Man series is the Parliament of Limb (The Red) didn't even acknowledge Vixen as an Avatar. Does Vixen get her abilities from another source? I'm not sure if the New 52 Animal Series is still in continuity but if it is I would like to see that question answered.

Vixen is connected to the Red through her Tantu Totem. Kind of the way Poison Ivy is connected to the Green through a science experiment. Neither are the chosen avatar but are still connected.

[Ascended]

There is only one Avatar, Buddy was and now it's his daughter who is the Avatar of the red, Swamp Thing is an Avatar of the green and and we know Poison Ivy is not.

Exactly. There's only one Avatar of a Parliament but several beings can tap into the powers.

I believe the New52 also tied Beast Boy to the Red, though I don't know if that's still canon.

Vixen is connected to the Red, but her abilities is magic based b/c her totem was created by Anansi unlike Buddy's which is science based ..I believe.

Buddy's powers, at least according to Lemire's series, are still bound in magic. The Red picked him as their Avatar, but didn't know if his mind could take it. The world was filling up with Supermen and Wonder Women so they created a "origin story" for Buddy about being abducted by aliens. They figured he could process that easier considering the flying aliens already out there.

I think they set him up as Avatar just so they could mold and shape Maxine when her time came.....but I could be wrong on that.

[hotroddii]

Can Vixen/Mari really be “undercover”?

She is a world famous supermodel whose face would be plastered everywhere ... and she doesn’t hide her identity as Vixen ... so I assume her superheroics are publicly known?!?!

[kurenai24]

Buddy's powers, at least according to Lemire's series, are still bound in magic. The Red picked him as their Avatar, but didn't know if his mind could take it. The world was filling up with Supermen and Wonder Women so they created a "origin story" for Buddy about being abducted by aliens. They figured he could process that easier considering the flying aliens already out there.

I think they set him up as Avatar just so they could mold and shape Maxine when her time came.....but I could be wrong on that.

Oh, well I was going off of the JLA run where Buddy described his powers as coming from science.

Can Vixen/Mari really be “undercover”?

She is a world famous supermodel whose face would be plastered everywhere ... and she doesn’t hide her identity as Vixen ... so I assume her superheroics are publicly known?!?!

Exactly which is why I'm always confused about these spy talks as soon as word gets around Mari's traveling anywhere especially if it is remote and only known for "bad things" the bad guys would know and can plan to pack up and move somewhere else ...unless these posters are suggesting the spy thingb/c they want her to have a secret identity in which case that's a big NO for me as she is in a nice niche that not a lot dc heroes are a part of.

[kurenai24]

Well apparently I had this tab open for a couple of months now, this is my feedback to the posts I quoted on page 2 as well as some other things mentioned in this thread, I believe. Tried to get grammar/spelling mistakes before posting but well whatever...

- The first two points I feel are paramount, but all writers that are hired by the big 2 seems to care about are the big dogs and/or the characters they grew up reading which is understandable but its like no one is being hired off of a good pitch for a character not in heavy use, so I definitely agree what she would need is a committed team behind her.

- While I think Vixen should be the best at something, Animal Man’s connection to the Red is superially strong and his daughter is the next avatar for it, I’m personally not one for stepping on any toes especially when it can effect a character who needs to gain more fans, but what makes Vixen’s connection to the Red different is that it’s magic based (which is a great way to differentiate their powers that I believe the JLA run by McDuffie touched on), and that an African god created that connection with her family line, so she has a magical/mystical connection to the Red and a writer should explore that magic side of her abilties too.

- I’ve always thought Buddy would appear in a Vixen comic for a team up since she has appeared in his for one, but I can actually see him recurring, and while I don’t know what he would mentor her in outside of the connection with the Red and kind of expanding that relationship to the Red, I can totally see her turning to him for any advice she needs. I can totally picture her (and Garth) having dinner with Buddy and his family, and them being that surrogate family for Mari and/or Garth. Question, does anybody know if Buddy being a stunt actor is in continuity? It would be really cool if Mari has a good relationship with heroes she’d actually interact with outside of work b/c of their own civilian occupation.

Even though I want Mari to team up with everyone connected to the Red, Green, and Blue at least once, I never thought of Garth having partner potential as I was still unconsciously following the pattern of female heroes having female sidekicks/partners and male heroes having male sidekicks/partners, but now I can totally see it, but what would bring Garth near Vixen’s vicinity and what would keep Garth there, would he be an assistant, does he do work on her animal programs etc.

Another character I would want to see recur in any capacity is Mike Maxwell aka B'wanna Beast, I don’t remember if he is alive or dead but I say bring him back anyway, do something with the character, maybe he almost died and as a result he quit superheroing, and since he’s done that he’s become DC universe’s Steve Irwin, maybe him and Mari used to date or are just really close friends, something fun to harken back to their episode on BtBatB and now they occasionally team up to do occasional missions together, hell maybe Mari has a sanctuary for wildlife animals that Mike is in charge of.

- Whether Poison Ivy is a villain or an anti-hero (which is as far as I think DC will take her heroing), I can totally see Mari and Pamela butting heads at conferences centered on environmentalism b/c one of their ideas more so benefits the animals and the other more so benefits plant life, but I can also see them doing projects together, so basically I can totally see them teaming up in and outside of the costume as well as going head to head in or outside of the costume. If Poison Ivy still has a secret identity and no one knows the connection between Pamela and Ivy then they can really raise her fame or play up how big of a scientist Pamela is in Vixen’s books when she makes her appearances.

I think DC should also look into the animated web series, instead of Kuasa being a sister, she could instead be a cousin, she could be the daughter of the uncle Mari killed, the same uncle who killed her mother and father. Kuasa could want revenge and the totem and the totem would work for her b/c they are of the same blood. The villain family member trope may be overdone but you have to admit that usually that family member is some immediate relative like a sister, brother, father, or mother, and not like a cousin.

I also like the idea of a trophy hunter being a villain for Vixen and I totally understand why a hunter would want to kill Mari and add her to the collection of his past hunts since she can emcompass all of the animal kingdom.

If Flash is not using Gorilla Grodd, I would like to see him pop up and be a good adversary for Vixen.

I also agree that she needs a technology based villain, and a dark mirror type of villain.

Having Anansi around as a chaotic neutral type of antagonist would also be great.

- As for love interests I think she needs to have 5 or 6 types of love interests, 2 types of normies, 2 types of heroes, anti-hero, and a villain and obviously these romances don’t need to be happening at the same time.

For the villain, I like the idea of Mari having temptation but maybe instead of doing that trope, we’d instead have a villain that started out as a love interest, I like the idea of a stalker villain that was brought up. Maybe a writer could really play up the creep factor and make it a bit dark, maybe this villain has abilities.

Anti hero would go to Bronze Tiger, don’t really care about the character, would not like a rehash of their romance, but I can see him being Vixen’s Catwoman ...only with them there is no “true love” aspect, it’s more adreneline, sexual attraction and hook ups with a side of “if I were a different person maybe then we could…”

Normie 1 would be a successful civilian, someone who can stand at her side and not be intimidated by her success b/c they too are successful, somone whose job sometimes intermingles with her own and they can be a favorite celeb couple or something, so the archetype would be Bruce Wayne.

Normie 2, a civilian who is more down to earth, who keeps Vixen's feet on the ground, I could go on but basically the archetype for Normie 2 would be Clark Kent.

For the 2 types of heroes, a hero who will most likely never stay in her book but would be a head turner and one that’s small enough to stay in her book. When I say head turner, I’m talking Superman and Wonder Woman hooking up or Batman and Wonder Woman hooking up level, obviously nothing for Vixen comes close to that but I do think harkening back to the Justice League cartoon and exploring the relationship she had with John Stewart would be fun in the short time they are given to date or bang each other, this pairing would be nolstagic and nothing ever permanent.

The other hero needs to be of a smaller scale, someone who can stick around like how Black Canary can stay in Green Arrow’s book despite being in the BoP book, someone who she will actually have some longevity too unlike John Stewart so *shrugs* I'm sure There's some choices out there.

Obviously these would not be the only love interests and these love interests I have suggested would not happen at the same time but these suggestions are good molds.

When it comes to teams, I of course would love it if she was a Justice League member, but in relation to her own book, I love the idea of her building a team of superheorines who all had the occupation of modeling, Fire, Ice, Starfire, maybe Witchfire I feel like this type of team would be cool for Vixen but a good "business move" for Mari ...and/or Vixen could start a trio with Poison Ivy and Mera and have it be enviroment oriented since they each represent one aspect of the enviroment.

As for storylines I think there are a lot that can be done with Vixen just based off her occupation and the relationship she will be building but I agree that bringing in those elemental totems from her web series would also be a cool idea maybe for an overarching long term slow build storyline.

I think having her book expand upon her occupation and business into other territories like politics would also be a good idea for the readers to make it feel like they are actually seeing the growth of something that could effect the dc universe i.e her expanding business or "empire" influence.

[Lonewolf36]

Some characters i would like to see Vixen interact with Tiger-Man (Desmond Farr), Bloodwynd, Conjura and WildStorm's Comanche who is a Native American shapeshifter who can take the form of animals.