Unused And Underused Concepts In The DC Universe

[Zero Hunter]

And yes, I would love to see DC take all their espionage stuff and roll it into a more cohesive ball. They could even use Nightwing to spearhead the effort, given his ties to Spyral.

I have said for years now I wish they would just roll all the different orginizations into one group. Roll them all into the DEO (Department of Extranormal Operations) with each branch covering certain areas with the head of each group making up a a cabinet reporting to someone who then reports directly to the President and UN. Each branch would have different projects working under them.

ARGUS - Superhuman capture and containment - Headed by Mister Bones
SHADE - Supernatural investigation (Creature Commandos, Frankenstein, ect) - headed by Uncle Sam
Cadmus - research and develoment (Project: Atom, DSI, ect) - headed by Jim Harper
Checkmate - Covert operations/black ops (Suicide Squad, Project: Peacemaker, ect) headed by Amanda Waller

The DEO board would be made up the 4 heads reporting to Sarge Steel who oversaw the whole shebang.

[Trey Strain]

Many more concepts are overused than underused. I would like to see the real G'Nort again though. I don't know where that strange, unfunny version who has shown up the last few times came from.

[baycitybomber]

• Camelot. I loved it in Seven Soldiers of Victory, I loved Madame Xanadu's and the Homo Magi's connection to it and I wish they made their history more explicit in recent comics.
• More cosmic empires and other powerful groups.
• More international characters. The DCU doesn't feel lived-in when a comic doesn't even reference stuff going on outside of the hero's immediate bubble.

I would find it a very intriguing series to sort out the DEO, Suicide Squad, Checkmate, Spyral, ARGUS, and SHADE in comparison to one another. It's unfortunate that these series have all had fairly short runs. Espionage married to a world that has metahumans, super-science, aliens, etc. is fascinating.

A story where there's a final showdown between some of these agencies, with various spy characters caught up in the crossfire and trying to figure out who is even the "good guy" in the situation would be great. Keep it low key, down to earth, and Gotham Central-esque and you've got an in-story reason to cut down on the number of ill-defined agencies. I hate it when editorial changes like that fail to tell the story that led up to the change in-universe.

[LifeIsILL]

The books of magic. I think DC might as well just make them into their own version of the Infinity Stones.

No reason why they shouldn't be just as powerful

[WonderScott]

I think an Earth 3 title has some potential, with some changes. I’d jettison Morrison’s idea that evil always wins there as an absolute (and vice versa for the main DCU.) It’ll give the stories more places to go.

I’d re-Rebirth Earth 3 and the CSA and have it set in a world where they have control, have their underling “families,” and have robust underground of heroes fighting them in rebellion. Really build out that world and the characters. Their universe shouldn’t differ too much from the main DCU as it’s filled with good and bad citizens as it is.

[Ascended]

A story where there's a final showdown between some of these agencies, with various spy characters caught up in the crossfire and trying to figure out who is even the "good guy" in the situation would be great. Keep it low key, down to earth, and Gotham Central-esque and you've got an in-story reason to cut down on the number of ill-defined agencies. I hate it when editorial changes like that fail to tell the story that led up to the change in-universe.

Something like that would be excellent.

[MajorHoy]

Hopefully sometime in 2018, possibly towards the end of Doomsday Clock, we'll see a return of some of DC's "Golden Age" history/ characters.

Though it's annoying that hasn't happened sooner . . .

[scary harpy]

I think an Earth 3 title has some potential, with some changes. I’d jettison Morrison’s idea that evil always wins there as an absolute (and vice versa for the main DCU.) It’ll give the stories more places to go.

I’d re-Rebirth Earth 3 and the CSA and have it set in a world where they have control, have their underling “families,” and have robust underground of heroes fighting them in rebellion. Really build out that world and the characters. Their universe shouldn’t differ too much from the main DCU as it’s filled with good and bad citizens as it is.

Earth 3 may not exist. It may simply be a dark-matter world resulting from fear of Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash and Batman. They are extremely powerful individuals who have teamed up. Power corrupts. This could cause a pretty constant supply of fear to fuel the creation of these worlds. This would explain the multiple versions of the CSA.

Same goes for the Nazi-Earths. Multiple versions of Axis America. More fear about them today.

[jtd]

For those interested in the cosmic/space side of DC, for a little time DC was exploring that side of their universe.

I suggest trying to read old issues of R.E.B.E.L.S. from 2009, by writer Tony Bedard. And before that the book was L.E.G.I.O.N., also by Bedard. They were all over the cosmic DCU, different planets, populations, etc.

[Sutekh]

Still waiting for this guy to show up.

[Agent Z]

I wouldn't mind seeing the Amazons ability to gain super powers from training come back again.