What Would You Do If You Had Complete Control Over the DCU?

[Raijin]

1. Barry Allen is dead again. Honestly, he worked best serving as an inspiration to Wally West, who would be the main Flash in the DCU.

2. Ted Kord is Blue Beetle. Jaime Reyes is called Scarab now and is part of the Teen Titans.

3. The Justice League is less adherent to the concept of the Big 7 and features a line-up representing all of its eras. Cyborg is a member, having graduated to its ranks after a long an lengthy tenure in the Teen Titans.

4. The JSA and Legion are both back and in play, though both line-ups are reflective of the high points of their Pre-Flashpoint incarnations.

5. Billy Batson says the WORD "Shazam" to turn into Captain Marvel. Mary and Billy are his only family members.

6. More focus on characters acquired by other companies...the Ray, Blue Beetle, and Captain Marvel have their own titles, and folks like Captain Atom, Phantom Lady, Bullet-Man and more are prominently featured in team books across the line. Also, Peacemaker and Spy-Smasher star in a "buddy cop" book. They do NOT get along.

7. On the other side of the coin, the Wildstorm characters would only exist on an alternate Earth and would serve in the same capacity to the DCU proper as the Watchmen characters currently are. The Watchmen would not be a part of the DCU in any way, shape or form.

8. The "Vertigo" characters would remain entrenched in the DCU, but would mostly keep to themselves, so that any appearance outside their books would make for a big deal.

9. Animal Man, Harley Quinn, and Blue Devil would all go back to their costumes/appearances prior to the New 52.

10. There's a Green Lantern Corps and a Sinestro Corps. That's it. Also, a new protector of Sector 2814 would be named, an alien from another world. All of the Earth-based GLs would be temporarily stripped of their rings.

11. There would be a greater emphasis on team books in order to allow more characters to shine, including a new title called FORGOTTEN HEROES to introduce readers to a team of characters who might not've had a lot of focus for the last 10-50 years.

12. More period books, like JONAH HEX, SGT ROCK, and ARAK, including one set pre-WWII and featuring the earliest mystery men characters, like Sandman and Crimson Avenger. And more pure sci-fi and fantasy books, like CLAW THE CONQUEROR, WARLORD, and ADAM STRANGE.

13. A new Secret Society of Super-Villains would form and become MAJOR players in the DCU, reflecting their status in the VILLAINY INC mini-series but becoming a much more permanent feature.

That's all I've got for now!

Killing Barry again does absolutely nothing for the character. Is he not allowed to be a REAL character instead of a footnote in history. Barry dying only props up West. And people wonder why I have such a problem with this fanbase.

[byrd156]

Killing Barry again does absolutely nothing for the character. Is he not allowed to be a REAL character instead of a footnote in history. Barry dying only props up West. And people wonder why I have such a problem with this fanbase.

Barry's death wasn't a footnote, it meant something greater but that's gone now.

[Buried Alien]

Barry's death wasn't a footnote, it meant something greater but that's gone now.

I'll take Barry as an active, living superhero over a Barry as a martyr any day, any week, any month, any year.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Killerbee911]

I'll take Barry as an active, living superhero over a Barry as a martyr any day, any week, any month, any year.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Of course if you like the character that makes sense but Barry's death was one of best in comics and Wally growth after to fill in and become his own hero with in someone else mantle was also one of the best in comics. He successful took over a legacy which is pretty impossible to pull off in comics.

[Sutekh]

What would *I* do with complete control of the DCU?

Same as most fans, I suppose. Run the company into the ground by demanding that they print lots of books that only I want to read, and ignoring marketable and popular characters that I personally am not all that into.

Luckily for DC (and everyone who works there, and fans of characters I don't like!), and sadly for me, that will never happen.

So, yeah, good news for fans of Lobo. Bad news for the three of us who liked Kole or want to know more about Leeta 87 or Xera of Manna-5.

[Lightning Rider]

I'll take Barry as an active, living superhero over a Barry as a martyr any day, any week, any month, any year.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Would you settle for an ongoing modern retelling of the Silver Age in which Barry was a living character with previously untold adventures? That's been my favorite depiction of Barry thus far. I love him but I also loved what his death meant. I'm greedy in wanting both and not being a huge fan of the dead mama trauma that follows him every issue since Johns.

[Ascended]

Killing Barry again does absolutely nothing for the character. Is he not allowed to be a REAL character instead of a footnote in history. Barry dying only props up West. And people wonder why I have such a problem with this fanbase.

It didn't do anything for Barry as a character (I mean, obvs right?) but it did a lot for the Flash as a property.

It turned Barry into a saint; his shadow loomed large over the entire DCU. And let's not forget that being dead didn't stop him from appearing in books like JLA Year One, Elseworlds, etc.

It obviously did a whole lot for Wally. Barry's death basically made Wally, as we understand him today. And Wally, in his heyday, was very successful.

It cemented the concept of "legacy" as a main theme in the Flash mythos.

I like Barry, and I'm in no rush to see him taken off the board. He brings a lot to the table and he's an interesting character. Wally is *my* Flash, but I'm very happy with Barry too. But saying that Barry's death didn't do anything for the Flash property is objectively false. And if we're being critically honest? I'm not actually sure the IP has gained more than it lost since his return.

[Timothy Hunter]

Killing Barry again does absolutely nothing for the character. Is he not allowed to be a REAL character instead of a footnote in history. Barry dying only props up West. And people wonder why I have such a problem with this fanbase.

I would keep Barry alive and active as a superhero. However, I would isolate him from main DC continuity so more attention would be shifted towards Wally. I'd have Barry either explore the multiverse or join the Legion of Suoerheroes.

[Kaijudo]

I'd automatically veto everything else on that point alone.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Yeah, color me shocked on that one.

[Kaijudo]

Killing Barry again does absolutely nothing for the character. Is he not allowed to be a REAL character instead of a footnote in history. Barry dying only props up West. And people wonder why I have such a problem with this fanbase.

Barry was bland in his heyday and any development he has now is really just cribbed from the heavy lifting people did to make Wally a compelling character, plus the garbage retcon of his mother's murder to make him "edgy" and "real." Hardly a bastion of compelling character development worth keeping around.

But then again, the thread title isn't "What Would You Do If You Had Complete Control Over The DCU, Provided Anti-Geek Thinks It's Okay," is it?

[byrd156]

I'll take Barry as an active, living superhero over a Barry as a martyr any day, any week, any month, any year.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Dick is my all time favorite character and if he was in Barry's place dying to save all of existence, I would be pissed if he came back but that's just me I guess. I want these stories to stick and to mean something.

[byrd156]

Would you settle for an ongoing modern retelling of the Silver Age in which Barry was a living character with previously untold adventures? That's been my favorite depiction of Barry thus far. I love him but I also loved what his death meant. I'm greedy in wanting both and not being a huge fan of the dead mama trauma that follows him every issue since Johns.

I've always liked the idea of finding a way to have Barry be dead but find a way to have his past self pop in every now and again. It already has the built in drama of his past death and the fun of team-up stories.

[CaptCleghorn]

Barry Allen was the symbol of DC's Silver Age and his death and subsequent replacement by Wally was the biggest sign that COIE was a new beginning for DC.

[Dr. Ellingham]

Barry was bland in his heyday and any development he has now is really just cribbed from the heavy lifting people did to make Wally a compelling character

You've got all that backwards - Wally "borrowed" the following from Barry:

His costume
His cast
His villains
His history
His team - JLA
His larger DCU associations - teaming up with Green Lanterns, racing Superman, friendships with Elongated Man, etc.
The reporter girlfriend/wife thing

So that's all from Barry Allen. Pretty great character!

The only thing that wasn't taken from Barry - taking over all that stuff and espousing about "legacy" and "mantles".

And while that was done really well (Waid, Johns), it doesn't preclude DC from saying - Okay, that's done. Since this is such a historically important character and the continuity where he was dead doesn't matter at all, let's rebuild him from the ground up in a modern context.

Which hadn't been done. And it worked pretty well for the TV show. Maybe less so for the comics, but...execution varies.

[Dr. Ellingham]

Same as most fans, I suppose. Run the company into the ground by demanding that they print lots of books that only I want to read, and ignoring marketable and popular characters that I personally am not all that into.

Pretty much what all these CBR threads devolve into - 70s/80s/90s fans who want to see DC try recreate their favorite era.