Biggest missed opportunity of the last few years in your opinion?

[j9ac9k]

Such an 'Ultimate' universe will always be treated secondary to the 'main' one and deemed not as important. Just look at the Earth One line. That's what eventually did in the Ultimate Universe, even though it had a decent run.

Even if it's "secondary," with the right creatives, it could still be a lot of fun. Earth-One didn't work so well, but the Ultimate Universe went on for quite awhile.

[Zero Hunter]

Such an 'Ultimate' universe will always be treated secondary to the 'main' one and deemed not as important. Just look at the Earth One line. That's what eventually did in the Ultimate Universe, even though it had a decent run.

I think what killed the Ultimate U was the same thing that killed the first Wildstorm U and that is the "bigger, bigger, BIGGER" mindset. A lot of those Ultimate writers were always trying to outdue themselves with the threat level until they had no place left to go. The "we can do anything we want" mindset is not always a good thing because a lot of writers don't think about what comes after their latest big idea. I mean after Ultimatium what was there real plan? Just event into event into event.

[Vakanai]

Such an 'Ultimate' universe will always be treated secondary to the 'main' one and deemed not as important. Just look at the Earth One line. That's what eventually did in the Ultimate Universe, even though it had a decent run.

Problem is they always intended for 616 to be the main, ongoing universe. Here we'd be shifting the focus to the ultimate version and slowly phasing out the old one. Plus Ultimate was okay with doing things that were obvious mistakes, like killing off important characters, permanently. Creating an Ultimate universe and treating it as the mainline and the original as secondary (to the point where the original has fewer and fewer ongoing titles) should prevent the problem.

I mean this will never happen, but I can dream.

[superduperman]

Also this. Too many soft reboots clutter things up and breeds confusion. What stories count, which don't count? And for some fans stories don't matter unless their in continuity (seriously, I've read some people feel like non-continuity stories aren't worth reading because they "don't count", imagine what stress they must go through figuring out which parts of their collection have suddenly become wasted time and money when every reboot comes around). And we know DC will continue to do reboots forever, mostly soft. The occasional hard reboot thrown in will at least give us a few simple, not confusing eras going forward.

Of course a hard reboot will only work if there's a mandate that no Crisis, event, or writer's whim will bring back portions of the old continuity. No converging the realities or timelines to make old stories count again.

I've kind of gotten to the point where I don't follow continuity anymore. Headcanon is just more stable. There are things I don't agree with in main continuity anyway so it's not a huge loss. But I saw New52 as a chance to get back into it. Those fans who only follow what "counts" must be having a hard time these days. Maybe it's just too many reboots but I've gotten so cynical I don't trust DC anymore regardless. They could put me in charge and let me do what I want and I'd still think in five years they'll just undo it all.

[DevilBat66]

I cant believe people want or wanted a hard reboot.

Not a missed opportunity, but a story point that ruined a large part of Bat mythos, ending Oracle and making babs Batgirl.

I didn't want a reboot ever but, I wish if they had to do them, they would just go full-on reboot when they do it.

I was perfectly happy with the DCU before COIE and before Flashpoint as well. I would rather read Year One stories over and over than more continuity fix stories.

[HandofPrometheus]

I can believe it. I’m one of them.

We have a lot of clutter and legacy characters (and I like many of them. Don’t misunderstand me). When a hard reboot erases them, I will miss them… but I also miss some fun and simplicity in comics.

Sometimes I just want to read about Batgirl & Batman & Robin patrolling Gotham City. I’d like to see Superman pestered by Mr. Mxyzptlk and Wonder Woman deal with Greek Mythology.

I guess I’ve grown tired of the Cosmic Calamities. I can’t really blame the other planets joining forces to destroy Earth because it generates endless Crises and chaos. I too am really tired of DC Earth’s grimdark destructive nonsense.

Yes, DC, please issue all your ‘mature’ titles under the Black Label…and leave them there. Barbara didn’t need to be crippled. Jason didn’t need to die…neither did Barry, Kara, Kal-El or the dozens of others that were resurrected. Hal didn’t need to go insane. All that accomplished were creating legacy characters…new Green Lanterns, Batgirls and Supergirls…that DC has no clue what to do with now. It also created a lot of awful stories.

While you’re at it DC bring back some fun into comics. I have a few suggestions if you're bankrupt of ideas.

A hard reboot isn't going to bring back fun and simplicity when the people who brought in dark stories are still behind the creative process of DC.

Totally disagree. The new legacy characters did not have horrible stories.

[Ascended]

I would rather read Year One stories over and over than more continuity fix stories.

You just touched on something that always bothers me about reboots too; they're like a big sign that says "Hey, here's where we screwed up! Look at it! See it? We're gonna change it but we want to make sure you know that we took a wrong turn, and we're gonna make a big Event out of it so you don't forget!"

I think Marvel's method is better in this regard; they just quietly change things (usually) without drawing attention to it. Less hype, less BS, less attention on the mistakes they made.

[Jackalope89]

Jon Kent. The major and unnecessary age up, particularly to 17, squandered Jon's growth and development.

[Buried Alien]

CONVERGENCE wasn't the most popular DC event, but it did dangle the intriguing story possibility of Post-COIE Superman, Pre-COIE Earth-One Flash, Pre-COIE Supergirl, and Parallax Hal Jordan joining up to intervene in COIE and produce a different outcome. Supposedly, they DID, but we never got to read that story.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[hareluyafan1]

Putting heroes back in the trunks. Even with 30+ years in comics...I still find trunks stupid. I was elated that the New 52 did away with them and gave Batman a more armored suit...which makes sense. I think we've gone backwards putting them back in trunks.

You're entitled to your opinion but I must firmly disagree. See below.

This. So much this. Batman's costume was great, and people seemed to love Superman's Rebirth costume without the trunks.

I didn't.

Why bring them back?

Because they're an important part of Superman's design and he suffers without them. Here is a link to someone who explains it far more eloquently than I could:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwK2EFO0Z6U

I cant believe people want or wanted a hard reboot.

Sometimes a reboot can improve things. As I've said before I'm a big fan of Dolphin from "Aquaman" and personally I think her "Rebirth" incarnation is the best version of her character yet.

[Zero Hunter]

Jon Kent. The major and unnecessary age up, particularly to 17, squandered Jon's growth and development.

Such a stupid move by Bendis. Jon was one of the freshest things to hit the Superman books in decades, and to age him up just so he could have "teen drama" was beyond stupid.

[Jackalope89]

Such a stupid move by Bendis. Jon was one of the freshest things to hit the Superman books in decades, and to age him up just so he could have "teen drama" was beyond stupid.

Especially with Connor back at about the same age. A lot of people wanted kid Jon to meet and team up with teen Connor. Which would have been a fun ride. But nope.

At least there's hope with the animated Young Justice series.

[Noodle]

Such a stupid move by Bendis. Jon was one of the freshest things to hit the Superman books in decades, and to age him up just so he could have "teen drama" was beyond stupid.

Jon Kent. The major and unnecessary age up, particularly to 17, squandered Jon's growth and development.

We're a whole one issue into the "Aged Jon" thing. I think it's way too early to call it a missed opportunity. For all we know he could be de-aged again at the end of the storyline. People are jumping on this way too hard just because it's Bendis. If he stays that way, then I'd agree it's a missed opportunity.

[Zero Hunter]

We're a whole one issue into the "Aged Jon" thing. I think it's way too early to call it a missed opportunity. For all we know he could be de-aged again at the end of the storyline. People are jumping on this way too hard just because it's Bendis. If he stays that way, then I'd agree it's a missed opportunity.

The major theory is Jon is going to stay aged up and the reason is because Bendis wants to use him that way in a new Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes book he keeps teasing. Never mind that fact that Bendis on a book like Legion is the worst idea ever.

[SiegePerilous02]

She's getting an animated movie this year.

I mean it feels kind of late to the party, but it is coming.

Which is better than nothing, agreed, but looking at all the content the other two members of the Trinity get, it's kind of a pittance. Especially compared to Batman.

We're a whole one issue into the "Aged Jon" thing. I think it's way too early to call it a missed opportunity. For all we know he could be de-aged again at the end of the storyline. People are jumping on this way too hard just because it's Bendis. If he stays that way, then I'd agree it's a missed opportunity.

Yeah, there is any number of directions this could go, and nothing is permanent in comics anyway before we even get into Bendis's intentions.

But then, I didn't care for pre-Bendis Superman Rebirth anyway, so his shake ups don't bother me in the slightest.