"Family" size when is enough enough for you?

[Zero Hunter]

Sooner or latter every main character gets sidekicks/proteges/or simply some new inspired character. For you personally how many is best for a family size? I think most would agree Batman has just too many at this point while someone like Aquaman could use one or two more.

For me I think once you start getting over 3 active sidekicks things start getting sloppy and fans start getting upset becuase the one the like is not getting used while one they don't is.

[SecretWarrior]

The problem gets bad when you have more than one character fulfilling the same function in the group or when a one character shunts away or denigrates another. Size is dependent on the nature of the stories the family is in.

Superman (4-5) - Clark, Kara, Kon, and Jon. Maybe John Henry-- I think he'd work better if he were Kara's age. Or Natasha instead.

Batman (4) - Bruce, Dick or Luke, Barbara, and a Robin

Wonder Woman (3-4) - Diana, Donna, Cassie, and maybe Jason

Green Lantern (3) - Lead based in 2814 (John), Apprentice based on Oa (Jessica or Kyle--or even Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle), and mentor based on Oa (Guy or Hal or Alan)

Flash (3) - Lead (Wally or Barry), Apprentice (Bart or Wally), and Mentor (Jay or Max)

Aquaman (5-6) - Arthur, Mera, Garth, Kaldur, and either Tula or Lorena. Maybe Lagoon boy.

Martian Manhunter (3) - J'onn, M'Gann, and Gar. M'Gann should be a green martian. If J'onn can recruit white martians, there's no reason the team wouldn't expand to become much larger, but a small number of survivors works better for story reasons.

Green Arrow (4) - Oliver, Dinah, Roy, and either Cissie or Mia or Emiko

Atom (2) - Ray and Karen

Hawkman (2) - Hawkman and Hawkwoman

Miracle Man (5) - Scott, Barda, Orion, Vykin, and Serifan

[Pohzee]

4-5. 6 Tops

[BohemiaDrinker]

Ideally 4 to 5, one for each generation and an "extra".

Certain franchises, like Green Lantern or Flash, can sustain more.

But personally I prefer to have too many characters than to have too few, so there's that.

[Frontier]

6-8 at the most, 4-5 at the least.

[docmidnite]

It depends on the original character, IMO. Batman is a successful character so him having a large family of characters makes sense business wise. Besides Bats has 2 books. Batman for himself and Detective for himself and others. Then of course Dick, Jason, Barbara and Kate are popular enough to carry their own books while Duke, Cassandra, Tim and Damian are all in team books that are all selling well (for today’s market anyway) leaving only Luke Fox/Batwing out in the cold for now.

Superman is another successful character and all of his family and even supporting characters are popular enough to carry books of their own and appear in team books (Young Justice and LoSH) leaving only John Henry Irons and his daughter Natasha/Steel out in the cold for now.

The Flash has his own book while Wally is starring in his own miniseries while XS (I think), Wallace and Bart are all in team books (LoSH, Teen Titans and Young Justice) leaving Jay, Max, and Jessie in the cold until they bring the Golden Age characters and their legacies back.

The Shazam Family is bigger now but still fun as ever.

Aquaman is really screwy as him and Mera appear in his book and Justice League but Garth, Jackson, and Aquagirl are all M.I.A. for now while Lagoon Boy was killed off.

Green Arrow is the worst off as he doesn’t even have his own book leaving him, and Black Canary mostly M.I.A. with Emiko in Teen Titans, Roy dead while Connor and Mia are nowhere to be found.

So again, it depends on the character, IMHO.

[MadFacedKid]

Ideally 4 to 5, one for each generation and an "extra".

Certain franchises, like Green Lantern or Flash, can sustain more.

But personally I prefer to have too many characters than to have too few, so there's that.

Green Lantern? Sure.
Flash? I don’t agree with so much

I think depending on how a writer does it characters who have kingdoms typically should be able to. Ex. Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Think the movies should introduce Donna and Garth that way as warriors of Themyscira
and Atlantis

[Güicho]

Sooner or latter every main character gets sidekicks/proteges/or simply some new inspired character. For you personally how many is best for a family size? I think most would agree Batman has just too many at this point while someone like Aquaman could use one or two more.

For me I think once you start getting over 3 active sidekicks things start getting sloppy and fans start getting upset becuase the one the like is not getting used while one they don't is.

Batman already went off course into useless derivative crap with the second Robin, enabling the endless parade of creepy clones that followed.