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  1. #1
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    Default Biggest plot-hole in a DC comic storyline

    What, in your opinion, has been the biggest plot-hole in a DC comic storyline?

    It could even be one of your favorite storylines but you still recognize that there is a huge plot-hole in the story.
    Last edited by caj; 10-08-2020 at 12:37 PM.

  2. #2
    Ultimate Member Riv86672's Avatar
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    Not sure if it counts but, in Batman: Gotham City Secret Files and Origins #1, Brian K. Vaughan created a Batman villain, The Skeleton, who used the MOs and equipment of other villains. He (or she) seemed to have it in for Bruce Wayne...and as far as I know it went nowhere and Skeleton’s identity was never revealed.

  3. #3
    Ultimate Member Sacred Knight's Avatar
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    I still haven't gotten over to this day that in the Electric Superman-Red/Blue saga we never found out what made Superman's powers change in the first place. The catalyst for the entire storyline never had any explanation as to how and why it occurred. Maddening.
    "They can be a great people Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you. My only son." - Jor-El

  4. #4
    Spectacular Member Micael's Avatar
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    This isn't necessarily a plot hole but more of a inconsistency inside the continuity. In Morrison's JLA the league fights against the White Martians, after beating them J'onn himself decides to mindwipe them and the league complies because they understand that in the Martian culture they have their own type of punishments. Fast forward in Identity Crisis we see the league against using the same method but now it's Zatanna and she's doing it to earth super villains this created tension in the league because for some reason now some members are against this when in another story they allowed it. It becomes such a issue that they even mind wiped Batman and hid the truth from Superman and Martian Manhunter two of the characters who specifically had a panel discussing what to do with the White Martians. I know that the stories are years apart but I can't help but find it interesting how none of the writers or editors pointed this out.

  5. #5
    Astonishing Member Ra-El's Avatar
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    That time the Flash didn't blitzkrieg his enemies.

  6. #6
    Three Legged Member married guy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sacred Knight View Post
    I still haven't gotten over to this day that in the Electric Superman-Red/Blue saga we never found out what made Superman's powers change in the first place. The catalyst for the entire storyline never had any explanation as to how and why it occurred. Maddening.
    My understanding was his powers came back differently when he kickstarted them in the sun. (I know, but hey it's comics) The change back just sorta happened though if memory serves.

    Identity Crisis comes to mind, but the worst hands down has to be Heroes In Crisis.
    The chattering teeth, the puddlers scrawl on the wall, the Speed Force now explodes bit.... UGH.
    Did I mention UGH??
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  7. #7
    Ultimate Member Jackalope89's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by married guy View Post
    My understanding was his powers came back differently when he kickstarted them in the sun. (I know, but hey it's comics) The change back just sorta happened though if memory serves.

    Identity Crisis comes to mind, but the worst hands down has to be Heroes In Crisis.
    The chattering teeth, the puddlers scrawl on the wall, the Speed Force now explodes bit.... UGH.
    Did I mention UGH??
    Yeah, it was very bad. We were told a story about the heroes actually getting help for their traumatic experiences, but then it turned into that.

    For me, one would be Morrison suddenly giving post-Crisis Jason red hair and making him so bad. The "everything is canon" does NOT work!

  8. #8
    A Wearied Madness Vakanai's Avatar
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    That a man can fly.
    And yet they make me believe it.

  9. #9
    Mighty Member ducklord's Avatar
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    An oldie but a goodie:

    Monarch turning out to be Hawk, despite the fact that, of all the potential futures that Waverider witnessed, Hawk and Dove's were the only ones that showed the heroes EXPLICITLY FIGHTING MONARCH.

    I mean, I know the switch away from Captain Atom was a last minute shuffle, but did they have to pick one of the only characters that absolutely COULDN'T be Monarch?

    I'm also amused when dead tertiary characters just pop up alive again without explanation. It doesn't bother me too much, because their deaths are usually done as moments of lazy writing to show how powerful a bad guy is, but I always get chuckle out of it. In particular, I recall that Roulette allegedly killed a whole bunch of heroes in her gaming pits, and listed them by name. I'm pretty sure that almost all of them have popped up alive and well since then.

  10. #10
    Mighty Member witchboy's Avatar
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    This is going way back, but Donna Troy's whole existence was a plot hole.
    Wonder Girl was originally just Wonder Woman as a teen ager.
    But because it was the Silver Age they started doing team ups with Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot as if they were three different characters, and they did this a lot.
    At some point someone got confused and thought Wonder Girl was Wonder Woman's sister and she was used that way in the Teen Titans.
    The story to fix that was that Wonder Woman rescued a baby Donna in a fire and left her with Hippolyta to raise.
    So once Donna was an adult and got married, how old was Diana supposed to be? I never got the impression she was supposed to be old enough to Donna's mother, but she'd have to be.
    An easy fix would be to say time passes differently on Paradise Island, but I don't believe that was ever done then.

  11. #11
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    More of a continuity issue than anything else, but I never really understood how Power Girl's Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint history was supposed to work - especially once they restored her Earth 2 Kryptonian origins.

    So on the one hand, Power Girl is supposed to be a 'survivor' of COIE who 'fell through the cracks' and survived on the new merged earth. Okay, fair enough.

    But...she also has a history in the Post-Crisis earth. Her Symbioship crashlanded on this earth. She was found and mentored for a while by Post-Crisis Superman and believed that she was his cousin.

    So which is it? Is she someone who was physically the Earth 2 Power Girl who's ship crashlanded on Earth 2 and who somehow ended up on Post-Crisis earth? Or is she a new Post-Crisis version who's ship crashlanded on Post-Crisis earth and who has a history there...and who later 'regains' memories of her Earth 2 counterpart?

    At what point does Power Girl 'cross over' into the Post-Crisis earth and its timeline? After COIE? Or after her ship, which left from Earth 2, somehow showed up on Post-Crisis earth?

    And this is becoming relevant again if you go by Doomsday Clock restoring the JSA, and Power Girl, to current continuity.

  12. #12
    Astonishing Member kingaliencracker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by married guy View Post
    My understanding was his powers came back differently when he kickstarted them in the sun. (I know, but hey it's comics) The change back just sorta happened though if memory serves.
    There were different reasons given.

    One explanation was that his electrical powers were the result of being pulled through the Bottle City of Kandor's dimensional barrier (this was the Secret Files explanation, which I suppose would be the most canonical explanation available). The other explanation as provided by the Wizard Superman Special was Final Night and him recharging his powers via the Sun.

    As far as how he went back to normal, again different explanations were given but both in the comics, which obviously contradict each other. One was that he was "rewarded" by the Millennium Giants for his willingness to sacrifice himself. The other was that he simply expelled all his electrical energy and reverted to his Kryptonian physiology.

    Back in the day, there were posts galore relating to the mystery behind Superman's electrical powers and how there were definite clues leading towards some kind of big reveal regarding them. But the assumption has been that everything was scrapped when the never-produced Tim Burton film was green lit.

  13. #13
    Ultimate Member Sacred Knight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by married guy View Post
    My understanding was his powers came back differently when he kickstarted them in the sun. (I know, but hey it's comics) The change back just sorta happened though if memory serves.
    Yeah the change back happened after the Millennium Giants crossover, in the Superman Forever special. There we at least get a spiritual explanation of sorts, in that it was a reward for Red and Blue sacrificing themselves in the aforementioned event.

    I think, with all the Kandor stuff coming up front and center again around this time and new characters like Scorn, that Superman visiting the city prior was being set up to be what sparked the change. Superman even theorizes at one point if it was crossing the barrier that did it. But that along with any other solid explanation was just kinda forgotten and remained theory.
    Last edited by Sacred Knight; 10-08-2020 at 12:27 PM.
    "They can be a great people Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you. My only son." - Jor-El

  14. #14
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    The GL story line with all life starting on Earth, White Lantern, entities baloney. Had no relation to the real age of the universe, how life started.

    Also the color spectrum for the Lanterns as the colors are not 'real' but a function of old world age primate vision that is just a few million years old and would have no relation to the visual perception of creatures across the universe.

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