DC Clichés that need a looooong rest...

[SiegePerilous02]

So much this. Its not interesting anymore. Its just pretentious.

Yeah. Remember when the Joker could actually be funny (in a black humor sort of way) and clever, and wasn't necessarily going to kill people with his schemes? He just wanted to be a troll of the highest caliber and put one over on Batsy and the police?

Much like Batman, he's been replaced by a pod person and he's glitching out! 3 Jokers not ending with the return of Bronze Age Joker and Batman while the replacements get killed off is its greatest sin.

[PCN24454]

So much this. Its not interesting anymore. Its just pretentious.

Villains in general tend to be like this, even when the writer claims that they aren’t.

I still think Darkseid has become overblown.

[Gaius]

Villains in general tend to be like this, even when the writer claims that they aren’t.

I still think Darkseid has become overblown.

Yeah, I’ve gotten tired recently of Fourth World stuff and Darkseid as the Big Bad of DC.

[Agent Z]

I've always hated the cliche of the Guardians of the Universe being dicks. It undermines the whole concept of the GLC. Even if we disagree with them by our standards, they should still be seen as focused on The Big Picture, which can be frustrating, but there should at least be some wisdom there and I'm tired of them portrayed as control-freaks. We'll see if this new version of young Guardians are any better or if some writer will eventually fall back to that old chestnut.

Some changes in the Green Lantern Corps policy would be needed. For starters, no forcibly conscripting new Lanterns after an old one dies. The GLC are supposed to be an intergalactic police force but it's very disturbing how Earth has neither heard of nor recognized them (how many people on Earth know that GL is supposed to be a cop?).

[Frontier]

Yeah. Remember when the Joker could actually be funny (in a black humor sort of way) and clever, and wasn't necessarily going to kill people with his schemes? He just wanted to be a troll of the highest caliber and put one over on Batsy and the police?

Much like Batman, he's been replaced by a pod person and he's glitching out! 3 Jokers not ending with the return of Bronze Age Joker and Batman while the replacements get killed off is its greatest sin.

Yeah, I kind of miss when Joker could be genuinely funny and not this super absurd edgelord serial killer.

Yeah, I’ve gotten tired recently of Fourth World stuff and Darkseid as the Big Bad of DC.

I think Darkseid is definitely more overused then the general Fourth World stuff. At least in my opinion.

[Agent Z]

In the 90s. Been 'out' a few years. Dreds and braids now.

Of course bald heads are easy to draw versus textured hair. And can't forget the cliche goatee that goes with the egg head! MWAA HAA HAAAAA

Two cliches that really grind me...Barry (my mom is DEEEEAD!!) and the 'dead parents in alley falling pearls image" bit for Bruce. UGH.

I think dreads and braids were much more common for black comic characters in the 90s onwards than going bald. Just off the top of my head, you had Static, Jackson Hyde, Randy Robertson and Philippus. Black males who didn't wear that hairstyle just had low cut hair.

[Agent Z]

Exactly. There is no opposite to anti monitor, Darkseid, or even a hero who obtains god like power. What if a light based being wanted to re order the universe for everyone's 'own good.' Kind of like a take on the Lords of order/chaos. I think DC just likes using lots of dark color with ugly/edgy/busy character designs.

Wouldn't Sinestro count as what you're asking for? He wears a yellow costume, has light-based powers (sort of) and is motivated by wanting to re-order the universe for "everyone's good".

[BooCoo]

Villains in general tend to be like this, even when the writer claims that they aren’t.

I still think Darkseid has become overblown.

THIS. all of the DARKSEID IS memes are goofy. Plus his motivations and goals are the same, over and over. He's the Thanos of DC.

[BooCoo]

Wouldn't Sinestro count as what you're asking for? He wears a yellow costume, has light-based powers (sort of) and is motivated by wanting to re-order the universe for "everyone's good".

Maybe. But Anti monitor, SB Prime or Darkseid would likely stop him in his tracks unless he had a power bump. DC really doesn't utilize a light based counterpoint to those. Nearest thing was the old Lords of Order but they kind of stayed in the background and minded their own buisness.

[brenster21]

Zauriel lasted five minutes in the DCU and Spectre isn't one to give press conferences. Plus, Greek Gods give powers to to people. Wonder Woman, Shazam, Cassie, etc.

In Ostrander's run a group of priests point out that they have no way of truly knowing if the spectre is really a servant of god or the devil, and say regardless it doesn't matter since they are here to decide if Father Craemer can stay a catholic priest. Though after the trial one of the priests a jesuit does ask to be introduced to the spectre to ask some theological questions.

[Vordan]

Yeah, I kind of miss when Joker could be genuinely funny and not this super absurd edgelord serial killer.

I think Darkseid is definitely more overused then the general Fourth World stuff. At least in my opinion.

And apparently the Fourth World is going to be playing a big part in DC’s post Future State plans (which likely just means Darkseid given how little DC cares about New Genesis), so that overuse isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

[mr_crisp]

If you kill him you will be just like him

That is one that I hate.

[mr_crisp]

Two cliches that really grind me...Barry (my mom is DEEEEAD!!) and the 'dead parents in alley falling pearls image" bit for Bruce. UGH.

But dead parents make heroes better.

[Monove]

Clichés linked to past stories involving the characters: The Teen Titans fight Deathstroke. Jason Todd stories involving crowbars. Bane almost breaks someone's back. Gotham gets destroyed.

Sexual assault as a traumatic past (Helena, Koriand'r...) or being treated like "casual" physical abuse (Apollo, Oliver, Barbara, Dick...).

Characters with popular, established main love interests having many short love interests. No one's going to be invested in these, DC.

Characters reverting back to their former identities: Babs as Batgirl, Tim as Robin...

[Tzigone]

Clichés linked to past stories involving the characters: The Teen Titans fight Deathstroke. Jason Todd stories involving crowbars. Bane almost breaks someone's back. Gotham gets destroyed.
<snip>
Characters reverting back to their former identities: Babs as Batgirl, Tim as Robin...

These two, along with retold and reworked origins, just make me think how much DC goes backward instead of forward sometimes. And changing the past often makes continuity in the present more of a muddle, since they aren't consistent on which version actually happened afterwards (which if really on editorial). But more than that, it seems like they have no direction to go with characters. And so they will often revert them to a prior state when they were more popular...but leave out the bits that actually made them popular. Progression and moving forward was something that made NTT popular. Frequently reverting/deaging Raven and Gar so they can be on teen teams is the opposite of that. During the bulk of Tim's time as Robin, he was an emotionally fairly healthy teen with a living dad. And repeating stories - quite a few were popular because they were novel and they aren't novel anymore. I know it's hard to do something new that people like (we've had threads on it). And you'll never please everyone. But what about just organic growth from where they are with no shocking or abrupt changes in direction? Just good stories that don't "change everything"or rewrite the past. Not EVENTful enough, apparently.