Which Character has Grown the least since their debut?

[babyblob]

So there are too many comic book characters to count. Most are good, some are pretty bad. But which ones have grown the least? or have grown but then took a step back?

For me there are a couple.

My first choice is Peter Parker. It is close to 60 years since he first showed up. He is still having money problems, cant hold down solid work, women problems. it is like Marvel just does not want to see him grow up at all. it is super annoying because it really seems like they could care less about Peter any more. I said it before. it is sad that the most he has grown was when Doc Ock took control of his body.

On the DC side I would Say Batman.

It is not that he has not grown over the years because he very much has. in fact he has gone through a couple phases. But once he has become Back Jerk/Bat God a couple decades ago he has not grown or evolved at all. it has been be a jerk to my friends and family who supported me for years, talk down to everyone who is not me including other heroes, say every five pages it is all about saving Gotham nothing else matters.

I think its lodd that Marvel and DC would keep their biggest heroes in a holding pattern for long.

So to you who has grown the least or taken a huge step back?

[CSTowle]

I'd say the Peter Parker and Batman things are by design. There's always temporary change (Peter's a clone, he's a mystical Spider-avatar, he's Iron Man's sidekick, he's married no wait he's not, etc.), but these franchises always revert back to a basic norm because that's what fans want. They also want things to be changed up from time to time because reading yet another battle against the Vulture or the Joker is probably going to be boring no matter how you put a twist on it. Still, ultimately they want the Spider-Man or Batman they know. Endless cycle of change/revert/change/revert.

With few exceptions I'd say the Silver Surfer is who he has been since the Lee/Kirby era.

[seismic-2]

Homer Simpson has not changed, and we would all be profoundly upset if he ever did.

[jb681131]

Homer Simpson has not changed, and we would all be profoundly upset if he ever did.

Off course he's evolved, maybe because you don't know his original version - The Simpsons had a slight different look and Homer was wise, not dumb.

[Dav85]

Probably mostl superheroes due to the nature of the medium. When there are changes, soon or later they are erased. Unfortunately, it's inevitable in a never-ending narrative with trademark characters.

[worstblogever]

The Punisher. He's literally had no growth. He's still murdering criminals in the name of vengeance for his family and it's never enough.

You may close the thread now.

[Tendrin]

The Punisher. He's literally had no growth. He's still murdering criminals in the name of vengeance for his family and it's never enough.

You may close the thread now.

I mean, this is accurate, but I'd like to give an honorable mention to Sentry, who any time anyone gives him an iota of growth it promptly gets rolled back.

[Adam Allen]

The Punisher. He's literally had no growth. He's still murdering criminals in the name of vengeance for his family and it's never enough.

You may close the thread now.

At one point in the late 90s, Punisher was killed off, then was resurrected as an undead, un-killable supernatural agent of vengeance ... rather than random earthly violence, his family's death was due to some kind of supernatural shenanigans, and I think all the random criminals he'd killed in his human quest for vengeance got turned into some kind of new form of demon ... a sort of Lilim/Lilin, only all spawned by Frank Castle. I guess this could have been some character growth for him -- definitely changed up his origin and concept quite a bit -- but it was just terrible, so a good thing to discard and forget about.

There was also the brief Frankencastle period, which might seem somewhat similar to be the above, on the surface -- but man, somehow Franken-Castle was some kind of awesome...

[Adam Allen]

So there are too many comic book characters to count. Most are good, some are pretty bad. But which ones have grown the least? or have grown but then took a step back?

For me there are a couple.

My first choice is Peter Parker. It is close to 60 years since he first showed up. He is still having money problems, cant hold down solid work, women problems. it is like Marvel just does not want to see him grow up at all. it is super annoying because it really seems like they could care less about Peter any more. I said it before. it is sad that the most he has grown was when Doc Ock took control of his body.

On the DC side I would Say Batman.

It is not that he has not grown over the years because he very much has. in fact he has gone through a couple phases. But once he has become Back Jerk/Bat God a couple decades ago he has not grown or evolved at all. it has been be a jerk to my friends and family who supported me for years, talk down to everyone who is not me including other heroes, say every five pages it is all about saving Gotham nothing else matters.

I think its lodd that Marvel and DC would keep their biggest heroes in a holding pattern for long.

So to you who has grown the least or taken a huge step back?

Also, think I'd have to disagree with you about Peter Parker. Not only was he married to MJ and had a successful career through the 90s, which is why the decision to undo his marriage has remained a controversial if not universally despised editorial decisions to this day, but as Spider-Man he has gone from being JJJ's "menace" to probably the most universally respected superhero on 616 earth. Think about it, Parker can waltz into the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and (when they are not doing some editorially mandated mutants-only thing) even the X-Men and get accepted more or less like family in any of the groups. Not even Cap can pull that off, at least not as well. Now true, some of that is due to the popularity with fans, so we've likewise seen Wolverine slutted out to the Avengers and FF on occasion, too -- but I suppose owing to being a generally more likeable person, I think it seems a more believable thing with Peter than with the Canadian cowboy ninja guy.

That's to say nothing of how he's basically like a Professor X type as far as legacy goes, post all the Spider-geddon stuff. You know, not only does 616 have Miles, Jessica Drew, Caine, Ben Reilly, Arana, Octavius and probably a couple others I'm forgetting all running around concurrently, making the Spider-family competitive with the Bat-family for sheer number of associated heroes, but when you dive into the Spider-verse stuff, you have versions of Peter Parker being heroic all over the multiverse, with 616 Peter generally conceded by all the "spider totems" as being the number one real deal, the go-to guy if you really need to save all of reality. And again, gonna grant, this is of course within the fictional context of a character the company already realizes is insanely popular with fans ... my point just being, this is still a pretty far evolution from the awkward teenager and accidental neighborhood hero he was originally created to be.

[babyblob]

Also, think I'd have to disagree with you about Peter Parker. Not only was he married to MJ and had a successful career through the 90s, which is why the decision to undo his marriage has remained a controversial if not universally despised editorial decisions to this day, but as Spider-Man he has gone from being JJJ's "menace" to probably the most universally respected superhero on 616 earth. Think about it, Parker can waltz into the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and (when they are not doing some editorially mandated mutants-only thing) even the X-Men and get accepted more or less like family in any of the groups. Not even Cap can pull that off, at least not as well. Now true, some of that is due to the popularity with fans, so we've likewise seen Wolverine slutted out to the Avengers and FF on occasion, too -- but I suppose owing to being a generally more likeable person, I think it seems a more believable thing with Peter than with the Canadian cowboy ninja guy.

That's to say nothing of how he's basically like a Professor X type as far as legacy goes, post all the Spider-geddon stuff. You know, not only does 616 have Miles, Jessica Drew, Caine, Ben Reilly, Arana, Octavius and probably a couple others I'm forgetting all running around concurrently, making the Spider-family competitive with the Bat-family for sheer number of associated heroes, but when you dive into the Spider-verse stuff, you have versions of Peter Parker being heroic all over the multiverse, with 616 Peter generally conceded by all the "spider totems" as being the number one real deal, the go-to guy if you really need to save all of reality. And again, gonna grant, this is of course within the fictional context of a character the company already realizes is insanely popular with fans ... my point just being, this is still a pretty far evolution from the awkward teenager and accidental neighborhood hero he was originally created to be.

As he hero he has grown. he was married to MJ yes. he went through phases of evolution just like Batman. But as Peter he has had next to now growth at leas the last few years. Still with the money problems, No PHD unless that has changed despite being in college for how many years?

As Spiderman his growth has been great. As Peter has had next to none. And the things he did have they took away.

[worstblogever]

At one point in the late 90s, Punisher was killed off, then was resurrected as an undead, un-killable supernatural agent of vengeance ... rather than random earthly violence, his family's death was due to some kind of supernatural shenanigans, and I think all the random criminals he'd killed in his human quest for vengeance got turned into some kind of new form of demon ... a sort of Lilim/Lilin, only all spawned by Frank Castle. I guess this could have been some character growth for him -- definitely changed up his origin and concept quite a bit -- but it was just terrible, so a good thing to discard and forget about.

There was also the brief Frankencastle period, which might seem somewhat similar to be the above, on the surface -- but man, somehow Franken-Castle was some kind of awesome...

Those stories felt more like tweaks to give him a power-set than character development.

[numberthirty]

I mean, this is accurate, but I'd like to give an honorable mention to Sentry, who any time anyone gives him an iota of growth it promptly gets rolled back.

On the one hand?

Too true.

On the other hand?

Sentry or The Punisher have a fair amount of growth when you set them up along side characters like Jesse's Grandmother/Jody/T.C. in Preacher.