What to Keep From the New 52?

[ducklord]

Hey y'all,

As penance for the griping and whining I indulged in over the the "What Went Wrong With the New 52?" thread, I've decided to open the floor to a more positive question, namely:

What Ideas, Continuity Shifts, or Random Character Bits from the New 52 Should Be Kept Going Forward?

It's no secret that the New 52's continuity seems to be rapidly receding in the rear-view mirror, with some flavor of the post-Crisis DCU starting to form the dominant "history" of the DCU, and the so-called "Infinite Frontier" forming the basis for the present. But the New 52 had *some* good ideas that are worth weaving into the narrative, and it's worth a thread, I think, to stand up for them. So hey, let's accentuate the positive.

I'll throw out a few:
Wallace West
Even though having two characters with extremely similar (and old-fashioned) names is a mite confusing, I think having a dedicated African-American Kid Flash kicking around the DCU is an unalloyed good thing.

A Lot of the Aquaman World-Building
Aquaman had built up an INSANE amount of continuity cruft in the decade before Flashpoint (Sub Diego, the "other" Arthur Curry, etc.). I'm pretty much on board with giving him a clean-ish slate. Also, his collar actually kind of worked.

Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad
Granted, she's unkillable there, but you *know* that Ostrander would've used her if she'd been around and available in 1990.

The Anti-Monitor Being the Creator of the Mobius Chair
That's simultaneously, dumb, silly, and brilliant. Anything that gives the Anti-Monitor more of a character than "Um, I eat Universes" is a good thing.

Young Steve Trevor
I get why the post-Crisis reboot of Diana got rid of the "she went to Man's World because she was in luuuuuuuurve" aspect, but there were better ways to do it.

Okay, that's a few positives. Anyone else?

[sifighter]

From what comes to mind this second I would keep the following:

1. Wallace West, Emiko, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz and Khalid Nassour. They are all new characters with ties to the dc universe and great stories who deserve to keep existing within the dc universe.

2. Multiversal Mister Terrific. I think it was a great boost for his character to make him this sci-fi adventurer/super genius who can travel in space or between dimensions.

3. Mother Box Cyborg. Makes him a big league hero and he deserves the ability to be a normal person if he so chooses.

4. Grayson, agent of spyral. The spy stuff was really cool.

5. Swamp Thing & Animal man. Great horror stories that deserve to stick around.

6. Harley x Ivy. I’m a genuine fan of Harley not having an abusive relationship anymore and finding something with her friend Pam.

[Cruelrain]

Diana's god form when she takes off her bracelets

[Aahz]

Red Hood and the Outlaws: That take on Jason and Roy was imo far better than where those characters were directly before the reboot

[superduperman]

Superman's origin: This is probably my second favorite Superman origin. And it's a hell of a lot more stable than what they have now.

Power Girl and Huntress being from Earth 2: It's not perfect but it felt a lot closer to her roots than anything else done in the last 35 years.

Aquaman: Johns gets a lot of (deserved) crap for his handling of some characters but he literally saved Aquaman.

Wonder Woman's sword: I feel like it makes sense for her to carry one around. It just seems to fit her personality. I wouldn't mind that costume being at least part of her history.

Chin strap Flash: I know a lot of people hate it but he was the one character it worked on.

Justice League Dark: This was a great idea that's clearly carried over into today.

Steve Trevor being the JL's liaison to the government: I feel like they need one and he works perfectly.

Animal Man, I, Vampire, Jonah Hex, Static, basically giving a bunch of new concepts a chance they might not have otherwise had.

[Customizer]

3. Mother Box Cyborg. Makes him a big league hero and he deserves the ability to be a normal person if he so chooses.

Precisely this. 100%

5. Animal man. Great horror stories that deserve to stick around.

I definitely wouldn't mind this either.

[Gaius]

Wonder Woman - Most of the God designs save for Ares (keep him with Perez's design for armored form and beefcake for unarmored form) and young Steve Trevor (granted this is restoring something from pre-Crisis).

Green Lantern - Jessica Cruz

[G-Man34]

Starling, Bunker, Jessica Cruz, Wallace West, Bluebird

[Multiverse]

1) Aquaman, Cyborg, Green Arrow and Wonder Woman's new history and back-story
2) A.R.G.U.S., and Steve being the League's liaison.
3) Certain New Heroes and Villains from this era

[Restingvoice]

All that I like they already keep

Tanya Spears
Bunker
Val-Zod

So maybe

Demon Knights
Genderfluid Shining Knight

The hilarious parody of evil that is Crime Syndicate. They don't work as a protagonist... or Earth in the long term... because they're all so chaotic, but they make me laugh.

Superman's origin: This is probably my second favorite Superman origin. And it's a hell of a lot more stable than what they have now.

A lot of the origin elements are mixed up in my head. Which part is more stable than what?

Vyndktvx. Keep Vyndktvx. I don't know how you make another story with him that can top the one, but I like him.

[Ra-El]

Shay Veritas
Baka the Monster Kid
Aquaman - Johns run more than anything
Superman origin, his time in the t-shirt and jeans

[king of hybrids]

Phantom Stranger as Judas Iscariot
Raven being Etrigan and Merlin’s aunt
Diana being Cassie’s aunt

[dornwolf]

Earth-2 in some variation.

[SiegePerilous02]

Morrison's Action Comics as Superman's early days. Replace the Jim Lee costume with the classic one though

Aquaman and Shazam. Though I'd cement the latter as Captain Marvel, and I would use a more classic flavor Dr. Sivana instead of the generic one we got.

Young Steve Trevor as liaison to the JL. The basic idea of Barbara Minerva being Diana's friend pre-Cheetah is also good, but Rucka did it better.

Some of the fringe books like Demon Knights and Dial H

[DrNewGod]

The Superman Suit as Kryptonian Armor, and his early costumes as imperfect attempts to reproduce it.

The Silver Age made Superman's clothes as invulnerable as him. I kinda like the idea that Superman is 1938-odd powerful, but that relics of his homeworld make him more powerful. A skilled writer can do a lot with that.

I also like the idea that Superman had to go through levels in his career. That he could only leap 1/8 mile once upon a time, until he dared more.