Storylines That Made A Character Radioactive

[DrNewGod]

Was Firestorm ever radioactive? And I don't mean literally.

Not, I think, radioactive, but he had the same problem as Flash and Green Lantern. Revisions that split his fanbase.

[Lee Stone]

My top ones would be Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis and Heroes in Crisis.
For all the reasons already listed.

[Tzigone]

I thought about Leslie from War Crimes, but I don't know that anyone really cared enough for that to be the case.

While I'm very displeased about Jean (and most of the JL) from Identity Crisis, I don't know that anyone except Zantanna had any long-term negative consequence, and I wouldn't call her radioactive. Jean wasn't being used, so her character assassination didn't matter. Don't know that Sue has been well-used since, but she's not a hero, and often wasn't in play, anyway.

[superduperman]

Maybe I'm in the minority on this one, but I never really had an issue with Superboy Prime or E2 Superman turning "evil". Really, they just wanted to go home. Superboy going full psycho was a little off, but he kinda worked as the "Jason Todd" of the Superman mythos. However, E2 Superman's death was in bad taste.

On another note, I still don't know why Dr. Light or Sue needed to be dragged through the mud in Identity Crisis (or why it needed to have such a controversial plot). They could have used blanks to fill those roles, but they decided on established niche characters—bad move.

I'm more pissed about E-2 Superman than I am about SP because he was based on the GA Superman but making SP a stand in for the fans that hated Didio was kind of stupid. I completely understand why they just went and got rid of him once Didio left. Still, that entire story was ridiculous. For a time they were literally dragging E-2 Superman's corpse around the DCU. Whatever one thinks of the New 52, I think one of the few things that everyone can agree on is that undoing that was one of their best decisions.

[married guy]

I thought about Leslie from War Crimes, but I don't know that anyone really cared enough for that to be the case.

Yup. That literally came outta nowhere and was so out of character it just immediately stunk up the joint.

[Adekis]

Does Hal Jordan as Parallax count?

Parallax is, by a hair, my favorite evolution of Jordan - in the original sense of the Parallax name, that is! Jordan gained a new perspective on the world, and so called himself "Parallax," the thing which grants us all perspective. Always thought it was cool.

To be fair (to be fair), I've never actually read Emerald Twilight, and I've heard it's pretty dang awful. That said, I love Parallax in Final Night, and I still sincerely believe he was morally in the right in Zero Hour.

I absolutely despise the "Space Monster Possession" retcon. Even moreso since it's become a major cornerstone of Green Lantern lore in the years since that happened.

Countdown to Infinite Crisis was the first time I was exposed to a Ted Kord as a serious character as opposed to his Bwa Ha Ha persona from the Giffen and Dematteis Justice League. You are 100% right about Maxwell Lord in that book. Embarrassingly bad.

Yeah I agree about poor Ted. He's been treated as a joke for most of his history with DC.
I'm convinced that's because if he was a hyper-competent genius gadgeteer baseline-human hero with fighting skills and willpower out the ears, he'd step on Batman's toes. So... DC went the hell ahead and made him fill a radically different niche than Ditko's original version of the character. Honestly, I think it's kind of a shame. OMAC project did right by Ted.

Equally, OMAC project and Infinite Crisis utterly ruined Max Lord, to the extent that some of my more misguided Snyderino brothers in arms still maintain that he was too sympathetic and in Wonder Woman 1984, and should have been brutally killed. Like in Infinite Crisis. Very glad that he wasn't!

[DrNewGod]

...Yeah I agree about poor Ted. He's been treated as a joke for most of his history with DC.
I'm convinced that's because if he was a hyper-competent genius gadgeteer baseline-human hero with fighting skills and willpower out the ears, he'd step on Batman's toes. So... DC went the hell ahead and made him fill a radically different niche than Ditko's original version of the character...

IMO, DC was pretty true to Ditko's BB when the book launched in 1987. I don't know, but it sort of felt like they were hoping for great things from him. Now Giffin over in JL on the other hand? Still haven't forgiven him for his influence on BB and Booster Gold both, which got all the more intense as the run went on.