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  1. #1
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Default The Retirement thread (no hate please)

    so this occurred to me in a conversation about Steel. it got me thinking about when it's appropriate to for heroes to hang up the capes, about Jessica Jones, and about a discussion i was observing about Tim Drake hanging up the cape and how that doesn't have to mean he stops being a player in the DC universe. so my question to you guys is, which characters do you think should or would benefit from being competent civvies over being a cape and tights hero?

    a couple things:
    1. we're automatically putting aside the whole "well it's superhero fiction, they gotta blahblahbleettyblah whatever" or "well that wouldn't/couldn't sell so blah blah blah". we get it, you're all very smart and have a passing familiarity with the shortcomings of comic storytelling
    2. this is not about them retiring and disappearing into limbo. this is not a thread for you to just put characters you don't like and don't want in the field anymore. in fact, I would like people to pick characters you actually care about (or would care more about) and would want to see more of if this change happened.
    3. let's keep the criticism of other people's pick respectful and constructive.

    ok so here are my picks:
    • Tim Drake/Robin/Red Robin/Drake - unsurprising pick i know but I 100% buy into the idea Tim should be a super detective or private eye. I feel he's outgrown the Robin mantle and is being forced into it due to nostalgia and the fact that other hero identities never fit. of the Bats iirc he was the one who never intended to be a hero forever, and with his initial reason for helping now resolved many times over, I feel it's the logical next step.
    • Claire Clover/Gotham Girl - I feel like she has a real case for being DC's Jessica Jones but far more capable. having been through what she's been through in the name of superheroics, it makes total sense that she wouldn't want any parts of that life anymore. I would love for her to return post-City of Bane, somewhere else in the DC landscape, having put her cape days behind her and is just using her powers to do good like her and her brother initially wanted to do.
    • John Henry and Natasha Irons/Steel - this one is a little controversial because i know people got mad love for the Steels. however, I personally don't and I feel like a lot of the affection for them comes from a time where they were some of the few visible heroes of color at DC. with better options now, I feel like they just look less and less compelling as a hero IP. I would love to see them retire the suits and focus on being super scientists/engineers. I would love them as people who help solve problems by inventing useful tools and support items for other heroes and civilians


    those are the three that I thought of off the top of my head, I'll probably think of more. who would y'all pick?
    Last edited by lemonpeace; 11-08-2021 at 07:33 PM.
    THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki

    also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.

    currently following:
    • DC: Red Hood: The Hill
    • Marvel: TBD
    • Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force

    "power does not corrupt, power always reveals."

  2. #2
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lemonpeace View Post
    [*]John Henry and Natasha Irons/Steel - this one if a little controversial because i know people got mad love for the Steels. however, I personally don't and I feel like a lot of the affection for them comes from a time where they were some of the few visible heroes of color at DC. with better options now, I feel like they just look less and less compelling as a hero IP. I would love to see them retire the suits and focus on being super scientists/engineers. I would love them as people who help solve problems by inventing useful tools and support items for other heroes and civilians[/LIST]
    Have you checked out John Henry on Superman and Lois, by chance?

  3. #3
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frontier View Post
    Have you checked out John Henry on Superman and Lois, by chance?
    i haven't watch Superman and Lois as of yet admittedly, but I did check out some of the clips when I heard they got Steel. they seem to be adapting him well but nothing that would really sway my decades long indifference for the character.
    THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki

    also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.

    currently following:
    • DC: Red Hood: The Hill
    • Marvel: TBD
    • Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force

    "power does not corrupt, power always reveals."

  4. #4
    Astonishing Member MoneySpider's Avatar
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    I could see Vixen retiring from the superhero life to focus more attention on all of her business endeavors (running her charities, increasing her philanthropic efforts, etc).
    Black Panther - Champion of Bast
    Vixen - Champion of Anansi

  5. #5
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MoneySpider View Post
    I could see Vixen retiring from the superhero life to focus more attention on all of her business endeavors.
    maybe, but would you say she'd be a better character or more compelling to read if she wasn't a hero?
    THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki

    also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.

    currently following:
    • DC: Red Hood: The Hill
    • Marvel: TBD
    • Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force

    "power does not corrupt, power always reveals."

  6. #6
    Astonishing Member MoneySpider's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lemonpeace View Post
    maybe, but would you say she'd be a better character or more compelling to read if she wasn't a hero?
    Okay, maybe not...
    Black Panther - Champion of Bast
    Vixen - Champion of Anansi

  7. #7
    It sucks to be right BohemiaDrinker's Avatar
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    To add to the thread, I can think of two super-hero retirements that stuck:

    - Jack Knight, when the book ended: this one was never seen again.

    -Arrowette/Cissie King Jones: This one I found extremely interesting; she retires from superheroing very early in the original YJ book, yet she still hangs around everybody just out of friendship. I thought it was an interesting and refreshing take at the time.
    ConnEr Kent flies. ConnOr Hawke has a bow. Batman's kid is named DamiAn.

    To do spoiler tags, use [ spoil ] at the start of the sentence and [ /spoil ] at the end, without the spaces. You're welcome!

  8. #8
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
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    I doubt it'll ever happen, but I could easily see Hal Jordan passing on his ring to someone else if he ever came upon someone worthy of it. It might make for a nice next step in his arc. Hal's been everywhere and done everything. Putting him into a mentor role might be an interesting angle to explore for him.

  9. #9
    Ultimate Member j9ac9k's Avatar
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    Booster Gold: I can see him hang up the tights and be more of a good version of Max Lord. Booster's main attribute is that he's a hustler with a heart of gold more than any of his physical abilities or powers. I can see him coming into money then starting up his own team of "heroes for hire" and run it as the Big Idea / financial guy and mentor up-and-coming younger heroes who might otherwise go unnoticed by the bigger teams becaue he believes in the underdog and he'd want to help facilitate their success. (kinda like a superheroic Ted Lasso...)
    Last edited by j9ac9k; 11-09-2021 at 07:26 AM.

  10. #10
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by j9ac9k View Post
    Booster Gold: I can see him hang up the tights and be more of a good version of Max Lord. Booster's main attribute is that he's a hustler with a heart of gold more than any of his physical abilities or powers. I can see him coming into money then starting up his own team of "heroes for hire" and run it as the Big Idea / financial guy and mentor up-and-coming younger heroes who might otherwise go unnoticed by the bigger teams becaue he believes in the underdog and he'd want to help facilitate their success. (kinda like a superheroic Ted Lasso...)
    You had me at Ted Lasso. I see the vision, somebody cut this person a check!
    THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki

    also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.

    currently following:
    • DC: Red Hood: The Hill
    • Marvel: TBD
    • Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force

    "power does not corrupt, power always reveals."

  11. #11
    Ultimate Member Johnny's Avatar
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    Aquaman seems like a logical choice to me, there's always the notion that he has more important things to worry about than being a superhero and he can rarely juggle being a hero and a king well anyway. Plus you can still tell "King Arthur" stories while Kaldur takes over as Aquaman on the surface.

  12. #12
    Original CBR member Jabare's Avatar
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    if the Trinity doesn't retire or get older it doesn't make sense for other heroes their same age or younger to hang it up outside of severe injury or death

    The Trinity stays in this ambiguous 28 to 40 range, so unless you allow those linchpins to age it'd be incredibly strange for their contemporariries of juniors to age.

    That said Superman and Wonder Woman could be ageless. So we're really talking about Bruce, Ollie, Hal, Dinah and everyone from that generation aging. The second and third generation have to be allowed to assume the main spots for this idea to work
    The J-man

  13. #13
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by j9ac9k View Post
    Booster Gold: I can see him hang up the tights and be more of a good version of Max Lord. Booster's main attribute is that he's a hustler with a heart of gold more than any of his physical abilities or powers. I can see him coming into money then starting up his own team of "heroes for hire" and run it as the Big Idea / financial guy and mentor up-and-coming younger heroes who might otherwise go unnoticed by the bigger teams becaue he believes in the underdog and he'd want to help facilitate their success. (kinda like a superheroic Ted Lasso...)
    This sounds more like Ted Kord to me...which I guess was kind of Ted's thing in Rebirth before he put the suit back on.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by lemonpeace View Post
    so this occurred to me in a conversation about Steel. it got me thinking about when it's appropriate to for heroes to hang up the capes, about Jessica Jones, and about a discussion i was observing about Tim Drake hanging up the cape and how that doesn't have to mean he stops being a player in the DC universe. so my question to you guys is, which characters do you think should or would benefit from being competent civvies over being a cape and tights hero?

    a couple things:
    1. we're automatically putting aside the whole "well it's superhero fiction, they gotta blahblahbleettyblah whatever" or "well that wouldn't/couldn't sell so blah blah blah". we get it, you're all very smart and have a passing familiarity with the shortcomings of comic storytelling
    2. this is not about them retiring and disappearing into limbo. this is not a thread for you to just put characters you don't like and don't want in the field anymore. in fact, I would like people to pick characters you actually care about (or would care more about) and would want to see more of if this change happened.
    3. let's keep the criticism of other people's pick respectful and constructive.

    ok so here are my picks:
    • Tim Drake/Robin/Red Robin/Drake - unsurprising pick i know but I 100% buy into the idea Tim should be a super detective or private eye. I feel he's outgrown the Robin mantle and is being forced into it due to nostalgia and the fact that other hero identities never fit. of the Bats iirc he was the one who never intended to be a hero forever, and with his initial reason for helping now resolved many times over, I feel it's the logical next step.
    • Claire Clover/Gotham Girl - I feel like she has a real case for being DC's Jessica Jones but far more capable. having been through what she's been through in the name of superheroics, it makes total sense that she wouldn't want any parts of that life anymore. I would love for her to return post-City of Bane, somewhere else in the DC landscape, having put her cape days behind her and is just using her powers to do good like her and her brother initially wanted to do.
    • John Henry and Natasha Irons/Steel - this one is a little controversial because i know people got mad love for the Steels. however, I personally don't and I feel like a lot of the affection for them comes from a time where they were some of the few visible heroes of color at DC. with better options now, I feel like they just look less and less compelling as a hero IP. I would love to see them retire the suits and focus on being super scientists/engineers. I would love them as people who help solve problems by inventing useful tools and support items for other heroes and civilians


    those are the three that I thought of off the top of my head, I'll probably think of more. who would y'all pick?
    For the Steel family, big no.

    For the elder JSA, yes. They e earned their retirement. Especially with so many of them dead already. Alan, Jay and Ted. Libby too. Jim Corrigan should have stayed retired/dead.

  15. #15
    Extraordinary Member Restingvoice's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jabare View Post
    if the Trinity doesn't retire or get older it doesn't make sense for other heroes their same age or younger to hang it up outside of severe injury or death

    The Trinity stays in this ambiguous 28 to 40 range, so unless you allow those linchpins to age it'd be incredibly strange for their contemporariries of juniors to age.

    That said Superman and Wonder Woman could be ageless. So we're really talking about Bruce, Ollie, Hal, Dinah and everyone from that generation aging. The second and third generation have to be allowed to assume the main spots for this idea to work
    Bruce was rejuvenated in a Scott Snyder version of Lazarus Pit when he died so right now he has a body in his prime while being logically 40-something. Hal became younger when he returned as human from the Spectre, still don't know how that work, especially since Carol doesn't get old too, same with Barry and Iris, but point is... they'll find a way.

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