Hits/Misses of Heroes becoming God-level

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Hmmm, Kyle worked really well the first time he was Ion. The second was underwhelming, and by the time he became White Lantern it got kind of meh. (Story was good though, the concept was what it was lame)

Definitely. Ion felt like the culmination of everything Kyle was building towards. Unfortunately, they never came up with anything more compelling for the character to do afterwards. There's only so many times you can do the whole Chosen One shtick before it gets tired.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Same here. Batman works best for me as a more human-level character. Him being uber-prepared for every conceivable situation and having a backup plan already read in his Utility Belt was fun for a bit when Morrison was writing him in JLA, but it got old very quickly, though. And Batman with cosmic powers just doesn't resonate with me at all.

And when Bruce gained the powers of the Mobius Chair, he became even more of a dick than he already was.

[Mai Zen]

I would like to see it on alternate future/world like Superman in DC One Million or in the end of their character story/before the big event that change the world like New 52 Zatanna at the end of JLD

[John Venus]

The older I get the less God like characters work for me. No matter how powerful a character is I think they all need an Achillie Heel. Superman has kryptonite. Diana is not omniscient. Flash is still flesh and blood. Batman is supposed to be peak human and thus limited by the maximum potential a human can achieve. Having a weakness makes characters more interesting and engaging.

Though I think these days I think what we need more of is characters being creative with their existing abilities. When was the last time we saw GL going all out creative with his constructs? Even the Speed Force is starting to feel more like the 'Hand Wave Force' since speedsters can do anything with it now.

[ducklord]

It's an interesting question: Rarely do characters get big ol' power boosts that stick, and it's rarer still that they actually "work."

Most of the time, characters get god boosts at the climax of a particularly big story arc, wave their hands with their newly gained Cosmic Power, then give up that power (sometimes immediately, sometimes after a follow-up story that gives an in-story reason for giving it all up).

Some notable exceptions:
Hal Jordan
As noted, no matter how bungled Hal's initial plunge into the "I'm Crazy Now" pool was, his decade long ascension to increasing levels of uber-powered weirdness (first as Parallax, then as the Spectre) was an interesting journey that was often well-told. When he inevitably put all that behind him, he came out the other side a stronger character.

Swamp Thing
It's almost hard to remember that this character spent the first decade of their existence as a shambling swamp monster that slowly crept from town to town. But then Moore (then Veitch, Morrison, and Millar) got ahold of him and slowly turned him into a being of very god-like powers. And though his power levels have fluctuated somewhat over the last decade or so, there's no though of dragging him back down to the muck-encusted mockery of a man that he used to be.

Wally West
This is an interesting case. Wally West started his career in God Mode, with all of Barry's (ridiculous) powers. But then, after the Crisis, he got nerfed hard. In a bid to make super-speed "more realistic," his speed was limited to Mach 3, he had to eat a lot to fuel his powers, and he could no longer do things like travel through time or run through walls. It made for some dramatically interesting stories, and was the status quo for 6 years. But then he got in touch with the Speed Force, broke through his psychological barriers, and quickly revved himself up to God Mode again. And he's not really going back.

[Gaius]

The world is ready for Rainbow Lantern G'nort.

[PCN24454]

Same here. Batman works best for me as a more human-level character. Him being uber-prepared for every conceivable situation and having a backup plan already read in his Utility Belt was fun for a bit when Morrison was writing him in JLA, but it got old very quickly, though. And Batman with cosmic powers just doesn't resonate with me at all.

I feel like “human-level” is too subjective to actually mean anything as he had long past “human” by the time his series started.

[j9ac9k]

Did anyone read the series where Captain Atom essentially became Dr Manhattan? It didn't seem a good or interesting idea to me, but I'm curious to hear from someone who read it.