Your DC-Only controversial opinions...

[Gurz]

Batman should be loner. No JLA, No brats.

[Dr. Ellingham]

Except, all characters were new at some point.

Absolutely. But DC's cornerstone characters and concepts have all existed 50+ years. Mature, established, likely not going anywhere.

Which makes DC primarily a custodian, maintaining and developing classic concepts - Superman, Batman, WW, Flash, GL, JLA, Teen Titans, etc.

New IPs can breathe in life and excitement, but it's never going to uproot that core identity. And there seems to be denial about this in online fandom.

[Frontier]

The idea that Batman only cares about fighting crime in Gotham has always just seemed kind of weird to me.

Not the idea that he's not obsessively focused on Gotham, because he is, but he declared a war on all criminals and people who would hurt the innocent and that goes on well-beyond the borders of Gotham City, so I don't think he would be against righting wrongs outside the city if he found the time and the resources to do it.

[lemonpeace]

Absolutely. But DC's cornerstone characters and concepts have all existed 50+ years. Mature, established, likely not going anywhere.

Which makes DC primarily a custodian, maintaining and developing classic concepts - Superman, Batman, WW, Flash, GL, JLA, Teen Titans, etc.

New IPs can breathe in life and excitement, but it's never going to uproot that core identity. And there seems to be denial about this in online fandom.

I don't think anyone is asking the old characters to go anywhere, the disconnect is that the staples are taking up too much room. DC didn't start with just Batman and Superman, at some point they gave Green Lantern a shot, Wonder Woman, Barry Allen, Wally West, and so on and so forth. Yeah, DC has been developing classic concepts for decades but why does it have to be at the cost of new ideas, ya know? Like you said, these established characters and concepts aren't going anywhere, let's play in a different sandbox for a while. That's why DC is having such a renaissance now, and why I think they should do it more often, is because they are trying a healthy balance of focusing on new and honoring old.

[SiegePerilous02]

Batman should be loner. No JLA, No brats.

I think that goes against Batman's characterization, as Alfred and Robin were they since pretty much the beginning. He's never been a loner.

Now, how many brats he's got/needs sucking off his teats, that's a another debate.

I don't think anyone is asking the old characters to go anywhere, the disconnect is that the staples are taking up too much room. DC didn't start with just Batman and Superman, at some point they gave Green Lantern a shot, Wonder Woman, Barry Allen, Wally West, and so on and so forth. Yeah, DC has been developing classic concepts for decades but why does it have to be at the cost of new ideas, ya know? Like you said, these established characters and concepts aren't going anywhere, let's play in a different sandbox for a while. That's why DC is having such a renaissance now, and why I think they should do it more often, is because they are trying a healthy balance of focusing on new and honoring old.

I think it depends on what people mean by new characters. Legacies often necessitate the passage of time and getting rid of some older characters to make room for them. And the legacies are in turn often the first thing to go when the major characters need a "back to basics" approach, because the legacies/sidekicks need the older character around more than vise versa. When we get adaptations, the fat is trimmed and we get a Batman with one or two sidekicks instead of the seemingly 20+ he has now.

They absolutely should take more risks and get behind new characters with their own mythologies. The Dark line is what we need, at least on paper. The actual execution filled with thinly veiled Marvel knock offs and based around artists who were never going to stick around for very long was the misstep, not the basic idea. None of those properties were dependent on the Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, JL, Flash, etc. lore to take off, so they are not a hindrance and creating more clutter in those worlds.

But fans, as much as they say they want it, don't want new characters. Whether or not we are fans of theSilver/Bronze age characters, the JSA, or the YJ generation, fans just want the same old shit.

[AdamFTF]

Conner's 90's costume is weirdly either a fan favorite or seen as all the problems of the 90's encapsulated. There are people that love it or people that absolutely hate it with a passion.

I think Kon-El's costume did a good job of communicating that he was supposed to be kind of a rebel/delinquent Superboy. The earring was '80s/'90s rebellious teen. The leather jacket was '50s/'60s James Dean or Marlon Brando rebel. Maybe the fade haircut and the disco belts weren't that great.

Controversial opinion . . . hmm.

I think Lex Luthor is a bit overblown. Even though he is a good villain, the fact that he's often made into the genesis of almost everything bad in Superman's world (as well as being Superboy's gene donor) is a little much.

[byrd156]

I think that goes against Batman's characterization, as Alfred and Robin were they since pretty much the beginning. He's never been a loner.

Now, how many brats he's got/needs sucking off his teats, that's a another debate.

Yeah Batman was really only a loner for not even a year. Only 11 issues before Robin joined his crusade on crime.

[Agent Z]

I think Kon-El's costume did a good job of communicating that he was supposed to be kind of a rebel/delinquent Superboy. The earring was '80s/'90s rebellious teen. The leather jacket was '50s/'60s James Dean or Marlon Brando rebel. Maybe the fade haircut and the disco belts weren't that great.

Controversial opinion . . . hmm.

I think Lex Luthor is a bit overblown. Even though he is a good villain, the fact that he's often made into the genesis of almost everything bad in Superman's world (as well as being Superboy's gene donor) is a little much.

Could you give an example of this please?

[Jim Kelly]

The 1950s iteration of Batman is the best version.

[RoamingGnome8]

Do you mean that he is being treated better or worse?.

Better; Rebirth has been pretty good to Nightwing. Also he's being pushed more because of Young Justice and might even get a live action movie.
He is a character that was treated badly during the 90's and somewhat during New 52.

I don't think anyone is asking the old characters to go anywhere, the disconnect is that the staples are taking up too much room. DC didn't start with just Batman and Superman, at some point they gave Green Lantern a shot, Wonder Woman, Barry Allen, Wally West, and so on and so forth. Yeah, DC has been developing classic concepts for decades but why does it have to be at the cost of new ideas, ya know? Like you said, these established characters and concepts aren't going anywhere, let's play in a different sandbox for a while. That's why DC is having such a renaissance now, and why I think they should do it more often, is because they are trying a healthy balance of focusing on new and honoring old.

I agree. I think DC is doing a better job because they have a mix of material. New and classic characters, adult books (Young Animal and now Vertigo again) and General books, DC black for fans that like AU storylines, LGBTQ friendly books, Milestone being brought back, etc.

I wish Marvel would adapt this concept a bit; by bringing back the MAX adult line, Tsunami for new characters/teen books/manga based material, and other book lines . I think a lot of Marvel's recent controversies with fans would be lessened by doing this, since it would be giving older fans the classic characters while allowing space for newer characters as well.

[Robanker]

Batman should be loner. No JLA, No brats.

You really liked those first 11 issues of Detective, huh?

[Last Son of Krypton]

The DCEU Suicide Squad is a better team than the DCEU Justice League.

[Darkseid Is]

You really liked those first 11 issues of Detective, huh?

Funnily enough, as much as I love Robin, those are my favorite issues of the early Detective books.

[AdamFTF]

Could you give an example of this please?

Actually, probably not. When I wrote it I was thinking "Oh, Lex was responsible for creating Bizarro. And he was responsible for Metallo. And he was behind the creation of the Parasite" and now I realize I'm probably combining a couple different versions of the character, including the '90s cartoon. I also don't really know what the character's deal has been for the past couple years because I've been kind of in and out of DC Comics.

I just don't really like the character as I've known him. I like a lot of other stuff in the Superman mythos (Metropolis, Smallville, the Daily Planet, most of the other villains). The Silver Age Luthor was kind of a dull mad scientist who kept breaking out of prison and then getting put back. The more modern Luthor who runs Lexcorp, a lot of people like because he has a "philosophy". But it's really just his ego hidden behind a mask of humanism, which basically gets reduced down to him snarling the word "alien" like it's a slur. And I get that people think villains are compelling when they think they're right, but that usually applies to characters that have something tragic about them like Magneto or Dr. Doom. Luthor isn't tragic. He's just awful. I know the character is famous and important and all. But he's got no powers, no gimmick, no panache, no style. And I usually just don't find him that fun to read.

I will say I can stand him more when he's not played so seriously. The Gene Hackman version was okay. And I did kind of like the one from the Ruby-Spears cartoon who had the ditzy assistant.

[Raijin]

The term 'clutter-earth' doesn't make a lot of sense to me because the heroes of the DCU don't overlap with one another. Their world is far too big. Supergirl is in National City, Ollie is on the west coast and the JLA are in Rhode Island. You can never have too many heroes. What does that even mean? Clutter Earth makes sense for the Marvel Universe. They all operate in New York.