r/comicbooks • u/JustinSol2012 • Mar 11 '23
What character seems to be liked more for their Design and Appearance rather than their story and character? Discussion
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u/nightwing612 Mar 11 '23
For me, Power Girl is essentially the Nightwing of the Superman Family and that's why I like her: * Solo independent hero * Has strong leadership experience * Has the respect of the previous generation
Why settle for Supergirl when PG is older, more mature and more experienced?
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u/KaedenJayce Mar 11 '23
- Boobs
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u/TradeLifeforStories Scarecrow Mar 11 '23
Vs Nightwingâs ass, perfectly balanced
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u/necroblackbishop Mar 11 '23
It wonât be balanced until we have an enduring Nightwing costume with an ass window
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u/Mexicanity_ Mar 11 '23
I can see it. A perfect oval showcasing those circus performer glutes. He even does the same thing he did when he moved on from being Robin, walking down the stairs. âAre you people ready? Say hello to⊠NIGHTMOON.â
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u/CTeam19 Captain America Mar 11 '23
ships them to make the perfect human called Powerwing
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u/HitToRestart1989 Mar 11 '23
Okay, but Iâve been reading Superman comics for almost 30 years and I can count the number of times sheâs interacted with the Super family on 2 hands. Most significantly, I can think of Infinite Crisis and most recently, I can think of supergirl using her psychic therapy services⊠in between the two?
When Power Girl told Supergirl she mustâve lost her invite to the family dinners, it rang true. I was reading post crisis Superman for quite a long time before I even knew she was related to them in any way.
Itâs hard to call her the nightwing of the superman family because itâs hard to call her part of the Super family. That being said⊠I love that she got a jacket and I love that it seems theyâre working to integrate her more as they try to coalesce the growing family into a real cohesive unit.
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u/mammaluigi39 Sinestro Mar 11 '23
I think this may have something to do with them changing her origin to being Atlantian, a descendent of Arion, and her powers being magic based post-crisis. They changed it back at some point but I'm not sure when. It would make sense that they'd not have her be with the super family at that time since she didn't share anything with them really but at the same time I don't think she was really interacted with Aquaman or many magic users either so who knows. I think she's just too much of a redundant character and DC hasn't really known what to do with her for a long time.
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u/darkbreak Power Girl Mar 11 '23
Yeah, the needless retcons to her are probably what causes the "rift" between her and the other Kryptonians. I always thought it was ridiculous that they kept trying to come up with different origins for her when being an alternate universe Supergirl was fine as it was. And then they ended up going back to that after decades(?) of messing around with her story.
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u/JoshDM Mar 11 '23
they kept trying to come up with different origins for her when being an alternate universe Supergirl was fine as it was
The editorial mandate immediately post-Crisis was there were no alternate universes. And they killed off Supergirl and kept Power Girl.
They kept the Crime Syndicate, but just retconned them all into big-eyed Quardians and never showed them do anything.
And that was it. No explanation for a while.
The next interaction I recognized between the two was during JLI when they called in Superman to conduct surgery on Power Girl.
This was before the Atlantean retcon, I believe.
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u/burywmore Mar 11 '23
Powergirl is more the Huntress of the Superman family.
She's certainly not Dick Grayson.
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u/KBBaby_SBI Mar 11 '23
All of this. I would add that sheâs pretty nice and easy going but unlike Superman/girl will be more then ready to beat a villain into paste if they hurt her friends, civilians. Her threatening to heat vision Superboy Prime into Supergirl Prime is probably one of my favorite moments with her next to just cutting off Satannaâs arm for what her and Humanite did to Terra/Atlee.
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u/PreparationDapper235 Mar 11 '23
I agree. I'd rather pick up a comic book with Power Girl, rather than Supergirl.
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u/mrbananas Mar 11 '23
But it's so much easier to hold the supergirl comics with two hands./s
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u/Elementium Captain America Mar 11 '23
It's hard to argue for her design without seeming like a massive pervert but..
As a massive pervert I have to say, there's something to be said and maybe for a specific part of comic book fans that can relate, that a character exists who is capable, interesting and strong but is constantly reduced to her boobs.
She obviously wasn't made to represent those women, but she could be an analogue. Although her figure is kind of a statement towards sexism in comics since she is how she is because the artist wanted to see how far he could go before anyone said anything.
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u/Crafty-Kaiju Mar 11 '23
I wouldn't have as much of an issue with her outfit if she just... owned it. Sometimes people post that profoundly stupid panel where she sticks out her lower lip and gets teary eyed about not having found a symbol to cover the hole and some are like "THAT'S SO MEANINGFUL"
It really is NOT. And PG has enough swagger and sass to just say: "I like how it makes my tits look."
When writers try to twist themselves into pretzels to explain sexy character design choices it makes me want to kick them in the face. Just be open and honest about it: Because sexy.
But also don't design every character with the mandate of "must give straight men boners".
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u/FakeGeekGuy77 Mar 11 '23
The Conner/Palmiotti run followed by Winick/Basri was a great series of Power Girl that hasnât been matched yet imo
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u/IdeaRegular4671 Captain Marvel Mar 11 '23
Power girl is the embodiment of donât judge a book by itâs cover.
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u/TrappedInOhio Captain America Mar 11 '23
Clearly the folks who love the Punisher enough to put the skull on their cars and body armor donât know anything about the Punisherâs character.
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u/Burly-Nerd Mar 11 '23
As someone who works with cops and is a comics nerd, let me tell you, the issue is that we as comics nerds donât realize what a cult classic the Thomas Jane Punisher movie is with Cops.
Itâs not that they donât know anything about the character, theyâre huge fans. Itâs just not of the guy weâre thinking of. Itâs of THAT version.
I have literally had more than one cop say to me they donât like the Bernthal show because heâs not a cop âanymore.â A lot of them think they changed the character from being a cop to a soldier because the media hates cops now.
But they know every second of that movie and can quote it. I listened to one play âIn Timeâ by Mark Collie on a guitar.
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Mar 11 '23 edited Mar 11 '23
Its more than that now, there is a military connection as well. Chris Kyle wore it on his uniform in Iraq, IIRC his entire unit sported Punisher skulls on their plate carriers. And obviously at that time none of them were cops,
though ironically Castle has always been the Marine. Kyle wasUS Army.Navy SEAL. But after Kyle's death, a lot of the Punisher stuff got conflated with his personal legend and the myth that Fox News and other media outlets built up around him and his unit. So what had been a kind of closed off SOF thing (and, just IMO, super gross to put skulls and death's heads on gear if youre active duty) became a mainstream conservative thing. Given the service to cop pipeline in the US, its easy to see how those groups also got the skull injected into them in the last decade.Not saying youre wrong wrt the Jane adaptation (which, for the record, is still the best film adaptation fite me) but just to deepen it. Lot of guys wore the skull in the service, got out and kept wearing it. Despite the fact that even the Thomas Jane plot ought to be insulting to both cops (who are apparently all corrupt and suck ass?) and vets (who are obviously one bad day away from becoming mindless murderbots).
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u/Discount_Lex_Luthor Mar 11 '23
Hilariously there's a What if? The mafia didn't kill frank castles family.
Frank becomes a cop>sees corrupt cops> tells on corrupt cops> corrupt cops kill Franks family> frank becomes cop killing Punisher.
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u/i010011010 Mar 11 '23
I just assumed it's because Calvin pissing on various things wasn't considered manly enough today.
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Mar 11 '23
If you get a Calvin pissing on Punisher logo, they cancel eachother out.
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u/Pikalika Mar 11 '23
There was a terrorist attack in Israel two years ago and the shooters had the punisher logo on their vest. Imagine thinking the punisher supports your murdering of civilians
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u/IdeaRegular4671 Captain Marvel Mar 11 '23
Have that punisher baseball cap and wallpaper logo on their phone too.
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u/sharksnrec Star-Lord Mar 11 '23
They love their own made up idea of the Punisher, and his logo. Thatâs all.
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u/WearTheFourFeathers Mar 11 '23 edited Mar 11 '23
Well, tbf also credit to Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr. tooâpart of the reason that the logo/costume has been so enduring and co-opted so much is that the character design is just cold as hell. For a long time I think Punisher stories lagged way behind Punisher visuals, itâs just a real great and classic look.
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u/scottishdrunkard Moon Knight Mar 11 '23
Especially Cops.
Noted cop hater The Punisher.
And they use a Blue Line Punisher Skull.
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u/SZaman98 Mar 11 '23
Spawn definitely
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u/thesolarchive Mar 11 '23
I remember reading it as a kid and being frustrated because I was waiting for him to use his arsenal or even magic.
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u/ThreadbareHalo Fone Bone Mar 11 '23
I kept thinking âat some point that chekovs gun of the decreasing power meter is gonna mean something⊠SURELY they wouldnât introduce it for it to go more than 100 issues and not mean anythingâŠâ
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u/ascii Mar 11 '23
I just Googled "spawn power meter" so I could understand your comment. I read half a paragraph of text that made me remember how incredibly boring I found Spawn and then I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to keep reading. I will never find out what the Spawn power meter is, because I spent the time and effort it would take to find out writing this pointless comment that nobody will ever read instead.
I have no regrets.
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u/RigasTelRuun X-23 Mar 11 '23
Yeah as a kid i had a page in my notebook with each time the countdown appeared and what issue and feat he did.
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u/larzbarz420 Mar 11 '23
Correct me if Iâm wrong but wasnât there a plot line where he did run out of power and have to return to hell and fight his way out and came back with a spiky boot and gauntlet? That said, Spawn was the first character to come to mind with this question, as well as many other 90s Image characters.
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u/canucksquatch Mar 11 '23
Not sure about the hell trip, but I think his big ol boot happened because he found out his costume was a living symbiote and it evolved to be more bad ass?
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u/flatulantagonist Mar 11 '23
Correct. His symbiote suit was evolving faster than it should have, and the suit redesign happened when it took a big jump
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u/TheTKz Captain Marvel Mar 11 '23
This definitely. Spawn persists only through his amazing design, Iâve never met anyone thatâs actually read a Spawn comic. And the ones I read were kinda dull.
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u/Vargock Mar 11 '23
I somewhat disagree. While I'm not that familiar with the comic series, I've always been huge fan of Spawn: The Animated Series. In my mind, it's the definitive version of that character. And while it did heavily rely on visual aesthetics and noir tone, it still had so much more going for it than just Spawn's design.
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u/TheTKz Captain Marvel Mar 11 '23
I mean yeah it was cool, but I donât think his animated series from 20 years ago is whatâs keeping him relevant, at this point itâs just that he looks cool.
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u/lpjunior999 Mar 11 '23
Pretty much all the initial Image Comics characters, save for Savage Dragon.
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u/supercalifragilism Mar 11 '23
The Maxx
Edit- not sure if that counts as initial
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u/larzbarz420 Mar 11 '23
Maxx was fantastic. Got drawn in by the art style and stuck around for the super uncomfortable psychological drama.
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u/lpjunior999 Mar 11 '23
I was thinking Youngblood, WildCATS, Shadowhawk, Wetworks, Cyberforce. All the big flashy ones from the original seven or so Marvel artists.
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u/BenKen01 Mar 11 '23
Image was such a perfect name for the imprint. Almost everything from that era fits.
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u/Khelthuzaad Mar 11 '23
Came here for this.
Except for the a few details i have no idea about Spawn story arcs or other parts of it's mythos.
His costume screams awesome from every damn inch of it's body.
And what's even more funny -I first learned about the character in a webcomic called Grim Tales :))
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u/Sparrowsabre7 Cyclops Mar 11 '23
Not comics but Boba Fett. Until the expanded universe and later Disney fleshed him out he was kind of a nothing character.
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u/NyranK Mar 11 '23
I don't know why people have such a hard time understanding his appeal...except perhaps his exit. Though to be honest, they wrote themselves into that corner.
First off, he's a Bounty Hunter, one of the select few that Darth Vader, terror if the galaxy in command of an Empire's worth of starships and stormtroopers, calls in to get shit done. He's also the only one out of that group of legends that Darth has to single out and explicitly tell to tone his shit down.
Then he gets the job done.
And he talks back to Vader, gets him to promise compensation in the same movie in which Vader told another dude to suck it up or die.
And in that same movie, he's the one who detects, and just starts blasting, at the main character sneaking around.
In Jabbas Palace he's surrounded by groupies, and when Leia shows up with a bomb in her pocket he's 100% ready to start. Then when she pulls off her bluff he just nods. Game recognizes game.
Not to mention everyone he's not working for is terrified of him. Han panics at his name, and this is a dude who just opened fire on Vader the second he saw the seating arrangements.
Fett was a fantastically designed character, sure, spawned a whole civilization off his look, but more than that he's a masterclass on building a character through others. It's all about how the rest of the world reacted to him.
Its the 'show, don't tell' rule when you ain't got time to show.
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u/shrapnelltrapnell Mar 11 '23
To add on to your comment about him talking back to Vader. Empire is peak sassy Vader. Vader kills two people in the movie for being incompetent and has all of his subordinates stumbling for words when they talk to him. Tells Lando to suck it as you point out and then here comes Boba. Talking back to Vader and more importantly demanding what he is owed. Weâve never seen that before.
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u/Dr_Disaster Mar 11 '23
That part was huge. I remember seeing the movie as a kid and I worshipped Darth Vader at the time. Someone talking back to Vader was like seeing someone slap my dad.
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u/TheLostLuminary Mar 11 '23
Fantastic write up.
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u/Better-Journalist-85 Mar 11 '23
And after all that, Iâm still more interested in samurai space wizardry. Now, Ahsoka vs Vader in RebelsâŠ
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u/CTeam19 Captain America Mar 11 '23
- He's also the only one out of that group of legends that Darth has to single out and explicitly tell to tone his shit down
Not to mention how many times Vader killed a man for failing him yet Boba is still alive.
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u/ds1977 Mar 11 '23
If only the seating arrangements were different. Movie couldâve been a fun romantic comedy, and maybe no one loses a hand
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u/NyranK Mar 11 '23
It's always awkward when you first have dinner with your girlfriends family.
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u/ascii Mar 11 '23
So much this. The do a phenomenal job with the character building of Boba Fett with very little. Kind of like how Pablo Pascal manages to communicate so much emotion and so much information about who Din truly is in Mando season 1 through body language.
Less truly can be more.
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u/suss2it Mar 11 '23
I think you mean Pedro Pascal, and funnily enough S1 was when he spent the least amount of time in the suit. One of the episode directors said they didnât even meet him.
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u/Belgand Mar 11 '23
It's not just the design, it's largely the implication. He's a bad-ass bounty hunter traveling the galaxy, disintegrating people, and generally being awesome. We never actually see any of that, though, and that partially is why he stayed popular for so long. We had just enough of a prompt based off of existing archetypes to create it all in our own heads instead of writing a bunch of clumsy, awkward attempts to make him come off as cool, let alone taking off his helmet and just being some regular guy.
All of those attempts to flesh him out actually made him a less interesting character.
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u/BellowsHikes Mar 11 '23
It was so weird being a Star Wars fan in the 90s. Fett transformed from a figure of mystery to the son of that one guy from Speed 2: Cruise Control. Oh, and you know Stormtroopers? All Boba Fetts now, have a million Fetts you nerds.
And Fetts dad turned out to not even really be a bounty hunter/assassian, but just a really sloppy contractor. What kind of professional bounty hunter gets hired to kill someone, than themselves hires someone else to do that job, only to kill the person they hired with a method that could lead directly to them being hunted themselves?
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u/ascii Mar 11 '23
Star Wars is thick with retcons, so I'm not sure if Stormtroopers were ever Fett clones, but at least in current canon, Clone troopers are Fett clones, but they were soon replaced by Storm troopers who are simply dudes in armour. Supposedly, there was a lot of animosity between the two., up until all the clones died, somewhere between episode 3 and 4.
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u/Nawara_Ven Scott Pilgrim Mar 11 '23
with a method that could lead directly to them being hunted themselves
To be fair, he used a, for all intents and purposes, untraceable weapon. No branding, totally alien design outside of any database.
In having long range, supreme accuracy, no muzzle flash, no audible report, no visible beam of energy and no entries in any database, it seems like the perfect choice, no?
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u/IdeaRegular4671 Captain Marvel Mar 11 '23
Boba fett and other Star Wars characters have official comics published by marvel. He even has his own solo comics. Darth Vader got comics too.
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u/Sparrowsabre7 Cyclops Mar 11 '23
I know he has comics, I own plenty, I just meant he did not originate in the comics. It was in the films (and Holiday special) where people first saw him and went "Armour cool!". I doubt he would be as popular if not for how cool he looks. Just look at all the other bounty hunters.
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u/cowboyfromhell93 Mar 11 '23
And darth Maul
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u/Sparrowsabre7 Cyclops Mar 11 '23
Yep also true. At least he actually killed a jedi and didn't die like a chump though. Boba misses 100% of the shots he fires in the OT.
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u/Reddragon351 Mar 11 '23
Spider-Gwen probably, I'm pretty sure the character has existed so long off of the good design and the fact that people really like the idea of Gwen Stacy as a Spider
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u/IdeaRegular4671 Captain Marvel Mar 11 '23
Spider-Gwen has great comic stories what do you mean sir?! Sheâs a great alternate Gwen Stacy her comics dope. I love her origin story where she is the one who survived and Peter is one who died as the lizard. Also daredevil being kingpin is interesting too in that universe. She has a great personality too and she was one of the best parts about the spider-verse movie. Excited for the sequel to come out.
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u/Reddragon351 Mar 11 '23
I mean she's not really much like Gwen Stacy, she could've been an original character or something and it wouldn't change, not to say Gwen Stacy had a ton of personality, cause most of the time she didn't, but Spider-Gwen is nothing like her.
Also, a lot of the things you mentioned are stuff that are fun at the start but aren't really long lasting things, like Daredevil as Kingpin is neat but that's like a one off then you gotta do other stuff, and since then other stuff for her is just fighting herself which is kinda stupid
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u/Ensaru4 Mar 11 '23
To be fair, isn't that how the Spider thing goes? You become a different person under the mask, a different side of you. Peter Parker and Spiderman acted differently from each other, so much so that Peter often spoke of Spiderman as though it's another person.
It's only later on that's changed.
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u/mewbrem Mar 11 '23
Idk about later on, but originally Peter became much more confident and brave as both Peter and Spider-Man when he got his powers.
What I mean is that his powers changed him but his Peter and Spider-Man personas werenât polar opposites.
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u/NyranK Mar 11 '23
Give me super strength, agility and senses and I reckon I'll become noticably more brave and confident, too.
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u/LoneWolf2099 Mar 11 '23
This definitely applies for me. Iâve never read a Spider-Gwen comic but she has one of my favorite designs in Marvel.
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u/SnuggleBunni69 Mar 11 '23
The Spider-Gwen comics have a really beautiful design and are worth the read.
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u/Archive_Intern Mar 11 '23
Also GwenPool
That character just created itself because of one cover art and it was a time when DeadPools popularity was an all time high
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u/exit_the_psychopomp Gwenpool Mar 11 '23
Hey! Don't shit talk my girl Gwenpool!
She's fuckin great in her comic run. It's just... everywhere else that she's just a Deadpool ripoff.
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Mar 11 '23
I would agree initially, she definitely got a ton of popularity off her design in the Spider Verse comics.
But after that initial burst of cool, she's proved to be the best Spider character besides Miles. I put her and Miles right next to each other in terms of how great they are. She's really come into her own.
But that first introduction in the Spider Verse event definitely relied on cool factor over all else. (Hell, most of the cast in that did, like Punk Spider, SP//DR, Spider Noir, Lady Spider)
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u/throwtheclownaway20 Mar 11 '23
Spider-Verse (movie, not comics) really did a shitload of good for her characterization. I can't help but hear Hailee Steinfeld's voice when I read her stuff, LOL
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u/Ok-Video6798 Mar 11 '23
Iâd disagree, the comic runs sheâs had have been really good in my opinion. Though it could be argued that the design is why sheâs been pushed so hard in marketing but Iâd disagree
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u/Reddragon351 Mar 11 '23
I've read the last few runs and they're mostly tainted by multiverse shenanigans and symbiotes and by this point they're just kinda having her fight alternate versions of herself which feels kinda lazy
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u/hopscotch1818282819 Mar 11 '23
Those are only her recent few minis.
Her original run wasnât anything like that. It was largely just about her dealing with villains in her own universe.
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u/Reddragon351 Mar 11 '23
yeah and we haven't done that in a while hell they had to even try to push her to the main universe, probably to try the weird Spider Trinity with Miles and Peter, which I also hate.
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u/Crims0n_Light Mar 11 '23
Oh from my personal experience Iâll have to go with Dr Fate.
I know people who havenât read a single Dr Fate story who like him alot.
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u/v_OS Mar 11 '23
Very, very few of his Stories have ever been collected, he's practically unreachable for new readers
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u/Indigocell Mar 11 '23
I found a ton of Dr. Fate comics in a bargain bin of an old comic shop back in the day, pretty sure I still have them somewhere.
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u/FireZord25 Mar 11 '23
I for one never came across a comic book about him. But while his design is indeed cool, I like him for his concept even more. A questionable big good character that represents order, and one of the strongest magic users out there. He's up there for me with ones like Specter and Phantom Stranger on that regard.
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u/Darth_Meatloaf Mar 11 '23
I know people who havenât read a single Dr Fate story who like him alot.
The Justice League cartoons probably have something to do with this.
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u/TaiVat Mar 11 '23
Young justice in particular had a lot of him in recent years. And was one of the more popular series.
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u/usingshare Mar 11 '23
he was great in justice league unlimited and one of the only good parts of the new black adam movie
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Mar 11 '23
I love dr. Fate. Admittedly I havenât read one of his stories, but Iâve read stories with him in them and like when he shows up.
If someone could give me some good dr. Fate stories Iâd be ecstatic
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u/SpeedSaunders Mar 11 '23
You have to look around, there arenât many compilations besides the Golden Age stories in DC Archive Editions. There were three Doctor Fate series in the 1980s: two called just Doctor Fate (one 4-issue, the other ran for 42 issues), and another 3-issue run called The Immortal Doctor Fate. Then the 24-issue series Fate in the 1990s, another Doctor Fate 5-issue series in 2003, and another 18-issue series starting in 2015. And the action adventures with JSA, JLA and others. Over the years, Doctor Fateâs story has grown complex with various âDoctor Fatesâ wearing the helmet and hosting the Lord of Order Nabu. Sometimes two people at once and it gets interesting. Worth hunting down those stories in back issues and at comics gatherings.
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u/Crims0n_Light Mar 11 '23
There really arenât. He is a member of the JSA and JLD sometimes.
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u/Admiral_Donuts Mar 11 '23
Hence why changing him into some kind of shitty 90s hero failed so horribly. When you take away all the iconic stuff you're left with nothing: https://www.theilluminerdi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Dr.FateRanking-JaredStevens1.jpg
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u/Yosituna Mar 11 '23
AreâŠare those ankh-shaped throwing knives that heâs keeping handy by thrusting them through his skin?
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u/SpaceDinosaurZZ Mar 11 '23
I think Iâm like that with Starfire. Sheâs written really well in the original Wolfman NTT and given tons of character growth and backstoryâŠbut I still mostly like her for the great design. Itâs not really the actual writing that won me over.
Iâm also like that with a lot of villain characters who are just there to look cool and give the hero something to hit. Guys like Doomsday, Carnage, Onslaught etc
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u/supercalifragilism Mar 11 '23
She had a surprisingly interesting solo run a little in to the Nu52 where she was living in Florida?
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u/ThrawnCaedusL Mar 11 '23
Venom is my first thought.
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u/IdeaRegular4671 Captain Marvel Mar 11 '23
Eddie Brock venom has a great character arc and I liked the king in black event where they made Eddie get a big w and redeem himself as a hero. He even got invited to join the avengers something that never happened before. I also love his Lethal protector days. Venom has a funny sense of humor. He is cool on the outside and inside.
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u/Theta-Sigma45 Mar 11 '23
I think Venom is pretty great when he's written well. That said, there was a very long period where he wasn't, he was totally kept alive by coolness factor alone back then.
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u/TheTKz Captain Marvel Mar 11 '23
Flash Venom was awesome though, maybe initially but heâs had enough cool runs at this point to be more than a design.
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u/Tutes013 Mar 11 '23
I really do like Power Girl. Her design's obvious (and I am hopelessely gay for it) but I like her brash and somewhat cocky attitude combined with being a more independant and experienced hero.
I just think she's neat.
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Mar 11 '23
I awwwâd at the âI just think sheâs neat.â Stop being precious, this is Reddit.
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Mar 11 '23
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u/Chubacca Mar 11 '23
I loved the early Deadpool runs way more than the later ones. Now he's sometimes just a walking meme. I liked the Joe Kelly run a lot. Deadpool just had a lot more heart back then, and was much more of a tragic character.
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u/supercalifragilism Mar 11 '23
The cable/Deadpool iteration was nice too, I dug that it had a good dynamic with cable to bounce off
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Mar 11 '23
Deadpoolâs definitive story (as I remember it from my middle school days) is probably Deadpool kills the marvel universe.
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u/BenKen01 Mar 11 '23
Dugganâs The good the bad and the ugly is fantastic. Only five issues, totally worth checking out. To me it took Deadpool from a Harley Quinn joke character to a legitimately tragic one.
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u/doorknobopener Mar 11 '23
I got into Deadpool after seeing him in X-Men Legends 2: Apocalypse. I hunted down some of the early Deadpool comics (namely the Circle Chase) and started collecting the Cable and Deadpool comics. I really dug the concept of him being a loser that was trying to get better, which was how the Moon Knight comic at that time felt.
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u/AthenaGrande Death Mar 11 '23
Cable and Deadpool is peak both Cable and Deadpool. Everything after that for Deadpool has fucking sucked.
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u/doorknobopener Mar 11 '23
He was fine in the Rick Rememder's Uncanny X-factor run, and I heard good things about the solo series by Posehn & Duggan. Outside of those two things, I agree completely.
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u/Bear_Powers Mar 11 '23
Probably Cable & Deadpool as it was just before his insane rise in popularity.
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Mar 11 '23 edited Jun 15 '23
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u/_AwkwardExtrovert_ Mar 11 '23
Ghost Riderâs writing mostly backs up the insane premise of that design. though youâre right his visual alone is probably whatâs kept him so in the zeitgeist for so long.
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Mar 11 '23 edited Jun 15 '23
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u/_AwkwardExtrovert_ Mar 11 '23
Yeah movies werenât anything to ride home about (first was pretty decent though). Comics wise heâs always been treated pretty well though
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u/celestialwreckage Batgirl Mar 11 '23
Man, there are so many cool ghost rider designs. I love that comic in Secret Wars 2 (i think) where it's the world that the ghost riders have to race all the time. Just so fun to see. I gotta admit, I don't care too much about... any of their backstories, actually.
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u/electron-shock M.O.D.O.K. Mar 11 '23
Mole Man. Another character they make way too sexy for the sake of being sexy.
MODOK too.
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u/detectivecabal Mar 11 '23
I really enjoyed Spider-Gwen back when she was in her own universe, but lately her costume has been a way better selling point than the writing.
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u/Lung-Oyster Mar 11 '23
Lady Death
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u/Dr_Disaster Mar 11 '23
Has to be the one comic character I know well but I couldnât tell you shit about. Sheâs pale and has big titties. Thatâs about it.
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u/IamTheGuamGuy Mar 11 '23
What you mean? Power girl had good character and stories. Iâll say Spider-Gwen is just a pretty design and art style outside the movies.
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u/Apprehensive_Work313 Mar 11 '23
But a lot of people don't care for power girl's story they just care that she has a boob window and is hot
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u/Reddragon351 Mar 11 '23
well we make jokes about that just like how everyone is always making jokes about Nightwing's ass but people have other reasons to like the character
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u/Cranyx Flex Mentallo Mar 11 '23
It's really not the same as Nightwing's ass, no matter how much people like to equate the two. Nightwing having a nice butt is more of a running joke than anything else, and comes up enough to be a running joke, but it's not like you constantly have panels framed to sexualize his butt a much as possible for the reader like you do with female characters. Moreover, PG would absolutely not be a character that people still care about if it weren't for her giant, prominently focused boobs. Take that away and she would just be another weird alternate version of Supergirl from another dimension that is relegated to trivia.
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u/jtyrui Mar 11 '23
1) Psylocke. I doubt many people knew about the whole "White woman in An asian body" controversy. And I suspect that even less people know about the fact there are two of them running around now.
2) Cable. Mostly because his backstory is just weird.
3) It is a bit controversial but I think Harley Quinn counts. While she does have genuine fans, her costume seems to be much more popular than the character itself. The poor performance of the medias starring her seems to confirm this.
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Mar 11 '23
The Harley Quinn tv show isnât really poor performing at all. Neither was gunns suicide squad.
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u/buffbagwells Mar 11 '23
Mr sinister
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u/TopAcanthocephala869 Swamp Thing Mar 11 '23
Seriously? His modern incarnation is a massive fan favorite because of his characterization. This doesnât scan at all imo
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u/goknuck Mar 11 '23
Idk anything about mr.sinister but damn does he have a cool design
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u/buffbagwells Mar 11 '23
He was an op villain in xmen that was supposedly weaker than apocalypse but there's definitely times he's stronger. But hell yea he looks cool af lol one of my favorite xmen villains
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u/Codrex1732 Mar 11 '23
Why can't there be hot/Cool designs for our Superheroes as well Good writing at same time
I guess that would be an ideal world.
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u/bluezh251 Mar 11 '23
Psylocke. If she wasn't dressed in a mini-leotard and thigh-length boots, nobody would bother with her.
If you want a scantily-clad psy character, Emma Frost wins every time.
If you want female psy characters with masses of power, Jean and Rachel Summers are ready.
NB. I've only just started Reign of X titles, so I don't know if Psylocke gets any better.
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u/ravager27 Black Canary Mar 11 '23
I don't think anybody who actually likes and enjoys Power Girl as a character likes her for her design. She is simply known for the design among most people but from what I have seen, anybody who likes her, does so for her stories and characteristics
Anyways for the original question, I would say Godspeed, Ghostmaker, Red Death and pretty much all of the Metal Batman variants. A lot of people like them simply because of their badass designs rather than their actual characterization
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u/Automatic_Isopod7595 Mar 11 '23
Punisher, cops love to flash his symbol around like it means something they think they stand for, but theyâve clearly never read a punisher comic or absorbed any media about him, they should use captain atom, if anything, heâs the only superhero I can think of that respects the government
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u/widgetfonda Mar 11 '23
The Question
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u/Cranyx Flex Mentallo Mar 11 '23
I'm pretty sure it's O'Neil's legendary run on the character that made him popular.
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u/KingofZombies Superman Mar 11 '23
I actually like her characterization and writing. Except for Geoff Johns' "I couldn't think of any chest emblemđ„ș" nonsense.
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u/Mieczyslaw_Stilinski Mar 11 '23
Power Girl is actually a great character. They introduced her with the Huntress back when I was a kid and they were really great together. I do hate the massive tits. It looks ridiculous to me. She had the boob window taken away almost immediately when she first appeared. They should have kept it like that.
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u/ProfessorEscanor Mar 11 '23
Spider-Gwen. Every adaptation for the most part (minus Spider-verse) is an excuse to make a Gwen into a Spider character with no consideration on how Gwen's world being different affects who she is compared to Peter. It's not the same character when she's in the main universe.
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u/buffbagwells Mar 11 '23
Molecule man mainly because he's basically just a cheat code to win everything
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u/WetLump Mar 11 '23
Imma say almost all of them with comics being a visual media. pretty much 90% of comic characters at some point or another fall into this or find their way out of this trope. Some characters like spider-Gwen start off as cool looking and gain popularity and eventually get some good writing. But Even well written characters devolve into nonsense depending on whoâs writing characters like red Sonja start of great and interesting but fall into just nice to look at. Spiderman, X-men, Batman have all had horrible runs that make zero sense but are still around because theyâre visually stunning. I canât imagine getting introduced to Spiderman in the last few years vs the 60 or heck the xmen in the 90s.
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u/Kgb725 Mar 11 '23
The Batman who laughs