Valid Criticism of your Favorite Characters

What are some valid arguments about your favorite characters?

Kal-El: I would agree with a lot of people that Superman does have too many powers that he hardly ever uses, which would all make for interesting stories if used more, such as his (supposed) mastery of Kryptonian Mental/Physical Martial Arts as well as his enhanced intellect.

Jason Todd:I'd say that it's a valid criticism that Jason borrows a lot from Grayson, and always has. Even his original idea was basically Dick Grayson 2.0. It's tough from a character POV, and I would hope that down the line they push him further away from the Batfamily (let's face it, the Batpad is getting pretty crowded) and Grayson. Not to say he can't pal around. I believe he was a Titan at one point, so it's not unusual to see him alongside such related characters, but I think he'd probably do better on his own.

None exist Batman is perfection, and Cavewoman is awesome.

Raven: Known as being stoic yet she is frequently depicted completely losing her mind. Also she has too many powers that seem to be forgotten (remember when she had premonitions?) or just show up/disappear simply because the plot requires them to.

Wonder Woman: Seems a lot more patient and friendly when not in the Justice League.

Beast Boy: Where the hell do his clothes go when he morphs?

I guess I'll put my criticism of Dick Grayson on here and if anyone has ever made these points about him, they would have my stamp of approval (which is important because everything I say is 100% correct).

The turn from Robin to Nightwing was pivotal in the development of Dick Grayson but when he made the move to Bludhaven, it actually took the character backwards. Bludhaven was advertised as a s*^ttier version of Gotham, essentially the Newark to Gotham's New York. This thought process resulted in the main setting of Nightwing's solo adventures being as dull, lifeless and uninspiring as possible that didn't grow into anything bigger, with a rather uninteresting supporting cast, it sucked. The grim setting seeped into the characterization of Nightwing as he went from being the happy-go-lucky, laughing daredevil who had a diverse set of skills (detective work, disguise, linguistics, musician, actor etc) to just a gimmer, grittier version of Batman who spends most of his time brooding and moping (occasionally sharing a quip) with a rather limited set of skills, basically martial arts and acrobatics. He went from being a laughing daredevil to DC's answer to Daredevil but without the great storytelling. As a result his solo stories save for a few runs were largely mediocre and the character became stagnant to the point where Dan Didio considered killing him off.

However, there are a lot of fans out there that view Dick Grayson's time in Bludhaven as a high point where Dick Grayson became his own hero, but for me, it came at a cost to his characterization.

When talking about the fans of Dick, they often act like spoiled children, not knowing how good they have it. They frequently complain about how DC always mistreats Dick and while not every decision they make regarding the character works (see above), he still gets better treatment than all of the DCU not in the JL. Dick was center stage in many of the events in the new 52 (even if it didn't end well for him), DC has put quality talent in his books and for the first time in awhile with Grayson, Dick has a solo series that is interesting with a world that has room to grow and a supporting cast that can actually be relevant to the rest of the DCU. He's frequently featured in Earth-2 and will play a big role in Convergence and he will appear in 3 other titles during Convergence. There will be a live-action show on TNT where he will be leading the Titans. Dick, along with Batman are the faces of the animated DCU, Dick has been thrusted into shows where he never was a part in the comics. For example, he was the leader in Young Justice, and in the show they actually de-aged Zatanna to make her his love interest, even though Bette Kane and Barbara Gordon were on the show (in fact since 2011, he's had 10 different love interest in DC related properties). Based on that last sentence, you can't tell me that he's being mistreated.

Governor: rapist

Comedian: attempted rapist

Black Mask: sadistic torturer

Joker: Not many criticisms. Maybe he's used too much.

Those are only four of my favorites though. I have a lot of favorites.

Miles Morales: Perfection

Morpheus/Sandman/Dream:Maybe raped a woman and then sent her to hell...he can be a A hole sometimes.

Shiki: BAMF who gives zero %&^#s. No criticisms.

Hei: spends a little too much time with underage girls. Also he becomes a bum in season 2.

Daredevil - Every writer since miller has thought "What could we do to make his life worse?"

Thor - Annoying speech patterns

Thing - Started off as one of marvels strongest, now he's just a minor league hitter

Dr. Doom - Overkill, yet rarely beats the Fantastic Four

Goku: A terrible father.

Beata

@primez0ne:

XD

Batman is perfect.

Tell that to the three dead Robins and Lady Shiva.

Teresa of the Faint Smile is too awesome for mortal minds ^_^

I like you lol.

Joker : Dialogue excessive and sometimes does not exactly carry through with his plan. I understand he is supposed to be chaotic and this is part of his personality but it kind of gets over done.

Sometimes Batman and Bane fans can be crazy. Joker can be over used.

@claymore1998:

She was known as a "problem child." Teresa seemed to enjoy intimidating the townsfolk.

;)

Elektra: She has been shown as someone with tremendous mind trick powers and telepathic resistance and other times as easy to knock down with a punch. She sometimes is so quick that people believe she simply disappears and yet gets clipped by some random stick. Daredevil is the only one she can ever love, and yet hey, let's knock some boots with random vigilantes while hanging out with the Rulk.

Sif: Either she is Thor's greatest love and true soul mate, or some weird horse dude's galpal. She is pure of heart and valiant as they come, yet doesn't/can't wield the Mojlnir.

Rogue: Has gone through so much in her short life and developed a wisdom beyond her years yet gets depicted as temper tantrummy and hypocritical when faced with people who deserve second chances. Hungers for love and touch and trust and when given it unconditionally, decides some side action with a former megalomaniac is just the thing she needs.

I'll keep to those three for now.

It really is stupid that Batman doesn't kill his villains..... He knows they're just going to escape again.

Batman: While I love Batman, I have some issues

I find that his character can use some balancing out. In books like Justice League he fights heroes and villains (with very much difficulty) and somewhat succeeds, and that makes his villains look for a lack of words useless. And then in his own books he struggles with his own villains (when he has already been shown he can fight heroes/villains outside his class) and that for a lack of words makes his seem less skilled. This is an inconistency that exists in Batmans character as well as other super hero characters, but I feel that Batman's rouges should be upgraded to somewhat fix this imbalance. Also this is more of a personal gripe, would like his character to showcase his martial art abilities a bit more. He is stated to be one of the top fighters in DC, top 10 in fact, he need to show it better. He also needs a more effective way of putting away his villains, so they can stop easily escaping.

Spider-Man: While I do love Spider-Man he has a few issues as well.

I would love it if Spidey actually used his intelligence, he really doesn't apply himself at all in the smarts department. One way I could see him being is something similar to Superior Spider-Man (which i wasn't a fan of) technology wise only. I mean Peter can design some gadget to assist him better (like Otto did) while still being himself. I also would love to see him be a little more serious. Just a little bit. As a personal gripe I would like to see the Spidey Sense utilized better. Villains and heroes should really have to work to hit Spider-Man

Aquaman: I legitimately can't think of a major fault of his. I suppose I'd like him to develop his telepathy more in the New 52, but that's hardly a character flaw.

Superman: He has a nasty habit of forgetting powers. That's really my only complaint with him.

I fail to see how the Justice League, Avengers, etc keep secret ID's while calling each other by their real names in public.

Hulk needs to keep his temper under control more often.

Goku needs to finish some fights quicker rather than let the enemy get more powerful.

Batman needs to always wear battle armor against high powered opponents.

I'll assume it's because there are a lot of people with their names. They're pretty common. Clark, Bruce, Diana, Arthur, Hal, etc. I've known people by those names before.

I'm quite surprised Sif hasn't had more solo exposure in the comics. From what I gather, she's a pretty cool character. Do you think she could handle her own solo?

Agreed.

@scouterv: If Thor's sister Angela can handle her own solo, Sif definitely can. She's a great character and has been ever since her creation. Even in the MCU she has a lot of potential they aren't using, besides her one appearance in an agents of shield episode.

Animal man: Never been written the same way twice, has done some really sh!tty things like hit his son, assault and harrass undeserving people, cheat on his wife, failed to protect his family(with maxine sorta dying twice), nearly wiped all of humanity off the face of the earth, isn't really interested in being a superhero and helping people and he's died 3 times.

Fixed

Seems the only stories we can tell with Superman is he's dying, retelling the origin or rebooting Krypton. Idk if this is necessarily on the character, more so those who write Him

@scouterv: They may be common names, but Batman is known to be from Gotham and have a lot of expensive gear. Superman does very little to protect his ID, he's been shown clearly photographed in the Daily Planet.

@mikex20: Well, Kal has always done a good job of acting the furthest thing from Superman for a long time. Physically, they may look alike, but that could be said for a lot of people that aren't the people they look like.

And yes, Batman is from Gotham and has a lot of money. I don't read Batman, but I've always been under the assumption, like Clark, he does not act the same way as Batman as he does as Bruce Wayne. Hence the whole Playboy persona. Not sure if that's a thing or not because I'm not huge into Batman, so maybe I'm wrong and the people in comic book land are just extremely gullible en mass.

@scouterv: It's just a peeve I have about team books. I know the writers do it to show they're all friends, and not just colleagues. But, it just seems stupid every time I read it.

I would like to critize my favs, but it'd be more a critic for the writers, then the characters itself.

Like, I'd like if the writer would go back and write Bruce & Hulk like this

instead of this

Spider-Man: Needs to stop being a whiny man-child and grow up and use his intellect more - kind of like Superior but without the dark personality. I mean, HOLY SHIT! Your worst enemy took over your body and literally showed you how using you intellect makes you better, but you disregard it completely? WTF? And more writers need to acknowledge his vaunted intellect. Some writers write him properly and then a writer makes him look even dumber than Tony Stark. WTF? Yeah, basically utilize intellect more often and more consistently and stop being a whiny man-child; be a witty adult.

Sadly, Sif had a brief stint headlining Journey Into Mystery that despite it being brilliant both in writing and in art, didn't sell very well as it was insulated from the rest of the Marvel Universe. I would have personally wanted her getting a proper title, with perhaps the Warriors Three as back up, and battling traditional Asgardian foes.

She is an incredible character and sadly underused. I wish more emphasis was placed on her than other, newer characters.

Holy dissertation idea, Batman!

lol

Reed - Can be too boring or condescending at times. Same for Dream of the Endless, I guess.

Some writers go too far with the power fantasy.

Batman doesn't fire the Justice League and make a better one because they're his friends and he doesn't like to see them cry

He's too compassionate, is what I'm saying

@blackspidey2099: why I've always hated Spider-Man. They write him down just so he can be "relatable," even though he's not anything close.

Hal Jordan: "He's unlikeable." I can understand that, he can be a dick and is often shortsighted... but I actually like those aspects about him...

Barry Allen: He is the more serious Flash so I understand the people complaining that he isn't like Wally.

Dick Grayson:... he's perfect

THIS. SO. MUCH.

@superguy1591: How isn't Spidey close to reliable? If you don't mind me asking.

@primez0ne said:

@psychopsychology said:

Daredevil - Every writer since miller has thought "What could we do to make his life worse?"

Thor - Annoying speech patterns

Thing - Started off as one of marvels strongest, now he's just a minor league hitter

Dr. Doom - Overkill, yet rarely beats the Fantastic Four

i don't understand what you are trying to say here

Punisher: Yeah, I know that he is super badass, but I understand that he isn't so important in the Marvel Universe. He has his momments, but on the most of his time he is fighting his own endless war while the others heros are saving the whole universe.

Daken: Everything you say about he I will agree.

Batman - He just seems unbeatable

Aqualad - Bare for Young Justice (TV show) he doesn't seem to be used like at all.

Jason Todd - Really suffering from boring stories

Darth Krayt - Killed Off

Toyo Harada - relatively unknown, even among comic fans. Such a great character.

Felix Harmon - Killed Off

Papa Midnite - Has he ever come up against someone other than Constantine?

Midas - Will we see him again?

@mr_top_hat: I know it's hidden with the other text bubbles but Heracles is questioning why they have to speak in an Shakespearean accent when they are Greeks who came thousands of years before Shakespeare.