This is a list of characters that I think could be used better in their universes, but for whatever reason they just never seem to get the focus they deserve. These are mostly DC characters, I think Marvel does a much better job of putting their characters into situations where they'll shine.
More to come, feel free to leave suggestions.
A Superhero with the power to alter atomic structures allowing him to change any materials in the universe into anything else. And what does DC do with this character? Sets him up to punch bad guys like a low-grade Superman then cancels the series when that doesn't sell as well as they'd hoped.
In the real world, Deadman's abilities are the pinnacle of intelligence gathering and covert ops. Even better than having a shapeshifter infiltrate an organization is sending in someone to possess a member, gain their memories, and cause chaos from the inside. For whatever reason DC has never fully utilized Deadman, they just keep trying to throw him into traditional super hero roles or have him tag along Constantine where he's constantly diminished and unappreciated.
The Mirror Master has such a cool power, especially for someone who wants to commit crimes without necessarily blowing everything up and alerting everyone in the area. The Rogues are definitely pretty popular at the moment, but I think Mirror Master has way more potential than Captain Cold and could definitely be used to better effect.
Shadowman is the magical character of the Valiant universe, and he's also by far the most localized. While Harada, PRS, X-0, etc are global forces in the Valiant Universe, Shadowman has so far been stuck in New Orleans. IMO Valiant's one fault is that they have an amazingly interconnected universe that for whatever reason doesn't really include Shadowman despite the fact that his magic could have very interesting effects in a world of psiots, immortals, and alien tech.
He's smart Superman with a skillset to match his intelligence, and IMO, a much better character than Superman. Superman represents truth, justice, and the American way, which is apparently getting emotional and beating your enemies up. He's raised in Kansas and looks just like us so he takes it for granted that people accept him as one of them. The Martian Manhunter on the other hand is the ultimate foreigner (alien). He understands he can never really be one of us (humans) but he wants to help us anyway because it's the right thing to do and he thinks we're worth the effort to protect.
I'm not an Aquaman fan, I don't read his title or know much about him. But I do know he leads an entire undersea kingdom which he's managed to keep hidden from humanity's prying eyes for a long time, and that all the creatures of the sea have some sort of respect for him (as far as I know when he commands them to help he's not just enslaving them) so he deserves some respect.
He's another character that kind of just gets pushed aside most of the time. I feel like they treat him almost like a kid who can hack things really well and not a half-robot with a ton of cool gadgets. He can download blueprints and build things, analyze logistics for your entire team, tell them where, when, and how best to strike, what crimes are the best use of their time. He could use enemy security systems to feed them false information instead of just disabling them or stealing information. Hopefully we're about to see a Cyborg reboot (v2.0?) and get some real good use out of him as Forever Evil continues.
