DC Comics is on the come up again. Their comics are selling like hotcakes, thanks in part to the popularity of the DCU. Fans are actually coming into the comic store and it feels like we might be moving back to the way things used to be, when DC was the biggest name in superheroes. The publisher first gave readers the long-underwear types at the tail end of the ’30s, with World War II creating the perfect environment for them to flourish. Since then, DC has created some of the biggest icons in fiction, characters who have joined a pantheon of heroes that stretch all the way back to Hercules, Sinbad, and Gilgamesh.
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The DC Multiverse is home to every kind of hero you can imagine, with each hero having their own fandom. Some heroes are just plain beloved, the type of characters that everyone loves. However, some fanbases have a more a complicated relationship with their favorite characters. They often hate the characters they love so much; in fact, that disdain is often part of why fans love them so much. Readers love to hate these five DC heroes, and one of them has ridden that to superstardom.
5) Guy Gardner
DCU fans have been learning something that comic fans have known for a long time – Guy Gardner is insufferable in the best way possible. He was introduced as a replacement for Hal Jordan – basically, if Abin Sur would have crashed closer to him, than the ring would have went to Gardner instead of Hal. He’d eventually be brought into the Green Lantern Corps full-time and would eventually get a brain injury that changed his attitude forever. Guy was always a jock, but he suddenly lost any ability to govern what he said. Gardner quickly earned a reputation as a loudmouth that most people wanted to punch, but he was so great a ringslinger that it was worth putting up with his arrogant, insulting ways.
Guy is a character that every reader knows – they’re the friend who says the wildest stuff, with no governor on his behavior. He can be extremely annoying to be around, but you know that he’ll give you the shirt off his back and jump into any fight you start. He’s rude, combative, opinionated, and you will probably end up punching him more than once in the time that you know him. However, you’ll also defend him to the hilt; you may not like him very much, but you’re the only one allowed to hate him.
4) Damian Wayne
Damian Wayne first appeared in “Batman and Son”, the opening story of Grant Morrison’s landmark Batman run. He was the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul and Morrison wanted to play with the idea of their child, canonizing Batman: Son of the Demon. Damian was rude, spoiled, and arrogant, but he could back up his bluster. Fans hated him from the beginning, but they looked forward to seeing him. This hatred for Damian became the default setting for most readers, but he kept getting more and more popular. He’s the kind of character that you just can’t look away from. There’s a certain infuriating charm to the young hero.
Damian Wayne was able to ride the wave of fan hatred to stardom. We were introduced to him as a work in progress, a character who readers were meant to be instantly annoyed by. However, we also knew that he was growing as a character and that was the fun. Damian talked a big game and everyone wanted to know whether he was going to back it up. The fact that he did more often than not endeared him to readers and he’s since become a favorite of the Bat-fandom.
3) Booster Gold
Booster Gold isn’t your typical DC hero. To begin with, his morals aren’t exactly the best. He was an athlete in the future and threw games that he bet on, leading him to lose everything. He became a museum guard and decided the best way to get his life on track was to steal a bunch of 21st century technology, a time machine, and a robot in order to use all of that and his future knowledge to become one of the greatest heroes ever. He can be sort of cowardly at times, and is always looking out for himself, trying to become a bigger and bigger hero. He’s an unfolding train wreck, one that you can’t look away from and fans love watching him struggle and fail.
Booster Gold is the master of bad jokes and stupid decisions. Being a Booster Gold fan (we’re known to call him “Booster God” at times) means you have to have a pretty high tolerance for a character for whom being annoying is as important as breathing. The best Booster stories make you groan as much as they do smile. You’re rooting for him the whole time, but you also want him to fail, because that would be just as entertaining.
2) Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn first appeared as the Joker’s girlfriend/henchwoman on Batman: The Animated Series, quickly becoming a favorite of fans of the show (so, everybody). She’d make her way to the comics and has since become one of the most popular characters in the industry. There was once talk that she was just as popular as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and her role in Suicide Squad made her even bigger than ever. She’s a character who everyone who has cosplayed has done at least once and is ubiquitous if you like superheroes or just alternative pop-culture of any kind.
Part of Harley’s charm has always been the fact that she was annoying. She told bad jokes, did the wildest stuff, and didn’t mind being the butt of jokes because of who she is. There are a lot of fans out there who are completely annoyed by her and yet they still go out of their way to buy her comics or play the games she’s in. Her fans are used to groaning numerous times when they read her comics, because that’s just the kind of character she is.
1) Batman
Batman is DC’s most popular character. In fact, it’s safe to say that he’s the most popular comic character of them all, having been an icon since the late ’30s. He’s starred in comics, movies, TV shows, video games, books, radio shows, and basically every kind of media you can imagine. His comic sales set the standard for the rest of the industry and children are basically born with knowledge of the character written on their genes. There have been times when the only reason we got any DC comics at all is because his books sold well enough to pay for everything.
However, this ubiquity has become a big problem. Batman is one of those characters who fans “love”, but they’re also annoyed that he’s everywhere. His fans are some of the most bipolar out there; the way they talk about him at times is the same ways other fans talk about characters they hate. Everyone has complicated feelings on the Dark Knight, but we all know one thing for sure – we’re going to at least buy his comics, that way we’re better able to complain about them.
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