Top 10 Little Known Facts about Our Beloved Childhood DC Heroes
We grew up seeing, reading, and watching our heroes prevail over the, what it seems, unstoppable forces of evil. Without thanks and always given ridicule, they put on their capes and uniforms to protect us every day and night. To add to the heroes’ powers, there are some secrets and little known facts about them all. Here are ten of them.
10
We all know Superboy as Coner Kent, also known as Kon-El from Krypton, the little cousin of “Clark Kent” to the public eye, the boyfriend of Wonder Girl, and a best friend to Robin and Impulse. However, there have been some new changes made more recently. For instance, in 1993, Superboy was the product of a cloning mixture from the DNA of Superman and Lex Luther, Superman’s nemesis. Mischievously, Superboy’s creation was by Lex Luther’s attempts to infiltrate the Justice League and eliminate Superman. After discovering his fabrication of both Superman and Lex Luther’s essence, Coner is conflicted on which side to fight for, good or bad. Since then, there have been dramatic alterations made to Superboy’s character and origin story, as of 2011. Currently, Superboy is the concoction from the genetic codes of Superman, Lois Lane, and their child from an alternate future.
9
What if one told you that the “Fastest Man Alive” is so fast, he outran Death—The Grim Reaper himself—23 years after making the ultimate sacrifice? Barry Allen, the second man to don the iconic bolts of the Flash, literally ran back to life. Out from the Silver Age, a time in comic book history full of revival and remolding, he ran through our hearts, and into our imagination. Before Allen, another bore the bolts. Jay Garrick was the first “Scarlet Speedster.” One may recognize him as the one in the metal hat, the one who fought the Nazis. However, with the exception of Jay Garrick, the lineage of the Flash has been kept in the Allen-West family. For instance, Wally West is Barry Allen’s successor and nephew by marriage. Wally is Flash that appears on the hit TV animated series “The Justice League” and “The Justice League: Unlimited.” When Wally moved on to the Justice League, Bart Allen, Barry Allen’s grandson, fought beside Robin and Superboy in the Teen Titans, the league of teenaged super heroes, as Impulse and later as the new Kid Flash.
8
Katherine Rebecca Kane, Batwoman, was conveniently named similar to one of her creators, Kathy Kane. Awkwardly enough for Batwoman, her conception was not to aid Batman in the fight against crime, but to defend him from ridicule about a grown man running around Gotham with a young boy, Robin. You see, in 1956 the idea of a 27-year-old man fighting the forces of evil with an acrobatic 10-year-old boy in tights was not good for his image; it brought up serious and unnecessary allegations against our dear Bruce Wayne. Batwoman’s job was to be Bruce’s love interest, and rid him of the homophobic attacks. Ironically, Batwoman’s revamp in 2011 made her into what she was originally created to prevent. Katherine is a lesbian of Jewish decent to show great diversity in our heroes. It has all come a long way in 58 years, and it is only going to get better from here on out.
7
J’onn J’onzz of Mars was once one of the six main characters in command of the Justice League. In the chain of command, he was sixth—right behind the Green Lantern—and a founding father in the TV series. However, in 2011’s reboot of DC, Cyborg replaced the Manhunter as the sixth in command and a founding father of the Justice League. It was because of DC’s magnificent supportive “Diversity Move” in their worlds. In the midst of this radical decision, J’onn now fights aside and the leader of the patriotic, US government-sponsored Justice League of America. By this, he infiltrated the Secret Society of Super Villains to learn the shocking news of their returned leader, The Outsider. Because of the change in scenery, the Manhunter has not been attacked or harassed by his arch nemesis and twin brother, Ma’alefa’ak.
6
The princess of Amazon’s creation is to triumph over evil with love, not firepower. In the making of Wonder Woman’s first script, “Suprema” was her original name, but was later dropped. What brought her to America from Amazon was a man named Steve Trevor, a US Intelligence Officer. Wonder Woman rescued him after his plane had crash-landed in the forest of Amazon. Steve was convinced that she was the answer to defeating the Nazis during World War II. More recently, in Wonder Woman’s new origin, Ares, the Greek God of War, mentors her to hone her skills and become what we know her as today. However, unlike the traditional ways of Wonder Woman joining the Justice League by Superman recruiting her as an equal, she meets Superman while both were 18 years old, instead of being fully matured. By this, they both fell into a sea of passion for each other. Sadly, the writer for Wonder Woman says that their love affair will end “badly.”
5
Like most super heroes, Dick Grayson lost his parents at a young age. Fortunately, though, a very wealthy man adopted him. That man was Bruce Wayne. Dick was an orphan when they met, living in Wayne’s family owned orphanage. While Bruce strolled by Dick in front of the orphanage, the young boy nonchalantly said, “You’re Batman.” Bruce was mortified that the prepubescent boy had so easily seen through him, but he was also impressed. Young Grayson was adopted that day and soon thereafter, he put on the costume of Robin. Nightwing is essentially Robin all grown up. He became the new persona after become of age. What you may not know is that the first appearance of Nightwing was Superman taking up a new super identity when he traveled to Krypton, not Dick Grayson. Like Superman, others have assumed the role of Nightwing, including Damian Wayne (Bruce Wayne’s son) in an evil alternate future, Power Girl, Jason Todd (second Robin, after Grayson), Chris Kent (General Zod’s son), and Terry McGinnis (Wayne’s third child, second Batman).
4
The brave, red bird that flocks beside the black bat. There has been many who went by the name “Robin.” The first and most famous was the skillful Dick Grayson. Next, Jason Todd became Robin after he stole the wheels from the Batmobile. Tragically, the Joker darkly ended his reign by brutally killing him. Then, there was Tim Drake who put on the mask. Similarly, Joker ended Drake’s time as Robin by kidnapping and torturing to the point of madness. Later, the girlfriend of Drake, Stephanie Brown, fought beside Batman after Tim’s resignation. After a short time, Damian Wayne took the role of Robin after his mother, Talia al Ghul, left him in Bruce’s care. Even Bruce Wayne at one point called himself Robin during the Earth Two war. Now Helena Wayne, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, wears the mask and bears the name Robin.
3
The Green Lantern – The Galaxy’s Green Guardian
The Green Lantern Corps is the police force of the Universe. Operated by 3,600 “ring-slingers,” and governed by a 12-person group of blue dwarfs older than time itself. The power of will fuels their rings while it illuminates even the darkest corners of the Galaxy. However, the very first Green Lantern does not use will to fire his ring, but instead he used magic from a green meteor from space. Alan Scott has fought for the Justice League of America since 1940. A couple decades later, Hal Jordan became the Green Lantern we all know today. Hal’s creation altered and paved the path for a massive story for this amazing character. Ryan Reynolds played as the fearless Jordan in the 2011 film. The Red Rocket, Guy Gardner, was the second human to be bestowed upon a ring of power. This Irish, arrogant Lantern is powerful as he is sarcastic. Opposite to his predecessor, John Stewart became the third Lantern of Earth. This happened due to Gardner becoming stricken with blinding rage. After Parallax brought Earth to near destruction, Stewart resigned and joined the Darkstars, thus leaving the reins to Kyle Rayner. Ganthet, one of the Guardians of the Universe, personally picked Rayner for the next Green Lantern from Earth. While Kyle still wields his ring, Hal Jordan’s ring was given to another, Simon Baz. Unfortunately, on his first day as a Green Lantern, he accidently helped bank robbers get away after a heist. Shortly thereafter, the Justice League responds to his unintentional committed crime.
2
The man that is faster than a speeding bullet has swept us off our feet and have saved us countless times since 1933. Two high school students created Kal-El of Krypton. Superman has always been a crowd favorite since day one. Having endless powers, abilities, and advantages made him nearly invincible. Laser and x-ray vision, ultimate strength, rapid regeneration, flight, resistance to non-magical attacks, icy breath, as well as super hearing, speed, and intelligence. Nevertheless, what most do not know about the Man of steel is that he can alter his facial structure and decompress his spine to seem shorter in part of his disguise as Clark Kent. In addition, he has a weakness that is not mentioned or has been used against him in quite a while. Other than Kryptonite, Superman is vulnerable to magical attacks and spells. It is also not well known that the S-like symbol that Clark wears on his chest is his Kryptonian family’s coat of arms, meaning hope. He is always very hopeful and optimistic, even near death. At the beginning of the revamp of Superman in 2011, he never pursues Lois Lane, but instead falls madly in love for Wonder Woman.
1
We all know him as the world’s greatest detective. With little effort, Batman figured out Superman’s identity, along with many other super heroes and villains. Batman has worked endlessly to keep his identity hidden. Not widely known, Bruce was indeed Batman, but he definitely was not the one and only. Dick Grayson covered for Bruce Wayne by being Batman while he goes missing for some time. This happens in the new story arch for Dick Grayson; it does not last long, though. In the distant future, Terry McGinnis-Wayne becomes Batman when Bruce Wayne is too fragile to fight due to being somewhere between 70 to 80 years old. It is not long for Bruce to entrust Terry to be The Dark Knight. Terry is Bruce’s son, but it was a military secret until Amanda Waller, ex-S.T.A.R. Labs Director, exposes the truth to him.
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