I suspect that most of the characters that get mentioned here won'tbe all that obscure to most of us. So maybe instead of obscure, I should say Characters that aren't used any more, but have potential. Now rather than just list a character, tell us what about the character intrigues you.
Two characters that I thought of for this are Crazy Jane of the Doom Patrol and Inferno from the Work Force.
I liked the split personality, each having a different super-power aspect of Crazy Jane. I know this was done earlier with Professor X's son Legion, but Legion was always an antagonist. Jane was always a heroine. She definitely works best in an oddball group like the Doom Patrol
And for Inferno, I liked how she was pretty nasty while in Work Force, but how she was developing into a real hero as she spent more time with the Legionnaires.
So, those are my two for now. Who would you bring back? (And even though I did 2 DC characters, this isn't limited to DC)
Oh gosh, I love 'Lower Decks' type characters who mostly stay on the sidelines. For that reason, Peter David is one of my favorite authors, building an 'X-Team' out of people like Madrox and Monet and Shatterstar and Layla Miller, all of whom would have been (or already were) sidelined and forgotten if he hadn't chosen to bring them off the shelf and play with them.
For DC, I'm a big fan of Firehawk, a Firestorm spin-off character, because she had an amazing visual, and seemed like a cool dynamic personality and a fairly rare civilian ID as a policital wonk.
I always wanted to see more of several of the 'Global Guardians,' especially Tuatara (whose powers had great potential, half Dreamy, half 'post-cognitive' super-detective) and the Olympian (all the powers of the Argonauts! Woo!).
In the 30th/31st century, eternal students Lamprey, Nightwind, Crystal Kid and Laurel Kent always fascinated me. (Power Boy and Comet Queen, not so much.) A combination of really interesting visuals and really cool powers, as well as hints of personality dropped here and there, made them seem really appealing.
Other oddball characters I like from the Marvel verse include Avenger-for-10-seconds Stingray, and Initiative member Texas Twister. I'm a huge sucker for aquatic characters, from Mera to Tempest to Namor to Lamprey, so Stingray, the first 'aquatic battlesuit' I'd seen, definitely appealed to me. Texas Twister's powers are just awesome. I've seen tornados, I've even been in one, and they are amazing things. A guy who can make small-scale twisters and ride around on them combines a really unique transportation method with a powerful offense and decent form of defense from ranged attacks. I like multi-function heroes, who aren't overspecialized towards offense or defense or transportation, and dead weight in the other categories.
My all-time favourite obscure/underused character is Walker Gabriel, the second Chronos in the DC universe. He was a thief and originally intended to use his time-travel powers to steal, but became more of a hero as time went on.
Another thief I'd like to see in a starring role is Benn Pares, the master thief from SLSH #213, who was enough of a challenge to the Legion that they used the Miracle Machine against him.
Top on my list are the now, sadly, deceased Kinetix and Kole. My favorite Legionnaire and my favorite Titan, respectively.
A lot of you already know why I love Kinetix - sassy personality, great visual with a unique costume that stood out in an era of "uniform" central-stripe costumes, desire to be "useful" and powerful that hinted at possible buried poor self-esteem.
Kole also had an interesting visual, had a really cool personality that was an understated confidence and surprising competence for one who'd been a hero such a short time, amazing powers (similar to how Set described Texas Twister, Kole could use her crystals offensively, defensively, for transport, etc...) and she was a Titan for such a criminally short time but I would argue she was a better Titan than most with much longer tenures!
Doctor Light (Kimiyo Hoshi) is criminally underused. She is extremely powerful, a capable scientist, and her rather personality makes for great reading when done just right (an arrogant bitch who has enough emotional intelligence to know when she's pushing it too far). She could take her place among the big guns of the JLA when used right.
Monica Rambeau over from the Avengers was both powerful and very capable, and I keep wondering why she hasn't been brought back to the team yet when so many others have been. Her energy powers are certainly much more versatile than many others'.
I'm a big fan in general of wind-powered heroes (if I could only control one classical element it would be wind because I could use it to fly and to mimic telekinesis) and would love to see:
- Nightwind brought up to the big leagues, I think she's long deserved it - Cyclone over from JSA as her cute geek personality was so endearing (love a girl who breathes musicals) - Red Tornado returned to the JLA as every writer who had him on the main team just wasn't truly able to use him to his full potential - Wind-dancer given her powers back and rejoin the X-Men, as she seemed a girl who had her act together
Would also love to see Crystal get more use over at Marvel. She has an amazing powerset, and love seeing this Inhuman princess try and adapt to Earth ways.
Fire and Ice have always been used in a JLI-type team, but I think they would make good "big guns JLA" additions if the team ever did decide to expand. Imagine them interacting with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Heck, just watching the 2 interact with each other already provides so many great moments.
Tasmanian Devil came out as gay, and would love to see him return and have that explored. You have this big furry strongman who likes reading and has a crush on Hal Jordan. Why not?
Lightning from JSA was only recently being developed. She suddenly seemed to get a big boost in her control over her powers. I always found it interesting that she was pretty much the only younger team member who sided with the "oldies" and against Magog/Power Girl; why? Would love to see that explored more.
Metamorpho blossomed during his time with the JLE and I always thought he was an underrated powerhouse. Also empathized with his love of travel coupled with his somewhat lonesome, sarcastic nature.
The Crimson Fox is another Leaguer whose death really saddened me. She was sexy despite being in a costume which covered her had to toe, and her wiliness more than made up for her relative lack of power.
And wish the League had looked in on Maya from time to time. Though I doubt the young hero-in-training would have worked well in a bug guns League, perhaps she would have made a good addition to the new Justice Society alongside Stargirl, Cyclone and Lightning (her fire and water powers would have complemented Cyclone's wind and Lightning's, er, Lightning quite well).
Then you have the new Terra III (Atlee) who didn't have the unfortunate baggage tied to poor Terra II. since Terra II had died, I'm switching focus to Terra III who could be a bright new hero that'd improve on the Terra legacy.
Polaris was one of the earliest X-Men, but few writers have been able to use her well. Thankfully she's been mostly sane these past few years, and I hope that continues.
The recently-returned Sage has also fascinated me. Her great intelligence was translated into amazing physical prowess, which is rare for these "smart" heroes. I find that she embodies the theory of multiple intelligences quite well and would love to see more of that explored.
Dazzler and Meggan are two more powerful women (both in terms of power and of personality) whose powers I find fascinating. Would love to see both get more exposure.
Whew what a list! I guess I really have a soft spot for underused heroes!
I always liked Shvaughn Erin and Gigi Cusimano. I did not evem terribly mind when Shvaughn turned out to be male in 5YL, but then he just disappeared. They showed up briefly again in the Reboot, but had no personality, character development, or story arc.
On another note, I liked the original concept of John Jones, Manhunter from Mars, more than the bright-green-superhero Martian Manhunter. I suppose even that incarnation is not that obscure, since it is sort of how he appeared on the Smallville series. But the idea of him a an ordinary cop, secretly possessing powers nearly equal to Superman, just intrigued me.
“I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal.” -- Groucho Marx
[tangent]A more down to earth 'noir' sort of John Jones, Manhunter from Mars, with only the ability to cloud men's minds to appear human (instead of full on shapeshifting) and limited telepathy, and a bit stronger and tougher than human, could be funky. No Superman-level powers, more of a street-level Manhunter. Manhunter's one of those characters where I feel that the power-lottery-winner thing he has going on sometimes detracts from his characterization. Aloof all-powerful ubermenschen seem to get written into corners and make either better villains, or behind-the-scenes advisory types, like the Phantom Stranger or the Watcher, IMO.[/tangent]
Hell yes to Kole, Monica Rambeau, Wind-Dancer and the original Green Fire and Icemaiden (whom I liked a lot more than Giffen's bizarre 'Fire and Ice' portrayals of them or, in the case of Icemaiden, total replacement character).
Crystal is great as an Inhuman, because, after Black Bolt, she's the heaviest hitter in the royal family. Comics occasionally have a bunch of super-dudes with godlike powers and some woman with some acrobatics skills or a gun or something, but Crystal, like Sersi, was an absolute badass even compared to her super-powered family / team.
She's not terribly obscure though, getting some good airtime as an Avenger and a member of the Fantastic Four, and in Annhilation. Of the Inhuman royal family, Triton is the one that pretty much gets ignored. We see more of *Maximus the Mad* than we do of fish-dude!
While I'm not a huge fan of Maya, I do miss the short-lived Doom Patrol members Tempest (and not Garth, whom I also miss!) and Celsius. I feel like they got unceremoniously killed off to make room for the new, new batch, or the return of the originals.
Adding to the underused or abandoned X-ladies, I'm a big fan of Dr. Cecilia Reyes and former Acolytes like Unuscione and Frenzy / Joanna Cargill.
I still have my Handbook to the Marvel Universe updates, and the Alliance of Evil members Stinger, Timeshadow and Frenzy got a small group blurb, while Tower, a size-changer they thought was going to be the breakout character, got a full page writeup. A dozen years later, and Joanna / Frenzy has shown up a dozen times, and even been an X-Man, and also been Cyclops girlfriend / wife in an alternate continuity, while Tower is long forgotten!
Speaking of lovely lady powerhouses, I wonder what ever happened to former Soviet Super-Soldier / Champion, Darkstar?
Of the newer Doom Patrol, Crazy Jane seemed to be a little too odd. Morrison can get pretty out there... Coagula, on the other hand, had some interesting powers, and, is is no surprise, given the writer, her fair share of unique-ness.
Re Darkstar, another lady who is criminally underused! Last I heard she died but got better, and is back in Russia.
Crazy Jane, Coagula, Dr. Reyes, Celsius, Frenzy, agree that all of them have potential.
Agree that poor Shvaughn and Gigi really need to be brought back. Shvaughn at least had quite some airtime Post Zero Hour, though poor Gigi just faded away. At least Shvaughn got some exposure when she was trapped in the 20th century, even saving Cosmic Boy's life after discovering that Saturn Girl was unconsciously reanimating his comatose form!
Set's first post reminded me of Cyclone. I loved her kind of annoying always talking to hide her insecurities but still highly intelligent personality.
Celsius is another character I like. I thought giving her both fire and ice powers was a cool idea.
Red Tornado, I don't see as being obscure. I've always loved Reddy. One version of him that I really like was the silent Red Tornado of Primal Force.
I'd love to see a lot more done with characters set in time periods other than the present day.
Anthro strikes me as having tons of story potential, but other than his initial series that lasted about half a year, and showing up in crossovers, he's never really been used. I'd make his origin echo Moses/Superman, and make him a baby that survives the destruction of his Cro-Magnon village to be raised by Neanderthal (a bit of Clan of the Cave Bear). Then there's a huge world for him to explore, as his advanced modern human abilities make him seem like a superhuman amongst his neighbors!
Darkstar's most recent return involved her coming back in the body of a Dire Wraith, She was apparently in control of any Dire Wraith badness, but her situation wasn't really explored before the Winter Guard was unceremoniously blown up in space in an issue in one of the Spider-man books over a year ago. As far as I know, no one on Earth knows or cares about the event.
Since Darkstar is a teleporter, it wouldn't be much of a shock to see her or any of her Russian teammates show up at any point, ignoring the whole fiasco.
Triton and Crystal= my favorite Inhumans (and I like all of them except for the over-over-over used Maximus). Of the royal family, those two are the most rest-of-humanity loving and curious about life outside their race. They each would be better off, in fact, if they could leave Attlian and live as Avengers/members of the Fantastic Four/whatever. Duty keeps dragging them back, though. Their cousin/sister Medusa *is* currently a member of the replacement FF, despite the fact that about ten minutes ago she reunited with her presumed dead husband after a lengthy separation. The last page of the last issue of FF contained a pretty delicious revelation that she intended to help the would-be super-villain child achieve his dream. Return of the evil Medusa? (Some might say she'd already returned some time ago with her use of Crystal and her decisions while queen of Attilan). Ploy to disillusion the kid with his self-stated goal?
Firehawk- it'd be interesting if she came back and teamed up with Bette Kane, who has dumped the Flamebird persona and rechristened herself as 'Hawkfire'.
I love Polaris, the Doom Patrol characters and the Legion ones. The return of Benn Pares would be fun. Texas Twister, The Olympian, Timeshadow- bring 'em on!
My perennial obsucurites have been Kid Eternity, Black Orchid and the original Harlequin. The first two have had reintroductions in the new 52 which were pretty well received, though each took something away from the original versions instead of just adding to the characters. Kid E had an actual storyline left pretty much in the middle, so perhaps he'll show up in the eventual/inevitable new 52 Brave and Bold variation. Black Orchid's mystery is gone, but she's stilly pretty intriguing. She's supposed to support in ANIMAL MAN, though her stint in the Justice League Dark is apparently over. I don't think I want to read a gay Harlequin in Earth 2, though it would be a nice nod to unpublished plans for an Infinfity, Inc character that never came to light. Like that whole book, I'd probably come to enjoy the reading of it, despite a niggling frustration at not reading the characters whose history I 'know'. The most likely alternative- a woman in love with a gay man trying to get his attention would make her too much of a buffoon, which is already a bit of a danger with retelling Molly Mayne's story. Maybe she'd be better suited to a non-Earth 2 reintroduction. An editor in love with the Kyle GL? The Flash (Molly as an FBI agent infiltrating The Rogues)? Martian Manhunter?
Aside from Molly, I need some new DC obscurities to champion. Though given what's happened to Lilith Clay, the Gentleman Ghost and Shayera Thal, maybe not.
At Marvel, Valkyrie, Northstar, Cannonball, Sunspot and Dani Moonstar are all appearing or are about to appear in fairly prominent books. Gargoyle, Magma, Cypher/Warlock, the young Inhumans, Deadly Nightshade... wonder which of them will 'hit' next?
Agree with Power Boy and Gravity Kid. The enlightened future needs a good gay male couple to feature alongside gay female couple Vi and Ayla!
And agree on Molly Mayne. Her marriage to Alan Scott was a very nice happy ending, and while I do approve of more gay characters, would have preferred an existing one or a new one over making Alan gay and losing the Molly relationship.
Lots of Legionnaires have been mentioned, and Computo and Dragonmage are certainly worthy of returning.
Gates is another obvious choice, though I'ms till holding out hope he and the rest of the Lost team will return. Teleportation + his funny attitude = gold star character.
I'm saddened by the sudden disappearance of XS. Why bother to save her when now her fate is up in the air? She was one of my post-Zero Hour faves because of her story of slowly gaining the confidence needed to become a team mainstay. And we all know how potent super-speed is.
Kid Quantum II should return though with better defined powers. Just let her slow down and speed up the flow of time. She'd fit in well with the current team as a sort of "bridge" between the veterans and the younger crowd.
Last edited by Invisible Brainiac; 03/10/1312:13 PM.
How cool is Miss Liberty? Chronologically one of DC's first heroes, and a female? Groovalicious! A whole Revolutionary War series centered around her, a young Uncle Sam, and Tomahawk could be a lot of fun.
That Miss Liberty post reminded me of Miss America! Always wondered why she wasn't used more, considering the potential of her transmutation powers! Though they turned her into a very powerful Miss Cosmos in the new Freedom Fighters series some time back, right?
Since Darkstar is a teleporter, it wouldn't be much of a shock to see her or any of her Russian teammates show up at any point, ignoring the whole fiasco.
[tangent]A more down to earth 'noir' sort of John Jones, Manhunter from Mars, with only the ability to cloud men's minds to appear human (instead of full on shapeshifting) and limited telepathy, and a bit stronger and tougher than human, could be funky. No Superman-level powers, more of a street-level Manhunter. Manhunter's one of those characters where I feel that the power-lottery-winner thing he has going on sometimes detracts from his characterization. Aloof all-powerful ubermenschen seem to get written into corners and make either better villains, or behind-the-scenes advisory types, like the Phantom Stranger or the Watcher, IMO.[/tangent]
You must be thinking of that old 60s TV show starring Bill Bixby and Ray Walston.
“I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal.” -- Groucho Marx
Ah, Ben Pares - I am definitely in the camp of being interested in seeing him again. Gotta keep the Bronson 'stache though - it's a must!
One obscure character that only had a few appearances in X-books and fought Power Man and Iron Fist was Warhawk. He was an ex-CIA mercenary with metal skin, similar to Colossus. He also had mental issues of some kind. I don't even remember if he was a mutant or what but there was certainly potential there. (I drew a mini-comic in high school where I basically styled him like ABC Warrior Joe Pineapples and had him fight Moon Knight, but that's neither here nor there...)
I'd like to see former Slinger Dusk again. She was all gothy...
Also from a defunct super-team, I think it'd be cool to see Primal Force's Claw again. (and hey, diversity ... but also *big monster hand!*)
My ex Hubbie was an Xfan and I really liked a lot of the one off characters that popped up. I wrote a fanfic once about Monsoon, brother of Haven from X-Factor that included a few obscure-ish international characters - Shamrock being the only one I remember now for definite though I think Celia Reyes and Karma turned up too along with Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde and Wolsbane though they aren't at all obscure.
From the Legion there are too many to choose from though as mentioned above Ben Pares would be great - is he in competition with that upstart Magpie? A thiefs war would be interesting to show us the under belly of the UP utopia.
Legion Worlds NINE - wait, there's even more ongoing amazing adventures? Yup, and you'll only find them in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
I have a little soft spot for the JLA's Steel. Even though Vixen would become the better character, he was a favourite, before the wheels came off the book pretty early on.
Even as the switch on his life support was flicked, I always wondered if that was just a ploy by his insane grandfather to bring him back in a different way. Perhaps with the help of Niles Caulder/Will Magnus.
"...not having to believe in a thing to be interested in it and not having to explain a thing to appreciate the wonder of it."
I read some of the original New Mutants comics my father had, and I find it sad that almost all the original Hellions were killed in an event. I don't think any of them even made it into a cartoon (please tell me if I am wrong). I think they get revived every once in a while only to keep the copyrights.
Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
Tayla Wellington and Jean Chu, evil ex-presidents now as a loving and totally evil lesbian couple.
That would be mega awesome.
Both Tayla and Chu were evil in a "greater good" sort of way, I think. I remember Tayla died because she broke down in public over what the Dominators were doing. As for Chu, her end goal was strengthening the UP (and her own career, yes).
Still going for Kinetix and Kole though! Kinetix is obscure compared to other Legionnaires, and I always loved her personality and powers. Her backstory was amazing and I could feel the deep longing for attention and "perfection" that drove her.
As for Kole, despite her short tenure she's not THAT obscure because she had the good fortune of being fairly prominently featured in COIE. Still, she had a great look, awesome powers and a very nice personality. I wish she'd be a Titan again.
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