History ComicBook / TheSpectre

* KarmaHoudini: The Spectre's purpose is to make sure murderers don't become these. He doesn't punish ''every'' murderer; only those who would otherwise escape justice. The Spectre himself is one depending on the case, as the case where he destroyed an entire country and its population with Heaven's later approval and later complete genocide of magicians by ending the 9th Age of Magic with no other punishment than just being bonded to another human host to continue his murderous ways.

* KarmaHoudini: The Spectre's purpose is to make sure murderers don't become these. He doesn't punish ''every'' murderer; only those who would otherwise escape justice.

* TheGodsMustBeLazy: The Presence only intervenes when it damn feels like it.

* JokerImmunity: The Spectre once tried to pass Judgment on SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker; he failed, because for all his viciousness, the Joker is still crazy, and thus not responsible for his acts.

* RealityWarper

* RefusingParadise - Done as a Sadistic Choice early on to The Spectre; the Voice (implied to be God) says he's now earned the ability to pass on to Heaven, one time only offer... just as his love interest has a bullet speeding at her head.

The Spectre also found himself becoming more and more powerful: in his fight against Shathan (a poorly disguised Satan stand-in) they hit each other with ''planets''. Spectre was eventually acknowledged as one of the mightiest beings in the Franchise/DCUniverse, even more so than UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} Superman. About the only beings stronger were ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger and God himself. This limited him to making appearances only when the universe was threatened by supernatural menaces, and usually [[DeusExMachina only long enough to fix some problem and then leave]].

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spectre.jpg]]

The Spectre also found himself becoming more and more powerful: in his fight against Shathan (a poorly disguised Satan stand-in) they hit each other with ''planets''. Spectre was eventually acknowledged as one of the mightiest beings in the DCUniverse, even more so than UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} Superman. About the only beings stronger were ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger and God himself. This limited him to making appearances only when the universe was threatened by supernatural menaces, and usually [[DeusExMachina only long enough to fix some problem and then leave]].

This left the Spectre without a host, which made it reckless; eventually he bonded with the then-dead [[GreenLantern Hal Jordan]], who tried to twist the Spectre's mission from vengeance to redemption. This was later undone by Jordan's resurrection. Again left without a host, the Spectre was tricked by Eclipso (who ironically was once God's Avenger as well) into killing most of the magic-users in the DCUniverse since she convinced him that "magic goes against God's will". (This turned out to be part of a larger GambitRoulette to recreate the DC Multiverse, as seen in ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis.) He was stopped only by being bonded (by God) to Crispus Allen, another recently-murdered cop. (DC teased the audience by having his killer also be named Jim Corrigan.)

** During ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' itself, the Spectre wrestled the fully-charged [[BigBad Anti-Monitor]], at the Big Bang, empowered by all the magic-users of the multiverse, to determine whose hand would shape the cosmos. At the peak of the battle, the Spectre was implictly more powerful than ''God.'' The result was the collapse of the multiverse into the unified DC Universe. After that, ''everything'' is a letdown.

* ShoutOut: To ''Franchise/{{BIONICLE}}'' [[http://www.collectinghq.com/im/0000912.jpg here]].

The Spectre received a twelve-minute animated short as a bonus on the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'' DVD. A pre-Spectre Jim Corrigan made an appearance on ''Series/{{Constantine}}'' with a quick vision indicating his grim future.

* GoodIsNotNice: As cathartic as watching a child molester get eaten by his own doll collection is, it almost makes you wish that he was arrested and gone through the usual lax punishments inherent in the human Justice System. [[{{KarmaicDeath}} Almost.]]

* GoodIsNotNice: As cathartic as watching a child molester get eaten by his own doll collection is, it almost makes you wish that he was arrested and gone through the usual lax punishments inherent in the human Justice System.

[[caption-width-right:300:If you're a murderer, and you meet this guy, you're ''screwed''.]]

The Spectre also found himself becoming more and more powerful: in his fight against Shathan (a poorly disguised Satan stand-in) they hit each other with ''planets''. Spectre was eventually acknowledged as one of the mightiest beings in the DCUniverse, even more so than the SilverAge Superman. About the only beings stronger were ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger and God himself. This limited him to making appearances only when the universe was threatened by supernatural menaces, and usually [[DeusExMachina only long enough to fix some problem and then leave]].

The Spectre received a twelve-minute animated short as a bonus on the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'' DVD. A pre-Specter Jim Corrigan made an appearance on ''Series/{{Constantine}}'' with a quick vision indicating his grim future.

After the {{New 52}} reboot, [[LegacyImplosion the original Jim Corrigan]] is back as the Spectre once again, although under different circumstances this time, tying into the rebooted version of ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger as well.

At this point, other than in his physical appearance, Spectre was your typical supernatural avenger character. However at the time, superheroes were getting in vogue, so he was soon added to the roster of the JusticeSocietyOfAmerica, and treated pretty much as any other superhero; he even acted and talked as casually as the others. He also found himself [[TheWorfEffect easily defeated despite his nonliving nature and his incredible powers]], just so the other members of the group could have a chance to save the day. As for Corrigan, he broke off his engagement to Clarice Winston since he was no longer a living human being, but otherwise he just went on with his life, as if nothing had happened (his murder never having been discovered.)

The character first appeared in ''"More Fun Comics''" #52 (February, 1940), created by [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Jerry Siegel]] and [[{{Hourman}} Bernard Baily]]. In his origin story, the Spectre was Jim Corrigan, a police detective who was murdered by criminals. In the afterlife, he decried the injustice of his murder, and an unseen voice (later interpreted as being {{God}}'s) granted his wish: he returned to life, but with supernatural powers that he soon used to kill his murderers.

'''The Spectre''' is a Creator/DCComics character. He's a superhero ghost, though in practice [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation he has been everything]] from a supernatural serial killer (of criminals) to the Agent of {{God}}'s {{Wrath}} over the years.

** Post FlashPoint, this has changed somewhat. The presence has claimed that the Spectre is not the embodiment of wrath but instead the embodiment of justice. He also stated that both the Spectre and Phantom Stranger need to open their eyes to what they are meant to be. How this affects the Spectre's divine status is not yet known.

PostCrisis, The Spectre was reinvented as the actual embodiment of God's Wrath. He had his own series again, which explored the reasons for his existence. Ultimately it was revealed that the Spectre was actually a fallen angel pardoned by God by being turned into his personal avenger and not just part of Corrigan's soul. Corrigan in fact was tired of living and willingly separated from The Spectre and went on to Heaven.

This left the Spectre without a host, which made it reckless; eventually he bonded with the then-dead [[GreenLantern Hal Jordan]], who tried to twist the Spectre's mission from vengeance to redemption. This was later undone by Jordan's resurrection. Again left without a host, the Spectre was tricked by Eclipso (who ironically was once God's Avenger as well) into killing most of the magic-users in the DCUniverse since she convinced him that "magic goes against God's will". (This turned out to be part of a larger GambitRoulette to recreate the DC Multiverse, as seen in InfiniteCrisis.) He was stopped only by being bonded (by God) to Crispus Allen, another recently-murdered cop. (DC teased the audience by having his killer also be named Jim Corrigan.)

* CrisisCrossover: Since ''CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' the Spectre has fallen to the WorfEffect or been conveniently absent.
** During ''CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' itself, the Spectre wrestled the fully-charged [[BigBad Anti-Monitor]], at the Big Bang, empowered by all the magic-users of the multiverse, to determine whose hand would shape the cosmos. At the peak of the battle, the Spectre was implictly more powerful than ''God.'' The result was the collapse of the multiverse into the unified DC Universe. After that, ''everything'' is a letdown.

* InvincibleHero: The Spectre is one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe. Needless to say, he hasn't hung out with a bunch of mere mortals like the JSA much since TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. A memorable run on his comics side-stepped this by having him pass judgement on morally ambiguous situations and focusing on his choices.

* SociopathicHero: Ruthless and with a slightly-off morality, he's nonetheless pointing in the right direction.

* TheWorfEffect: Has a tendency to be defeated by whatever villain writers are favoring that week. Mostly because if he ''did'' intervene, he'd kill the villain instantly making for a boring story.

At this point, other than in his physical appearance, Spectre was your typical supernatural avenger character. However at the time, superheroes were getting in vogue, so he was soon added to the roster of the JusticeSocietyOfAmerica, and treated pretty much as any other superhero; he even acted and talked as casually as the others. He also found himself [[TheWorfEffect easily defeated despite his nonliving nature and his incredible powers]], just so the other members of the group could have a chance to save the day. As for Corrigan, he just went on with his life, as if nothing had happened (his murder never having been discovered.)

* CementShoes: This is how Jim Corrigan became the Spectre in the first place.

PostCrisis, The Spectre was reinvented as the actual embodiment of God's Wrath. He had his own series again, which explored the reasons for his existence. Ultimately it was revealed that the Spectre was actually [[spoiler: a fallen angel pardoned by God by being turned into his personal avenger]] and not just part of Corrigan's soul. Corrigan in fact was tired of living and willingly separated from The Spectre and went on to Heaven.

* ShoutOut: to ''Franchise/{{BIONICLE}}'' [[http://www.collectinghq.com/im/0000912.jpg here]].

The Spectre received a twelve-minute animated short as a bonus on the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'' DVD. A pre-Specter Jim Corrigan made an appearance on ''Series/{{Constantine}}'' with a quick vision indicating is grim future.

The Spectre received a twelve-minute animated short as a bonus on the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'' DVD.