DC Comics General

John Byrne has written two stories where a heroine is mind controlled and is implied to have been used as a sex toy by a villain.

One for DC, one for Marvel.

And those are the ones I know of. Writing a story where Superman is mind controlled into filming a porno with Big Barda is pretty messed up, and it's weird DC approved of that.

Sounds like one of those times that editorial just went hands off, really.

@Evil Santa.

Meant to say "analogue" as in something that was like Spider-Man in that case.

And I bring it up because I think the new USMC story is selling like hotcakes for actually breaking from the Quesada induced status quo and wanted to asked if DC has currently has any similar issues like that.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Apr 15th 2024 at 10:05:04 AM

In that case, I would say that Superman himself counts given his marriage was erased for a time and there were even prominent comic writers who were against the marriage like Mark Waid and Grant Morrison (though the latter apparently changed their mind).

I even recall reading this blog post from an artist who admitted that the marriage being gone made him feel more comfortable drawing Superman.

Edited by windleopard on Apr 15th 2024 at 6:51:02 PM

At least DC realized splitting them up was a stupid idea and now they are back. The Spider office is still clinging to separating Peter and MJ.

I think they believe if they keep them separate long enough it'll become the new status quo and people will give up on trying to pressure them into retconning One More Day

Push that a few years down the line now that the Insomniac games and Spider-Verse showed off the relationship again.

That's probably part of the thought process. It fails, of course, because memories are long, the stories they push out as the "new" status quo by and large suck compared to what came before, and because nobody outside the comic division is willing to play along with it and instead prefers to homage the actually good comics with their adaptations.

We've gotten adaptations that have Supes and Wonder Woman dating, so I think if Marvel had actually committed to anything it would have trickled back eventually.

Even those animated movies went back to Clark/Lois, and they had both their own cartoon and live action show.

The only adaptations I can think of where Superman and Wonder Woman show a romantic interest in each other are Justice League: War and one episode of Justice League Action. Oh, and she kisses him once in an episode of the 1988 Saturday morning Superman series.

Pretty much everyone who attempts to do Superman/Diana in canon is just trying to copy Kingdom Come, forgetting that continuity has a lot of strings attached for that to actually work there.

Flashes, Terrifics and JSAers all together◊.

I love the return of DC's family legacies so much.

Project A-Ko did Wonder Woman-Superman, even gave them a daughter.

oops, wrong thread

Edited by IndirectActiveTransport on Apr 16th 2024 at 11:16:09 AM

I'd forgotten New Frontier. In New Frontier, while Superman is still pretty clearly in love with Lois, Wonder Woman is also clearly enamored of Superman.

Interestingly, I think Project A-Ko may be one of the first times Superman and Wonder Woman are actually shown as being together in an actual relationship (even if they do only make cameo appearances). Before that, I think the most we had was a teased attraction—and one time where Cupid shot them both with an arrow to make them fall in lust (and it's made clear, it's lust) with each other after Wonder Woman rejected him.

Say what you want about Barry’s return arc

Finish line is still an amazingly emotional end to the whole I rewrote Barry’s past stuff johns introduced before flashpoint

“I forgive you thawne “

There was that time Wonder Woman had no powers, during her "mod" era. Superman started dating her only for "Wonder Woman" to be a Phantom Zone criminal who looked just like Diana, except she had to dye her brown hair black. Superman with his super eyes, super nose and super sense of touch didn't pick up on it. Even then, Superman decided he liked Lois Lane better and was about to break up with Diana. He learned she was a fake who was holding the real Diana hostage when he showed up at her place unexpectedly to announce he just felt more for Lois...

That is consistent with Wonder Woman rejecting Superman more so than the other way around. There was also a time they pretended to date to lure out "Revenger", If I remember the villain's name correctly. She nearly killed Wonder Woman with a Plot Device because it wasn't Wonder Woman's book.

Wait what is Project A-Ko? Because that link sends you to an anime.

That’s it — basically, it’s a gag at the end answering why an apparently ordinary girl has been so tough throughout the film by revealing she’s Superman and Wonder Woman’s kid.

Holy crap that is insane

Why do DC keep pairing them up?

Kingdom Come popularized it. And there's also the idea of the most powerful male superhero and the most powerful female superhero falling in love like some royal family. Even Alan Moore during the 1990s tried to pair them together as a super royal family in his aborted pitch Twilight of the Superheroes.

EDIT: It was around 1987 that Alan Moore proposed Twilight of the Superheroes.

Edited by KRider on Apr 17th 2024 at 5:57:30 AM

Diana's default love interest, Steve Trevor is... not saying that there haven't been good takes on Steve, the DCAU and DCEU come to mind, but for most of his story he has been a footnote or... an awkward character. Silver Age Steve could come out as a creep, since not only he had the same 'forcing into marriage' mindset that made Silver Age Lois unlikable but he doubled down on it by acting as if that forced Diana to retire (at least Lois didn't pretend doing the same to Superman). If not for Lois becoming a better love interest Superman and Wonder Woman would probably have become the official couple eventually.

Yeah, I imagine a big part of why Superman/Wonder Woman gained as much traction as it did is at least partly because people would rather pair Diana with anybody other than Steve.