History AudienceAlienatingEra / Batman

** [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]], the [[LegacyCharacter second]] Batgirl, under the pen of Adam Beechen, infamously pulled a FaceHeelTurn into a DragonLady who suddenly spoke and read perfectly fine and even knew Navajo, despite one of Cass' main traits being her dyslexia and near-muteness, and retconned her into hating her father and loving to kill people, even though she probably has an even bigger ThouShaltNotKill rule than Batman, and she was finally defeated by Tim Drake, despite Tim being one of the least combat-trained Robins and Cass being '''the best martial artist in the world'''. After that she was severely OutOfFocus, due to no one really knowing what to do with her now that Stephanie Brown was [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 the new Batgirl]], then was ExiledFromContinuity in ''ComicBook/TheNew52'' and substituted, with ReplacementScrappy Bluebird, and only ''finally'' reappeared in ''Batman and Robin Eternal'', just to ''again'' be OutOfFocus and change her moniker to "Orphan", since Barbara was still Batgirl. ''ComicBook/Batgirls2021'' finally made Cass Batgirl again, alongside Stephanie, which was universally praised, although the book ended up being SoOkayItsAverage (With some TheyChangedItNowItSucks added in the mix too).
** [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie Brown]], the EnsembleDarkHorse from ''ComicBook/Robin1993'' and third Batgirl, ended up going through one of these after becoming the fourth Robin, in which she was for no real reason TheUnFavourite to Batman who treated her too harshly and subjected her to very high standards, as well as the heavy implication that she made her the new Robin just to make Tim jealous and bring him back. Brown herself went through AdaptationalWimp and AdaptationalDumbass, and despite being a seasoned self-made vigilante and excellent detective, [[CharacterDerailment she suddenly was childish, naïve and much less competent in both fighting and criminology skills]]. This culminated in the loathed ''Batman: War Games'' and ''Batman: War Crimes'', in which she accidentally triggered a massive gang war in Gotham that ended up with her being ungloriously StuffedIntoTheFridge to feed to Tim's TraumaCongaLine (Itself, an A.A.E of its own). Even worse, it was revealed Leslie Thompkins had actively left her to die as to teach a lesson to Batman about bringing kids to his war against crime, and he didn't even add a memorial for her in the Batcave, which gave the impression he didn't care for her and didn't see her as a true member of the Batfamily. Fortunately, an AuthorsSavingThrow made it so she had never really died, and Leslie instead faked her death so she could recover in secret, something Batman suspected from the start. After that, she became the new Batgirl in ''ComicBook/Batgirl2009'', a book that was hugely succesful and [[MyRealDaddy is considered the best incarnation of the character by fans]]... Until it was CutShort by ''ComicBook/TheNew52'', in which Stephie was ExiledFromContinuity alongside Cass to make way for Barbara Gordon going back to being Batgirl, and her new characterisation borrowed heavily from Brown's (Her [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna tendencies]], a purple costume, being a YoungerAndHipper millenial...). So bad was she ExiledFromContinuity that she wouldn't even be allowed to appear in the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' comic tie-ins! Fortunately, like Cass, she was brought back in ''Comicbook/DCRebirth'' as Spoiler and later became once again Batgirl in ''ComicBook/Batgirls2021'', although with an even more childish and {{Keet}} personality and [[AgeLift being much younger]], which didn't quite chime with fans but was good enough for people to let it slide.

[[folder:Batman]]

[[folder:Robin]]

[[folder:Nightwing]]

[[folder:Batgirl]]

** Later in the era, due to DC deciding to push Tim Drake a bit more, Damian was treated as "the bad Robin" and many stories would have Damian acting overly edgy, with several comics such as ''ComicBook/BatmanBeyondRebirth'', "Super Sons of Tomorrow" and ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020'' setting up the running thread that Damian was seemingly ''destined'' to become a supervillain, a {{Flanderization}} of a possible future in ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman in which Damian sold his soul to the Devil in order to become an unkillable AntiHero version of Batman protecting a dystopic Gotham. ''5G'', which was intended to finalize this plot, was ultimately [[WhatCouldHaveBeen cancelled]] and the story that was later altered to become ''ComicBook/DCFutureState''.

** And that's not even getting into his brief stint as a GeniusCripple PlayfulHacker for ComicBook/RedRobin known as Money Spider, who recieved tons of AdaptationalWimp and AdaptatonalJerkass in order to make him a sort of {{Foil}} to Tim Drake.

* Tim Drake, the third Robin, has been a magnet for poorly received directions since the mid-2000s:

* Damian Wayne was originally notable for how ''good'' the comics he appeared in tended to be. However, once DC Rebirth hit, there were noticeably bad eras for him.

** ''The ComicBook/New52'''s early days were also a brief one for Dick, as he received a red costume that reduced his visual appeal in favour of ''[[Comicbook/{{Robin}} another]]'' [[ComicBook/RedRobin member]] [[Comicbook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws of the]] [[Comicbook/{{Batwoman}} Batfamily]] [[Comicbook/{{Azrael}} in red]], his status as TheHeart became an InformedAttribute, was subjected to a CerebusRetcon in which he was originally going to be traded as a kid to the Court of Owls and was subjected to a ''second'' attempt to be KilledOffForReal by the Crime Syndicate. Fortunately, ''ComicBook/{{Grayson}}'' reverted much of these changes in a premise that, [[AudienceAlienatingPremise while at first seemed even worse]] (Dick is now an undercover agent for Spyral), actually brought back Dick's NiceGuy DeadpanSnarker FunPersonified attributes, his optimism and snappiness and cemented his status as DC's MrFanservice.

** Cassandra Cain, the [[LegacyCharacter second]] Batgirl, under the pen of Adam Beechen, infamously pulled a FaceHeelTurn into a DragonLady who suddenly spoke and read perfectly fine and even knew Navajo, despite one of Cass' main traits being her dyslexia and near-muteness, and retconned her into hating her father and loving to kill people, even though she probably has an even bigger ThouShaltNotKill rule than Batman, and she was finally defeated by Tim Drake, despite Tim being one of the least combat-trained Robins and Cass being '''the best martial artist in the world'''. After that she was severely OutOfFocus, due to no one really knowing what to do with her now that Stephanie Brown was [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 the new Batgirl]], then was ExiledFromContinuity in ''ComicBook/TheNew52'' and substituted, with ReplacementScrappy Bluebird, and only ''finally'' reappeared in ''Batman and Robin Eternal'', just to ''again'' be OutOfFocus and change her moniker to "Orphan", since Barbara was still Batgirl. ''ComicBook/Batgirls2021'' finally made Cass Batgirl again, alongside Stephanie, which was universally praised, although the book ended up being SoOkayItsAverage (With some TheyChangedItNowItSucks added in the mix too).
** Stephanie Brown, the EnsembleDarkHorse from ''ComicBook/Robin1993'', ended up going through one of these after becoming the fourth Robin, in which she was for no real reason TheUnFavourite to Batman who treated her too harshly and subjected her to very high standards, as well as the heavy implication that she made her the new Robin just to make Tim jealous and bring him back. Brown herself went through AdaptationalWimp and AdaptationalDumbass, and despite being a seasoned self-made vigilante and excellent detective, [[CharacterDerailment she suddenly was childish, naïve and much less competent in both fighting and criminology skills]]. This culminated in the loathed ''Batman: War Games'' and ''Batman: War Crimes'', in which she accidentally triggered a massive gang war in Gotham that ended up with her being ungloriously StuffedIntoTheFridge to feed to Tim's TraumaCongaLine (Itself, an A.A.E of its own). Even worse, it was revealed Leslie Thompkins had actively left her to die as to teach a lesson to Batman about bringing kids to his war against crime, and he didn't even add a memorial for her in the Batcave, which gave the impression he didn't care for her and didn't see her as a true member of the Batfamily. Fortunately, an AuthorsSavingThrow made it so she had never really died, and Leslie instead faked her death so she could recover in secret, something Batman suspected from the start. After that, she became the new Batgirl in ''ComicBook/Batgirl2009'', a book that was hugely succesful and [[MyRealDaddy is considered the best incarnation of the character by fans]]... Until it was CutShort by ''ComicBook/TheNew52'', in which Stephie was ExiledFromContinuity alongside Cass to make way for Barbara Gordon going back to being Batgirl, and her new characterisation borrowed heavily from Brown's (Her [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna tendencies]], a purple costume, being a YoungerAndHipper millenial...). So bad was she ExiledFromContinuity that she wouldn't even be allowed to appear in the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' comic tie-ins! Fortunately, like Cass, she was brought back in ''Comicbook/DCRebirth'' as Spoiler and later became once again Batgirl in ''ComicBook/Batgirls2021'', although with an even more childish and {{Keet}} personality and [[AgeLift being much younger]], which didn't quite chime with fans but was good enough for people to let it slide.

* During the DCU's ''ComicBook/OneYearLater'' event, someone on the editing staff decided that the ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'' series needed to be YoungerAndHipper -- and the best way to do that, they decided, was to replace the main character entirely. Selina Kyle had a daughter with Sam Bradley Jr. and retired to motherhood before passing on the Catwoman mantle to sidekick Holly Robinson. The fans were not pleased, and it wasn't long before DC sent in Characters/{{Zatanna}} to [[AWizardDidIt magically]] [[CosmicRetcon retcon]] it all away -- and it wasn't ''fully'' retconned until the {{ComicBook/New 52}}, where it was confirmed that Catwoman's daughter Helena had been wiped from existence, though that would be undone in 2021 as her future incarnation appeared in ''The New Golden Age'' with her origins changed to her being the daughter of Catwoman and Batman before becoming part of the [[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica2022 2022 incarnation]] of the Justice Society of America.
* Some ''ComicBook/{{Azrael}}'' fans think the character has been on one since his 100 isue-long series ended, being trapped in repetitive plots about trying to break free from the Program [[StatusQuoIsGod but never actually achieving it]], as well as being very sidelined and villified by the Batfamily (A common complaint is that many members of the Batfamily, including Batman himself, [[{{Hypocrite}} have done much worse]]). And that's not even getting into how Michael Lane, or other members from the Order of St. Dumas, seem to have been completely forgotten about.

* That being said, ''ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}'' entered one during her New 52 run, after J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman left in indignation due to ExecutiveMeddling cancelling the wedding between Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer, which reeked of UnfortunateImplications. The following run by Marc Andreyko took a nosedive in quality, with Kate suddenly becoming [[AdaptationalDumbass a much less competent detective]] [[AdaptationalWimp and fighter]], as well as lacking the self-confidence and strong will she used to have. The previous plot of Kate, Flamebird and Jacob's army buddies fighting against the DEO [[AbortedArc was quickly forgotten]], and [[ComicBook/InfinityInc Mr. Bones]] was reduced to a LaughablyEvil annoyance. It also introduced Nocturna, a big [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] who rapes Kate, [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnFemale but she's never]] [[KarmaHoudini called out on it.]] The new artists, which already had a ToughActToFollow due to Williams' [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt critically acclaimed trippy panel lay-out]] struggled to find a consistent style, alterning between trying to immitate Williams, [[FollowTheLeader a more Jim Lee-esque design]] or a style reminiscent of Greg Capullo, and many characters were often OffModel. Fortunately, her time on ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth'' and her solo run by Steve Epting the following year managed to pull Kate out of this and cement her as one of the Batfamily's biggest EnsembleDarkHorse.

* That being said, ''ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}'' entered one during her New 52 run, after J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman left in indignation due to ExecutiveMeddling cancelling the wedding between Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer, which reeked of UnfortunateImplications. The following run by Marc Andreyko took a nosedive in quality, with Kate suddenly becoming [[AdaptationalDumbass a much less competent detective]] [AdaptationalWimp and fighter]], as well as lacking the self-confidence and strong will she used to have. The previous plot of Kate, Flamebird and Jacob's army buddies fighting against the DEO [[AbortedArc was quickly forgotten]], and [[ComicBook/InfinityInc Mr. Bones]] was reduced to a LaughablyEvil annoyance. It also introduced Nocturna, a big [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] who rapes Kate, [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnFemale but she's never]] [[KarmaHoudini called out on it.]] The new artists, which already had a ToughActToFollow due to Williams' [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt critically acclaimed trippy panel lay-out]] struggled to find a consistent style, alterning between trying to immitate Williams, [[FollowTheLeader a more Jim Lee-esque design]] or a style reminiscent of Greg Capullo, and many characters were often OffModel. Fortunately, her time on ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth'' and her solo run by Steve Epting the following year managed to pull Kate out of this and cement her as one of the Batfamily's biggest EnsembleDarkHorse.

** From ''Rebirth'' comes the infamous "Ric Grayson" era from Nightwing, in which he was shot in the head by [=KGBeast=] and developed amnesia, becoming an angsty taxi driver who didn't want nothing to do with superheroing. Originally, the shot was meant to be a one-and-done thing with Zatanna fixing it, but [=DiDio=] wanted it changed, completely detailing the original story. They tried to sell it as a ''Franchise/JasonBorne''-style story of an amnesiac who suddenly finds himself in possession of incredible skills, but no one bought it. Ultimately, an AuthorsSavingThrow was performed, revealing that Ric was an attempt by the Court of Owls to reclaim their charge and, during ''ComicBook/TheJokerWar'', Dick was restored to normal.

** Later in the era, due to DC deciding to push Tim Drake a bit more, Damian was treated as "the bad Robin" and many stories would have Damian acting overly edgy, with several comics such as ''ComicBook/BatmanBeyondRebirth'', "Super Sons of Tomorrow" and ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020'' setting up the running thread that Damian was seemingly ''destined'' to become a supervillain, which ''5G'', the story that was later altered to become ''ComicBook/DCFutureState'', was intended to finalize.

** Stephanie Brown, the EnsembleDarkHorse from ''ComicBook/Robin1993'', ended up going through one of these after becoming the fourth Robin, in which she was for no real reason TheUnFavourite to Batman who treated her too harshly and subjected her to very high standards, as well as the heavy implication that she made her the new Robin just to make Tim jealous and bring him back. Brown herself went through AdaptationalWimp and AdaptationalDumbass, and despite being a seasoned self-made vigilante and excellent detective, [[CharacterDerailment she suddenly was childish, naïve and much less competent in both fighting and criminology skills]]. This culminated in the loathed ''Batman: War Games'' and ''Batman: War Crimes'', in which she accidentally triggered a massive gang war in Gotham that ended up with her being ungloriously StuffedIntoTheFridge to feed to Tim's TraumaCongaLine (Itself, an AAE of its own). Even worse, it was revealed Leslie Thompkins had actively left her to die as to teach a lesson to Batman about bringing kids to his war against crime, and he didn't even add a memorial for her in the Batcave, which gave the impression he didn't care for her and didn't see her as a true member of the Batfamily. Fortunately, an AuthorsSavingThrow made it so she had never really died, and Leslie instead faked her death so she could recover in secret, something Batman suspected from the start. After that, she became the new Batgirl in ''ComicBook/Batgirl2009'', a book that was hugely succesful and [[MyRealDaddy is considered the best incarnation of the character by fans]]... Until it was CutShort by ''ComicBook/TheNew52'', in which Stephie was ExiledFromContinuity alongside Cass to make way for Barbara Gordon going back to being Batgirl, and her new characterisation borrowed heavily from Brown's (Her [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna tendencies]], a purple costume, being a YoungerAndHipper millenial...). So bad was she ExiledFromContinuity that she wouldn't even be allowed to appear in the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' comic tie-ins! Fortunately, like Cass, she was brought back in ''Comicbook/DCRebirth'' as Spoiler and later became once again Batgirl in ''ComicBook/Batgirls2021'', although with an even more childish and {{Keet}} personality and [[AgeLift being much younger]], which didn't quite chime with fans but was good enough for people to let it slide.

* ''ComicBook/{{Anarky}}'' first got in one, ironically, in his first solo title (Both his mini and the ongoing), mainly due to the FilibusterFreefall from Alan Grant in which he would spend entire walls of text just ranting about his political idiologies. Indeed, Lonnie became SoapboxSadie InsufferableGenius who spouted pseudo-intellectual lines that never really said anything and also quickly transformed into a hyper-competent MarySue, a millionaire savant in both every field of science and physical combat who could (And I'm not joking) '''actually insult and battle friggin' Darkseid'''. Even actual anarchists agreed he was very annoying and condescending, and his attempts to become a BreakoutCharacter were CutShort and mercifully put to rest. This ironically caused has caused a new A.A.E. for the character, in which his characterisation as a morally ambiguous anti-government AntiHero who fought for the oppressed became heavily flanderised and Lonnie straight up became a villain who had no problems killing innocents and just wanted destruction and death, removing the at least well-meaning political background of the character and making him an AxCrazy psycho. It doesn't help that his most famous portrayals (''Series/{{Arrow}}'', ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'', ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'') have all gone with this characterisation, meaning most people think Anarky is this A.A.E. version of the character.
** And that's not even getting into his brief stint as the paraplegic PlayfulHacker for ComicBook/RedRobin known as Spider-Money.

** Later in the era, due to DC deciding to push Tim Drake a bit more, Damian was treated as "the bad Robin" and many stories would have Damian acting overly edgy, with several comics such as ''ComicBook/BatmanBeyondRebirth'', "Super Sons of Tomorrow" and ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020'' setting up the running thread that Damian was seemingly ''destined'' to become a supervillain.

** From ''Rebirth'' comes the infamous "Ric Grayson" era from Nightwing, in which he was shot in the head by [=KGBeast=] and developed amnesia, becoming an angsty taxi driver who didn't want nothing to do with superheroing. Considering the two main appeals of Nightwing are his levity in comparison of the Batfamily and his status as TheHeart of the DCU as a whole, this obviously didn't jive with fans and was lambasted by audiences and critics, and was accused of yet another attempt by Creator/DanDidio to kill the character.

* Damian Wayne was originally no0table for how ''good'' the comics he appeared in tended to be. However, once DC Rebirth hit, there were noticeably bad eras for him.

** Later in the era, due to DC deciding to push Tim Drake a bit more, Damian was treated as "the bad Robin" and many stories would have Damian acting overly edgy, with several comics such as ''ComicBook/BatmanBeyondRebirth'', "ComicBook/SuperSonsOfTomorrow" and ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020'' setting up the running thread that Damian was seemingly ''destined'' to become a supervillain.

* ''ComicBook/BatmanTomKing'' is a recent example of one of these. Coming off the exceptionally popular (although [[BrokenBase slightly divisive]]) run of Creator/ScottSnyder, Creator/TomKing already faced an uphill battle while taking over the [[ComicBook/BatmanTomKing primary comic book]]. While it started out strong with its focus on revitalizing Batman and Catwoman as one of DC's main romances, it quickly lost readers after the infamous moment in which Selina abandoned Bruce before their wedding [[BaitAndSwitch after DC spent an entire year promoting their forthcoming marriage like it was really going to happen]], as it became unclear just what King's direction even was. Not only did the story become increasingly confusing with Bane's convoluted plans and the newly villainous Thomas Wayne's incoherent motives, the book meandered in place as it became clear King did not have a story able to fill his planned 100-issue run, leading to the book often freezing for months to tell storylines which amounted to {{Filler}} (most infamously, the "City of Bane" storyline is interrupted by two issues [[TrappedByMountainLions which just consist of Bruce and Selina on vacation]]). Bruce himself also turned into a full-on DesignatedHero as King's approach to his mental health issues led to him endlessly lashing out and mistreating others, and his relationship with Selina also turned into a RomanticPlotTumor, as the book treated her leaving him at the altar as the most emotionally devastating event in his entire life (yes, even more than the deaths of ''two of his children''). Between this and the sheer amount of ArcFatigue, fans were left practically begging for the run to just ''end'' after a while, something DC seemed to agree with as it suddenly had King's run CutShort at 85 of its planned 100-issue run (the remainder being told in an out-of-continuity Black Label series) and editorially mandated [[ComicBook/BatmanJamesTynionIV the following run]] to undo nearly everything that'd happened outside of Alfred's death (itself an editorial decision to begin with). The poor reception combined with the TroubledProduction and ExecutiveMeddling aspects of the run and ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' also led to King moving out of major DC storylines entirely in favour of self-contained mini-series and one-shot stories, not wanting to have to deal with what he went through with the books in the main line.