History Flanderization / ComicBooks

** Similarly, Tim Drake started off as a normal teenager who happened to also be a fairly gifted detective, and was naturally skilled in crime fighting despite being 14. As things went on, he became TheSmartGuy of not just the Bat Family, but also the entirety of the teenaged population of the DCU, smart enough to research ''cloning'' technology that, while it didn't pan out, was said that he was only a year or so away from successfully cloning Superboy and Impulse according to the Titans Tomorrow story arc (and not just real life 'start as a baby' cloning, but actually recreate them, memories and all). He also became ''far'' more nerdy, to the point he's massively neurotic and over-analyses everything. And, inverting Steph, while he started off as a realist, he was also rather idealistic, but slowly his life became so filled with hell that he broke down until he was as broody as Batman himself. Like Steph, many fans ''like'' [[{{Adorkable}} this about]] [[TheWoobie Timmy]].

** Shadow deserves a mention, the calm and pragmatic anti hero he was in games, has increased his pride and lack of hindsight in the comic series. Feels he constantly has to prove himself as the ultimate and gets mocked for his no nonsense attitude due to the comic making light on his serious methods towards threats. He always gets into situations in harsh and reckless ways especially against powerful enemies like Scourge or ADAM biting off more than he can chew. He goes into a [[BerserkButtom roaring rampage of revenge]] when he loses to those same threats and his pride crushed making him more a sore loser.

** Shadow deserves a mention, the calm and pragmatic anti hero he was in games, has increased his pride and lack of hindsight in the comic series. Feels he constantly has to prove himself as the ultimate and gets mocked for his no nonsense attitude due to the comic making light on his serious methods towards threats. He always gets into situations in harsh and reckless ways especially against powerful enemies like Scourge or ADAM biting off more than he can chew. He goes into a [[roaringrampageofrevenge roaring rampage of revenge]] when he loses to those same threats and his pride crushed making him more a sore loser.

** Shadow deserves a mention, the calm and pragmatic anti hero he was in games, has increased his pride and lack of hindsight in the comic series. Feels he constantly has to prove himself as the ultimate and gets mocked for his no nonsense attitude due to the comic making light on his serious methods towards threats. He always gets into situations in harsh and reckless ways especially against powerful enemies like Scourge or ADAM biting off more than he can chew. He goes into a {{roaringrampageofrevenge}} when he loses to those same threats and his pride crushed making him more a sore loser.

* The ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan'' Eleventh Doctor comics depict the Master's TARDIS as '''always''' being a white classical column, to the point that the Doctor recognises it in a companion's visions and as a symbol on a flag. In fact, the Master's TARDIS only assumed that form on TV in the later episodes of "Logopolis" and the first episode of the next story "Castrovalva". However, the white column form had already been taken as the definitive one, for some reason, in {{Fanon}}, especially among Sexy/Lolita shippers. (Yes, [[CrackPairing it]] [[DatingCatwoman exists]].)

* The ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan'' Eleventh Doctor comics depict the Master's TARDIS as '''always''' being a white classical column, to the point that the Doctor recognises it in a companion's visions and as a symbol on a flag. In fact, the Master's TARDIS only assumed that form on TV in the later episodes of "Logopolis" and the first episode of the next story "Castrovalva". However, the white column form had already been taken as the definitive one, for some reason, in {{Fanon}}, especially Sexy/Lolita shippers. (Yes, [[CrackPairing it]] [[DatingCatwoman exists]].)

* The ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan'' Eleventh Doctor comics depict the Master's TARDIS as '''always''' being a white classical column, to the point that the Doctor recognises it in a companion's visions and as a symbol on a flag. In fact, the Master's TARDIS only assumed that form on TV in the later episodes of "Logopolis" and the first episode of the next story "Castrovalva". However, the white column form had already been taken as the definitive one, for some reason, by fandom, especially Sexy/Lolita shippers. (Yes, [[CrackPairing it]] [[DatingCatwoman exists]].)

** Subverted with Invisible Woman who was originally called the Invisible Girl, and useless in a fight. She gained the ability to create force-fields, became a more competent fighter, took on the name Invisible Woman (after-all, Iceman and Spider-Man were supposed to be teenagers but never referred to as "boys") and has sometimes served as a more competent leader especially during such time as Reed was away.
* The Guardians Of The Universe in ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' have always been distant and aloof, but were once wise and respected, having created [[SpacePolice an organization of star-patrolling peacekeepers]] that has survived for eons. With each passing year though, they become more incompetent, single-minded, and corrupt, lying to their members, holding their own mysterious agendas, and constantly having their mistakes blow up in the faces and inevitably needing to be saved by the Earth Lanterns (and then clearly resenting the aid). One comic even had a Guardian admit he didn't remember why they started the Corp in the first place. By this point, it's a genuine curiosity how they got an organization as advanced and well-functioning as the Green Lanterns working outside of dumb luck.

* Northstar of Marvel's ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'' (later the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'') started off as an arrogant former athlete with an interest in politics and a devotion to his mentally ill sister. While John Byrne wasn't allowed to write Northstar as explicitly gay, he managed to work in a few hints. When Marvel finally got the bright idea to "out" Northstar... well, suddenly, it seemed like all that mature characterization vanished, and suddenly he was gay. Gay, gay, gay. ''So'' gay. Did he tell you how gay he is? Even worse, he went back to being a self-absorbed douche despite maturing over the course of Alpha Flight.

** SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker has gone through this. Originally he was just a very wily criminal whose modus operandi was little more than "shits and giggles". Then came the Dark Age of comic books, and all of a sudden the Joker is the Yin to Batman's Yang, with just about every story over the last 20-plus years being about his feud with the Caped Crusader. You'd be hard-pressed to find a story involving the Joker committing a crime that ''wasn't'' meant to be an attack on Batman, the one exception being his corruption of Harley Quinn. In the ComicBook/{{New 52}}, the Joker's clown aspect has been dropped completely and his characterization can be summed up as "Batman's Arch Nemesis"

** Killer Moth ''suffered'' because of this trope. When he first appeared, Killer Moth was more or less the EvilCounterpart of Batman, despite his bright, gaudy costume. An evil criminal mastermind that everyone turned to for help, he was quite the threat. Then ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} showed up. They needed someone to show that Batgirl was a worthy addition to the Bat-Family and chose Moth as the target. However, being beaten by an untrained beginner vigilante who only showed up because of sheer circumstance turned Moth into the laughingstock of the Bat-Rogues almost ''immediately.'' Suddenly, Killer Moth went from "Batman's equal" to "pathetic nobody". They tried to salvage his character in the 90s by trying to turn him into a FromNobodyToNightmare by transforming him into Charaxas during ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'', but it didn't stick, ultimately being killed by Superboy-Prime in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''. Even other adaptations such as ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' and ''[[VideoGame/LEGOAdaptationSeries LEGO Batman 3]]'' wouldn't be kind to him.

** SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker has gone through this. Originally he was just a very wily criminal whose modus operandi was little more than "shits and giggles". Then came the Dark Age of comic books, and all of a sudden the Joker is the Yin to Batman's Yang, with just about every story over the last 20-plus years being about his feud with the Caped Crusader. You'd be hard-pressed to find a story involving the Joker committing a crime that ''wasn't'' meant to be an attack on Batman, the one exception being his corruption of Harley Quinn. In TheNew52, the Joker's clown aspect has been dropped completely and his characterisation can be summed up as "Batman's Arch Nemesis"

** In 1983, Batman quit the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}} and created a new team called the Outsiders after Superman saying he would not lead the League in saving Lucius Fox from being a hostage in a far away country for diplomatic reasons, and this lead to a dynamic within the DC Multiverse wherein Batman would be portrayed as a maverick and Superman a boy scout. While they patched things up later that year, 1986's ''TheDarkKnightReturns'' (which took place in a possible future) made Batman the ultimate outlaw anti-hero, and Superman a tool for the UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan of every political cartoon of the '80s. In the revised DC Universe, DC ran with this dynamic of Superman and Batman being at odds for about a decade before it just kind-of ran out of steam, though the recent ''Batman/Superman'' title and other Comicbook/{{New 52}} material revisited it.

** Also when he was first introduced, he was a real scrapper and not afraid to get in the face of authority figures. That changed around UsefulNotes/WorldWarII along with Batman, however by the end of the fifties, he was flanderized into the ultimate boy scout and establishment figure. By the '80s, he'd become somewhat more morally ambiguous and a bit more cynical about people in power, especially after the ''ManOfSteel'' reboot.

** To a lesser extent, Stephanie Brown started off as a somewhat cynical and troubled girl with low self esteem who was also fairly snarky and a little quirky, but through character development she learnt to let go of her troubles and focus on the positives, but was still constantly facing painful troubles. [[{{Batgirl 2009}} By the time she became the new Batgirl]], though, she became known as 'the fun one' of the Bat family, being full of hope regardless of what the family faces. In a case of TropesAreNotBad, most fans generally ''like'' this move, and enjoy the fact it makes Steph stand out among the OFTEN troubled and angsty members of the Bat Family.

** The Joker has gone through this. Originally he was just a very wily criminal whose modus operandi was little more than "shits and giggles". Then came the Dark Age of comic books, and all of a sudden the Joker is the Yin to Batman's Yang, with just about every story over the last 20-plus years being about his feud with the Caped Crusader. You'd be hard-pressed to find a story involving the Joker committing a crime that ''wasn't'' meant to be an attack on Batman, the one exception being his corruption of Harley Quinn. In TheNew52, the Joker's clown aspect has been dropped completely and his characterisation can be summed up as "Batman's Arch Nemesis"

** A number of writers sadly only ever saw Jean Grey as either the Phoenix or "that cute girl Cyclops and Wolverine fight over."

** In 1983, Batman quit the JusticeLeague and created a new team called the Outsiders after Superman saying he would not lead the League in saving Lucius Fox from being a hostage in a far away country for diplomatic reasons, and this lead to a dynamic within the DC Multiverse wherein Batman would be portrayed as a maverick and Superman a boy scout. While they patched things up later that year, 1986's ''TheDarkKnightReturns'' (which took place in a possible future) made Batman the ultimate outlaw anti-hero, and Superman a tool for the UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan of every political cartoon of the '80s. In the revised DC Universe, DC ran with this dynamic of Superman and Batman being at odds for about a decade before it just kind-of ran out of steam, though the recent ''Batman/Superman'' title and other Comicbook/{{New 52}} material revisited it.

** During the earliest stories of his series, Superman's Pal JimmyOlsen, in spite of being somewhat naive and cocky, was a competent detective and Pintsized Powerhouse who might get a head start on beating up the bad guys before Superman got there and who, if captured, often found some way to alert Superman with or without his signal watch. As the stories progressed, he became more and more The Load.

* TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks is basically one huge flanderization of UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks, especially the "{{dark|erAndEdgier}}" contents.

* Hank Pym (aka ComicBook/AntMan) has suffered from this perhaps more than any other Marvel character. During a single incident in which he was suffering a nervous breakdown, [[NeverLiveItDown/ComicBooks Hank struck his wife]], Janet Van Dyne (TheWasp). Dozens of writers over the years have gone back to this time and again, with at least three different stories having been told about the two of them coming to terms with what happened. Hank's remorse is so Flanderized and extreme that he called ''himself'' the Wasp when [[DeathIsCheap she was thought to be dead]]. It's worth noting that both Spider-Man and Mr. Fantastic have hit their significant others in moments of extreme stress. While fans didn't much like either incident, neither character is regarded primarily as a "wife-beater" the way Pym is. And of course almost every female romantically tied to a superhero — whether she herself is super-powered or not — has struck her significant other, and none of those incidents have ever been exaggerated as a trait of the character. [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale But that's a different problem entirely.]]

** [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Silver the Hedgehog]] is cranked up of his stupidity from the original game's appearance as this time he starts accusing ''everybody'' in Freedom Fighters one by one as a traitor. It gets so ridiculous not only Sonic stops taking him seriously, but starts hating his guts because the guy's accusing people who [[DudeNotFunny happens to recently get injured, leave the team, or be mind controlled.]]

** [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Silver the Hedgehog]] is cracked up of his stupidity from the original game appearance as this time he starts accusing ''everybody'' in Freedom Fighters one by one as a traitor. It gets so ridiculous not only Sonic stops taking him seriously, but starts hating his guts because the guy's accusing people who [[DudeNotFunny happens to recently get injured, leave the team, or be mind controlled.]]

** [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Silver the Hedgehog]] is cracked up of his stupidity from the original game appearance as this time he starts accusing ''everybody'' in Freedom Fighters one by one as a traitor. It gets so ridiculous not only Sonic stops taking him seriously, but starts hating his guts because the guy's accusing people who [[DudeNotFunny happens to recently get injured, left the team, or is mind controlled.]]