Reconstruction / The DCU

The DCU

Reconstruction in this franchise.

---

Comic Books

• Blackest Night reconstructs Earth Is the Center of the Universe. Besides being the center of the multiverse, life originated on Earth, which is why Nekron is attacking it - the source of life remains there.
• Captain Atom: Armageddon was this as well. By the time it came out, the Wild Storm characters had come to embody all the excesses of the Dark Age, so DC brought Captain Atom, who, while hardly what you'd call a traditional superhero, nonetheless was a much more wholesome, positive character to set the WildStorm Universe to rights.
• In 1986, DC's big two heroes, Superman and Batman, both received deconstructive treatments with Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?. These were followed almost immediately by reconstructions with Batman: Year One and The Man of Steel.
• Doomsday Clock: The series has been advertised as the DC Universe's long-delayed retort to the legacy of Watchmen.
  • It's actually the main theme of Reggie's character arc. First comes playing the mantle of Rorschach to a hilt, assuming the identity and joining in the quest to save the world. Then comes the deconstruction when Doctor Manhattan reveals how Ozymandias has played him for a patsy and even his mentor Mothman chose to lie to him about Rorschach's role in his father's descent into madness. At the end, it's Batman and Alfred who reach out to him and give him the Rorschach mask back, convincing him to Reimagine the Artifact and reconstruct the very idea of Rorschach, telling him that even if he only sees a monster in the mask, he can take it and change how others see it, inspiring him to retake the mantle, this time as his own hero.
• Green Lantern: Rebirth: This is the story that introduces Hal Jordan into the 21st century.
• Kingdom Come was a particularly famous comics reconstruction that delivered a rather heavy-handed denouncement of the '90s Anti-Hero. Though it should be noted that the story ended up with all the super-heroes realizing they were flawed, removing their masks, and joining normal human society.
• Batman (James Tynion IV): Anti-Hero Substitute reconstruction with the Ghost-Maker. He's basically yet another "evil" or "anti-hero" counterpart to Batman, having the same level of skill but none of the moral restraints when it comes to just outright killing the criminals he fights. But while he is often antagonistic and critical of Bruce, he has genuine respect for him and Bruce reciprocates it. Ghost-Maker may not have qualms about killing, but he's not stupid or unreasonable, and is willing to make compromises and restrain himself for Batman's sake. In fact, he's not so out of line that Batman doesn't consider him for Batman Incorporated.
• Justice is more a reconstruction proper, as it is essentially Superfriends without the camp, token characters, and low-budget visuals. Its opening reads like a superhero deconstruction, with the rest of the series reading like a thorough rebuttal.
• A good deal of Grant Morrison's stuff at least addresses the need for a reconstruction.
  • Final Crisis is increasingly interpreted as an attempt to redeem Silver Age idealism and high concepts in order to subvert the Darker and Edgier style and "realism" of The Dark Age of Comic Books.
  • In Animal Man, the titular character complains that His entire family was killed off for the sake of "character development"; at the end of the series, The author returns them to life. The Flex Mentallo mini-series can also be seen as a celebration of how unabashedly weird The Silver Age of Comic Books could be, and how that's not necessarily a bad thing.
  • Morrison's All-Star Superman is this trope distilled: After several separate attempts to limit Superman's power and morally challenge him, All-Star Superman is a celebration of how awesome Supes can be when absurdly powerful and morally strong.
  • Batman (Grant Morrison), which successfully combines the gritty Batman and the Silver Age Batman into one coherent, badass character, as a common theme of Morrison's. This is essentially meant to show that all of the goofier stuff (such as Silver Age stories and plot devices) can still be awesome if done right, and that Batman can be cool and entertaining even if he isn't a brooding grimdark Anti-Hero.
• Joe Kelly's Superman story What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way? was also a big contribution to the superhero reconstruction.
• The Rogues Reloaded storyline from The Flash does this for the Flash's villains. Though beloved for their sympathetic backstories, likable personalities, and code of honor, the Rogues are often overshadowed by the more threatening villains like the Reverse-Flashes and Gorilla Grodd, to the point where they're almost considered "Flash's sidekicks" (even in-universe). Rogues Reloaded shows that while the Rogues have redeeming qualities, they're still ruthless, unrepentant criminals who are only out for themselves and while they don't go out of their way to hurt people, they have zero sympathy for those affected by their crimes.
• Inevitably, this trope will be in effect post-New 52, thanks to the multitudes of drastic changes to the classic DC Comics mythos (such as Lois Lane being Put on a Bus in favor of Wonder Woman, and Superman's costume change as an example in one franchise). Ultimately proven with DC Rebirth, starting with DC Universe: Rebirth #1 as a reconstruction of the idea of the Legacy Character, showing that without these people on both ends of the spectrum, you end up with a universe that feels very empty. It also reconstructs the idea of a Hope Bringer, showing that you can plunge the world into darkness, but someone will show up to light the way.
• Superman: Secret Identity. A boy named Clark Kent in "our" world develops Superman's actual abilities.
  • Deconstruction: He repeatedly mentions that he has no clue where his powers came from or how they work - how can he hear things before the sound waves even have time to reach him, for instance? When he actually starts going out in costume, the Superman suit works in his favor because no one is going to believe someone saying Superman saved them. Unfortunately, he draws the attention of the military, who repeatedly try to capture him and experiment on him.
  • Reconstruction: He never stops helping people, and eventually proves to the people chasing him that he's more useful as a friend than an enemy. The book's overall tone and ending is completely positive.
• Jon Kent, the latest Superboy, is this of the classic child sidekick. After years of deconstruction of the Kid Hero archetype and the dangers of bringing children into superpowered fights, Jon is a sweet, upbeat, and outgoing child who Jumped at the Call after learning about his powers. At the same time, he repeatedly proves himself an asset in fights while acknowledging his inexperience and Power Incontinence. His story doesn't stray away from the constant worries his parents have when Jon could be getting in over his head.
• Aquaman: The "Death of a Prince" arc triggered a deconstruction of the light-hearted (and often weird) tone of Aquaman's early adventures with the death of Aquababy at Black Manta's hands, which also drove a wedge between Arthur and Mera, who were happily married up until this point. The '90s series would up the ante by giving Aquaman some additional angst over said events, while revamping his roots to be 100% Atlantean while exploring Atlantis' history. Near the turn of the aughts, Geoff Johns would reconstruct Aquaman, beginning with Blackest Night and Brightest Day, bringing back his Silver Age part-human/part-Atlantean origin story, and pull a Decon-Recon Switch with the typically sidelined Mera seeing equal billing, first becoming a Red Lantern from the collective hurt and rage of losing not just Aquababy, but also Arthur and every other Aquafamily member, now Black Lanterns and also as later revealed, originally being sent to kill Arthur from Xebel. Brightest Day sees Mera make amends with a revived Arthur. The New 52 reboot goes even further with the reconstruction, making Arthur and Mera engaged instead of married, Mera's Xebel origins already water under the bridge (pun intended), and also Black Manta being given a Freudian Excuse for his hatred of Arthur, the latter killing his father when he meant to kill Black Manta instead for the death of his own father, Tom Curry.

Films

• DC Extended Universe
  • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice starts out as a deconstruction of the two characters, however it eventually gives way to being a reconstruction in how it brings both of them back to something closer to their classic forms. Consider how much each's characterization at first aligns to how a bunch of people complain about them on the internet, often in the name of "realism". Superman is a figure with so much power that people have trouble relating to him on a human level, and without it completely under control, accidentally contributes to the loss of lives during the battle between him and Zod in Metropolis. Batman, rather than being the noble hero with a strict no-killing policy, is here more unhinged at first, being more jaded and perfectly willing to kill even someone like Superman. However by the end Superman proves that he can live up to the ideal he's supposed to represent by willingly sacrificing himself to destroy Doomsday, which brings about him the adoration of the masses that he usually receives. Batman begins to renounce his more extreme ways, as shown by his decision not to give Lex Luthor the Bat-Brand and how he's now willing to work with metahumans, to the point that he decides to put a team of them together in order to continue Superman's mission in his stead. Zack Snyder's Justice League completes the Reconstruction by showing Superman as a more genuinely heroic figure who has come to terms with his powers and role of protector of Earth.
  • Aquaman (2018)
    • The film mixes Reimagining the Artifact with moving away from Arthur's gruffer portrayal in Zack Snyder's Justice League and utilises elements that Aquaman is regularly mocked for to its favour. Those silly supervillain names? Titles. The orange and green costume? An ancient king's armor (made golden at that). Talking to fish? Pretty useful when it can control both an army's shark cavalry and bloodthirsty seafaring humanoid beasts, converse with a sea Kaiju, and create an army of fishes in an instant.
    • Black Manta's classic bubble-head deep sea diver design has been a difficult thing to process in the modern era, coming across as a silly, impractical top heavy look. The first film shows Kane building the suit from scratch, adapting Atlantean weaponry alongside his own high-tech armor designs and specifically making the helmet huge so that it could fire a plasma blast without frying his own head. When Black Manta finally shows up in full costume he is presented as a Mighty Glacier, and can believably fighting Arthur on even footing.
• The Dark Knight Trilogy:
  • Batman Begins is a reconstruction of the idea of Batman, not only giving a plausible explanation for how Bruce Wayne acquired all of his Bat-themed crime fighting equipment and training, but also exploring the motivations behind what would drive a man to dress up in a rubber Batsuit to fight crime.
  • The Dark Knight reconstructs how a superhero can operate in, and have an effect on, a larger society.
  • The Dark Knight Rises ends up reconstructing what happens to a superhero in the long term.
• The Batman (2022) takes apart a lot of the Batman mythos, but also picks apart a few of its more common criticisms:
  • "Why doesn't Bruce Wayne just take all the money he's spending on Batman and donate it to charity?" In this continuity, Thomas Wayne tried this by putting most of his fortune into the Gotham Renewal Fund, which was intended to improve the city through charitable means. However, since the institutions of Gotham were almost universally corrupt, Thomas was murdered in short order. Without any oversight, the Fund was soon looted and used as a money-laundering scheme by anyone who wanted a piece, including the Mob, crooked cops, and corrupt politicians.
  • "Why doesn't Batman kill?" The Riddler admits that he was inspired by Batman and his ability to make a difference to the city by staking out targets, infiltrating their bases, and then applying focused violence. The only real difference in how they operate is that Riddler kills his enemies: supplying Batman with an Evil Counterpart therefore justifies why he has to remain different from them.
  • Riddler himself often gets mocked for his MO: he's the supervillain who literally leaves clues so that Batman can catch him. In this film, Batman solving the riddles actually helps Riddler proceed with his larger plan, and while Riddler does allow himself to get caught, he assumed that Batman would carry on the mission in his stead, and had several dozen radicalised followers who definitely would.
  • The "themed minions of a supervillain" that is normally seen as a relic of comic-adherent older movies gets reinterpreted as domestic terrorists wearing copies of the Riddler's outfit, leading to a climatic final battle that feels simultaneously realistic and bombastic as Batman neutralizes mass shooters that all happen to be masked in surplus army gear.
  • Bruce Wayne's mission of beating up criminals and spreading fear is realistically portrayed as unhealthy and selfish, but he eventually realizes the Batman can be used as a symbol of hope instead, and decides to use his skills for helping and rebuilding, which is necessary in a now-flooded Gotham.

Live-Action TV

• Arrowverse:
  • After decades of superheroes becoming "serious" Darker and Edgier Anti Heroes who are full of angst over having powers and are somewhat grounded in reality, the eponymous The Flash (2014) rebuilds the type of superheroes who functions on Good Feels Good basis. Barry Allen / The Flash is also a hero despite his tragic backstory, not because of it, lives in a fantastical setting, and isn't afraid to get a little silly along the way. The Silver Age Friendly Enemy relationship with his Rogues Gallery also shows up, mostly with Leonard Snart/Captain Cold, and made more plausible in that The Flash recognizes a lot of them as having redeeming qualities and is trying to protect them from themselves. At the same time, it doesn't shy away from the fact that some of the villains (such as Reverse-Flash and especially Zoom) are brutal monsters who can and do kill dozens of people with no issues.
  • The Earth-2 Alternate Self of Dinah Laurel Lance reconstructs the Backup Twin and Anti-Hero Substitute concepts. She's originally an Evil Doppelgänger who is forced to do a Deadperson Impersonation of her Dead Alternate Counterpart out of necessity. Most of her late doppelgänger's friends detest her and she scoffs at the idea of being turned into a Replacement Goldfish. However, living the life of her late counterpart and interacting with these people helps her regain her diminishing humanity and ultimately makes her a better person without her losing her own identity.

Web Comics

• Batman: Wayne Family Adventures: This series is a reconstruction of not only the Batman comic book series but the Batman Family as well. The canon Batman family has a very dysfunctional relationship, and Batman could, depending on the writer, be borderline on being an abusive parent. Despite his care for his adopted children and sidekicks with the indication that they are stopping him from becoming a ruthless vigilante, Batman often has to relearn the lessons of being a better parent and remains a distant father figure despite his good intentions. In this series, Batman (Bruce Wayne) is a genuinely good, loving parent who, despite making mistakes because he balances his superhero and civilian identity, his positively influences his adopted children and sidekicks into being better superheroes and people. As a result, the Batman family is a functional and loving family of crime fighters who can have happy lives as civilians and superheroes. The Batman Family often faces problems because of either their superhero or personal lives; they always work to solve those problems and are successful superheroes and people because they are a loving family.

Western Animation

• The entire series of Batman: The Brave and the Bold acts as an Affectionate Parody and reconstruction of the The Silver Age of Comic Books. Funnily enough, it was not only wedged on both sides by Darker and Edgier animated adaptations of the character, but also between the last two films of The Dark Knight Trilogy.
• DC Animated Universe
  • The Justice League episode "Legends" is both an Affectionate Parody and reconstruction of The Golden Age of Comic Books. In it, a few members of the league travel to an Alternate Universe and meet the Justice Guild of America, ersatz versions of the JSA. The episode points out the racism and sexism prevalent in the Golden Age, and the Flash mocks the Guild's cheesy "let justice prevail!" catchphrase, but at the end of the story the Guild helps defeat the villain, knowing that they'll fade from existence when they do, and when they yell "Let justice prevail!" that time, it's completely awesome. The episode was in dedication to comic book writer Gardner Fox, who created several superheroes from DC's Golden and Silver Ages. Not only that, but Fox wrote "The Flash of Two Worlds," which introduced the concept of a comic book multiverse. The episode wasn't just a reconstruction but an Homage to the man.
  • Superman: The Animated Series as a whole is a reconstruction for the modern version of Superman from the Post-Crisis comics. While there are many deconstructed elements within the series and a lot of things where surprisingly realistic outcomes that were previously hand-waved during the silver age of comic books then being deconstructed during the bronze to dark age of comic books, the series overall is firmly on the ideal side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism with Superman being more down to earth and normal yet still being the Big Good everyone expects him to be. In spite of the darker moments in some of the episodes, there is always an underlying theme of optimism, idealism, and hope.
• An episode of Green Lantern: The Animated Series reconstructs the typical action cartoon premise of a bodysnatcher being loose among the main cast. Unlike in most depictions, there is no obvious audio-visual cue to indicate that someone is possessed, i.e. glowing eyes, changed voice, etc., which the audience can see but for some reason the characters can't. Also, the possessing villain can switch bodies instantly, again with no visible cue, and with the former victim unaware that they were previously possessed. Therefore, often the audience is as much in the dark as the cast, making for a very tense episode that is essentially a kid-friendly version of The Thing (1982).

---