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* Its a minor one but at the end of the Infinite Crisis The Joker kills Alexander Luthor with a joy buzzer burning up half of his face, yet at the beginning of 52 Lex Luthor uses the body to pass the buck of his most recent criminal endeavors on an alternate reality version of himself... and the body is in perfect shape....
** Reconstructive surgery on the corpse.
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** Apparently Chief Editor Dan Didio doesn't like out-of-continuity stories. That's why Elseworlds got canned, among other things.
*** As willing as I am to blindingly accept that Dan Didio is doing something evil--again--is this actually the case? ''Trinity'' was barely in continuity, and even then no one can remember it. ''Superman/Batman'' goes in and out depending on the week. ''Wednesday Comics'' is definitely out of continuity. And his Silver Age obsession would seem to contradict that, as every other story back then was an "imaginary" story or what have you.
*** Considering that there is now a miniseries explicitly [https://web.archive.org/web/20100905093354/http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=15360 labeled] as an Elseworlds story coming out this month...
* [[Green Lantern]]'s weakness is yellow, which I can forgive, stupid as it is. But, doesn't that mean that any color MADE from yellow, like green or orange, would be immune to the ring?
** So far as I understand, it's less about the color as it is the place on the emotional spectrum. [[Green Lantern]] crash course it is. The emotional spectrum is red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet, with each representing an emotion - rage, greed, fear, willpower, hope, compassion and love. The reason the Green Lantern Corps are weak to the color yellow is because, in many cases, members of the Corps do not have the sheer willpower to overcome their fears. Observe the death of Jack Chance - during the Sinestro Corps War, Parallax made him fear, broke down his courage and was able to kill him as a result.
*** Additional: In theory, the GLC works against other emotions because they are not so opposed to courage as fear is. This is the reason I'm waiting quite eagerly to see what happens when Larfleeze (the Orange Lantern) meets the Indigo Tribe, as it pits greed against compassion, which are diametrically opposed.
**** If the shipping is to be believed, Indigo-1 and Larfleeze will [[Crack Pairing|fall in love]] which is a [[Just Bugs Me]] in and of itself.
* It's well established in the DCU that Lex Luthor has massive secret stockpiles of Kryptonite (How so much of the planet Krypton came with Kal-el also Bugs Me). He's used it to power Superman Killing cyborgs, Superman Killing spaceships, Superman Killing guns, a Superman Killing ring, etc. Why didn't he ever just poison Metropolis's reservoirs with Kryptonite? It's been shown that Kryptonite doesn't kill humans as quickly as it does Kryptonians. It took months for Lex's ring to nearly kill him. So the moment anyone in Metropolis was sent to a hospital for severe radiation poisoning for no obvious reason, Lex would be able to tell it was really Superman, then kill him in a more satisfying manner. If nobody got sick quickly, then Lex would at least learn that Superman doesn't drink tap water. Then he could just poison the bottled water supplies. The 52 miniseries confirmed that Lex doesn't care how many innocent people could be hurt or killed by his schemes. I mean, if I had an enemy whom I wanted dead with every fiber of my being, lacked the morals to care about innocent people getting hurt or killed, had good cause to believe the enemy lived in a specific city, and had a poison that would ''quickly'' kill ''only'' that enemy, I'd use it in that manner.
** Luthor doesn't believe that Superman has a secret identity, mostly because if Luthor had that kind of power, he would see no reason to hide it. And there's no reason to believe that Superman even needs water, given that he can ''breathe in space''. Besides, if Luthor went all out destroying Superman, with no regard for civilian casualties, he runs the risk of going too far for even Clark's boyscout nature to tolerate. In the first arc of Superman/Batman, he came very close to crossing the line that would have resulted in Superman killing him by, once again, almost destroying the world.
*** Something that has annoyed me since they Small-vilified (pun most certainly intended) the modern continuity. Lex Luthor is one of the smartest people on the planet, he saw all sorts of strange things happen while he lived in [[Smallville]] and they all just happened to center around Clark. Years later Clark shows up in Metropolis and coincidentally the same time that Superman shows up and he never put two and two together and realized that Clark was Superman. Lex isn't that dumb!
*** Hence the reason that it is the height of impossibility to shoehorn [[Smallville]] into mainstream DCU continuity. The most basic, blatant reason? CLARK KENT HAS SPENT NINE SEASONS IN '''NO''' KIND OF DISGUISE, NOT EVEN A PAIR OF GLASSES, SO HE LOOKS JUST LIKE SUPERMAN. [[Smallville]] is a continuity all to itself. This same argument can be used to ask why, when they've had every other DC hero show up, they refuse to do the one most demanded, Bruce Wayne showing up in Smallville, or now I guess Metropolis since the show's really set there these days.
**** "Wow, Mr. Reporter Guy, you kinda look like Superman!" "Yeah, I get that a lot." Ever met someone who looks a lot like a celebrity? Heck, there's people in real life who look like Superman.
**** They didn't ''refuse'' to use Batman. They ''couldn't'' because they couldn't get the rights to use him. They'd even planned on using a young Bruce Wayne, and introduced a character with the plan that if they ever got the rights, they would say he had been Bruce all along under an assumed name.
**** It's implied in [[All-Star Superman]] that Lex is face-deep in denial about Superman's identity/so blindingly wrapped up in his superiority complex and his bitterness that he has nothing left but his brain, the knowledge of how to make the perfect cocktail, and a whole ton of hatred for the Man of Steel. Another fun term for it might be 'Screw secret identities, I'll kill you anyway'.
** This troper forgot about that first one. Knowing Lex, he probably believes Superman lives in some secret fortress 24-7. It's probably a good thing for Lex that Supes didn't have his powers when Lex crossed the [[Moral Event Horizon]] in 52.
** For the most part, Luthor loves Metropolis. Sure, he went a little crazy and flattened it when he was ill (it got better). As established in Morrison Justice League, he sees civilian casualties as regrettable and took the first chance he had to bring said dead people back to life. Of course, it also had the benefit of making Luthor look better but most anything he does does.
** The various Kryptonite objects you discuss above all came from one fist-sized chunk of Kryptonite. Which was all that existed on Earth at that given time (this was the Byrne revamp). It wasn't until later that more Kryptonite showed up.
** How hard is it to create a Kryptonite bullet? Just fill up a machine gun with them and Superman will be dead in no time. HOW IS IT NOBODY'S EVER USED THIS?
*** They HAVE used it, multiple times.
*** Kryptonite is known to be fairly low on Moh's Hardness Scale- which is why its so easy to break off chunks of it. Chances are, if you tried to shoot it out of a gun, the bullet would shatter, and instead of shooting long distance green death you'd emit a puff of green powder.
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***** The problem with that theory is that bullets are ''normally'' made out of lead. (And while the shrapnel in claymore mines isn't, lead is the second most common material used for that, so it wouldn't automatic kryptonite alert either). When Superman sees that the pipes in a building are made out of lead, is his first assumption that Lex Luthor is hiding kryptonite inside the plumbing? Um... no, because lead pipes are normal in old buildings. Ditto with lead bullets.
***** Also, using heat vision on explosives is generally a ''bad idea''. *BOOM!*
* What sexuality is Wonder Woman? It makes a lot of sense for her to be a lesbian (growing up knowing only women and all) but then she also has a love interest when the writer isn't busy reimagining her backstory and creating one of the worst [[Continuity Snarl|Continuity Snarls]] in comics. So then she would be bi, but sometimes DC is trying to avoid making their third most known superhero seem to be gay despite it seeming that their way of getting gay superheroes is to have lots of lesbians.
** The question of sexual identity in the way you're suggesting it wouldn't exist on Themyscira. Regardless, the fact is that she's shown interest in male characters and thus doesn't exclusively lean towards women. More than likely she just doesn't care what gender anyone is, and is willing to have relationships with anyone with whom she feels a connection. Her love interests (having been admittedly few and far between) have thus far been heterosexual men, but that doesn't mean all of them will be. However, given that people are only just coming around to accepting gays in media and people who are bisexual are generally dismissed as faking it for attention or kidding themselves, it may be a while before mainstream comics sees a positive example of bisexuality.
** [[X-Factor (comics)||Not that much]]. On the other hand it's not impossible for her to be just heterosexual. While the lesbian relationships are the only ones she could possibly see while growing up, the idea of her having relationships with one of other amazons is somewhat [[Squick]]-y due to the whole "[[Parental Incest|our daughter]]" [[Wife Husbandry|thing]]. After meeting people she didn't knew since diapers (i.e. coming to America) she could find herself attracted to men although it would be a hard thing to accept - something like when homosexual people who grew up in heterosexual families come to terms with their sexuality, only the other way round.
** Who cares?
*** The sizeable group of LGBT people, particularly women, who love Wonder Woman, love comics, and would like to see representation beyond tokenism or second-string characters no one outside of comics fandom would have heard of. And our straight allies. And fans in general who would like to see more diversity in comics and are tired of the same old straight heroes.
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**** If.
* The villains in DC One Million attempt to kill the original Superman in the 853rd century by firing a chunk of Kryptonite, hidden on Mars for millennia, into the sun (which is where he lives then); when the Justice League figures this out, they secretly replace the Kryptonite with a disguised Green Lantern ring. Thus, when the chunk is fired, Superman comes out with the ring and helps defeat the Big Bad... except that the Green Lantern ring has gone 83,000-odd years without a recharge. So how did it work?
** In the 90's when the storyline was written, Green Lantern rings had been switched to a version that had a finite "fuel" supply that could stay "full" as long as it wasn't used; however, later all existing rings were switched back to the 24-hour charge. Perhaps they switched back in the intervening 83,000 years?
*** Why do they need to switch back? It's a Nineties, Kyle-Rayner-rules power ring. The fact the Guardians have gone back to the 24 hour limit with the new rings doesn't affect the one buried on Mars, surely?
*** But Kyle's ring (which it was implied to be which is why there were no Green Lanterns in the future) would only work for Kyle and people with whom he shares some sort of genetic connection so it shouldn't have worked for Superman. Although Kyle's ring also worked for Parallax, something that they really never really explained- maybe it was a psychological thing since he didn't really need the ring with his Parallax powers.
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** Better yet, if the original Supes has been living in the sun for years, why would the villains even try to kill him in the first place? It's not like he's foiling crime. Seems like they'd be going after Superman of the 853rd century...
*** Did you even read the story at all? A) Superman was ''scheduled'' to come walking out of the sun and rejoin the universe. B) Solaris the Tyrant Sun (the villain) ''wanted revenge'' against the original Superman for defeating him over and over.
*** Hand-waved in later Green Lantern issues by saying the battery can be invisibly linked to the ring.
* In ''[[Justice League]]'' Hawk Girl is an alien, and has [[Winged Humanoid|natural wings]]. So, is that a mask on her, is that just what her face looks like, being an alien?
** Just a mask. We've seen her and other Thanagarians with their masks off, in late season two and in all the JLU seasons. The wings, on the other hand, ''are'' natural.
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**** No, the [[De Matteis]] Forever People miniseries showed that they were human orphans raised by Highfather on New Genesis, but they were transformed into gods and given powers. John Byrne basically wrote off that whole miniseries (and their subsequent appearances) by having Darkseid pluck the old Forever People from right after the first Forever People series and retconning them into real gods. This means, however, that they were either turned into gods or were originally gods (and that there were two sets of Forever People running around, one older than the other). Either way, they're gods.
**** More relevantly, gods or not, the Boom Tubes alter scale both ways; one post-Crisis issue of Superman made this explicit.
* This isn't limited to the DCU, but what's with those brief things that some superheroes (such as Superman and Batman) wear on top of their tights?
** Superman's too clean-cut to go commando and too image-conscious to go out with a VPL. This is his answer to the dilemma.
** The original inspiration for Superman's costume was the garb of collegiate and circus tumblers/gymnasts and wrestlers. The "modesty" shorts were worn over their skintight tights specifically because, well, for the obvious reasons of modesty! Times and mores have changed a lot since then...
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** Tim Burton was in charge for the first two movies, and had a fairly racially-blind casting policy. He thought Billy Dee could bring something to the part. When Joel Schumacher took over for Batman Forever, he decided to cast a more campy version in Tommy Lee Jones (which you can tell, because he's [[Large Ham|really fucking getting into it]]). Happily, Billy Dee got paid anyway. If you need an in-universe explanation: Billy Dee's Harvey Dent quit/retired/moved, and his replacement also happened to be named Harvey Dent.
* Couldn't Gotham City cut down crime rates by making it less convenient for the supervillains to strike? In the old comics, they had about a dozen different birdwatchers' clubs, which was a good excuse for the Penguin to strike. Any time they had any kind of comedy club or tribute to comedians, they knew the Joker just had to show up. Any kind of cat show was an invitation for Catwoman. If they downplayed some of this stuff, the villains probably wouldn't have had as much inspiration.
** They don't downplay it for the same reason that people still continued to fly after 9/11 and to use the underground after the London bombings - to stop would be to basically admit that the villains have won.
*** If terrorists pulled off 9/11 style attacks as often as supervillains go on rampages, you better believe people would stop flying!
** I guess when you live in a place as depressing as Gotham City, you need whatever pleasure-giving hobbies you can possibly have. Plus, [[Comic Book Time]] means that it's hard to know how often these villains actually ''do'' go on their rampages. If that doesn't satisfy, then Superboy-Prime punched time and made it happen.
** Arguably [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' when the villain Payback turns up at a society function and someone in the crowd says "no more charity events! They're too dangerous!"
* When the Spectre wanted to destroy all magic, shouldn't he commit suicide, as he himself is a magical being?
** Maybe that was his plan; but he had to destroy everyone else first.
** He explicitly said this. Eclipso had him so confused that he thought getting rid of magic would get rid of all evil as well, rendering him unnecessary.
* Are John Constantine, Tim Hunter and the Endless still part of the DC Universe?
** Not exactly. They're Vertigo characters and the current head of Vertigo is stingy with her toys.
*** I thought it was DC policy, so as to avoid kids accidentally picking up Vertigo books because they thought Hellblazer was cool when he popped up in Superman, or what have you.
*** The best in-universe explanation I can come up with is that some individuals in the DCU (Doctor Occult, the Martian Manhunter, etc.) have counterparts in the Vertigo universe (which is not one of the 52, but something else entirely), but it doesn't work the other way around. As for the Dream vs. Starro storyline ... the Endless can do pretty much whatever they want within each one's purview, and that may include jumping continuities if necessary.
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*** The perception explanation doesn't work: many of the relevant scenes in ''Lucifer'' are shot from the POV of Lucifer, Michael, or God, who would most definitely not be subject to this problem. Also, as of the end of the ''Lucifer'' run God was not only replaced by his teenage grandkid, '''but the fact of this replacement was publicly announced to every inhabitant of Heaven, Hell and the various mythological dimensions'''. So "perception" doesn't apply here either, and neither does divine obscurity: it is a widely known fact among all angels and demons that Yahweh has passed on the torch, and yet this has ''not'' happened in the DCU (or Hellblazer).
*** ... and adding a further layer of complexity to this continuity snarl is the 2016 ''Lucifer'' reboot, which had Yahweh apparently return to the Throne after Elaine apparently (its not quite been clarified yet) quit the job for some reason -- and then get ''murdered''. But He might possibly be still alive! Or have killed Himself! Or... forget 'God only know what's going on here', apparently even He's not sure what the state of affairs is now.
* How does comicbook Two-Face get the straight line of scar down his face when it's acid that did it? My -theory- is that he tried to use a file folder to save himself but it didn't work. Just wish they'd explain.
** I'm reasonably certain that the current scarring is self-inflicted (he got it cured, went through counseling, the whole nine yards, then he went crazy again and scarred up his face). Before that, it could just be coincidence. Although more than likely, if ''most'' of one side of his face was scarred, he just picked at the rest of it so that it was a perfect line.
** That is actually the explanation for Two Face in Batman Forever. Watch the news story about Harvey Dent again.
* We know what happens in real life when skyscrapers fall down. D.C. continues to have near-monthly skyscraper collapses. It bugs me.
** People can get used to anything. If enough skyscrapers collapse, everyone will treat it as a routine event.
** There are problems here beyond the psychological. The fine dust from the WTC towers went right through the masks of rescue workers, causing long-term damage equivalent to inhaling volcanic ash.
*** Superman has super-breath. Problem solved. (yes, I know, it's over simplifying it but)
**** Actually, considering Superman has to blow it ''somewhere'', that may raise more problems than it solves...
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*** This Troper reccomends getting comfortable first.
* What in the Hell were the Guardians of the Universe thinking drafting only 7200 Green Lanterns to police ''the entire universe?!'' Considering what we know of the size and number of stars in the universe, if we assume 3600 space sectors with 2 Lanterns per sector that's roughly '''TEN BILLION BILLION STAR SYSTEMS''' per every Lantern pair, or five billion billion star systems per every individual Lantern. They're supposed to effectively patrol ''that?!'' Seriously? Why not a more sensible system like, say, 1-2 Lanterns per planet? Or 1-2 Lanterns per star system? That's still a lot of territory but at least it's ''manageable''. Plus if the sectors are arranged so they all simultaneously converge at the center of the universe that means each sector is long and spindly, reaching from Oa all the way to the outermost reaches of the universe. So not only does each Green Lantern have a ''horrendous'' amount of territory to keep track of, in order to stay on top of everything that's going on in their sector they have to spend most of their time zooming back and forth from Oa to the Source Wall constantly. Geez, no wonder Hal Jordan was able to single-handedly wipe out the entire Green Lantern Corps. Clearly the Guardians are utterly incompetent administrators.
** It actually used to be 3,600. One Corps member per sector. But I can't even think of a No-Prize explanation, so the answer is "because the Guardians are dumb."
*** In real life, it's probably because [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale]].
** Personally I think that either the DC universe is far smaller than our existent universe, or Guardians of the Universe is merely a title, and the reality is the Corps patrols merely the local volume of galaxies (or even just the milky way). Then again they might also be just policing those systems that have sentient life within them. The vast majority of star systems are probably just comprised of lifeless hunks of rocks and gases, and are largely ignored by the Corps.
*** Another explanation is that Green Lanterns only deal with to Cosmic/Intergalactic threats, which shouldn't be too difficult to spot while scanning a galaxy. Of course, all of Earth's lanterns spend an disproportionate amount of time fighting terrestrial villains like Hector Hammond and Tattooed Man, but they have to: they live here.
*** A possible typo in the Kingdom Come graphic novel says that Oa was located in the center of the galaxy, not the universe. It's possible that their universal status is indeed an exaggeration.
*** Made necessary since Guardians of the Galaxy is already, well, you know.......
*** Gaurdians of ''The known'' universe. You know that story written by [[Alan Moore]], baised entirly around assigning a [[Green Lantern]] to the Obsidian depths? The very fact that it didn't have one allready, means that it was just discovered.
** The whole premise (Oa at the center of the universe, which is a sphere, and sectors radiating out from Oa) falls apart in the face of modern cosmology from the word go. The big bang is an expansion of space time, not an explosion (despite all those pretty graphics in science shows). This means that there is no center of the universe and the universe has no edge. (Alternately, every point in the universe is the center of the universe, but there's still no edge.) The sector system simply cannot work in the real universe. We must therefore conclude that the DCU is a completely different type of universe. This, of course, could help explain how the laws of physics are so different that superpowers exist.
*** Or maybe they just decided Oa was at the center of the universe because they were on it, and they mapped everything else in relation to them.
* Why does everybody keep taunting Superboy Prime? I mean really, the second it looks like he's not going to be able to kill them all right this minute, everyone starts calling him names. Naturally that makes him angry enough to do something about him. He may act immature, but I would think he's earned the right to be treated like a legitimate threat.
** "Why does everybody keep taunting Superboy Prime?" Morbid curiosity?
*** He's Superboy Prime! He's the [[You Suck|Fanbase Strawman]]! [[Take That|When the writers take the fanbase seriously, then Superboy Prime will be taken seriously.]]
** Because he is a representative of the rabid fan-boy, not one of a fan. (Fans and fanboys are '''different'''). ''Certain'' people see too much of themselves in Prime and they don't like it, because seriously, go over to the comic page on Discontinuity (and '''especially''' Troper Tales) and you'll see that Prime's characterization is spot on for some of the worst type of fanboy whining. I personally think he's hilarious in ''that'' regard, but he's actually pretty interesting (see Sinestro Corps War, Legion of 3 Worlds, Blackest Night,
** I think the original question referred not to the fan reaction but to the other characters' actions. Either they don't realize that they're pushing his [[Berserk Button]] or they just don't care (after all, it often looks like he's going to kill them anyway).
* Power Girl being allowed to remain in the universe following ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' resulted in a mess of problems involving her backstory and source of powers - and it only got worse when they were retconned in ''Infinite Crisis''. Seriously, was there any reason she was kept in the universe other than fanservice?
**
*** However, Power Girl was arguably the only Earth-2 only character who a) kept a pre-Crisis past (that is, was theoretically the same character before and after) and b) whose actual pre-Crisis past couldn't work anymore.
* DC universe has heroes who vary all along the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]. This is fine, except that the place each hero inhabits tends to reflect this attitude. Given that they are all set in the same world, why would anybody choose to live in Gotham or Bludhaven if they could move to Metropolis or Fawcett City instead?
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* If kryptonite radiation from Earth-1 can't hurt Earth-2 Kryptonians, shouldn't that also mean that Earth-1 solar radiation shouldn't give them any powers?
** Earth-2 Krypton exploded for different reasons than Earth-1 Krypton, I think. But they can never decide if that's the case, so I don't know.
** Suns radiate in a very broad spectrum, while kryptonite presumably radiates in a very narrow one. Thus, the Sun has more room for error.
** Light is the same from universe to universe. Rocks aren't.
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** 'Courage' would be a better word since Green Lanterns are required to conquer fear, but the whole 'emotional spectrum' concept came long after the original Lantern stories that stated willpower as necessary to manipulate the ring.
** That's also kind of the point. Green is at the center of the spectrum, and thus the most "balanced." The Guardians would prefer that the Green Lantern Corps not have ''any'' emotion at all, but they make allowances for the nature of sentient life forms. As you stray away from green, you get emotions that exert more of an influence over the person in question: rage and love are the most powerful, greed and compassion are compelling, fear and hope are influential.
*** It's more like the color/emotions on either side of the neutral balancing green/willpower emotion are opposite/complementary. Fear vs Hope? Compassion vs. Avarice? Rage/Hate vs. Peace/Love?
**** The Star Sapphires are anything but "peaceful".
* On Earth-Three, all the good guys are bad guys and all the bad guys are good guys. So why is is Earth-Three Lois Lane one of the good guys? Is she not, and I just haven't gotten to that bit? Or . . . is there something we don't know about the normal Lois?
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** Yes. That is to say, [[Depending on the Writer|some writers have her do one, some have her do the other]]. It's never been very consistent.
** This troper has read before that, technically, Zatanna does not have to say her spells backwards and that it is merely a concentration aid for her, and also that it has been suggested that if she could kick the habit she would be even more powerful than she is already. Or something like that.
** On the subject of Zatanna, why isn't she presented as being one of the big guns? Think about it! All she has to say is "doolb otni etinotpyrk" and Superman dies a horrible death! (Not that she'd ever do something like that of course).
*** Because it's very difficult to write a story about someone with powers like that. It's the same problem they ran into with Superman and the main reason why they had John Byrne tone his powers way down back in the 80's. Once you show Superman juggling planets it kinda takes the drama out of watching him foil a simple bank robbery or catch a falling plane. Zatanna has the same problem. Once you realize she could kill anyone by saying "blood into cement" backwards, you've pretty much passed the point where any villain is a credible threat to her.
*** Also, and I will admit that this is no-prizing it a bit, the explanation of her backwards speak being a concentration aid and not the true source of her powers implies that her powers don't function in the manner of "anything she says backwards happens," but "she can alter reality with her mind but it is incredibly difficult and requires an enormous amount of concentration, as it probably would," which would mean that there are things that are beyond her ability, most likely things that are especially complicated or large in scale, or even simply things that she simply has a hard time visualizing or wrapping her head around. Of course, what her limits exactly are aren't portrayed very consistently, but that's not quite the same issue.
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** Someone asked him once. He doesn't know. Specifically, he said "it's best not to think about it."
** Easy, O2 molecules and photons in a very-very close proximity to him shrink down, as well. Wonder why no one ever thought about that.
* If Daxamites are descended from Kryptonians, then why is it lead that affects Sodam Yat and not Kryptonite?
** The race may have come from Krypton, but their physiology is different. The current Daxamite race are descendants of Kryptonians and Daxam's initial native populace who interbred into one species after centuries, making them ''just'' different enough to no longer be considered Kryptonian.
* I haven't read many Flash comics, but there's something that bugs me about the concept. You have someone with super speed, which combat-wise is probably the best stock superpower there is, and almost all of his villains are just regular guys with weird guns? How do any of them ever put up a decent fight against the Flash? How do any of the fights with them go any different than "the Flash runs up to him and punches him a dozen times before he can react?" In particular, I seem to recall reading that Captain Cold's gun was created in a freak accident, which should mean that's the only one he has...so why doesn't Barry just break the damn thing and presto, Cold's just a middle-aged guy in a parka?
** No, Cold's gun was based on blueprints that Cold stole from a lab, so he can make one (or have several hidden away) anytime he wants. The Cold Gun and Heatwave Flamethrower are specially designed to stop the Flash from running fast (creating a absolute zero area and creating extremely high temperatures respectively). And if their stuff is taken by the police, odds are the stuff will "vanish" from the police storage. And Flash has a couple more villains who he can't just punch straight away, like Mirror Master who can hide in his own ''dimension''. And there is a difference between the Barry and Wally Flashes: Wally is more easy-going with the Rouges than Barry ever was.
*** How do extremely high temperatures stop the Flash from running fast?
**** I dunno, I don't read ''[[Flash]]'' much myself. One panel in [[Final Crisis|Rouge's Revenge]] says the heat can melt the Flash's boots to the ground. My guess is that while the Speed Force allows a speedster heat protection from friction, it doesn't protect from an outside heat source. And also, in before with info that objects lose speed in an absolute zero temperatures, so Cold keeps the Flash from running fast by making it '''really, really cold.'''
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*** Her flesh is highly resistant to blunt trauma, but not so hot against piercing damage. Kind of like Kevlar in reverse. It might have something to do with the fact that she was sculpted from clay. Punch a clay statue, and then shoot it, and you'll get very different results.
*** I personally chalk it up to a combination of bad guys realizing that 1) Her reflexes are probably good enough to let her duck or crouch in time to deflect a bullet fired at her shins, and 2) Even if a bullet catches her in the leg, it won't be immediately lethal, nor, since she can fly, would it be particularly incapacitating. Aim for the torso or the head, you at least have a chance of putting her down if she fails to deflect a bullet. Shoot her in the legs, and she's now very very angry at you, and still fully capable of flying up and hurting you. Less a plot hole than a rare occasion of the bad guys dropping the [[Idiot Ball]]. The real question is why they don't try using shotguns, flamethrowers, or some other weapon that targets an area instead of a discreet point.
** The same goes for Superman (in the black and white TV show). When someone shot at him, he stood there and took it, but when they threw the pistol at him, he'd duck.
*** I know this isn't the question, but it's possible that ducking large objects is just a reflex. It's unlikely that you have time to react to a bullet, but if you have time to duck a pistol, you duck!
* Does [[Green Lantern|Larfleeze]] actually ''like'' rotten food, or is it just an effect of the orange light that he sees it as a delicacy-laden banquet?
** He probably likes it. Nonhuman biology and all that- no reason the type and condition of food ''we'' need would also be what ''he'' needs.
** Rotting food also tends to taste and smell stronger than fresh food, so it makes sense for it to be extra appealing to him.
* When Zatanna casts a backwards-talking spell, does she pronounce the words phonetically backwards (like if you were playing a tape backwards), or does she pronounce them the way they are written backwards?
** We see them written backwards rather than having the sounds reversed (so it's "hsaw" and not "shaw", for example) so probably just the way they're written. The current explanation is that the words themselves are not inherently magical, they're focusing mechanisms for Zatanna and Zatara. So she probably just thinks, "Okay, wanna turn this guy's gun into a dildo, so G-U-N, that's N-U-G, I do 'into' all the time, that's 'otni', and dildo, O-D-L-D-I? No, no, it's like... O-D-L-I-D, okay, 'odlid otni nug!"
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** Further more, sure, a lot of human society would get hung up on the created dyslexia, but there's also a lot of human society that could function more or less fine... so most businesses close down for a day or so, but a lot of things have recognizable pictures on them, along with the labels. I can see how an ATM transaction would get fouled up, but a couple trial and error runs, and you can get you things done. Hell, if nothing else, everyone just goes home, or to a bar, and watches pre-recorded shows/movies/etc. The bars might need to just run tabs for everyone, but that's vaguely doable. (cash shouldn't get too fouled up, you just need people who remember what president's on what bill..)
*** and ear plugs cancel the effect. because it's sonic. wow...
*** *sigh* Did you people even read the comic? Like, at all? Because it goes into exquisite detail on exactly how devastating it would be if the written and spoken word suddenly became unintelligible. Airline pilots would be unable to read their instruments. Doctors would be unable to read the labels on bottles of medication, leading to them being withheld or misapplied. The launch buttons for nuclear missiles become indistinguishable from the shutdown buttons.<ref>This one is a bit of a stretch, due to
** To answer the original question, for all Superman's [[Buffy-Speak|alien-ness]] (and this goes for Wonder Woman/Martian Manhunter/whoever), the fact that they're humanoid, capable of normal human interaction, and are for all intents and purposes people, it's not hard to imagine their brain structures are similar enough to ours for that to happen. As to whether or not dyslexia is covered by their actual [[Nigh Invulnerability|powers]], however, I can't really say.
* Why are there still Christians in the DCU? I understand in our universe, but the DCU is host to several pantheons, entities and beings of cosmic power. You'd think they'd have joined pantheism by now
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*** Joint accounts with their significant other, if they have one. This troper's elderly parents gave joint access to their bank accounts precisely to allow access to the family funds in the event of, without having to wait for the estate to be probated. In the case of 'not-dead' superheroes, this would actually work in reverse.
*** Lots of fraud and lawsuits, I suppose. Not the most upstanding thing for heroes to do, but there's no way around it.
**** If they use anonymous numbered accounts it doesn't matter if they're temporarily dead or not, just so long as they're not dead long enough that the account is closed for lack of activity.
**** In addition, there's this guy called Bruce Wayne who probably owns at least one bank and knows the secret ID of most of his fellow superheroes anyway.
* Shouldn't Black Adam and Superman be significantly stronger than Captain Marvel at this point, considering how much power he's given away?
* So, just what is canon for the [[New 52]]?
** I've been giving myself a headache trying to figure that out for three months now.
** [[Depending on the Writer|It depends]].
* The New 52. I was a fan of the DCAU and familiar with the comic canon from [[TV Tropes]] and second hand stories. So I decided with the new DC digital publications to check out the universe. So far I checked out Flashpoint, Brightest Day, some assorted Flash titles, Infinite Crisis and the Action Comics run of Lex Luther looking for black lantern ring energy. So I read Justice League (2011) #1, and it opens up a "few years ago" Green Lantern doesn't even know if Batman really exists or is an [[Urban Legend]], Darkseid is alive again, and neither they or Super Man seem to be familiar with each other. In other words, a clean slate. I'm reading the preview descriptions for the other new titles. Half of them seem to be acting as if the old plot lines are continuing after a minor hiccup. Example, Barbara Gordon is no longer paralyzed and is Batgirl again, but Swamp Thing is described in a way that implies a continuation from Brightest Day from the preview. I'm going to read Swamp Thing to see for myself to see if it is working from that angle or they are going for pre-retcon origin of Swamp Thing again, but I'm literally scratching my head over this at the moment.
** Finished reading Action Comics #1, [[Swamp Thing]], JLI, [[Stormwatch]]. Does this relaunch make any more sense to long term fans than newcomers? This all just seems to be coming off to me as if someone deleted half the content of a DC Wiki and they are trying to recreate the canon off of what remained. In other words, they decided to go full continuity snarl instead of fighting it for the sake of rule of cool.
*** To be honest, the whole "New 52" concept just seemed unnecessary. It seemed more a case of the writers currently [[Running the Asylum]] wanting to have an easy way to dump any continuity from 1986 onwards that they didn't like.
* Ok, so Abel Tarrant, the Tattooed Man, can animate and control the tattoos he gave himself using a special chemical as ink. So why didn't he give himself a tattoo of Superman's likeness, or whoever was the most powerful super human he'd ever heard of? Like, all across his abdomen? I have no idea whether his tattoo objects assume scale size when he summons them, but even a two foot high Superman simulacrum under his command would have been a lot more useful than a freaking snake.
** I don't think his tatoos would replicate the powers of any superheroes. I think he can just make them move and hit/grab things with them.
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[[Category:Headscratchers (comic book)]]
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