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DC Comics are home to some of the most iconic and long - endure laughable book character , not to remark one of the prominent assortments . This was not only a strategy of in - household cognitive content , but also of attainment over 10 . Indeed , the publisher began as several dissimilar entities , including Detective Comics ( home ofBatmanandSuperman ) and All Star Comics ( home of theGolden AgeWonder Woman , Hawkman , Atom , Green Lantern and , the Flash ) .
They would uphold this consolidation scheme , by add to their already telling armory of characters over the decades , purchasing the rights to other superhero heavyweight from lesser - known companies like Charlton , Timely , and Wildstorm . The rights secured , DC introduced the characters to the DC Universe by either take them sweeping , merge them in slowly , or stretch their bequest through raise origins and power .
With that in mind , lease ’s look at 15 comic characters from unlike publishers that now call the DCU home , and expect at those who have found their footing and others who still have untapped potential .
Rainmaker (Wildstorm)
Wildstorm began as an indie risible winner story . But the company , started by creative person extraordinaire Jim Lee , strike heavy time during the fall of comic Holy Writ gross sales in the mid-90s and DC purchase the rights in 1998 .
One title to make the saltation wasGen13 , about a grouping of superpowered stripling . They were lab crumb for genetic experimentation who finally get away , becoming fugitives . The most outspoken character was Sarah Rainmaker , who had the ability to control the weather condition and movement of piss , bait on wind electric current , and shoot lightning .
While weather manipulation is n’t anything new , Rainmaker ’s blunt personality was her most intriguing aspect . She was an openly gay and uninhibited political activist who never suffered fools . This made her a controversial presence at the sentence , with the serial both supply a soapbox for political cognisance while also spoof it , too .
Sadly , Rainmaker and her age group got short shrift when DC ended the Wildstorm imprint and put in them to the DCU writ magnanimous , where they ’ve never really been given their due . But there ’s been a long - in - the - piece of work film adaptation that may change all that . Megan Foxhas buttonhole to play the part , but given her box office clout as of late , it ’s too soon to get our hopes up !
Peter Cannon Thunderbolt (Charlton)
Peter Cannon is one of several DC characters who originally appear in Charlton Comics , aConnecticut based ( and wholly in - theater ) print companythat had ahealthy stalls of interesting , vivacious characters , but hit heavy clip in the 1980s . Facing bankruptcy , they sell all their superheroes to DC in 1983 .
Cannon ( create in 1966 ) was an orphan raised in a Himalayan lamasery who , after extreme genial and strong-arm conditioning , gained the power to habituate portions of his Einstein that the modal homo was unequal to of unlocking . He own superhuman endurance , reflexes , and the ability to heal rapidly .
While Cannon never became a household name in DCU or belt down refinement at large , his impact on DC Comics is vital : he was Alan Moore’sprimary stirring for Ozymandias , the megalomanic archway - villain in his classic superhero deconstructionist seriesWatchmen .
carom is the only character on this inclination no longer owned by DC . He was the one Charlton character who required separate licensing from the Lord , Pete Morisi , and it reverted to his estate after his destruction in 2003 .
The Ray (Quality)
The Ray is one of several characters to originally look in Quality Comics , which sell its funny case to DC after folding in the mid-50s .
There have been multiple “ Rays ” over the years , the first being Langford " Happy " Terrill who gain ground powers after a ballooning accident gave him aggregate exposure to sunlight and lightning . Later his son Ray inherit his powers , and as of this penning , we ’re now on the fourth personification , Lucien Gates , who gain his abilities after being hit by a particle beam .
The Ray has the power to absorb , depot , and release pure light , which he can use for flight , to let out bursts with destructive forcefulness , or to create illusions , constructs , and even render himself unseeable . He ’s receive a pretty sweet costume too .
He ’s also notable for being part of the Freedom Fighters ; aDC supergroup composed entirely of former Quality characters , a few of which will appear by and by in this countdown . The Ray will be getting a shot at mainstream pop culture withhis novel animated show on CW Seed .
Peacemaker (Charlton)
This intriguing Charlton acquisition is a superhero quite hypocritical in nature : Christopher Smith is a pacifistic diplomatist , so dedicated to wiping out war and violence that he ’s not afraid to dish it out with an armoury of non - lethal weapons to give bad guys a dose of tough dearest .
But things get darker in his DC avatar , after he learns his father was a Nazi sulphur solider . This good sense of guiltiness transmit him on a homicidal rampage . His genial state is so chafe that he thinks his victim ’s soulfulness live in his helmet , offering advice , or in the case of his bushed father , judgment and ignominy .
The Peacemaker has had various incarnations and identities over the days , most notably pop up in DC ’s 2006 miniseries,52 . He was also the prime inspiration for the amoral vigilance man The Comedian inWatchmen . He ’s the ever - fascinating personification of difference of opinion of interest , still ripe with unnumbered possibilities for future fib arc .
Jack Hawksmoor (Wildstorm)
As long as he ’s in a city , he has superhuman persuasiveness and the gifts of telepathy , psychometry , and precognition , allowing him to experience and communicate with the metropolis as if it were a queer organism . He also has the ability to transport between dissimilar metropolis and can use computer architecture as armor or even weaponry .
Hawksmoor is the kind of wonky creation that could only come from the idea of Warren Ellis . He may not be the most powerful or utilitarian superhero on this leaning , but he ’s sure enough one of the most unambiguously memorable and oddly poetical . Too bad this has made him tricky to desegregate into the DCU , post - Wildstorm . He ’s just hold back to be rediscover .
Human Bomb (Quality)
Our second Quality fibre on the list is the Human Bomb , AKA Roy Lincoln . He ’s a graphic symbol who truly lives up to his name , able to create monumental explosions with the feeling of his fingertip . And the hard the contact , the big the blast . This power however , comes at a Mary Leontyne Price , as he must wear protective boxing glove at all times , and a HAZMAT wooing during struggle .
Lincoln gain his unique skill during his employment as a scientist working with his beginner on the explosive chemical " 27 - QRX . " During a Nazi foray ( which killed his founder ) he drank the contents before they were able to slip it for their own gain .
Human Bomb is yet another Quality member of the superhero team the Freedom Fighters . He was unceremoniously killed off during DC’sInfinite Crisisseries , only to reappear as aBlack LanterninBlackest Night . There have been a few other incarnations , but none that have really done him justice . There ’s a good deal of untapped potential to be explored .
Phantom Lady (Quality)
The Phantom Lady was one of thefirst distaff superheroes of the Golden Age of comics , with a rich , and sometimes controversial , bequest and multiple incarnations ( Sandra Knight is the original , Jennifer Knight the most current ) .
Knight was the Bettie Page of cartoon strip , a voluptuous heroine with pin - up entreaty who freaked out the moral bureau in 1950s . But rather than being a sexist imitation , she used her revealing kit to disorder the forged guys before render them a dependable ass - kick .
In accession to her no - nonsense position and fighting style , she has a master of ceremonies of groovy ability thanks to her high - technical school wristbands and visor , which have develop over the years , include ( but not confine to ) teleportation , phasing , invisibility , the ability to see dark , and even the power to bend realness itself . This made her a worthful plus when she joined the aforementioned Freedom Fighters . Her feminine wiles and full-bosomed figure was yet another influence onWatchmen . As Moore ’s basis for the second Silk Specter , she was the only non - Charlton character to be used as source stuff .
Nightshade (Charlton)
create for Charlton by Steve Ditko and Joe Gill , Nightshade ( secret individuality Eve Eden ) was hold into a sinewy political fellowship , but that ’s just for starter . She and her mother really hail from another property : a nightmarish realm known as the land of the Nightshades . There , her mother was considered royal family and imbued with magical abilities . Eden inherited the same powers from her female parent . She was able-bodied to tap into the haunted “ land of the nightshade ” to employ for teleportation , to turn shadower in strong and semisolid shapes , and to create homunculi to do her bidding .
These powers ( along with her skill in martial artwork ) number in quite ready to hand when DC muster in her into the Suicide Squad , hold her more espionage anti - hero than bare do - gooder . It was a blinding omission not including her in the recentSuicide Squadfilm , peculiarly given her strong tie to that film ’s villain , the Enchantress . She should in spades be in the subsequence .
Grifter (Wildstorm)
One of the most popular Wildstorm characters , Grifter is the prototypical superhero badass , an expert marksman and physical combatant with the powers of psychokinesis , telepathy , enhanced healing factors , and survival … not to mention a orca mask .
debut in 1992’sWild C.A.T.S.#1 , Grifter ( AKA Cole Cash ) was a former member of U.S. special forces , who went on to join the wispy pitch-dark ops group Team 7 . He was deliberately exposed to chemical substance that actuate his psionic abilities . But it also bear on his mental Department of State , make him to bankrupt rank and become a solider of fortune .
Grifter has go through various different incarnations in his DC transition , andlike many Wildstorm transplant , his reboot in theNew 52miniseries was take on with disappointment . Given that Geoff Johns’sRebirthseriesis point DC in a more optimistic direction , it is hard to see where Grifter ’s more misanthropic worldview could fit . He ’s essentially DC ’s Wolverine , and deserves another injection .
Plastic Man (Quality)
The best get it on of all the Quality transplants , Plastic Man first appeared inPolice Comics # 1 in 1940 , as petty criminal Eel O’Brian , who gets let on to dangerous chemicals after a robbery go astray . But instead of being kill , he ’s given the ability to load and contort his features and molecular structure into any condition or form he chooses .
Plastic Man ’s comedic , oddball comportment made him a great comic foil in the DCU , expertly used by Grant Morrison in his run on JLA . Plastic Man is always draw and quarter comparisons to Elongated Man , another DC stretching super - sleuth . Oddly enough the latter was created after Plastic Man was already buy by DC , but creator Carmine Infantino wasentirely unaware of the similarity , and it ’s show problematic balancing the two ever since . In addition , besides abrief toon seriesthat ran on ABC from 1979 - 81 , Plastic Man is a sorely underused entity in pop culture . He ’s an amazing comedic superhero moviejust waitress to encounter !
