5 DC Characters That Have Simply Vanished (& #3 Was Really Cool)

Having been around for nearly a century, DC Comics has introduced and maintained countless characters. The worlds created as part of the overall DC Universe is full of superheroes, villains, regular folks, and different shades of everything in between as part of stories that span galaxies in scope. But while the decades and stories have given rise to plenty of famous, beloved, and culturally significant characters like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, even more characters have either fallen out of favor or simply vanished from their stories altogether.

Here are five DC characters who have pretty much vanished from the pages of DC Comics. While some were probably never really meant to stick around and others always have the potentially to pop up when you least expect it, they’re all characters who, if we ever remember they existed at all we wonder what happened to them.

5) Vibe

Given that Cisco Ramon was a central and popular character in The CW’s The Flash television series, many may not realize that Vibe, at least in comics, is a character that has largely vanished. Originally introduced as part of Justice League Detroit in the 1980s, the character originally gave up his role in a street gang to be a hero and is with the League through Crisis on Infinite Earths, helping to defeat Despero. However, when the team disbands in 1987, he goes back to the streets and ends up killed by one of Professor Ivo’s androids.

While Vibe was brought back years later only to be killed again and then brought back once more in 2009 as part of the Blackest Night event (where he is destroyed once again), the character did get a reboot as part of The New 52 and even had a solo series. But the character has had so few appearances in recent years and said solo series is gone. He has largely vanished since Forever Evil, though we hope we see him again.

4) Edge

So, in 1993, DC did this thing where they introduced a new character in each of their annuals and Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #2 gave us Thomas O’Brien, aa Edge. Tom was just a guy who had to drop out of school so he could work to support his family, but he became a friend of John Henry Irons and a significant community figure. Unfortunately, he was captured by the alien parasite Angon who activated his metagene accidentally.

After being left for dead, Tom wakes up and finds that he’s covered in blades and while he initially thinks he killed all the people he was found with, things get sorted out eventually. He becomes an ally of Steel and helps take on Angon as Edge. And that’s pretty much all we’ve ever seen of Edge. He’s appeared in six issues total over the years, all of them from the 1990s. While he probably wouldn’t be the most useful or even popular hero, it’s still an interesting concept and it’s kind of a shame that his time in DC has been pretty limited.

3) Patricia Powell

If I told you that Batman almost had a romance with a cop (sort of) you might think that was crazy but that is indeed what almost happened. Unfortunately, the character disappeared so nothing came of it. First appearing in Batman #165 from 1964, Patricia “Pat” Powell was a young police officer with the GCPD. Pat was a brilliant detective, possibly even better than Batman, and she worked with the Caped Crusader to solve cases. They had some romantic tension, too, though Pat is a little more interested in Bruce Wayne (and by interested we mean obsessed.) There was so much story potential there.

But none of that potential was used. When Ed “France” Herron, who created Pat, stopped writing Batman books right after the character debuted, the character pretty much disappeared. This loss is a particular shame because the idea of a GCPD detective that rivals Batman is such an interesting concept. More than that, the idea of Batman having a close law enforcement ally that isn’t James Gordon just feels like a massive missed opportunity.

2) Sideways

After Dark Nights: Metal, DC did a cool thing with the launch of the “New Age of DC Heroes and gave readers some brand-new heroes. One of those new heroes was Sideways. Derek James was a young man in Gotham who ended up becoming a metahuman after the city was torn apart by earthquakes. He had a really cool power where he could create portals to travel pretty much anywhere in the multiverse (hence the mantle Sideways).

And then, after just 13 issues, Sideways’ series ended and that was it. The character bore a lot of similarities to Marvel’s Spider-Man and he grew on audiences over time. But like many (if not most) new DC characters, he’s not a part of the landscape anymore. Here’s to hoping he comes back.

1) Gotham Girl

If we’re being very honest. Claire Dover, aka Gotham Girl, is a character that has faded into the background despite being relatively new and for a mostly good reason: she’s mostly just a Supergirl analogue with a Gotham City coat of paint. She first appeared in DCU: Rebirth #1 and was created by Tom King, operating as a superhero along with her brother Hank, aa Gotham. The duo used a serum that shortened their lives with each use to get their superpowers. It was a whole thing.

When Hank dies after having essentially overdosed to defeat the Justice League (he was manipulated by Psycho Pirate), Claire doesn’t handle things well. She ends up working with Bane to break Batman, but in the end, Batman saves her life, curing her and ensuring she keeps her powers by exposing her to Platinum Kryptonite. Claire is one of those forgotten characters who has popped up as recently as 2022 — complete with a new costume — but she’s not really used and no one seems to even remember her most of the time.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

10 Biggest Hero and Villain Rivalries in Marvel Comics