Superheroes are meant to represent the best parts of ourselves. They’re people blessed with incredible powers and skills that they use to help others and save lives. They always rise to the challenges presented to them and come out the other end, saving the day. DC is filled to the brim with countless heroes that anyone can look up to. Superman is the embodiment of hope and the perfect role model. Batman is a great showcase of how to grow from tragedy and channel pain. Wonder Woman is an incredible person to look up to. Who doesn’t love her? Of course, not every hero is loveable, or even likeable.
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Some superheroes are annoying, aggravating, and downright hateable. They’re still heroes who fight to save the day, but when they show up, fans can’t help but groan. Some are people that we love to hate, and others are characters that genuinely raise our blood pressure. Today, we’re looking at five of DC’s most aggravating heroes of all time and ranking them by how insanely powerful they are. These guys all have a sizeable fanbase built around disliking them, and while most of them definitely don’t deserve the ire they generate, we won’t know until we take a look at them.
5) Robin — Damian Wayne
Damian was introduced with the intent, very explicitly, of being hated. He was a spoiled brat who thought that he was entitled to the Batman and Robin mantles because of how he was born and even killed in Batman’s name. Obviously, these were traits that he was supposed to grow out of, but to this day, he tends to be a pretty arrogant and divisive character. Honestly, I love Damian. He’s one of my favorite characters, but it’s also impossible to escape his detractors’ cries. Frankly, he’s become a much more mature young man, and the most annoying part about Damian now is that he seems to be stuck repeating the same character arc every run.
As for his power level, well, Damian is a normal human, at the end of the day. Yes, he’s trained himself to physical perfection and has the added bonus of a teenager’s overconfidence in their immortality, but he is still just a man. There were brief moments where he gained powers, but those never lasted for long, and they don’t reflect his usual skillset. Damian is a serious threat with his skills, ingenuity, and planning, but he’s still limited by being just a teenage boy.
4) John Constantine
Constantine is the type of person that you love to read about but would absolutely, positively despise if you knew him in real life. He’s an alcoholic, chain-smoking jerk who is constantly mooching off of everyone around him. He has a good heart and ultimately does what he does for the greater good, but he’s more than willing to throw even his closest friends under the bus to reach his goals. When he’s not saving the world, he tends to be the most toxic person you could imagine. All of Constantine’s friends have hated him at some point, but none probably as much as he hates himself.
As for the power department, Constantine is definitely a step up from Robin. He’s an incredibly skilled magician who knows more about the occult than just about anyone alive. He’s made countless deals and picked up who knows how many magical baubles, all of which grant him power in some capacity. He’s not on the level of someone like Zatanna or Doctor Fate, but he is a serious threat. Still, Constantine is a conman at heart. He prefers to outwit his opponents rather than outmuscle them. Constantine can duke it out in a magical brawl, but he’d much prefer to poison someone’s drink before they even leave their house.
3) Triumph
Triump is a very obscure character today, but after his introduction, he was on track to become one of DC’s most hated characters. He emerged from the Zero Hour event, having been a founding member of the Justice League who was wiped from existence and everyone’s memories. Triumph was, for lack of a better phrase, not a character that anyone wanted. It’s understandable that he would be upset that he gave his life for the world, and now that he’s returned, nobody even knows his name, but he was endlessly whiny and arrogant. He acted like he knew better than everyone else, and tended to be a real sore winner when he was. He was quickly thrown to the side and forgotten about.
His short tenure as a hero is a darn shame because his powers are interesting. He had full control over electromagnetism, which extends far beyond just moving metal around. He can do everything from controlling the power of gravity to mind-controlling via manipulating the electricity in people’s brains. Triumph was basically DC’s Magneto, and there’s no denying that the Master of Magnetism is a serious heavy hitter. It’s a shame that DC doesn’t have another character at this level of strength with these powers, because they are definitely a ton of fun to play around with.
2) Green Lantern — Guy Gardner
Guy is the person that everyone loves to hate. He’s an arrogant, bullheaded jerk who is quick to throw a punch and slow to think about why he shouldn’t have. This was especially true back in the day, when he literally tore cities apart during fights and nearly destroyed the universe during Crisis on Infinite Earths. Guy is the exact kind of person that you beg to see get punched in the face. His most famous moment is literally when Batman did just that and knocked him flat on his rear. Still, as much as we all love to hate Guy, he’s definitely someone you want fighting alongside you. When you see him, you’re sure to groan, but you’ll also be happy to stand next to him.
Now, as for the power department, well, they don’t call the Green Lantern Ring the most powerful weapon in the universe for nothing. Guy can make literally anything he can imagine, and he has a very vivid imagination when he wants to kick someone’s behind. His willpower is easily the most stubborn of all his fellow Lanterns’, and it’s been described as a leaky faucet that’s waiting to burst. He’s always willing to get into scraps and almost always finds a way to either come out on top or make it hurt for whatever unfortunate soul decided to fight him.
1) Superboy-Prime
Prime was introduced as the embodiment of the Silver Age, carrying all of its hopes, dreams, and incomparable power. Of course, he quickly became something much darker. His fourth-wall knowledge led him to see his world as fictional, and thus, unimportant, and he became a true psychopath who believed that nothing but he mattered. Prime came to represent all the toxic traits of the comic book community. He hated anything different from how he imagined it should be, and took his rage out on anyone who dared to say that comics would never be like they were when he was a kid. Superboy-Prime was a monster with few comparisons. He literally killed the Golden Age Superman, for crying out loud.
Of course, Prime has changed a lot since then, but what hasn’t changed is his incredible power. He’s one of the strongest characters in DC, period. He’s every bit as powerful as Silver Age Superman, meaning that he can do practically anything he puts his mind to. Heck, he’s best known for punching reality so hard he caused retcons, and that’s not even the only time he’s done something like that. It took the entire Green Lantern Corps and two Supermen to bring him down, and he’s fought through the whole superhero community on more than one occasion. Prime is never someone you want on your bad side. Especially if you have different taste in comics.
Which hateable DC hero is your favorite? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
