7 DC Characters Who Desperately Need a Reboot (And #1 is Way Overdue)

Love it or hate it, if there’s one thing that’s true about comics it’s that nothing stays the same for very long. Comics are full of relaunches, refreshes, and even full-on reboots that take entire publishing lines in new directions on the big end of the scale or completely reimagine characters on the small end. Over the years, some of the biggest and most loved characters in comics have gotten major changes and fresh takes. It’s something that has kept the characters engaging and interesting for decades.

But there are some characters that really need a fresh approach. These are characters with a lot of potential that maybe are a little dated, underutilized, need a little spark, or in one case, needs to be revisited in order to be more consistent. Change is good, after all, and it would be especially good for these seven DC heroes.

7) Obsidian

The son of Alan Scott and Rose Canton and the twin brother of Jade, Todd Rice, aka Obsidian didn’t have the best beginning. He was raised in an abusive adoptive home and discovered he had a twin sister as a teen. But, despite all he went through, he and his sister both went on to follow in their father’s footsteps and become heroes in their own right and become founding members of Infinity, Inc.

Generally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with Obsidian as a character to where he would need a reset, like a complicated continuity or history. Instead, Obsidian needs a reboot because he just hasn’t been used to his fullest potential. He’s an interesting character with some really fascinating powers (most of which deal with shadows) and giving him a reboot would give DC a chance to do so much more with him.

6) Vicki Vale

Vicki Vale inhabits an interesting space in Batman’s overall story. She was a prominent character from her first appearance in 1948 through Detective Comics #320 in 1963 but was then dropped and has appeared sporadically — and inconsistently, in terms of her story — since.

While she was introduced as a journalist and romantic interest for Bruce Wayne — think of her being sort of Like Gotham’s version of Lois Lane if you must — DC hasn’t really seemed to know what to do with Vicki for some time. It might be interesting to see the character get a full-on reboot, one that gives her a past with Bruce Wayne, but also something that puts her into conflict with Batman as she uses her profession for a better Gotham. It would just be nice to see her doing something more substantial again.

5) Martian Manhunter

While one could argue that we’ve sort of gotten a “reboot” of Martian Manhunter in the sense that Absolute Martian Manhunter is unlike anything we have ever seen before in the best way imaginable, it also just serves as a reminder that J’onn J’onzz is one of the most interesting character concepts DC has and they just don’t do enough with him. Giving the character a refresh or even a fully fresh start would be a great way to make him a little more prominent — just as long as they leave his love of Chocos alone.

4) Firestorm

Firestorm has never been a particularly big hit as a character, which is a real shame because it’s such an interesting concept. There have been two versions of the character — the fusion of Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein version and the Jason Rusch version — but we’d take a fresh approach to either version. In fact, there’s a third version, albeit one used for television, Jefferson Jackson, that would actually be a pretty solid blueprint for a reboot.

The live-action, Jefferson Jackson version of Firestorm from DC’s Legends of Tomorrow was a popular, fan-favorite character and showed that, while his comics success has evaded him, he’s a character people are interested in and it would be nice to see what a fresh take might do.

3) Carrie Kelley

Technically, Carrie Kelley has actually been rebooted thanks to the New 52, but it’s not necessarily something one would consider to be a substantial reboot. A character largely from Frank Miller’s Dark Knight trilogy, Carrie has the distinction of being the first, full-time female Robin in the Batman franchise overall, though not technically canonically because Miller’s trilogy is not part of the main canon.

Over the course of Miller’s trilogy, Carrie undergoes a lot of changes in terms of her heroic role. It would be interesting to take elements of that heroic evolution to give Carrie a real place in the mainline canon, possibly even as a hero that isn’t necessarily in Batman’s shadow. He has, after all, had enough Robins.

2) Green Arrow

We are technically going to get something like a Green Arrow reboot thanks to the Absolute Universe with Absolute Green Arrow next year, but it would be nice to see the Emerald Archer get some sort of mainline refresh that could stick, too. Oliver Queen is one of those characters that is honestly great but somehow doesn’t seem to do as well as characters like Batman or Superman. He’s gotten a few refreshes over the years — and has even come back from the dead.

With the current Green Arrow ongoing being cancelled due to “unsustainable” sales— last issue will be Green Arrow #31 — it just feels like now would be a good time to figure out a fresh approach to the character that might be a better hook for readers.

1) Jason Todd

When it comes to characters DC mishandles, there are a lot of people who would put Jason Todd/Red Hood near the top of that list. The character has been written pretty inconsistently over the years since his return, but more than that, it is his actual origin that might be the biggest problem with the character — and we’re not talking about his infamous death.

We know the basics of Jason’s past and the bigger events. What we don’t have much about is his actual time as Robin. What we do have of Jason’s Robin tenure varies so wildly from what was actually on the page contemporaneous to the character’s actual run in the ‘80s to what we’re show in more modern flashbacks. Specifically, older portrayals show complex, but compassionate character while modern flashbacks only seem to show him as a problem child with rage issues from the start. At this point, DC just needs to formally give the character’s early years an overhaul and then use the direction from said overhaul to inform where they send the character in the future. Jason’s an interesting character that fans either love or love to hate and they really could do much more with him simply by giving him a reboot.

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