DC Comics has been giving its fans some of the best superhero stories since 1938. The publisher has a legacy of excellence that is honestly hard to match. It created what the superhero comic could be back in the Golden Age and has been redefining it for close to a hundred years. Its characters have become world-renowned icons, with the most popular of them becoming household names. In the decades these characters have existed, fans have gotten to see them fight the greatest battles in fictional history, triumphing against forces that could devour reality itself. These victories have helped define many of the most popular, bumping them to the status of legends.
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DC’s greatest heroes have done some amazing things, but not all of them are created equally. There are some victories which matter than others, showing these heroes for the greats that they truly are. These are DC’s seven most popular heroes’ most important victories, wins that have showed why they are the best of the best.
7) Hal Jordan
Hal Jordan is the most popular Green Lantern, and there was a time when his books were the bestselling in comics. All of this stemmed from the fantastic Green Lantern: Rebirth, a book that brought back Jordan and the classic Green Lantern Corps mythos. It also gave readers his greatest victory. The story saw Sinestro and Parallax try to take control of him while he was the Spectre, but he was able to hold them back. Then, Parallax took over Guardian of the Universe Ganthet, himself a already a cosmic force, and Jordan was key to defeating the twisted amalgamation of will and fear. Parallax had destroyed his life for years, and his defeat of it was the turning point, a triumph that would see him live up to his reputation as the greatest Green Lantern.
6) Wally West
Wally West has become the greatest Flash, reaching levels of power that Barry Allen and Jay Garrick could only dream of. However, it took time for him to get there and he faced his greatest challenge in “The Return of Barry Allen”. This story seemingly saw the return of West’s mentor but he became a villain, hating the one who took over for him. It was revealed that he was actually the Reverse Flash, come back in time after making himself look like the hero he was obsessed with, trying to steal Barry’s legacy. Wally had to tap into a greater power than he ever had before and was able to defeat the more powerful evil speedster. This victory unlocked the floodgates of power inside and presaged him becoming a greater hero than his uncle ever had.
5) Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn has become one of the most popular characters in comics. Her greatest victory is one that isn’t as cut and dry as some of the others on this list. This one took her a lot of times, but it was no less important. Harley first came to prominence as the sidekick to the Joker. She was in love with him and was abused physically and emotionally by the Clown Prince of Crime, constantly coming back to him despite everything he did to her. She’d eventually gain the strength and love for herself to leave him for good and her life has improved exponentially. She’s found true love with Poison Ivy and has become a trusted hero, even if she still does some wild stuff at times.
4) Nightwing
Nightwing has grown into one of DC’s greatest heroes. The former Robin founded the Teen Titans and led the grown-up version of the group the Titans, all while protecting Bludhaven and becoming the most trusted hero outside the Trinity. He’s had some amazing victories but his greatest has come in the last few years. When the Justice League was seemingly killed in the run-up to Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, he took control of the superhero community on Earth, doing his best to lead them against Deathstroke and his Dark Army. The final battle came down to him and his longtime nemesis, with Dick tapping into the power of hope and light to defeat ‘Stroke, who was powered by the Great Darkness. He used the resulting power to stabilize the multiverse, recreating the infinite Earths of the past.
3) Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is the greatest warrior of the Amazons and has some amazing victories under her belt, but the one that truly defines who she is came in Dark Knights: Death Metal. She fooled Perpetua and the Batman Who Laughs into allowing her to run their prison, where she planned a way to save the entirety of the Multiverse. Whereas Batman wanted to only save a part, she went for the whole thing despite the hopeless odds, eventually gaining the power she needed to wrestle with the Darkest Knight, the Batman Who Laughs with the power of Doctor Manhattan. She was able to defeat him and used the resulting power to recreate the multiverse that he and Perpetua deformed, opening up the greater Omniverse of collected multiverses.
2) Batman
Batman is Gotham City’s greatest protector and one of the guiding lights of the Justice League. He’s faced every kind of challenge you can imagine, but the one that defines him is his defeat of Darkseid’s plans in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. The God of Evil had sent him back to the beginning of the human race with the Omega Sanction, forcing him to move forward through time by setting the Hyper-Adapter after him. The Dark Knight was meant to accumulate Omega energy through this process, becoming a bomb that would detonate and destroy reality when he reached his home time. However, with the help of Tim Drake, Booster Gold, Rip Hunter, and the Bat-Family, he was able to overcome Darkseid’s machinations, saving existence from the last spiteful stab of the Lord of Apokolips.
1) Superman
Superman is DC’s greatest hero and his victories are both legion and legendary. However, the greatest might be his latest. In DC K.O., the heroes of the Earth were thrust into the King Omega tournament, where the winner would gain the power to battle against the Final God Darkseid, with all of reality at stake. The Man of Steel seemingly lost the tournament to Lex Luthor, but with the help of Time Trapper Doomsday was able to steal the crown and become King Omega. He battled Darkseid at the villain’s most powerful across all existence simultaneously and was able to win by allowing his friends to join the fight. He saved the multiverse from the Final God, leaving his friends behind for a time on a mission to fix all of the damage done to existence by the Fourth World’s greatest monster.
What your favorite DC hero victory? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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