10 Criminally Forgotten DC Characters Who Deserve a Comeback

DC Comics has been introducing superheroes to readers for nearly 90 years. They created the superhero as we know it, helped create the superteam, and made the sidekick into a major factor in superhero stories. They brought the multiverse concept to comics and revolutionized comics by bringing in mature themes. Over the years, fans have been introduced to so many different characters — superheroes, supervillains, and everything in between. The most popular are some of the most well-known characters in fiction, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg that is the DC Multiverse.

DC has a history of excellence, and a big part of that is the forgotten characters. At one point, these characters were important to the comics, and now no one has thought of them in years. These ten forgotten DC characters need to make a comeback, giving readers some amazing stories.

10) The Engineer

So, technically, the Engineer isn’t “forgotten” because she was just in James Gunn’s Superman. However, DC didn’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for Angela Spica. The Engineer was first introduced in StormWatch, and later became a member of the Authority. She hasn’t appeared in DC Comics in ages; she was even left out of the last Authority reboot. The Engineer’s nanotech body makes her a formidable character, and she’s a great visual. DC hasn’t really brought a lot of Wildstorm characters into the DC Multiverse, but now would be the perfect time for the Engineer to come back.

9) Val-Zod

Val-Zod first appeared as the New 52’s Earth-2. On that Earth, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman were thought dead. Darkseid cloned Superman, creating Brutaal. This could have been the end for the Wonders of Earth-2, but they had Val-Zod, a Kryptonian who survived the destruction of Krypton and took up the mantle of Superman. Val-Zod would actually also survive the end of the New 52 and showed up in The Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent. Fans were pretty excited for this, but Val-Zod was only in an issue or two. The Superman books are more popular than ever, and Val-Zod could make quite a splash if he returned. Maybe the Michael B. Jordan movie with Val-Zod will rematerialize if he comes back, which would be fantastic.

8) Hourman I

The Justice Society of America is DC’s first team, and their legacy is full of amazing characters. A favorite of mine has always been Rex Tyler, the first Hourman. Hourman created a pill that gave him superhuman strength and durability for an hour, and he used that to become a superhero, joining the Justice Society. He became addicted to the drug, and was able to beat it, but was killed by Extant in Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time. He would get resurrected in JSA, helping his son Rick and fighting alongside the team, but he’s since disappeared. Hourman is such a rich character, and I’m frankly surprised that DC never did a book about his drug addiction (I have a pitch for it, if any DC editors are reading this).

7) Anthro

Anthro is one of those characters who barely got a chance to shine. Anthro was the first homo sapien and first appeared in Showcase #74. He got a short-lived series and then completely disappeared. He’s appeared in several of the Crisis events since his series was cancelled, but other than that, he’s not really been around much. Anthro has a lot of potential as a character; you can have him fighting against Vandal Savage with the help of Resurrection Man (they changed it so that Resurrection Man is Immortal Man, who gained immortality alongside Savage back in the day) or bring him to the present day. Anthro is a tough sell, but that’s the glory of the DC Multiverse — you can tell any kind of story there.

6) Arion

Arion was the greatest sorcerer of Atlantis before it sank below the waves. He had his own book in the Bronze Age and appeared in many comics over the years, but is nowhere near as important as he used to be. This has always been kind of mystifying, because DC is really good about shining a light on its magic characters. Arion survived the end of his Atlantis and has survived through the millennia, having team-ups with all kinds of characters and being a pretty important character to the Aquaman mythos. With DC doing Justice League Dark and Zatanna books, there’s no reason not to bring Arion back, rebuilding him so a whole new generation of readers can discover just how cool he really is.

5) OMAC

Jack Kirby was a creative dynamo at Marvel and DC, and he created many characters for both. One of the best is OMAC, which stands for One-Man Army Corps. OMAC was from Kamandi’s future. Buddy Blank would be transformed by the Brother Eye satellite and become a powerful hero. In the 21st century, DC has brought back the concept of OMAC several times, making them into hero-hunting creations of Brother Eye, itself created by Batman, or as a new hero in the post-Dark Knights: Metal “New Age of Heroes”. However, the failure of that line put OMAC in limbo. Now would be a perfect time to bring the concept back or bring back the older version of the character, ready to battle either the heroes or the villains.

4) Kamandi

Kamandi is a character that DC will dust off now and again, but hasn’t found a way to make popular. Another Kirby creation, Kamandi lived in a world where he thought that humanity was all but extinct, the world ruled by intelligent animals after an event called the Great Disaster. He fought against the evil animals, made friends with the good ones, and had some amazing adventures. DC has used the idea of the Great Disaster many times, with some major events promising to be the Great Disaster and being stopped. However, it’s apparently inevitable, so there’s always a Kamandi. It’s about time for the next major Kamandi reboot, showing readers why this Kirby creation is amazing.

3) Commander/Citizen Steel

Commander Steel and Citizen Steel are two different characters, but I’d take either of them back. Hank Heywood was a Marine in WWII. After being heavily injured, he was given cybernetic enhancement and became an indestructible man. There have been several other Steels, named Commander and Sarge, who were his grandchildren, also getting injured and enhanced.

In the modern day, Nathan Heywood became the new Citizen Steel when the Fourth Reich, sent by Vandal Savage, attacked his family. The liquid metal of the villain Reichsmark was poured into him, and the JSA saved him. He gained super strength and invulnerability but lost all feeling in his body, taking his grandfather’s name, only calling himself “Citizen” because he was never in the military. Every time he went to battle, a special metal suit was poured over him, which would help limit his strength so he could be around other people. With the JSA back in their own book, getting one of the Steels back would be awesome.

2) Knockout

Knockout was first introduced in the mid-’90s in Superboy. She was a hardcore bruiser whom the Teen of Steel had a crush on, forming a love triangle with a reporter named Tana (those Kents and their reporters, huh?). Superboy and Knockout hung out for a while, and readers eventually found out she was a former Female Fury of Apokolips who escaped to Earth. She’d show up in a lot of background shots after she and Superboy’s partnership ended, and was put into a relationship with Scandal Savage (while we’re at it, we should probably bring her back as well), but hasn’t been seen very much recently. Knockout is an awesome character, and she’d be perfect for the current DC Multiverse.

1) Animal Man

Animal Man (Vol. 1) was a masterpiece, making the character into something so much better than his simplistic Silver Age origins. Buddy Baker gained the power to take on the abilities of animals thanks to alien manipulations, which has since been explained as a connection to the Red, the morphogenetic field that all animals are connected to. Animal Man isn’t exactly forgotten, in that we talk about him a lot because of his importance to DC history and the maturation of superheroes, but he hasn’t really made many appearances in recent years, showing up last in Justice League Dark (Vol. 2) (his daughter Maxine has showed up in The Flash, though, as a friend to Irey and a possible love interest for Jai). Animal Man is a DC icon of sorts, and he needs to be brought back.

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