I think we can all agree that just about every name character in the DC super-world has a fairly interesting backstory.
But which of our DC pals would you say has a backstory that is “particularly” interesting - or even the most interesting of all?
And of course, do let us all know why! ^ ^
Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Nth metal.
Hawkman and Donna Troy certainly have the most complicated backstory, thereby making their history pretty interesting🍀
Batman
Because of all the years going a cross the globe, to learn different skills, like various martial arts, escape artistry from Zatanna 's father Zatara, and forensic science. He knows many languages.
@cnoel26.58164
That is definitely a good one! However cheesy, I love the idea of them always finding one another in each new life.
I have never sat down and just read their origin story (only pieced it together as they appeared in different content), but I would be very interested to see exactly how their story began and what they have lived together throughout their various lives (together and more particularly the times when they lived much of a life apart).
@TurokSonOfStone1950
I agree! Batman’s backstory is pretty happenin’, when it comes to “stuff”. But what about stories and things occurring that produce interesting shifts in the character or his lifestory?
I mean, we all know about his parents dying in the alley and how the Batman came to be, but what would you say are some of the “finer” but still relevant points of interest in the Bat’s story?
Some of Batman’s struggles are
the degree or not of how he accepts losses, to himself and to others. His guilt.
the degree that he wants a family around him,
and the degree he wants to do it alone.
Him thinking others are inferior to him, which causes hm not to be a team player .
His fear that being loved and being happy means he cant Be Batman.
His fear that he is getting older and he is losing his edge
The fact that a very large of him wants to die in battle, and not live the remainder. Of his life in a wheelchair.
Superman/Clark Kent, I think his story is really interesting because he was found as a baby in a rocket ship by the Kent’s, growing up learning how to deal with his powers. I think TV show Smallville did a great job with Clark’s journey to become Superman. 
One of my favorite Superboy comic was when Superboy first meet Lex Luthor, they were friends and later Luthor hated him!
I also thought that Cassandra Cain has an interesting backstory.
Superman
Well, Superman is a natural choice for me. He’s a son of two societies. He’s the last newborn child from his birth society as it descends into an unavoidable oblivion, while becoming the ultimate beacon of hope and justice for his adopted society. He escapes tragedy from one end of the galaxy and literally soars into the joys of life and family in another. Bruce Wayne went from happiness to tragedy while Clark experienced the opposite.
He’s a metaphor for how we all start out in life. Small and unassuming over time but we grow into something much greater as we figure out who we are and what we want our lives to be. He travelled the world just as much as Bruce did. Rather than a journey to become the ultimate tactician and combatant while honing his body to the height of what is absolutely possible for a human like Bruce did all in the name of waging a war on the criminal element, Clark’s journey was one of peace and self discovery. Not only to understand his Kryptonian heritage but to figure himself out as a person and what his ultimate destiny will be.
Superman is the axis of the DCU. Everyone on Earth knows of him and he’s known throughout the galaxies of the universe. From someone in Suicide Slum to the Dominators, Khunds, whatever is beyond the Source Wall and beyond that, Superman is a focal point of everything in one form or another.
To paraphrase Larry David: Superman is pretty, pretty, pret-tay interesting.
What I find interesting about Superman’s story is that he’s a god, but a god who received wisdom and enlightenment FROM mortals, instead of bestowing it on mortals.
Nightwing, easily. Not necessarily his Robin origin, but how he grew from Robin into Nightwing. I like how he pretty much grew up in the superhero lifestyle as a sidekick but then branched out to become a successful solo superhero, Bats’ default right-hand man and presumed successor, and the longest-running leader of one of the DCU’s more successful hero teams. He’s just had a lot of growth and change over the years while still remaining true to who he is.
Jason Todd: Red Hood
An orphan who grew up on the street after his dad was killed by by a supervillian and later got adopted by Bruce Wayne after Batman forced him to live in a home for boys that was run by some nutty old lady that fed the boys booze and forced them to steel things.
Turns out Bruce Wayne is Batman which leads to Jason Todd becoming the new Robin.
A bunch of crazy awesome stuff happens that includes a Flash Point crisis moment, a Lazarus Pitt & some ninjas high as #$*@ up in the mountains and we wind up with Red Hood.
It’s a real good story.
Harley quinn of course!
I’m a sucker for the underdog and I’ve got to say that, by far, the most interesting backstory in the DC Universe belongs to Jonah Hex. He’s probably one of the most fascinating characters in all of literature for me because his history is so rich; his character so idiosyncratic, and his life so full of hardship and curiosity.
Countless characters have endured tragedy resulting in their taking on a masked alter-ego or discovering they have superpowers, but very few fall victim to the tragedy of having been born. With a violent drunk for a father and a mother who ran off with a traveling salesman, Hex’s origins start off about as well as you’d expect for a man with his hardened exterior.
After his father traded him to the Apache for safe passage to California, along with the empty promise that he’d return for his progeny with gold in hand once he’d found his fortune, Hex spent the remainder of his formative years as a slave to the tribe until he saved the Chief from a mountain lion and was adopted in as an honorary member. However, after being left for dead by the chief’s jealous son, fate and circumstance led him to the Confederacy.
There’s a comic irony to be found in a former slave finding himself fighting on the side of slavers, and Hex, himself, found that it was too much to bear when he decided to surrender to Union forces later in his military career. However, his efforts to alleviate his conscience proved ineffective when a corrupt Union colonel led an ambush that massacred his former friends and compatriots and blamed the treachery on Hex.
A man without friends; without a country, and wearing the uniform of a hated and losing side as a perpetual mark of shame, Hex returned to the only family he had known: the Apache. After confronting the Chief’s son and demanding he be held to account for his betrayal, Hex was granted a trial by combat, wherein he and the Chief’s son, Noh-Tante, were to battle to the death with Tomahawks. Noh-Tante tampered with the weapons beforehand, however, ensuring that Hex would both lose and die, but his efforts proved fruitless when Hex killed him with a Bowie knife, instead.
Despite the circumstances and the treachery of Noh-Tante, Hex was viewed as a cheat and a murderer and sentenced by the Chief to carry “The Mark of the Demon” for the remainder of his life; by which Hex had earned his distinctive facial scar after having his deceased opponent’s scorching hot Tomahawk held to his face.
I think what makes Jonah Hex so fascinating to me is that, despite the relentless misfortune, wherein everyone who hates him hurts him and anyone who loves him most certainly suffers or dies from it, he doesn’t allow it to turn him into a monster. He may look like Two-Face gone to Texas, but belying the gritty exterior, violent nature, hard drinking, womanizing, and general malcontent is a man with a code, who, more often than not, finds himself doing the right thing and helping others even when he pretends not to care. He has no powers, he has few friends, and DC history remembers him as little more than a monster who murdered for money, and yet, despite all the hardship, he still persevered and tried to be just, however unjust the weird wilds of his untamed West may have been.
Detective Chimp. I especially like it’s depiction in Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1
@batfan008
Right on!
That is a very colorful backstory, indeed!
It’s always something truly amazing when someone with such tragic/depressing origins manages to not just move past these things, but also rise above them.
It’s always such a beautiful homage to the hope and goodness that I like to believe is in the heart of all mankind.
While most of us understand how life can bring a person down and how it can even manage to change a person completely, it doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t “have” to.
I love tales of strength, endurance, & will-power.
And I imagine Hex’s story has gotta be full of this.
I was trying to make sure not to spoil anything if someone decides to pick up the story…
But REALLY!!! It’s SUCH a fun read!!###