As someone who loves Batman and Batman stories, even I get sick of him butting in on other characters. He’ll always be my favorite when he’s doing his own Batman stuff in Gotham City, but he’s just kind of takes up too much narrative space when he starts interacting with the rest of the DCU. They really need to tone down his overpoweredness. I always thought of him as someone who doesn’t deal very well with unforeseen circumstances but can adapt quickly and lay out a good plan, but in recent years he seems to always have all the answers ahead of time. Like, one of my favorite Batman stories is Knightfall, where he gets the tar beaten out of him because he’s up against a threat he doesn’t know how to deal with, and he’s not even the one who stops Bane in the end, but he still comes back stronger for all the punishment. The other big issue is that he always acts like such an angry jerk. Batman should be a little moody, sure, but he’s very hard to put up with as a protagonist in his usual modern characterization, and it seems like every time someone tries to mellow him out he resets as soon as a new writer takes over so he can learn to mellow out again.
On the subject of Barbara Gordon post-flashpoint… I guess she gets on my nerves. It’s really more that she makes me sad about the more interesting stories they could be telling about Oracle but gave up on because they wanted Batgirl to be a redhead again. Also, there’s the fact that reverting to Batgirl contradicts pretty much everything about her characterization for the 22 years between Suicide Squad #23 and Flashpoint (24 years if you want to start with The Killing Joke instead of her first appearance as Oracle). She was always somebody who refused to accept any miracle cure (or even any kind of helpful gadget) because she wasn’t broken and didn’t need fixing. Plus, she was far more useful and dangerous as Oracle than anybody running around in spandex. I’m actually not a fan of Grant Morrison’s JLA, but who else would you put in charge of a planetfull of superhumans?
I don’t usually have anything against Batwoman, and even her killing Clayface wasn’t necessarily unforgivable… but she made Cass sad. That IS unforgivable. Plus, from a story perspective, I feel like the bat-family went too easy on her. Out-of-universe, I understand her perspective and it’s a sensible position, but it’s the sort of thing that everybody’s been very clear doesn’t fly in Gotham City. Why such a different perspective when it’s Kate now from when it’s Black Spider in the '70s, Huntress in the '90s, or Red Hood in the '00s?
Shazam annoys me because every time he shows up, I just think that his name is Captain Marvel. Plus, he’s pretty much not been acting like himself since Flashpoint. When he’s called Captain Marvel and is his usual cornball self with the original powerset, he’s great.
Barry Allen isn’t that bad of a character, but just reminds me that he’s not Wally West.
I’d file Cyborg in the same bin as Batgirl: I miss his old personality, backstory, and supporting cast, so seeing post-Flashpoint Cyborg makes me sad more than angry.
As for characters I genuinely dislike: Damian Wayne will always be somewhere in my top three least favorite comic book characters. He’s every bad trait of Batman that other people pointed out, amplified and stuck on a bratty, murderous, spoiled little kid who seems to be given everything he wants all the time for no reason.
Jason Todd was a cool villain when they brought him back to life, but doesn’t work as an anti-hero.
Deathstroke is another good-villain/bad-hero scenario.
On that note, I’m sick of Harley Quinn. She was reasonably entertaining as a quirky Joker henchman. She was kind of fun as Poison Ivy’s somewhat better-treated sidekick. She’s really obnoxious as this overhyped anti-hero who gets shoved into everything for no reason. Like, I’m similarly tired of Deadpool, but at least Deadpool’s schtick actually is funny sometimes. In some of the early Harley stories, it’s actually a specific plot point that she’s not very funny, and yet she seems to be DC’s biggest comic relief character right now.
Hawkman is fine when they can just pick one origin for him and stick to it. So, never.
Anarky is a whiny, walking excuse for writers to spout off about politics, which I hate even when there’s not a specific mouthpiece.
Uh… let’s see… Ooh! I also don’t like Green Arrow, but that’s weird, because I actually like seeing him as a completely terrible person who brings nothing but pain and misery to everyone around him, even though they were never intentionally writing him that way (except maybe in Young Justice).
Then, of course, you’ve got the usual suspects of characters who NOBODY likes: Superboy Prime, Major Force, Triumph, Early '80s Vibe, etcetera.
You know, I always feel like I’m being really negative whenever I come on to these forums, but it’s actually really nice to have a place to vent about this stuff to people who get it. So, this is a weird segue, but… Thanks, DCU!
But yeah I’ll shut up now, would love to hear everyone elses thoughts!!!
