Introducing a new comics character is difficult. Since the start of the century, only a few new heroes have taken off, and most of the ones who, like Jon Kent and Damian Wayne, are legacy characters who have preexisting fanbases to pull from. Readers are less likely to take a chance than they were in the Golden Age when new heroes were showing up on newsstands every week, or even in the Silver Age where Marvel changed the game. At the same time, many creators are less willing to create a new concept for one of the big two because they worry about losing out if that character becomes a Harley Quinn-sized moneymaker.
But there are still attempts to introduce new figures who may be connected to well-known characters but are meant to tread their own path. Sometimes, these characters are brought in slowly and fan reaction is polled before they are given their big shot. But there are other times when a company like DC seems to be so sure that they have gold, they will skip over dipping a toe in the pool and dive right in.
These are characters who DC hyped up before they made their actual debuts, pushing them as the next big thing, only for fans to respond with little more than a shrug. The characters may be great, and many have fanbases that live on, but the promise of being the “next big thing” never worked out quite the way DC seemed to believe it would.
Perhaps because it worked with Bane years earlier, and it was coming from the mind of Grant Morrison, DC chose to introduce readers to Prometheus in his own one-shot, New Year’s Evil: Prometheus. The character was something akin to a “Reverse-Batman” and, in his first real outing, Prometheus sneaks onto the Justice League Watchtower and nearly succeeds in taking out the entire League.
But Prometheus never quite popped for readers. He would continue to appear over the years, usually working with other villains, which felt odd considering how he was introduced. He never became the dangerous figure that DC pushed him as when he first showed up.
Created by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jiménez, and pushed as a major new character before her debut with special looks and even a variant cover of her own, Punchline was introduced during a period when Tynion and Jiménez were bringing in a lot of new characters to the Batman universe, which was part of the problem.
The character kind of got lost in the mix, and while she had a moment in the spotlight, it didn’t last. After getting her own miniseries, Punchline seemed to fall away, and while she still shows up from time to time, she has become more of a background character.
With a look clearly inspired by Spider-Man, Sideways was made the face of a new DC line of books that would come out of Dark Knights: Metal. The line was first titled “Dark Matter” and set for release in 2017, but was rebranded as “The New Age of DC Heroes” and pushed back to 2018.
Like most of the titles to come out of “The New Age of DC Heroes,” Sideways was canceled just over a year after it began. The book was met with tepid reviews, and readers never grabbed onto it. Since then, Sideways has been relegated to showing up in the background of events.
Making her debut in 2019, Naomi was the first new hero Marvel superstar Brian Michael Bendis created for DC when he switched companies. The character, co-created by David F. Walker and Jamal Campbell, was introduced to readers in her own miniseries, which was heavily pushed by DC. The book was well received and a second mini was announced.
But before that book came out, Naomi seemed to be everywhere. She was showing up in Bendis’ Superman books, as well as in his run on Young Justice, and she was given her own live-action TV series. The same month her second miniseries started, Naomi’s show canceled. That miniseries also marked the end of Bendis’ time at DC. Since then, Naomi has all but vanished.
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Slowly introduced to readers over a year, Duke Thomas started his heroic career by joining Gotham’s teens under the title We Are Robin. While that gang was short-lived, Duke showed promise and was taken under Batman’s wing. Wanting to be his own man, Duke didn’t become the next Robin, choosing instead to be something new: The Signal.
The Signal is a great addition to the Bat-Family, and one of the few members with actual superpowers. But it is a large family with characters that have bigger followings than him. Because of this, Duke doesn’t show up as much as he probably should, and when he does pop in, it’s usually for a brief moment.
Created by Joëlle Jones as a near-future Wonder Woman, Yara Flor came out of the gate strong. Her Future State miniseries, Future State: Wonder Woman, was one of the biggest and most liked of the event. The initial reaction to the character led to Yara Flor getting her own ongoing series, titled Wonder Girl, and talk of a possible TV series. She even had a cameo on the short-lived live-action Naomi series on the CW.
But Yara Flor’s popularity seemed to collapse overnight. Her comic ended after just seven issues, her TV show was never greenlit, and the character has since fallen to the side, occasionally making appearances in other books.
Making his debut in his own series all the way back in 1994, Damage was teased as a new hero with deep ties to classic characters. In time, it would be revealed that he was the son of Al Pratt, the original Atom. Damage’s own series started off strong, and the character played a very important role in Zero Hour, with his explosive power being used to recreate the Big Bang and build a new universe.
But after 20 issues, Damage’s title was canceled. The hero would bounce around in other titles, like Titans and, most notably, Geoff Johns’ JSA/Justice Society books before being killed off during Blackest Night. A new Damage was part of the same line that introduced Sideways, but his series was canceled, and the OG Damage returned in Doomsday Clock, though he’s only made a handful of appearances since then.
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While Vixen is a beloved DC character with a sizable fanbase, she has never had the following DC had expected. But this isn’t the fault of the character or her creators, Gerry Conway and Bob Oksner. It was forces outside of anyone’s control that ruined her big moment.
Vixen was supposed to be the first Black female superhero to get her own book, and it was going to be part of the 1978 “DC Explosion.” The marketing campaign was built around expanding the DC Comics roster in an attempt to regain market share that it has lost to Marvel over the decade, and Vixen was set to be one of the new titles. But the “DC Explosion” turned into the “DC Implosion” thanks to a number of problems.
Along with poor sales across the board, the company was dealing with external factors that hurt the bottom line, namely major blizzards that kept their books from reaching stores, rising inflation that increased printing costs, and the ongoing gas crisis of the time. In the end, DC was forced to cancel a number of titles, including ones that never came out, like Vixen. The character would go on to appear in countless other books, but her big moment had passed.
Another character added to the Batman universe by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jiménez, Ghost-Maker is a very cool looking character who seemed destined for greatness, but ended up falling to the side. Making his debut in Batman #100, the character was introduced to readers as an old friend of Bruce Wayne’s, and quickly became a part of the Bat-Family.
Ghost-Maker became the leader of Batman Incorporated, and the series he starred in ran for 12 issues. Since then, Ghost-Maker has made a few brief appearances, but the shine seems to have worn off, and readers aren’t as interested in seeing where his story goes.
An alien princess who really wants to have Superman’s babies, Maxima was brought into the DCU to spice things up in the Superman titles, creating a sort of love triangle between Maxima, Superman, and Lois Lane (though Superman never really considered Maxima as a possible romantic partner).
The character was somewhat popular when she first appeared, but the one-dimensional motivation that was her reason for existing got tired, and Maxima was killed off. She returned during the New 52 era and has shown up from time to time since, but her biggest break may be around the corner with rumors that the character will appear in James Gunn’s Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow.