In the mid-70s, Super Friends first came onto TV. It was a superhero show for kids, and the characterizatons, scripting, plots, etc. all show it. However, even though it was very silly, none of the main DC heroes came out of it looking really bad... except for Aquaman. For most folks who grew up with the show, even some comic fans, Aquaman is this:
Tell me you wouldn't do this |
This is what happens when creative teams don't talk |
And that kind of sucks, in both cases. Both are really great characters with a lot of depth and potential. They're both powerful characters, with wide-ranging in-universe impacts. Pym is on a par with Richards and Stark in terms of his genius, having invented tons of crazy superscience stuff, not to mention the fact that he can grow to the size of a skyscraper and command insects. Aquaman is the king of Atlantis, super strong, durable, can command all marine life, and (sometimes) water itself. Pym is as much a part of the Avengers as Aquaman is of the JLA: both founders, both regular members of the roster. They are not slouches, either of them.
Beyond that, there are characters that, by all rights, should be as problematic as these two - I'm not going to go into it too much, because everyone has their favorites and no one likes hearing bad things about them, but I'll give a couple of examples. Spider-Man struck his wife (once, accidentally, while mentally stressed, as Pym was), but it's not a defining moment for the character. Over at DC, Hawkman can fly and is a good fighter. That's about it, and yet he's regarded as more respectable than Aquaman.
Yarr, me hearties! |
Alternately, they go about it the way that most writers treat Pym, as this contrite scientist who's really going to make it work this time, even though he's supposedly redeemed himself in a half dozen previous books since the Yellowjacket incident. One of the big story payoffs of the recent Age of Ultron event was Hank Pym once again "redeeming" himself. However, a redemption story rings hollow when the character has saved the world literally dozens of times.
All of these attempts at "fixing" the problems with the characters ultimately just reinforces them. The writers bring the issues up over and over again, or make transparent attempts to make the character seem more serious, which just draws more attention to the problem. Instead, they should act like modern PR flacks that get out in front of a problem, address it, and then hope it goes away by making their client act like a sane person for as long as they can. At this point, all they need to do is just write good stories for the characters and let it go.
Seriously, this is happening |
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