DCAU Influences on Mainstream Comics
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The DCAU, though it is primarily derivative of DC Comics, produced several creative innovations that were adapted into the mainstream comics and other media.
Contents |
[edit] Original Characters
The following is a partial list of characters created for the DCAU who found their way into the mainstream comics:
[edit] Lock-Up
[edit] Harley Quinn
Arguably the most successful "addition" to the mainstream comics is Harley Quinn, the Joker's girlfriend. She was initially introduced in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Favor", voiced by Arleen Sorkin. The character quickly became hugely popular. DC released a graphic novel collection, Batman: Harley Quinn giving Harley's "official" origin in the comics continuity. This origin is closely similar to that of "Mad Love."
Television: A character named Dr. Harleen Quinzel was the main antagonist of the short-lived Birds of Prey live-action series, which takes place in a Gotham City after both Batman and the Joker have passed on. Posing as a legitimate psychiatrist, Harleen is secretly a criminal mastermind, seeking revenge against Gotham City as a whole, and especially against the Birds of Prey (whose ranks include Batman and Selina Kyle's daughter, Helena), for Joker's death. She was played in the un-aired pilot episode by Sherilyn Fenn, and in every episode thereafter by Mia Sara.
Ironically, Harley's incorporation into the mainstream comics also led to her inclusion in the Bat-Embargo, which came into effect around the time the second season of Justice League Unlimited was being produced, and which barred the use of any Batman-universe characters in further DCAU productions.
Harley also appears as a character in the non-DCAU animated series The Batman, where she is voiced by Hynden Walch.
[edit] Mercy Graves
[edit] Livewire
[edit] Renee Montoya
Montoya was created for the Writer's Bible as an audience viewpoint and minority character - the GPD's roster in the comics included white men mostly. The concept proved so popular that she was taken over in the comics. She deputed in Batman #475 (cover date March 1992), as Gordon's new assistant. Her first words were "Madre de Dios", a phrase she later used in the DCAU twice.
In the Writer's Bible, she was described as a child of Crime Alley, devoted to charity work for the Cathedral, and the widow of another cop. She had a strong dislike of Bruce Wayne because of his lack of charity work. However, none of it ever made it into the series or the comics. Starting as a beat cop, she became a detective around the same time in the comics and series, but the comics character grew even more.
She appeared prominently during the Knightfall storyline, when she faces off with serial killer Mr. Zsasz, and helps Batman defeat him. Subsequent stories fill in her background as the child of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, who, impressively, worked her way up through the mostly male, mostly white GCPD ranks.
During the No Man's Land story line, she served as a negotiator between Gordon and Two-Face, who took a liking to her. After she refused his love, he outed her as a lesbian. After quitting her job, breaking up with her girlfriend and battling alcohol, she was taken under the wing of Vic Sage, the Question. They were mayor players in 52, and she eventually became the second Question when Vic died of lung cancer. She usually operates from Hub City, though comes to Gotham now and then.
The character of Detective Anna Ramirez, played by Monique Gabriela Curnen in The Dark Knight and voiced by Ana Ortiz in Batman: Gotham Knight may have been partially based on Montoya.
[edit] Roxy Rocket
Roxy Rocket made a cameo appearance in Detective Comics #822 (written by Paul Dini) and is set to make her first proper appearance in Batgirl #7, battling the new Batgirl, Stephanie Brown.
[edit] Terry McGinnis
The Batman Beyond character has had many recent cameo appearances in mainstream comics. Several aspects of his costume were adapted as well: the red in Kate Kane's Batwoman outfit, and the full face mask was used in the Batgirl costumes of Huntress and Cassandra Cain Recently, it was announced that a new Batman Beyond comic series would soon be published in 2010.
[edit] Warhawk
In a reality warped by Kwaku Anansi (in JLA #22-#26), one alternative hero is named "Hawk". He wears a red version of Warhawk's armor, complete with wings.
[edit] Character Revamps
[edit] Clayface
The original Clayface from the comics, Basil Karlo, had certain attributes adapted into the animated incarnation of Matt Hagen, who in the comics, was the second Clayface. However, after Batman: The Animated Series finished airing, Karlo joined up with various other persons that have gone by the title of Clayface (in a group known as the Mudpack) and absorbed all of their combined shape-shifting powers. After this, his size and appearance became much more like that of the animated version of Matt Hagen. A recent figure release in the DC Universe Classics line even has Clayface identified as Basil Karlo, but with the exact same appearance as the animated version.
[edit] Killer Croc
Waylon Jones was originally (and was consistently referred to as) a human with a very rare skin condition. Batman: The Animated Series made a point of introducing him as a mutated human with reptilian attributes to his body (and seemingly his DNA). Batman examining one of his teeth and finding it to have both human and reptilian characteristics confirms that Croc in the DCAU seems to be a genuine "lizard man". Throughout the past decade, the comics have slowly made him more and more reptilian, mentioning in the Hush storyline that his body is mutating rapidly for some reason. The character currently has fully developed jaws and even a tail.
[edit] Mr. Freeze
In the comics, Mr. Freeze was originally a gimmicky, mad scientist character. The animated portrayal made him both more complex and more sympathetic, showing his "frozen" condition to be the result of a tragic accident involving his terminally ill wife. The comics Freeze's origin was retconned to reflect this deeper history.
The re-vamped comic book origin adds a backstory showing that Victor Fries was abused as a child, both by his father and by childhood bullies. As an escape, he developed a habit of freezing insects and live animals in jars of water, because, as he explained to a psychiatrist, he liked to preserve them as they looked, unchanged and beautiful.
Meeting Nora in college, the shy boy fell passionately in love. As in the animated series, when Nora fell ill, he froze her while looking for a cure for her condition, and suffered the accident when his corporate employers attempted to shut her capsule down.
In a confrontation between Batman and Mr. Freeze, Freeze inadvertently blasted Nora's cryo-capsule, causing it to shatter. Blaming Batman for his wife's death, Freeze swore revenge.
Film: Mr. Freeze was one of the featured villains in the live-action film Batman and Robin, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film's storyline attempted to combine aspects of the animated Freeze's tragic history with the mad scientist character of the early comics. In the film, Victor Fries is both an Olympic level athlete, and a brilliant scientist, who freezes his wife when she is diagnosed with a fictional disease called McGregor's Syndrome. The accident in his lab which causes his condition is not blamed on any particular person. After the accident, he steals diamonds, both to power his cryo-suit, and to fund his research into a cure for his wife. After Batman foils Freeze's plan to freeze all of Gotham, Batman reveals that he has saved Nora's capsule from attempted sabotage by Poison Ivy, and offers to transfer the capsule to Freeze's cell at Arkham, so he can continue his research. In exchange, Freeze gives Batman a cure for an early-stage version of McGregor's, which Alfred is dying of.
Despite the character's tragic story, he commits his crimes in a flamboyant, cartoonish way quite unlike the animated Freeze, surrounded by hockey-playing thugs, and seemingly taking mad delight in his victims' suffering. The incongruity between the two aspects of the character, combined with Schwarzenegger's flat performance, was one of several likely reasons for the film's poor reception.
[edit] Parasite
The animated incarnation of the Parasite was fairly close to the original incarnation of Rudy Jones, aside from having a slightly different overall appearance that resembles the pre-Crisis Maxwell Jensen version; the comic version lacked the distinctive 'bands' that were part of the animated Parasite's design. Soon after, this band pattern seen on the animated Parasite was used on the comic version. Later still, the comic Parasite mutated further and acquired a mouth full of sharp teeth, almost like a leech; this appearance was used as the basis for Parasite's appearance in Justice League Unlimited, "Epilogue".
[edit] Riddler
Before his appearance in Batman: The Animated Series, Edward Nygma's usual costume was a green jumpsuit riddled (no pun intended) with question marks. In comic appearances subsequent to Batman: The Animated Series, he wears the more subdued look (green suit and bowler hat) used in that series. A similar suit was worn by Frank Gorshin during a few instances in the 60's Adam West Batman TV show (the actor was uncomfortable wearing the jumpsuit in most of his appearances), but it was only after the character was seen wearing one in the animated series (almost 30 years later) that the suit was adapted into the comics.
[edit] Static
The original comic incarnation of Static was published by Milestone Media, but very little of the comics was used for his animated counterpart.
Recently, after years of legal paperwork, Static has joined the Teen Titans series in the mainstream DC Comics, with a costume very similar to the uniform he wore during seasons 3 and 4 of Static Shock.
[edit] John Stewart
John Stewart's animated incarnation has a very different backstory to that of his comic-book incarnation; in that whilst his comic counterpart was a former architect before becoming a Green Lantern, his animated incarnation was a former member of the military. Recent appearances by his character have attempted to insert part of this backstory in with that of his comic version. The comics also began using the exact same suit and appearance that he was seen using in Justice League, minus the black gloves.
- In JLA #13, John Stewart says that he would look good bald and might grow a goatee "to add a little funk", which he did in Justice League Unlimited.
[edit] J'onn J'onzz
The Martian Manhunter's animated appearance very closely matched his traditional appearance in the comics for years, that of a cloak, harness, pants and boots. However, after the 'One Year Later' gap, the comic incarnation of the character began wearing a full-body suit very similar to what the Justice Lord J'onn wore. This look was kept until the character's death in Final Crisis.
[edit] Supergirl
In 1996, at the same time that Superman: The Animated Series was airing, the current incarnation of Supergirl was given a comic series. This Supergirl was the combined merged form of a life-form known as Matrix and a human girl named Linda Danvers. Eventually, she was given the exact same costume and physical appearance that Kara In-Ze had right up until her costume change in Chaos at the Earth's Core. Interestingly enough, the DCAU version's costume change happened not too long after the Kara Zor-El version of the character had been reintroduced into the mainstream DC Universe.
[edit] Tim Drake
Recently in comics, after the 'One Year Later' gap, Tim Drake began wearing a red and black suit that closely resembled his animated appearance for four years before switching to his new Red Robin identity. His previous suit was essentially the one seen being worn by the animated version of Dick Grayson during his time as Robin. He also became orphaned and was adopted by Bruce Wayne like in his animated counterpart. The explanation given for his costume change is that it's meant to honor the death of Superboy, who wore those colors.
[edit] Toyman
In 2006, a new robotic version of the Toyman was introduced into Action Comics, working for Lex Luthor. His appearance highly resembles the animated Toyman, who was merely a human wearing a doll-like mask. It is stated that this Toyman was created by the original human incarnation, Winslow Scott. He was later renamed as 'Toyboy'.
[edit] Zatanna
Zatanna's comics history has been retconned to make her and Bruce Wayne childhood friends, plus the fact that her father, Zatara, was one of the young Bruce's teachers. Likewise, several stories suggest a strong attraction between the two characters, though they never act on it.
[edit] Other Influences
- Scarecrow's plot to lace Gotham City's entire water supply with fear toxin, from beneath the grounds of Arkham Asylum, was also used in the film Batman Begins.
- Similarly, the 2009 video-game Batman: Arkham Asylum also features Scarecrow threatening to poison Gotham's water supply as a last resort after being beaten by Batman. He is stopped when he is attacked (and almost eaten) by Killer Croc.
- Brainiac being an android program from the planet Krypton, was a direct inspiration for his incarnation on The CW tv series "Smallville" where he is played by James Marsters.
- Lois Lane's nickname for Clark Kent, "Smallville", was later used by Lois in the comics and the tv series Smallville.
