So you think you know comics?
Even if you can cite every issue where Swamp Thing defeats Batman, or where Superman performs
surgery with his heat vision, there's still a good chance that some popular, but incorrect,
DC Comics legends have slipped into your comic knowledge without you even knowing it.
There are ton of erroneous assumptions about our favorite DC heroes and villains that everyone
seems to believe.
Here are a few of the most misleading myths about the DC universe.
Batman never kills
A major part of Batman's characterization is his "one rule": he never kills anyone,
mostly as an extreme reaction to the murder of his parents.
It's formed the core of some of the best Batman stories ever written.
'Hit me!
Hit me!
Hit me!"
"Ahhhh!"
However, comics show us that this rule is more of a loose guideline, really.
In some of Batman's earliest adventures, he was known to let people burn alive, and even
punch folks into acid.
It's easy to write those off as exceptions from before the Batman character was really
set in stone.
Go back far enough, and Batman had no problem using guns, either.
But Batman has actually killed, and attempted to kill, in modern times, too.
In 1988's Batman #420, Batman fights the unfortunately named K.G.Beast to a standstill.
Realizing he can't beat or capture him, Batman locks him in the sewers, in a room sealed
by a reinforced steel door, and just leaves the villain to rot.
The story was so unusual that a few years later, another comic added to the event by
saying that Batman called the cops instead of just leaving the bad guy to die.
If that's not bad enough, Frank Miller's All-Star Batman and Robin featured a Batman who set
a bunch of thugs on fire and then got it on with Black Canary right in front of their
burning bodies.
Keep it classy, Bruce.
Joker and Harley are in love
Fans of comics' most destructive power couple like to refer to the classic Paul Dini Batman
story "Mad Love" as evidence that Harley Quinn and the Joker are a perfect match.
The marketing for Suicide Squad didn't help, emphasizing romantic shots of the two from
the movie.
So what's the problem?
Joker simply doesn't love Harley.
He's actually an abusive manipulator.
"Mad Love" and most Harley Quinn comics regularly emphasized that Harley was in love with a
man who alternated between ignoring her and abusing her.
"Rrraahhh!"
"Ahh!
Ooof!"
It turns out that, while Joker may not love Harley, Warner Brothers certainly does — or
at least, they love the chance to sell countless shirts to teenagers who don't know the whole
story.
And they call Joker crazy!
Aquaman is useless
He can talk to fish.
He can swim pretty well.
And he can… talk to fish.
Is there anything else to Aquaman?
"My ability to talk to fish is of no help, Wonder Woman!"
Most people never really read comics about Aquaman unless he happens to be appearing
alongside the Justice League.
Compared to demigods who can punch you through time and space, the ability to tell fish what
to do seems less than impressive.
Except Aquaman can actually do a whole lot more.
In fact, he's pretty much a legit badass.
First off, fish telepathy is cooler than you might think, since he can weaponize the creatures
found across three quarters of the planet.
If it lives in the sea, Aquaman will have it chomping down on you, no problem.
Sometimes, he can even use his fishy telepathy on anyone who evolved from aquatic life, which
is literally everybody.
His skin is strong enough to resist knives and machine guns, he can swim at 175 miles
per hour, and he can see in nearly total darkness.
While it's true that he gets weaker if he's out of water long enough, Aquaman can naturally
do most of what Batman needs billions of dollars in gadgets to do.
If that means Aquaman has to spend a little more time in the pool, it's a fair price to
pay.
Green Lanterns are vulnerable to yellow
It's a weird weakness, but Green Lantern used to get his tush kicked by anything yellow.
Yes...anything yellow.
"How about...this?
Does the yellow hurt your eyes, my friend?"
"Getting weak, oh-so-very weak?"
"That's the Green Lantern!"
Casual comics fans may assume that the character still suffers from this weakness, but because
of comics' strangest retcon, Lanterns are pretty much safe against all parts of the
spectrum.
Back during the Death of Superman story arc, the alien Mongul and Cyborg Superman completely
destroy Coast City, the hometown of Green Lantern Hal Jordan.
Hal goes crazy, kills a bunch of other Green Lanterns, and becomes a super-villain named
Parallax.
What does this have to do with a weakness to yellow?
Sit tight, we're getting to it.
Ten years later, Parallax was revealed to be an intelligent cosmic force that embodied
fear, once imprisoned inside the Lanterns' big power battery.
So, having a yellow fear-god inside the source of the Green Lanterns' power is what once
made them vulnerable to yellow.
Once the Green Lantern Corps and their battery were rebuilt, they were only vulnerable to
yellow when they let themselves feel fear.
Veteran Green Lanterns can now shield themselves against yellow simply by thinking brave thoughts.
Well, at least until you get to Green Lantern's appearance in All-Star Batman.
But that doesn't really count.
Mr. Freeze was always a tragic figure
There is possibly no sadder villain in comics than Mr. Freeze.
His most high-profile appearance came in Batman: The Animated Series, where most fans learned
the story of the scientist, Victor Fries, who tries to preserve his dying wife in cryogenic
stasis until she can be cured of her disease.
Once Fries' experiment is shut down by his uncaring superiors, Fries is accidentally
transformed into an icy villain who needs to stay in a special suit to keep his body
cold.
But...none of that has anything to do with Freeze's comic origins, where he was first
known as "Mr. Zero," a mad scientist with a freeze ray who didn't show up until issue
#121, where his icy condition is immediately cured… by steam.
He also appeared in the 1960s Batman TV series, where he was called Mr. Freeze for the first
time, but he was still a generic villain that was played mostly for laughs.
His name wasn't even Victor Fries… it was Dr. Schivel.
Critics and fans alike responded so well to the major changes that first appeared in his
animated origin, that it became his official story in the comics, video games, cartoons,
and even in his introduction to the Gotham TV show.
But nothing will be better than his big-screen debut, right?
"What killed the dinosaurs?
The ice age!"
Okay.
Maybe not.
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