To read all the comics it would take you an estimated 8000 hours or 333 days non-stop.
And that's just the Marvel comics.
To read all the comics in the world, it would take you years.
And then think if you add in all the manga.
Yikes!
With so many comics existing, it's easy to understand how some heroes slip through the
cracks and end up on the editing room floor eventually, lost and forgotten.
Beyond the sheer multitude of just how much competition there is for heroes in the comic
book world, we are also dealing with real world views, beliefs and technological advancement
that is ever changing.
When you add that into the mix, it is actually easy to understand why some comic book heroes
end up disappearing or forgotten.
Today we are going to explore those heroes that we did forget.
And if there is someone that we forgot to mention, be sure to let us know in the comments
below.
Now let's time travel back through our memories and get remembering.
10 Sentry
Okay okay okay, I know we all probably are familiar with the Sentry ourselves.
But we can't have a list about forgotten heroes and not mention the Sentry, the greatest hero
that the world forgot.
Sentry has a super sad story, so grab some tissues and hold them close while I regale
you.
Robert Reynolds was an addict who after sneaking into a lab late one night, looking for a fix,
stumbled upon the Golden Sentry Formula.
After he had quaffed the formula he was transformed into the Sentry, an amazing hero with a slew
of powerful abilities.
We're talking flight, teleportation, molecule manipulate, super strength and super speed,
virtual invulnerability to name a few.
Unfortunately, Robert's mind was unstable and while embodying the superhero, Sentry
he also became his antithesis, the Void.
The only way to save the world from the effects of his super villain alter ego, Mr Fantastic
was forced to create a device that would make Robert and the whole world forget about the
Sentry, hoping that it would destroy the Void and protect Robert from the darker side of
himself.
9 Green Lama
Introduced in the 1940s, the Green Lama was hero who embodied the ideals of Buddhism.
Oddly enough, sort of like a buddhist Batman, though his look echoes that of Green Arrow
or even perhaps Green Lantern.
In other words it involves a lot of green and even a cute cape.
Though interestingly enough the Green Lama is not a DC hero and not a Marvel one either.
He comes to use from Moonstone Books Publishing and was introduced in their Double Detective
series, volume number 5.
Something unique that he brings is a more eastern inspired outlook which would be even
more interesting, if he were a genuine character from Tibet perhaps.
Instead he is a student of Buddhism who studied in Tibet but is from New York.
He returned to New York to share his Buddhist beliefs and provide spiritual guidance.
But he ultimately decided that the mystical buddhist powers he had acquired were even
more useful fighting crime.
When I said he was similar to Batman, I was responding to his crime fighting beliefs,
in that he does not use a gun, believing they would make him just as bad as those he seeks
to defeat.
8 Phantom Rider
Also known as Night Rider.
No, I'm not talking about Knight Rider, the classic tv show starring David Hasselhoff
and the high-tech car, KITT.
Though Michael Knight is a hero too I suppose.
I am talking about Marvel's Night Rider, aka Phantom Rider, aka Ghost Rider.
That's right.
This Ghost Rider actually predates Johnny Blaze and Carter Slade, the horse riding,
boxing champion of the Wild West who is the Phantom Rider would have been known as Ghost
Rider as well had they not introduced Johnny after Slade's death in the comics in 1972.
Carter Slade was a man who was near death when he was taken in and revived by Native
Americans who realized that he was a man destined to fight injustice.
They healed him, gave him some magic powder, a snazzy white cape and a white horse.
He went on to round up criminals but met his end sacrificing his life for his brothers,
crushed by rubble.
His brother, Lincoln Slade would eventually adopt the mantle Phantom Rider.
Both have returned in spirit form but have never been resurrected.
7 Jill Trent
Also known as the science sleuth.
Jill Trent was a hero based out of the US.
She took on criminals and solved mysteries with detective & inventing skills and the
power of science.
Science is pretty cool.
She also had her friend, Daisy to accompany her.
Her and Daisy even shared a bed which makes a lot of people speculate that she could be
one of the first queer heroes to have every appeared in comics.
Jill Trent made her debut in the Fighting Yank volume 6 in 1943, originally published
by Nedor Publishing who has since then ceased operations.
I think Jill would be a rad hero to bring back.
I would love to see a female possibly queer scientist take down some criminals.
6 ForgetMeNot
Although this X-Men was recently introduced making his debut in the comics in 2014, you
may have already forgotten him.
Though like with Sentry that might not be your fault.
ForgetMeNot's ability is imperceptibility.
That is to say it is almost impossible to remember him and he is also hard to target,
as your mind struggles to hard to remember him that he can also sometimes be undetectable.
His powers are so strong they even mess with those also possess telepathic gifts, including
Charles Xavier who basically had to set an hourly psychic alarm to remind himself of
ForgetMeNot's existence so he wouldn't forget.
Now that's someone who everyone could forget about.
Wait... who were we talking about again?
5 CyberSix
When it comes to this hero slash heroine, I mostly think back to the cartoon series
inspired by it and watching it later at night on tv.
The cartoon series by the way was actually produced in Vancouver Canada, fun fact.
Though the animation was done in Japan.
The comic book series, like the cartoon series, also originated in the 1990s.
It originated in Argentina but was published in Italy.
Cybersix is the story of a genetically engineered woman who goes by the same name.
She escaped her creator, a Nazi overlord who seeks world domination.
Living in the city she adopts the identity of a male literature teacher named Adrian
Seidelman by day and fights off her creators creatures at night who have been sent after
her.
Cybersix also uncovers many mysteries in regards to her past, fellow siblings, known as Cybers,
and her evil creator's dastardly plots.
4 Captain Ultra
We might forget this hero for good reason.
When Captain Ultra is first introduced in the comics, making a brief appearance in Fantastic
Four volume 1 issue 177, it is revealed that he has a fear of fire.
That's one of the first things we learn about him.
And when I say he has a fear, what I really mean he is borderline terrified.
To the point that someone lights a cigarette and he faints.
Griffin Gogol, yup that is Captain Ultra's real-life name is what I like to call a background
hero.
From his brief stint with the Defenders to his tiniest in appearance in the Civil War
2 event, Griffin is a hero who never really comes to the forefront in the comics which
is why he is probably one who often remains forgotten.
He is also a bit of a knob.
When flirting with Hellcat, he gets overly competitive and aggressive with Nova and Jack
of Hearts who he deems as threats to their love.
And keep in mind, he's just met her at this point.
Later, when Hellcat asks the heroes to stop fighting over her, he instead gets aggressive
with her and accuses her of playing of the field.
Oh boy.
Maybe a hero better forgotten.
3 Scorpion
[show pic of Mac Gargan as Scorpion] No, not that Scorpion.
The other Scorpion.
I'm talking about Carmilla Black.
If you are not familiar with Carmilla Black, no worries at all.
I'm going to give you some facts that will probably want to help you track her down as
she is not someone who is often explored in the comics.
Which is unfortunate as she is pretty awesome.
She was genetically created by AIM but didn't know about this until later as she was raised
by adoptive parents who were also secretly AIM agents.
Her powers surfaced on her prom night causing, what she calls her stinger arm to accidentally
shoot her boyfriend and kill him.
As if prom night isn't usually awkward enough.
Her abilities allow her full immunity to most toxins.
In fact, she has the ability to absorb toxins and convert them into her own biological weapon,
which she can then use to prick her enemies with via her stinger-arm.
While often being involved in heroic tasks, she has been involved in both good and bad
organizations, having worked for both SHIELD and HYDRA.
And fun fact, she even beat Mac Gargan in a fight after he came after for using his
old name.
He had the Venom symbiote with him at the time and her body was able to absorb some
of it and create a neo-symbiote which she used to send Gargan running before the neo-symbiote
died as a result of her body being too toxic for it.
2 Azreal
Whatever happened to Azreal?
You might remember this controversial hero as Batman.
After the events of Knightfall, Bruce Wayne is forced to relinquish his title while takes
time to heal after having his back broken.
He entrusts Gotham to Azreal and asks him to watch over the city and take up the mantle
of Batman while he is away.
Jean-Paul Valley who was trained to be used as a tool by a radical and evil religious
group called the Order of St Dumas a group who were once a part of the historical Knights
Templars.
And unfortunately this resulted in him being, well a little crazy.
He regained the city, taking it back from Bane and then began a brutal onslaught of
vigilante justice.
While he didn't kill Bane, he brutalized him and every other criminal he came across, no
matter how minor.
It was his lack of restraint that ended up leading to his downfall at Batman and when
Bruce the two ended up having to battle over the title as Jean-Paul was reluctant to give
it up.
Once forced to by Bruce Wayne who won the fight, he wandered homeless and crazy for
awhile.
He ended up defeating the Order of St Dumas eventually whom he realized were his enemies
but after that he basically just became Bruce and the Bat families assistant, helping him
whenever he called upon and acting on Bruce's orders.
He died and was briefly resurrected as a Black Lantern but it would be nice to see a return
of Azreal in the comics.
Maybe a story where he tries to find and follow his own path.
1 Stardust the Super Wizard
One of the oldest superheroes on our list, Stardust the Super Wizard comes to use from
the Fantastic Comics collection.
He debuted in issue 1 in 1939.
The series was published by Fox Feature Syndicate and each issue had a collection of short heroic
stories.
While you may remember the main hero Samson, Stardust is one of the others that have fallen
by the wayside.
Probably one of the first cosmic heroes, Stardust is often flying around outer space trying
to bust criminal space wizards.
Yeah, apparently those were a thing back in the 1930s.
His comics are combo of sci-fi and superheroics as he fights criminals with his astounding
number of different rays.
He's a wizard with a ray for every different occasion: boomerang ray, transporting ray,
reducing ray: all the rays!
And beams sometimes too.
If you weren't aware of the Fantastic Comics collections you should check them out.
There is even a sort-of female superhero snuck in one of the issues.
I say sort of cause she wasn't really given a title but her name is Alice and she is both
the romantic partner and adventure partner of Richard, the Golden Knight who is also
featured in the series.
Thanks for watching, nerd squad.
I hope this list reminded you of some heroes you'd forgotten or helped you find some new
ones that you maybe never knew existed.
If you have a favourite lesser known or forgotten hero that we did not mention, be sure to share
it with us in the comments below.
I love hearing your thoughts and finding new series to add my reading list.
And while you are on your way down to the comments section be sure to tap that like,
give this list a share, subscribe and turn on that bell notification.
This has been top ten nerd and I'm your host, Amanda McKnight, reminding you till next time
to stay nerdy, YouTube.