Of all the complaints about the New 52, the one that seems to have the most resonance for me is the one regarding the whereabouts of Donna Troy and Wally West. On the one hand, I am glad to see the newer characters NOT getting shafted like Ryan Choi and (to a lesser degree) Dick Grayson did. On the other, I’m a little miffed to see that DC editorial’s stance on a couple of classic characters seems to be a flippant “Feh, they’re unnecessary.” Of course, it should be noted that both characters have extremely complicated histories (Donna has had more origins than code-names, and the girl has had enough code-names to rival Henry Pym) and that DC editorial seems to be enjoying the chance to be flippant, thanks to the successes of the New 52.
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) has at least three different origins of its own, asking:
Given DC’s seeming determination to not have duplicated characters, is there any happy medium for lost souls like Stephanie Brown, Donna Troy and Wally West? (Please note: “Undo the Flashpoint retcon!” is not, for our purposes, a valid response.)
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Let them live in peace in the Young Justice universe!
(except that Donna’s not there… I’m sure adding one more origin story couldn’t hurt too much, could it?)
In the case of Stephanie Brown, at least, she could go back to the Spoiler persona and be a sort of anti-hero again.
I don’t think there is a happy medium. DC has to be either all in or all out on the New 52, and so far they’ve gone all in.
In any case, it seems to me Stephanie Brown is hostage the New 52 debut of Cluemaster, which II don’t believe has happened.
Donna Troy’s future is even shakier. While that character has had some vocal fans in the past, there haven’t been very many of them. And that potential v. real popularity has been the reason the character keeps changing concept/character.
Wally West is a great character that I loved a lot, but as young as they are writing Flash (both in age and experience as a hero), having a protege just doesn’t make plot sense. He might be a non-started until Barry grows up some.
There is a lot more than just Earth in the DCU, and even then there is more than one Earth. Maybe they exist in one of the alternate timelines already (such as one where the main heroes are older similar to Earth-16 or one where things are completely different) or maybe something will happen to most of the main heroes and so “new” ones will need to step up.
There are plenty of possibilities.
Make the sorta like Marvel’s Exiles, from pre-Flashpoint universe, only have them be pseudo-villians trying to “Undo the Flashpoint retcon!” by investigating and attempting to recreate Superboy’s retcon punch.
The “determination to not have duplicated characters”, argument doesn’t make sense to me because each of characters are unique characters. If they can’t exist because they shared a superhero name with another character would mean that Damian Wayne and Bart Allan shouldn’t exist either and there should be only one Green Lantern not four. Oh wait, I forgot New 52 rules don’t apply to the Batman and Green Lantern books.
Rules? We don’t need your stinking rules… We’re DC Editorial. ^_^
And as a serious answer.. I miss the Blue Beetle. :( Ted Kord version.
To answer the question, they could bring back Stephanie Brown, Donna Troy and Wally West but with different code names. Spoiler is not Robin, Troia is not Wondergirl and Wally could be called something other then Flash or Kid Flash,
Donna Troy can exist as Troia, she’s not a Wonder Woman duplicate. Kill off Barry and bring in Wally. Granted they undid all the history that shaped Wally as a character, but through the magic of comic book fiction, they can have a new Wally with all the memories of the previous continuity’s Wally West.
Stephanie Brown…can continue to live in limbo for all I care. I’m good with Barbra Gordon as Batgirl.
You’re all missing the point. Since they rebooted the universe with the new 52, none of those characters exist yet. So cool your jets. Given the way DC always seems to undo it’s reboots and revisions, just wait a while and somebody will bring them back again.
Oldcomicfan is right on at least one of them. Ethan Van Sciver specifically said one of those three will be coming back soon during one of the panels at Wizard World last week. My money’s on Wally.
Other than that, there are tons of ways they could bring them back. Earth-2 is a fairly successful book lending to the idea that multiple continuities/Earths do exist and are acceptable areas for story telling. Having another alt-Earth book would be an easy way to bring these characters back.
As I said above, I could easily see them on Earth-16 or a similar alternate timeline where the main heroes are a bit older than they are in the current main DCU. Part of why I love the multiverse idea is because it means just about anything is possible on any of the alternate Earths, from having a place for these characters to having a place to tell stories like the old 50’s/60’s wacky Superman stories.
Bring them back as kids.
Wally can relive his youth, and Donna can come back as Wondergirl.
Wally could be introduced at any time, Daniel West’s around, Iris’s brother, so there is or at least could be a Wally West out there… even if he’s a youngster he can still gain his powers in exactly the same way as Barry, only he’s trapped in the Speed Force, and Barry needs to find him.
Stephanie Brown can be introduced if and when Cluemaster’s introduced. Cluemaster can be a rival to the Riddler, and his daughter can still be the Spoiler, helping her father until Batman reveals the truth that her father is just as bad as the Riddler.
Donna Troy’s even easier, she’s one of the snakes on Paradise Island.