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Best and Worst Alternate Versions of Superheroes

JD

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Lately, purely by coincidence, I've found myself getting a whole bunch of stories featuring alternate versions of DC and Marvel superheroes. I've gotten, but haven't read, Old Man Logan, Marvel 1602, and DC Comics Bombshells, and I've been playing Injustice 2. So that got me wondering what are people's favorite, and least favorite alternate versions of Marvel's and DC's Superheroes?
 
Least favorite (By characters), there are so many I'll just do a few DC characters and two Marvel characters right now:

Batman: Frank Miller's batman, specifically the version from All-Star Batman and Robin. A rambling nutjob, and I'm talking about both this version of Batman and, at this point, Frank Miller.

Wonder Woman: I have multiple, so
--1) WW from JLA: Act of God. An obscure one, but really, really terrible, she basically loses her powers and becomes a fanatical follower of God (the Christian one, FYI although it could have been any and with the same writer would have been as bad, although since she's an Amazon who has actually met her gods it makes her weird Christian turn worse).
--2) Frank miller's Wonder Woman from All-Star Batman and Robin (She hates all men and acts like an asshole, but Superman can "tame" her :barf:)

Superman: Overall its Zach Snyder's "Superman", but if it needs to be from the comics then its the New 52 Superman (the one from 2011m until he died).

Starfire: Continuing what is going to be a trend, the New 52 Starfire with her goldfish memory, emotionless sex with literally any living man who wanted it, and having no other real personality besides that until the backlash forced Lobdell to stop being a weird, pervy creep and try to give her some character.

"Shazam": The orphan with a heart of gold becomes a selfish ass who shakes down the very first woman he saves for money. he never really grows past that, and stays a selfish, whiny brat until they basically just phased him out. Since the Original Captain marvel is both my favorite DC hero and mostly tied as my favorite hero ever (with She-Hulk), this all pissed me off a lot.

Power Girl: The New 52 version from New 52 Earth 2 that was introduced as basically Mr. Terriffic's sex toy, and then just mostly spent all her World's Finest appearances partying, having random sex and sometimes trying to get back to Earth 2 with Huntress but having no real personality outside of sex crazed party girl. She had none of the personality or traits of the old PG, and since the original PG is my second favorite DC hero I really, really hated this version, even after they rewrote her from sex obsessed party girl into the woman who only existed to be Val Zod (second Earth 2 Superman)'s love interest and just made her bland in the Earth 2: Society book.

Bonus Marvel entries because I had to breing it up:

Hulk and She-Hulk: Old man Logan versions, where Mark "I'm Completely Out of My Mind" Millar made them into an incestuous couple who had produced cannibal redneck children. I don't even know if they show up in the book or if its just their kids, but its still easily the worst versions of both characters.
 
Do the Christopher Reeve clones of Supes count as alternates?

Brandon Routh and Tyler Hoechlin. After how Supes was treated in the SG finale, I'm still pretty salty. Reaffirms that cloning Reeve again was a mistake... again!
 
^ Brandon Routh's Superman isn't a "clone" of Christopher Reeve's Superman; he IS Christopher Reeve's Superman.

Tyler Hoechlin isn't a "clone" of the Christopher Reeve Superman, either, as he's his own brand-new interpretation.

As with the DCEU Superman, though, Hoechlin's Superman isn't an "alternate version" of the character.
 
Yes he is. They're all alternate versions, except the first ones, which are, by definition, the originals. Each and every alteration to the core character, adding powers or backstory, or making their personalities different to fit the perversions*, however slight, of the writers, is an alternate version. There's just no going back is all.


*Said perversions are not necessarily sexual, and any attempt to claim that they must be is a reflection on the complainer instead. Sad, but true.
 
Superman (1978) was itself an alternate version from comics continuity. I'm adding that one to my list of favorites.

Despite regarding at least some of the subsequent comic book film adaptations as excellent, I'm having a super hard time (see what I did there?) thinking of any other comic book film adaptation in my lifetime that was, relatively speaking, that much of a step up in terms of bringing a comic book character to life.
 
Man of Steel's interpretation of Superman isn't an "alternate version" of the character, so nice try.

Yes, it is an alternate version. Every movie version is, even the ones I consider good. Unless you want to argue that the Superman in Man of Steel is 100% identical to or is the main interpretation of Superman in the character's entire history (and even ignoring him being a murderer and all the angst/brooding there are enough details of his story that are different to most other versions that he's far from the main interpretation of the character), I can't believe even a superfan of Snyder's movies would try to claim that the Snyder Superman is anything but one of the many alternative versions of Superman.

That's not to say its an illegitimate version (I might say that, but I agree it can be argued) but by not being the main version, or really even approaching something that I think most people could agree as the main version, he is, basically by definition, an alternative version of the character of Superman. One person's take, but not THE Superman by any stretch regardless of whether you like that particular version or not.
 
Unless you want to argue that the Superman in Man of Steel is 100% identical to or is the main interpretation of Superman in the character's entire history.

There is no "main interpretation of Supeman." The Silver Age version was the longest running - but Hell, I was reading the character for years before that version appeared and have continued to read him for thirty years after that version vanished.
 
There is no "main interpretation of Supeman." The Silver Age version was the longest running - but Hell, I was reading the character for years before that version appeared and have continued to read him for thirty years after that version vanished.


You might be right, but you could probably cobble together enough common parts of the character from what stands out to most people to rank the various versions by how close they come to kind of a general consensus version of the character. That's the closest you'd get to a main interpretation, seeing what elements of the character have seeped into popculture over the years and see the general impression.

Regardless, that whole thing doesn't disagree with my assertion that the Snyder version is an alternate version of Superman, and I could argue that the Snyder version is farther away from a main interpretation then many other versions, including Christopher Reeves and the DCAU Superman.

But, I didn't mention the Snyder version to start a MoS discussion, I honestly never considered the possibility that even the more...vocal Snyder fans would argue that his version wasn't an alternative version of the character. Being "alternative" doesn't necessarily mean it has to be as different as Superman: Red Son or something, and also doesn't really mean something is inferior by being a different version (although my thoughts on the version being discussed are obvious).
 
Sorry, I guess I should have been clearer, I was talking about stuff that was specifically written as an alternate universe version of the characters, so things like Marvel Noir, Red Son, Bombshells, Marvel 1602 and DC's Earth One GNs and All-Star series.
So the DCEU Superman wouldn't count since he's that universe's main version.
 
The Silver Age/Bronze Age Earth 2 versions are my favorites. Especially Roy Thomas's All-Star Squadron.
 
I enjoyed an Elseworlds book called "Speeding Bullets" where Kal-El landed in Gotham City and was raised by the Waynes. So, when the Joker (who also happens to be Lex Luthor) kills Thomas and Martha, young Bruce fries him with his heat vision and becomes Batman. It was a pretty cool story.
 
Sorry, I guess I should have been clearer, I was talking about stuff that was specifically written as an alternate universe version of the characters, so things like Marvel Noir, Red Son, Bombshells, Marvel 1602 and DC's Earth One GNs and All-Star series.
So the DCEU Superman wouldn't count since he's that universe's main version.

I don't think you needed to clarify anything; it seemed to be pretty obvious what you were talking about/asking for.

Answering the question myself, I like DC's Bombshells, the Marvel Mangaverse, DC's Ami-Comi Girls, and DC's Teen Titans: Earth-One.
 
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