Posts tagged know your dcu

Know Your DCU: Bane

I remember reading the Knightfall story arc in the pages of DC Comics like it was yesterday and know full well just how worthy a villain Bane can be when pitted against Batman. However, there are many of you out there who may know very little about Bane and to those people I say read this article with caution. I’m going to go a bit into detail about Bane’s origins and the story he is famous for. These elements may or may not be in this summer’s The Dark Knight Rises and I would hate for anything I write to spoil the film for you. So, like I said, read at your own risk.

Bane was born in the Caribbean Republic of Santa Prisca, in a prison called Peña Dura. His father had been a revolutionary who escaped Santa Prisca, but the corrupt government decreed that his son would serve out the man’s life sentence. After years in the prison, Bane is forced to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom. The experiment nearly kills Bane, but he survives and finds the drug increasing his physical strength. Soon after these experiments, Bane turns his thoughts to destroying Batman (because this is what drives most Batman villains).  

Bane studies Batman and knows a direct attack on him would not work. So after escaping prison and heading to Gotham City, Bane destroys Arkham Asylum with a rocket launcher and sets its inmates on Gotham City. Batman spends the next few months rounding up the criminals. This tires out Batman and upon returning to Wayne Manor one night, Bane ambushes him. Bane kinda just figured out on his own that Batman was Bruce Wayne. Seriously. Anyways, Bane attacks Batman, defeats him, and breaks Batman’s back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down . Bane thus becomes the man who has “Broken the Bat”.  

We all know Bruce Wayne gets better, so that’s not really important information here. After all of this Bane goes back and forth between being a villain and a hero. He has yet to show up in the New 52, but when he does I suspect he’ll be a villain again. Well, I hope you liked the return of the Know Your DCU article and that this was a good prep for the Bane character!

Tomorrow, a special Christmas/Hanukkah present to you all with the return of Know Your DCU. Guess which character will be the star?

Know Your DCU: Barry Allen (The Flash)

Barry Allen is a man running out of time. Literally.

This Wednesday August 31st 2011, the second man to call himself The Flash in the DCU will be fighting for the future of that very time-line he called home. From what we know, with a Universe wide reboot, Barry may not entirely succeed. He’s been down this road before.

Years ago during the first Crisis, Barry sacrificed himself to save the DC multiverse. The result was the destruction of the multiverse leading to a new version of the DCU with a new timeline. We know this will happen again, but the multiverse will survive. Both the multiverse and Barry would return, with Barry doing so to save the DC multiverse again from the Final Crisis. He succeeded. That very multiverse was what made Barry famous, as he traveled across it to meet the first hero to call himself The Flash. Their interdimensional adventures sent shock waves through out time and space and may have sealed Barry’s fate.

If you come this site daily, you know how Barry got his powers: lightning, chemicals, and destiny. Wednesday, we can only hope that same destiny brings Barry Allen safely back to a new DCU. But will it be a better one?

Know Your DCU: Legion of Super-Pets

There are some things in comics that are just too unbelievable to be true. The origin for the Legion of Super-Pets is certainly one of them. Here’s an excerpt from the most reliable (sarcasm) source of information on the internet, Wikipedia:

The alien creatures known as the Brain-Globes of Rambat decide that in order to succeed in their plan to move Earth to their own solar system, they must defeat Superboy. When they are unable to gain control of Superboy, they summon Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl of the Legion of Super-Heroes from the future and mentally command the trio to capture him.

After Superboy is defeated, the Brain-Globes of Rambat release their hold on the Legionnaires. When they notice that the Brain-Globes cannot control animals, the Legionnaires gather Krypto the Super-Dog (from Superboy’s present), Streaky the Supercat and Beppo the Super-Monkey (from Superman’s present), and Comet the Super-Horse (from a few weeks in Superman’s future) to battle the aliens. The pets defeat the aliens and are named the Legion of Super-Pets, the animal branch of the super club. They are then returned to their proper time periods. Proty II would later join the team.

In case you are curious (and I know you’re not), that is Proty II in the right hand corner. If you’d like to learn about the other Super-pets, well they have all been covered HERE before:

Comet

Beppo

Streaky

Krypto

Know Your DCU: Streaky the Supercat

It’s just a Cat-filled day here at DailyDCU.com, isn’t it?

The above image is an excellent and succinct retelling of the origin on Streaky the Supercat, officially making this the shortest Know Your DCU ever!!!

Stay tuned as next week we return to Streaky and some of his animal friends…

Know Your DCU: The Shaggy Man

This mindless hairy beast is a nearly indestructible force, capable of absorbing punches the likes of Superman and able to regenerate broken body parts. A synthetic being created by Professor Andrew Zagarian, the virtually immortal Shaggy Man brought the Justice League to it’s knees on several occasions. 

Know Your DCU: Rose Wilson

Rose Wilson, AKA Ravager, is a Teen Titan and the daughter of Teen Titan villain Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstoke the Terminator. She possesses the same powers as her father, having been injected with a similar serum, and has some sort of “I can see your future” power (I feel this has been under developed in the comics).

Wow, that’s a short bio. Here’s hoping Rose will still be around post-Flashpoint…

Know Your DCU: Beppo The Super-Monkey

and

Weekend WTF?!?!?

It’s rare that the Know Your DCU and Weekend WTF?!?!? articles are combined (it’s happened twice before), but then again some character require it and Beppo The Super-Monkey is certainly one of them. When Jor-El sent his son Kal-El to Earth from Krypton, a pesky chimpanzee stowed away on board (you remember that deleted scene from the extended edition of Superman: The Movie right?). When the rocket crashed in Smallville, Beppo flew off to the jungles until baby Superboy was old enough to have a pet chimp. Because.. you know… that’s what apes do.

Beppo doesn’t exist anymore, and I’m confident he won’t Post-Flashpoint.

Know Your DCU: Osiris

Osiris the brother of Isis, who was married to Black Adam, is a member of “the Black Adam family” who came out of the events of 52. When Amon Tomaz was kidnapped by Intergang he was beaten to within an inch of his life and was left paralyzed. Upon finding him, Black Adam gave part of his power to Amon allowing him to become Osiris. The three spent a blissful few months together helping the world and the country of Khandaq become a better place. They befriended Sobek, a talking crocadile. Osiris even joined the Teen Titans for a brief stint… which was cut short when he decided to turn back to Amon and was subsequently eaten by Sobek who was secretly one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse:

Possibly one of the most shocking moments in DC Comics history.

So Osiris died, then came back in Brightest Day. He kills a bunch of people to bring back his sister Isis (who was petrified in stone along with Black Adam), joined the Titans (evil version) for like two seconds before quitting, eventually brings Isis back to life, but has his soul corrupted in the porcess…

Rough life this kid has had so far, no?

Know Your DCU: The Huntress

The Huntress is a fan favorite and a character that has been around far longer than people realize. I’ll break the mold of this article a bit here to touch upon and simplify the character’s long and complicated history:

• Pre-Crisis: The Huntress was Helena Wayne, daughter of Batman and Catwoman on Earth 2. She worked with the JSA, was good friends with Power Girl, and fought crime in the same way her mother and father did (Bruce was then enjoying retirement as Commissioner Wayne of the GCPD).

• Post-Crisis: The Huntress was Helena Bertinelli, a Gotham City mobster’s daughter who witnesses the murder of her entire mob family as a teenager and wages a war against the Mafia in Gotham years later (operating without the consent of Batman). After the Gotham City Earthquake, Helena dressed as Batgirl (pre-Cassandra Cain) to prove to Batman she could be a hero. She would become a member of the Bat-family when she was recruited by Oracle to operate in the Birds of Prey.

• Post-Flashpoint: The Huntress and her future is unknown.

Know Your DCU: G’nort

First off, let’s talk about the artwork here. Nailing down some high quality images of a character like G’nort isn’t easy, so I decided to turn my attention to DeviantART.com and find an original piece. This one was by PennGuinn and I didn’t alter it like I usually do with most Know Your DCU articles out of respect to the artist. This really does capture the essence of the character (who I find is fun to draw); a great addition to the Green Lantern Corps mythos who was tragically missing from the Green Lantern film (along with any semblance of a decent plot) .

G’nort Esplanade G’neesmacher , the nephew of Lantern G’newman, is a dog-like-humanoid and a curious member of the Green Lantern Corps. Lacking in brains, skill, and really much of anything that makes a good Lantern, G’nort was given an uninhabited sector in space by the Guardians of the Universe so he wouldn’t cause any trouble. Ofcourse… he did, being comedy relief and what not. Oh and he somehow became a member of the Justice League. Naturally, like most goofy characters, G’nort had his moments of unexpected/accidental heroism alongside Superman, who believed in him. G’nort has been missing in action for years now, since the Rann-Thanagar War, and one would only hope we see him this September…

Know Your DCU: Kilowog

With Green Lantern opening in the US today, I thought it’d be appropriate to highlight one of the film’s main characters in this week’s Know Your DCU. So why not discuss one of my favorite Lanterns: Kilowog. A Green Lantern from the planet Bolovax Vik, which is located in the space sector 674, Kilowog is the Lantern in charge of training all new recruits. Kilowog refers to the young recruits he trains as “Poozers”, a phrase he learned from the Lantern drill sergeant who trained him. Kilowog is very close with all of the Earth born Lanterns, butting heads with Hal Jordan and (not surprisingly) Guy Gardner from time to time. He is also one of the most respected by the guardians, and by far the most trusted.

I’m very excited to see Kilowog come to life in the Gren Lantern film, and I hope he is a huge hit with kids. It would be great to have a whole generation of Kilowog fans on our hands…

Know Your DCU: Talia al Ghul

This Sunday my girlfriend Geada will be celebrating her birthday, so this week the Know Your DCU is dedicated to her favorite Batman character, Talia al Ghul. Geada and Talia have much in common; both are exotic, beautiful, strong, independent women who have traveled the world over and love a tall, dark, and handsome man. Yes, I just compared myself to Batman, this is my site after all. The only real difference is Talia’s father is an egomaniacal eco-terrorist bent on world domination who uses a chemical pit to keep himself from aging or dying. Geada’s dad fly airplanes…

Anyways Talia is the daughter of The Demon’s Head: Ra’s al Ghul. As I mentioned before, he’s not a good guy. When Ra’s decided to find a man worthy of his daughter, he came across the “Detective” Batman. Kidnapping Robin, Ra’s created the perfect test to see if Batman was indeed the right man to marry Talia (I guess hunting down your ward is a good test? I don’t know, most girl’s dads just ask me what my favorite ball team is). However, Batman would not be part of Ra’s evil plot for Batman and Talia to mate and procreate the rightful heir to the al Ghul terrorist empire.

Batman and Talia crossed paths many, many times as years passed. The two had their share of passion filled nights together, but Batman is not a “one woman man”. Unbeknown to him, Talia kept a secret. She eventually removed herself from her father’s shadow, running Lex Corp, running a supervillain cabal, and running her father’s league of assassins after her died.

Eventually, Talia revealed to Batman that for years she had been raising their son in secret. The boy was named Damian. Talia wanted Damian to become a member of the Bat-family and then side with her in overthrowing them. Damian said no and sided with his partner Dick Grayson. Now he’s at his father’s side and you all know the rest… or we don’t. Everything is changing in September after all.

If you ask me, of all the women who have entered Batman’s life, I think Talia has made the largest impact…

Know Your DCU: Firestorm

With the big news this week about the upcoming changes coming to DC Comics, I’m slightly forced to change up the way I do the Know Your DCU article. Instead of delving too deeply in continuity (which is about to change drastically), I will be giving very broad strokes of information about these characters. However, this week’s character of Firestorm presents a rare challenge.

You see, we know what the future holds for Firestorm. It appears the past, where Ronnie Raymond and nuclear physicist Martin Stein were caught in an accident that allowed them to fuse together to become Firestorm, will no longer be the origin for the character. Now, from yesterday’s news from DC’s The Source, we know:

Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond are two high school students, worlds apart – and now they’re drawn into a conspiracy of super science that bonds them forever in a way they can’t explain or control.

This sounds more like the Firestorm we saw in Brightest Day. Very interesting. I am guessing Firestorm’s powers will remain the same; the ability to transmute both energy and matter… which is slightly ridiculous. I’m looking forward to what the future holds for Firestorm, and the entirety of the DCU… now to figure out how to handle every week’s Know Your DCU.