Except that one’s not true. Teenaged sidekicks, even in the Silver Age, were the exception, not the rule. Take the Big Seven of the Justice League; only Batman and the Flash had sidekicks. (Supergirl was a “secret weapon,” not a sidekick, and had mostly solo adventures; Wonder Girl developed due to a misunderstanding and likewise didn’t typically accompany Dianna on adventures. Of the many later members of the League, only Green Arrow had such a sidekick. Likewise, only Captain America and the Hulk had teen sidekicks among the Avengers (and shared the same one…kinky.)
I think the unversality of teen sidekicks among the cape & cowl set, like crescent memes on outhouses and high-noon gunfights in the Old West, is a meme without a real basis.
Well, that’s not to say Thor’s never met Bullseye–just that there’s no point in showing it. Thor’s flying to Avengers Mansion for a meeting; he sees Bullseye trying to assassinate some random victim; Thor knocks Bullseye out with one pinkie, or strikes him down with lightning, or blows up a windstorm. Assuming Bullseye is even on his radar. Contrariwise, EVERYBODY notices when Hulk or Juggernaut goes on a rampage through midtown Manhattan. Spider-man and Daredevil just pray they’re not the only heros around when that happens. (Though if you believe JMS, Spider-Man’s given some thought to what he’d do if he did have to put the Hulk down solo.)
The I love Her/Him But I Dare Not Tell Her/Him Because…The Thing with Alicia Masters (too ugly). Cyclops with Jean Grey ( I can’t control my powers). Superman with Lois Lane (my enemies will use her against me or I’m endangering her).
I understand what you mean. A lot of these “syndromes” make a lot of dramatic sense, but that doesn’t make them plausible. (“Plausible” being somewhat of a vexed term in regard to superhero comics, I admit.)
Besides, I think it would be a riot to see Bullseye bouncing paper clips or playing cards off Thor’s skin, and Thor thinking “Zounds! This mortal is strange!” before casually knocking him out and dumping him at the police station. Or hey, maybe Thor wouldn’t even realize Bullseye was dangerous, instead mistaking him for some kind of circus performer and sending him on his way with a hearty laugh. See, the possibilities abound …
It actually went on for a few years and was quite good. A single father, who was a construction worker got the power of Thor while Thor was either away or “dead.”
I don’t remember how Thor returned, but the replacement went on to briefly have his own series under the name Thunderstrike.
You’ve forgotten Aqualad, who was most definitely Aquaman’s sidekick before coming into his own.
Of course, all of the major DC teen sidekicks, their mentors did, in fact, have girlfriends - or wives. Green Arrow and Aquaman both had children. Batman, despite popular belief, actually has had several girlfriends (Catwoman, Silver St Cloud and Vicki Vale, off the top of my head), Aquaman and Flash II were both married. Sandman I married - his wife was the aunt of his sidekick (Sandy the Golden Boy), although how that works is beyond me, since Dian was established as an only child in Sandman Mystery Theater.
Aaaaaaanyway, pointless nitpickery aside.
Why did you join, anyway? - In many teams there will be one - or more - members who refuse to play well with others, and clearly would be much happier off on their own, yet, if they quit the team it will be temporary. Examples: Pre-ZH Legion of Superheroes - Wildfire and Timberwolf, Post-ZH - Brainiac 5 and Gates, Waid - Brainiac 5 and Ultra Boy (and most of the rest of the team, for that matter); X-Men - Wolverine; Justice League - Batman and Guy Gardner.
All Roads in the Universe Lead to Earth Syndrome. No matter how ancient the threat, dire the calamity or overwhelming the rest of known sentient space finds the danger that destroys civilization after civilization, only the superheroes of Earth are equipped to stop it.
Right out of “Good Housekeeping.” The tendency of any superhero lair, mansion, hidden fortress, underground cave and laboratory to be adequately stocked with equipment, weapons or supplies despite (at best ) there being one butler around.
This is mighty white of me… there will always be one angst-riddled storyline involving an ethnic minority (but let’s face it, he’s usually black) superhero who bemoans the fact that he’s just a token, an ineffectual one at that, and that other superheroes either don’t understand him or that the [insert ethnic name] community doesn’t appreciate him.
My favorite sendup of this was in the Spider-Man/Spider Man 2099 one-shot crossover section. For various reasons, SM2099 ends up in present-day New York, where he promptly runs into Spider-Man. Present-day Spidey comments, “Look, I know how this goes, we’re supposed to have a misunderstanding and fight each other for a while before we get things straightened out, but we’re short on time, so let’s just skip that and go after the bad guys, okay?”
As for the OP, I’ll offer I Made The Mess, You Clean It Up. No matter how much of the neighborhood/city/state/planet gets destroyed, the heroes who caused the destruction will never bother with the reconstruction effort, nor get pursued for restitutions for the costs involved (An issue sorta-kinda addressed in the Damage Control limited series).
The Falcon being forcibly added to the Avengers by their security liasion Henry Gyrich in order to comply with governmental Equal Opportunity guidelines. (Issue #181 to IIRC 196).
Not to nitpick, but in Starman, James Robinson conclusively had Wesley and Dian say that they never married, but lived together faithfully and very much in love for many decades.
In addition to the direct replacement already mentioned, an alien by the name of Beta Ray Bill came into possession of Don Blake’s walking stick and became Beta Ray Thor (yeah, I know). Later he returned Mjolnir to Thor and got his own hammer.
IIRC, Falcon didn’t moan about being put onto the Avengers so doesn’t really fit the syndrome.
In current continuity Wonder Woman has no secret identity. Originally, the Golden Age Wonder Woman bought her secret identity from the real Diana Prince.
There’s a terrible issue of Action Comics (too lazy to look up the number) where Kyle Rayner inhales some Joker gas and goes on an emerald frenzy though Metropolis where Supes and Bats have to bring him down. Afterwards Kyle offers to help clean up. There’s also an issue of She-Hulk where Jen cuts NYC a check for the 12 blocks she accidently tore up while running home after she had boosted her powers. These might be rarities though.
HPL, Wondy has no secret ID. She’s out (tee hee).
On preview: figures that Otto would beat me to the punch on a Wonder Woman question.
The I Could Make Billions By Using My Power Legitimately, But I’d Rather Knock Over Banks For Chump Change Syndrome. This is similar to Menocchio’s “Selfish” one. The vast majority of second tier villians could make billions by using their power legitimately without sharing their power.
Take most “B” Grade, second tier villians-you know, the “one power wonders” (Flash’s Rogue’s Gallery types). Almost any of them could make billions legitimately their powers legitimately.
For example: What if Weather Wizard went to the Feds and said “Hey dudes, Katrina’s gonna cost you tens (hundreds?) of billions to repair. For one cool billion, I’ll direct it out to sea. Think about it: save money AND millions of registered voters and I get rich without the risk of getting beaten up. We all win!”
Or Plant-Man “Hey Florida guys: Weather Wizard didn’t get involved early enough to stop Katrina from wiping out your grapefruit crop. Gimme ten million and you’ll have a brand-new crop in a few hours.”
I remember black heroes like Night Thrasher and Sillouhette from New Warriors having some angsty moments here and there, but I’m not going to dig through a couple hundred comic books at the top of my closet to find 'em. I’ll just assume I’m right.
I’d also like to add the Nah, couldn’ta been syndrome in respect to secret identities. Sometimes supervillains do stumble upon the secret ID of their nemesis and refuse to believe it. I’m pretty sure this happened early on with Spiderman when Doc Ock unmasked him in front of people. Nobody believed Peter Parker was Spiderman. So, sometimes when amnesia is inconvenient or people are too stupid to see behind a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, the writers just have everyone assume their eyes simply deceive them.
Goody Two Shoes Hero Banter also gets on my nerves. I remember an early issue of Newmen (I’m still rather ashamed I bought those…) where the villain derided his opponents, saying “Geez, where do they teach you guys to talk like that?”
