DC's whole "don't use that character, we are going to do something else with them" BS they've been pulling for the last thirty years or so has really hamstrung their mass appeal. We’ve lost out on projects that could’ve been great, and seen great projects often held back from reaching their full potential. It’s ridiculous that they’ll only allow one version of a character on screen at a time when comics have always thrived on multiple iterations existing side by side. Instead of leaning into that richness, they tie themselves in knots pretending audiences can’t handle it, even though they’re just going to reboot everything again in three years anyway. Also it's frickin Birds of Prey let them have the bird villain for Christ sake.
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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Do you know of the other specific examples? In some cases these restrictions can lead to innovation.
In the case of Birds of Prey I had never heard of Black Mask, so giving that character a chance to shine I think was an improvement to the film. Now it's possible I would have liked the Penguin version as well, but I don't think the Birds of Prey suffered without the Penguin.
Well after rewatching Smallville while listening to Rosenbaum and Welling and other cast and crew talk about each episode it seems DC was constantly nixing characters and stories. They famously weren't allowed to use Bruce Wayne because of Nolan's movies and Wonder Woman was out too. Lois Lane was one of the best characters in the show and apparently they had to fight to get her, and then DC put limits on her use and they had to ask in advance before including her in episodes. Another example that comes to mind just from Smallville was when they wanted The Flash but they had to settle for Impulse.
Arrow was famously originally conceived as a show about Bruce Wayne. You may be right in this case that Green Arrow was a better choice, but we'll really never know. Arrow was hamstrung every step of the way by DC. They were setting up a Suicide Squad plotline and then DC had them nix it. Slade Wilson was built up as a major villain and then they just weren't allowed to use him anymore.
The DCAU also had to work around character restrictions all the time, which led to some ...interesting choices.
Ah! I completely forgot about Smallville and the Arrowverse. I was just thinking about films.
Then yeah, that sucks. I know they did a little bit of DCEU crossover in the Arrowverse, but honestly that's just fun. It's not like the MCU where they technically live in the same universe, so you have to be careful about which characters appear when. It's more like Agents of Shield post season 2(ish) or the Netflix shows that referenced the "Big Battle in New York".
But yeah, if they held back Smallville and the Arrowverse, which it sounds like they did then that's just stupid.
I know Gunn has mentioned not preventing good Elseworld stories going forward. I assumed this meant things like The Batman, but I'm guessing it extends to those exact problems you mentioned.
But... Bird