The Flash

The Flash is my brother's favorite superhero in the Justice League. Well, him and the Martian Manhunter. There have been many incarnations of the Flash. His first incarnation is Jay Garrick, and the current incarnations are Barry Allen and Wally West. Every Flash starts out as Kid Flash, training with the Flash as his mentor.
The first Flash, Jay Garrick, is the Golden Age incarnation. He wears a tight-fitting red shirt with a lightning bolt on it and jeans. Garrick also wore a silver helmet with golden wings. Jay Garrick gained his speed by inhaling mineral-saturated water. The Flash's only power is super-speed, unlike Superman's vast array of powers. He was the very first super-fast hero, and among the first single-powered heroes.
The next Flash, Barry Allen, is the Silver Age Flash. He gained his powers when lightning-struck chemicals spilled on him. Barry allen was a forensic scientist. Barry Allen donned the sleek red-and-gold Speedster costume symbolic of the Flash.
The modern incarnations of the Flash are Bart Allen and Wally West. They were both introduced as Kid Flash, wearing a costume similar but not a mirror-image of the Flash's. The Kid Flash costume is more child-like, with a simple eye-mask instead of a mask covering the entire face. Wally West is Barry Allen's nephew through marriage, and Bart Allen's grandson. Both are impulsive, childlike Kid Flashes with a simple-minded view on superheroism.
The Flash is often portrayed as the jester of the Justice League. He is constantly bugging Batman, making mistakes at super-speed. The best thing about the Flash is also something about all superheroes: no matter how differently he acts, he will always do the right thing. He may make many mistakes trying to do the right thing, but he still means to do good. This quality is especially visible in his Justice League television show incarnation. He's usually the guy who gets made fun of, but also attracts ladies. Whiel he may not be the cover-boy of the Justice League, he is one of the most well-known. The Flash of the Justice League refers to the Speedster, not the old, Gold Age Flash of the Justice Society.
The Flash is a pretty funny guy. He draws younger audiences to the Justice League and the DC Universe because he's funny and he makes mistakes. The other superheroes seem like they never do anything wrong, especially Batman. Flash kind of blunders his way through the comic or cartoon or story, but is still seen as the hero in the end. He's also not the smartest member of the Justice League. Many people probably pay attention to the League just to see him get made fun of by villains or other members. He is much like Marvel's Spider-Man: people can (kind of) relate to him.

The Amazing Spider-Man!

Spider-Man is one the most popular and well-known comicbook heroes ever, along with Batman and Superman. Spider-Man is the most popular character among Marvel Comics. Many people like Spider-Man because of his seeming normality. Spider-Man also has a sense of humor, making his comicbook appearances more interesting. Spider-Man has appeared in a few television shows as well as a few movies.
Spider-Man is really Peter Parker, a regular teenage boy. He gets bitten by a radioactive spider, giving him superpowers. Among his superpowers are the proportionate strength of a spider and the ability to shoot webs from his wrist. Peter Parker learns his most important lesson as his uncle dies. "With great power comes great responsibility." This quote helps Parker choose to become Spider-Man. He leads a double life; student by day, superhero by night.
Spider-Man faces multiple enemies, most of them unrealistic. One of the only heroes whose story can be realistically told is Batman; most other superheroes have spectacular stories. Spider-Man's most well-known enemy is Venom, a type of "reverse" Spider-Man. Among his other enemies are Doctor Octopus, Sandman, the Lizard and the Green Goblin. My personal favorite is Venom as the anti-Spider-Man. He is everything that Spider-Man isn't, but bigger and stronger. My favorite Spider-Man costume is the black-suit Spider-Man, formed by a symbiotic alien life form's attraction to Peter Parker. The suit makes him stronger, and faster, but also more violent and careless.
Spider-Man is featured in a series of films by Sam Raimi, titled Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man 3. Spider-Man, the first in the (thus far) trilogy, was a success. In my opinion, Spider-Man is the best of the films. Spider-Man 2 gets boring after a while, probably because of the lack of an origin story. Spider-Man 3 was much like Batman Forever, in which the director tried to cram too many villains into a story-less plot. Spider-Man was about Peter Parker's transformation into Spider-Man, as well as the Green Goblin. Spider-Man 2 is about the maniacal Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man 3 is about Peter Parker's struggle to find his true self while battling Sandman, Venom and the New Goblin.
Spider-Man's animated series is probably the best portrayal of him in a cartoon. The animated series I'm talking about is the 90's cartoon, the one I grew up watching. Though the voice acting is slightly corny, the overall story-telling is very good. This cartoon, along with X-Men: The Animated Series, seems to follow in the steps of Batman: The Animated Series in that the show is slightly darker than most cartoons. A spin-off series, Spider-Man Unlimited, was created about a future Spider-Man. That show didn't do so well, and the recent Spectacular Spider-Man isn't quite the greatest show on television, either. Spider-Man cartoons generally appeal to children instead of an older crowd, probably because he is funnier than most other heroes. The humor causes children to forget about the complex, over-the-top stories and focus on the action itself. Older crowds then find that the stories eventually get toned down, and they lose interest.
Spider-Man isnt' a bad hero. He just seems a little outdated now. Sure, he's been revived by Sam Raimi (for the first two films, at least), and kids still like him. Spider-Man's generation is just kind of in the past now.

Captain Marvel/ Shazam!

Captain Marvel is the hero from the comic series Shazam!. I don't even like Captain Marvel. To me, he's completely useless and boring. But, to be fair, I will publish posts about characters I like and those I don't like as much. All Captain Marvel really does is give people bear hugs so he can strike them with lightning. Captain Marvel's story is very strange and completely unbelievable, even more so than Superman's.
Billy Batson was an ordinary child working as a radio news reporter. He was given his powers by a wizard named Shazam. Any time Billy says "Shazam," he is transformed into a fully-grown superhero. As a hero, Captain Marvel has incredible abilities. Captain Marvel's abilities aren't even fair abilities, unlike Superman. Superman actually has a weakness. When Billy says "Shazam", the letters stand for his powers. S stands for the intelligence of Solomon. H stands for Hercules' power. A stands for his stamina, which matches Atlas'. Z stands for his power, which rivals Zeus'. The second A stands for Achilles' courage. M stands for Mercury's speed. Basically, Captain Marvel is a compacted version of some of the most powerful Greek gods and Solomon. Captain Marvel's most commonly seen power is his ability to throw lightning bolts and summon lightning.
Captain Marvel is often shown fighting Superman. Superman generally loses these fights because of his weakness to magic. This is definitely unfair. Captain Marvel might as well be invincible, because he has so many powers and barely a single weakness. Captain Marvel has appeared as the main character in some television shows and a minor character in other shows. Some of the more recent appearances are in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited. He fought Superman in and episode of Justice League Unlimited, but this time Superman defeated him. Superman outsmarted Captain Marvel by using his own lightning bold to transform Captain Marvel back into Billy Batson. Captain Marvel has not appeared in any live-action movies, however. The most recent Shazam! film project was canned (thankfully) when Warner Brothers asked the story to be more serious.
Aside from television and comics, Captain Marvel only really appears in one videogame, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. He is completely useless and boring to play; all you can do with him is send a couple bolts of lightning here and there. Captain Marvel can't even fly! The most useful attack is to grab the opponent in a bear hug, turn them up to the sky and have Captain Marvel yell, "Shazam!". I don't even think that Captain Marvel should have been added to the game; they should have gone with a more Justice League-ish character like the Martian Manhunter. Downloadable content has been confirmed, so hopefully I can download some other character to play instead of this completely overpowered character. It seems I've only used DC Comics characters on this blog. Maybe next week I'll use a Marvel Comics charcter.

Batman (Continued)

The art style of Batman: The Animated Series would be seen again in The Batman-Superman Adventures, an hour-long block on Cartoon Network which had a half-hour episode about Batman and a half-hour episode about Superman. Many fans complained that the newer computer-animated style seemed very cheap compared to the hand-drawn masterpieces of Batman: The Animated Series. Many details were lost in the transition from hand-drawn frames to computer-animated images. In Batman: The Animated Series, Batman's cape and cowl were a deep shade of blue. In The Batman-Superman Adventures and the future Justice League shows, Batman's cape and cowl became a flat black. This change in color scheme was probably used to make animation cheaper. In The Batman-Superman Adventures, many more characters from Batman's story were introduced. One such character is Nightwing, a former Robin.
The next Batman show was Batman Beyond, which was about Batman in the future. The show started in 1999 and ended in 2001. The story took place 30 years after the end of The Batman-Superman Adventures. Bruce Wayne quit being Batman due to health complications, shown in the pilot episode of Batman Beyond. Coincidentally, a troubled teenager, Terry McGinnis, runs to his house when chased by a gang. The two fight off the members of the gang, and Terry helps Bruce get his medication when the complications arise again. Bruce Wayne falls asleep, and Terry goes to wandering around the house. Eventually, Terry discovers who Batman really is. In time, Bruce trusts Terry lets him take up the mantle of Batman in a new suit.
There have been multiple movies about Batman. The first movie was made in 1966, which led to the television series in 1966. The next 2 movies were made by Tim Burton. The first movie, simply titled Batman, was made in 1989. It featured Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne and Batman, as well as Jack Nicholson as The Joker. Jack Nicholson's Joker has been described as much more faithful to the comics, as opposed to the late Heath Ledger's psychopathic Joker. Burton's second movie, Batman Returns, features Michael Keaton as Batman and Bruce Wayne, as well as Danny DeVito as The Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. Burton's movies are very dark and disturbing, and are probably a main source of inspiration of Batman: The Animated Series.
One main difference between Burton's Batman movies and the animated series is Batman's rougher side. This side is portrayed in The Dark Knight and Batman Begins. Batman is shown as a hero who seems like a killer, threatening to harm the city's criminals if they don't give him information he wants. In an episode of Justice League Unlimited in which the Justice League is sent back in time, an older Batman sees himself in the past. He says he never thought he was so rough. The Batman that Bruce Timm made known was a meaner Batman who sometimes got a little carried away. In some episodes, he even needed to be told to calm down by Robin. Of course, Batman never really listened to Robin. Batman's tactics are usually to use fear ot get what he wants. Though he seems like he doesn't care about the criminal, he has limits that he won't pass. In The Dark Knight, he says he has one rule; this rule is taken to be that he doesn't kill. The Joker tells him that his single rule is the rule he must break to win their fight. Batman's morals are similar to Superman's but much less strict. He never kills, but he instills fear and may even maim those in his way. This does have effects on his conscience, of course. In one episode of Batman: TAS, he becomes frustrated that he isn't doing any good for the city. Batman is an essential hero. Superman is the brave, well-known and completely ethical hero, whereas Batman is the gritty, cruel hero who uses psychological tricks instead of brute force.