History DependingOnTheWriter / TheDCU

!Franchise/TheDCU
DependingOnTheWriter in this series.

** Ollie hasn't fared much better in The ComicBook/{{New 52}}. His creative team changed three times in the first year, with the first two teams writing him as a generic action hero with none of the personality of the classic Oliver Queen. Creator/AnnNocenti wrote him as a womanizing beatnik, who spouted free-verse poetry while wandering the rooftops. Creator/JeffLemire improved things somewhat, making Ollie a competent hero if not a particularly memorable one. And a fill-in arc by Series/{{Arrow}} Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg and writer Ben Sokolowski - portrayed Green Arrow like Oliver Queen on the TV series. Eventually, Benjamin Percy and ComicBook/DCRebirth came along and did a good job of merging Ollie's disparate characterizations.

* Characters' dietary habits are rarely kept consistent. Franchise/WonderWoman and ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} have been written as vegetarian but often aren't.
** ComicBook/PoisonIvy's eating habits are not set in stone. Despite fanon, it's never been implied that Ivy doesn't need to eat due to her plant hybrid nature. One comic depicts her as near always having an empty plate, but an issue of the comic clearly shows her eating soup. Sometimes Poison Ivy is a vegan but sometimes she refuses to eat plants because she considers it murder. And other times, Ivy is depicted as a "fruitarian," and having a diet solely consisting of fruits, berries, and nuts.
* ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'':
** How evil is Cheshire, and more specifically, how much does she care about [[DatingCatwoman her former lover, Roy]], and their daughter, Lian? Sometimes they're a case of MoralityPet or EvenEvilHasLovedOnes, but other writers go out of their way to portray her as not giving a damn about them.
** Is ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} an honorable AntiVillain bordering on AntiHero who keeps to a strict code and would be a good guy if not for terrible circumstances? Or is he a complete scumbag whose claims of hard circumstances are [[NeverMyFault just blaming other people for things he caused]], and who has no problem committing monstrous acts in the name of payment or fun as long as he keeps to his code? Notably, even his creators disagreed; Marv Wolfman saw him as the former, George Perez saw him as the latter, which resulted in Deathstroke suddenly becoming much more of a good guy whenever Wolfman was writing him solo. This has also led to some very different takes over the years on, for instance, his relationship with Terra--either Terra was far worse than him, and Deathstroke's responses to her were horror at what she did and what she convinced him to do, or he was the one corrupting and manipulating ''her'', and while she was hardly a good person, sleeping with an emotionally-disturbed teenager isn't something an honorable person does.
* ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'s personality in comparison to Billy. Traditionally, Shazam is an older, wiser alter ego of Billy Batson thanks to the wisdom of Solomon. However, many incarnations put emphasis on the fact Billy is actually a kid by having Shazam act like a ManChild.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': Are the Green Lantern rings self-protecting from thieves, or can Batman slip off the ring without Lanterns even noticing?
* Due to being a less popular character with a lot of appearances and a somewhat complex background, ComicBook/RedTornado writers have a habit of forgetting aspects of his character. On paper, he's [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots an android]] [[BlowYouAway that can control wind]], which was the case for much of his history. In the 80s, it was added on that he was possessed by an ElementalEmbodiment of wind, which acted as his "soul", so to speak, and had lived inside of him since his creation. Owing to its retcon status and it rarely showing up in adaptations, writers have a tendency to forget the second bit (to the point that it may no longer be canon). For instance, some writers claim that the elemental part is the part that makes winds, with the android being, if anything, a PowerLimiter, others have it be an independent function of the android that carries over to copies of it. Sometimes, the destruction of the body has resulted in the elemental coming out, but plenty of other writers have had Red be wrecked with no signs of this.

!!Franchise/TheDCU
!!!The following have their own pages:

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': Are the Green Lantern rings self-protecting from thieves, or can Batman slip off the ring without Lanterns even noticing?

* The second female Hawk of ''Hawk and Dove'' named Holly Granger was a case of this in her tenure in the comics. Was she a bad-tempered [[BrattyTeenageDaughter bratty younger sister]] with a punk edge? Or was she more of a promiscuous seductress? Did she speak in a phony British accent with slang or not? And was she Dawn's younger or older sister (the latter which would technically make her a case of ChristmasCake when she slept with Power Boy in that {{Squick}}-inducing scene, [[SarcasmMode thank you very much, Judd Winick.]]). [[spoiler:Is it any wonder she became Blackest Night cannon fodder?]]

** Cassandra Sandsmark (the second ComicBook/WonderGirl): Is she a confident CuteBruiser? Is she filled with Wangst and ill-tempered at the level of the AlphaBitch? Has she gotten over her boyfriend's (temporary) death or not? And is she the Tomboy or TheChick? Such writing inconsistencies have derailed her character since she became a Teen Titan, though she originally started out as TheScrappy when written by John Byrne. It took Peter David to deliver the first "fix" on her character, though Byrne decried it, along with the very idea that Cassie would ever join a superhero team. According to Byrne, she was not supposed to be "unique". Byrne would later become incensed by the revelation that Cassie's father was Zeus, as well as the idea that she would lose her virginity to ComicBook/{{Superboy}}.

* ComicBook/{{GreenLantern}}: Are the Green Lantern rings self-protecting from thieves, or can Batman slip off the ring without Lanterns even noticing?

* ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} speaking backwards to cast her spells. Sometimes she ''has'' to do it, to the point that she's effectively powerless if rendered mute. Other times, it's merely a focusing technique and she can very much cast magic without speaking backwards, or in some cases, speaking at all.

*** Pretty bad in the ComicBook/{{New 52}}: Azzarello's Wonder Woman in her own book is a completely different person from Geoff Johns' Wonder Woman in the latter half of ''Justice League''. This gets lampshaded and justified when Greg Rucka returns to her in ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', with Diana realizing the contradictions in her life, and setting out to discover the truth of herself.

*** Pretty bad in the ComicBook/{{New 52}}: Azzarello's Wonder Woman in her own book is a completely different person from Geoff Johns' Wonder Woman in ''Justice League''. This gets lampshaded and justified when Greg Rucka returns to her in ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', with Diana realizing the contradictions in her life, and setting out to discover the truth of herself.

* The ComicBook/NewGods. Oh '''boy''', the New Gods. You have some names and some basic relationships. Nothing else will stay consistent between writers or even in different appearances by the same writer. This falls broadly into two camps: people who never actually read the thing and people who ''did'' but changed things they didn't particularly care for. Examples: the nature of the [[CompellingVoice Anti]]-[[BrownNote Life]] [[EldritchAbomination Equation]], the nature of the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien New]] [[PhysicalGod Gods]] themselves, whether New Genesis and Apokolips were somewhere in space or [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths another dimension entirely]], and [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever what their actual size is]].

* ComicBook/PoisonIvy's eating habits are not set in stone. Despite fanon, it's never been implied that Ivy doesn't need to eat due to her plant hybrid nature. One comic depicts her as near always having an empty plate, but an issue of the comic clearly shows her eating soup. Sometimes Poison Ivy is a vegan but sometimes she refuses to eat plants because she considers it murder. And other times, Ivy is depicted as a "fruitarian," and having a diet solely consisting of fruits, berries, and nuts.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' is probably worse, considering he is the TropeCodifier of the FlyingBrick. That was the main thing that made ''Film/SupermanII'' fail for the fans, because he was given [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands random powers that had never appeared before]]. When handled at his most popular, his powers are fairly straightforward: [[IBelieveICanFly Flight]], [[NighInvulnerable Invulnerability]], [[EyeBeams Heat Vision]], [[SuperBreath Ice Breath]], and the super abilities of SuperSenses, SuperSpeed and SuperStrength. PowerCreepPowerSeep aside, writers would give him the most bizarre super-"whatever" power (including super-marble playing and the "S" saran wrap shield). This is probably what gave fan Jerry ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' his thoughts about him having "super humor." One strip has him use super-puppeteering to put on a play for Lois, and super-memory to learn the script quickly. Superman's powers were never really set in stone during the Golden and Silver Ages. Superman was rife with NewPowersAsThePlotDemands up until John Byrne's post-crisis revamp gave a definite set of powers for Superman, removing some like freezing breath, forgetting others like "Super Ventriloquism" and "Super Elastic Facial Muscles" (this is not a joke), and limiting others like his super strength and speed. (Seriously, how else could a mook like the Toyman be even kind of a threat?) Other writers have since crept his power up and down, with freeze breath eventually showing up again and various applications of other powers being used.
** At the Superman rollercoaster at Six Flags Great Adventure, there are giant plaques hung up that you can read while advancing through the line. Superman's plaque lists one of his powers as "Super-Intelligence". Now, we ''are'' talking about a guy who, canonically, built functional android duplicates of himself realistic (and powerful) enough to take his place if he's indisposed. He actually is supposed to be scary smart. But plenty of comics characters are just as smart without it being a superpower. His weaknesses suffer this too. Kryptonite is often shown to have him on the ground in pain in seconds just from waving it in front of his face while red sunlight shuts his powers off instantly. Then he'll turn around and fly through a Kryptonite asteroid belt (he is the TropeNamer for FightOffTheKryptonite) and a red star and still somehow survive a crash landing on a planet before his powers completely fade.
*** Though some of this is genuine retconning. Red sunlight was changed to cause rapid power depletion instead of instant powerlessness for a couple of decades before it went back to being his off switch.
** His vulnerability to magic can be even more confusing. Do you have a pencil that's magically enchanted to write what you say? You can stab Superman with that even though nothing about the magic actually makes it a better weapon. On the other hand, some writers have him able to square off with Thor and Captain Marvel, who should be able to tear him apart if the above was true. His weakness to magic was originally supposed to be lack of resistance to spells that violate the laws of nature so he can be turned into a frog as easily as the next guy, but magic superstrength is no better than regular superstrength against him.
** Another issue is his mortality; the pre-New 52 modern comics (as well as Smallville) basically said that he'll live forever as long as no one kills him. However, this is certainly not true in the Silver Age: for instance the Earth-2 Superman is obviously in late middle-age.
** His character in the comics tends to vary as well, from being completely content identifying as a human to being all too aware of his status as an outsider. Among other heroes he's generally optimistic and upbeat but still serious whereas his solo titles tend to show him brooding and angsting over his role, whether or not he's doing enough, balancing his heroic and personal life (at least since UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}), and so forth. Its possible that he outwardly projects optimism and confidence to fulfill his role as a leader while keeping his doubts to himself.
** Then there's the role of Clark Kent. Some writers take the view that Clark Kent is more or less just a disguise for him that lets him live a normal existence and ground himself, while others take the view that he considers Clark Kent to be his "true" identity and the person he's been his whole life. Quite a few comics, like ''ComicBook/SupermanBirthright'', seemingly TakeAThirdOption in suggesting that neither Superman nor Clark Kent are "the real one", with both being exaggerated personas to some degree, and the closest thing to "the real one" is how he acts when around people who know his identity, like his parents or Lois Lane. And how Clark Kent himself acts fluctuates quite a bit; in some comics, he's TheAce who's respected by everyone and more or less acts like Superman if he didn't have powers and was a reporter, while in others, he's a borderline DitzyGenius who baffles people in his ability to uncover massive corporate conspiracies, [[TheKlutz then trip over his shoelaces.]]
** Even his eating habits are subject to this. Some writers have claimed he's a vegetarian, with the justification that his SuperSenses make it hard for him to enjoy eating any kind of farmed meat. Other writers show him having no problem with meat, and his canonical favorite food is beef bourguignon.
** Superman's [[RealityWarper reality warping]] enemy, Mr. Mxyzptlk, flips back and forth between sociopathic pest and StealthMentor. In ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow, he explained that he gets bored and switches personas every so often.
** Much of this owes to something of an ArmedWithCanon debate, with some writers preferring the pre-Crisis Superman, others preferring the John Byrne reboot, and constantly tug-of-warring between the two. He's usually somewhere in the middle-ish.
** This was a major issue with the ComicBook/New52 Superman, and likely a major reason for why the guy didn't take. Grant Morrison wrote him as an arrogant, inexperienced hothead in the past, but going through CharacterDevelopment into a well-rounded IdealHero with an aggressive and anti-authoritarian streak [[OlderAndWiser by the modern day.]] Thing was, a lot of writers, including George Perez and Scott Lobdell, didn't get the memo on the second half, and wrote the modern Superman as a straight-up self-righteous JerkAss who punched people for no good reason. And then you had writers like Scott Snyder, who basically ignored both approaches and just wrote him like his pre-New 52 counterpart...
** Is ComicBook/LexLuthor a CardCarryingVillain, a NobleDemon, or a WellIntentionedExtremist? Considering he started as a MadScientist and was rectonned into being a CorruptCorporateExecutive, he has legitimately fallen into more than one of these categories but even within his incarnations, writers have different takes on just how much Lex really wants to help mankind (to the exclusion of aliens) and how much he's in it for himself or at least his pride. His hatred of Superman is consistent but the motivations for that hatred have varied considerably. His scientific abilities fluctuate from writer to writer as well. Sometimes a businessman is all that he is, sometimes he's also the most brilliant scientist alive. He's also either an eccentric DeadpanSnarker InsufferableGenius or a PerpetualFrowner who is almost completely humorless. More often than not though, this discrepancy is because he's partnered up with ComicBook/TheJoker and the writer wants to present a nice contrast between the two villains.
** Do Kryptonians use {{Uterine Replicator}}s or have standard pregnancies?

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' books are full of this.
** First there's the caped crusader himself. He's had so many writers that he's barely the same character in some appearances. And that's just in the main DCU, and not going into ''ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder'', the movies, and various TV shows based on him. To list all the different ways he's been portrayed (is he a really good detective or not? Is he admirable or a JerkAss? Is he the craziest or the OnlySaneMan of the Franchise/{{Justice League|Of America}}?) would take up way too much space. This is perhaps best represented in the [[http://www.overthinkingit.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/batman-alignment.jpg Batman alignment chart]]
** Young Bruce Wayne following the night his parents were gunned down. Option A is that young Bruce reacted as any kid would and spent some of the following years traumatized before deciding to travel the world to train and become Batman. Option B is that everything that made Bruce Wayne Bruce Wayne died with his parents and what was left was a CreepyChild with TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior.
** Former sidekick ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} arguably gets it worse. While DC will usually run with one interpretation of Batman in all the books and then shift to another, Nightwing gets to be a relatively happy and well-adjusted leader of men in the bat-books, but shifts into a dark and broody Batman 2.0 in team books. Maybe they are both correct. He's grim and broody, but compared to Batman he looks cheery and well-adjusted!
** Barbara's biological relationship to her father Jim varies. In the 1980s, Jim's age was lowered and as a result Barbara became his niece who he adopted as his daughter. At other times she's biologically his daughter.
** Don't even get started on the Joker...
*** From the earliest comics to ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' to the various animated series, he's been portrayed as a HarmlessVillain, MagnificentBastard, TheMadHatter, AffablyEvil, FauxAffablyEvil, BoredWithInsanity, CompleteMonster, etc... listing everything he's been would warrant [[ComicBook/TheJoker its own section!]] It's probable that ''all'' of these are true. A text story by Creator/GrantMorrison in ''Batman and Son'', leading to the Joker's role in ''Batman RIP'', has him ''deciding'' it's time for a new persona and considering various options.
*** Another aspect also in flux is the Joker's fighting ability. Sometimes he's got a glass jaw and has to hide behind his schemes, sometimes he can hold off Batman or even take him on toe-to-toe, or even take on [[VideoGame/MortalKombatvsDCUniverse monsters, gods and the greatest martial artists in the world]].
*** The comic book mini-series ''ComicBook/BatmanThreeJokers'' explores this trope by suggesting that there have been multiple Jokers - "The Criminal", who is portrayed as a criminal mastermind; "The Clown", who plays deadly pranks on his victims and possibly the Joker that killed Jason Todd in ''ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily''; and "The Comedian", who believes the world is one big joke and may have been the one to cripple Barbara Gordon in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''.
** ComicBook/TheRiddler... Nerdy milquetoast with a debilitating gimmick who is considered not even worth killing by other members of Batman's RoguesGallery... or a suave, calculating and MagnificentBastard with an intellect possibly comparable to the Dark Knight himself? There's also the fact that some interpretations have him as hyperactive and rather reminiscent of the Joker (think [[Series/Batman1966 Frank Gorshin]] and [[Film/BatmanForever Jim Carrey]]), while others portray him as more of a smooth-talking, calm intellectual (think [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries John Glover]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheBatman Robert Englund]]). There's also the question of why he sends Batman riddles that contain clues about his crimes. In some stories he's trying to prove he's smarter than Batman by coming up with a riddle too hard for Batman to solve. In some stories he's driven by an involuntary psychological compulsion and doesn't ''want'' to send Batman riddles. In some stories he just enjoys his duels of wits with Batman and doesn't feel bothered when Batman solves the riddles, while in others he gets angry or disappointed whenever Batman solves them.
** Killer Croc gets altered ''constantly'' both in [[DependingOnTheArtist appearance]] and character. The only thing writers seem to agree on is that he's not very bright and has some sort of skin condition.
*** Is his intelligence below average, is he retarded, is he an animal? Is he just a thug, a thug with a cannibalistic MO, or a savage monster who wants to eat everyone in the room? None of these interpretations are even remotely in line with the pre-Crisis version of Croc, who was a rather intelligent (not super-genius or anything, but still at least average) gang leader that just happened to have a skin condition. He wasn't even green.
*** Croc gets it worse than most examples here in that they can't even keep his ''race'' consistent. Is he a white old-time gangster film heavy? A black inner city thug? Or is he just a big green reptile?
*** Early on, there was even some debate as to the character's proper ''name'', and he would variously be King Croc, Killer Croc, or, as he was listed in Who's Who, just Croc. And this same Who's Who profile claimed that Croc had no actual powers; he just had leathery skin and was abnormally, not superhumanly, strong. Compare most modern versions and you'll see the obvious discrepancy here.
*** Some of this has been explained, albeit through {{Retcon}}; Chuck Dixon's ''Batman'' run said Croc was in a process of mutation that started out as a skin condition and gradually led to him becoming more reptilian. Why he's now ''more'' human than he was when Dixon left him is another story...
*** His personality also tends to vary, and he tends to alternate between being a NobleDemon, an unrepentant monster, and a DumbMuscle depending on the comic, though nowadays he's been most consistently depicted at the former.
** The ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'' / ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' CrossOver "Night on Earth" is essentially an issue-long LampshadeHanging of this trope as it pertains to Batman; it involves reality 'shifting' around Crime Alley in Gotham City, with the Planetary team meeting variations of Batman ranging from Adam West to Frank Miller to Neal Adams and more besides in their varying universes. However, the actions of the issue still play out exactly the same and perfectly in character for each version of Batman, the point being that for all the different interpretations they're all nevertheless the same essential character.
** Damian Wayne, the fifth Comicbook/{{Robin}}, gets this too. With his creator, Grant Morrison, he tends to be written as a SociopathicHero who is excellent at combat and stealth but lackluster everywhere else. Other writers tend to downplay his skills in combat. With some writers he's still the unrepentant {{Jerkass}} he was introduced as despite years of character development. With other writers (i.e. Peter J. Tomasi), he's actually much kinder than he lets on and struggles to express his genuinely positive feelings for others due to his upbringing.
** Talia al Ghul’s personality also ping pongs around in the hands of different writers. Usually she’s not as villainous as her father and does truly love Batman but struggles with her loyalty to both. Since her and Batman’s son became canonical in 2006, she’s become less sympathetic and will sometimes be written as worse than her father, including killing Damian. Damian’s conception was originally consensual but was changed into being rape and was then rectonned back into being consensual.
** The Mad Hatter. Sometimes he's a somewhat sympathetic Carrol-obsessed loony, who truly seems to think of his mind-controlled henchmen as his friends, however delusionally. Other times he's a murderer and a child molester... with a thing for blonde girls.
** ComicBook/TwoFace's "schtick" tends to ping-pong between a genuine split personality, with the Harvey and "Two-Face" personas engaging in discussions (and, in ''No Man's Land'', a courtroom debate) with disputes between them being resolved by the coin, to a single personality with a violently extreme case of bipolar disorder and obsession with duality. [[TakeAThirdOption Or a mixture]]. Also, his appearance changes drastically between each adaptation.
*** How Two-Face handles his coin flips is also highly variable. Sometimes it's something Harvey does on purpose because he knows his evil side will obey the coin (like it or not), other times it's a psychological compulsion, and still other times it comes off as nothing more than a villainous CharacterTic. This also coincides with how likely he is to keep his promises; sometimes he's a man of his word, and other times he'll use ExactWords and other loopholes to get around them. ''Film/BatmanForever'' took it even further, showing Two-Face repeatedly flipping the coin until he got the result he wanted.
** Jason Todd/Robin II/Red Hood. In the years after being brought back from the dead his personality was all over the place. Creator/JuddWinick, who resurrected him in ''Under The Red Hood'', wrote him as a well-intentioned but unstable AntiVillain. In ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'', he was AxCrazy but ''trying'' to be good. In ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis'' he was completely rational, and merely a KnightInSourArmor type of AntiHero. Then in ''Battle For the Cowl'', and as written by Creator/GrantMorrison in ''Batman and Robin'', he was a full-on villainous [[AxCrazy homicidal maniac]]. Since the New 52 reboot his personality has become much more consistent, settling into the UnscrupulousHero role.
*** Jason's varying personality goes all the way back to his days as Robin. Post-Crisis, Mike W Barr in ''Detective Comics'' wrote him with much the same innocent easygoing personality as his pre-Crisis counterpart, while Max Allan Collins and Jim Starlin in ''Batman'' made him much more stubborn and rougher-edged to fit his new troubled backstory. And after his death, Jason was painted as having been much more wilful and unstable by later writers such as Alan Grant and Chuck Dixon.
** Depending on who's in control, Solomon Grundy can be incapable of saying anything more than "Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday" or perfectly capable of rational speech. The differences can get quite jarring at times. Surprisingly, there's actually an explanation for this. Every time he dies he comes back with a different personality, and it's very hard to stop him without killing him. A recent miniseries is focused on him returning with his mortal personality and trying to break this cycle. The first arc of Brad Meltzer's Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}} run began with, surprisingly, Solomon Grundy as the Big Bad and actually the ''brains'' behind the whole scheme (which was to steal Red Tornado's new robot/android/cyborg body and place his soul in it so he'd stop dying). It was extremely odd seeing Grundy looking like a buff, albino gangster.
*** His Strength Level. He ranges from getting a beatdown from Batman up to solely curbstomping the whole Justice League, including Superman.
** ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'': The ''Batman'' franchise started in 1939, so this trope had to happen, and this storyline is no exception to the rule. For instance, Catwoman's personality and perhaps intelligence are portrayed quite differently between Creator/JuddWinick and Creator/AnnNocenti.
** ComicBook/HarleyQuinn is not quite as bad as ComicBook/TheJoker, but just like him, she's been quite up for interpretation:
*** Is Harley a psychologist or a psychiatrist? In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' she was a psychologist, but future appearances in all media have zigzagged between the two. Granted, this one is most likely because some writers might not actually know that these are separate professions. [[note]]Psychologists are individuals trained to at least a master's level in various behavioral disciplines and treat patients through therapy sessions, while psychiatrists are medical doctors trained to diagnose and treat mental disorders medicinally. To put it simply: a psychologist tells you sit on a chaise longue and talk to them once a week, while a psychiatrist tells you to take some pills and call them in a month.[[/note]] There's also the question of why she studied psychology in the first place, and how she got through school. Her original backstory from ''Mad Love'' depicted her as [[SextraCredit sleeping through college]], only seeing psychology as a way to make money as a talk show host. Later origins would overwrite this to portray her as being genuinely interested in the field and incredibly knowledgeable as a result, but still vary on whether she actually did the needed coursework or was a BrilliantButLazy student who occasionally blackmailed her teachers to boost her grades.
*** Just how smart is Harley? It's almost always agreed upon that Harley is [[ObfuscatingStupidity smarter than she lets on]] but just ''how'' much and how sensible she can be varies greatly from story to story. She can be clever but still a bit of a DumbBlonde, she can be a GeniusDitz, her [[StepfordSmiler entire personality can be a façade]] [[BeneathTheMask that she changes depending on the situation]], or she could be anything in-between. Similarly, is she clinically insane or does she sound enough to understand her actions?
*** In works where the character has left the Joker due to his abusive behavior, whether Harley functions as an AntiVillain or an AntiHero fluctuates from story to story.
*** How strong and physically capable is Harley? She is just an above average gymnast or an outright BadassNormal with almost superhuman agility?
** How long Alfred's been a part of Bruce's life ComicBook/PostCrisis and subsequent adaptations. Some depicted him joining Thomas and Martha's employ when Bruce was a child, other show him working for the Waynes before Bruce was even born[[note]]Pre-Crisis, Bruce was raised by his uncle Philip after the parents' murder, and was already an adult, taken on the identity of Batman, and taken Dick under his wing when Alfred came to work for him[[/note]].
** Minor Catwoman opponent Cyber-Cat has appeared only a few times, but nobody can seem to agree on her motivation or whether she's actually evil or just arrogant. Is she simply trying to ensure her own technical skills are good enough? Is she a MadDoctor, or does she want to sell things to terrorists? Who knows?
** While Firefly is consistently depicted as a {{Pyromaniac}}, how sympathetic he is varies. He can be anything from a TragicVillain to a monstrous psychopath depending on the author. How ''sane'' he is tends to vary as well; he can range from a cold pragmatist to a madman prone to hallucinations and barely in touch with reality.

* ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'s personality in comparison to Billy. Traditionally, Shazam is an older, wiser alter ego of Billy Batson thanks to the wisdom of Solomon. However, many incarnations put emphasis on the fact Billy is actually a kid by having Shazam act like a ManChild.

** Damian Wayne, the fifth Comicbook/{{Robin}}, gets this too. With his creator, Grant Morrison, he tends to be written as a SociopathicHero who is excellent at everything. Other writers tend to downplay his skills in combat. With some writers he's still the unrepentant {{Jerkass}} he was introduced as despite years of character development. With other writers (i.e. Peter J. Tomasi), he's actually much kinder than he lets on and struggles to express his genuinely positive feelings for others due to his upbringing.

** Killer Croc gets altered ''constantly'' both in [[DependingOnTheArtist appearance]] and character. Is his intelligence below average, is he retarded, is he an animal? Is he just a thug, a thug with a cannibalistic MO, or just a savage monster who wants to eat everyone in the room? The only thing writers seem to agree on is that he's not very bright and has some sort of skin condition. Croc gets it worse than most examples here in that they can't even keep his ''race'' consistent. Is he a white old-time gangster film heavy? A black inner city thug? Or is he just a big green reptile? None of these interpretations are even remotely in line with the pre-Crisis version of Croc, who was a rather intelligent (not super-genius or anything, but still at least average) gang leader that just happened to have a skin condition. He wasn't even green. Early on, there was even some debate as to the character's proper ''name'', and he would variously be King Croc, Killer Croc, or simply, as he was listed in Who's Who, Croc. And this same Who's Who profile claimed that Croc had no actual powers; he just had leathery skin and was abnormally, not superhumanly, strong. Compare most modern versions and you'll see the obvious discrepancy here. Some of this has been explained, albeit through {{Retcon}}; Chuck Dixon's ''Batman'' run said Croc was in a process of mutation that started out as a skin condition and gradually led to him becoming more reptilian. Why he's now ''more'' human than he was when Dixon left him is another story...

*** From the earliest comics to ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' to the various animated series, he's been portrayed as a HarmlessVillain, MagnificentBastard, TheMadHatter, AffablyEvil, FauxAffablyEvil, BoredWithInsanity, etc... listing everything he's been would warrant [[ComicBook/TheJoker its own section!]] It's probable that ''all'' of these are true. A text story by Creator/GrantMorrison in ''Batman and Son'', leading to the Joker's role in ''Batman RIP'', has him ''deciding'' it's time for a new persona and considering various options.

*** Is Harley a psychologist or a psychiatrist? In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' she was a psychologist, but future appearances in all media have zigzagged between the two. Granted, this one is most likely because some writers might not actually know that these are separate professions. [[note]]Psychologists are individuals trained to at least a master's level in various behavioral disciplines and treat patients through therapy sessions, while psychiatrists are medical doctors trained to diagnose and treat mental disorders medicinally. To put it simply: a psychologist tells you sit on a chaise longue and talk to them once a week, while a psychiatrist tells you to take some pills and call them in a month.[[/note]] There's also the question of why she studied psychology in the first place, and how she got through school. Her original backstory from ''Mad Love'' depicted her as [[SextraCredit sleeping through college]] and only saw psychology as a way to make money as a talk show host. Later origins portray her as being genuinely interested in the field and incredibly knowledgeable as a result, but whether she actually did the needed coursework or was a BrilliantButLazy student who preferred blackmailing her teachers to boost her grades still varies.

*** Is Harley a psychologist or a psychiatrist? In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' she was a psychologist, but the comics have zigzagged between the two. Granted, this one is most likely because ''most people'' don't know that these are separate professions. [[note]]Psychologists are individuals trained in various behavioral disciplines and treat patients through therapy sessions, while psychiatrists are medical doctors trained to diagnose and treat mental disorders medicinally. To put it simply: a psychologist tells you sit on a chaise longue and talk to them once a week, while a psychiatrist tells you to take some pills and call them in a month.[[/note]] There's also the question of why she studied psychology in the first place, and how she got through school. Her original backstory from ''Mad Love'' depicted her as [[SextraCredit sleeping through college]] and only saw psychology as a way to make money as a talk show host. A later origin portrays her as being genuinely interested in the field and being more than capable of the work, but also being a BrilliantButLazy student who preferred blackmailing her teachers to boost her grades.
*** It's almost always agreed upon that Harley is [[ObfuscatingStupidity smarter than she lets on]] but just ''how'' much and how sensible she can be varies greatly from story to story. She can be a DumbBlonde or a GeniusDitz, her [[StepfordSmiler entire personality can be a facade]] [[BeneathTheMask that she changes depending on the situation]], or she could be anything in-between. Similarly, is she clinically insane or does she understand her actions?
*** Whether Harley has AntiVillain traits or not fluctuates.