History ReimaginingTheArtifact / TheDCU

* For years Aquaman was [[TheArtifact this]] for the Justice League of America. He is the TropeNamer for ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman and, in a team with the likes of ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/GreenLantern or the Comicbook/MartianManhunter, he stuck out as having very limited powers, not helped by his portrayal in ''Super Friends'' that made him a universal punchline. Then authors like Creator/GrantMorrison, Creator/MarkWaid, Creator/PeterDavid or Creator/GeoffJohns got their hands on the King of Atlantis and explored the RequiredSecondaryPowers, HeartIsAnAwesomePower and [[FridgeBrilliance inherent abilities]] someone like the ruler of an underwater kindgom should have (Namely, SuperStrength, a great knowledge on both combat and tactical warfare and being able to control both water-dwelling {{Animalistic Abomination}}s or tap into our brain parts inherited from our marine ancestors to give lethal strokes), making Aquaman an invaluable asset for the Justice League, and developed more his personality beyond "he is a friendly mermaid man", making him a mix of a BoisterousBruiser and TheStoic.

* For years Aquaman was [[TheArtifact this]] for the Justice League of America. He is the TropeNamer for ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman and, in a team with the likes of ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/GreenLantern or the Comicbook/MartianManhunter, he stuck out as having very limited powers, not helped by his portrayal in ''Super Friends'' that made him a universal punchline. Then authors like Creator/GrantMorrison, Creator/MarkWaid, Creator/PeterDavid or Creator/GeoffJohns got their hands on the King of Atlantis and explored the RequiredSecondaryPowers and [[FridgeBrilliance inherent abilities]] someone like the ruler of an underwater kindgom should have (Namely, SuperStrength, a great knowledge on both combat and tactical warfare and being able to control water-dwelling {{Eldritch Abomination}}s), making Aquaman an invaluable asset for the Justice League, and developed more his personality beyond "he is a friendly mermaid man", making him a BoisterousBruiser and TheStoic.

* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' does this with a few elements of ComicBook/WonderWoman lore [[TheArtifact that are kept around today out of tradition]], even if they don't always seem logical.
** Diana's iconic [[CaptainPatriotic star-spangled]] [[LeotardOfPower leotard]] doesn't exactly mesh well with the elements of Myth/GreekMythology that are so central to the mythos these days, but she still wears it because it's unthinkable to have her wearing anything else. The movie's version generally keeps the design and color scheme of her classic costume, but it nixes the star motif and replaces the white trim with gold trim, making it look more like an exceptionally colorful suit of Greek armor than a patriotic get-up. Her chest emblem is also reimagined as a winged eagle design that just happens to be W-shaped, preventing any questions about why an Amazon princess [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS wears the letter "W" on her armor]]. [[note]] Since, y'know...there's no "W" in the Greek alphabet. Mind you, this is OlderThanTheyThink, as the [[https://sm.ign.com/t/ign_ap/screenshot/t/the-early-/the-early-wonder-woman-stories-established-a-distinct-look-f_8m6t.1080.jpg original Golden Age costume]] had an eagle on the chest whose wings were ''not'' posed to look like the letter W. It got more W-like until the [[https://sm.ign.com/t/ign_ap/screenshot/d/dc-eventua/dc-eventually-restored-wonder-woman-to-a-more-normal-status_6yfn.1080.jpg eagle head vanished and it was just straight up a letter "W"]] for the look that would last from the 70s until the eagle head returned in the 2000s. Still, the point remains - where once she basically wore an American flag for no discernible reason, the movie outfit makes the classic costume into something that befits an ancient Greek warrior while keeping everything that's important to the overall look, and it's even become her default comic look.[[/note]]
** Steve Trevor is a good example of a character [[TheArtifact who used to be integral to the mythos, but often feels out-of-place in modern stories as the writers don't always know what to do with him]]. Since the Golden Age, many writers have waffled on whether he's Diana's boyfriend or just [[TheBrigadier her contact in the military]], and the nature of ComicBookTime means that he can't always keep his original backstory as an Army Air Corps pilot who met Diana during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. [[note]] Case in point: he was killed off and brought back several times during the Silver Age, the Bronze Age version [[AgeLift made him several decades older than Diana]], the post-''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' version married him off to Etta Candy, and the ComicBook/New52 version made him a young government agent who's merely assigned to Diana as her "handler".[[/note]] The movie sidesteps the issue by [[spoiler: having him [[DeathByOriginStory die]] in a HeroicSacrifice at the end of the movie]], thus making him integral to Diana's origin without having to explain how he's relevant to her life in the modern era.
* ''Film/Aquaman2018'' revels in this, emphasizing and working with the sillier elements of the Aquaman mythos to its benefit.
** Black Manta's classic bubble-head deep sea diver design has been a difficult thing to process in the modern era, coming across as a silly, impractical top heavy look. This film shows Kane building the suit from scratch, adapting Atlantean weaponry alongside his own high tech armor designs, and specifically making the helmet huge so that it could fire a {{BFG}} plasma blast without frying his own head. When he finally shows up he is almost a WalkingTank, believably fighting Arthur on even footing.
** Aquaman and Ocean Master aren't just aliases, they're official royal titles; Aquaman being the title for the king of Atlantis and Ocean Master being the title for the supreme military leader of all of the underwater kingdoms, something similar to the title of dictator in Ancient Rome.
** The iconic orange and green costume from the comics returns, but is now a suit of fish scale armor with a more chain-mail like texture and golden appearance, as befits a king.

* ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'' uses the D-list and '''extremely''' [[https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Margaret_Pye_(New_Earth) 80s villain Magpie]] as a recurring character, but she's been given a 21st century makeover so that she now resembles a flashy, modern pop starlet like Music/LadyGaga rather than a hair metal groupie.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' features a reimagined version of Ace the Bat-Hound, a loyal masked [[GratuitousAnimalSidekick dog sidekick]] that Batman had during the campy Silver Age, when animal sidekicks were something of a fad in comics. But instead of taking him as a sidekick, Bruce simply adopts Ace after he retires from crime-fighting, and Ace gives the elderly Bruce some much-needed companionship, with Alfred dead and Bruce having fallen out of touch with his old friends from his days as Batman.
** However, Ace is still just as [[ActionPet badass]] and [[HeroicDog heroic]] as his predecessor. An episode centered around Ace reveals the Great Dane spent his early years forced into dog-fighting. When he was fully-grown, he managed to escape and was rescued and adopted by Bruce. The episode in question starts when Ace recognizes the scent of his former handler, causing him to chase him down. This leads Terry to find Ace and the two bust the dog-fighting ring, with Ace even saving Terry from the mutated dog the criminal had made. Ace has helped Terry a few more times, even against [[spoiler: the Joker when he comes back.]] Good bat dog indeed.

* ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}''
** Catwoman uses a chain as a [[EpicFlail flail]] rather than the traditional bullwhip.
** The set of three scallops on Batman's gauntlets are simple straps instead of blades awkwardly positioned to defend against knives.
** The Riddler's gimmick of leaving behind riddles that when solved reveal his plans is reimagined as him [[spoiler:trying to covertly communicate with Batman because he believes they are secretly on the same side. Furthermore, almost all his riddles actually relate to crimes committed by ''other'' people who the Riddler wants Batman to expose - The only exception, the riddle that reveals his plan to bomb the flood wall, was meant to give Batman enough warning to get to safety first.]]

* ''Film/BatmanForever'' applied this trope to the iconic Robin outfit, which had become a source of some mockery for being a bright red, green, and yellow outfit that contrasts sharply with Batman's black, blue, and grey outfit. The film depicts the traditional Robin outfit as the uniform of the Flying Graysons in the circus, so when Dick Grayson becomes a costumed fighter in his own right, he wears a suit of body armor just like Batman's, but bearing the colors of the circus uniform to honor his family, and the colors are muted and metallic to be less gaudy.
* The version of ''[[Characters/DCEULexLuthor Lex Luthor]]'' as seen in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' is an attempt at this. When he was created in the 1930s, he was a MadScientist. Once that take got dated in the 1980s, he was changed into an evil businessman evocative of that era. Creator/JohnByrne specifically modeled him on assorted contemporary businessmen during the 1980s. Lex here is meant to be the stereotypical evil businessman of TheNewTens like the guys of the 80s, a millennial tech CEO. He's [[AgeLift a significantly younger]] science prodigy with [[BunnyEarsLawyer an eccentric, manic personality]], who commands respect despite [[NoSocialSkills being flippant and irreverent to everyone he meets]]. The way he acts can also be seen as a justification for going by the diminutive nickname "Lex", which has long been established as [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname being short for "Alexander"]]. Back in the 1930s, it was [[RuleOfCool a distinctive name with a sinister ring to it]]. Today, writers only really use it because [[TheArtifact it's unthinkable to call him anything else]]. It's far easier to imagine ''that'' version of the character calling himself "Lex" rather than the now more common "Alex".

* ''ComicBook/Earth2'' was meant to do this with a number of GoldenAge characters, reimagining them in a modern context. For instance, Wing is now a young Asian-American cameraman rather than the AsianSpeekeeEngrish caricature he was in the 30s. However, ExecutiveMeddling led to the original writer leaving, and the new writer having to throw away all of that writer's work in favour of a DarkerAndEdgier plot revolving around an [[spoiler:evil Superman]].

* For years Aquaman was [[TheArtifact this]] for the Justice League of America. He is the TropeNamer for ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman and, in a team with the likes of ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/GreenLantern or the Comicbook/MartianManhunter, he stuck out as having very limited powers, not helped by his portrayal in ''Super Friends'' that made him a universal punchline. Then authors like Creator/GrantMorrison, Creator/MarkWaid, Creator/PeterDavid or Creator/GeoffJohns got their hands on the Prince of Atlantis and explored the RequiredSecondaryPowers and [[FridgeBrilliance inherent abilities]] someone like the ruler of an underwater kindgom should have (Namely, SuperStrength, a great knowledge on both combat and tactical warfare and being able to control water-dwelling {{Eldritch Abomination}}s), making Aquaman an invaluable asset for the Justice League, and developed more his personality beyond "he is a friendly mermaid man", making him a BoisterousBruiser and TheStoic.

** Etta Candy was originally one of the Holliday Girls, a sorority that Wonder Woman was associated with. After the Holliday Girls disappeared from the series (save for retro stories) the comics followed the TV show in making Etta a USAF lieutenant working with Diana Prince and Steve Trevor, leading to the post-Crisis version being Steve's wife as above. Creator/GailSimone reintroduced her as a military intelligence officer reporting to Sarge Steel, which led to the New 52 version being an A.R.G.U.S. agent (also [[RaceLift Black]] and [[AdaptationalSexuality gay]]) and Steve's trusted confidante. The Holliday Girls themselves would unexpectedly be reintroduced in 2021 as a ''biker gang''.

ReimaginingTheArtifact in this series.

* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}''

* ''{{Series/Arrow}}'', like the Green Arrow Comic Book examples above, replaced campy Boxing Glove Arrows with high-tech rubber-tipped projectiles. In one episode, though, Oliver does fire an arrow with a boxing glove on the end. But instead of being a pre-prepared gadget, it becomes a hastily-improvised method to incapacitate a fairly skilled opponent, and is only possible because they're fighting at a ''boxing gym'' in the first place. It manages to make an homage to the sillier aspects of the character's history into a believable IndyPloy.
* Zig-zagged with ''Series/TheFlash2014'' when it comes to Barry Allen's suit. It is adapted from a high-tech firefighting suit that STAR Labs had in development, giving a plausible reason for the red color as well as the close fit and heat-and-friction-resistant properties. However, adding the Lightning Bolt insignia to the chest and earpieces is explicitly an invocation of the RuleOfCool by Cisco - when asked why he's adding them, he simply replies "So it's not boring".

** [[MadScientist The Key]] goes from an Intergang scientist in a robe to a dream manipulator with SuperIntelligence capable of locking the Justice League inside their own minds. It's only due to the out of nowhere appearance of Green Arrow literally sucker punching him with his late father's boxing glove arrow that stops the Key from obtaining omnipotence.

* In ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' comics, the Green Lantern rings had the weakness of not having effect on anything yellow. This was later said to be due to the influence of Parallax, [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the personification of the Yellow Light of Fear]], who had been imprisoned in the Lantern batteries for eons.

** ComicBook/SteveTrevor has gone through this often. Being the poster child (and page image) for UselessBoyfriend despite his AcePilot status writers can't really find much to do with him, but he hangs on because they all assume that, being the Wonder Woman equivalent of Lois Lane, he '''should''' be there. Post Crisis in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' he was reimagined as ComicBook/EttaCandy's husband instead of Diana's, leaving the princess with a several short lived romances with other characters which were all poorly received by the readers. However, the New 52 relaunch has turned him into the liaison between the Justice League and A.R.G.U.S., turning him into the AlternateCompanyEquivalent of Marvel's Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.