History TakeThat / TheDCU

* ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'', sequel event of the above, provides ''many'' Take Thats towards Creator/DanDiDio, DC's much-hated former editor and co-publisher from 2002-2020, who was let go from the company during ''Death Metal'''s development. Perpetua and the Batman-Who-Laughs are portrayed as having maliciously darkened the DC multiverse (Dan [=DiDio=] was known for forcing writers to make the DCU DarkerAndEdgier), leading to their dialogue quoting and paraphrasing [=DiDio=]'s comments, and having Wonder Woman and others comment negatively about the malicious forces that ruined the multiverse. [=DiDio=]'s personal CreatorsPest, ComicBook/WallyWest, is one of the main characters of the event, which sees him get some much needed support, being absolved of the crimes [=DiDio=] had him commit, and end with him once again becoming The Flash, which also has him refute the Batman-Who-Laughs as he quotes [=DiDio=]'s apparent claim "A Flash dies in every Crisis" that was used to justify Wally's mistreatment. The event ends with a lead in to ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'', which sees the return of characters and continuity that [=DiDio=] tried to erase as well as a return to LighterAndSofter storytelling, which is portrayed ''in-universe'' as an end to an AudienceAlienatingEra.

** Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}} has stated that he dislikes the whimsical tone many modern superheroine books have, specifically singling out practices like having characters take selfies during battle. One of the things Deathstroke tells the members of Defiance, his new team of teen superheroes, is "We don't pose for selfies."

* A common running joke over at DC has been to mock the [[NinetiesAntiHero EEEEEXTREMEEE heroes]] who spun out of ''Bloodlines'' crossover from the [[MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks 90's]]. For instance, the ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]/ComicBook/{{Hitman|1993}}''[[note]]Hitman himself being a product of the crossover, yet far more successful than any of the other debuts[[/note]] crossover had ComicBook/TheFlash claim that the Bloodlines heroes were a bunch of buffoons who nobody else in the superhero community wanted to team-up with. He then chalked up their [[CListFodder infamously high mortality rate]] to a general lack of competence on their part. This happened as early as the months after the storyline ended. During the ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' storyline, Jean-Paul Valley encounters two of them in the main titles. He tells one of them to get out of Gotham or he's going to get killed and the other quickly leaves town after his adventure with them is over. Many of them end up getting killed by Superboy-Prime later on down the line.

* Creator/MarkWaid's ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' series is essentially a middle finger to the 90's [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks era of comics]]. The irresponsible hero Magog (who causes the death of thousands of civilians) is an obvious parody of the X-Men character ComicBook/{{Cable}}, a popular character during that time period. Additionally, many of the DC heroes introduced in the 90's such as Kyle Rayner (who the artist Alex Ross has gone on record as saying he hates), Bart Allen (who was co-created by Waid) and Tim Drake were completely ignored, while others like Kon-El appeared in the background as part of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the comic. Amusingly, Ross also designed Magog as a jab at the notorious Creator/RobLiefeld, by modeling Magog after two characters that he designed: Cable and ComicBook/{{Shatterstar}}. Magog resembles Cable with a version of Shatterstar's helmet. Ironically, since Waid wrote Magog as a three dimensional character who was an apologetic WellIntentionedExtremist who learned from his mistake, he ended up being a favorite character of the creators.

** A flashback issue starring Will Payton, the previous Starman, begins with Will having an inner monologue about why nobody seems to like him and climaxes with a bad guy giving him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how he has "no edge" in a very obvious case of WriterOnBoard. For context, Will Payton was very much TheCape but was created right at the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, and never really caught on.

* A common running joke over at DC has been to mock the [[NinetiesAntiHero EEEEEXTREMEEE heroes]] who spun out of ''Bloodlines'' crossover from the [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks 90's]]. For instance, the ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]/ComicBook/{{Hitman|1993}}''[[note]]Hitman himself being a product of the crossover, yet far more successful than any of the other debuts[[/note]] crossover had ComicBook/TheFlash claim that the Bloodlines heroes were a bunch of buffoons who nobody else in the superhero community wanted to team-up with. He then chalked up their [[CListFodder infamously high mortality rate]] to a general lack of competence on their part. This happened as early as the months after the storyline ended. During the ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' storyline, Jean-Paul Valley encounters two of them in the main titles. He tells one of them to get out of Gotham or he's going to get killed and the other quickly leaves town after his adventure with them is over. Many of them end up getting killed by Superboy-Prime later on down the line.

* Around the early [[TheNewTens New Tens]], there was a prolific message board poster known as Herald, who would often complain about DC's current editorial practices. Creator/DanDidio eventually wrote Herald into ''[[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders The Outsiders]]'' as an annoying and effeminate fanboy with the real name "[[PunnyName Harold Winer]]," and then proceeded to have him get humiliated by Looker and roughed up by her security detail.

* ''Justice League Quarterly'' #16 was a series of in-universe comic books featuring General Glory, DC's then-current CaptainErsatz Captain America. For the most part these were {{Affectionate Parod|y}}ies of fifties monster comics (as "General Glory's Really Scary Stories", a parody of ''Captain America's Weird Tales''), Silver Age superheroes (and more SelfDeprecation on DC's Silver Age than Cap's return at Marvel) and even ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' (as "Return on a Dark Night"). The final story, however, is "The Power ... And The Platitude!" by Indulgence Comics in which the "Wildbloods" free an insane General Glory and Ernie from suspended animation in a vicious parody of Creator/ImageComics in general and ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}'' freeing John Prophet in particular. In the [[FramingDevice Framing Story]], the real Glory calls it "downright pointless", and the guy he's showing the comics to says "General Glory should ''stand'' for something. He shouldn't be involved in meaningless violence for its own sake."

** Earth-41's Nimrod Squad is a blatant shot at ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}''.

* Some fans have speculated that the ''ComicBook/{{Justice}}'' miniseries was either a TakeThat or at least a "measured response" to the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' miniseries.

-->'''Chameleon Boy''': [[BreakingTheFourthWall In case a certain]] [[Franchise/SpiderMan web-headed character]] thinks I'm stealing his thunder, I'd like to remind him that ''I'' was changing to all sorts of weird shapes long before he walked up his first wall!
* ComicBook/AnimalMan thinks to himself while experimenting with the abilities of a spider: "Of course I wouldn't want ''only'' spider powers... that'd make me a [[Franchise/SpiderMan third-rate super-hero]]."

** The comic itself later received a Take That in the form of the "ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay" story arc of ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', which was adapted into the DirectToVideo animated feature ''WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite''.
*** Ironically, despite the creator of "What's So Funny" intending for "The Elite" to basically be a one/two-shot deal, a second version of the Elite appeared... and turned out to be pulling a BatmanGambit to pretend to be the second coming of the original Elite in order to make humanity pull together for one major effort needed to waive off GaiasVengeance... a smackdown that Gaea herself was planning to dish out. They subsequently became the short-lived ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueElite'', in essence the black ops branch of the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} family.

-->'''Batman''': Here's one I did before anybody, including [[Franchise/SpiderMan a certain web-spinning Peter-come-lately]]!

* ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'', sequel event of the above, provides ''many'' Take Thats towards Creator/DanDiDio, DC's much-hated former editor and co-publisher from 2002-2020, who was let go from the company during ''Death Metal'''s development. Perpetua and the Batman-Who-Laughs are portrayed as having maliciously darkened the DC multiverse (Dan [=DiDio=] was known for forcing writers to make the DCU DarkerAndEdgier), leading to their dialogue quoting and paraphrasing [=DiDio=]'s comments, and having Wonder Woman and others comment negatively about the malicious forces that ruined the multiverse. [=DiDio=]'s personal CreatorsPest, Comicbook/WallyWest, is one of the main characters of the event, which sees him get some much needed support, being absolved of the crimes [=DiDio=] had him commit, and end with him once again becoming The Flash, which also has him refute the Batman-Who-Laughs as he quotes [=DiDio=]'s apparent claim "A Flash dies in every Crisis" that was used to justify Wally's mistreatment. The event ends with a lead in to ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'', which sees the return of characters and continuity that [=DiDio=] tried to erase as well as a return to LighterAndSofter storytelling, which is portrayed ''in-universe'' as an end to an AudienceAlienatingEra.

* ''Comicbook/EarthPrime: Series/SupermanAndLois'' has a scene where a young Clark Kent uses his superpowers in public to save a kid who is about to be run over by a bus. After Clark apologizes to his dad for this, Pa Kent merely responds by saying "What were you supposed to do, Clark? Just let him get hit?" The entire exchange is a clear jab at the infamously controversial scene in ''Film/ManOfSteel'' where Clark's dad admonished him for saving a bus full of children from drowning.
* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis: Rogues' Revenge'' has this thinly-veiled meta-commentary on Marc Guggenheim's run on Franchise/TheFlash and its misuse of [[FriendlyEnemy the Rogues]], as well as the quality issues of certain big events such as ''ComicBook/AmazonsAttack'' and ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis''.

* A precursor to Superboy-Prime appears in Franchise/TheFlash storyline "Return of Barry Allen," Creator/MarkWaid's response to fans asking him to bring back Barry. He brings back Barry all right--except it's really [[spoiler:the young Eobard Thawne, future Professor Zoom]], retconned into a fanboy so obsessive he gets plastic surgery to look exactly like Barry Allen. When various psychological shocks [[spoiler:such as discovering he goes on to be a villain and be killed by his former idol]] leave him convincing himself he ''is'' Barry, he is furious to discover that people grew to think of Wally West as the Flash in the years after Barry died, and he eventually leaves Wally in a deathtrap for "stealing his name."

* In the last issue of Stephanie Phillips' run on ''Comicbook/HarleyQuinn'', Harley talks about how rare good endings really are, and alludes to "A show [she] can't mention or else [she'll] get a call from legal" that had a notoriously terrible finale. Reading between the lines, Harley seems to be taking a shot at the infamous final episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.[[note]]For reference, both Harley Quinn and ''Game of Thrones'' are Creator/WarnerBrothers properties, hence the comment about being unable to criticize the show without WB's legal department getting involved.[[/note]]
* One of the short stories in the ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn: The Real Sidekicks of New Gotham Special'' is a parody of ''[[Comicbook/BatmanThreeJokers Three Jokers]]'' about Comicbook/TheJoker encountering his old college buddy, who is also called Joker. Near the end of the story, it's revealed that their friend group once included a third Joker modeled after Creator/JaredLeto's portrayal of the character from ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' (complete with a shirtless costume and a "Twisted" forehead tattoo), which prompts this exchange:

* The trade paperback collection for the DC event ''[[Comicbook/InvasionDCComics Invasion!]]'' had the tagline "Secret No More!", a jab at Marvel's ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. [[labelnote:*]]Both storylines were alien invasion stories, but while ''Secret Invasion'' dropped the ball on any long-term effects, ''Invasion!'' didn't, the biggest one being the revelation of the meta-gene.[[/labelnote]]

** The New 52 volume seemingly got in a dig at ComicBook/BlueBeetle Jaime Reyes (who some JLI fans don't like) when the people recruiting the new JLI reacted negatively when Jaime was suggested as a potential member of the team, arguing he was too inexperienced. In the final issue of the series, Jaime ''did'' join the team, which caused Guy Gardner to quit on the spot when Jaime asked if [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica Superman and Wonder Woman]] were also part of the group.

* Back during the 90s, fans had clamored for Franchise/{{Batman}} to be DarkerAndEdgier akin to ComicBook/ThePunisher. To that end, they used ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' to phase Bruce Wayne out in favor of AntiHeroSubstitute [[ComicBook/{{Azrael}} Jean-Paul Valley]], who proceeds to tear through villainy in a Punisher-like style, yet never coming close to taking a life before, finally, culminating with him finally taking a life and Bruce Wayne coming back to kick his ass and take back his name. Interesting, he's told by four different people, including Franchise/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/TheJoker that he's not the real Batman. At one point, Commissioner Gordon asks Robin when the ''real'' Batman will be returning, referring to [=AzBats=] as "that punk" in Batman's costume.
* A bunch of defectors from Marvel (Byrne included), snuck in an epic TakeThat into the DC series ''ComicBook/{{Legends|DCComics}}'', where [[Franchise/GreenLantern Guy Gardner]] beat the crap out of Sunspot, a transparent {{Expy}} of Marvel's ComicBook/StarBrand (the over-hyped headlining book of Marvel's ''[[ComicBook/TheNewUniverse New Universe]]'' which spectacularly failed to take off and bore a suspicious resemblance to Marvel Editor Creator/JimShooter). Guy doesn't even break a sweat, and Sunspot ends the fight by shooting himself in the foot while ranting about why the New Universes he tries to create keep exploding. Viewable [[http://daveslongbox.blogspot.com/2006/10/guy-gardner-vs-jim-shooter.html here]].

** The Gentry appear to be manifestations of the stagnation found in mainstream comics. Intellectron, a one-eyed bat-winged creature, in particular is seen as a parody of Creator/DCComics, representing the company's obsession with Franchise/{{Batman}}, a singular vision, and lack of depth perception.
** In ''Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World #1'', Abin Sur's fight with Count Sinestro and Parallax, as well as [[spoiler: Abin Sur beating both of them on his own]], may be criticism at DC dragging out the emotional entity concept in ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' and how Parallax has become a diminished threat in recent stories. As well, the use of Parallax [[spoiler:to power the Transmatter Engine for Doc Fate]] can be a reference to how Parallax himself has been used as a tool rather than an actual villain in his own right in his stories since the advent of the ComicBook/{{New 52}}.

* In the second issue of Creator/GailSimone's ''Comicbook/PlasticMan'' mini-series, Plas says that Creator/MichaelBay's ''[[Film/TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' movies made no sense and were also "slightly racist."

** The first issue of the ComicBook/{{New 52}} ''Teen Titans'' series opens with [[Franchise/TheFlash Kid Flash]] accidentally burning down [[ComicBook/XMen a mansion in Westchester]]. This was of course written by Creator/ScottLobdell, a writer who had a lengthy tenure on Marvel's X-books before jumping ship and moving to DC.

* A common running joke over at DC has been to mock the [[NinetiesAntiHero EEEEEXTREMEEE heroes]] who spun out of ''Bloodlines'' crossover from the [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks 90's]]. For instance, the ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]/ComicBook/{{Hitman|1993}}''[[note]]Hitman himself being a product of the crossover, yet far more successful than any of the other debuts[[/note]] crossover had Franchise/TheFlash claim that the Bloodlines heroes were a bunch of buffoons who nobody else in the superhero community wanted to team-up with. He then chalked up their [[CListFodder infamously high mortality rate]] to a general lack of competence on their part. This happened as early as the months after the storyline ended. During the ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' storyline, Jean-Paul Valley encounters two of them in the main titles. He tells one of them to get out of Gotham or he's going to get killed and the other quickly leaves town after his adventure with them is over. Many of them end up getting killed by Superboy-Prime later on down the line.

** "The Just" also contains a [[TakeThatMe slam on Grant Morrison's own tendency toward metatextual stories.]] Upon hearing the plot of the comic, a deeply-annoyed Damian Wayne remarks, "So basically they found some post-postmodern way to make superheroes seem interesting. That's never going to happen."

* [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115337-Robama-Wants-You-to-Buy-American This ad,]] funded by DC, is already a petty jab at {{Manga}}, but takes it a few steps further by saying "[[UsefulNotes/BarackObama Robama]] (who is just ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}) [[UnfortunateImplications wants you to buy American!]]" The [[PatrioticFervor overly patriotic tone]] doesn't help.

* In the last issue of Stephanie Phillips' run on ''Comicbook/HarleyQuinn'', Harley talks about how rare good endings really are, and alludes to "A show [she] can't mention or else [she'll] get a call from legal" that had a notoriously terrible finale, referencing the infamous final episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.[[note]]For reference, both Harley Quinn and ''Game of Thrones'' are Creator/WarnerBrothers properties, hence the comment about being unable to criticize the show without WB's legal department getting involved.[[/note]]

* In the final issue of Stephanie Phillips' run on ''Comicbook/HarleyQuinn'', Harley talks about how rare good endings really are, and alludes to "A show [she] can't mention or else [she'll] get a call from legal" that had a notoriously terrible finale, referencing the infamous final episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.[[note]]For reference, both Harley Quinn and ''Game of Thrones'' are Creator/WarnerBrothers properties, hence the comment about being unable to criticize the show without WB's legal department getting involved.[[/note]]

* In the final issue of Stephanie Phillips' run on ''Comicbook/HarleyQuinn'', Harley talks about how rare good endings really are, and alludes to "A show [she] can't mention or else [she'll] get a call from legal" that had a notoriously terrible finale, referencing the infamous finale of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.[[note]]For reference, both Harley Quinn and ''Game of Thrones'' are Creator/WarnerBrothers properties, hence the comment about being unable to criticize the show without WB's legal department getting involved.[[/note]]

* ''ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal'' contains a numbers of jabs at past DC stuff that was received poorly including ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' with Earth -1's Superman beating Batman and even mocking the idea of a Kryptonite spear and even the idea since ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'' that Bruce could beat Clark[[note]]Creator/ScottSnyder went further and mocked the "Martha" scene on Twitter[[/note]] and depicted the much-reviled [[DorkAge Superman Blue, mohawk Riddler]] from the start of the ComicBook/New52 and the cyborgs of ''ComicBook/TheNew52FuturesEnd'' as residents of the Dark Multiverse.
* ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'', sequel event of the above, provides ''many'' Take Thats towards Creator/DanDiDio, DC's much-hated former editor and co-publisher from 2002-2020, who was let go from the company during ''Death Metal'''s development. Perpetua and the Batman-Who-Laughs are portrayed as having maliciously darkened the DC multiverse (Dan [=DiDio=] was known for forcing writers to make the DCU DarkerAndEdgier), leading to their dialogue quoting and paraphrasing [=DiDio=]'s comments, and having Wonder Woman and others comment negatively about the malicious forces that ruined the multiverse. [=DiDio=]'s personal CreatorsPest, Comicbook/WallyWest, is one of the main characters of the event, which sees him get some much needed support, being absolved of the crimes [=DiDio=] had him commit, and end with him once again becoming The Flash, which also has him refute the Batman-Who-Laughs as he quotes [=DiDio=]'s apparent claim "A Flash dies in every Crisis" that was used to justify Wally's mistreatment. The event ends with a lead in to ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'', which sees the return of characters and continuity that [=DiDio=] tried to erase as well as a return to LighterAndSofter storytelling, which is portrayed ''in-universe'' as an end to a DorkAge.

* ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'', sequel event of the above, provides ''many'' Take Thats towards Creator/DanDiDio, DC's much-hated former editor and co-publisher from 2002-2020, who was let go from the company during ''Death Metal'''s development. Perpetua and the Batman-Who-Laughs are portrayed as having maliciously darkened the DC multiverse (Dan [=DiDio=] was known for forcing writers to make the DCU DarkerAndEdgier), leading to their dialogue quoting and paraphrasing [=DiDio=]'s comments, and having Wonder Woman and others comment negatively about the malicious forces that ruined the multiverse. [=DiDio=]'s personal CreatorsPest, Comicbook/WallyWest, is one of the main characters of the event, which sees him get some much needed support, being absolved of the crimes [=DiDio=] had him commit, and end with him once again becoming The Flash, which also has him refute the Batman-Who-Laughs as he quotes [=DiDio=]'s apparent claim "[[CriticalResearchFailure A Flash dies in every Crisis]]" that was used to justify Wally's mistreatment. The event ends with a lead in to ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'', which sees the return of characters and continuity that [=DiDio=] tried to erase as well as a return to LighterAndSofter storytelling, which is portrayed ''in-universe'' as an end to a DorkAge.

* One of the short stories in the ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn: The Real Sidekicks of New Gotham Special'' is a parody of ''[[Comicbook/BatmanThreeJokers Three Jokers]]'' about Comicbook/TheJoker encountering his old college buddy, who is also a supervillain called the Joker. Near the end of the story, it's revealed that their friend group once included a third Joker modeled after Creator/JaredLeto's portrayal of the character from ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' (complete with a shirtless costume and a "Twisted" forehead tattoo), which prompts this exchange:

* One of the short stories in the ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn: The Real Sidekicks of New Gotham Special'' is a parody of ''[[Comicbook/BatmanTheThreeJokers The Three Jokers]]'' about Comicbook/TheJoker encountering his old college buddy, who is also a supervillain called the Joker. Near the end of the story, it's revealed that their friend group once included a third Joker modeled after Creator/JaredLeto's portrayal of the character from ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' (complete with a shirtless costume and a "Twisted" forehead tattoo), which prompts this exchange: