The DCU
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Comic Books
Comic Books
The following have their own pages:
- The mainstream version of Ludvig Prinn was a minor character that only appeared in a single issue of Journey into Mystery. In Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, he was a hedge-wizard who found the Testament of Ghul and cursed the founders of Gotham with immortality, one of which was Thomas Wayne.
- Green Lantern:
- Mogo, the sentient Green Lantern planet, began as a clever gag in an Alan Moore story, but now he's a regular presence in stories about the Corps.
- The "Phantom Lantern" arc of Green Lanterns has Volthoom select Frank Laminski as the bearer of the Phantom Ring, with Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz having to defeat Laminski so they can take the ring from him. Laminski originated from the "Secret Origin" arc of Geoff Johns' run, where he was a jerk pilot harassing Hal Jordan and his friend Thomas Kalmaku in part two of the arc before promptly vanishing from the story.
- John Constantine, star of Hellblazer, was originally just a recurring extra in Swamp Thing who looked like Sting. Artists Steve Bissette and John Totleben convinced writer Alan Moore to give him a speaking part, just because they liked drawing Sting so much. His popularity took off from there.
- Much of the human cast of The Sandman (1989). It's traditional to introduce a character in one story arc as a minor background character, only to have them reappear in a later arc as the protagonist.
- Unity Kincaid. In "Preludes and Nocturnes", she briefly appears as one of the victims of the sleeping sickness. In "The Doll's House", she is revealed to be the grandmother of that story's protagonist, Rose Walker.
- Barbie. In "The Doll's House", she's one of the guests at Hal's boarding house. She later turns out to be the protagonist of "A Game of You", which follows her adventures in the Dreaming after she breaks up with her boyfriend Ken.
- Martin Tenbones. First appears in one frame in "The Doll's House", where he's one of the creatures in Barbie's dream. He appears as a living being in "A Game of You", when Barbie travels through her own dreams.
- Lyta Hall. Briefly appears in "The Doll's House" as a prisoner of Brute and Glob. Then Dream vows to take away her child, and...things get more complicated. After a few sporadic appearances in later issues, she becomes the protagonist of "The Kindly Ones".
- Daniel Hall. Introduced as Lyta Hall's baby, who Dream vows to take away when he's old enough. After a few background appearances, he plays a central role in "The Kindly Ones". And in "The Wake", he becomes the new Dream after the original's death.
- And let's not forget that Jimmy Olsen was a random office boy who eventually graduated to a long-running book of his own as Superman's Pal.
- Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Surtur didn't have much characterization or page time in The Last Days of the Justice Society, essentially being a Final Boss for the Society to defeat. He has much more page time and focus in the Dark Multiverse, with his sadistic personality and logical weaknesses for a being made of fire being the most significant additions.
- Wonder Woman:
- While Athena was mentioned, briefly, in the original comics she never appeared in story and there was never any indication she was even still alive by the time Diana was born. In Wonder Woman (1987) Athena is Diana's patron Olympian and thus the most important member of the Dodekatheon that is not a villain, taking Aphrodite's place.
- Wonder Woman (2011) turned Dionysus into a main character, when in previous incarnations that particular member of the Dodekatheon generally just acted as set dressing in the background during scenes on Olympus.
- Wonder Woman (Rebirth): Clio, usually an obscure Amazon scribe from the George Perez run, gets a spotlight role in the Young Diana story as Diana's history tutor and the one who charges her with seeking out the missing scrolls of Themyscira' history.
- Wonder Woman: The True Amazon has Poseidon, one of the lesser-seen deities in regular Wonder Woman stories. Here he's responsible for the Amazons escaping Heracles and also helps Hippolyta's song reach the other gods and goddesses, imbuing Diana with life.
- Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed: Hestia has been one of the five mother goddesses of Themyscira before, but she's always been the least seen of them. Here she's the leader of the founding of the hidden isle, and their most prominent deity.
Films
- In the comic version of Superman/Batman arc, Public Enemies (2004), Amanda Waller only appeared in one scene, only to be mentioned as having been arrested in the end. In its animated adaptation, she's appeared throughout and has undergone Adaptational Heroism, being the Only Sane Woman working for Luthor and ordering his arrest.
Live-Action TV
Live-Action TV
- Arrowverse
- Felicity Smoak may well be the crowning example. She started as a one-scene character in Arrow, never intended to return, but her portrayal by Emily Bett Rickards was well-received by both the creators and the audience and she was promoted to a recurring role in early-mid season 1. By season 2, she was a main character, and coming into season 3 was essentially the female lead of the show.
- Sara Lance was originally just a backstory, Posthumous Character in the first season of Arrow, only appearing in the flesh in the pilot with all others being archive footage. Come the second season's first episode and it's revealed that Sara is not only still alive, but being the first incarnation of the Black Canary, the Green Arrow's traditional female partner in the comics (though she insists it's just "The Canary"). Sara later transfers to the Legends of Tomorrow where she becomes by far the most prominent member, one of the only three to remain to this day. Also a case of The Pete Best because the stark difference between Sara's importance pre- and post-Arrow season 2 is also accompanied by a recast (Sara is portrayed by Jacqueline MacInnes Wood in the pilot and Caity Lotz afterwards).
- Legends of Tomorrow in general stars many of the B-list superheroes and supervillains from its predecessors, but the one that stands out is Mick Rory. While Sara was retooled as a major character in Arrow season 2 before her Transplant, Mick was just one of the myriad villains of the week that Team Flash encountered and only appeared twice in The Flash before his transfer. Ultimately, he is one of the aforementioned three original members still on board the Waverider, outlasting both his partner, the Ensemble Dark Horse Leonard Snart, and the show's original male lead, Rip Hunter, both of whom departed from the show after the third season.
- Sophie in Batwoman is a main member of the supporting cast, both as the second-in-command of the Crows and as someone Kate still has feelings for. Her comics counterpart had the same role in Kate's Coming-Out Story, and has otherwise made a single non-flashback appearance.
- Doom Patrol (2019):
- Willoughby Kipling is given a larger role than in the original comic book. Kipling in the comics barely appeared outside of the Cult of the Unwritten Book and Candlemaker arcs of Grant Morrison's run (and never resurfaced until the Unstoppable Doom Patrol series, which started publication during the show's final season), while the live-action television series has him show up to help out the Doom Patrol in appearances other than the series' adaptations of the relevant arcs, to the extent that Kipling's live-action show counterpart is featured in at least two episodes in every season.
- The Beard Hunter is featured as a recurring character, when his incarnation in the comics was a one-shot villain in Grant Morrison's run who was killed off by the end of his only appearance.
- Recurring character Maura Lee Karupt is loosely based on Sergeant Washington, who in the source material was a minor character who appeared near the end of the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. arc of Grant Morrison's run.
- Peacemaker (2022): Harcourt and Economos were both minor side characters in The Suicide Squad who become full members of the main cast of this series.
Western Animation
Western Animation
- DC Super Hero Girls (2019):
- Superman and Batman actually make a fair number of physical appearances here, when all they got in the previous continuity was the former being occasionally mentioned as well as having his own statue at Super Hero High and the latter having a cameo as a plushy in the Finals Crisis tie-in graphic novel in addition to an indirect mention by his son Damian Wayne in the season five episode "Kid Napped".
- Lex Luthor appears as a recurring character, when his only appearance in the previous continuity aside from occasional mentions occurred in the Finals Crisis graphic novel tie-in.
- Justice League:
- The show was singlehandedly responsible for making the John Stewart version of Green Lantern a star. Prior to this, not only was John not a regular member of the team in the comicsnote , but he hadn't even been a Green Lantern in years, having lost his powers after Emerald Twilight. The cartoon proved so popular that John was repowered in the comics and finally became a full fledged member of the Justice League, and he hasn't looked back since. For an entire generation that grew up in the early 2000s, John is the Green Lantern. His status as a retired Marine was also introduced by the cartoon version, with the comics subsequently adopting this while still keeping his career as an architect between his time in the two different Corps.
- The show is also often credited with raising the profiles of B and C-list heroes like The Question.
- Young Justice (2010)
- Artemis is based on a D-list (or lower) character in the comics while she is part of a team of young superheroes like Robin, Superboy and Kid Flash for the show. Her supervillain parents (Sportsmaster and Huntress) and sister (Cheshire) become more prominent because of this as well. Said sister isn't even related to her in the comics where she's the most prominent of the lot, but thanks to the writers mixing up DC Comics lore she gets an even larger role as one of the heroes' more prominent adversaries.
- The second season premiere, "Happy New Year," is a long parade of ascended extras: Bumblebee is one of M'gann's and Conner's friends from high school, Lagoon Boy had a single-line cameo when Kaldur visited his old class in "Downtime," Beast Boy was a character of the day in "Image," and Batgirl had a single-line cameo in "Home Front," plus silent cameos in "Failsafe" and "Misplaced." Mal Duncan actually ascended twice: he's promoted from Conner and M'gann's background high school friend to the team's Mission Control, then from Mission Control to a Badass Normal hero as the next incarnation of Guardian.
- In Beast Boy's case, he started from a character of the day in Season 1, became a supporting character in season 2 as a member of the Team, made recurring appearances and a Day in the Limelight in the first half of season 3, and finally becomes one of the major characters in the second half.
- The third season, Outsiders, has Black Lightning. He debuted in the second season, but only appeared in five episodes, and only spoke in his final appearance with maybe a line or two. This season, however, Black Lightning is part of the main cast as a member of a splinter Team formed by Nightwing which resembles the Outsiders team he was originally a member of in the comics.
- Arrowette appeared as a little girl in the first season, and Spoiler appeared as a teen trafficked by the Reach in season 2. Both make appearances as members of the Team in season 3, though they don't appear much in the overall narrative. Likewise, El Dorado was one of the trafficked teens to become one of the Runaways, but manages to join the new Outsiders team in season 3.
- Season 4 features a few background characters from season 3 as new members of the Outsiders, these being Stargirl, who initially appeared as a newsgirl for Goode World Studios, Windfall, who made a few appearances at the Metahuman Youth Center and had one of them focus on her Power Incontinence, Looker, who appeared as a Brainwashed and Crazy trafficked teenager who helped Lady Shiva until the Team freed her, and Livewire, who was similarly forced to attack the heroes and sent to the Metahuman Youth Center to reform.
