The Friend Nobody Likes / The DCU

The DCU

Comic Books

Comic Books

• Batman:
  • The extent of it varies from writer to writer, but Post-Zero Hour Batman is often this for the Justice League. His brooding, antisocial, and rudely stoic personality clashes pretty badly with a lot of the League, as does his paranoid tendency to form "contingencies" against his own friends. But he's one of the greatest heroes ever and the other heroes would be screwed without him, if not just from a lack of funding from Wayne Enterprises. Superman is the only person who really likes having him around on a consistent basis, but between Bruce's paranoia and the duo's totally opposing personalities, even Clark can find him tiresome.
  • This can also occasionally extend to the rest of the Batfamily, who have often had their reputations tarred because of their association with Batman. Many heroes distrust them and think they're only really loyal to Batman; after the events of the Tower of Babel arc (where Batman got himself temporarily kicked out of the League with his behavior), Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon both had to put up with Young Justice and the rest of the Justice League shunning them. Nightwing generally avoids this, both because he's just that much of a Nice Guy and probably because his relationship with Batman is well-known to be rocky.
  • Robin (1993): Pre-Flashpoint Bernard Dowd was this to Tim Drake. Tim's first impression upon meeting him is, "Luckily, I don't share too many classes with Bernard. On first impressions, he seems like the type I'll prefer in small doses". While a later event had Tim saying he "thinks he's going to end up liking" him, starting with Bernard perving on Dana (Tim's stepmom), their interactions had Tim express considerable annoyance to him. It got to the point where Tim's final mention of him behind his back refers to Bernard's conspiracy theories as "vintage Bernard idiocy" and uses that as a reason to dismiss them outright. This is why post-Flashpoint treating him as a close friend of Tim and Tim's sudden interest in him has been viewed as incredibly jarring by fans.
• It's been revealed in Booster Gold and Power Girl that even before his Face–Heel Turn, Max Lord was only tolerated at best by the Justice League International because they believed that despite his deceitful and manipulative nature, he was a good person—a belief that ended with his action in Infinite Crisis with many now wanting him locked up or outright killed.
• Among The Flash's main rogues gallery — most of whom otherwise genuinely enjoy each other's company and form a strange yet close-knit community of sorts — the one Rogue none of the other villains can stand to be around is Captain Boomerang. The Rogues generally have a code of conduct and moral lines that they will never cross, but Boomer is more likely than not to flout those rules and cross those lines whenever it strikes his fancy, and the Rogues generally disdain him for being a boorish, cowardly, selfish, immature, casually bigoted Jerkass who embodies a number of offensive Australian stereotypes. The Rogues only keep him around because he's really good at what he does.
• When it's not Batman, it's Green Arrow (and even Bruce often barely tolerates him). While few can debate that Oliver Queen generally tries and usually manages to do the right thing, no one can overlook his arrogance, obnoxious moral grandstanding and virtue signaling, habitual all-take-and-no-give interactional dynamics with most of the people in his life, and general disingenuousness, and that's without getting into his incessant philandering. That said, the other heroes all like him well enough that the entire Justice League were grateful to see him when he returned from the dead in Quiver; when Roy and Dinah were briefly arguing about their past issues with Oliver, Batman cut the argument off by suggesting they each just appreciate that Oliver was alive again, and both acknowledged this point. Oliver, however, has managed to divert this finally due to the Rebirth run, his grief at the death of his son and sacrificing his life for the second time.
• John Constantine is pretty hated among the heroes who know of him, because he has a reputation for manipulating his friends and getting them killed. And while this reputation is somewhat overblown (he genuinely does want to help people and is traumatized by his friends dying), he's still abrasive, somewhat ruthless, and exeptionally unlucky.
• For the villains, we have The Joker. In fact, Lex Luthor is Genre Savvy enough to usually bring him into whatever group he is starting, mainly because while he's psychotic, unpredictable, and irritating, it's much more preferable to have him on your side rather than having him pissed off at you for not inviting him. Interestingly enough, despite both of them backstabbing one another, Lex and Joker team up often and seem to enjoy another's company.
• Ragdoll of the Secret Six is viewed as a complete weirdo by his teammates, who openly state how much he freaks them out and they keep him around mostly for usefulness and, it's implied, partly out of pity. And even Ragdoll is squicked when new team member Black Alice develops a crush on him. Ironically, he's probably one of the most popular characters among fans of the series.
• Superman:
  • Post-Flashpoint Supergirl genuinely believes nobody likes her because she's short-tempered and ever-angry, and they only put up with her because they find her powers useful. In the Red Daughter of Krypton storyline Kara thinks no one wants her around because she is too dangerous after being kicked out of the Red Lanterns.
  • Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom: No Apokoliptian likes or takes the titular villainess seriously. Darkseid considers her an arrogant annoyance, Granny Goodness regards her as a disappointment, Desaad thinks she is amusing, the Female Furies would eviscerate her in a blink if ordered, and Darkseid's foot soldiers would rather throw her into an acid pit than deal with her.
  • The Dawn of DC-era Power Girl saw herself as this with towards the greater Super-Family because of her attitude and standoffish behavior. In actuality, they would like nothing more for her to be than part of the family and part of her problem is that she's mostly scared, having lost both her Krypton and Earth-2.
• Rose Wilson/Ravager is this to the Teen Titans for a large variety of reasons, the least of which is the fact that she’s the daughter of one of their archenemies. Her relationship with her team mates is often strained and sometimes outright hostile, especially with Wonder Girl. The only Titans who consistently get along with Rose are Blue Beetle (who privately admits that she still kind of scares him) and Kid Devil / Red Devil. It eventually gets so bad that she quits the team. Later, when she considers coming back, the Titans actually have a debate on whether to let her back in. For comparison, Bombshell, a traitor who tried to kill the Titans and is pretty unpopular herself, was allowed back with little question after her Heel–Face Turn; Rose is so disliked that an actual traitor is more accepted then her. As a result, Rose ultimately decides to not rejoin and instead leaves to find her own way in life.
• Watchmen:
  • None of the major characters particularly like Rorschach. Even Dan Dreiberg, the only one willing to describe him as a friend, has a lengthy list of grievances with the asshole who keeps breaking open the locks on his house in order to come in. He's mostly tolerated because all costumed vigilantes are pretty messed up, so they genuinely don't have anyone but each other.
  • In Before Watchmen: Minutemen, none of the Minutemen particularly like the Comedian, even before he tries to rape Sally Jupiter, but there aren't enough other costumed heroes around for them to be picky.

Films

Films

• The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie:
  • Hal Jordan to the Justice League. Even Superman himself tries to avoid him and makes it clear he can't stand him, yet he's still a part of the league.
  • Batman himself comes across as prideful, self-obsessed, antisocial, and trying way too hard to be cool. He makes up for it with his impressive competence and is considered famous and beloved by the general populace, but it's suggested that most of the League doesn't really like having him around. Fortunately, he does mellow out.
• Birds of Prey (2020) reveals pretty much the entirety of Gotham's criminal underworld hates Harley Quinn's guts, but are forced to put up with all her bullshit and abusive behavior because she was the Joker's girlfriend and everyone was terrified of crossing him. The second they're certain they've broken up, everyone in town starts coming for her head.

Live-Action TV

Live-Action TV

• Arrow
  • Season 3 has Malcolm Merlyn, a former Big Bad who's still pretty obnoxious (and an unrepentant mass murderer). The fact that he's openly using them to serve his own ends just makes it worse. The only reason anyone puts up with him is that he's Thea's father and he knows the most about the League of Assassins. Laurel actually consistently argues in favor of just killing him (even in Season 4), but Oliver repeatedly refuses frequently simply because he is Thea's father (despite his willingness to kill other people's fathers, and willingness to (try to) kill Malcolm when he was only known as Tommy's father).
  • It's never addressed, but it is made clear that Diggle, Roy, and Oliver don't particularly like Laurel in Season 3. Certainly they don't respect her and resist her attempts to join the team. This may partly be due to her desire to succeed her sister Sara whose death everyone is reeling from, her initial tendency to interfere in their missions, and their focus on their conflict with the League of Assassins and Ra's al Ghul. Even after she joins, she's treated like an outsider, with Felicity being the only one to offer her any encouragement. Diggle and Roy eventually soften their stance, Oliver... doesn't particularly for much longer.

Western Animation

Western Animation

• Batman: The Animated Series: Gotham City detective Harvey Bullock is heavily-disliked In-Universe, which is put to the forefront in "A Bullet for Bullock"; He's an absolute Jerkass whose moments of politeness and kindness are few and far-between, and he is aggressive, impatient, confrontational, disobediently reckless, and will often run against orders without thinking plans over. To put the cherry on top, his apartment is a pigsty, he always underpays his rent, and he rudely dismisses his landlord's complaints. This all results in a man that Commissioner Gordon and the rest of the police department have minimal patience for, while almost no other people outside the police force want anything to do with him. Even Batman himself dryly calls him a less-than-ideal citizen.
• Justice League
  • In "The Doomsday Sanction", it's pretty evident that nobody likes The Question very much, as he is generally an unpleasant asshole to be around and never gives the conspiracy bit a rest...
    Batman: I've got The Question looking into it—
    Everyone: Awww!!!
    Flash: Not that kook!
    Batman: I admit he's wound a bit too tightly, but if anyone can find a hidden link he's our man.
  • In the episode "Flash and Substance", it's evident that the other Flash villains reluctantly tolerate Trickster's presence and have absolutely no respect for him. They seem to associate with him out of pity; while all the other villains chose their particular jobs, the Trickster is only evil because he is insane and no longer taking his medication.
• Young Justice (2010): Nabu, the real Doctor Fate, who needs a host for him to inhabit. Originally such hosts were largely voluntary, but after several decades spent alone without a host when his latest decided to retire, he has become less inclined to release those who don his helmet. After he makes a deal to permanently inhabit the Justice Leaguer Zatara (in exchange for releasing his daughter Zatanna), the other superheroes are naturally distrustful of him. Captain Marvel flat out argues for Fate's expulsion from the Justice League at one point, since despite his tactical usefulness, Fate is essentially performing a Demonic Possession on one of their old teammates. Interestingly, Nabu himself admits that he is partially desiring to remain with the League for his own Supervision — Zatara himself feels it would be a good idea for the League to keep close tabs on Nabu, as his trust in the Lord of Order is "measured".

---