I feel like Signal is an example of something DC seem to do a lot recently: introduce a new character with lots of fanfare, have them be impressive for a short time and then...just seem to forget about them. Before anyone says it, I'm aware Marvel is just as guilty of this too
The Signal is a rather unique one. Seeing as many simply don't know that Duke Thomas ever got a code name. Many more who know who Duke Thomas is, but not many who know that Duke Thomas eventually became The Signal.
@@WinchesterxNL I knew bits about him, which is why I wish he got more attention. I suppose at least unlike number 1 he's still prominent enough some people know who he is
I wouldn't say Marvel is AS guilty, at least not these last couple years. All the newer/younger characters may not have a solo series for themselves, but Marvel does find something for each of them to do, the only one i remember truly flopping hard was Mosiac, and even he popped back up again in a short story to continue his narrative. But Duke IS. A character that should have solo, or be on a different team like Young Justice or the Teen Titans.
I feel like the term sidekick is being used loosely because Duke is explicitly not a sidekick. The title of this video should be the extended batfamily
Superthor c, only the Signal, Blue Bird, and Harold Allnut are unknown characters to people that are just now getting into the Batman lore, but all the characters have are super well known to everybody that’s huge fans of Batman.
They forget them because he has too many for his own good and they're oversaturated. I like some of the new sidekicks like Cass, but most of the others are forgettable. Besides, Batman is apart of too many superhero teams as it is. Justice League, Batfamily, Justice League Dark, Outsiders, Trinity, Justice League of America, ect. All these team ups, the last thing Batman needs is more sidekicks. He already has like 30.
Batman is the wolverine of marvel, by him being in a team, the comics sell better, Remember when wolverine in almost every avengers and x-men comics, lol
Sidious Batman was never part of justice league dark in the comics and The Trinity isn't a team that's just the original 3 that created the DC Universe.
@@dcmarvelcomicfans9458 He was advertised all around the Justice League Dark comics either last year or two years ago. Trinity is technically a team since they have their own comic series and go on their own adventures that are separate from the League and any other superheroes. It's like the elite superhero team in DC with the big 3.
@@dixonb.tweenerlegs4225 oh yeah I forgot they have their own comic series although I haven't heard anything about it is it still ongoing or did they stop. I didn't know justice league dark advertised him in that book.
Clayface is actually _technically_ not cured, he appears in the City of Bane storyline briefly as an undercover agent masquerading as other villains under Bane's control.
Black Lantern? Oh Zoë... That's clearly a miss there. Black Lightning of course. And not many might know of The Signal (still a terrible name in my opinion.) But do know of Duke Thomas. And I've never heard of people mixing Stephanie and Helena with each-other. Do miss her (Spoiler) as Batgirl though..
@@seantwigg It wouldn't be? Because I find it rather hard to believe that Batman would hire an undead zombie wearing a Power Ring as an ally. Especially since they're braindead and only follow the lead of one individual.
Winchester MC-NL, I find it more harder to tell Helena Wayne and Helena Bertinelli apart than Spoiler and Huntress, and I agree with Batman that Helena Bertinelli is as much as a shithead as Damian Wayne is, and I wouldn’t work with a person like that either.
Spoiler often mistaken for Huntress. You're not just wrong you're stupid. It's hurtful to see someone who clearly has no interest in comics make a video about and try to sound like an expert. You calling Black Lightning Black Lantern wasn't probably not even a slip up by you and you wouldn't even know the difference between the two.
I get the disappointment though I kinda like the story they've got going on with the team. I doubt the team will be permanent so maybe they'll bring back his solo series. Sooner or later Bruce will piss Black Lighting (the team leader) off with his many secrets leading him to quit and slowly break apart the rest of the team who all have their own issues with Bruce's control over them.
Another sidekick of his(kind of) is Gotham girl. If I remember correctly, her & her brother were part of an experiment were they had great power but it drained their life force. After her brother died, Batman took her in to help her cope, especially since a villain had infected her and her brother with a toxin that made the fragile psychically. I believe she’s now a villain, but comic history is very difficult to catch up on.
I wish Harold was used more in mainstream Batman story’s mainly cuz I like his back story and it shows that even if you look different it doesn’t automatically make you a monster
My list or sidekicks (Sidekicks Only) 1: Nightwing 2: Batgirl/Oracle 3: Red Robin 4 Red Hood 5: Orphan 6: Spoiler 7:Damien Wayne (He is really the only one I don’t really like lol) 8: Bluebird I think that’s everyone?
"Black Lantern" I'm sorry to be that guy, but out of respect for you as our host, it's Black Lightning for future reference, thank you for bringing us comic fans these videos btw
They've kind of change things with the character. Now he's on a team with Black Lightning, Katana, and Cassandra Cain. Lightning is pretty much the leader with Batman being the benefactor and overseer of the team since he was the one to bring them together to begin with.
9:38 Holy shit! That was him!? I'm not an avid Batman reader, so I didn't know about that character when I read Hush. Now the back brace makes sense. I just assumed it was a reformed villain that had his back broken by Batman. xD
The Signal? I thought Lark wasn't too shabby but needed work, but tHe SiGnAl?!? It really makes him sound completely useless given he's named after the Bat-Signal... and he operates in the day.
2:54 The group would be initially comprised of *BLACK LANTERN* ... Black Lightening, being mistaken for a lantern. It's hard out here for a brotha in comics hahaha
Honestly Signal and Bluebird's problems could be easily fixed by. 1.) More involvement in Batman stories than just being Cameos 2.) Character development 3.) Care and make them matter. Then they'll be fan demands to see them in Movies, Cartoons, TV shows and video games.
This is why I say Batman is the goat. He made teams all over the world knowing the justice league can’t always be there. And knowing the risk of having the world count on 1 team with no backups.
Some of my many issues with Duke Thomas is that DC totally seems to have no real plan for him. I mean giving him powers doesn’t really fit the bat family like Batman himself are for the most part regular human beings that through intense training and dedication are apple to stand side by side or go toe to toe with literally demigods, which is what makes them so impressive. Also the Signal gimmick as well as the costume are totally bunk. Matt Murdock should tell Duke that with the exception of the Wolverine you either use the color yellow sparingly or not at all.
joseph shola, Azrael is DC’s Moonknight, and there’s a reason very few people know who he is because of the same reason very few people know who Moonknight is.
I think Batman incorporated would be an awesome Idea for a show. Like starts with Batman alone and something happens to make batman realize he needs help and later he needs agents all over the world. Like not initially he's resistant to it but like the first season is him building the bat family and the second season is him building a "family" all over the world. It's like justice league, but everyone is Batman. You could even incorporate the bat dogs lol.
@rocket grunt you are clear example of what is a arrogant, unintelligent, race baiting moron, who think of having a black character in bat family is supposed to "Get blaCk PeOple to buY bAtMan Comics" that's one most idiotic things I've heard of, Duke Thomas was not the first black character in bat family its Luke fox, and two, black people ARE already buying batman comics with or without Duke or luke in them I should know better because I'm African American myself, I'm buying batman comics, try again better next time, pathetic idiot.
Really surprised Cassandra Cain was not on this list she gets forgotten about a lot but I guess she's getting a bit more popular these days which is pretty great
Batman Inc. updated the pre-Crisis 'Club of Heroes' or 'Batmen of All Nations', Batman-inspired heroes from different nations with similar origins. They killed off the previous Knight (UK Batman) & had his partner Squire take the mantle, but nothing is known after that. Man-Of-Bats & his son Raven Red were the Native American Batman & Robin. The Cavalier was the French one, who retired & was replaced by Nightrunner. The Black Glove/Dr. Hurt murdered The Centurion (the Italian Batman with a Imperial Romean soldier theme) & the previous Wingman (the Australian Batman). Mr. Nobody was the Batman of Japan until his nemesis Lord Death Man killed him & Mr. Nobody's trainee took over, changing over to the now-official Batman Of Japan (yes, that's his FULL title). There were plans to include other Batmen, such as the Batmen of Russia, and individual teams in other cities. The comic didn't sell well after #8 & was cancelled, wrapping it all up in the combined #9/#10 with Batman shutting down Batman Inc. officially (but allowing all the former members to continue to operate independently). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Incorporated en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batmen_of_All_Nations
I'm such a nerd. There was not ONE person on that list I wasn't aware of. Also, from the Batman Inc, I LOOOOOVE Nightrunner. I write Batman Beyond fan fiction (yes, I do that) and I made a Nightrunner character for it. I'm pretty proud how it turned out.
Who is squire? I just saw a clip about a comic run called Batman the greatest detective or something like that and he has a little girl as a sidekick he called her Squire. Anybody have any information about the character?
Incase anyone was wondering yes Duke (a.k.a signal) has super powers and he is broken! he is immortal, has a healing factor, COSMIC PERCEPTION, photokinesis, x-ray vision, telescopic vision, microscopic vision, and even worse he has the ability to travel through shadows and light!!!
Like most Sidekicks I find you much more interesting than the bald head bearded silly man that we get to listen to most of the time. I'm just joking I'm just joking but I do appreciate this particular story! It was refreshing and I learn something new. Please keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing you next upload.
The problem with Duke Thomas is that only one writer wants to use him, Scott Snyder. Duke very much exists as Scott trying to make his mark by introducing a new Batfamily member. The issue is that he already introduced the very popular Court of Owls and Duke brings nothing notable to the table. Maybe he was going to be the next Robin as hinted at in a Futures End one-shot, but soon after that was published Damien was resurrected. Duke was one of those characters who was changed to fit the story being told, rather than the story reflecting him as an established character. He was in a couple of early arcs in Tom King’s Batman run for Rebirth, but these appearances never amounted to anything substantial and no one really noticed when he stopped appearing.
Actually you're wrong he still appears in batman rebirth, detective comics and the new batman and outsiders run by Bryan hill and dexter soy, he does has place in the bat family, in sense that he's the rookie, intellectual,very humble,low self esteem meta human, vigilante of the group, he's not a Robin, he is own superhero title, and has a big play on the newest version on the outsiders, great chemistry with Cassandra cain and all, look up the character status right now, before jumping to conclusions with no information to back up, he's currently on 3 different ongoing series and he's not going to irrelevancy anytime soon, try again better next time.
I think to say that spoiler and huntress are forgettable is a massive overstatement. Huntress is maybe forgettable as a Batman "sidekick" but she's super popular
