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Today, while trying to jigger the old gray matter into something approaching activity, I was going through my laptop's old files, looking for inspiration when I came upon some notes for a possible writing project.
The conceit of the project was fairly simple. Take the DC Universe. Eliminate all the characters that are not female. Take the remaining female characters and flip their genders, making them male. See what results from this.
Well, the result is a much thinner DCU lacking most of the big power names. Without Superman and Lex Luthor, Metropolis is a much quieter place. Gotham City, lacking a Batman, would also lose the Joker and most of the Bat Family. The only costumed villains who would still be operating in the city would be the Cat and Poison Oak. The others simply don't exist. And without Batman to emulate, why would B. Gordon go to a costume party dressed as a Bat-anything?
The ranks of the JLA, as we would know it from cannon, would be pretty much decimated. From thirteen members, during the satellite era, we drop to three: the Black Canary, Wonder Woman and Zatanna analogues.
The Doom Patrol, the JSA, the Outsiders and the Teen Titans don't fare much better.
Of course, it's not just the heroes who lose numbers. The world of super-villainy takes big hits. There's no Joker, Lex Luthor, Black Manta or Doctor Light. The Flash never existed, and only three members of his Rogues Gallery survive: Blacksmith, the Golden Glider and Magenta. The big hitters in this uni would probably be the Circe-anologue (Circyon?) and Morgan Le Fey. Possibly the Star Sapphire on the West Coast and the Cheetah, with Monsieur Rouge and Doctor Cyber bringing up the rear.
Of course, not all the standard origins work in this uni. Without Trigon, there can't be a Raven. Without Raven, the New Teen Titans have no unifying force. Starfire may escape the Gordonians to Earth, but what happens next? With no Johnny Quick in the 1940s, there couldn't be a Jesse Quick in the here and now. And what on Earth would the Liberty Belle analogue call himself? Liberty Beaux?
There's a lot of possibily for fic here, I think, and I can feel the old creative juices flowing. I haven't even thought about the future, about how these changes would influence the origin and shape of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Saturn Boy? Light Lad? Phantom Boy? Prince Projectra? Dawnstar? Shadow Lad?
Oy vey.
I think I've opened up Pandora's bloody box.
The conceit of the project was fairly simple. Take the DC Universe. Eliminate all the characters that are not female. Take the remaining female characters and flip their genders, making them male. See what results from this.
Well, the result is a much thinner DCU lacking most of the big power names. Without Superman and Lex Luthor, Metropolis is a much quieter place. Gotham City, lacking a Batman, would also lose the Joker and most of the Bat Family. The only costumed villains who would still be operating in the city would be the Cat and Poison Oak. The others simply don't exist. And without Batman to emulate, why would B. Gordon go to a costume party dressed as a Bat-anything?
The ranks of the JLA, as we would know it from cannon, would be pretty much decimated. From thirteen members, during the satellite era, we drop to three: the Black Canary, Wonder Woman and Zatanna analogues.
The Doom Patrol, the JSA, the Outsiders and the Teen Titans don't fare much better.
Of course, it's not just the heroes who lose numbers. The world of super-villainy takes big hits. There's no Joker, Lex Luthor, Black Manta or Doctor Light. The Flash never existed, and only three members of his Rogues Gallery survive: Blacksmith, the Golden Glider and Magenta. The big hitters in this uni would probably be the Circe-anologue (Circyon?) and Morgan Le Fey. Possibly the Star Sapphire on the West Coast and the Cheetah, with Monsieur Rouge and Doctor Cyber bringing up the rear.
Of course, not all the standard origins work in this uni. Without Trigon, there can't be a Raven. Without Raven, the New Teen Titans have no unifying force. Starfire may escape the Gordonians to Earth, but what happens next? With no Johnny Quick in the 1940s, there couldn't be a Jesse Quick in the here and now. And what on Earth would the Liberty Belle analogue call himself? Liberty Beaux?
There's a lot of possibily for fic here, I think, and I can feel the old creative juices flowing. I haven't even thought about the future, about how these changes would influence the origin and shape of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Saturn Boy? Light Lad? Phantom Boy? Prince Projectra? Dawnstar? Shadow Lad?
Oy vey.
I think I've opened up Pandora's bloody box.
