Most trusted person in the DC superhero community?

[show name]

I just read Mark Waid's "The Ghost Killers of Nanda Parbat" from The Brave and the Bold. In the story Nightwing sends away virtually all the superheroes on a wild goose chase for their own protection. Deadman remarks that they all did as he asked because after Superman, Nightwing was the most trusted man in the superhero community.

What do you all think, is Superman the most trusted hero, with Nightwing following up as second? (IIRC Deadman said most trusted "man" but for this thread I'm just changing it to "person")

I think that Captain Marvel might edge out Nightwing for second. He's the squeaky clean big red boy scout with the courage of Achilles and the wisdom of Solomon. Also I think Wonder Woman before the Maxwell Lord incident definitely would have been a contender. Even afterward she's probably still got a lot of cachet.

And in addition to the matter of trust, whom do you think the superheroes would most have faith in to lead them into a battle or mission? Would it be the same people?

[rick]

I tend to think that it would be Nightwing.

[Personamanx]

I'd trust Nightwings word.

[Superbeast]

Superman's good heart and upbringing make him trustworthy. Nightwing's understanding of personal loss and good heart despite those losses probably makes him even more trustworthy. I mean, he's not an alien with allegiances to other planets for one. That's gotta count for something, right?

[Andrew_White]

Nightwing is up there - but really, it's almost certainly either Alan Scott or Jay Garrick.

They're the people that even Superman looks up to.

[galactica]

Superman then Nightwing.

[Dard]

I would say Oracle.
Almost all people trusted her even when she was just a voice on the phone or text on the internet. Nightwing at least had a face.

[StormWatch]

Martian Manhunter when he was alive and when he is alive again. He was trusted to be in the brains of everyone in the Justice League.

[Andrew_White]

Martian Manhunter when he was alive and when he is alive again. He was trusted to be in the brains of everyone in the Justice League.

I know it will never happen - but I'm really hoping for a Martian Manhunter: Rebirth by Tomasi and Mahnke.

Well, a man can dream...

[K-DoG7p7]

Superman and Nightwing among the hero community .
we also know from Blue Beetle that Green Arrow is kinda ranked high up there among the working man.

[WorstThingUS]

Superman, for obvious reasons and Nightwing because they've watched him grow up with all of Batman's positives and none of his negatives. It was either Green Arrow or Black Lighting who said in The Outsiders they don't expect Nightwing to screw up because he was "trained by the best of us."

[Joe Acro]

Superman then Nightwing.
Precisely so.

People inherently trust Superman. Sometimes for no good reason.

People trust Nightwing just because of who he is. His ties, his personality, his leadership, etc.

If Superman's not available, you get Nightwing to round up the heroes.

[numberONE]

Superman, than Nightwing. But they're about even. People that know Captain Marvel trust him a lot I'm sure, but since he's not as well-known as Supes or Dick, Marvel isn't the most trusted.

[Phantom Druid]

Superman and Captain Marvel.

[bongoes]

Like everyone's been saying Superman and Nightwing.

[Shellhead]

Nightwing is up there - but really, it's almost certainly either Alan Scott or Jay Garrick.

They're the people that even Superman looks up to.

I agree. Alan and Jay don't even bother with secret identities anymore. They have nothing to hide, so nothing to lie about.

[Name Already Taken]

Nightwing is up there - but really, it's almost certainly either Alan Scott or Jay Garrick.

They're the people that even Superman looks up to.


Damn right. Those old fogeys have everyone's respect, spanning multiple generations and legacies, since originally they came & operated during arguably the greatest generation, when many nations were at their brink in our own history. Kent's a good ol' farm boy who respects his Pa for the lessons he taught him growing up. Dick has always looked up to Bruce, even when they were in disagreement. These old men, even if they may yell at clouds, or shout "Get off my lawn!", have always exhibited class and had good old fashioned American values in dealing with others, especially people who came after them, by looking after them.

[Whirlwind Dinamo]

Not Superman, his Mid West Christian values are not really right those values are too twisted (like letting Luthor go free) and he's got that whole alien heritage thing, you don't know when some alien crystal is gonna drop out of the sky and make him go crazy

[Taskmaster]

Nightwing (or Batman whatever you wanna call him) is defiantly who i'd say since not only to veteran heroes in the JLA trust him, but young heroes like the Titans also trust him (whereas they might be all rebellious teens when it comes to Superman or someone else who is an adult). Just look back when the Titans got into it with the JLA, who was the only person everyone would listen to. Nightwing's not only the most trusted, he's the best leader in the DCU, he's earned it and I certainly hope we see more of it now that he's wearing the costume of one of the Big Seven

[ChairthrowerLad]

J'onn, Wally, some of the JSAers, Superman, Dick would all be up there on my "to trust" list if I was a superhero in the DCU.

[Plex]

I agree that it would be Jay and Scott. Nightwing would be up there in the top 10.

[Lemurion]

I would say Clark first, followed by Dick. Alan Scott would be third (formerly first but he's stepped back) and then Babs.

Jay never really sought the leadership role and while his opinion is respected he's not seen the same way.

[superchick]

I see no logical reason why you would trust someone with the power of Superman. I would always keep my eye out. I'm more likely to trust Nightwing.

[ChairthrowerLad]

I see no logical reason why you would trust someone with the power of Superman. I would always keep my eye out. I'm more likely to trust Nightwing.

How very "Batman" of you. You have a satellite watching all of our movements, don't you!? A "Sister Eye," maybe? :tongue:

[shadow knight]

IMO it's Barry Allen Flash, before WW killed Max I would put her second to Superman.

[superchick]

How very "Batman" of you. You have a satellite watching all of our movements, don't you!? A "Sister Eye," maybe? :tongue:

A true Batman would not go with outdated ideas, 'those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it'

[ChairthrowerLad]

A true Batman would not go with outdated ideas, 'those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it'

W.W.B.D.?


What would Braniac do?

[ScottyQuick]

Probably Superman or Wonder Woman or Nightwing. Really, everyone trusts them.

[mgs]

I'd put all my trust into Wonder Woman! :smile:

[Samy]

I concur with Waid's assessment. Superman then Nightwing.

I think Alan and Jay are certainly up there, probably right on the heels of Clark and Dick, but they don't top them.

[Bloody Thumb]

BEFORE the New Krypton storyline i would totally concur that Superman would be number one. I think the current events though have probably damaged his trust factor as will probably be explored a little in the next issue. It's a status he will eventually repair, but for the time being i think his trust might be shot.

I'm sure Dick would be in the top five, Heck, i'd trust anyone who could put up with batman and come out sane.

But i so agree that Jay Garrick would be number one followed by Alan Scott. Even Superman looks up to them. Jay is number one though. He now has a Grandfatherly type charm that you just can't help but to trust.

[superchick]

W.W.B.D.?


What would Braniac do?

Brainiac 1, keep his distance. Send patrol drones while preserving his strength.
Brainiac 5, will have planned for this since Superman first appeared in the 30th century. He would have adapted his force shield technology for mass protection, have a stash of kryptonite and an agreement with Mysa, The White Witch. Superman wouldn't have a chance.

[Shellhead]

What about all that Superdickery stuff that went on in the old days? I wouldn't trust a dude who married his best friend to a gorilla.

[Shrimpman]

What about all that Superdickery stuff that went on in the old days? I wouldn't trust a dude who married his best friend to a gorilla.

Wow, I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking this.

[dupersuper]

I'd put all my trust into Wonder Woman! :smile:

Heh...that sentence would be funnier with an h added...
I think Clark, Dick, Babs, Alan, Jay, Barry, Wally, Ollie, Dinah and Billy are all very trusted, as was Diana pre-Lordkill.

[kyleryner]

I don't get the IN-STORY reason why heroes in the DCU would implicitly trust Dick. I get the meta-reason.. most of us fans love and like the character..mostly for sentimental reasons.. he "grew up" on us, from a teen, happy go lucky sidekick to dependable solo hero and leader of the Titans.

Is it common knowledge in the DCU that he used to be Robin? If not, then career wise he is fairly "recent". And if yes, then most older heroes time with Robin would be when he was a young kid, they wouldnt have much opportunity to build a meaningful and "trusting" relationship with him.

As Nightwing, his adventures are mostly confined with the Titans and urban crimefighting. He would hardly interact with all the other dcu heroes.. even with Crises going on, he usually is on the ground with the other "powerless" heroes while the heavy hitters are up in the sky or outerspace dealing with the big threats. Notable exception was Infinite Crisis.

Plus his association with Batman alone would be a negative. Remember after the Brother Eye incident, both Dick and Tim were furious with Bruce bec the Titans and Outsiders were looking at them funny.

So again, I dont get why he would be high-up on the list.

I would say, pre-crisis, Batman and Superman.. meta-reason of course is that they are the most popular characters.. but in-story reason is given their sheer number of team-ups (in DC presents and Brave and the Bold), they practically met with all the dcu heroes and earned their trust and respect from working with them.

I'd go for Barry Allen flash as well.

And Wally West, esp. after he revealed his secret ID.. which was later erased by the Spectre.. Im confused on his current ID status now...

And Oracle. I think she knows everyone's ID? If you're talking about trust, trust is knowing somone knows who you really are and where you live, and you're ok with that. Plus, when that person tells you to do something and go somewhere, you do it. That's trust. (although come to think of it.. how did Oracle ever develop this rep.. did she just show up one day via commlink and say, "Hi im Oracle. Pls follow my instructions?"

[El Castigador]

first supes next nightwing because of his membership in various team even in the big one JL, and second because hes shown to the hero community to be his own superhero and can also continue the bat legacy and mantle, But i would say Jay and Alan would be on the level because of their seniorty although maybe there would be some problems connecting with the younger heros which would probably gravitate towars Nightwing because of the age

[OzBat!]

Yeah, Superman is number one, for any number of reasons. But from there, any of the Flashes are always at the top of the list. They've always been the most "everyman" of the hero list, two of them had publically known IDs (even though Wally had the general knowledge of that 'specterized', he deliberately went around and revealed it again to virtually every hero he'd ever worked with), and there's been several stories where it's been shown that Jay and Wally especially with their ties to several teams, have always acted as go-betweens and information couriers. And when it comes to the big events, and Flashes dying, you know you can trust a Flash to be the personification of sacrificial heroism! They always put other people first. That's trust inducing, right there. It's the reason why every time the Flash museum is trashed, the people immediately get in there and rebuild it. Nightwing even acknowledged that of Wally, making himself a big bright target so that Flash's enemies would go after him instead of bystanders.

[Munkiman]

kyleryner: He's been Batman's partner. He's led the Titans. He's been on the JLA. He's been on the Outsiders. Plus he's had plenty of solo adventures.

Dick knows people.

[frostedone]

In no particular order:

Superman
Jay Garrick
Alan Scott
Nightwing
Oracle
Martian Manhunter (People trust him enough to let him enter their minds_
Barry Allen
Wally West
Green Arrow
Black Canary

Non-hero: Alfred. Everyone loves/trusts/respects him.

[T Hedge Coke]

I agree. Alan and Jay don't even bother with secret identities anymore. They have nothing to hide, so nothing to lie about.

How does this even make sense? Nothing to hide because they don't live dual lives? Lots of people who use only one name regularly are still significantly liars.

[BallsMonkey]

I would go with Dick Grayson. I tend to think the non-powered heroes would tend to go with one of their own over Superman. Plus the Titans and the other younger heroes would go for Dick. They see him as older brother figure while Superman is more of a father figure.

[Buried Alien]

I would imagine Barry Allen must be a candidate, but it remains to be seen how much his "trust index" has been affected by three considerations: 1). he was once tried for the murder of a supervillain (yes, he was acquitted, but just being on trial would taint him in the eyes of some observers) 2). he vanished for a month shortly after the conclusion of that trial 3). he died valiantly in COIE, but has recently returned under mysterious circumstances that even he can't fully explain, and nobody knows to what extent his "death" experience might have changed him.


Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[dupersuper]

In no particular order:

Martian Manhunter (People trust him enough to let him enter their minds_


Non-hero: Alfred. Everyone loves/trusts/respects him.

I left J'onn off my list because he's currently somewhat dead, but I agree on both counts.

[Samy]

Non-hero: Alfred. Everyone loves/trusts/respects him.
Bruce Wayne's butler? Why would most people trust the butler of some random dandy fop from Gotham City?

I can see how the people who know Bruce is Batman would trust Alfred, but 90% of the people don't know that so they'd just see Alfred as the butler of some Gotham socialite.

[bad trotsky]

The Joker is the most trusted person in the DC universe. :biggrin:

[Shellhead]

How does this even make sense? Nothing to hide because they don't live dual lives? Lots of people who use only one name regularly are still significantly liars.

You're looking at this backwards. In this discussion thread, we're comparing trusted heroes with trusted heroes, not discussing significant liars. (Feel free to start a thread about significant liars in the DCU, that could be an interesting topic too.) I'm just pointing out that, all other things being equal, the hero with the secret identity will sometimes need to lie when the hero without the secret identity doesn't need to lie.

Btw, the original post mentioned Nightwing as possibly the most trustworthy DC hero. That reminds me of how Deathstroke discovered the secret identities of all the Titans so he could hit them when they were vulnerable. Nightwing was involved with Starfire, and sometimes they were seen together as a couple while out of costume. Only she was never inconspicuous, due to the rarity of tall, beautiful, orange-skinned women with green pupil-less eyes. So Dick's relationship with Kory actually put quite a few people in danger, the Titans, Batman, Batgirl, and Alfred the Butler. After that, Dick started wearing a disguise when he was with Kory in public.

[Jim Thompson]

My gut still says Superman, but I find the argument for Grayson a very compelling one.

[CountAchilles]

Superman's an obvious choice because he's got the whole simple Kansas farm boy image going for him.

And the second place,is without a doubt Nightwing. He's like a light shade of the Bat. He's picked all the good qualities and not a single wrong one from Bruce Wayne.

[Jim Thompson]

Superman's an obvious choice because he's got the whole simple Kansas farm boy image going for him.Well, Superman's inspirational, too. He's the hero, in a lot of ways, all other heroes aspire to be (just like Steve Rogers is over in the MU.)

[David Walton]

My gut still says Superman, but I find the argument for Grayson a very compelling one.

I think Superman should have been excluded from the discussion.

It's like asking "Who's the holiest biblical figure?"

You're not going to get a real discussion until you take Christ off the table. :biggrin:

And Superman is essentially the Jesus Christ of the DCU.

[Jorriss]

Bruce Wayne's butler? Why would most people trust the butler of some random dandy fop from Gotham City?

Everyone in the JL knows him, plus the titans and outsiders.

[Samy]

Regardless, I bet 90% or more of DC heroes don't know Batman's civilian identity.

[Jorriss]

Regardless, I bet 90% or more of DC heroes don't know Batman's civilian identity.
Sure, sure, Alfred isn't the most trusted by virtue of how many are aware of him, but everyone who meets him, well, he's like Jay Garrick or Alan Scott in that way.

[Mat001]

Regardless, I bet 90% or more of DC heroes don't know Batman's civilian identity.

A lot of people know Batman is Bruce Wayne in the hero community. As pointed out earlier in this thread, most of the JLA know. As does most of the Outsiders, a couple of which have been in the JLA. The Titans through Dick, Jason and Tim. Deadman, the Phantom Stranger, the senior JSA members, the Guardians and anyone who ever used a Mother Box and learned through it. At the very least 50 to 60% know. More people know than those who don't know.

[Jim Thompson]

I think Superman should have been excluded from the discussion.

It's like asking "Who's the holiest biblical figure?"

You're not going to get a real discussion until you take Christ off the table. :biggrin:

And Superman is essentially the Jesus Christ of the DCU.I tend to agree. I think in some ways the discussion really is, "Who's the second most trusted figure in the DCU?"

Having said that, there probably are those who don't trust Superman simply because he's an alien -- so that's a plus in Grayson's favor.

[David Walton]

I tend to agree. I think in some ways the discussion really is, "Who's the second most trusted figure in the DCU?"

Having said that, there probably are those who don't trust Superman simply because he's an alien -- so that's a plus in Grayson's favor.

I think the xenophobe argument's a wash simply because most people in the DCU who distrust aliens are either villains or they don't like vigilantes either.

I would say a big plus in Grayson's favor is the way he bridges the gap between Superman's generation and his own.

The "Big 7" have seen Dick grow from a trusted sidekick into a capable leader in his own right.

And I think we could say that Dick is essentially "the sidekick Superman." He is to his peers what Superman was to that generation of heroes. He also works well with the next generation heroes like Tim.

As far as trust goes, most of Dick's peers probably couldn't trust him any more than they trust Superman. But they could trust him equally--and because Superman isn't as approachable, they likely trust themselves more around Dick.

[Hullababy]

Other than Dick Grayson being an obvious one, what about Barry Allen ?

[vinniewarlock]

Having said that, there probably are those who don't trust Superman simply because he's an alien -- so that's a plus in Grayson's favor.

I think the xenophobe argument's a wash simply because most people in the DCU who distrust aliens are either villains or they don't like vigilantes either.


Exactly.... General Lane should recruit this guy for his Project 7734....

Hey, maybe that guy in the 31th century Smallville (the one that killed the alien baby, and got killed by Psychoboy-prime) is his descendant...

[Jim Thompson]

As far as trust goes, most of Dick's peers probably couldn't trust him any more than they trust Superman. But they could trust him equally--and because Superman isn't as approachable, they likely trust themselves more around Dick.That would give him a considerable head's up in getting things done in the DCU.

[THEDOC]

Besides showing he can be controled by Max and Braniac, Supes did execute 3 Kryptonians from parallel universe (is that still canon?).
Dick's got my vote.

[vinniewarlock]

Besides showing he can be controled by Max and Braniac, Supes did execute 3 Kryptonians from parallel universe (is that still canon?).
Dick's got my vote.

Throw the first stone he who has never done anything wrong under the influence/control/illusion of a supervillain...

[dupersuper]

Throw the first stone he who has never done anything wrong under the influence/control/illusion of a supervillain...

Superman gets hit by a single rock thrown by 'Mazing Man.

[vinniewarlock]

Superman gets hit by a single rock thrown by 'Mazing Man.

Ok, let me rephrase that... He, a super-hero from the main stream of DC Comics, who has never done anything wrong, throw the first stone...

bringing 'Mazin Man to the table was hilarious, KUDOS TO YOU :biggrin:

[Herron451]

What an awesome question!
I think Superman is out of the equation. Beyonod mind control etc. he's too powerful. There's a level of awe and (slightly) fear when dealing with the Last Son that prevents complete and total trust.

Dick is an awesome vote, because he's one of the few who have been in this game from the word go. He has the confidence in his skill that he has never let slip, like Wally, bad decisions have been limited (unlike Roy, I mean, drugs, sleeping with Cheshire?) and interpersonal skills have set him up nicely.

I would also like to support Jay Garrick. He is old school, has excellent connections with nearly everyone in the DCU, and has a humility that his contemporaries don't possess. Even under mind control, he has shown a presence of mind that no one has matched. I think That Alan Scott has set himself up as the stern grandfather. Again, fear (of disapproval) prevents complete trust.

As for trusting to lead a battle? I think Bruce is probably the best choice followed by, umm, Hal Jordan, and Barbara Gordon maybe? There are several reasons these three aren't the most trustworthy in the game, but their tactical analysis of a battle field is unparrallelled (I think I misspelled that) Barbara can analyze the battlefield data in a real time scenario and correct for changes. Hal has a background in military tactics, and a perfect communications platform to adress issues. And Bruce, well Bruce is an anal retentive OCD who doesn't consider failure as an option. I think folks would trust their skill more than neccessarily trust them.

What do you all think? Am I right or did I miss the mark? Thanks for giving me a fun thought exercisse!

[Jarath]

Alan Scott must be up there? He has been around forever, trains tomorrow's heroes and was right at the forefront in 52: World War III and in Final Crisis.