Celebs in the DCU

[Free-Man]

Anyone know of any DC vigilantes/superhumans who are celebs in their civilian identities? Off the top of my head, I can think of:

Witchfire, who was a musician/actress.

And Mister Miracle III, who is a rockstar David Blaine-esque escape artist.

[Jorriss]

Bruce Wayne is a celebrity. I'd have to think Dick Grayson and Tim Drake are to some extent.

[Sabrinaset]

Oliver Queen was a mayor or something, he has some fame I'm sure.

Ralph Dibny ... wasn't he a minor celebrity of some sort?

Zatanna has done Vegas a number of times, IIRC, she's gotta be relatively famous.

Lex Luthor: US President. Hard to top that!

The Creeper ... wasn't his alter ego on TV a lot as a journalist or something?

[Spiffy]

A lot of people we know as heroes are "famous", but if the burden is also "in the entertainment business" then the list obviously gets a lot shorter. Zatanna, Mister Miracle, Zachary Zatara--those are the obvious ones, I guess. And yeah. Jack Ryder (The Creeper). A Talk Show host.

[Tobias March]

Fire! (she had a very popular website)

[K-DoG7p7]

Bruce Wayne/Batman (Super rich billioner), Clark Kent/Superman (Star reporter and former TV personality), Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Super rich billioner that lost it ALL and politician), Ted Grant/Wildcat (Former heavyweight champion/ owner of gym chain), Stormy Knight/Phantom Lady (Paris Hilton with Double Ds of the DCU), Roy Harper/ARSENAL (Public Superhero.. unless its been retconned)

[K-DoG7p7]

Fire! (she had a very popular website)

with implied nudety !

[Ikonic]

Vixen is a model

[Thok]

People have gone this many posts without mentioning Booster Gold, he of the many commercial endorsements? (He's roughly DC's version of Paris Hilton, or at least that what he wants most of the DCU to think of him.)

[eligibility]

Vixen and Koriand'r are both models. Kori WAS a model, not so much anymore!

Um, Donna Troy by that regard must be somewhat famous, or as famous as a photographer can get.

Wasn't Bea/Fire a model or am I totally not remembering that correctly? Hm.

[Matt]

Arisia, of the GLC, was a model on Earth for a while.

[True Herald]

Looker was a model and a cast member on a View-like talk show.

Flamebird (the non-Kryptonian one) is a tennis pro.

[titanfan]

Fire never really made it big modeling, so she's probably not a big celebrity in her civilian ID. It's implied that Martian Manhunter had a few civilian ID's who were famous. (Or at least he took over their identities when they died)

Elasti-Girl's alter ego was a famous actress. Beast Boy was a child star.

[pryde15]

Vixen and Koriand'r are both models. Kori WAS a model, not so much anymore!

Um, Donna Troy by that regard must be somewhat famous, or as famous as a photographer can get.

Wasn't Bea/Fire a model or am I totally not remembering that correctly? Hm.

You can become very famous as a photographer...Annie Leibovitz for example.

[K-DoG7p7]

Cissie King-Jones/Arrowette...


http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/1/10369/745529-cissie4_super.jpg


Need i say more?

[DonC]

Need i say more?


Yes. Why is she famous?

[Free-Man]

Yes. Why is she famous?

I think she went to the Olympics for archery after she quit Young Justice.

[AllisterH]

Eh doubtful most of the people mentioned are "famous" to the extent that the average person on the street can name them.

For example, archery has NEVER been a big event in America and Arrowete didn't win multiple gold medals so she wa sunlikely to get endorsement deals and her face on the cereal box cover.

Similarly, Vixen, Fire and Looker were all models (seems a pretty popular civilian ID) but I don't think any of them were considered SUPERMODELS. Maybe Kori since she was rocking the exotic look but the rest? Doubtful.

One of the more interesting things is that Lois Lane should NOT be as famous as she is...When she was first introduced back in the 40s, this was the height of the Golden Age of Radio and as such, Lois would've already been out of date.

How many famous NEWSPAPER reporters can you name?

[DonC]

I think she went to the Olympics for archery after she quit Young Justice.


Oh, yeah. I can name all kinds of Olympic archers. :wink:

[Jorriss]

How many famous NEWSPAPER reporters can you name?
None lol. There really is not a reason Lois or Clark should be that famous. Lois's main claim to fame would be her dealing with Superman.

[Jbenn]

There are various degree of "famous". I'm going to go with the folks who are public personalities or celebrities in their civilian life:

1) Bruce Wayne - the 30-something unmarried head of one of the largest conglomerates in the world and one of the richest men on the planet - with movie star looks no less. He has a tragic past. He dates famous actresses and models (like Jezebel Jet and Julie Madison) and recently has started giving away a billion dollars of his own money a month to get the poor economy of Gotham off its feet (well Hush did it as Bruce but the public doesn't know that). If such a person existed in our world, he would be hounded by the press constantly. Tim Drake and Dick Grayson has his heirs are probably somewhat well-known as well.

2) Cissie Armstrong-Jones - the heroine formerly known as Arrowette. An Olympic archer.

3)Bette Kane/Flamebird - from a well-known well-heeled high society family and a former professional tennis player.

4)Oliver Queen - former billionaire turned bankrupt turned Mayor of Star City turned ex-Mayor. And really a lot of people must know he and Green Arrow are the same guy - how many men in Star City are 40-something, blonde with that facial hair

5) Zatanna Zatara - her father who was a famous stage magician and so is she. She has her own show in Vegas and other places. And as Dini’s run in Detective showed, its well known she’s a member of the JLA and a super-hero. If she existed in our world, I can’t see how such a person would not have a legion of die-hard fans and sold-out shows.

6) Zachary Zatara - he’s just beginning and was only a member of the Teen Titans for a second. But he’s also a well known “teen” stage magician.

7) Elongated Man - by DC’s current reckoning, he was the first super-hero to go public without a secret identity and his wife was a wealthy socialite.

8) Booster Gold - Booster is the only super-hero who used to sell ad space on his costume. Before he teamed up with Rip Hunter, he would routinely shill any product that payed him.

9) Lorraine Reilly/Fire Hawk - daughter of a former US Senator and now currently in the DCU is the junior US Senator from the State of New York.

10) Vixen - Mari McCabe’s day job as one of the highest paid-super models in the world is well-known.

11) Mr. Miracle - Both Scott Free and now Shiloh Norman were well-known escape artists.

12) Starfire - Kory is not only an alien princess but a former supermodel and pin up girl.

13) Beast Boy - Gar Logan was a childhood star on a sci-fi TV show. A recent issue of Titans made fun of the fact that he goes to sci-fi/comic cons where he’s listed as A Guy who knows Nightwing who knows Batman! He is also the adopted son of movie star Rita Farr and billionaire Steve Dayton.

14) Elasti-Girl - Before her accident that made her Elasti-Girl, her death, and her resurrection, Rita Farr was a well-known Movie Actress.

15) Looker - Emily Briggs became a model and co-hosted "The Scene" ( a View rip-off) along with Linda Park and Vicki Vale.

16) Geo-Force - Brion is after all an honest-to-goodness Prince of his own country as well as as superhero.

17)Clark Kent - is a prize winning journalist (although his wife is more well-known in that field and Lois has done the occasional TV work as well - so she is famous), he is also the best-selling author of a number of thrillers/suspense novels (and pre-Crisis he was a news anchorman on GBS TV).

18) Fire - Beatriz La Costa was a model with a much-visited website (in addition to being a business woman and then a Checkmate operative).

19) Donna Troy - had a significant career as a photographer.

20) Diana of Themyscira - the most well known and idolized woman on the (DCU) Earth. She is a celebrity wherever she goes.

21) Billy Batson/Captain Marvel - is 17 and has had his own radio program on Fawcett City’s most prominent radio station (WHIZ Radio) for several years now. There was even talk of him IIRC becoming syndicated.

22) The Creeper - Jack Ryder has been an on-again/off-again TV talk show host.

23) Owl-Man/Roy Raymond Jr. - was also the host of his own reality TV show.

24) Linda Park West - The Flash’s wife was also a well-known TV reporter and co-hosted “The Scene” talk show with Vicki Vale and Looker.

25) Kate Spencer/Manhunter - successfully defended Wonder Woman in the US courts for the murder of Max Lord and is now the D.A. of Gotham, one of the largest cities in the DCU America.

26) Vicki Vale - former reporter, photo journalist, celebrity interviewer and co-host of "The Scene" with Linda Park and Looker. Now back in the Bat-books.

I’m sure there’s quite a bit more.

[Free-Man]

Also, he probably isn't a rockstar, but I believe Black Lightning is well known as being both a JLA member and a member of the Luthor administration.

[AllisterH]

Seriously, of that list Jbenn, I'd say only 3 or 4 are FAMOUS a.k.a non-superhero groupies would know of them.

Bruce Wayne is the Rupert Murdoch/Sir Richard Branson of the DCU so I think he would be famous.

Cissie Jones? A one gold olympian from a country where unless you win multiple medals you don't appear on the cereal box? Be serious.

Flamebird was just a tennis pro and NOT even ranked as number 1 in the world. Hell, she wasn't even the Anna Kounikova of the tennis world so she doesn't even have THAT going for her.

Name for me all the mayors of cities NOT in your state and given that Star City is NOT the New York (a.k.a everything happens in NYC) of the DCU, that would be Metropolis, cross out any mayors that are from New York from your list.

Zatanna I can see - She _WOULD_ be seen as the David Copperfield /Mindfreak of the DCU/

Elongated Man - Again, only superhero groupies would know that. Why would the average DCU citizen even recognize Ralph. Hell, his claim to fame is so fleeting that really, he would be a question on Trivial pursuit.

Mr Miracle and kid Zatara - Nope. Most people can name 1 stage magician..but asking them to name 2 is pushing it, and 3 is out of the question IMO. Zatanna kills their fame.

Firehawk - Unless she comes from one of the BIG senate families and or States, as a junior senator, few people would even know about her.

Booster Gold is famous and probably well known because of what you said.

Starfire - yeah I can see that.

Rita Farr/Gar Logan - Rita would not be well known given how long ago her career in movies was and more importantly, in her backstory, there's never been an indication she was considered an Audrey Hepbrun, Elizabeth Taylor (damn, she can act) or a Salma Hayek, Angelia Jolie (damn, she's hot). She was more of the actress who appears in a couple of movies bt people always say, "you know,...the girl from that movie..what's her name again"

Even Gar might be forgotten as you evidenced by the fact that his claim to fame is that he knows Nightwing heo knows Batman. Most child stars are readily forgotten.

Brion being a prince wont make him famous. Even in our world, unless you're a BRITISH prince, being the prince of some small twobit country most Americans can't find on a map doesnt make you famous

Radio/print journalist. Again, print is DEAD if you want to talk famous personalities and the only famous personalities on radio are shock jocks which includes Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh. Billy is nowhere near that category and is unlikely to be well known. Now, LIVEWIRE...she would be famous.

"The Scene" is a new one on me...This must be a new show since when did Linda Park ever meet Looker of all people.

Being the star of a movie/tv show/whatever does NOT necessarily track fame unless the show itself is a huge success. Someone like the Creeper who is an on-off again tv show host means that none of his shows were that popular so his fame isn't that well spread.

Keep in mind also you need to be doing the show constantly...For example, how many people If you're under the age of 25, how many people recognize this man?
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/donahuephil/donahuephilIMAGE/donahuephil.jpg

[Free-Man]

Allister, I think you're undercutting Mr. Miracle.

This is a guy who did a nationally televised stunt where he tried to escape from a Black Hole. I'd imagine a large number of people took notice to that.

I mean, look at the attention David Blaine and Chris Angel get.

[Lady Momus]

Wally West (Flash) was a celebrity because he was a superhero when his identity was public. Not true anymore, though, because Spectre made his identity secret again.

Jade was a model and actress. Since she didn't keep her identity secret, her identity as a superhero only added to the fame she had.

Mr. Terrific (Michael Holt) was an Olympic medalist, a multi-millionaire, owned his own company and had around a dozen PhDs. Probably not a major celebrity but definitely a minor one.

Amazing-Man (the first one) was an Olympic medalist. He was also later retconned as being a civil rights activist on par with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.

Liberty Belle (Libby Lawrence) was a famous reporter and had an Olympic medal in swimming. She also swam the English Channel during WWII to get to England (and safety) after the boat she was on sunk. Probably wouldn't be famous in today's DCU, but was a definite celebrity in the WWII era.

Vigilante I (Greg Saunders) was a famous singer and actor. He's been portrayed as hugely popular, but since he's a Golden Age hero, most of his popularity is probably with the older crowd in the DCU.

And I think Jack Ryder (Creeper) definitely counts as a celebrity, given the large audience his talk show is supposed to have. Not to mention the person who wrote his most recent series said he was portraying Ryder as "a liberal Ann Coulter." (I'm paraphrasing. I don't remember the exact quote.)

[Jbenn]

Seriously, of that list Jbenn, I'd say only 3 or 4 are FAMOUS a.k.a non-superhero groupies would know of them.

Bruce Wayne is the Rupert Murdoch/Sir Richard Branson of the DCU so I think he would be famous.

Cissie Jones? A one gold olympian from a country where unless you win multiple medals you don't appear on the cereal box? Be serious.

Flamebird was just a tennis pro and NOT even ranked as number 1 in the world. Hell, she wasn't even the Anna Kounikova of the tennis world so she doesn't even have THAT going for her.

Name for me all the mayors of cities NOT in your state and given that Star City is NOT the New York (a.k.a everything happens in NYC) of the DCU, that would be Metropolis, cross out any mayors that are from New York from your list.

Zatanna I can see - She _WOULD_ be seen as the David Copperfield /Mindfreak of the DCU/

Elongated Man - Again, only superhero groupies would know that. Why would the average DCU citizen even recognize Ralph. Hell, his claim to fame is so fleeting that really, he would be a question on Trivial pursuit.

Mr Miracle and kid Zatara - Nope. Most people can name 1 stage magician..but asking them to name 2 is pushing it, and 3 is out of the question IMO. Zatanna kills their fame.

Firehawk - Unless she comes from one of the BIG senate families and or States, as a junior senator, few people would even know about her.

Booster Gold is famous and probably well known because of what you said.

Starfire - yeah I can see that.

Rita Farr/Gar Logan - Rita would not be well known given how long ago her career in movies was and more importantly, in her backstory, there's never been an indication she was considered an Audrey Hepbrun, Elizabeth Taylor (damn, she can act) or a Salma Hayek, Angelia Jolie (damn, she's hot). She was more of the actress who appears in a couple of movies bt people always say, "you know,...the girl from that movie..what's her name again"

Even Gar might be forgotten as you evidenced by the fact that his claim to fame is that he knows Nightwing heo knows Batman. Most child stars are readily forgotten.

Brion being a prince wont make him famous. Even in our world, unless you're a BRITISH prince, being the prince of some small twobit country most Americans can't find on a map doesnt make you famous

Radio/print journalist. Again, print is DEAD if you want to talk famous personalities and the only famous personalities on radio are shock jocks which includes Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh. Billy is nowhere near that category and is unlikely to be well known. Now, LIVEWIRE...she would be famous.

"The Scene" is a new one on me...This must be a new show since when did Linda Park ever meet Looker of all people.

Being the star of a movie/tv show/whatever does NOT necessarily track fame unless the show itself is a huge success. Someone like the Creeper who is an on-off again tv show host means that none of his shows were that popular so his fame isn't that well spread.

Keep in mind also you need to be doing the show constantly...For example, how many people If you're under the age of 25, how many people recognize this man?
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/donahuephil/donahuephilIMAGE/donahuephil.jpg

Well, you have a point. For instance I could recognize Donohue but my little sister (who is under 25) probably couldn't. But there are various degrees of fame and if we're talking about the DCU as if it existed then there would be a large contingent of superhero--fanboys/girls and fansites dedicated to the most obscure heroes/villains.

For instance, in Gotham City Sirens just two issues back they introduced a TMZ-style TV gossip show that is dedicated to following super-heroes and super-villains instead of movie stars (they had a story on Harley Quinn, the Joker's ex-squeeze being seen with Bruce Wayne). I don't know if "The Scene" is still on the air (Vicki's returned to Gotham as a reporter, Linda is with Wally and the kids, and Looker is back with the Outsiders) but the few glimpses we saw of it they were seen of gossiping about the superheroes and socialite Bruce Waynes of the world. As for Elongated Man, I remember a really fun scene with him (I think it was from the SuperBuddies era) where he was googling himself to see all the fansites people had made about the Elongated Man, it was quite amusing.

And celebrity varies, obviously someone like Bruce Wayne would be high on the DCU celebrity totem pole - so would someone like Zatanna. But if you were interested in politics, then you would know who FireHawk and Geo-Force are (Markovia has become increasingly important in the Superman comics and Sam Lane's plans), if you were interested in fashion, then you would know who Vixen, Starfire, Jade (with her green skin) and Donna Troy (as a fashion photographer) are. Billy Batson might not be known outside Fawcett, but within the city he's famous as the person who knows Captain Marvel best. Newsjunkies and novel readers would recognize the names of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Vicki Vale, Linda Park and Jack Ryder. While fans of "Unsolved Mysteries" like programs would know who Roy Raymond Jr. is. It all depends on the degree of celebrity.

My take on it is that in the DCU where even the Joker is a household name (so much so that even a reformed plainclothes Harley is followed by cameras) and Lex Luthor was elected President, super-heroes and members of the JLA are THE celebrities. Someone like Rita Farr who was a B-Movie actress with little name recognition instantly becomes very famous once her people find out she is Elasti-Girl (I can see, for example, her old movies being re-issued on DVD as starring "Elasti-Girl" rather than just ordinary Rita Farr).

[AllisterH]

My take on it is that in the DCU where even the Joker is a household name (so much so that even a reformed plainclothes Harley is followed by cameras) and Lex Luthor was elected President, super-heroes and members of the JLA are THE celebrities. Someone like Rita Farr who was a B-Movie actress with little name recognition instantly becomes very famous once her people find out she is Elasti-Girl (I can see, for example, her old movies being re-issued on DVD as starring "Elasti-Girl" rather than just ordinary Rita Farr).

Now this I would agree with....It of course makes it interesting that they STILL are able to keep their identities secret. Seriously, with a TMZ-style gossip rag running around?

I doubt their civilian life would make them famous, at best, as you mention, they would be famous among their peers and followers in that profession.

That said, it should be noted that this would be more of an AMERICAN passion. Ex: In our world, The Dark Knight was the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time.

In the rest of the world, it's not even in the top 20 (Mamma Mia did better than Dark Knight worldwide)

So, technically, if, when we mean by DCU, we mean WORLDWIDE, even American superheroes might not be as well known.

[Jbenn]

Now this I would agree with....It of course makes it interesting that they STILL are able to keep their identities secret. Seriously, with a TMZ-style gossip rag running around?

I doubt their civilian life would make them famous, at best, as you mention, they would be famous among their peers and followers in that profession.

That said, it should be noted that this would be more of an AMERICAN passion. Ex: In our world, The Dark Knight was the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time.

In the rest of the world, it's not even in the top 20 (Mamma Mia did better than Dark Knight worldwide)

So, technically, if, when we mean by DCU, we mean WORLDWIDE, even American superheroes might not be as well known.

This is true. The DCU China with it's Great 10 don't seem impressed by American super-heroes and in 52 only let the rest of the world's heroes come in when they can no longer handle Black Adam.

[K-DoG7p7]

For example, archery has NEVER been a big event in America and Arrowete didn't win multiple gold medals so she wa sunlikely to get endorsement deals and her face on the cereal box cover.
If you read young Justice, then you would see that she became quite popular, even guest starring on popular TVshows (a Buffy parody) and stuff like that


Similarly, Vixen, Fire and Looker were all models (seems a pretty popular civilian ID) but I don't think any of them were considered SUPERMODELS. Maybe Kori since she was rocking the exotic look but the rest? Doubtful.
Vixen is a supermodel, Fire, Looker and Kori where more like Glamour models.
As in Vixen is high fashion and the others are the kind you find on Calendars and stuff..


One of the more interesting things is that Lois Lane should NOT be as famous as she is...When she was first introduced back in the 40s, this was the height of the Golden Age of Radio and as such, Lois would've already been out of date.

How many famous NEWSPAPER reporters can you name?

In rel life.. none, because in the real world the printed news is dead. in the DCU however its still huge.
fact is in the DCU they ARE well known..

[brenticles]

How many famous NEWSPAPER reporters can you name?

Woodward & Bernstein, worked for the Washington Post and brought down Nixon. Lane and Kent are similarly famous because they do big corruption stories that eventually result in people going to prison.

[dupersuper]

You can become very famous as a photographer...Annie Leibovitz for example.

Jade was also a photographer/aspiring actress

The original Crimson Fox twins owned a business

So does Power Girl

Max Lord was a businessman, and his ex wife was a businesswoman

Sue Dibny was a rich heiress

Wildcat was a boxing champ

Will Magnus is pretty well known as creator of the Metal Men

[Artificial idiot]

Only one I can really add to the list is Vic Sage - He was a local celebrity in Hub City as a controversial newscaster.