The DCU/Awesome

"Brenda: Hi, I'm Brenda. (is holding a gun)

Paco: I'm Paco. And I am going to beat you with this stick until you leave the &%!# OFF MY PLANET."

- Brenda and Paco of Blue Beetle make a stand for Earth against the Reach.

Superman. Wonder Woman. Green Lantern. The Flash. Justice League of America.

These people are Badass. Here's why.

Note that the DC Animated Universe has its own article.


 * Aquaman
 * Batman
 * Birds of Prey
 * Blackest Night
 * Blue Beetle
 * Catwoman
 * The Dark Knight Returns
 * Elongated Man
 * The Flash
 * Gotham Central
 * Green Lantern
 * Hellblazer
 * Invasion
 * Justice League of America
 * Kingdom Come
 * Legion of Super-Heroes
 * Lucifer
 * The Question
 * The Sandman
 * Sinestro Corps War
 * Starman
 * Superman
 * Teen Titans
 * Wonder Woman
 * Watchmen
 * Young Justice

"You'll never be Superman. Because you have no idea what it means to be Superman. It's not about where you were born. Or what powers you have. Or what you wear on your chest. It's about what you do... it's about action."
 * In "Countdown to Infinite Crisis," the Blue Beetle kneels in front of Max Lord during his We Can Rule Together speech with a gun to his head. His reply? "Rot in hell, Max."
 * While this editor found that moment to be rather lackluster, the arc in Booster Gold where Booster tries to save Ted more then made up for it. After Booster takes the bullet for Ted, Ted loses it and beats the living crap out of Max. And he just gets better from there.
 * Issue #24 of the new Blue Beetle series: In an Internal Homage to the scene above, Then again, Issues #24 and #25 are arguably a collective Crowning Moment of Awesome for the entire cast.
 * I changed my mind. All four issue of End Game were Crowning Moments of Awesome for everybody involved. Including the creative team, guest stars, and even the Scarab.
 * Then good news. I found them. The CMOA for just about EVERYBODY.
 * Infinite Crisis provides MANY a Crowning Moment of Awesome for a number of characters, that whole giant event. There's Tim Drake, the 3rd Robin, who POINTS AND YELLS AT SUPERMAN! It's even lampshaded. Then there's Bart Allen, who  There's also the two Supermen, who  . And let's not forget to mention our good Kon-El, aka Superboy's.
 * Not to mention Batman's line to Superman: "."
 * Superman's line to Earth-2's Kal-L: " ."
 * The reappearance of Kal-L. He sets upon the villains who just took down Power Girl and scatters them like ten-pins. And with every second, the red sky grows brighter, until he's shown in a full-page spread, extending his hand to Power Girl against a sky of clearest blue.
 * And Kid Flash's team-up with his late grandfather (not to mention Max Mercury) to trap Superboy-Prime in the Speed Force to begin with. Also couples as a Tear Jerker.
 * In the subject of the final battle against Superboy-Prime, don't forget how the three Supermen got powerless after falling in Mogo. With a ton of Kryptonite. Prime punched Kal-L and hit his back with heat vision, then fought against Kal-El, the main universe Superman. Who promptly kicked Prime's ass. In a field full of Kryptonite which only affected Kal-El himself. All while verbally beating Prime up.

"Supernova: Kent, what's he doing?
 * Don't forget about Black Adam single handedly killing Amazo.
 * There's also the Spectre's resurrection. When he is resurrected, he ignores the Phantom Stranger, and instead looks at the Star Sapphire. After listing her many crimes, he simply blows her up and leaves.
 * Barry Allen's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths: There's hope... there is always hope... Time to save the world! Time... back in time... Do what you have to... we must save the world... we must save the world. Also a first-class Tear Jerker.
 * To elaborate, he's running to destroy the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon, which was poised to destroy all remaining universes. He fought on, and on, and on, running as he ruined the cannon's systems... until he
 * DC's weekly series 52 had a bunch of them:
 * Week #10: When Perry White questions his effectiveness and threatens to fire him, a de-powered Clark Kent takes a page from his wife's playbook and throws himself out the window to get an interview with Supernova.
 * Week #15: A down on his luck Booster Gold makes a truly epic come-back as a true hero when he lifts a damaged nuclear submarine to save Metropolis..

Clark Kent: More than... My god... More than I ever thought he could..."

"Reporter: "Supernova, Ami Soon, Channel Five! Is that your idea of saving the city--vaporizing ten thousand innocent bystanders?"
 * Week #35: The "Reign of the Supermen", an example of just how petty and scary Luthor can be..
 * Which is then topped by Supernova

Supernova: "Don't be absurd. Right now, those are the safest people in town. Or rather, .""

": You... You knew it was me...? How...?
 * Week #37: The utterly amazing Reveal of Supernova's true identity:.
 * And after that.
 * Week #40: Steel's battle with Luthor . Steel keeps on fighting even after his armor is destroyed and Luthor pierces him in the side with his own hammer! And it ends with Steel kicking Luthor's ass.
 * "Only Luthor would be sick enough to make 'Look! Up in the sky!' a threat. And that is why he WILL be stopped."
 * Week #42 is almost (there are two pages of Renee Montoya) entirely dedicated to the conclusion of Ralph Dibny's mysterious spirit journey in order to resurrect his dead wife, guided by the helmet of Dr. Fate. His arc ends with him preparing the ritual to finally bring his wife back to life, when he suddenly . And then he tops that when he.

Ralph: Because, ...

Ralph: '...I'm a detective."

"Will Magnus: "You shouldn't have taken away my meds. I told you I do crazy things without my meds.""
 * This issue was mostly written by Dan Di Dio, it's a rare example of Executive Meddling that works. And as maligned as DiDio is (his nickname is "DiDiot") he got this right.
 * Week #46: The battle between Black Adam and the mad scientist think tank. On one side, you have a superpowered mass murderer who's royally pissed after finding out that . On the other side, you have a bunch of nerdy Mad Scientists with ridiculous inventions..
 * Week #49: Dr. Will Magnus' role in : after his anti-depressants are confiscated from him, Magnus becomes one of the most hyper-productive members of the team. . And he.

""Red am I in battle. Red the ravens that follow me at my heels. Gloriana, I am your death.""
 * Week #50: The event that was dubbed in-universe "World War III". It can be summarized as: "". Both a CMOA for and for.
 * The true "moment" in this book occurs in a splash panel a little over midway through, where you literally see
 * Week #52: The gloriously comic-booky finish where.
 * There's also.
 * Hal Jordan's confrontation with Mongul in The Return of Superman, after Mongul . Since Mongul is yellow, Hal can't just vaporize him. Solution? Take Steel's hammer and do what comes naturally.
 * This comes after Mongul has given Hal a massive beatdown and broken his arm and leg. He boasts that he broke Hal's willpower, at which point Hal uses his ring to create a power suit for himself and reaches for the hammer.
 * Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory event pulled off a doozy - take seven characters we'd never heard of (and may never see again), and over four issues make us care about them, then pit them against an army of time-travelling killer fairies. Naturally, there were a few moments...
 * Shining Knight (after beheading Zombie Sir Galahad) -

""Yield, you omnipotent son-of-a-bitch! DLEIY!""
 * Zatanna -

""Call out the Newsboys, Ed. We're taking it to the streets.""
 * Her father, Zatara, even got one when his magnus opum was revealed.
 * Manhattan Guardian (when faced with the news that NY will suffer a blackout and an invasion in the middle of a bloody hurricane) -

""All in a day's work... for FRANKENSTEIN!""
 * Frankenstein got more than most. He... well, he fed one of the main series villains to the Flesh-Eating Horses of Mars. He did a Power Walk while a nuclear device went off in the background. He stabbed a universe in the chest. And then he somehow travelled to the year One Billion to commit a giant terrorist bombing against the world-destroying fairies.

""Pinnacle of natural selection, my ass.""
 * I, Spyder

""This is the story of humanity's last stand... and of the brave men and women of this city, who stood together and proclaimed, "LAST STAND? WE DON'T THINK SO!""
 * The city of New York gets one:

"Batman: Do you think we can take them? I think we can take them.
 * Bulleteer's You Can't Fight Fate moment counts as a Crowning Moment of Awesome for causality and prophecy itself. (Seriously, ? Magnificent.)
 * Mister Miracle escaped from the event horizon of a black hole. He shrugged off the Anti-Life Equation like it was Red Kryptonite. He . And then he did a deal with Darkseid - MM gets put in a trap, and Darkseid calls off the impending apocalypse. Miracle was just that sure of his escape artistry. The trap consisted of him . He still managed to escape. World's Greatest Escape Artist? Oh hell yes.
 * Captain Atom #50 is pretty much one Crowning Moment of Awesome after another. First, when Plastique defeats the Cambodian by tossing a grenade inside his indestructible armor, and then, after he manages to strip off his armor in record time, she tells him "Guess I forgot to pull the pin." Then she hits him over the head with a rock.
 * Doctor Megala gets one too, albeit posthumously: "Wade Eiling wears combat boots."
 * This is immediately followed by Cap getting his own moment, when he finally comes clean with the American public. It becomes a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming when Plastique finally agrees to marry him.
 * Captain Atom also gets a whole bunch in Captain Atom: Armageddon, but one deserves special mention: When Jack Hawksmoor sends Batman and Superman pastiches Midnighter and Apollo to kill Cap, At which point Grifter says: "That was surprisingly easy."
 * Lex Luthor has one in Outsiders v3 #3. The Joker captures and tortures him at length for information. Finally Luthor offers to answer the Joker, but first he has a question of his own: "Does it bother you...that Batman likes Catwoman better?" Having left Joker stung and speechless (a rare occurrence), Luthor lets out an Evil Laugh and continues, "He'll never love you, sweetheart! You can keep screwing with his city, but he's never gonna take you to the prom!"
 * When surrounded by a vast army of super-villains-

Superman: You always think we can take them."

"Heat Wave: This isn't for Kid Flash.
 * And they do.
 * Lord Havok gets so many... first, his revenge against his father, the Czar, for forsaking him and
 * And, of course, his victory against the Americommando.
 * Then he defeated the Monarch singlehandedly before setting his sights on other earths to conquer.
 * In Countdown to Final Crisis, Pied Piper, known the best for being Flash's ex-villain gay friend, endured weeks of being on the run from every superhero in the USA while chained to another guy, the death of his best friend (who happened to be the same guy), and having to trot through the desert carrying the friend's rotting corpse, only to find out that all of this was staged by the sadistic Desaad to break his spirit and force him to play the Anti-Life Equation on his flute. Piper's answer? Playing The Show Must Go On by Queen and, as a result, blowing up the entire planet of Apokolips. Music almighty like WHOA.
 * Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds: Superboy Prime finds himself in the Superman Museum of the 31st century, and discovers that history remembers him as a no-name scrub who, as Superman villains go, is less notable than losers like Neutron. Then he goes to The Alcatraz prison planet where the Legion of Super Villains is held and breaks them out, vowing to show the world who the real Superboy is one more time. You know why it's awesome? Because Superboy Prime is the villain and it's actually not dumb. What's more, you actually kind of root for him. Or maybe not.
 * Nah, you want villains to root for? Then go read Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge. It's a crowning series of awesome, especially issue #3. Highlights: the Rogues, Inertia , and of course,

Weather Wizard: This isn't for my son.

Captain Cold: No. This is for one $%@#$@-up year."

"Justifier: Destroy! Anti-Life justifies our actions!
 * Final Crisis: Superman Beyond is one big crowning moment for Superman, particularly, but there's also , and.
 * Some crowning moments from Final Crisis itself:
 * Green Arrow versus the Justifiers in issue #4:

Green Arrow: Is that so? Well, my absolute hatred of dog ridin' totalitarian [censored] justifies this!"

"Iris Barry? Oh, God... Everything's going to be okay now, isn't it?
 * Barry Allen, the original Flash, returning home to Iris West, the love of his life, and doing the impossible by breaking Darkseid's Anti-Life hold on her.

Barry: You bet."

"Most Excellent Superbat:"
 * Issue #5:
 * Hal Jordan takes down a GOD with one punch. Without even having his ring on him.
 * "You have 24 hours to save the universe.".
 * Also:

"(after Supergirl is brutally beaten up by Powerboy, including having her face dragged down the side of a skyscraper, she wakes up in a bed next to a Stalker Shrine devoted to her, bound in powerful, alien-tech restraints)
 * Issue #6:
 * If there's ONE thing Final Crisis did right, it was that they made Tawky Tawny AWESOME.
 * Batman's decision to forgo his morals for the sake of the multiverse and uses Darkseid's own radion bullet to shoot Darkseid in the shoulder. This is the catalyst that allows the Flashes to lure the Black Racer to destroy Darkseid's physical body. Batman poisoned A GOD on the verge of total multiversal destruction as a swan song to his illustrious career. Bad. Ass.
 * Issue #7:
 * Let's just say that damn near everyone has had a crowning moment of awesome in FC or its spin offs.
 * Tim Drake got one in the last issue of his solo series. In it, he gets a note challenging him to a duel to the death from Lady Shiva, the woman who trained him and the single deadliest assassin in the world. He spends the issue narrating about "What would you do if you might die tomorrow?" before confronting her. They banter a bit, there's a Single-Stroke Battle, and Tim has three broken ribs, and is stumbling, while Shiva stands confidently. . Batman is a hell of a good teacher, it seems.
 * At the conclusion of the Crossfire Arc, the city of Keystone is being looted by Rogues under Blacksmith's control. Flash is on the ropes. The villainess tells him she's pulling out every stop and throwing ever single villain in her organisation at him, and that he doesn't have the stamina to take it. The next page is a splash of the blue-collar workers of Keystone charging the rioters en masse with bats, lead pipes, nail guns, etc as Union leader Goldface shouts, "This is our city! We make it run, Rogues! Not you!" The whole city got a crowning moment right there.
 * While it started off slow, The Flash: Rebirth is rapidly starting to pick up with these. The final third of issue 4 is an entire crowning moment in-and-of-itself. Let's start a list:
 * Bart punching Professor Zoom in the face and ACTUALLY GAINING THE UPPER HAND FOR A MOMENT (if only a short one); my personal favorite. Why? Cause that's a villainous ancestor he just punched out!
 * "MAX?!" The expression on Bart's face is adorable. This is why a great deal of Impulse fangirls don't care about the Speed Force retcon, which overshadowed all other discussion - we just wanted our favorite characters back, and the creators delivered!
 * "I'm back, Thawne. But this time it's on MY terms."
 * Golden Age Flash and Kid Flash here to kick some ass!
 * Suicide Squad #22: Rick Flag is going to kill a corrupt senator in full public view. Amanda Waller orders Deadshot to stop Flag from killing the senator by any means necessary.
 * The titular team, through the machinations of a lovestruck technician, a formerly amnesiac Ax Crazy Blood Knight goddess, and Poison Ivy, got transported to Apokolips. They survived with very heavy casualties... and then they have to face Darkseid. Long before Batman did, Amanda Waller, infuriate, with half her squad dead, stranded without hope in Hell, surrounded by Parademons and the Fatal Furies, decided she had had enough, and threatened the God of Evil with her handgun.
 * And of course, effortlessly brushing off Batman's warnings to shut down the Squad, sensibly pointing out that if he does go public with the info he gathered, so will she.
 * The resurrection of the Squad. Amanda's been in jail for a year for pulling the Lone Wolf act for too long, having irritated too many people in power. Sarge Steel comes in, offers her a pittance and a diminutive job, a probably unique chance she won't ever have again. She laughs him off and asks him only to return when he really wants to negotiate. Turns out, there's a massive Eastern Europe crisis and Steel was trying to rope her in for her unique talents. He has to go back later and fully give in her terms, utterly humiliating himself.
 * The Janus Directive crossover. Every governmental agency's at war with each other, with Checkmate, Captain Atom Project, and the Suicide Squad ready to tear each other apart. It's actually Kobra's plan so he can fire his microwave cannon unmolested. To ensure maximum disruption, he targets Waller for assassination by a double in her apartment. She kills the doppelganger, takes her place in Kobra's plans, and pulls the same gambit he was hoping to play.
 * One night, Amanda was returning from her job at Belle Reve, on a moment her future was being jeopardized by a rogue subordinate and the aforementioned senator, having hallucinations and getting more irritable, and upon almost entering her apartment, she noted the matches she put on the door have been moved... it's her daughter. When the clearly irritated Waller asks why she was there, she began making a scene about how she got in a row with her husband. Waller then tried to convince her to got back more or less gently, and then said husband entered - a massive Scary Black Man. Amanda was not impressed. She then convinced them to go back together - by threatening to quit her job and go live with them. Having fixed the situation, she then realized she could deal with it all, and mentally dared her subordinate to try and take the Squad from her.
 * And then she goes and finds the solution with a little gravedigging. Showing the evidence she'd fished up, said subordinate realized how badly screwed he was. Desperately, grasping at straws, he seriously considers killing her. Amanda tiredly invites him to try.
 * Admit it. How many people can use the fact they're menopausic black females as threats? Amanda Waller can.
 * Wildcat. Had. Sex. With. Queen. Hippolyta. AKA Wonder Woman's mom. Stifler, Finch, all you other horny bastards, bow down to your master.
 * JSA #10: The rest of the team is off on a mission, with Wildcat staying at the mansion because he had his arm and both legs broken by an evil Time Lord. So, he's just taking a bath and having phone sex with Catwoman when the Injustice Society breaks in. Wildcat, an 80 year old Badass Normal in a bath towel with three broken limbs, takes out seven supervillains using his own knowledge of the mansion. This includes driving a motorcycle over two of them, and dropping an ancient Druid tree god down an elevator shaft. When the rest of the JSA gets back, they find him using a chunk of said ancient Druid tree god as a toothpick. (By the way, there's a decent chance that two of the aforementioned supervillains are his illegitimate children.)
 * Issue 50 of The Warlord (first series) sees Travis Morgan pursuing his arch foe, Deimos, across frozen plains. Deimos has, over the first 49 issues of the series, caused absolute hell for Travis, culminating in forcing Travis to kill his own son, but now Deimos is depowered and fleeing on horseback from the vengeance-crazed Travis. At the end of the chase, Travis finds Deimos unconscious and being savaged by a pack of wolves. Travis drives the wolves back, builds a fire to keep them away, and then tends Deimos' wounds. When Deimos finally recovers, Travis kicks out the fire and walks away without a word as the very same wolves return to tear Deimos apart.
 * When Supergirl stands up to and defeats her absurdly powerful, abusive boyfriend, Powerboy.
 * JSA #10: The rest of the team is off on a mission, with Wildcat staying at the mansion because he had his arm and both legs broken by an evil Time Lord. So, he's just taking a bath and having phone sex with Catwoman when the Injustice Society breaks in. Wildcat, an 80 year old Badass Normal in a bath towel with three broken limbs, takes out seven supervillains using his own knowledge of the mansion. This includes driving a motorcycle over two of them, and dropping an ancient Druid tree god down an elevator shaft. When the rest of the JSA gets back, they find him using a chunk of said ancient Druid tree god as a toothpick. (By the way, there's a decent chance that two of the aforementioned supervillains are his illegitimate children.)
 * Issue 50 of The Warlord (first series) sees Travis Morgan pursuing his arch foe, Deimos, across frozen plains. Deimos has, over the first 49 issues of the series, caused absolute hell for Travis, culminating in forcing Travis to kill his own son, but now Deimos is depowered and fleeing on horseback from the vengeance-crazed Travis. At the end of the chase, Travis finds Deimos unconscious and being savaged by a pack of wolves. Travis drives the wolves back, builds a fire to keep them away, and then tends Deimos' wounds. When Deimos finally recovers, Travis kicks out the fire and walks away without a word as the very same wolves return to tear Deimos apart.
 * When Supergirl stands up to and defeats her absurdly powerful, abusive boyfriend, Powerboy.

Powerboy: "Look, I'm just going to lay it all out because honesty is important in a strong relationship... I was born on Apokolips. Taken from the Armagetto Slums to serve You-Know-Who... He made me strong, trained me in the ways of the Earth so I could come here as a "hero" and... Well, it doesn't really matter anymore, because it changed the the day you came to Apokolips. The most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Ever felt. From that moment, I knew I had found my "Missing Half". I knew we would be together. And then you left... I couldn't eat. Sleep. Think. I knew that my true destiny wasn't with Darkseid and his stupid plans... So I followed you across the universe. I watched you try so hard to fit in, to find your way. All I wanted to do was hold you. Tell you how beautiful you were. But I knew you weren't ready to hear it... Sometimes we have to fall all the way down before someone can lift us up. You could be something so special, Kara... But you're lost. You're lost and you're too weak to find your way alone. Whenever you try... the monster in you comes out. Is this what you what to be?" (cups her face) "You need someone to take care of you, Kara. Someone who loves you to build to up... To make you into something you can be proud of. I love you, Kara. We can be perfect together, if you'll just let me fix you."

Supergirl: (destroys her restraints and burns his hand with heat vision) "We need to break up."

Powerboy: "Aaaaaigh! What did you do?!"

Supergirl: "You hit me. You said you loved me... And you hit me." (punches him through a wall to the outside)

Powerboy: "Y-You made me hit you! Because you don't listen, like now! Kara! I'm warning you! Stop it or I'll do it again! I'll hurt you again! You can be happy if you just do what I tell you! I--" (Supergirl rips his house from its foundation and rises into the sky) "Kara, I love you. Don't you want someone take care of you!?"

Supergirl: "No one who says he loves you should hit you, ever." (drops his house on him)

Powerboy: (Flash Step into outer space, pulls out his Father Box) "Ouch. Heh... Heh... Got some fight to her... Gonna have to work on that... Next time... And there will be a next time. Try to drop a house on me now. Father Box... Honey..."

Supergirl: (Flash Step up to him, knees him in the groin) "I out-flew Superman, "Honey". We're not done." (grabs him by the scruff of his neck) "I don't know if you can hear me, so read my lips... Don't call me. Don't talk to me. Don't look at me... Or I'll break every bone in your body.""


 * "I'm your friend."
 * Okay, Your Mileage May Vary on that, big time.
 * Day of Vengeance: A team of magical characters who are, at best C-Listers, channel all the magical power of multiple dimensions into Captain Marvel to allow him to beat The Spectre.
 * From Secret Six: Catman's Roaring Rampage of Revenge on the kidnappers who took his son. Three of the most bloodthirsty hired killers around, two of them with superpowers versus a non-powered man only armed with a few knives whose claim to fame used to be being a cheesy Batman knock-off. And he ANNIHILATES them.
 * From the same series Scandal Savage facing down a small army of well armed slave camp guards. She tells them they have a few seconds to either call their loved ones of pray for forgiveness. The leader of the guards takes one look at her and...takes out his phone to call his girlfriend and say goodbye. Scandal is THAT damn scary.
 * Ragdoll is a walking CMOA and CMOF. But his take down of Mr Smyth stands out.
 * The Justice Society of America... Let's be honest. Any fight scene written by Geoff Johns, if it involves a speaking role for Hawkman, against any villain more dangerous than a mugger, should be at least considered for Crowning Moment of Awesome.
 * Atom Smasher ripping the Worlogog out of Extant's chest, then putting him on a crashing airplane in place of Al's mother. Notably, this is what starts his major character arc of atonement, instead of coming at the end of it.
 * The "Princes of Darkness" arc. In its entirety. That is all.