What the Worlds of DC Can Learn from the Hard Traveling Heroes

The newly christened Worlds of DC are in desperate need of a refocus. Since 2013, the Worlds of DC have released five movies (The Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, and Justice League), all of which, for reasons unknown to me, feature a climactic third act battle that determines the fate of world. Granted, properties like Superman and Justice League almost demand a story with potentially world-ending ramifications. Others, like Batman, Suicide Squad, and even Wonder Woman don’t (and in the Suicide Squad’s case, shouldn’t).

Superheroes aren’t always saving the day by keeping Earth from blowing up. More often than not, when they aren’t stopping alien invasions or doomsday plots, they’re patrolling the streets or the skies, protecting the public at large from drug dealers, greedy corporations, or two-bit muggers. However, like the Worlds of DC, superheroes have been known to lose sight of why they fight and who they fight for. This was the base story of the iconic Green Lantern/Green Arrow series written by Dennis O’Neil and drawn by Neal Adams. The story features the staunch conservative Green Lantern as he realizes he’s lost touch with the people of Earth, having spent too much time in space. This revelation comes after he arrests a young man assaulting the owner of an apartment complex, only to find out that the owner is trying to drive his underprivileged tenants out onto the streets so that he can sell the building for a profit. With the help of proud liberal Green Arrow, Lantern was able to ensure that the tenants don’t have to leave. This event prompts Lantern to embark on a cross country road trip with Arrow to reacquaint himself with the everyday citizen of the United States.

The Hard Traveling Heroes, as they would come to be known, would travel across America tackling new problems each issue. From coal miners getting strong armed by their supervisor’s hired goons to racist cult leaders to a pair of assassins attempting to take over an Indian reservation, Green Lantern realized that just stopping asteroids from destroying Earth isn’t truly enough to protect and serve Earth. This is what the Worlds of DC need to realize. They can make movies that don’t feature a world-ending threat. They can make movies where the driving force is something smaller, like a drug ring or the mob. In fact, characters like Green Arrow thrive on stories like these. One of Green Arrow’s best story’s (from the Hard Travel Heroes story arc, coincidentally) involves him discovering that while he was away from Star City, his young ward, Speedy, and three of his friends have become addicted to heroin. He becomes obsessed with bringing the dealer to justice, blaming himself for not being around to keep Speedy and his friends off drugs. It’s a dark, gripping story with nice action sequences and touching character moments that doesn’t revolve around some doomsday event. It’s an intimate, smaller scale story that still contains high stakes.

This is what the Worlds of DC need. They need to refocus their perspective from large scale, over-the-top apocalypse battles to small yet significant stories. Heck, they’ve worked before! Joker wasn’t trying to destroy the world in The Dark Knight, just trying to prove his point that there is no order. Iron Man saw Tony Stark trying to clean up his corrupt company. Spider-Man: Homecoming saw our titular hero stop a robbery in progress as the climactic battle of the third act. Not every movie can be Wonder Woman keeping an angry god from eradicating humanity. Sometimes a movie has to be Batman investigating a series of murders in downtown Gotham. I’m just hoping the Worlds of DC learn this lesson sooner rather than later, for both the studio’s and fan’s sake.