10 Little Known Superheroes That Would Make DC Millions On Film

Aug 11, 2017 August 11th, 2017

1. The Question

The Question - both Vic Sage and Renee Montoya - are just about the most interesting unknowns in the DCU.

Sure, the former had a pretty recognisable stint in Justice League Unlimited, but he's been missing in action ever since. The latter, much the same, has been totally absent in the DCU's current incarnation, and one can't help but feel that this is a major loss on the publisher's behalf.

Now for those who don't know, The Question (the Vic Sage version, at least) originated in the pages of Charlton Comics under the hand of Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spider-Man. This original incarnation, politically absolute and pretty violent too, was later erased in the eighties by Batman veteran Dennis O'Neil, who turned the hero into a student of philosophy and a vigilante who fought against corruption in Hub City - a place that would give Gotham a major run for its money. This, more tempered version of the character, found a massive audience during O'Neil's original publishing run, before going on to find roles in other series, like Cry for Blood. The character's final appearance came in '52', where the mantle was passed to Renee Montoya. It was pretty sad.

An expert martial-artist and sleuth to boot, Ditko's character is one readymade for the live action arena, or even the gaming medium too, if the right opportunity came along. They're perfect in the sense that, not only do you have the action and suspense of a Bat-style premise with the pair, but also the nuance and political salience of the O'Neil series too. More important, however, is that the character's legacy engenders the property with a certain kind of longevity; there's a massive, massive arc that can be explored, if only creators were given the opportunity to do so.

The Question really needs a multifaceted resurrection - one that takes place on the screen as well as off it.

Are there any other DC heroes out there that you think could earn the company a buck or two? Let us know in the comments below!

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Ewan Paterson

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.

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