5. The Golden Age
Everyone knows that characters like Batman and Superman have been around awhile, but few non-comic fans know much about many of the Golden Age heroes. Be it the original Flash and Green Lantern or even lesser known characters like Manhunter and the Hourman, the Golden Age of comic books was packed full of characters that fell into obscurity after World War II, or at the very least never reached the same level of popularity they once had. The 1993 Elseworlds tale The Golden Age brought back many of these forgotten characters in a story that took them away from their wholesome roots and moved towards a more serious and dramatic narrative. Taking place after World War II, the story follows superheroes like The Americommando, Johnny Thunder, Dan the Dyna-Mite, and the Atom as they adjust to American life during the late 1940s-early 1950s. Similar to how heroes were portrayed in Watchmen, we see that these superheroes aren't the infallible, faultless individuals that they were written to be in the 1940s. These are flawed people who have deep, personal problems. Whether it be suffering a nervous breakdown after realizing that their research helped create the atom bomb (Starman) or being blacklisted by Joseph McCarthy (Golden Age Green Lantern), these heroes have trouble adjusting to a society that isn't what they expected it would become. Featuring a conspiracy that has retired superheroes being hunted by a villain from World War II, this story would be a great way to introduce the Golden Age heroes to both people who have never heard of them and fans of heroes from decades past. Plot-wise, it is similar to the 2007 film Justice League: The New Frontier, but there's enough differences in this story to offer a suspenseful and interesting tale of what happened when the superheroes of long-ago no longer feel super.