What a pity!

Superheroes who never reached full potential

Ever heard the story that for "every success there may have been many failures"? The same is true for comic characters. Here are some of the "could-have-beens":

Black Panther

Black Panther was given a spot on the Avengers and several attempts to break out in his own book. The problem with the Panther was one of personality. He was just one giant grouch of a superhero.

Firestorm

Firestorm has it all - the look, the powers and in interesting back story in which a young man shares his mind with a dead scientist who enables the young man to activate his abilities through the power of chemistry. Unfortunately, this has never resulted in sales. 

Hawkman

Sometimes a character’s back story can become so complex that it renders any future representation of the character impossible to read. Such is the case for poor Hawkman, who has been reincarnated Egyptian Pharaoh, an alien space cop and numerous other things throughout his long and confusing career.

 Captain Atom

DC placed Atom in the in their critically acclaimed (but not at all serious) Justice League of America alongside another Charlton regular the Blue Beetle. While the board stiff Atom was the perfect straight man for the humor comic, later attempts to make him a serious hero fell more or less flat.