DC Comics has given readers some amazing superheroes over the years — DC's heroes are seen as some of the greatest ever and held to a higher standard. However, that doesn't mean those standards are upheld for everyone. There are some pretty apparent double standards in the DC Universe, where one hero can get away with something that others can't, or some heroes are treated better when their actions are pretty reprehensible.
These double standards are sometimes pretty innocuous, but other times, they're unforgivable. DC does superheroes in a way that no one else does, but these double standards have afflicted many fan favorites because the hypocrisy involved in these double standards has hurt the way fans look at DC Comics.
10 Wonder Woman Gets Generally Treated Badly
Wonder Woman is extremely important to DC history. Wonder Woman is looked upon as a leader by the heroes of the DC Universe and is a member of the Trinity along with Superman and Batman. Wonder Woman is a role model and a trailblazer, but compare her treatment to her counterparts, and it's easy to see there's a huge difference. Too often in recent years, Wonder Woman stories have revolved around her being anything but a leader and being disrespected by those around her.
The best example of this comes whenever Wonder Woman has to kill someone. Wonder Woman is basically the executioner of the Trinity, but she's not some kill-happy hero. Wonder Woman only kills when necessary and she has no other options. In the run-up to Infinite Crisis, everyone got mad at her for killing Maxwell Lord to stop him from using Superman as his cat's paw. However, no one hated Superman when he executed the Phantom Zone prisoners years earlier. Wonder Woman is constantly judged more harshly despite being the only one who will do what needs to be done.
9 Batman Lets Catwoman Operate With Impunity
Batman is easily the biggest hypocrite in the DC Universe and it's not even close. Batman is the king of double standards, constantly doing things to other heroes that he would get very angry about if they did to him. Batman and Catwoman's relationship is a perfect example of this. Batman puts on airs about stopping criminals, especially unrepentant ones. Except for Catwoman, who he basically allows to do what she wants despite being able to find her very easily and stop her.
Selina Kyle isn't independently wealthy, so she has to steal. Batman basically turns a blind eye to Catwoman's crimes beyond some light scolding and sometimes making her return what she stole. Catwoman has become the leader of the Gotham underworld several times and Batman just sort of lets it happen most of the time with a few exceptions. Meanwhile, he's known for being anti-Suicide Squad, despite them usually doing way more good than Catwoman does.
8 The Years Of Fridging
Fridging is something that was being done long before it had a name. It's the practice of killing a female character for the dramatic development of a male hero. The best example of this is Alexandra DeWitt, the girlfriend of Kyle Rayner who was killed by Major Force and stuffed into a refrigerator. The term "fridging" comes from the blog Women In Refrigerators, which was started by Gail Simone in 1999.
The funny thing is that it never happens with male supporting characters. For example, Steve Trevor has been useless for years, but he's never killed. Identity Crisis killed off Sue Dibny when it could have just as easily killed off Snapper Carr or even Elongated Man. Fridging isn't as big a problem as it used to be, but it hasn't gone away.
7 Damian Wayne Gets A Pass When Red Hood Doesn't
Red Hood has had a rough time. Jason Todd's time as Robin isn't looked back on fondly and fans voted to kill him off. His return as Red Hood saw him become a villain and then after that, he tried to go back to being a vigilante, except with more killing. The Bat Family grudgingly allowed him back in but treated him terribly because he killed people and was pretty mouthy with everyone.
Red Hood was called the "black sheep of the Bat Family," but he actually wasn't all that different from Damian Wayne. Damian was overly violent and killed several criminals at the beginning of his training. Damian did most of the same things that Red Hood did, but for some reason, Red Hood was bad when he did it and Damian was just vaguely annoying.
6 Hawkgirl Rarely Has Any Agency
Hawkman and Hawkgirl are one of DC's oldest couples. The Hawks have been abused by DC's multiple continuity shifts pretty badly, especially post-Crisis. In the late '90s, during the JSA reboot DC introduced Kendra Saunders, who became the new Hawkgirl. While she was Sheira Hall reincarnated, she didn't want to live the exact same life she had for millennia and resisted Hawkman's entreaties that they were meant to be together.
This was actually really cool, and it made her a character that finally had agency. And then she died in Blackest Night and was resurrected by the White Lantern. However, Kendra was gone and replaced by Sheira, back to being Hawkman's soulmate. Kendra has returned since then, but her stint in the 2018 edition of Justice League saw her back to being defined by who she wanted to date — in that case Martian Manhunter — and it's only been her most recent miniseries that has seen her actually go back to being her own character.
5 Batman's Attitude Towards Hal Jordan Makes No Sense
Hal Jordan's time as Parallax saw him become a mass murderer and become a universe-shaking villain. It was revealed that the whole situation was because Hal was possessed by the fear entity also known as Parallax. Hal saved the Earth when the sun was extinguished by sacrificing his life to reignite it. Hal then became the Spectre before returning to life and helping remake the Green Lantern Corps.
Batman immediately hated Hal, even after he knew that the Parallax situation wasn't Hal's fault. This attitude kept up for ages. However, Batman really didn't treat anyone else like this when they went bad and came back. Batman holds people to a higher standard, but the way he treated Hal compared to people like Plastic Man and Catwoman, even Harley Quinn later on, makes this whole situation a massive double standard.
4 Barry Allen Was Actually The Villain Of Flashpoint
Barry Allen is an amazing hero, but most fans were fine with Wally West as the Flash. His return to life in the late '00s mostly just came about because of fans like Geoff Johns, Dan DiDio, and Grant Morrison. Morrison brought him back, but Johns was put in charge of the character, and that eventually led to Flashpoint, which wasn't originally supposed to be a DC reboot, but plans were changed.
Looking at Flashpoint, Barry Allen was the villain. Allen saving his mother created the broken Flashpoint Earth, which makes all the horrors his fault. The story tried to make Reverse-Flash the villain, but he basically did nothing wrong in the story. Barry was positioned as the hero, all because he had fans behind the scenes.
3 Martian Manhunter Has Done What Zatanna Did In Identity Crisis For Years
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Martian Manhunter is DC's best hero who has an extremely low profile. Martian Manhunter has amazing powers and is most well-known for his telepathy and shapeshifting. He has definitely used those powers to mindwipe and otherwise mess with people's minds. His shapeshifting has allowed him to trick people in a number of ways. Martian Manhunter is respected by the heroes, though, and no one thinks badly of the things he's done.
Zatanna in Identity Crisis was revealed to have mindwiped multiple villains as part of a secret faction of the League. Zatanna did end up mindwiping Batman, but that's only because Batman walked in on her and other Leaguers mindwiping Doctor Light and flipped out. This is another example of Batman's hypocrisy, because he's basically had Martian Manhunter do the same thing that Zatanna has done to people over the years.
2 Supergirl Deserves More Respect In General Than Superman
Supergirl and Superman are very different, despite having very similar origins. However, looking closely at their lives, Supergirl deserves way more respect than Superman. Kal-El was a baby when Krypton was destroyed. He lost his family and his people, but he never actually knew them. Kara Zor-El was a teenager when Krypton died; she had a whole life and when the planet was destroyed, she lost all of that. Supergirl remembered Krypton and had to actually deal with the loss of her people.
Supergirl's rocket was supposed to get to Earth either before or at the same time as Superman's, and she was supposed to look out for him. This didn't happen because of navigational problems, and she arrived when Superman was an adult. Supergirl lost everything and was more powerful than her cousin, but she's always considered lesser than Superman.
1 Batman's Treatment Of The Justice League Has Always Been Terrible
Batman has a lot to say about everyone else but basically does whatever he wants. Batman's relationship with the Justice League is a perfect example of this. Batman has betrayed the Justice League in multiple ways over the years, and Batman's anti-Justice League plans were only the beginning. Later, he created Brother Eye and the OMACs, which were both made to fight any heroes who went bad.
Batman judges everyone harshly, despite everything he's done to the League being way worse. For some reason, everyone forgives Batman's actions, even though he's basically one of the worst members of the League. It's a huge double standard that makes no sense.