The DC Identity-Swap AU: A World/Storybuilding Fanfic Project (that needs a better name)

What follows is what has been come up with for a DC Universe where many heroes and villains ended up with different identities, initially conceived of by comradepitrovsky and expanded on by me and others.

In some cases, the said heroes ended up with different supporting cast members, in others not.

Let us begin, with the founding members of the Justice League: -Superwoman: Diana Kent, the Last Daughter of Paradise. For…reasons, Themyiskara had to go to another dimension, but baby Diana couldn’t come, so at Hippolyta’s request, the Olympians sent her to a Patriarch’s World couple who would raise her right, namely Jonathan and Martha. She’s dating Lois Lane and her archenemy is Lex Luthor, with whom, I want to be clear, there is ZERO Foe Yay, because she’s disgusted by him, and he’s intimidated by her. -Green Lantern: Kal-El of Krypton, who the Guardians appointed to lead the Corps through the transition to running itself. Came to Earth because he needed a break, stuck around because sweet RAO this planet needs help. He managed to keep Sinestro from going off the deep end, so he’s part of the Council Kal set-up to help him run the Corps, along with Kilowog, Mogo, Abin Sure and…not sure. -Zatara: Bruce Wayne. After his parent’s deaths, Bruce was adopted by their close friend John Zatara, who realized the kid was tied to the demon Barbatos, and they figgered out a way for him to use that power for good. -Captain Marvel: Barry Allen, while studying Forensic Science in college, took some classes, and became friends, with Archeology Student C. C. Batson (there is considerable overlap between the two fields, right?). When Batson and his wife were murdered during a dig in Egypt, Barry offered to help with the investigation, and ended up becoming SHAZAM’s champion. -The Flash: Hal Jordan, test pilot for Ferris Aircraft, was struck by lightning whilst flying their latest prototype, and ended up tied to the Speed Force. (Note, like Johnny and Jessie Quick, can fly) -Hawkman and Hawkgirl: Arthur Curry and Dinah Lance. The former encountered the wreck of a Thanagarian spaceship whilst exploring underwater and ended up with the soul of Prince Khufu. Dinah was hanging around her Uncle Carter's place and had something similar happen with the soul of Chay-Ara. -Martian Manhunter. J'onn is exactly the same. Other thoughts, somewhat random, in no particular order: -Ollie was zeta beam'd from The Island to Rann instead of Adam Strange. -Adam is instead Metamorpho. -Eel managed to drag himself to Slaughter Swamp before succumbing to his wounds and so ended up becoming Swamp Thing. -Owing to…complicated feelings WRT to her adopted brother, Zatanna ended up hanging around with her dad’s colleague Thaddeus Brown, and took up his mantle instead, becoming Madame Miracle, Magical Escape Artist! -T. O. Morrow built Red Torpedo first, she got possessed by a water elemental somehow, rebelled against his programming, and ended up traveling to Atlantis, overthrew the tyrant Orm, was acclaimed Queen, married Mera, and now fights crime on the surface as Aquawoman. (I’m gonna say she sometimes wears a human disguise that looks Aquawoman-11, because I fancy her and will use almost any excuse to get her into one of these things) -Ray Palmer and Ralph Dibny became Firestorm. -Instead of becoming Cheetah, Barbara-Ann seized the power of Teth-Adam and became Captain Marvel’s archenemy. -Pam became the Cheetah instead, and is an enemy of The Flash, with no small amount of Foe Yay. -In addition to that, Hal is also in a Love Triangle with Carol and Lady Blackhawk, who came to work for Ferris after arriving in the 21st Century due to time travel shenanigans. Arguably a Love Quadrangle, since he's competing with his alter ego. -Selina and Helena are both Star Sapphires and both of them are pursuing Kal-El, who is receptive to both. -Barry is still with Linda, Wally is Capt. Marvel, Jr. -The Batson Twins became Superboy and Supergirl, but I haven't come up with specifics. Help please? -Bruce adopted Raven and Garth. Suggestions for codenames? -In an effort to gain the power to defeat Superwoman, Lex made a deal with Ares, confident that he could handle the God of War. He is now possessed by Ares, but has no idea, assuming that the ideas Ares puts in his head are entirely his own, because he’s too arrogant to believe anyone else can control or manipulate him. It helps that Ares largely approves of Lex’s ideas and doesn’t need to do much. As a side-eeffect, Lex’s power armor has a distinctly Ares-y feel to it. -Klarion is in Bruce’s Rogue’s Gallery. Said Rogue's Gallery also includes the Sivana family. Which means that yes, Bruce is dating Beautia. -Bruce's archnemesis is the man who in the normal reality became Black Manta, who I've always headcanoned as choosing to torment Arthur purely by random chance, and obviously picked differently here. Since there's no need for a nautical theme, he uses a different codename; Black Bat. -The first thing Kal-El did after completing training was rescue Kandor. Brainiac swore vengeance, and upon escaping from the Sciencells, discovered how to harness the Yellow Light of Fear. In addition to using it himself, he also unleashed a number of Phantom Zone criminals, took over their minds, and equipped his enslaved army with Yellow Rings.

-The Olympians left Diana some magic thingummy that allowed her to be trained in Amazon combat techniques, etc. in her dreams or something, because she needs something to make up for the lack of super-senses, but if she has the Lasso, I'm not sure how Lex can be a problem for her?

-Dick was adopted by the Dibnys, got himself the Gingold Extract, and fights crime as Firestorm’s sidekick, Elastic Lad.

-Mister Mind is one of Diana’s Rogues.

-Dr. Psycho is in Hal's Rogue's Gallery. Presumably, wossname the guy who framed him so he could steal his fiancee Mavra didn't do quite as good a job gaslighting her, she found out the truth, and he murdered her to cover it up. He is therefore unable to blame her for the plot in a feeble and cowardly attempt to save himself when Psycho comes after him. This leads to misogyny being a less prominent aspect of Psycho's particular psychosis, with his primary targets instead being "Alpha Male"-types like the man who ruined his life. And hey, here's Hal Jordan....

-Gen. Eiling as Reverse-Flash, Y/N? -Thawne become Sabbac, Y/N? -I think I'm gonna say Pam still has her canon powerset in addition to being the Cheetah. -Since one of the best things about Hal is how he hates being told what to do, but is most comfortable in jobs where he's in a disciplined hierarchy...Zinda recruits him to create a new version of the Blackhawks. Not sure who else is in it; I can think of a bunch of ace pilots in the DCu, but they’re all American, and the Blackhawks should be an international operation. Possibility; the same temporal shenaniganry that dropped Zinda in the modern-day also spat-out Hans Von Hammer, the Enemy Ace. -I'm adding Captain Nazi to Hal's Rogue's Gallery. Since Hal is Ambiguously Jewish, his sidekick is Inuit, and in this 'verse he's part of a team that's a legacy of an group founded to fight the Nazis, I feel like it works. Also, Hal's other villains thus far are a bisexual woman, a dwarf, and a US Air Force General, people who are naturally inclined to have beef with him and vice versa. -Abra-Kadabra being one of Bruce's villains, Y/N?

-Circe is one of Bruce’s Rogues and they have UST.

@videodromeda

DCEU Clark Kent/Superman/Kal-El Headcanon + Defense

One of my favorite DCEU Clark headcanons is that this farmboy has no idea how to hold his own in a fight. Here are my chronological reasons why I think this is true:

1. Clark grew up in Kansas very protected by his family. His parents were always sure to be nearby or a phone call away in case there was a problem with his powers - Martha was there mere minutes after Clark’s sensory overload at school (MoS), Jonathan apparently brought Clark with him on small jobs (the bullying scene in MoS, not to mention Jonathan and Clark’s very close relationship which revealed they spent a lot of time together). Growing up in a farming community with not much friendly interaction with boys his age (with the exception of Pete Ross from MoS), no one would have been around to teach Clark how to throw a punch or even get him interested in violence. 

2. Clark has to control his powers and never let them be seen. A fight is one of the easiest ways for his powers to be revealed: they’re fast, stressful, keep you on your toes, and require a decent amount of physical speed, strength, and cognition. We know Clark has the last three and could use them in a fight if he kept them under control, but the first three are stressors that could trigger a lapse in concentration or control. Clark and the Kents don’t want that to happen because it would mean revealing his powers, so he has to stay out of situations that could lead to a fight - an example would be the bullying scene in MoS.

3. Clark likely has never experimented with his powers, so he has little control over them and nearly no idea how to use them period, much less in a fight. I’ve been listening to Doctor Awkward’s Man of Steel: Answers, Insight, Commentary Podcast, and it has been a real eye-opener. The episodes I have in mind when discussing this point are 30, 31, and 32, which discuss the tornado scene in MoS. To sum it up, Clark and his parents have likely avoided any use of his powers since the incident with the school bus a few years before, so Clark has had no chance to ‘test his limits’ and truly discover what he can do. We know that he doesn't discover flight or the full limits of his strength until later on in life, but this can also be applied to some of his other powers. He might not know how to efficiently use his speed and flight and strength in a fight, and even if he did know at least how to throw a proper punch, the mechanics of the simple movement would be seriously changed if he was using his powers/punching a superpowered being.

4. He lets Lombard hit him not because he knows he can take it, but because he doesn’t know what to do. I know the posturing in the pub scene of MoS leads many to think that Clark knows Lombard would just bounce off, but you can see by the way Chrissy reminds him that starting a fight isn’t worth it that Clark was almost intending to get violently involved by putting Lombard outside. The way he stands before the initial push, arms down at his sides, unprotected (Lombard is ‘on guard’ in a semi-crouch, fists cocked, and Clark is almost baring his chest to him), sort of shows that he was expecting Lombard to back down once he knew that Clark was bigger/stronger. Clark may have been trying to get out of the situation without violence, but knew it would be necessary once Lombard started pushing. Yet he continued to stand unprotected even when he decides to put Lombard out, which shows that he didn’t know how to protect himself properly from the next blow. He is used to people just bouncing off him, so he has never made the effort to try to learn how to go on the defense.

5. In the Battle of Smallville, he is constantly off balance and most of his blows are improperly thrown. The momentum of the fight is clearly a bit much for him and he struggles to keep up, especially when up against two trained Kryptonian soldiers. He does have good aim with his punches but never pulls them to ‘knockout’ with the full possible power behind them. He never uses any other part of his body to fight beside his fists (JL, I’m getting to you!), never throws any kicks or knees or elbows, it’s all fists. Which is exactly what you would expect from an untrained farmboy who only knows violence through bullies and 80s action movies. Now I know Clark would never be expected to stand up to the Tigress of Zod, but Non is canonically half-cow and has a fighting style even worse than Clark, yet we see him dishing it out to Kal-El! The only advantage Non has is know-how and experience while Clark clearly has nothing.

6. In the Battle of Metropolis, Clark has zero chance against Zod. It’s the same argument for the Battle of Smallville: he has no experience, only uses his fists, has almost no stamina, and is very off balance. The reason he wins is that Clark has a few aces up his sleeve: a) He has had a few months/weeks to figure out how to fly, he is more comfortable in it than Zod (who learned like 30 seconds ago), b) He is in more control of his sensory powers than Zod (who learned that day), c) He has a hot reporter and an amazing mom rooting for him, d) Zod is basically suicidal at this point after losing his entire purpose, he has no other reason to live besides to spite Clark and he is quickly getting tired of that.

7. When fighting Batman, Clark is nearly all scare tactics. It’s been two years since Zod, maybe he’s picked up a few things since then, but in the BvS fight scene every move Clark makes is almost meant to intimidate instead of hurt. In his two years of being Superman, he has learned that almost no one will challenge him because he is a scary alien from outer space who can shoot lasers from his eyes, so he continually plays off of that when speaking with anyone of authority (he does it with Swanwick in MoS, and a tiny bit with Finch in BvS, and with Ludlow in MoS again). Nearly every interaction he has with Batman is all about posturing and standing very intimidating, every punch is only half-thrown, and he doesn’t even break into a run at any point. The problem is Bruce is an even bigger drama queen than Clark, the entire ‘battle’ is just them chatting angrily (I love BvS, I always smile at this scene because not only does it prove that Clark can barely fight, but also shows just how big of dorks these two idiots are. I love them.)

8. Fighting Doomsday is the first time we see a glimpse of a possible fighting tactic, though it's not a good one at that. You can see Clark doing it as far back as the Battle of Smallville, though I think it’s the most prominent here. Instead of deflecting punches as trained martial artists tend to do (letting punches glance/bounce off/turn away) Clark tends to catch them by letting all the force hit him instead of something a bit more fragile. This is great because it shows that he is worried about things/people around him getting hit and combats that by taking the hit himself. It’s literally the first thing he does when Doomsday comes out of the cocoon. He is also a bit quicker and more sure of himself in this fight, but has terrible style besides ‘catching’ and still tends to leave himself way overexposed to any possible blows (literally what caused his death)(he honestly could have stabbed Doomsday from behind it ain’t that hard he can fly).

9. The fight in Justice League after his resurrection is barely improved. Clark does use more of his body (*headbutt*) beside his fists, but is still 90% scare tactics (I mean you, slow-turn-to-glare-back-at-Victor-after-he-fired-the-missile). He uses more of his powers, but I think that is because he is still suffering from amnesia and doesn’t have the ‘mental block’ (throwback to the fandom pre-BvS when everyone was discussing why he couldn’t fly as a kid (it’s because he wasn’t thinking past what he knew he could do to what he could possibly do)), so when he is himself Clark is actually holding back his punches so as not to hurt anyone. Amnesia-Clark is a bit more full-force because he has no guilt to hold him back. As for his other powers, Clark is constantly trying to appear as un-alien as possible to avoid hostility, which is the reason he rarely uses more than one power at a time (besides strength and flight). Amnesia-Clark doesn’t have that fear, so uses his powers as he pleases without worrying about the implications.

10: The fight against the Parademons and Steppenwolf is interesting because although he doesn’t have a fighting style, he does have a goal. He fights with the intention of protecting the people and driving Steppenwolf away, so every movement is done with the intention of incapacitating the bad guy. He still leaves himself terribly open, but he does dodge a blow instead of ‘catching it’. You can see his ‘fighting style’ (or lack thereof) transitioning from catching to protect others to dodging to destroy the enemy. He also uses his heat vision and arctic breath as weapons, which seems a little desperate for him, but by then he can see that everything he does is not putting Steppenwolf down, so Clark takes it up a notch. He still doesn’t have the know-how to think militarily and keep the enemy close (why do heroes keep tossing the baddies?! just hit them!). Additionally, after separating the mother boxes he just lays there for a bit in pain but makes hardly any effort to get up and check the perimeter and confirm that the war is over, which again shows a lack of military thinking. This is the battle where he changes the way he fights because he knows that this bad guy can take what he dishes out. Every other fight you can see him holding back just a little so as not to hurt people around him, but in JL he finally begins to let loose just a tiny bit. You can see that he is still not quite comfortable with using his powers (besides strength and flight, canonically his favorite ones) to hurt, but he is trying.

One last thing, despite his super endurance, Clark is panting in nearly every fight scene I’ve watched. Another throwback to some great fanfiction I read discussing how despite the fact that Clark doesn’t need to breathe or can at least hold his breath for a long time, panting after a kiss/during a fight is more of an emotional response caused by stressors than him actually lacking oxygen (the fic I’m referencing is Eowyn77′s ‘Rosy-Fingered Dawn’ on fanfiction.net).

As you can see, in nearly every fight Clark is involved in, he is more of a Tank than an actual Warrior. This is not to say that he is almost useless in a fight, but more of a call-out post reiterating just how much of a farmboy he is even in the face of multiple alien invasions. Lois will always be around to protect him, tho!

tldr: Clark Kent can’t even throw a proper punch, must protect the smol farmboy.

So I really, really love Dar/Etain inheriting a Nar Shaddaa safehouse from Mereel and getting the fuck out of Kal’s abusive mopeville hut Kyrimorut

but at the same time the thing I really, really love about Mandalorians is their extended family network and the way their clans are close knit to the point where “no child is ever an orphan”, etc, etc. Just generally, that extended family in your daily life supporting you thing. And even if they make new networks and contacts, I don’t want them to be isolated from their family forever.

In the old RP group we never did decide if there was ever a reunification of the clan after it splinters in Kal’s hands, but even if there isn’t I’ve been brainstorming different reasons for Omega + a few others to end up on Nar Shaddaa because I’m weak

(also, for those actively looking for an out, it actually becomes much easier for them once Etain and Dar are out and have a safe, secure, and secret foothold to regroup at somewhere else. so thanks to Mereel’s hypothetical corpse, I guess?)

anyway, some characters/reasoning beneath the cut, and if anyone has suggestions as to improving characterization, I’m always open. these are not my specialty characters. you know who my specialty characters are.

So starting off with the easiest: 

Niner

Now don’t get me wrong, I feel like Niner, whose big key drives are loyalty and duty, is going to have an extremely difficult time leaving Kal behind. He might even be last. But I think his relationship with Dar post-IC (having basically held him together through a major break down) might be a factor, plus Atin and Vau, and other things, but that’s a separate post

Niner is probably the easiest for me to see ending up on Nar Shaddaa simply because he already has family there. We don’t really see him end up with specific plans for his life and he’s not firmly attached to anyone besides his brothers- but he wants to be where his brothers are.

And again, I kind of feel he has a special relationship with Dar post IC? He’d want to be with all his brothers if possible (and I’m about to come up with reasons for them to be there too), but I don’t think settling down in Dar’s spare room “as a stop gap” when he finally breaks down and follows the rest of Omega out is out of character. Then getting used to being in Kad and Dar’s lives again, being relied on. He may or may not stay in that extra room, but even if he isn’t I think he’d be near by? And tbh to me as someone ace the idea of being with someone closeknit platonically is really appealing though I don’t have that relationship with my own brothers.

Plus, he’s one I’d really like to see plugged into a larger Mandalorian framework, and since Manda’yaim is not an option, seeing him become a linchpin in the underlying structure of the Mandalorian sector would be really satisfying. Nar Shaddaa might be a chaotic mess, but I’d like to see him integrating into the wheels that keep the Mandos going, of his own volition this time, and finding a purpose he chose in it.

Jilka/Ruu/Corr

Okay, so I had a little too much fun with this one and I honestly think they might be part timers, but... listen, Jilka has the chops to hack all sorts of financial networks. Her girlfriend Ruu has done lots of merc work before. What’s to stop Jilka from pulling a Nate Ford, choosing a really scummy target on Nar Shaddaa, and basically going all Leverage/Shadow Broker to establish her own fortune independent of Kal Skirata, helping people in the mean time? 

Jilka is a mastermind, hacker, AND grifter. 

Ruu is the Eliot Spencer, eventually. Gets surprisingly good at being back up tactician, as she’s got a touch of that ruthless pragmatic streak herself.

Corr, however he’s attached to this threesome, is the hardware specialist turned thief bc you know what a knowledge of complex wiring does to security systems once he’s read enough specialty tech manuals? Also, Mereel showed him the SW equivalent of Parker’s gear once. Also, back up pretty grifter :)

They rotate in and out of Nar Shaddaa and have their own place, bc they do take other jobs off-world, go visit Besany maybe, etc, etc but they’re still there when they’re on world, and Koa thinks Jilka’s sarcasm is hilarious

Weird Nate Ford-Jilka parallel in her getting used to being PART of the underground and/or constantly surrounded by Mandos? Idk

Sometimes Jilka draws Besany, Etain and Laseema all in bc yes pls

Fi

This one is  one of the weakest, honestly, so you know, feedback away. But he did explicitly like the open spaces and the thrill of Coruscant. When he finally made it to Mandalore, he missed the city. Enter, Nar Shaddaa, giant city where he has family 

Also, I don’t really ship Parja/Fi so, potentially can also find cute Mandalorian boyfriend? eventually adopt kids with Mandalorian husband?

Might rotate in and out and meet up with Parja at Levet’s place occasionally though, bc I do Brotp them, but like... only for so long as the Imperial invasion of Mandalore isn’t scanning for all the Fett clones

Mereel

Okay, so he left them the safehouse and current headcanon is that when he shows up alive, he shows up at Etain’s door bc it was his safe house. He recovers there, and honestly, it would be pretty rude to kick him out of his own place? considering he wasn’t even actually dead he probably still owns it? but anyway Etain and the kids love Mereel?

Only Ranah God knows where he’s actually gonna be at any given time, since he doesn’t like to settle and he does eventually have a second private place in a different sector no one knows about bc he’s that person who needs fall backs and boundaries...

but, like, if he’s on Nar Shaddaa, there’s also a considerable chance he’s parked on Etain’s couch. he shows up at two AM with a black eye, caffa icecream, and glitter and everyone just accepts it. may or may not have Etain keeping a room for him after he recovers and moves out bc I still don’t know the actual fucking layout of this safehouse/apartment

Atin/Laseema

This one is a bit *hand-wavey-gesture* honestly? 

I think I’m torn because on one hand all the “so sad they can’t have kids so saad” bs from Traviss made me pissy and made me headcanon they don’t want kids but take fulfillment from being in a clan where children are present? 

at the same time, Laseema just got away from Hutts and Atin strikes me as kinda a woodsy guy who wouldn’t necessarily enjoy another city planet? (idk where I’m getting that impression tbh)

then again, Laseema outwitting the Hutts with Jilka would be 👌also Laseema getting to reconnect with other Twi’leks who have been in her position and build a network or resources and outreach?

Or as a Rebel leader and Nar Shaddaa is where she goes dark when the Imperials are too close?

I’m dragging literally everyone else in Omega back one way or another so