No one knows just how many characters have been created for DC Comics since New Fun #1 was released in 1935. The count is certainly in the hundreds of thousands, but would anyone actually be surprised if it was in the millions? Obviously, not every one of those characters has become an icon. For every Green Lantern like Hal Jordan, you have dozens like Z'Kran Z'Rann or Krista X.
These are characters who show up in the pages of our favorite books, only to vanish shortly after. Some may even seem fated to become big names with their own action figures and animated series, only to quietly fade into the background before being used as cannon fodder for an event series. These are 10 famous DC heroes from the 80s that have been forgotten...
10 Arisia Rrab: 1981
Introduced in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #1, Arisia Rrab was a Graxosian from Graxos IV. She became a Green Lantern when she was a teenager, taking over Sector 2815 from her father, Fentara. For a time Arisa and Hal Jordan were in a romantic relationship, which considering her being a teenager and him being an adult, it was all pretty icky.
Arisa was one of the best known Green Lanterns for a long time. Her costume stood our from the other Lanterns, making her easy to spot in a crowd, and her relationship with Hal played a major role in the comics for a period. Oddly, Arisia hasn't shown up in the comics since 2010's Brightest Day.
9 Atari Force: 1982
There are two things that are usually bad for art, synergy and chasing fads. It seems that those were the two things that led to the creation of Atari Force. Warner Communications bought Atari, Inc in 1976, and by the early 1980s, every kid in the world either had or wanted an Atari 2600.
With that in mind, DC Comics was tasked with creating a comic that would incorporate Atari into the story. That comic, Atari Force, followed the adventures of the crew of the Scanner One as they searched for a planet that could become a new Earth for humanity.
8 Hector Hall: 1983
The son of Carter and Shiera Hall, better known as the Golden Age versions of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Hector Hall took on a number of identities over the years. He started his superhero career as Silver Scarab and was a founding member of Infinity, Inc. After being killed in a fight, Hector's consciousness was trapped inside the Dreaming where two former servants of Morpheus called Brute and Glob found him. The pair convinced Hector that he was in fact the King of Dreams, which Hector took to mean that he was the Golden Age Sandman.
When Morpheus returned to the Dreaming, he fought Hector and appeared to wipe out the hero's essence. In truth, Morpheous freed Hector's soul that it could reincarnate like his parent's souls. The reborn Hector became the new Doctor Fate. Hector was forced to return to the Dreaming when the Spectre attempted to destroy all magic in the universe. He has not been seen since 2006.
7 Northwind: 1983
When Hawkman brought anthropologist Fred Cantrell to the hidden city of Feithera in Greenland to study the Bird People who lived there, Fred quickly fell in love with Osoro, the princess of the city. The two soon had a child, Norda Cantrell, who would become the hero Northwind.
As Northwind, Norda joined Infinity, Inc. After the team broke up, Northwind returned to Feithera. Northwind and the other Feitherans aligned themselves with Black Adam, leaving their home and moving to Khandaq. Northwind hasn't been seen since DC's epic weekly series 52 in 2006.
6 Kid Devil: 1984
Daniel Cassidy was an actor who was hired to be the lead in a movie called Blue Devil. When an accident on set left him trapped in the Blue Devil costume, he chose to become a superhero. Eddie Bloomberg, the nephew of the woman who cast Cassidy as Blue Devil, was such a big fan of the new hero that he made his own devil suit and became the teen hero Kid Devil.
Eddie's career as a teen hero never seemed to work out well for him. He was denied membership in the Teen Titans when he tried to join after Infinite Crisis. He then turned to the demon Neron to get actual superpowers. Kid Devil did get to join the Titans, but he was badly injured in a battle, ending his career.
5 Doctor Midnight: 1985
Once an intern for Dr. Charles McNider, better known as Dr. Mid-Nite, Elizabeth Chapel was blinded during Crisis on Infinite Earths. After undergoing an operation to give her hi-tech ocular implants, Chapel found that while her sight was hindered by light, she could see perfectly in total darkness.
Elizabeth used her ability to follow in her mentor's footsteps and became Doctor Midnight. She joined Infinity, Inc. shortly afterward, but her time with the team was short-lived. After Infinity disbanded, Doctor Midnight joined Amanda Waller's Shadow Fighters. Doctor Midnight was on a mission with the team when she was killed by Eclipso.
4 Kapitalist Kouriers: 1987
Created by the Soviet Union to be a superspeed team capable of taking on Flash, the team known as Red Trinity defected to the United States the first chance they got. Once they settled down in New York, the three speedsters opened up their own superhero courier business, Kapitalis Kouriers.
The business was a huge success, but as time went on, they had less interest in being heroes and more interested in making money. But they did devote every Friday afternoon to charity work. The last we saw of the Kapitalist Kouriers was when founding member Cassiopeia was killed by the evil speedster Savitar way back in 1995.
3 Fury: 1987
Growing up in Greece, Helena Kosmatos had a rough go of it. Her father was killed by Italian fascists, and a year later the revelation that her brother was a Nazi caused her mother to have a heart attack and die. To escape the Nazis, Helena ran to the Areopagus. While hiding there, she cursed her brother, which brought the three Furies of ancient Greek myth to her side. One of the Furies granted Helena powers so that she could avenge her parents.
After a few adventures as Fury, it became clear that the powers that Tisiphone gave Helena were driving her mad. Fury was brought to Themyscira in the hopes that the Amazons would be able to help free her of Tisiphone's hold. Fury's last appearance was during Infinite Crisis when she was seen leaving Earth with the other Amazons. When the Amazons returned, she was not with them.
2 Matrix: 1988
Created out of protomatter and Lana Lang's DNA by the pocket universe Lex Luthor to take on General Zod, Zaora, and Quex-Ul, the shapechanger called Matrix left the destroyed pocket universe and came to Earth looking for Superman. To homage the hero she admired so much, Matrix took the form of a woman and wore a costume similar to Superman's. Now calling herself Supergirl, the hero would play a major role in many of Superman's toughest battles, including his first fight against Doomsday.
Over the years, the Matrix Supergirl's story became more and more confusing as she became an angel, and then maybe wasn't an angel. She last appeared in 2008's Reign in Hell, where Dr. Occult showed the Matrix Supergirl what she truly was. Frightened by what she saw, Supergirl flew off, never to be seen again.
1 Praxis: 1989
Jason Praxis was a police detective that was on the trail of a superpowered serial killer called Redditch. To throw Praxis off his trail, Redditch killed Jason's niece. Somehow, Redditch was surprised that killing a member Praxis' family would only make him more determined to stop the murderer.
During his final battle with Redditch, Praxis gained the killer's powers. Now a superhero, Praxis joined the Booster Gold led team, The Conglomerate. After the team broke up, Praxis pretty much disappeared from he comics. He did show up for a joke in the first season of the DC Universe animated series Harley Quinn, though.