Speaking of an Identity Crisis...

I've mentioned a time or two on here that I'm much much much more of a Marvel fan than a DC fan. I think my main gripe is I have no clue who the main characters are. When I was collecting comics in the '90s, everyone was shaking things up with their storylines and characters. But even now, 10+ years later, I still have no clue who the Flash's alter-ego is. I haven't checked Wikipedia yet, but I think it's Wally West. If it's not him, it's Barry Allen. Other possible candidates are the kid that was Impulse and for some reason, the name Jay Garrick is popping into my head. Let's find out.

Okay, it turns out the most recent Flash was Bart Allen / Impulse, but he's dead so it was then Wally West. But at Comic Con this year, they announced that Barry Allen is coming back in the lead role as The Flash. Huh? How is a casual fan supposed to keep up with that?

The current Green Lantern could be Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner, but Alan Scott, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Jade have also been GL. Batman was replaced by Azrael for a bit, Superman died and was replaced by four different people claiming to be him. There have been five Robins, and six characters named Nightwing.

I was thinking about the same situation in terms of Marvel Comics. I think Thor has probably had the most alter-egos but he's still Thor. Those are just his human form. There were two Spider-Mans, two Captain Americas...and I'm struggling to think of more. How many Wolverines, Hulks and Iron Mans have there been? Just one of each, to the best of my knowledge.

My other minor complaint against DC is their use of fictional cities like Metropolis and Gotham City. When I heard the X-Men set up shop in San Francisco, I know where that is. I'm still not sure where Keystone City is.