The 31 Most Unappreciated Characters in Comic Books, Ranked

Welcome to the comic book equivalent of an unsung heroes fan club! We all know the usual suspects – Superman flying around in his spiffy red cape or Batman brooding over Gotham. But what about the other guys? The ones tucked away in the corner panels, waiting for their shot at the big time? These are the underappreciated, the ones hiding in plain sight on our comic book pages. They’re the would-be headliners whose stories zigged when they should’ve zagged, the sidekicks forever waiting in the wings, or the misunderstood misfits judged too hastily by their abilities (or, sometimes, lack thereof).

So buckle up because we’re about to dive headfirst into a ranking that’s all about giving credit where it’s due. We’re peeling back the comic book curtain to reveal a lineup of characters whose quirks, complexities, and, yes, even superpowers add a certain je ne sais quoi to the comic book universe. It’s time for these diamonds in the rough to step out from the shadows and into the well-deserved limelight. Let’s roll out the red carpet for the 30 most underrated characters in comic books!

31. Adam Strange

Like most superheroes, Adam Strange used to be an ordinary human. However, in one of his expeditions as an archaeologist, Adam discovers the Zeta beam and is transported to a planet called Rann. From there, he falls in love with the leader’s daughter Alanna and promises to defend the planet and its people from any kind of external threat.

Unfortunately, when the lightning’s effects wear off, Adam is sent back to earth. After that, the possibilities of returning to Rann depend exclusively on Adam being able to find the exact place and moment where a Zeta ray is activated. With the knowledge he has acquired over the course of his many years of research on Rann, Strange compliments his tactical intelligence, which is on par with or even superior to that of characters like Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor. Even the wrecked wreckage of an extraterrestrial ship can be reverse-engineered to produce useful technical marvels by him with ease. He is a skilled mathematician who can predict with accuracy the precise moment and location when Sardeth’s Zeta Beam will strike Earth, his home planet.

30. The Alien Legion

This legion was originally intended as a kind of cross between the French Foreign Legion and Star Trek. It is about a group of space travelers made up of creatures of different races, including humans. Among its main members is the leader of the legion, called Siragar, a half-reptilian mutant; the second in command is a human named Torie Montroc.

Then we have Jugger Grimond, a gun-savvy criminal, and lastly, Meico, a four-armed doctor. Although the story rose to fame in the 1980s, it did not have the necessary repercussions to become a success. A 1995 screenplay by creator Carl Potts for an Alien Legion television adaptation was picked up by MGM in 1996. The pilot’s script was written by Back to the Future screenwriter Bob Gale. The series was optioned by Dimension Films after MGM ended development, however the show was canceled as a result of management changes. After ReBoot, Mainframe Studios sought out another science fiction project, and Potts was engaged as executive editor to create the animated version of Alien Legion.

29. Raven

Raven, also known as Rachel Roth, is the daughter of a human named Angela Roth and the emperor demon Trigon. Due to the strong demonic powers inherited from her father, Raven had to grow up learning to repress her emotions and control her dark powers. The Azarathian monks were the ones who helped her with this teaching. This caused her to become a superhero with great psychological complexity.

She also possesses the power of telekinesis, tele-empathy, and teleportation, being able to travel to other dimensions even when her physical body remains in the same place. She has demonstrated the capacity to manage, create, or control just shadows and darkness. Raven is capable of controlling time, emotions, and energy. This latter talent takes many forms, including inflicting pain that is utterly damaging, raising anxiety, creating fear-based delusions, and stealing other people’s emotions. Like her brothers, Raven is capable of inducing and amplifying any one of the seven deadly sins in any living thing, but as a side consequence, she will experience bouts of nausea and vomiting for several days.

28. The Huntress

If you’ve ever wondered if Batman and Catwoman had a romantic relationship, the answer is yes, and as a result of it, they had a daughter named Helena Wayne. This is a story that takes place on a parallel earth, where Helena fights alongside her father, Batman using the pseudonym Robin. Helena inherited the athletic and fighting abilities of her parents, who also helped her with her training from a young age to become a super athlete.

She had her first appearance in 1977 in the DC Super Stars comic and later became a member of recognized groups such as the Justice League or the Justice Society of America. The Huntress makes an appearance in both issue #2 of the Justice League Unlimited comic book spin-off and issue #19 of the Batman and Robin Adventures, both of which are set in the DC Animated Universe. Before being inadvertently assassinated by Wonder Woman, the Huntress was a close friend of Kate Kane and Renee Montoya in the prequel comics for the video game Injustice: Gods Among Us. She was a part of Batman’s rebellion against Superman’s One-Earth rule.