Source: medium.com

3. Elongated Man

Drug of Choice: Gingold

Ralph Dibny, boys and girls! Gaze upon this great character who’s dynamited by one bad story.

Ralph’s a friend of The Flash who travels the world to find the secrets of contortionism. He eventually finds that if he drinks a substance known as Gingold, he can stretch his body to fantastical proportions. He then uses this ability to become a happy-go-lucky detective with his wonderful wife Sue Dibny as his partner. They’re great characters who have happy endings. Nothing stupid or bad happens to them at…okay, fine.

Identity Crisis takes this incredible mystery-solving couple and ruins them both by killing one and making the second a permanent mourner for the first. Turns out that Gingold can’t help you stretch your way away from bad character direction.

Elongated Man nevertheless remains a wonderful character with a (mostly) great history.