Welcome back to another edition of one of our most treasured institutions here on DC.com, ASK…THE QUESTION. My name is Alex Jaffe, but to those of you in our official DC Community over on our Discord server, I’m better known as HubCityQuestion. Here, there and everywhere, I’ve made it my mission to provide answers to every single question you’ve ever had about the DC Universe. Then, I search the deep recesses of my hard-won acquisition of arcane lore to give you answers. Or, sometimes, I just look it up for you. I’m pretty good at that too.

To submit your own questions, all you have to do is navigate over to the #ask-the-question channel on the DC Discord. And as soon as I see it, I’ll get to work. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me. What kind of answers can you expect? Well, here are some of the most interesting cases to cross my desk this month.
 

Rod, Lord of the Dance asks:

The Robins and the other younger Bat-Family members are often called Bruce Wayne's wards and are clearly his surrogate children, but were any of them formally adopted?

As Batman tells Tim Drake in Batman: Face the Face, Bruce never felt the need to adopt Dick formally while he grew up in Wayne Manor, as the laws which would allow him guardianship over him as his ward were broader at the time. However, Bruce did finally, formally adopt Dick as his son in 2001’s Batman: Gotham Knights #17. He similarly starts the adoption process for Tim in 2006’s Batman #654, set the year after Jack Drake’s death. Following Final Crisis, Tim took up Bruce’s last name to represent his adopted father’s legacy as Bruce was presumed dead.

The question of whether Jason Todd or Cassandra Cain were formally adopted is a little trickier. With Jason, it’s a matter of considering Pre-Crisis or Post-Crisis incarnations, who are presented as two very different characters. The Pre-Crisis Jason Todd was the subject of a long custody battle between Bruce Wayne and Nocturna, with Bruce’s adoption of him finalized in 1985’s Batman #383. The only reference to any formal adoption process for Jason in his Post-Crisis incarnation is post-facto, from a mourning Batman in the aftermath of Jason’s death, in 1989’s New Titans #55. Whether this was something Bruce literally did, or whether he was speaking emotionally from a place of grief, is left to interpretation.

Cassandra Cain’s adoption status, meanwhile, is a matter of timing. Mere moments before his apparent death in Final Crisis, Bruce told Cassandra that he would like to begin a formal adoption process. Given the timing, however, Bruce disappears before we can ever see that process realized on the page. Nightwing does refer to Cassandra’s adoption after the fact in 2008’s Batman and the Outsiders #14, but in a way that speaks more to Batman’s intention to adopt her than any concrete evidence of legal follow-through. When Batman finally returns, the issue of Cass’s adoption is never brought up again. So, whether the adoption took place in the brief time between Bruce’s adoption proposal and his banishment from the time stream by Darkseid, or whether he even returned to the idea upon his return, is something implied, but which the comics themselves never specify.

So, in summary, definitely Dick and Tim, and possibly Jason and Cassandra.
 

Souron1 asks:

This might be a weird question, but has it ever been established in the comics what accent Wonder Woman has?

Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman: Year One implies an archaic Greek when she arrives on man’s world, before she learns fluent English. Usually, we don't get much more than "Mediterranean." Presently, however, Tom King has said that he writes Wonder Woman in the current ongoing series with Wonder Woman on-screen actress Gal Gadot's voice in mind.
 

chilli comedy asks:

When would you say a spoiler's not a spoiler anymore?

When she becomes a Batgirl.
 

REDEMPTION asks:

Has Blue Beetle ever been a member of the Teen Titans in the comics before? I’m not talking guest appearances, I mean full on frequently every issue.

He has! Jaime had nearly a three-year ongoing residence with the team, beginning with  2007's Teen Titans #50, where he was featured as a regular member up until 2010's Teen Titans #83.
 

Amac asks:

When did the name New Earth appear as a definite name of the at-the-time main Earth?

Practically as soon as it appeared. After the known remainders of the multiverse were consolidated into a single reality, it’s Pariah who refers to the new status quo of amalgamated continuity as a “New Earth” in Crisis on Infinite Earths #11. The name stuck from there, until “Prime Earth” or “Earth-0” became de rigueur with 2011’s New 52.
 

Donald asks:

Who was the richest person on Pre-Crisis Earth-2?

According to a story in 1948’s Superman #55, it’s a man named Stephen Van Schuyler III—a competitor to Superman for the affection of Lois Lane. In the story, Lois considers Van Schuyler’s overtures, challenging them both to win her love by presenting her with the best material gifts. Ultimately, Lois chooses Superman over the new suitor. For his part, Superman provides a makeover to Van Schuyler’s lovelorn secretary, Mary Jones, leading Van Schuyler to see the beauty that was always there in front of him. Nothing problematic at all about any of this.
 

DorisZuel asks:

What’s the difference between imps and mites in the 5th dimension?

This is a great DC taxonomical question, which I believe has never been fully defined until now. However, when you consider the evidence, the distinction is clear. All denizens of the 5th dimension are imps, but “mites” are a specific subcategory: specifically, imps who have some counterpart to and affinity for a particular character in the DC Universe. Take the two most famous 5th dimensional denizens as our prime examples: Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite. Mxyzptlk is a frequent bedeviler of Superman, but with his unique manner and style, is not specifically linked to Superman and maintains his own identity. That makes him an imp. Bat-Mite, bearing the name, costume and an obsession for Batman as a very specific entity, is a mite. Thunderbolt of the JSA, Qwsp of Silver Age Aquaman stories and Zoox of Silver Age Martian Manhunter stories, are imps. Nite-Mite, Wonder-Mite and Joker-Mite are mites. There is no difference in the scope and power of their abilities, except perhaps that mites specifically tend to echo and exaggerate the traits of their counterparts. All mites are imps, but not all imps are mites.
 

Khamass Pigeon asks:

Does magic have an adverse effect on Superman's physiology similar to kryptonite to the point where it can poison him and sap him of his powers, or is it just something that bypasses his natural nigh invulnerability and harms him just like it harms everyone else?

More the latter. It’s not a special vulnerability so much as it is a lack of invulnerability. It might help to think about it this way: if you used the same spell on Batman and Superman, it would have the same effect on them both.
 

Rain asks:

How were the 'Dial H for Hero' dials created?

The origins of the H-Dial are steeped in legend, and the canonical answer to this has changed a lot over the years. Their current origin, as seen in 2019’s Dial H for Hero, is that a split-off aspect known as “The Operator” of Robby Reed, the original H-Dialer, made them on the World Forge from Dark Nights: Metal. But we’ve also seen origins for the original Dial as an artifact of an alien civilization, such as in 2000’s Silver Age, or tools used by the people of an alternate dimension to connect to other realities, like in the New 52’s Dial H.
 

I Love You 3000 asks:

Has there ever been a Bizarro Zatanna? What would a Bizarro Zatanna speak like?

We got to see a Bizarro Zatanna briefly, in 2011's Superman 80-Page Giant. She doesn’t cast any spells there. However, her normal dialogue appears in the same backwards fashion as our own Zatanna's spell-casting dialogue. One could extrapolate from there that if Bizarro Zatanna were to cast a spell, she would likely do so by speaking forwards.
 

Pete GTG asks:

Damian Wayne was about nine when he was introduced, and at the time, Tim Drake was about 16. Damian is currently 14, making Tim 21, which is all fine and dandy. My problem is Jon Kent. He was around 10-11 when he was aged up, and at the time Damian was 13, so going by that math and all the information we have, Jon should have been born before his parents were even married. Where does he fit in the timeline?

To answer this, I have to go back to a complicated period in Superman continuity between 2015’s Convergence and 2017’s Superman Reborn. Originally, Jon Kent was the son of the Pre-Flashpoint incarnations of Superman and Lois, who were transported after the Convergence event to ten years into the past of the Post-Flashpoint universe, raising their son together in secret.

After 2016’s The Final Days of Superman, the Post-Flashpoint Superman died, and the Pre-Flashpoint Superman who had been in hiding took his place. This allowed the now ten-year-old Jon to emerge from hiding as well.

As you can imagine, this was all too much for most readers to follow. To solve this, thanks to some intervention by Mr. Mxyzptlk in Superman Reborn, the two Supermen and Lois’s histories were consolidated into one entity.

So, to answer your question, the reason it doesn’t seem to fit in the timeline is because time travel, multiverse travel, and 5th dimensional intervention are all involved in incorporating Jon into continuity.
 

That’s all the time we have left for today, but the questions never cease as long as you keep reading, thinking and asking. If you feel like you can use my guidance, all you need to do is ASK…THE QUESTION.
 

Alex Jaffe is the author of our monthly "Ask the Question" column and writes about TV, movies, comics and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @AlexJaffe and find him in the DC Official Discord server as HubCityQuestion.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Alex Jaffe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.