Board Thread:Episodic and Issue Discussion/@comment-47881-20130110100903/@comment-1038387-20130113121715

LoveWaffle wrote: That being said, it was a nice surprise that Mal became Guardian. I was expecting he'd become Vox or Herald (his most notable identities from the comics), or perhaps the show's version of Cyborg or Mr. Teriffic. Weisman played around with certain characters' origins and identities in a similar fashion for Spectacular Spider-Man (having one of the Enforcers become Shocker, for example), so it was a reasonable expectation.

If it was a surprise, it was a surprise to you and a few others. It seemed obvious to me (and several others) from the moment they introduced Jim Harper's retirement. I still don't get why people think he could be combined with Cyborg or Mr. Terrific. That's as ridiculous as combining Robin with Stargirl or Captain Marvel, Jr.

As for your example, it's not the same thing. He's already done that, by making Static part of the Super Friends PC brigade, or Sportsmaster part of the League of Shadows.