My own beef with this is the same beef I have with Gabrych's...

My own beef with this is the same beef I have with Gabrych's retcon: the idea that Shiva abandoned her revenge.

To me, the most interesting part of Shiva's origin is that she turned herself into something else for revenge, GOT it, and then had to figure out... well, what now?

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Now, Shiva didn't actually kill Guano Cravat, sure, but for all intents and purposes she achieved her goal of avenging her sister. And with that goal fulfilled, she spent the rest of that original Richard Dragon run desperately trying to fill the void left behind.

Then there's the post-Crisis jump and suddenly Shiva is a lot calmer, more centered, seeking not just thrills but interesting people who can test her perception.

At some point between that original run and O'Neil's Question, Shiva learned to stop trying to fill the emptiness...

... and instead, embrace it. Take power from it. Become an empty being, detached from all material concerns, closer to transcendence.

And to me, that just doesn't hit the same if she just gives up on her revenge. Especially when it's for nebulous reasons. And ESPECIALLY if...

... it's made clear that she didn't actually give up on it. That she still misses Carolyn, or that she wants someone to avenge her sister or herself. When she's still materially attached to the past like that.

Now, you can argue that all this lingering baggage humanizes Shiva. That it makes her more relatable, more normal, more like everyone else.

But I don't think that's the best thing you can do with her. I think that, in a world where so many characters are defined by...

... things like revenge, regret, duty, legacy, etc., it's better for the world at large to have at least one character who is not. Who's different.

Because that character offers a whole new perspective that just isn't there if they're like everyone else.

If you've lived your entire life as a hero or a villain thinking it's your ideals, your connections or your ambitions that make you strong, and suddenly you run into someone who's on a whole other level but doesn't have any of that, wouldn't that make you rethink some stuff?