DC characters, relationships, and happiness.

Apparently DC characters shouldn't have happy personal lives. It was an opinion provided by DC's Dan Didio on DC's Superheroes, that they have to sacrifice their own happiness to be heroes. This generalisation spun out for some reason from DC's apparent New 52 phobia to characters being married, or just happy with their lives. I really wish they would think things through more before speaking.

Of course my knowledge is restricted to the previous DC Universe, and by my own perceptions, but here goes.

Lets look at Batman, who has indeed had a depressing personal life since the loss of his parents to violence, his happiness was taken from him. In relationships he goes through women at an alarming rate yet ultimately his heart will always be Selina Kyles ( no matter how many times Talia calls Batman 'beloved' ) and she will always be drawn to him. While both of them have pushed away from each other at certain moments, they pretty much seem to know that they can always depend on the other when needed. Their respective experiences and sad past means that they provide a brightness to each other, making their personal lives more pleasant when together, but it doesn't make him any less driven to do what he does when he puts on his cape and cowl.

In contrast, Superman's personal life was pretty good even before he married, he had loving parents who weren't gunned down in front of him, and a normal life growing up in Kansas and even when he became Superman his parents were often the ones he would go to for advice and support. Once Superman was married to Lois Lane she became his rock and his confidant, as well as his lover. So It isn't beyond possibility that her death in the alternate universe 'Injustice Gods Among Us' story could drive Superman mad with grief, or her death in 'Kingdom Come' that partly made Superman lose his sense of judgment and withdraw from his never ending battle, or when in another alternate timeline Lois died during her pregnancy and Superman blamed himself and left Earth to perish, and so on.

Removing the brief happy moments that he has with his loved ones between fighting super villains/thugs/whatever, could diminish him, and i feel some characters almost need that joy at home to keep them strong and give them the drive to fight injustice. Having a happy personal life doesn't make him less heroic, it's just a different source of strength.

Looking away from the 'A' list characters, Captain Atom has had a string of failed relationships, stemming from his feelings for his first wife who died in the years between his first time jump, resulting with a tendency that makes him push women away whenever they became too emotionally close and intimate. He also entered into a marriage with clear warning signs that it would probably fail with the super villainess ( that's one clear warning sign right there ) Bette Sans Souci aka Plastique ( Plastique did reform, but their political stand points alone were going to be pretty opposing ). Neither the wedding nor the the divorce was ever shown, instead being referred to in conversation and memory.

 Powergirl also has had a tendency to get close to a person, only to find that it won't work and goes back to looking after her cat. She also tended to be drawn to men that there would be little chance of a successful relationship ( Aquaman, Hal Jordon, and apparently Hawkman, all of whom are actually very devoted to other women, Queen Mera, Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire, and Hawkwoman/Hawkgirl respectively ) which always suggested she had similar problems with intimacy and sabotaged herself in spite of wanting to be close to someone. Ironically she and Captain Atom did have a tendency to behave like a sparky, snarky, but caring pair ( it probably didn't register with them, even when Cap was keen to help with Powergirls pregnancy in 'Zero Hour' until self appointed midwife Wonderwoman told him to effectively get lost ). 

In any case all of this adds colour and personality to the characters, and regardless of their relationships they are all still driven to help other people. No one expects everything to be perfect for the characters, but a fairly happy personal life/relationship can be just as much the thing that keeps a hero going as trying to avoid their imperfect lives by being a Superhero. It varies from character to character and it is part of what makes them all interesting, and to make a foolish, sweeping generalisation that miserable personal lives are what make Superheroes tick i feel is simply displaying a lack of understanding.