Echoes of the Multiverse

Ares wrote: ↑Sat Oct 20, 2018 5:21 am So I was thinking about random nonsense, as I often do, and I started thinking about superpowers, superheroes, and about how some superheroes are more unique than others.

Like, you can name dozens of bricks, flying bricks, speedsters, mystics, telepaths and the like, but there's some people with really unique powers, ability sets or aspects to them.

Like, Spider-Man's Spider-Sense. I have a hard time thinking of any other character who has an ability that is literally "I sense danger". Sure, everyone from Superman to Wolverine has some flavor of enhanced senses, but Spider-Man's Danger Sense is pretty unique by comic standards.

Taken further, Spider-Man's got one of the best and most unique ability sets in all of superherodom. He's strong and durable to have epic moments, but not so strong and durable that normal street crooks can't still be a threat. His reliance on speed and agility makes for incredibly dynamic fights. His webbing is extremely versatile as a fun means of travel, a non-lethal weapon/snare, and has tons of creative applications. His ability to crawl to walls is similarly pretty rare.

Then you take it to another level by having Spider-Man be a genius inventor and scientist who can design gadgets, outwit his opponents, and develop an amazing skillset of science, detective work, stealth, infiltration, etc.

On a different end, Iron Fist's chi abilities are extremely unique in Western superheroes, where the idea of supernatural martial arts still isn't very widely used. Danny's techniques and chi not only let him be a dangerous opponent to superhumans, even very powerful ones, but also do things like healing, which is another rare comic book power.

And lastly for this opening post, Captain Marvel's whole schtick of transforming via magic word is also pretty unique. Outside of Cap, the Marvel Family and some of their villains, someone saying a magic word to change from normal to superhuman form is almost unheard of, likely because of how obvious the parallels would be. But it's a super easy way to create tension, as the ability or inability to speak suddenly makes the difference as to whether or not someone can access their powers.

So what about the rest of you? Any unique superhero abilities you can think of?

M4C8 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 20, 2018 2:56 pm Does someone like Maggot count? he's not really a superhero but his abilities are pretty unique(ly weird)

Ken wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 3:27 am The ability to detect that one is a comic book character, used to be VERY unique when it was Ambush Bug. Became less unique when She-Hulk started doing it. Now Deadpool does it, and everyone thinks it's a new thing.

Ares wrote: ↑Sun Oct 21, 2018 12:08 am
I'd also say that, while Bricks themselves are probably amongst the most common powerset in comics, the Hulk's "madder / stronger" factor is pretty unique to him as well, and makes a good case for his "strongest there is" statements.

I did like how guys like Gladiator and Captain Britain went with a variant of it, where instead "madder = stronger", it was more about how their abilities were fueled by willpower and confidence, with a lack of confidence resulting in a lack of power, making them more vulnerable.

Ares wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 3:34 am

Ken wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 3:27 am The ability to detect that one is a comic book character, used to be VERY unique when it was Ambush Bug. Became less unique when She-Hulk started doing it. Now Deadpool does it, and everyone thinks it's a new thing.

Ambush Bug, She-Hulk, Animal Man, Deadpool, Gwenpool are all comics versions, while Batmite does it in the Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon, and Foxbat does it in the various Champions products.

Of the bunch, Gwenpool is the one that annoys me the most, since with the rest of the characters they can either just be considered someone being insane or being silly. Gwenpool uses actual comic book tropes as if she's actually in a story in a way the others don't. Like, she gets released from jail, not because of any escape, but because "Villains never stay in jail for a long time". It just . . . kills the immersion for me. Which yes, probably sounds silly when I'm talking about a superhero setting, but it just bugs me.