Weirdest Power UPs. [Archive] - Comic Book Resources Forums

Kage Kisaragi

01-31-2007, 10:29 AM

titanfan

01-31-2007, 11:27 AM

The way it came off was that Luthor did it because of a sick sense of humor. Plus since Luthor can turn powers off, there was always the chance he could kill Steel if he became dependent on his Luthor powers. Luthor is being written like he has a God-complex in 52 so it wasn't too much of a stretch.

Nintendite

01-31-2007, 02:26 PM

Energy Superman was pretty stupid.

Shellhead

01-31-2007, 03:19 PM

Energy Superman was pretty stupid.

I wasn't reading comics at that point in time. Was that a power-up or a power-down?

I thought that the weirdest power-up was when Silver Scarab became Dr. Fate. Or maybe it wasn't weird so much as painfully complex.

MaxofSteel

01-31-2007, 04:05 PM

I wasn't reading comics at that point in time. Was that a power-up or a power-down?

It was a power "switch" for lack of a better term. He was much faster than he used to be, but he no longer had any super strength. Instead, he could manipulate the magnetic fields of objects and lift them.

He also had a "super electric" fist that he'd use from time to time to bust on some baddies. Moreover, he no longer deflected bullets with his body but rather had them phase through him and lose inertia.

And when in his Clark Kent persona, he'd actually be completely human, meaning he was powerless, vulnerable to harm as a normal man would be, and even subject to gaining weight (which actually happened).

After that, he split into a Red and Blue version -- but, that's a whole other can of worms...

ragnarok_2012

01-31-2007, 05:47 PM

On a bit of a tangent, Grant Morrison did a surprisingly good job with the Blue Energy Superman.

And yeah, I agree that Superman's power level was about the same while he was in his energy form.

carabas

01-31-2007, 06:37 PM

True.
Energy-Superman wrestling an archangel was one of the highpoints of that run.

ragnarok_2012

01-31-2007, 08:31 PM

True.
Energy-Superman wrestling an archangel was one of the highpoints of that run.

My favorite energy superman arc was the one where he matched wits with Luthor's team (Rock of Ages?).

I thought it was a neat idea letting him "read" a cd with his powers....and having it trigger a bomb hidden on the satellite.

It was also the best use of Luthor I'd seen in years.

tk421atpost

01-31-2007, 09:14 PM

I always thought it was pretty lame when they turned Guy Gardner into some kind of alien hybrid during the latter stages of his solo title.

dswynne

01-31-2007, 09:34 PM

What's happening to Billy Batson in he Trials of SHAZAM! I mean, what's with the pale skin, long hair and change in costume?

-De

Ontir

02-01-2007, 12:02 AM

This isn't DC, but turning Franklin Richards into "Psi-Lord" needs to be mentioned!

I'm not sure if it was up, or down, but the constant re-working of Kinetix' power(s) in the post-Zero Legion was too much!

Vic Vega

02-01-2007, 09:16 AM

ragnarok_2012

02-01-2007, 10:55 AM

Aqualad went from having just being able to live underwater and command fish to being Tempest and being able to control water or water vapor (raise or lower its temperature at will) use magic AND eyebeams. WTF? EYEBEAMS and magic! For all I know he can still control sealife.

He so outpowers Arthur now its not funny.

I like Tempest BTW. But it is a kinda bizarre power-up.

They gave Aquaman a magical hand made of water at one point that I believe made him more powerful than Tempest.

I'm a little vague on the details. I just was glancing at an issue where they had Tempest guest star....and I think the whole reason for the story was to have Tempest tell him that he's still a newb and can't keep up with Aquaman.

Shellhead

02-01-2007, 11:35 AM

I myself just read about Steels liquid metal body at the DC website and I must say that has to be the worst change of character dynamics ever. Simply put a villain who gives you new abilities because he thinks it will ruin your life and make you stop being a hero is kind of stupid.

Pretend you're Steel for a moment. With that attitude, you go directly after Luthor, shouting "your rent-a-cops can't stop me, Luthor, you made me bulletproof!"

Luthor responds dryly, "Did I? Sorry about that." Then he flips a switch and you revert to ordinary human as the bullets pierce your vulnerable flesh. The guards get fired and then arrested, and maybe Luthor even testifies against them, saying that they were overzealous and wouldn't listen to him.

Jack

02-01-2007, 12:25 PM

Pretend you're Steel for a moment. With that attitude, you go directly after Luthor, shouting "your rent-a-cops can't stop me, Luthor, you made me bulletproof!"

Luthor responds dryly, "Did I? Sorry about that." Then he flips a switch and you revert to ordinary human as the bullets pierce your vulnerable flesh. The guards get fired and then arrested, and maybe Luthor even testifies against them, saying that they were overzealous and wouldn't listen to him.
Yes, it was actually a classic Luthor move.
True.
Energy-Superman wrestling an archangel was one of the highpoints of that run.I actually think the best bit was when he stopped the moon from crashing into Earth. That was just completely WOW. You see characters do feats like that relatively often, but rarely are they are they written or drawn so well. You really felt in awe of him.

Shellhead

02-01-2007, 12:55 PM

Jack, I think Steel's reaction was also appropriate and in character. He was initially freaked out, but then became cautious and sought more information, just like a scientist should. And as a veteran member of the JLA, he shared his concerns and got some help from other heroes, including former teammates and also the Teen Titans.

Kara Zor El

02-01-2007, 02:14 PM

Never liked it when Alan Scott gave away his ring only to find that he still had the power anyway and became Sentinal. He'd had possession of the ring so long that the power had fused with him. Surely other Green Lanterns out there have had rings longer.

carabas

02-01-2007, 03:20 PM

davros42

02-01-2007, 05:12 PM

I myself just read about Steels liquid metal body at the DC website and I must say that has to be the worst change of character dynamics ever. Simply put a villain who gives you new abilities because he thinks it will ruin your life and make you stop being a hero is kind of stupid.

I liked the new powers. Made more sense of the name and stopped him from being an Iron Man rip-off (and made him a Colossus rip-off instead, I guess). He's back to no powers again though.

I second Guy Gardner's strange career path... From Green Lantern... to Yellow Lantern... to Warrior... and back to Green Lantern again...

The whole Alan Scott/Sentinel thing was pretty retarded too... but as a way to get around the "No Green Lanterns besides Kyle" editorial mandate it was still better than what happened to every other Green Lantern.

titanfan

02-01-2007, 08:04 PM

I second Guy Gardner's strange career path... From Green Lantern... to Yellow Lantern... to Warrior... and back to Green Lantern again...

If I remember right, he went to Yellow Ring because the GLCorps was destroyed. Then he had to go to Warrior due to Editorial mandate. (Kyle was the only one who could have ring powers) Then when it was ok to have rings again, he got his ring.

Frankly, I'm surprised that the title managed to do so well and last so long despite all the editorial interference.

Loren

02-01-2007, 09:52 PM

We all know it happens sometimes. Characters get their powers revamped, or characters who previously had no powers gain some. What are some of the worst revamps of characters powers published in your opinions.

I myself just read about Steels liquid metal body at the DC website and I must say that has to be the worst change of character dynamics ever. Simply put a villain who gives you new abilities because he thinks it will ruin your life and make you stop being a hero is kind of stupid.

That's not even the worst power revamp of Steel. Back when I thought it was a permanent change, I would have said it was the second worst revamp he's had. Once it turned out to be temporary, it falls to #3, behind Steel's Apokoliptian Aegis armor.

No, the worst Steel power 'upgrade' was during the first couple of years of his solo series, when John Irons suddenly gained teleportation powers that allowed him to teleport his armor onto and off of him. When the armor was teleported to this "White Zone," it would also be automatically repaired. And at one point, the armor came to life and turned kinda demonic.

One of the first things Christopher Priest did when he took over the title was to find a way to explain away all of that, and establish that Steel never had any teleportation powers to start with.

mattx110

02-01-2007, 10:05 PM

True.
Energy-Superman wrestling an archangel was one of the highpoints of that run.

i hated that. electric superman was supposed to not have superstrength. now he's wrestling angels manhunter can't beat?

edit: oh, and the silly wizard comics thing, every last man standing or whatever thing like that with the JLA had superman using both his electric powers and superstrength. and then they make batman win... i mean, batman can go nuts on anyone really, but when you give superman two sets of powers including lightning speed and vision powers (the robot, not vision as in seeing stuff).

Ungenesis

02-01-2007, 11:10 PM

Say, how did Electric Superman (Red or Blue) stack up to Kryptonite? Did it still affect him?

Apathy Boy

02-01-2007, 11:28 PM

Killer Moth becoming a human insect thanks to UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED. He was much more fun as the anti-Batman, and Charaxes is kind of redundant when Hellgrammite's running around. Some supervillains just don't need to be badassified.

Jack

02-02-2007, 05:48 AM

Alan Scott's ring is of a different nature altogether than the rings created by the Guardians of the Universe.
Wile the powersource is somehow linked, the Oan rings are merely alien technology. Alan's ring is genuinely magical.

It should be noted that (other than being made an honorary GLC member once) Allan Scott has no direct relationship to Oa, the Guardians, or the corps (as far as I know).
I can think of two, though I forget the exact details. Unless they've been retconned (re-retconned?), that is.

First, the Starheart was actually created by the Guardians. It was the accumulation of all the universe's wild magic, or something.

Then a piece of it broke off and then, when it hit Earth's atmosphere, it collided with the lantern or the ring or something of the current 2814 Green Lantern, whose ring had been adjusted to have a weakness to wood by the Guardians. The two combined, and that's what Alan Scott found.

I guess they were desperate at one point to tie Alan into the Corps. Of course how much of this is still in continuity, I really don't know. Logically the bit about the GL having a weakness of wood seems in question, given the yellow fear monster retcon.

phantom1592

02-02-2007, 03:02 PM

If I remember right, he went to Yellow Ring because the GLCorps was destroyed. Then he had to go to Warrior due to Editorial mandate. (Kyle was the only one who could have ring powers) Then when it was ok to have rings again, he got his ring.

Frankly, I'm surprised that the title managed to do so well and last so long despite all the editorial interference.

Actually he went to the yellow ring a good 25 issues of GL before the corps were destroyed. He fought Hal for the sector and lost, getting kicked out of the corps.

Kage Kisaragi

02-02-2007, 03:55 PM

That's not even the worst power revamp of Steel. Back when I thought it was a permanent change, I would have said it was the second worst revamp he's had. Once it turned out to be temporary, it falls to #3, behind Steel's Apokoliptian Aegis armor.

No, the worst Steel power 'upgrade' was during the first couple of years of his solo series, when John Irons suddenly gained teleportation powers that allowed him to teleport his armor onto and off of him. When the armor was teleported to this "White Zone," it would also be automatically repaired. And at one point, the armor came to life and turned kinda demonic.

One of the first things Christopher Priest did when he took over the title was to find a way to explain away all of that, and establish that Steel never had any teleportation powers to start with.

Thanks for informing me of these things, man.. weird.

mattx110

02-02-2007, 06:35 PM

Say, how did Electric Superman (Red or Blue) stack up to Kryptonite? Did it still affect him?

kryptonite didn't do nothing to him.

the4thpip

02-03-2007, 09:26 AM

That's not even the worst power revamp of Steel. Back when I thought it was a permanent change, I would have said it was the second worst revamp he's had. Once it turned out to be temporary, it falls to #3, behind Steel's Apokoliptian Aegis armor.

No, the worst Steel power 'upgrade' was during the first couple of years of his solo series, when John Irons suddenly gained teleportation powers that allowed him to teleport his armor onto and off of him. When the armor was teleported to this "White Zone," it would also be automatically repaired. And at one point, the armor came to life and turned kinda demonic.

One of the first things Christopher Priest did when he took over the title was to find a way to explain away all of that, and establish that Steel never had any teleportation powers to start with.

Yeah, I thought that was really lame back then, too.

But wasn't Priest's explanation for the tech implant that gave Steel his powers quite similar to the story in 52? Wasn't it also some villain behind it?