things a Motherbox can do

[Bookem Danno]

Can anyone list all the known things a Motherbox can do that has been shown in DC issues? My curiousity is piqued now that Tim has got his hands on one in this weeks Superboy teamup.

[Desaad]

I once had a full list, and I have a bunch of scans, but off the top of my head....

Teleportation/Boom Tube Generation
Intangibility
Telepathy
Scanning/Scanning/Long Range viewing
Control of technology
Evolution of technology/Fixing of technology
Levitation
Healing/Regeneration
Illusion casting
Matter Manipulation
Invisibility
Summoning the "elemental furies"



And then various deux ex machina tricks that have no real categorization.

[Dave Hackett]

Not all Motherboxes appear to be the same as well. The Forever People's big red one behaved differently than Scott Free's smaller one, and different again than Shiloh's Motherboxxx. It's safe to say they all have Boom Tube capability and some degree of Healing power. They are also all Sentient Super Computers and can process massive amounts of information instantly. Some used these for complex navigation, others, like Scott Free and Shiloh, used them to co-ordinate surround technology with incredibly fast reaction times (i.e it's how they performed a lot of their escapes).

Beyond that, a lot of it was author's whims, and it's safe to assume different boxes had different capabilities..

To add a couple to Desaad's list:

-Veitch had one download and erase portions of Swamp Thing's memory.
-Orion used his to reconstruct his face regularly.

[Desaad]

Not all Motherboxes appear to be the same as well. The Forever People's big red one behaved differently than Scott Free's smaller one,

That's because it was a combination of the Forever People's smaller Mother Boxes. Kind of implied by Kirby, but then specifically shown by Byrne.


and different again than Shiloh's Motherboxxx.

Shiloh's Mother Box was the same as Scott's originally....thanks to all the weirdness going on with Final Crisis and Darkseid and the New Gods being revealled to be from higher dimensional planes and what not, it sort of appeared to be different in his mini, but in FInal Crisis proper had basically the same abilities (as it healed Sonny Sumo, for instance).


It's safe to say they all have Boom Tube capability and some degree of Healing power. They are also all Sentient Super Computers and can process massive amounts of information instantly. Some used these for complex navigation, others, like Scott Free and Shiloh, used them to co-ordinate surround technology with incredibly fast reaction times (i.e it's how they performed a lot of their escapes).

Yeah, but they've all been able to do stuff like that. Including that of Orion.

Beyond that, a lot of it was author's whims, and it's safe to assume different boxes had different capabilities..

I disagree, pretty strongly. They are each built by their owner, but I think they all have the same capabilities -- it's just that they are a reflection of their user, and so manifest certain capabilities more often as a result. For instance, Orion never used his Mother Box for intangibility...until he dressed up as Mr. Miracle (long story), because that was Mr. Miracle's style, not his own.

It gets even MORE complicated when you consider Gerber's idea that the Mother Box isn't anything more than a outward manifestation of one's own god power/soul, and aren't really necessary at all (as Mr. Miracle comes to find out).



-Veitch had one download and erase portions of Swamp Thing's memory.
-Orion used his to reconstruct his face regularly.

I would have thought that would have been covered under 'telepathy' and 'illusion casting'. :)