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10 Best Justice Leaguers With the Weirdest Powers

The Justice League is the most powerful team of heroes ever brought together. This started from the beginning, with the Big Seven. Characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and the Flash were the most potent heroes in the DC Multiverse, and they were just the beginning. Over the years, the team expanded, adding in the greatest heroes of all time, each of them bringing their amazing powers and skills to the mix. The superlatively powerful League rosters have faced off against the greatest threats to the multiverse, their abilities allowing them to stand against enemies who can eat universes and destroy planets with a thought.

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The team’s powers are a key part of their success, with some heroes having rather standard abilities, exactly what you expect from the greatest superheroes ever. However, some members of the team get a little weirder with theirs. These 10 Justice Leaguers have the strangest powers, but that doesn’t make them any less formidable.

10) Martian Manhunter

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Martian Manhunter is a DC icon, and he has powers on the level of Superman. All of his powers are rather standard, but the weird thing about them is the combination. The speed, strength, flying, super senses, and eye beams are pretty normal, but then you get to the fact that he’s also a shapeshifter. And the most powerful telepath on Earth. And someone who can turn intangible and invisible. He has an amazing combination of abilities, but putting them together in one hero is pretty strange.

9) Aquaman

Aquaman in DC Comics
Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Aquaman is way more formidable than he seems, but that doesn’t mean his powers aren’t weird. His ability to control sea creatures has changed a lot over the years, and have become what is referred to as “aquatic telepathy”, allowing him to control their minds. However, his telepathy can also affect just about any being that evolved from sea life, because the fish parts of their brains are still there. This little wrinkle makes his powers bizarre, but it also makes him a more powerful opponent for his foes.

8) Mister Miracle

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Mister Miracle is a New God, and he has the standard super strength, speed, and durability of his people. However, that’s not all he can do. His ability to escape traps is his greatest power, allowing him to figure ways out of anything that holds him back. He can get through any lock in front of him, escape any bond, and figure out a way to get out of any situation that traps him, even death. He also has access to the Alpha Effect, which allows him to heal others and empower and inspire everyone around him.

7) Zatanna

Zatanna New Ongoing Title Feature
Image COurtesy of DC Comics

Zatanna is one of DC’s greatest heroines, a magic user of the highest order. Magic use in comics isn’t weird, but how she uses it is. Her father Giovanni Zatara taught her all of the magic she knew, including his unique method of spell-casting. The Zataras access their magic by speaking backwards. This allows them to do just about anything they can think of and pronounce in reverse, making her one of the Justice League’s greatest weapons on the battlefield. She’s rode this unique brand of magic to superstardom and is a linchpin of the DC magical community.

6) Ragman

Ragman with his cape of souls billowing behind him
Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Ragman is one of the most unique magical heroes because of the way his powers work. Rory Regan was a young Jewish man who inherited the Suit of Souls from his father. He became a superhero, with the Suit of Souls giving him superhuman strength, speed, and durability. However, it does this by draining the souls of those he battles; the longer he fights, the more energy he uses and the more souls he has to drain. Ragman’s powers are basically evil in a lot of ways, depending on him killing his foes, and yet he’s still been a member of the Justice League.

5) Metamorpho

Metamorpho with one of his arms on fire
Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Metamorpho isn’t the only Leaguer that can control the elements, but it’s the way he does it makes it weird. Rex Mason was given his powers by the Orb of Ra, and it transformed his body. He basically became the periodic table, allowing him to manifest any element he needed and convert his body to a solid, liquid, gas, or plasma. He can use his body to create any compound that he can think of (except flesh and blood, unfortunately) and his monstrous looks make him one of the most unique elemental characters out there.

4) Swamp Thing

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Alan Moore made Swamp Thing into a legend, so his powers don’t really seem all that weird, but when you look at the history of comics, you’ll find they’re more unique than they seem. Swamp Thing is the avatar of the Green, giving him complete control over plant life. He can make them grow, and create fruits that allow him to link with whoever eats them. He can also create high grade hallucinogens and drugs, and can move his consciousness through the Green to anywhere it exists, even deep space if there’s plants out there. He’s a true powerhouse, one who can even take down Superman thanks to his powers.

3) Detective Chimp

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Talking apes aren’t exactly uncommon in the DC Multiverse โ€” Gorilla City is home to an entire civilization of them โ€” but Detective Chimp is unique. He was a regular chimp who found the Fountain of Youth, and it gave him the ability to talk and super-intelligence. Basically, one of his superpowers is the ability to speak, which will always be a weird power to have. On top of that, he knows a lot about magic, but can’t actually use it. He’s just a chimp with the power of super smarts and talking, making him one of the League’s weirdest members.

2) Plastic Man

Plastic Man with his arms wrapping around his body, tinted red and smoking
Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Plastic Man is one of the most powerful heroes in the DC Multiverse. He’s not just a stretchy hero, but one who can shape his body into anything he can think of. However, it goes further than that. If he makes his body into a rocket ship, it will be able to fly into space. If he transforms into a oven, he can cook food. He’s not just a stretchy hero or a just shapechanger. He can make his body into anything he wants and is basically indestructible.

1) Animal Man

Animal Man in DC Comics
Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Animal Man is a DC icon and at first glance, his powers don’t seem all that weird. There are numerous heroes who can use animals abilities, but they usually either change into the beasts or have wings or claws or scales or the like. However, Buddy Baker’s powers have no physical component. He can fly without wings, breath underwater without gills, and do whatever any animal can do. He gains these powers by tapping into the Red, the animal equivalent of the Green, which sort of explains it all, but also doesn’t really make any sense. Fans have gotten used to how he works, but that makes the whole thing no less weird.

What’s your favorite weird Justice Leaguer? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!