Superpowers can run the gamut, even (perhaps especially) within Marvel Comics. Some heroes get all the luck, with an impressive set of skills, abilities, and powers. However, the unlucky heroes who get the complicated powers can certainly tell some of the most interesting stories around. Meanwhile, there are the characters whose abilities have never quite made sense. Their powers may seem cool on the surface, but the more one thinks about it, the less sense they make. Given that this is the world of comics we’re talking about, that probably doesn’t matter all that much, at least not in the grand scheme of things.
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Since Marvel is all about superheroes, there’s a natural requirement for readers to suspend their belief. There’s nothing wrong with this, and it tends to create a fantastical escape for readers to dive into. Throwing mutations, serums, and the like into an origin story can add a lot to a character’s adventure, even if it sometimes makes them a little less relatable. We still love these heroes, even if their powers make us raise our eyebrows.
1) Boom-Boom – Plasma Energy Time Bombs
Tabitha Smith is one of those heroes who should never be left unsupervised. She doesn’t do well with boredom, and her name should offer a few hints as to why that might be dangerous. Tabitha has toyed with many names over the years, including Boomer, Time Bomb, and Meltdown. Mostly, she just goes by Boom-Boom.
Boom-Boom’s powers live up to her name, as she can create these balls of plasma. She calls them time bombs, and they burst out with an immense amount of force. Here’s the thing: it’s the fact that they’re made out of plasma that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Plasma is really just a supercharged gas, which doesn’t make a lot of sense in this context. It makes even less sense that these plasma balls have a timer on them.
2) Quicksilver’s Got the Speed, But No Invulnerability, and That’s a Problem
Pietro Maximoff often gets the short end of the stick in Marvel Comics. He’s a twin, but most people know far more about his sister, Wanda. Better known as Quicksilver, Pietro is a classic speedster, though admittedly, he’s a pretty underrated one, all things considered. He’s not the fastest hero around, but he has saved the day on more than one occasion.
Anybody who has spent any time reading up on speeders knows that it isn’t just their speed we have to think about. Their durability is also a concern. Friction and physics are the real enemy of a speedster, as they can (and will) put increasing amounts of force on the body. It’s a lot for any hero to take, but it’s often not talked about.
3) Angel’s Wings Are Stunning, But Not Enough to Carry Anything Human-Sized
Warren Kenneth Worthington III is one of the most iconic members of the X-Men. He’s better known to most as Angel, and it’s not hard to guess how he got that name. Angel has been through a lot over the years, and we do mean a lot. His most defining feature is, obviously, his massive white wings.
Naturally, even wings that large would not be strong enough to lift a human being. The comics have tried to explain that Warren has hollow bones (more akin to a bird’s) to enable his flight, but this doesn’t hold up to closer inspection. Hollow bones and stronger muscles can only get one so far, and it’s certainly not enough to obtain flight for Angel, and that’s without remembering all the times he’s picked up somebody else mid-flight.
4) Maggot – Sentient Slugs for Guts
Most fans can agree that Japheth, better known as Maggot, has one of the grossest superpowers around. No offense. Japheth has a pair of slug-like creatures in place of a digestive system. Yes, really. They’re sentient, so Maggot dubbed them Eany and Meany, which is pretty appropriate. The slugs can eat through almost any type of matter, which not only keeps Maggot sustained but can also give him superpowers.
There’s a lot we could say about Maggot. Like most mutants, his powers kicked in when he was on the younger side, starting with horrific stomach pains. It’s the stuff of nightmares for many readers. While the power boost part is pretty interesting, it admittedly doesn’t make a lot of sense. The slugs are also a weakness for Maggot, as he needs to keep them nearby for his health.
5) Ruby Thursday – Magical and Spherical Head
Aside from the obvious play on words in her name, Ruby Thursday is a strange supervillain from Marvel Comics. Her real name is Thursday Rubinstein (yes, really), and she’s an occasional villain who appears across the likes of the Defenders and allies. As you may have noticed, she has a giant red sphere in place of a head, and that’s where things get a bit weird.
Ruby Thursday has never explained how she was able to replace her human head with that of a red sphere, which is really organic circuitry. How she survived the process is beyond us. Having survived this transformation, she can change the shape of her head, including forming up to eight tentacles. She can also project energy blasts and other fun offensive moves.
6) Leap-Frog Technically Has the Power to Jump, But Not Land Safely
Vincent Patilio, better known as Leap-Frog, is not exactly the biggest supervillain around. In fact, it would be totally justified for more casual readers to have no idea who this character even is. He’s a more comedic villain of Marvel Comics, because we all need an excuse to smile sometimes, right?
Leap-Frog is an incredibly talented inventor, and that explains his suit. It allows him to jump to incredible heights, hence the name and moniker. Here’s the thing: the suit allowed Leap-Frog to hit these amazing heights, but it had no safe landing function. Think about that for a moment. For him to safely land, Vincent had to get it perfect every time. Readers know this because Vincent’s son, Eugene, seriously struggled with mastering the art of landing. Yes, this does mean he got hurt on several occasions. Why wouldn’t such a brilliant mind adjust the design to make it a little bit safer, for his son, if nothing else?
7) Wasp’s Abilities Are Slightly Inconsistent
Janet Van Dyne is the incredible Wasp, and fans adore her. That said, there are a few inconsistencies in how her powers work, and that makes things a bit confusing at times. Like Ant-Man, The Wasp can both shrink and grow. She’s more famous for going small, and some versions of her character seem to have a hefty toll when she grows larger.
When the Wasp is tiny, she has these useful wings on her back that help her get around. These wings magically disappear when she shifts back to her normal size, but we could honestly overlook that problem. The real issue is just how powerful those wings would have to be! Since both Ant-Man and Wasp maintain their mass when they shrink, Janet’s wings would have to be capable of lifting the average human. If that’s the case, why not use the wings when she’s normally sized?
8) Spider-Woman’s (Julia Carpenter) Psionic Abilities
Julia Carpenter is one of many Spider-Sonas to have appeared across the wider Marvel Universe (Spider-Verse). Unsurprisingly, she has a slight variation on how her powers came to be, as she joined up with an athletic study, eventually getting powers in the process.
While Julia Carpenter, aka Spider-Woman, has many of the classic Spider abilities, she’s also a powerful psionic. Most notably, she can fire off these psionic web castings, which are pretty strange. It’s like Marvel wanted to give her psionic abilities, but felt determined to keep everything spider-themed, even if it took it beyond the realm of reason. Realistically, we don’t have a problem with Marvel varying up powers within the Spider-themed heroes; it keeps things interesting, but psychic abilities are a surprising trait for a spider, right?
9) Husk’s Shapeshifting Limitations (or Lack Thereof)
Paige Guthrie is a complicated hero hailing from X-Men. She’s got a long history and plenty of trauma to go around, which isn’t uncommon when you’ve lived to see your school blown up several times. Also known as Husk, Paige has the unique ability to shed her outer layer of skin. She can then grow a new layer of skin consisting of pretty much any material she wants/needs. It sounds like a pretty cool ability, right?
The comics have always tried to make it clear that there’s a natural limit to Husk’s ability. She can only shed so many times before she causes immense amounts of pain and damage. However, those limitations tend to disappear when she’s in a pinch. It’s a minor quibble, but Husk’s limitations are part of what makes her interesting.
10) Deadpool – Technically, Shouldn’t There Be Dozens of Deadpools by Now?
Marvel fans love (or love to hate) Deadpool, and with good reason. He’s as entertaining as he is chaotic. Deadpool is infamous for being the Merc with a Mouth, but that’s not all he’s known for. Wade has an incredibly high rate of regeneration, thanks to the experiment he survived (which utilized stolen cells from Wolverine, naturally).
Fans have seen Deadpool survive and regenerate from some astounding wounds, including a beheading. He’s come back from almost any injury, but that raises a question. If Wade can regenerate from just a head, how does his body know when to stop regenerating? Wouldn’t every severed limb grow a new Deadpool? It’s not like the cells can magically know that Deadpool is still functioning somewhere else. The thought of hundreds of little Deadpools running around is both hilarious and terrifying, so we understand why writers overlook this particular conundrum.
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Image Courtesy of Madhouse
