View on GitHub

Blog of Ashley

This is my blog

Origins of Power: Six Ways To Be A Superhero

Introduction

Across comics, tv, film, etc. superheroes have captured our imaginations and allowed us to see worlds we never thought possible.

Across comics, franchises, and all the spaces that superheroes inhabit I have noticed approximately six different major ways a superhero (or supervillain) comes to be.

These six ways are:

There are some caveats to the above list as some heroes cross these types, such as “Born with Powers” and “Alien/Non-human” tend to intersect frequently, they are mostly clearly defined segments that have interesting impacts on each hero’s story.

Analyzing the ways that origin stories impact the rest of the story is interesting and illustrates the way that superhero story has changed.

Science Experiment/Accident

First, might be one of the most popular avenues to gain superpowers, Science experiments and accidents.

On some level this can be two separate categories but usually accidents that produce superpowers tend to be scientific.

Some superheroes that received powers this way is:

Super humans that receive powers through science or accidents tend to occur in underdog stories. Peter Parker is an underdog, he experiences poverty, poor work environment, personal issues, etc. Captain America was originally a poor kid from Brookyln who went to the army in order to do something great.

Getting powers through science allow regular people to be great and allow us to believe in the greatness within ourselves. Lots of these stories focus on the heroes being special before their powers. Over the course of the Marvel movies, Captain America is continuously shown to be special without the Super Soldier Serum such as the time he jumped on what he thought was a live grenade in “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011).

Underdog stories allow us to believe in ourselves and our own innate gifts.

Born With Powers

Few super people are born with their gifts in multiple ways. This type tends to intersect with the “Alien” path as some species have powers. This section will focus on the non-alien super humans.

Heroes that fall under this type:

Popular storylines involving metas who were born with their powers tend to revolve around discrimination as a result. Several X-Men storylines deal with mutant discrimination such as the “E is for Extinction”(2001) comic, “X-Men ‘97”(2024-), the Fox X-Men movies(2000-2019), etc.

“The Incredibles” also deals with super human discrimination as the film follows the issues the Pars have after supers were deemed illegal. Super humans who were born with their powers tend to serve as allegories for discrimination across several groups in order to craft their narratives and demonstrate the ways discrimination hurts people.

Magic

Some supers are magical beings whether they learned their powers or were born with them.

Some superheroes who use magic are:

Magical beings tend to open up stories to deal more with the supernatural aspects of their worlds that non magical heroes do not always come in contact with. Several heroes in this type also intersect with the “Born With Powers” track as magic is sometimes innate to a person, like Zatanna.

Shows with magic characters like “Young Justice”(2010-Present) and “Teen Titans” (2003-2006) often deal with the mystical world of their universes. “Young Justice” features Klarion the Witch Boy on several occasions and deals with magical villains at several points in the show’s run. “Teen Titans” magical plotlines often surround Raven and her father Trigon and lead her to development internally and magically.

Magical characters can lead to interesting plotlines that help expand the world and develop its characters using new situations.

Alien/Non-Human

Many characters in superhero stories are alien or non-human and their backgrounds gave them powers. Some human characters’ contact with alien (or off Earth) life or technology also provides them with powers.

Super humans whose powers stem from alien or non-numan backgrounds:

Storylines that surround alien characters tend to focus on them adjusting to Earth culture and life. This adjustment can also be the source of comedy as confusion surrounding Earth customs in contrast to the characters’ alien customs is the source of a lot of comedic moments. Earth characters’ confusion about alien customs is also used as comedy.

These stories also see characters deal with homesickness, a lack of belonging, etc. Alien characters who lost their home planets or are the last of their kind in some way deal with these issues but with a lot more tragedy surrounding it. Some stories also see these characters try to find others of their kind or another member will reveal themselves in some way, like Superman finding Supergirl or learning about Superboy.

Sometimes, stories surrounding alien characters also bring them back to their home planets. In “Teen Titans” season 3, episode 3 “Betrothed”, Starfire returns to Tamaran to marry Glgrdsklechhh (grr-dill-sklech), ruler of Drenthax IV in return for Blackfire receiving The Jewel of Charta.

Alien characters tend to echo feelings people have dealing with not belonging which are common in many superhero stories but receive a lot of focus in relation to human characters.

Technology/Money

In real life and fictional realities, money is a super power. Several characters get powers as a result of their wealth funding technology that allow them to have powers. Technology can also be separate from money which is the case for several superhumans.

Characters who gain power from technology or money are:

Stories surrounding these characters often revolve around money and power covering deep-seated issues or raising a regular person to extraordinary levels, similar to science experiment/accident superheros.

Stories surrounding characters with money tend to focus on internal problems that they plaster over with the trappings of wealth. Major incidents tend to lead these characters to being a superhero as a way of resolving their issues or giving themselves some purpose. Batman’s parents death led him to become a hero and Iron Man’s capture led him to becoming Iron Man.

Characters who gain powers solely through technology tend to have stories that deal with adjusting to life with this new technology, sometimes that may consider themselves less human. Blue Beetle had to get used to the Scarab that gave him his suit and his plotlines in “Young Justice” tended to deal with him learning about the Scarab’s origins ad powers. Cyborg also dealt with issues around feeling human in the wake of his rebirth as a cyborg.

Becoming one with a machine brings up ideas of humanity, adjusting to new circumstances, dealing with internal issues that reflect issues common amongst people.

Extremely Skilled

Finally, superheroes who do not have powers turn to honing expert combat or weapons skills in order to become heroes.

Heroes who utilize combat or weapons exclusively are:

In a similar fashion to the science experiment and technology paths, superheroes who use combat to fight crime demonstrate the power of human resolve and how anyone can be a hero. These heroes also deal with their humanity as they are regular people who fight alongside gods. Their stories tackle themes of perseverance, humanity, and a commitment to doing good.

Several combat characters are more stoic and other characters and the story try to look behind the curtain that they have created for themselves. Artemis from “Young Justice” initial coldness ends up resulting from her hiding her background as Sportmaster’s (as well as the original Huntress) daughter. These heroes tend to be emotionally stunted and their stories tend to see them learn to let people in.

Sometimes the training these characters undergo often causes issues that follow them throughout their lives. Black Widow’s time in the Red Room motivates her to do good in order to combat all the bad she has done while being a Black Widow (it is frequently brought up that she has “red in her ledger”). Her past is also shown to continuously haunt her as seen in her Scarlet Witch vision in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (20l5) and Loki using past to manipulate her in “The Avengers” (2012) (even though her reaction is an act, it is clear her past haunts her).

Combat and weapon heroes deal with their own humanity and issues through their hero work that display their commitment to helping the world and the ways we can deal with our issues.

Multi Heroes

Several heroes get their powers in multiple ways which can cause a gray area. The length of characters’ existence and the way multiple writers handle them tend to complicate their origins as it can change throughout iterations.

Some heroes fall into two categories like Wolverine’s powers stem from the X-gene but his powers are also due to the Weapon X project giving him an adamantium skeleton.

Some heroes fall into three categories of gaining powers. For example, Superboy is a clone of Superman made from his DNA. This origin means he falls into the science experiment, alien/non-human, and born with categories. Raven falls into the alien/non-human, born with, and magic categories due to her father being Trigon.

The Scarlet Witch falls into four categories: science experiment, born with, alien/non-human, and magic due to her being born with magic and being exposed to the Mind Stone (alien/non-human in origin) in Strucker’s experiments which increased her powers.

Here is a table that list some heroes:

Spreadsheet charting some heroes whose powers cross categories

Note: Gray area markings note leeway for intrepretation. Cyborg's powers orignated from the Mother Box in Young Justice. Beast Boy's powers are alien in orgin due to getting Miss Martian's blood to save him in Young Justice. Superboy is a clone of Superman and therefore gets filed under "Alien/Non-human" despite him being born/made on Earth.

(While not marked on chart) The Scarlet Witch's powers were increased by Strucker's experiments which exposed her to the Mind Stone (alien/off world source).

Conclusion

Super humans get powers in a multitude of ways and these origins shape the stories we see and the character arcs they go on. Stories deal with several themes like lack of belonging, believing in ourselves, what makes a human, etc. These themes help us learn more about the world around us even in an extraordinary setting. No matter what way a superhero gets their powers, their stories inspire us and help us navigate our own world and lives.