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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 18, 2016 9:39:46 GMT -5
Yeah, I know. All superhero origins are silly and hard to believe. But some are just dopey.
The Blue Devil was a stunt man that created a suit for a movie and was permanently fused with his suit once a demon attacked him.
That's a dumb origin. How does he go to the bathroom ? What origin do you find to be silly beyond tolerance?
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 18, 2016 9:45:13 GMT -5
I seem to recall the origin of Hawk and Dove (the 60's version, anyway) being pretty lame. They hid from some killers, who'd killed their father, in a closet, and basically wished for some superpowers, and a disembodied voice just gave them some powers and costumes, without any sort of explanation as to who he was & why he'd done that. Granted, this was a recap of their origin, so maybe the full origin goes into more detail, and maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but I just remember it being a really terrible origin where these two guys wished for superpowers, then got them, just 'cuz.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2016 9:45:28 GMT -5
As you said the majority of them are just stupid. Most of Marvel's heroes were created by radiation. It should kill you not give you powers! But Elongated Man is crazy. Drinking Gingold makes him able to stretch???
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2016 10:03:23 GMT -5
Barry Allen Flash and Wally West Kid Flash Origins Both Identical, but happen two years apart ...  To me, that's silly (as I think about it) to think that lightning strikes twice on two different people? |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 18, 2016 10:58:35 GMT -5
As you said the majority of them are just stupid. Most of Marvel's heroes were created by radiation. It should kill you not give you powers! But Elongated Man is crazy. Drinking Gingold makes him able to stretch??? The host of that old show Prisoners of Gravity once commented that it's an entire genre based on industrial accidents. |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Jul 18, 2016 11:31:55 GMT -5
The Whizzer - A transfusion of mongoose blood following a bite from a venomous cobra = super-speed?
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Post by DE Sinclair on Jul 18, 2016 14:38:33 GMT -5
The Whizzer - A transfusion of mongoose blood following a bite from a venomous cobra = super-speed? That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the title. As a substitute, how about the Blue Diamond? He's standing by an enormous blue diamond that gets blown to teeny-tiny shrapnel that impregnates his entire body (including the side facing away from the diamond) and doesn't bleed to death, but becomes hard as a diamond. Huh? |
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Post by foxley on Jul 18, 2016 15:50:23 GMT -5
Whizzer was also the first one I thought of.
Quality's Miss America was sitting beside the Statue of Liberty when she had the somewhat illogical thought of how great it would be to have the powers of the statue. (What powers? Being immobile? Slowly acquiring verdigris?) She then fell asleep and dreamed she was visited by the spirit of the statue who gifted her superpowers. When she awoke, she had the power to transmute the elements. What's that got to do with the Statue of Liberty? Would not some kind of torch-based powers make more sense? Or the ability to transform her to metal, or grow to giant size?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2016 16:20:54 GMT -5
Pretty much anything that involves chemicals, radiation, transfusions, accidents....
That is why Superman & Batman origins look brilliant compared to most other heroes.
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Post by Phil Maurice on Jul 18, 2016 17:00:32 GMT -5
Pretty much anything that involves chemicals, radiation, transfusions, accidents.... Yeah, I was also thinking of some of the chemically-enhanced heroes, like Captain America, The Hourman, and even Underdog. The worst offender though had to be The Black Terror, a pharmacist who experimented on himself with "formic ethers" which granted him super-strength and invulnerability. But he also allowed his teen assistant Tim to inhale the ethers and join him in his crusade, dubbing themselves "The Terror Twins." "Toxic Twins" may have been more apt.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2016 17:26:37 GMT -5
This thread is great. It reminds me why I love the inherent silliness of superheroes...and why I really don't like the attempts to make them more "realistic".
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2016 17:29:30 GMT -5
Pretty much anything that involves chemicals, radiation, transfusions, accidents.... Yeah, I was also thinking of some of the chemically-enhanced heroes, like Captain America, The Hourman, and even Underdog. The worst offender though had to be The Black Terror, a pharmacist who experimented on himself with "formic ethers" which granted him super-strength and invulnerability. But he also allowed his teen assistant Tim to inhale the ethers and join him in his crusade, dubbing themselves "The Terror Twins." "Toxic Twins" may have been more apt. I loved Project: Superpowers for reviving a lot of these "forgotten" Golden Age heroes. I was disappointed that Dynamite never did Vol 3... |
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Post by Action Ace on Jul 18, 2016 23:05:30 GMT -5
Black CondorWill Eisner and Lou Fine! When he gets back to the US, he discovers the dead body of a US Senator that looks just like him. So he becomes Senator Black Condor!  OK, his real name is Richard Grey Jr. and he assumed the identity of Senator Thomas Wright. This origin got retconned to radioactive meteor to make it more plausible.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 19, 2016 2:30:22 GMT -5
Well, I suppose you could posit that the laws of physics are slightly different in superhero universes. They pretty much have to be, given that even many "science based" powers operate outside the bounds of what is currently believed to be possible. Certainly Superman's Silver Age feats would have to be explained like this. This would also make it feasible for radiation and chemical formulas's to work on humans. I always thought that The Wrecker's origin was amusing:  |
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Post by Red Oak Kid on Jul 19, 2016 10:15:22 GMT -5
Great thread! These origins seem really silly when you try to explain them in words but when you are reading them along with the pictures they seem a bit more believable.
Right?
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