5. Hank Pym
First he was a guy who could shrink and talk to bugs, then he could become a giant, then he was stuck as a giant, then he was just a jerk but normal size. CONTROL Z! CONTROL Z!
4. Golden Age Atom
Originally Al Pratt was just a little dude who knew how to fight. HE SAVED FDR FROM NAZIS! Then Roy Thomas gave him super strength and an atomic punch. They just need to leave the little guys alone.
3. Emma Frost
Originally a telepath, she can now also turn into living diamond. Evolution has no solution for her pants problem.
2. Black Canary
She lost her husband and left her dimension….which is totally reasonable. In the trip to an alternate world she gained a sonic scream. She did not gain pants in the inter-dimensional void. P.S. All JSAers had to jump through the hoop, not just the ladies.
1. Superman
At the beginnng all he had was some hops, a tough hide, some strength, and a problem with bad apples. Mort Weisinger got a hold of him and within a few years he was pushing planets around, travelling through time, and handing out life lessons. Still had a problem with bad apples.
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It’s funny to see how much Superman changed from his inital apperance and how little he has changed since the 70’s.
I’d like to see a younger Peter Parker style Superman
@cronin Try Invincible.
Who designed Al Pratt’s costume? Was it Emma Frost? A little less skin please, old man! Maybe lower cut shorts and a higher cut top? If he got rid of the mask & cape, he would fit in on Jersey Shore!
Doofy power changes in the last 10-15 years:
1. Gambit can charge things just by looking at them. (He seems to have lost it now)
2. Psylocke becomes a psionic ninja who is British??
3. Spider-man has spiky things coming out of his arms.
4. X-23 has a spiky toe (I guess that’s original)
5. Luke Cage has no fro. it’s just not the same!!
Does Emma Frost wear lollies like cheerleaders wear or is it a Victoria’s Secret type ensemble?? I don’t see that holding up in a battle.
I think the most impractical part of Emma Frost’s outfit is that cape. Ok…well maybe the crazy high heels too.
I’ll add Angel/Archangel with all his revisions. I really like that he can change from Angel to Archangel now.
@WeaklyRoll Whenever i think of how little Superman’s changed over the years, i just stop and think how the superman paralells have changed over the years to judge what he’d be like untampered with. Right now Superman would be a big old dick of a dick.
let us never forget electic superman… and then red AND blue electric superman
You could do a Top 5 on Superman’s revisions alone.
I usually roll my eyes at cheesecake costumes, but I’ve never had a problem with Emma’s. Am I a hypocrite?
@Cronin
Also maybe try the Superman: Earth One book (by JMS) It MIGHT be the ticket. Young Clark hits the big city right after college. “Should I be the most hyped professional athlete ever, or should I just rake in the dough in the private sector? I know! BOTH!”
@jestr Don’t forget Angel’s healing blood!
I don’t mind secondary mutations like Beast, but I prefer when it’s one character, one power. Ability stacking is just dumb, everyone ends up vaguely able to fly and shoot energy. Zzz….
Superman is amazing over his life time. He’s even had Superman Vision which can grant others his abilities. Warp through time and space, mimic any sound, super ventriloquism. Eidetic Memory. He’s gone from being able to lift a train to moving planets the size of Jupiter and right now can only move something the size of Pluto.
I do prefer Superman to be somewhat limited, he’s one of the few characters that the more powers he gets the less interesting he becomes. As opposed to Batman where the more gadgets and skills he accumulates the more likely you’re going to say Damn right the Batman would know that, he’s the God Damn Batman.
Power: lolicon -> Grown Woman.
I do remember a character from the X-factor who was a lolicon and now thanks to time travel is now of legal age. Ironically sales when DOWN after that issue. I guess the Otaku lossed interest.
An let us never forget Guy Gardener: Warrior
@marshak75 Psylocke was always psionic and British.
Bishop’s powers changed after his first issue or two. He originally was absorbing and immitating people’s powers, then I guess they changed their minds and he started absorbing energy and converting it to a generic bio-blast. That happened in the span of like two issues.
@g0ofgnewt Or its Marvel mirror, when War Machine became The Guyver. Good times. I read it all.
@g0ofgnewt is right. Let us never forget the horrors of Guy Gardner: Warrior.
In the same vein as The Atom’s atomic punch, Grant Morrison randomly gave Wildcat 9 lives. Is that still a thing? Is that mentioned every now and again? I haven’t kept up with my JSA.
Also, Spider-Man was given some bitchin’ new powers during JMS’ run that Mephisto took away as easily as his marriage to MJ.
I think you could put most, if not all, of the X-Men and other mutants in this category as #1.
Also, for a while in West Coast Avengers, Dr. Pym was “suffused with Pym particles,” so he could shrink and enlarge other things. So that happened.
@pyynk Nah, because Emma’s look/costumes are really addressed as part of her character. Most cheesecake costumes are seen as fairly normal wear. Emma’s are not. In fact, if I remember correctly, that picture of Emma is actually taken from an X-Men Classic backstory where she explains in usual arrogant fashion to a Hellfire Club cocktail waitress how her outfit is not demeaning but rather she uses it to demean the men around her or some such thing, how sexuality is one of her weapons.
Superman also had that big change in the ninetys when he got the proportional strength and speed of a Mullet.
@JeffR Wildcats nine lives were attributed by Morrison to explain how Wildcat keeps on fighting despite his age. Johns developed it a little. As it stands Wildcat would have to be killed 9 times at the same time or one after another to kill him.
I think the lives were given to him by Zatarra and therefore he always has 9 lives, like a cat is said to.
you know what, Superman’s kryptonite should be ONLY Green kryptonite. No magic. no red, blue , yellow or whatever Kryptonite, just green.
just sayin’
I know this is an old thread, but it popped up on the “you might also like thing” so it’s fair game to comment on. For my money, the list of best characters with revised powers has to include Sue Storm! When she first hit the scene as The Invisible Girl, she could just turn invisible. That’s it. Not terribly helpful at all, no matter how much Jack kirby tried to make it look like she as an asset to the team. It got so bad tat at one point, the rest of the team, in super condescending tones, were saying that Sue was basically useless, but it improved morale to have a pretty girl around. I WISH i was making that up, but it happened. In the same issue that Ben Grimm got mad an ripped General Thunderbolt Ross’s collection of leather bound phone books. The Marvel U was a very, very special place in the 60s…….
Anyway, Sue went from being just able to turn invisible and being told she was only on the team because she was hot, to becoming, BY FAR, the most powerful member of the team once they added in her force field/telekinetic powers. So that was a pretty great decision right there.
@Checkmate I think there should be two kryptonites: One that just makes him weak and helpless, and one that turns him into a gigantic pink bunny rabbit.
@Cronin: I was gonna suggest JMS and Shane Davis’s Superman:Earth One, but looks like someone already did. Shane’s pencils are sweet and its a good fresh take on one of his first outings as Superman, like the beginning of a legacy feeling. Might even was supposed to be his first encounter with a threat but was cool, eye candy and original, out of continuity sure but its a modern stand alone story that just adds to the characters collection of great stories.