How would you nerf/upgrade OP or UP superheroes and supervillians?

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BridgeConsoleMasher
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Re: How would you nerf/upgrade OP or UP superheroes and supervillians?

Post by BridgeConsoleMasher »

GreyICE wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2020 3:36 pm
BridgeConsoleMasher wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2020 1:06 pm
clearspira wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2020 10:16 am Movie Wolverine is guilty of power creep. He really did not seem that tough in 1 and 2 tbh.
Well how is he in the comix? I left the movie theater with my friend and we agreed that CGI pretty much added to his powers when you see huge gashes coming back together like water.

I'm not sure if he read the comics but we were both under the impression that like a broken leg for him would heal in a couple of days as opposed to a month, but not just defy gravity like that. Though thinking back on it, he probably doesn't deal with broken bones specifically.
Wolverine's power level is entirely dependent on the writer. When he was first introduced he could heal rapidly, and his bones are unbreakable (adamantium). So cut him open, and he'd stagger around for a while holding his stomach, and then be fine.

As he branched out into more and more titles, his power level increased. Around Civil War 1 it reached its peak, when Nuke (a mutant who could explode in a nuclear blast and reform himself) burned Wolverine down to his skeleton with a a blast powerful enough to level a town, and Wolverine regenerated from a skeleton to just fine in about a minute.

At that point Marvel decided that he was too powerful, and like only comic books can, invented an explanation. See, Lady Death had a crush on him, so he couldn't die because she wouldn't let him. So that's why his powers kept accelerating, because she was rejecting his body's attempts to die. He turned her down, and she took away her blessing, leaving him closer to his "stagger around for a bit after being sliced open" level.

Only that's fucking nonsense, as you can tell by reading it, so everyone is ignoring it ever happened and his power is still all over the map.

Oh yeah, and in current comic continuity he's literally immortal, like all mutants who aren't Kitty Pryde.
That makes sense. That's a pretty rad concept as far as how much a writing head can take things where they want to go, particularly in a medium as imaginative as that. I get the vibe of inconsistency though, if that's where you were going.

I thought him shielding the soldier in Hiroshima/Nagasaki in Wolverine was kinda like 'wut ok I guess,' though it makes sense when it's just where a writer wanted to take it. Makes more sense than with how they did the Star Wars movies too imo.



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..What mirror universe?
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clearspira
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Re: How would you nerf/upgrade OP or UP superheroes and supervillians?

Post by clearspira »

There are some characters in fiction that are so overpowered it takes great skill to write them as anything other than boring. Superman, Goku, Dr Who and Batman are the four I would put at the top of this list, but Wolverine is now definitely up there.

Sadly, Superman being a possible exception, these characters did not start out that way. Goku was a strong but still quite killable child who had a massive weak point with his tail, the Doctor was a feeble old man, Batman could still be credibly called a normal human being, and Wolverine's healing wasn't godlike.

Less capable writers really do need to aim for the middle ground.
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Re: How would you nerf/upgrade OP or UP superheroes and supervillians?

Post by GreyICE »

BridgeConsoleMasher wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2020 6:43 pmThat makes sense. That's a pretty rad concept as far as how much a writing head can take things where they want to go, particularly in a medium as imaginative as that. I get the vibe of inconsistency though, if that's where you were going.

I thought him shielding the soldier in Hiroshima/Nagasaki in Wolverine was kinda like 'wut ok I guess,' though it makes sense when it's just where a writer wanted to take it. Makes more sense than with how they did the Star Wars movies too imo.
Check out the two series House of X and Powers of X, the twin 6-issue reboot series that Marvel used to bring the series back. Jonathan Hickman just blew it out of the park, bringing in tons of science fiction concepts like posthumanism, AI, and a lot more. Things like this are completely original to the series:

Image
Image

Note that we later get Types of Societies [Universal]. And oh boy, they're the Eldritch abominations you think they should be. They're all ranked Kardashev Type 0, for starters (unmeasurable on the scale). And there's three of them.

Great series, highly recommend checking it out. I also recommend the X-Men, New Mutants, and Marauders series as great X-Men series, with a "wait and see" on X-Force (they just started it, and the Diamond Comics - Corona situation has left it in limbo. I'm kind of mixed on the series in general, it's got moments of greatness and moments of blah).
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Re: How would you nerf/upgrade OP or UP superheroes and supervillians?

Post by McAvoy »

Speaking of Lady Death. Deadpool was once killed and Lady Death took a liking to him. Or him to her. Not sure. But Thanos has a huge crush on Death. So he made Deadpool immortal to prevent him from meeting up with Lady Death somewhere down the line.

Pretty much all comic book characters are immortal. Just a matter of time before they are brought back to life even if they have been dead for decades.
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