Greetings nerdy list aficionados and welcome back to Top 10 Nerd today we’re talking
powers or rather heroes without them. There a plenty of heroes with powers out there and
then those without now this isn’t one of those let them fight style videos but rather
an examination of which heroes are better without powers either because it makes them
more interesting or because they just can’t handle them or both and no they’re not all
going to be members of the bat family, though there will be more than one member on here
it’s inevitable. I’m Sasha and these are the Top 10 Superheroes Who Are Better Without
superpowers. Also disclaimer you may completely disagree and that’s 100% fine everybody
likes different arcs there’s no need to burn it all down I mean unless you want to
watch the world burn. Let’s get started.
Number 10 – Lex Luthor – Now I can here you are you ok this is a superheroes list
I knew it she was a fake gamer girl the entire time and she moves her hands too much. Well
hold your horses because Lex has been good before debuting in Action Comics #23 (April
1940) Lex has undergone a fair few changes over the course of his existence and bears
littler resemblance to how he first started out, literally. Goodbye ginger lex. So when
was Lex good well most recently rebirth after the death of the new 52 superman who was not
the rebirth Superman who was still alive but not active as he was living his bets life
with Lois and their son Jon. So Lex decided to become the protector of Metropolis donning
silver suit a little reminiscent of Steel’s and with his resources, intellect and prior
experience as a supervillain. Hero Lex is a force to be reckoned with although he does
have to contend with people being justifiably very suspicious of him especially Clark. Now
Lex has never needed powers to accomplish anything he’s done so his heroic turn was
no different but it must be said that one of the great things about villain Lex is that
tragic knowledge we all have that as a hero he could do so much good but his Clark obsession
cause you’ll never be able to convince me he hasn’t always know Clark is Superman
will be his undoing. I don’t care the era, time period or comic Lex knows change my mind.
Number 9 Galahad this is on here cause I want to tell you about insufferable. So insufferable
was a purely digital comic though it was later released in trade paperback form written by
Mark Waid and released by Thrillbent starting in 2012. It’s kinda tapered off cause digital
wasn’t exactly as huge a hot commodity as they anticipated. People read it but there
will always be something about holding it and knowing that no one can just delete it
and you’ll never be able to access it again, PT anyone. So this series centered around
the broken relationship of a superhero dynamic duo a father and son team. For our purposes
we need the son Galahad the former sidekick who outed his superhero identity and his father’s
by proxy when he quit the team in a huff in public. He used his newfound notoriety to
launch himself as a brand and start a company endorsements a full blown social media presence
that’s Galahad. This story is interesting in how it incorporates social media with the
public slowly turning against Galahad and him having set up a life where he has no escape.
He’s better without powers cause with them well he wouldn’t get into half the troubles
he does and people would probably turn on him less fast his humanity and well frankly
jerkiness makes him easy to meme on. The first arc of this series was interesting check it
out if you haven’t. Number 8 – The Question I’ll take all
questions here but my heart belongs to the first question Vic Sage. Admittedly largely
because of the justice league unlimited series, did you know he was voiced y Jeffrey Combs
all my worlds colliding. The question made his first appearance in Blue Beetle #1 (June
1967) the question wears an artificial skin made of an adhesive bandage like material
to keep his identity secret or a question, ok I’ll stop. His appeal is that you get
a different kind of story with the question a more classic hardboiled detective story
but he moves in a world of suerheroes so he has to be smart and keep his nose to the ground
to find the information he needs and not be totally annihilated by people with powers.
He’s trained himself up but even then he’s not dodging any bullets. The question is a
nice change of pace and with powers he just wouldn’t be the same he may be more effective
but would he have the same charm. The first question would pass on his mantle to Renee
Montoya before dying of cancer but then the new 52 and rebirth happened so he got better
but he’s not the question anymore. He’s a government agent it’s not the same and
way to mulder they make a little conspiracy theorist sometimes.
Number 7 – Wildcat the first one who appeared in Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942) Ted
Grant one of the core members of the JSA the justice society of America. And yes we’re
ignoring all the tomahawk stuff ssssh it never happened. So initially wildcat had powers
kinda he technically was gifted with nine lives but that’s it no super strength so
super agility. Just an average joe so he trained himself up and is a world class boxer who
would go on to train next generation heroes like Batman Black Canary and superman and
yet Harley's black book wants me to believe Harley could take clark in a fight that stories
from her perspective so I’ll let her have it but sure Jan. Now there are multiple origins
and versions of Ted but a core throughout is his struggle because he doesn’t have
powers because he can be hurt, because he’s getting older and slowing down and no amount
of lives is going to make you more effective in a fight if you’re just aging out. Wildcat
is a good example of something dc does or rather depending upon the comic did well.
That of legacy characters making characters evolve and pass down mantles and have to struggle
with that. A powered wildcat isn’t wildcat it removes his struggle also then the fights
between him and power girl would be a lot worse.
Number 6 – Iron Man he’s so low on here because well with the amount of tech he has
at this point even infused in him he might as well have powers let’s be honest. His
increased popularity thanks to the mcu has led to some character shifts in his comic
version. However fundamentally Tony doesn’t have powers everything has been developed
though his intellect and yes resources so there’s a sense of struggle there which
was even more present when he very much needed his suit to live and couldn’t even leave
it for a time he’s dependent on these things they weren’t accessories they were life
saving he was making lemonade out of lemons. The fact that he has is tech based always
means there’s that fear it could break or something else could go wrong you know like
your suit gaining sentience and kidnapping you cause it loves you and is super controlling
and abusive. Iron Man is unique in a world of essentially gods just everywhere walking
amongst us so even as powered as he may appear compared to some of the others on this list
in the Marvel verse he’s average, god that’s a terrifying thought.
Numer 5 Roy Harper/Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow – so Roy’s first alias was a s speedy
he debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941) he was 100% not Robin just like how
green arrow isn’t batman ignore his arrowcave and arrowplane sigh the puns. They’ve diverged
way more now but at the beginning… we all know what was going on. However speedy would
break out to become a compelling character and lots of his struggles come from being
powerless and trying to find his place in the world and having a terrible mentor. Because
he has no powers writers place him in scenarios they’re less likely to place a powered hero
in. For example Roy’s drug addiction, which is a short story and it’s not even really
about him until after. He would also go on to have daughter with a villainess though
she has sadly been retconned out of existence after dying it was a whole thing. Roy’s
struggles were inherently relatable and it made him really stand out from Dick as time
went on. He’s just more interesting without powers as even though powered heroes can have
all these struggles you’re already distanced from them because they have powers. Though
some people can relate to anything. The point is Roy deserves more love, more than Ollie
anyway.
Number 4 Ted Kord, The Blue Beetle. So Ted Kord is the second blue beetle who first debuted
in Captain Atom #83 (November 1966) so the blue beetle has no powers unlike his predecessor
or successor he was a skilled athlete and extremely smart and had some resources not
up to Wayne level but enough to create a beetle themed air craft. He had been gifted the scarab
that had given his mentor Dan Garrett his powers but he could never get it to work but
he never let that keep him down fashioning himself as a hero around the same theme anyway.
He would always endeavour to live up to the reputation of his mentor and keep up with
the other heroes around him, his run on the jli the justice league international garnered
him the reputation as a bit of a jokester and he also for a time got out of shape it’s
the manhunters fault all of the cookies. He would also make the ultimate sacrifice. Ted
Kord is just an underappreciated character really and the fact that he has no powers
and is kinda of in a prove himself perspective is part of what makes him who he is I say
is cause of course he’s alive again.
Number 3 – The Punisher – Frank Castle he’s on a quest for vengeance in a hail
of bullets he first debuted The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974) as a villain sent to
take out Spider-Man. Now Frank would be a lot more terrifying with powers he’d just
be a killing machine he needs that restriction cause there’s very little holding him back.
It’s comforting to know that there are people out there who can stop Frank that there’s
checks and balances. Also it turns Frank into one of those action movie characters you know
the ones death wish etc it’s an escapist fantasy that idea that you could just out
and deal out your own justice on all the people who hurt you you just need some guns and a
guy in a van actually that’s super dangerous. Frank what are you doing.
Number 2 – Nightwing I’m sure you were waiting for Nightwing Dick Grayson, Rick Grayson
can take several seats. Dick Grayson is the first side kick the first Robin one of the
first characters to successfully transition into adulthood and a new identity and all
around awesome character even if he does have a bit of golden child syndrome at times. Nightwing
not having powers is well it’s part of him, he doesn’t need them they don’t enhance
his character in any way in fact the fact that he can be hurt is appealing ok that sounds
wrong but you know what I mean. Dick Grayson is attainable and it’s part of what people
like about him he’s a staple of the dc universe and people don’t like to see him too changed.
It’s why people hate Jason when he first showed up or why even people inside dc itself
fought to save him when Dan Didio wanted him to die in one of the crises. Dick Grayson
he’s important.
Number 1 – Batman, the dark knight the caped crusader ok so the thing with Batman let’s
take away the plot armour and the mister contingency and take him back to base, when batman gets
powers it usually goes awry he tends to misuse them. So we all know Batman’s parents shot
dead in an alley random chance or giant conspiracy it depends on the era. Batman tends towards
vengeance and when he gets powers that is amplified there are a couple of good examples
we’re going to leave dawn breaker a long and hop over to the batman superman team-up
series from 2003. There was a storyline there where he traded powers with Superman and well
he went rogue he even hurt dick which is like the ultimate benchmark for him not being ok.
Bruce wouldn’t hurt his kids that’s part of why there was so much hate on for that
Tom King issue where he backhands Tim across the face. Batman is keeping a lid on a lot
of his feelings and having powers gives him a bit too much reach. He’s not a perfect
person which is part of what makes him interesting but he needs to stay away from powers also
with all the other traits he already has with powers he just gets ridiculous.
So those were 10 Superheroes better without Super Powers can you think of anymore are
there any you disagree with please let me know down below thanks so much for watching
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