The DC Comics Heroes Who Most Hate Their Superpowers

The DC Comics Heroes Who Most Hate Their Superpowers

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Having superpowers isn’t always the blessing it is made out to be. For some DC heroes, being “gifted” can feel like a major burden and a curse.

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The DC Comics Heroes Who Most Hate Their Superpowers

In the world of DC Comics, superpowers come in many forms, and some forms are more difficult to live with than others. While some fortunate souls like Superman get to have a catalogue of Metahuman abilities without having to look like Bizarro, other heroes, like Cyborg or members of the Doom Patrol, aren’t nearly as fortunate. Some would gladly trade in their unique talents for a variety of reasons, whether it be because their powers come at great cost or because their abilities brand them as “freaks” to the rest of the world.

Some DC characters, such as Pariah from Crisis On Infinite Earths, have amazing abilities that require them to witness tragedy over and over, while other characters like Metamorpho and Element Girl have godlike powers that unfortunately come with ghoulish makeovers. Tragically, not all superpowers are gifts, just ask Marvel’s X-Men… or any of these heroes.

Detective Chimp

The DC Comics Heroes Who Most Hate Their Superpowers

Bobo T. Chimpanzee, AKA Detective Chimp, is proof that sometimes ignorance is bliss. Born a common carnival chimp, Bobo gained human-level intelligence after being exposed to the Fountain of Youth. No longer content with living the life of a circus animal, Bobo ventured out into the world of human society and formed his own detective agency. Though his career path was successful at first (because of course people are going to hire a talking chimpanzee in a Sherlock Holmes hat), eventually clients began stiffing him out of money. And because Bobo is not technically a human being, courtrooms repeatedly ruled against him anytime he tried taking deadbeats to collections.

Bobo’s intelligence means he cannot fit in with other members of his species, but his status as a non-human also means he effectively has no rights under any country’s citizenship laws (not counting Gorilla City). He rightfully loathes most humans and often views his intelligence as a curse. But despite his many vices, Detective Chimp is a hero at heart. He often finds himself in large-scale apocalyptic situations, typically against the likes of evil demi-gods. When he’s not working with the Bureau of Amplified Animals, Detective Chimp can usually be seen at the Oblivion Bar—a tavern exclusively for magic-wielders.

Cyborg

The DC Comics Heroes Who Most Hate Their Superpowers

Once a college football legend, future Cyborg Victor Stone’s life was changed forever when a tragic accident mangled most of his body and left him at the threshold of death’s door. His super scientist father, Dr. Silas Stone, resurrected his son through alien technology he had been studying, but the procedure left the star quarterback more machine than man. Even before the accident, Vic’s relationship with his emotionally absent, workaholic father was strained to put it mildly, but being transformed into a cybernetic being at his father’s hands made their rocky family dynamic exponentially worse. Though Silas Stone does eventually reconcile with his son, many readers still view him as a pretty bad parent overall.

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But beyond saving his life, the alien-tech also gifted him with godlike powers over all computer-based technology. It took Victor years to fully discover the true limits of his powers, but it took him even longer to accept his new normal as a cyborg. Much of the general public finds his metal body horrifying, even his then girlfriend, who at the time claimed it would have been better for them both had he simply died in the accident. But through it all Vic Stone has remained strong, serving not only as a mentor to the Teen Titans, but also as a full-fledged member of the Justice League. And no matter how hard his enemies have tried to break him, Cyborg always comes out on top.

Raven

The DC Comics Heroes Who Most Hate Their Superpowers

Another member of the Teen Titans who hates their powers is Raven, and with good reason. The daughter of the demon king Trigon, Raven was conceived with the help of a doomsday cult hoping to bring about Armageddon. Though her mother tried to protect her from the agents of Hell, Trigon’s will was too strong and he eventually used Raven as a portal to Earth. But with the help of the Teen Titans, Raven was able to banish her father back to his dark dimension, but even in the underworld his influence on his daughter remains constant.

Though Raven’s shadow magic is immeasurably strong, she needs to maintain constant focus to keep it from controlling her. Emotions such as anger and fear can lead her to fall under her father’s corrupted influence. It doesn’t help that the half-demon girl is also an empath, meaning she can feel the strong emotions in others. Raven’s powers have helped save the world numerous times, but they also threaten to bring about the end times should she ever give in to her darkest impulses. Raven often battles with negative thoughts regarding her existence, sometimes believing Earth would be safer had she never been born.

The Spectre

The DC Comics Heroes Who Most Hate Their Superpowers

Representing the embodiment of God’s Old Testament-level wrath, the Spectre is the ultimate spirit of vengeance. Due to the entity’s lack of humanity, the Spectre requires the soul of a deceased human to act as its conscience. When the Spectre isn’t bonded to a human soul, the being judges all sinners equally, and will ghoulishly kill people for even minor offenses. Many have taken on the responsibility as host of the Spectre, including Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Gotham City Police Detective Crispus Allen, and both men would agree the job was irredeemably terrible.

Though the Spectre has near unlimited power, the departed soul merged with the the green-cloaked entity has only a limited amount of control over who receives divine judgement and who doesn’t. In Detective Allen’s case, he was unable to convince the Spectre to kill the crooked cop who betrayed and murdered him, but was instead forced to take the life of his own son Malcolm when the boy avenged his father in an act of street justice. Like his predecessors, Allen regularly fought against the judgement of God (sometimes referred to as the Presence), which he deemed random, arbitrary, and sadistic. When the dead detective calls the Spectre’s justice a sick joke, the Spirit of Vengeance retorts, “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”

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The Doom Patrol

Before Marvel’s X-Men, there was another team of superhero outcasts led by a wheelchair-bound genius known as the Doom Patrol. Brought together by Dr. Niles Caulder, the Doom Patrol is a team of misfits shunned by society for their unique gifts. To make matters even more tragic, most of their gifts were granted through horrible physical and/or emotional trauma. But unlike the benevolent Charles Xavier, Dr. Caulder shows considerably less care with his team’s well-being, occasionally resorting to gaslighting tactics and other manipulation tactics. At the end of Grant Morrison’s late 80s run of Doom Patrol, it was even revealed that Caulder was responsible for the “accidents” that gave his original team their abilities.

After being exposed to a highly radioactive energy field in the upper atmosphere, test pilot Larry Trainor gains the ability to project a “Negative Spirit,” but the process causes him great harm the longer the Spirit is out of his body. An unfortunate side-effect of his accident is that Trainor’s body is highly radioactive, meaning he has to wear special bandages all over his body to protect those around him.

And Negative Man isn’t the only teammate with a sad backstory. When race car driver Cliff Steele brutally died in a mangled wreck, Dr. Caulder removed his brain and implanted it into the head of an automaton. The experience was so traumatic that Cliff has to attend therapy regularly to cope with PTSD. And though Rita Farr (AKA Elasti-Girl) appears normal on the surface, the former Hollywood actress gained amazing shape-changing abilities through exposure to strange volcanic gasses. Her Metahuman abilities took quite some time to master, but quickly labeled her a freak by her former peers in showbiz. The list of tragic Doom Patrol members goes on, and includes later members such as Crazy Jane and Dorothy Spinner.

It is not easy being different in this world. While human beings dream of a day where metaphysical abilities are a reality, in all likelihood their existence would only create more fear and prejudice. Add in cybernetic prosthetics or demonic possession and it is almost guaranteed that the world will view said human (or chimp) as a monster. What these sad and often lonely characters from DC Comics have in common is that their powers define who they are against their will. Undoubtedly, having superpowers would be life-changing, but not necessarily in a good way.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/dc-heroes-superpowers-curse-doom-patrol-cyborg-raven/

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