Concrete - whose brain was placed inside an artifical body akin to concrete. The origin is so mysterious and leaves so many questions unanswered (he escapes before he can get any real info on the aliens) that it influences the rest of the series.
Godzilla - The Spiderman shout-outs reminded me of the nuclear fears and Godzilla is the epitome of the awesome destructive force of nuclear power, literally brought to life. His origin story is actually a pretty decent cautionary tale about the dangers of the atomic age.
Ray Palmer took the “stumbled into super-powers” trope to a trippy extreme. He discovered a hunk of a white dwarf star lying on the ground and, despite it being made of star material and weighing twenty tons, picked it up. He then somehow incorporated it into an Atom costume with a set of controls that let him use the starstuff to reduce his size and/or weight. He can shrink down to the size of a photon but still see and breathe.
I had reason to wiki Harley Quinn earlier today (no, not for masturbation reasons), and I was pretty impressed with HER origin story. Ahhh, crazy love…
Dr. Bruce Banner running out onto a gamma bomb test range, being bombarded with gamma radiation, and yet not dying and later turning into the The Hulk is pretty fantastically awesome. I wish the movies wouldn’t have shied away from that - even if it ties into the time we don’t relate to as well. The whole paranoia of surviving that (but for how long? Am I sick?) and then mixed with The Other Mr Hyde-style is great stuff.
Daredevil sucks.
The best DC ones have been mentioned.
Any origin whose telling involves ties into an alternate universe or reality is prepped to suck. The best ones are simple yet powerful tales.
Invincible’s origin is pretty cool if complex. Son of the Earth’s greatest superhero, Omni-Man, who comes from a race of supermen and has been sent to Earth to advance human technology and protect the Earth from extraterrestrial dangers. After Invincible developes his powers his father reveals to him his true purpose, he was sent to Earth by his people to pave the way for an invasion that will strip the Earth of all its resouces and subjugate the entire population (well the ones that survive anyway).
Invincible refuses to help his father and his beaten to within an inch of his life to show him the futility of resistance since all of his father’s people are just as super as him. After beating his son Omni-Man flies off and leaves Earth leaving his son vowing to protect the Earth from his father and his people.
Best: The Rocketeer. Finds a stolen jet pack and uses it to impress a really good-looking girl!
Worst: The (original) Whizzer. Blood transfusion from a mongoose. Because all those super-speedster mongooses whizzing around can really inspire you!
Second-worst: Daredevil. Bitten by a radioactive truck. Hee hee! I think Animal Man was bitten by a radioactive spaceship, but every time they re-present the origin they muddy it up even more.
I figure Badger has to be in the running somewhere (ETA: For best origin, of course!)
Victim of multiple personality disorder is captured by the Viet Cong. While he’s held prisoner, God appears to him in the form of a badger and tells him to kick some ass.
Dr. Thadeus “Rusty” Venture has one of the most unusual origins: A boy adventurer turned failed super scientist who’s life-altering moment was the day he saw his dads dick.
