As Waldo already said, it was “unstable molecules”, whatever the hell they are. They devoted a whole page to this in an early issue of FF. They predate Pym molecules. I much prefer “well, Edna Mode made them” as an explanation for why the Incredibles’ costumes stand up to the extremes the superheroes put them through.
I always love comic book geniuses that manage to create ground-breaking tech in two completely different subjects. Like in Spider-Man 2, they’re talking about Doc Ock will win the Nobel prize if he gets his fusion reactor to work, ignoring the fact that he already just happened to create advanced AI powered prosthetics controlled just by his mind.
Magic gadgets presumably built by wizards, so I’d classify them as part of his magic schtick (can non-wizards use them?).
Spiderman wears the cloak in What If?
The cloak (at least in the movies) is at least semi-sentient, and Strange doesn’t seem to have that much control over it a lot of the time.
Spider-Man’s the classic example of a hero with an over-stuffed origin story. The general idea is that a hero should have one “gimmick” that makes them stand out from normal humans and propels them into being a superhero. That one gimmick can manifest in multiple ways, but it’s all stems from one unusual quality. Captain America’s gimmick is he joined a super soldier program, that gave him access to both the super soldier serum, and the vibranium shield. Mr. Fantastic’s gimmick is that he’s super intelligent. He used that super intelligence to attempt an experiment that went awry and gave him and his immediate family super powers. Dr. Strange’s gimmick is occult knowledge, which includes both knowing how to cast spells, and knowing how to use (and where to find) various magic devices, like cloaks and amulets.
Spire-Man’s got two gimmicks: he’s super smart, like Mr. Fantastic, but he also got a radioactive spider bite. Either of those gimmicks could have been the basis for a super hero career. But unlike Mr. Fantastic, the spider bite was completely unrelated to his super intelligence. He wasn’t performing weird spider-based experiments, and screwed up. He got bitten on a high school field trip. It was only random chance that it bit him, and not meat head jock Flash Thompson.
I don’t think retcons that don’t fundamentally change the events around getting powers count as a different origin. Saying that Steve Rogers got a serum versus vita rays when he volunteered for the super soldier program isn’t giving him a different origin, it’s just playing with set dressing.
I suppose Batman counts in a way - he’s rich and he had a motivating childhood. In Watchmen we see the second NiteOwl (rich) and Rorshach (motivating childhood) each become a superhero - and they work together for quite a while
Not sure if this is exactly what the Original Poster considers legit:
The Legion of Superheroes had Triplicate Girl who could split into three identical people. Then one (doppelganger?) was killed and she became Duo Damsel.
In the then DC comic book land, there was NO philosophizing as to what this meant for the hero’s self-identity. Not at all how it would be handled today.
Not sure I’m remembering right, but in the comics, the origin of Bruce Banner’s powers was just exposure to gamma rays (well, and mental illness), but in the movies, wasn’t he also experimented upon by his father (with some version of the super soldier serum?), and then caught in the gamma blast? (Is that still canon in the current continuity?)
In the Ang Lee movie, Bruce’s dad did medical experiments on himself, which were passed on to his son. His son then became a scientist in his own right, and a lab accident combined with his altered genetics led to him becoming the Hulk. In the comics, Bruce’s dad was a nuclear scientist, and was convinced that his work had altered his DNA, making Bruce a mutant (not x-man style), which he used as an excuse to abuse the kid. Last I checked, this was explicitly a paranoid delusion, and Bruce was a normal, albeit highly intelligent, human until the gamma bomb accident.
IIRC, in the new film, it was from a different source. But that film was sooooo bad I am trying to forget it.
Yeah, a great superhero along with Dr Midnight.
Yeah, But gaining the powers of Thor? Sure. It is is a proper name, and not a superhero moniker, it belongs to that person, altho of course others can take up the mantle using the same superhero moniker.
But for only 14 issues, since the idea failed. Blackhawk appeared in a Justice League Unlimited episode, appropriately aged. They had a cool plane, tho.
Bruce Wayne is also in the super smart category. He invented an incredible number of bat gadgets and impressive looking stuff in the Batcave. I suppose if Peter Parker was born rich he might have invented a lot more spider gadgets and maybe built a Spidercave.
I just work on that assumption that a lot of classified information about that nuclear test incident was covered up, and a lot of disinformation spread at the same time. The whole Rick Jones story stinks too. I don’t think we’ll ever find out exactly what happened that day.
You haven’t heard of the Japanese live action shos Suh Pai Duh Manu?
Keep the thread title in mind. having a superpower AND gadgets is not “having two origins”.
One thing I loved about Batman Begins was that Morgan Freeman was the genius inventor (who finally had someone who appreciated him).
The Emissary from Hell?
Personally, I’ve never been fond of “Peter Parker invented web-fluid from scratch”: Sure, he’s smart, but he’s high-school-honor-student smart, not metatechnologist-smart. Some versions have gone all the way with that, and just said outright that the webs come from glands in his wrists… but that does away with the old trope of him sometimes running out of web-fluid, or having to keep stashes in various places to replenish from.
What I favor (and I don’t know if any canon has actually done this) is a mix of the two: Peter Parker does secrete some sort of web substance from his body, but it’s secreted in an inconvenient and probably embarrassing way. And the secretions still need some processing to become webfluid, but it’s relatively simple processing, something along the lines of dissolving it in an alcohol solution, or the like. That way, his powers are still all thematically connected, and he has an opportunity to make use of his intelligence, without his intelligence rising to the level of a separate, thematically-distinct power.
Yeah, you’re combining the Ang Lee (non-MCU) and the MCU version. In the MCU he’s trying to recreate the Captain America serum, using gamma instead of “vita” rays
I don’t think Peter Parker was presented as having a super intellect on the level of Mr. Fantastic, he was just a bright high school kid. Of course, he did somehow manage to invent those web shooters in the origin story, but after that he didn’t keep inventing stuff.
Heh. The new Cat Kid Comic Club book has a scene where a kid freaks out when he realizes that Spider-Man shoots webs from his wrists, rather than from his butt like actual spiders. “Dude! No parent is going to buy their kid a T-shirt of a hero who shoots stuff out of his butt!” “But it’s SCIENTIFICALLY INACCURATE!!”
But that WAS the premise in the early issues of Spiderman. You can see it , for instance, when Curt Connors (not at the time in his :Lizard" persona) compliment Parker on his deft handling of biochemicals. It’s clear that Parker really was supposed to be 'way above high school brilliant.