Depending on how you want to define being “metahuman,” yeah.
Mister Terrific is a polymath supergenius (over a dozen Ph.D.s in a wide range of fields of study). Anyone who is chosen to become a Green Lantern (even a douchecanoe like Guy Gardner) has an extreme amount of willpower.
Arguably, those qualities make those two characters “metahumans.” But, also arguably, Mister Terrific is just a really smart guy with a bunch of tech, and Guy Gardner is just a really stubborn guy with a high-tech ring.
Likely so, and I’m not strongly arguing either side of the equation.
Characters like Mister Terrific and Luthor – and in Marvel, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and Doctor Doom – have incredible intellects, seemingly above and beyond anything that is possible on real-life Earth with actual human beings. Maybe that makes them “metahumans,” in a way; I don’t know.
Even without the elastic power, Reed Richards is supposed to be an extremely intelligent scientist. (Wikipedia says, “Richards has a mastery of mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering, chemistry, all levels of physics, and human and alien biology.”)
That’s what I’ve always figured. In the real world, we have people who have multiple PhDs, but they’re still not out there creating radical new technologies decades or centuries more advanced than anyone else.
In a world where some kind of genetic quirk can make someone super-strong, why can’t such a quirk make someone super-smart?
That’s why I hate the term “metahuman” replacing “superhero”. Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark might be genetically normal humans but they can still be super.
Marvel and DC both claim the label “superhero” as their trademark. A movie using the term in a generic sense would undermine their legal claim to it. So their movies invent other generic terms for people with extraordinary abilities.
There is a lot of latitude in Comics as to what a “non powered” person can do. For example, Batman is a costumed vigilante with no powers but the reality is if a real person tried to swing around Gotham the way he does all the time, they would probably dislocate both their shoulders and ruin their knees.
Swinging from a cable like that, assuming that you start from the same height as your attachment point, requires, at peak, enough strength to hold three times your weight. That’s pretty impressive, but it’s still within the “normal human” range.
And in at least some sources, it’s canon that Batman has ruined both of his knees.
And then you have Dr. Strange, who’s just a very smart normal person who happened to learn some magic - which in his world anyone can do. Is he really any different than Tony Stark?
Yes, Mr Terrific’s IQ is, indeed-a super power His gear is possible under current Science, but not tech. .Luther is within normal human IQ, but at the top.
Green Lanterns effectively get tech which is so far advanced it is really magic.
Yeah, and they take a beating that would kill or long term hospitalize us normal mortals.
Yep. Reminds me of a conversation between Lex Luthor and The Joker from one of the '90s cartoons. Lex is taunting Joker over not being being able to beat Batman even though he’s just a “mere mortal” compared to Superman and his suite of various powers. Joker’s response? “There’s nothing mere about THAT mortal!”
And as far as I’ve always figured if you have a distinct look, a separate identity and clearly perform feats above and beyond normal humans you’re a “Superhero”. It’s a definitional thing and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with actually having powers. This neatly covers characters like Batman or Iron Man or hyper competent specialists like Green Arrow, Hawkeye or The Punisher. Haven’t seen Peacemaker but it sounds like he’d fall under this rubric.
“Metahuman” is reserved for characters who are not technically human, (Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter), or have had their human biology altered in some way. Gamma rays, super soldier serum, radioactive spider, genetic mutation, etc.
One can be a Superhero without being a Metahuman. And conversely one can be a Metahuman without choosing to become a hero. X-Men for example has tons of mutants with powers who never put on a costume simply because it’s not in their personality to do something like that. Just normal people who happen to have been born with blue skin or something else relatively minor.
