Sep 19 2008
Creating Weaknesses for Your Superheroes
I'm a former assistant editor with advice about how to write novels, comic books and graphic novels. Most of my content applies to fiction-writing in general, but I also provide articles specifically about superhero stories.
Writers sometimes add unique weaknesses to challenge their heroes or rein in heroes that have gotten overpowered. For example, Superman has kryptonite and for a while Green Lantern’s powers couldn’t affect anything yellow. Those two feel gimmicky. The powers don’t work on yellow? How does that work? Why would anyone be vulnerable to his own planet? Etc.
A better example of a unique weakness is the Martian Manhunter’s vulnerability to fire. It doesn’t feel arbitrary that fire might damage something. Unlike yellow or kryptonite, fire is dangerous to most living things. Compared to kryptonite, something generic like fire has the added advantages that it’s easier to acquire and use.
Other authors sometimes use completely innocuous weaknesses, but that’s tricky and usually contrived. Let’s say your hero is vulnerable to marshmallows. You’d probably have to come up with a (goofy) explanation for his weakness, then show that he somehow discovers that he’s weak against them, and then show that the supervillain somehow discovers it as well. Generally, it’s easier to work with weaknesses that are plausible and logical. That helps you avoid relying on ridiculous contrivances to explain how the villain discovers the weakness. (You could work something like fire into a fight scene even if the villain doesn’t know it’s his weakness. I don’t think you could do the same for marshmallows).
I think the best weaknesses are side-effects of the hero’s strengths. For example, a hero with supersight might be vulnerable to intense light. Someone with superhearing might be vulnerable to loud sound. One advantage of these weaknesses are that you can work them into secret-identity stories. Clark Kent isn’t likely to run into kryptonite when he’s having dinner with Lois, but he might get a migraine when a jet flies overhead. Here are some other possibilities.
- Superstrong heroes are probably too dense to have much buoyancy. That would make it very difficult for them to fight in water– even treading would be a tremendous struggle for someone like the Hulk, let alone Ben Grimm or Slate. If your villain needed to escape, he could take advantage of this by flooding the room with water, knowing that he will float upwards but that the hero will sink.
- Super-fast characters would create a lot of friction when they run. A supervillain might try to take advantage of that by dousing the room with a flammable oil (so that the friction will set him on fire) or anything slippery. However, the slippery angle has already been used fairly extensively.
- A psychic’s powers would probably require more concentration than physical powers. A supervillain might try to take advantage of that by flooding the room with a weak tranquilizer gas to make it harder to concentrate. Loud noises might also work. Finally, if the villain sets distractions before his final plot is set to go off, the hero might be completely exhausted and badly in need of sleep when the final battle commences.
- Someone that wears a powersuit is probably not very dexterous or precise when he has his armor on. A villain may be able to trick him into taking off his suit (or at least parts of it) by planting a bomb. I doubt anyone could manually defuse a bomb with metal gloves on. Alternately, your villain might also try using a powerful magnet to reduce his mobility or an electromagnetic pulse to fry his circuits.
- Unlike humans, most terrestrial animals cannot metabolize alcohol. If your character is not human (like Superman), he might not be able to either. That could easily lead to interesting social situations. Additionally, you could probably work it in as an ingestible poison. It would be much less incriminating to have an assassin armed with Bud-Lite than cyanide…
- Capture the hero’s girlfriend. Add an explosive booby trap. Voila! Instant trap. Ideally that will kill the hero, but the worst-case scenario is that it kills the girlfriend, leaving the hero in an emo funk for years to come.
Alternately, you can try a quirky vulnerability to Kryptonite or something else that isn’t usually dangerous. If you’re leaning that way, please see this cautionary article.
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Thanks a ton for this one. I made the mistake of volunteering to write a novel about a friend’s created characters, and he won’t let me write very good weaknesses into his characters, so I have to be creative. Been looking for ideas anywhere I can… The super-speed one helps a ton, as the main character has super speed.
A novel is tremendously difficult even when you have complete control over your characters! Your friend is quite fortunate…
You might also try using rooms where speed would not be as useful, like a gravity-less environment, a room with narrow and slippery walkways, or a tank of water. If I knew I was fighting against the Flash and I were in it to win it, I would add a number of small rooms that I could lock down and flood with nerve gas. Hell, even holding the battle on a sandy beach might screw with his footing enough.
I was thinking of a character who has psychological blocks rather than physical weaknesses, where the character feels emotionally uncomfortable using his/her powers, so he/she doesn’t like to use them (or doesn’t *dare* use them).
For example, I’ve been trying to come up with a character who can theoretically do *anything*, but the twist is that she is too highly religious (“Only God is all-powerful!”) or is afraid using her powers might inadvertently blow up the universe.
Thanks for your comment, Tim. I feel generically unsatisfied with the idea of internal limitations. Let me try to explain why.
Generally, limitations that a character has no control over (like how long his powers will last) are more satisfying obstacles than internal limits (like the character’s morals). For example, Hourman’s powers only last an hour. An external limit is very easy for readers to grasp and naturally dramatic. Can your hero get finished before his time runs out? If he’s out of powers, can he save the day anyway?
In contrast, your character is completely in charge of her own morals. This places you in a tricky position at any moment when the hero might consider using her powers: she either uses her powers or comes across as a callous ass. For example, let’s say she sees a criminal beating up an innocent. She decides not to intervene because stopping the criminal might destroy the world. Well, on a totally logical level, that’s fine, but she’s still allowing a criminal to beat up an innocent. In contrast, if Hourman came across the same criminal after his powers were already exhausted for the day, he has no control over his lack of powers. He simply comes across as helpless. In contrast, your heroine may feel callous because she’s essentially writing off the victim. But Hourman’s helplessness is temporary and your heroine’s callousness is not. That’s a distinction that will make the heroine seem far less sympathetic, I suspect.
It may help if your character decided to save the victim without using her powers. But even that approach will probably feel arbitrary. Why does your heroine use her powers sometimes and not at other times? In contrast, a more external problem would allow you to establish conditions that are more transparent and stable. A hero can use his powers except when his hour elapses, or when Kryptonite is present, or when he is separated from his power-armor, or when he’s in his human form (The Hulk or Jake Long) or whatever. These limitations are dramatic not because of uncertainty as to whether these situations apply within the story, but how the characters will overcome them. In contrast, you’ll tell your readers that “My hero can use her powers except when she doesn’t want to.” There’s no element of struggle there– she can’t overcome herself! The only question is whether it’s present at any given time, and that’s not nearly as satisfying as the struggle against a tangible force like a time-limit or Kryptonite, I think.
Does that make sense? What do you think?
You already know Sketch’s abilities and his weaknesses can be both external and internal. For instance, he has two internal flaws: he might not be able to think of something fast enough to summon it in time (or summon the wrong thing), or he might lack the emotions to power his ability.
An external flaw would be losing the sketchbook while he is Aadrello, although it has a Kingdom Hearts-esque return ability the villain could create a field stopping the book from opening a time portal and returning to Aadrello. These should be pretty effective weaknesses that could put Aadrello in Robin-esque situations where he has to use quick thinking to succeed while, say, falling from a skyscraper.
I’d cut the book’s ability to return to Aadrello. If the book is stolen, it would probably be more dramatic if he had to rescue it himself rather than it passively returning to him. (It will also free you of the necessity to explain the elaborate methods by which the villain prevents the book from opening a time portal).
I think that his vulnerability to losing the book can really propel your work. Of the three weaknesses, I think it will definitely contribute the most. You could write out a protracted arc where he’s trying to regain the book, during which he would entirely have to rely on his own wits and abilities. In contrast, his internal weaknesses don’t have that much substance to them. He’ll either think of something in time or he won’t, but either way you won’t be able to draw that out very much.
Hey, I’ve been toying with the idea of a superhero story of sorts, and I’ve always liked the idea of superspeed so I was planning for one of my characters to have that power. But I think it’s easy to get pretty carried away with it, so I was just thinking of some weaknesses or problems I could throw in and thought I’d run them by you:
- The superspeed works by everything seeming in slow-motion for the character when he’s using it. At first, this sight is very blurred so he can’t make much out and it’s difficult to see – so he doesn’t like going particularly fast (this would improve later, as the story progressed, so he’d get faster). This also creates the problem that he can’t judge time well when using his power. It might feel like hours have passed for him, but in reality it’s only a few minutes.
- I like the idea of the flammable oil or slippery surface. I’ll probably use those somewhere.
- I figure if you’re going really fast it would be very difficult to stop. This could create a lot of comical running-into-walls scenes, I suppose.
- He can’t (at least at first) keep up with his speed. So if he’s about to run over a cliff, sees this, and thinks “DIRECTION CHANGE!!”, then by the time his brain has processed this he’ll already have run over the edge.
Then there’s the typical “his powers exhaust him” thing. Does this seem like it would make the effectiveness of his powers limited enough?
I like those a lot. The problem of maneuverability will probably serve very well to limit his powers. Ideally, it could also immerse us in the scenes.
I’m kind of at a loss as to what I could add, though. Please let me know if you have any questions– hopefully I can offer more!
This site is terrific!!! My question is: I have a hero who can generated and manipulate energy. This came from an explosion he was in that caused his cells to produce this energy. He can create constructs, beams, etc. But I’m I gave him three major weaknesses: (1) weak to Nuclear energy, (2) weak to sonic sound, and (3) limited amount of energy his cells can produce at any given time. Do you think these weaknesses are okay or do I need to do a rethink?
I think #2 and #3 will be very easy to work with. Nuclear energy is OK, but might be harder to work into your fights. (It’s harder for a villain to discover the weakness and harder to find radioactive materials than a boombox, etc.)
Another consideration, particularly if you’re writing a book, is that it’s probably easier to write a visceral and relatable scene around a weakness to sound than a weakness to radiation. Everyone has cringed when a jet has flown overhead, but I suspect that fewer people will have that sort of personal experience with radiation. (I suppose chemo therapy is a good analogue, but it’s still pretty rare).
One other thing is I was thinking of giving him a super-speedster friend and I was wondering what kind of weakness you thought were good. This is a guy who can move at near the speed of light… could anything hurt or weaken him?
I’d recommend not having him run near the speed of light. How could you accomplish anything at that speed without ripping through people and destroying everything you run past.
A lack of footing could be detrimental to a speedster. Having him fight on a greased floor or on sandy turf, would be very difficult for him. If you really wanted to use a really high speed, a time or fatigue parameter would be effective. He can only use his powers so much or for so long, before getting exhausted.
Maybe running at really high speeds takes a physical toll on is body.
If the main character has no superpowers, I’d recommend staying away from the idea of superpowers in general. Otherwise, it will seem like the friend is the most heroic of the characters, which would probably make Vir seem insignificant by comparison.
If the guy could runa t the speed of light, he can travel time. At that speed everything is perfectly still.
Uhh, well, I think that any sort of superpower would kind of be counterproductive for your story. If there is this immensely powerful character (a superfast time traveler), readers probably won’t care about Vir.
Heh, you’re getting my story mixed up with his. I don’t have any superpowers in mine.
Oh, sorry. Heh heh. Carry on!
If you’re talking about speed weaknesses, well, there are a few things you could try. One, if they travel too fast, the G-force could cause them to black out. Also, it could lower their sugar glucose level so they would need to eat a lot all the time.
Also, when an object travels near the speed of light, it starts to turn into pure energy. That could limit how fast someone can travel. Also, tunnel-vision might happen.
For my characters Mithro and Caesar, their weakness is the limitations of their powers. If they go beyond their powers their souls would begin to disintegrate.
So what do you think?
well how would you show that? and really all powers have a limiet you need something villens can use in there faver
mind you i guess they could do something to make your heros go more and more over there limet but then how would your hero win or recover? to fight agien
Hmm… typically, I recommend weaknesses and limitations that are concrete. For example, Hour-Man’s powers last only an hour. He and the audience know that, and the drama comes from whether he can finish the job in that time.
Many heroes are limited by the need to maintain a secret identity. For example, Tony Stark can’t turn into Iron Man when other people are watching, so he might have to save the day without relying on his powersuit. The element of secrecy is another limitation that is easily understandable to the audience.
What I might be worried about is that the audience won’t necessarily know how close your heroes are to pushing the limits of their powers. It’s not quite as obvious to the audience.
I’ve got two characters that I’m trying to write a novel around. One is sort a demon-looking thing with red skin and bright yellow eyes. He’s pretty strong, able to lift several tons, and his skin is tough as rhino hide. The other one can change his skeleton into a near-indestructible metal and can change his hands into various, though limited objects, such as magnets, buzzsaws, and drills. He’s able to pick up an oil rig over his head with one hand. However, I suck at coming up with weaknesses. Any suggestions?
Hmm. The guy with the power of metal should be the easiest to create weaknesses for. For example, perhaps a routine trip to the fridge could end up with him stuck to it and having to wait for help. Then there are things like metal detectors etc.
A fatigue limit could be set for your strong character. To make it fit with his power, you could say lifting heavy weights is the equivalent of hiking up a hill while wearing a heavy backpack.
Okay how do you weaken a guy who can freeze time and rewind time? I need help for weaknesses.
I have a superhero in my fanfic. He’s a brilliant technopath. But he’s also a geek, has no social skills and would last about .00001 seconds in a fight. He is highly annoying and screams like a girl.
Chulance:
I’ll think more on this, but one thing that came to mind is the typical ‘severe consequences if you see your double when you’re in the past’ deal. That doesn’t restrict it too much, so I’ll keep thinking on it.
Ky’lath:
If he’s highly annoying, how is he a likable character? The reader has to be able to relate to the character.
“How do you weaken a guy who can freeze time and rewind time? I need help for weaknesses.” I’d recommend placing a strict limit on how far back in time he can go, maybe an hour or two. As for freezing time, it’d probably be really hard to have him do anything interesting when time was stopped. I’d recommend placing a really tight limit on that, too. Maybe a minute or two. Anything more than that, and it’d be really hard to challenge him.
At the end he is supposed to accept his destiny as the guardian of time. But he needs to struggle until the final battle, when I release the character’s restrictions.
As for a limit of how far he can go back, that helps. One of my friends suggested that he have no control over his ability to go back in time.
Anyway, what about accelerating time around himself? This is one of the main heroes so I need to know.
Also, I have a villain that’s really strong. He can warp reality. Is there a good weakness I can use or should I wait for the final novel to bring him in?
Warping reality sounds complicated and hard for readers to understand. What sort of things will he be able to do with it?
Also, what do you mean by accelerating time around the hero?
I explained warping reality in another thread. Warping reality means the ability to manipulate all aspects of reality your real you can be warped for example a person or gravity. Their all real and can be warped. He can alter reality for example making people into stone or making ducks talk.
Accelerating time. He can accelerate time aroundhimself so it looks like he has superhuman speed but he’s actually accelerating time for him making him faster.
Maybe a more plausible power would be warping probability, like Jinx from Teen Titans. If, for example, there was a chance that a building next to an enemy would fall on him, even a tiny chance, the hero could tip the scales and make the possibility of the building falling a certainty. I have no idea how you would go about writing this power into a novel, though, because reality warping and related powers can get horribly complicated when you try to explain them.
I think giving your character a specific way to activate their powers makes it easier to explain. It would be unsatisfying to read “he warped reality, creating a hole in the ground.” For example, one of my characters has to use his book in order to summon things to reality. This creates a medium in which you can use to explain how he uses his ability. “Sketch flipped through the pages in his mind, searching frantically for the perfect creation. “Got it!” he said. He opened his arms extending his creative field and poofed to reality a high-powered pogo stick.” That would make more sense in context, but that just an example anyway.
Well, someone else in my story can warp probability, though I need a weakness for warping reality. If I can’t find one then I’ll just say he can’t kill directly, meaning he can’t just warp reality and make someone dead. Therefore, there would actually be a challenge. I don’t know any special way though. I mean, books may work with summoning, but what object could work with reality warping? I had an idea that he could warp reality with his keyboard. For example, typing someone tried to runs somonever somone would actually try to do it or their was a tornado. [EDITOR: ?] That way he would need to write something down.
Back I’ve come to a conclusion weaknesses are not needed for heroes.
I agree, Chulance. Weaknesses are often a boring and tacky way to rein in an overpowered character. (Particularly if the weakness is hard to intuit, like a vulnerability to kryptonite or the color yellow).
If you feel the need to use a weakness, it is often more effective to come up with better limits. For example, Hour-Man is overpowered, but he’s limited by time: his powers only last for an hour. Magneto’s powers are limited to metal. The Hulk and other transforming heroes are particularly limited by secrecy. (If they’re caught in their human forms, they can’t go super without giving away their secret identity).
Also, replacing overpowered abilities with weaker-but-similar powers can help a lot. For example, superspeed can be replaced with agility. (It’s much easier to endanger an agile hero like Spiderman than a speedster like the Flash). Time-stopping can be replaced with something like time-slowing, which would make it at least possible for a hero to get beaten when he’s using his power.
Thanks yes and Superman can easily overcome his weakness simply by physical determination. It makes it slightly stupid for a hero to always encounter their weakness unless it’s a physical trait such as Goku’s weakness being his tail till he grew older and got over the weakness by training.
I also think limits aren’t needed. Yeah look at Goku he has unlimited use of his power and is capable of causing massive damage. He’s a known character and very popular. Flash(Wally Wesy) can move faster than light and make people implode.
Super speed and agility are completly different. Speed allows one to have a form of invisiblility increased physical power,phasing ect. agility allows dodging and good reflexes. Time stopping is also cool for heroes time stop and save the day
Limit is most definitely needed. I have not only experienced this firsthand ten times over, but have cringed at unpublished story after unpublished story in which the characters had no limit.
No, no I hate limits because I hate to deal with weak characters. Limits aren’t needed just creativity Flash is faster than light and can battle Superman he can fight average pepole with no powers due to great plots. I hate limits because I know what the character can’t do. I use to love PeterPetrelli on heroes till they gave him limits now I know he’s in danger and there’s a possiblity of him loosing.
I have experienced how limits and weaknesses ruin a story. Many people in DBZ have no weaknesses and it’s good, people with weaknesses restricts the story. It supresses my imgination. I’m doing manga I’m planning to make some awesome power-houses. They start off semi-realistic and grow. I can easily help pepole make a character without limits
I… am not sure what to say, because I disagree with 99% of that post. =/ But for the main points…
Uh, what good story comes without a danger of losing? Nobody cares if he wins if he could never have lost to begin with.
As for DBZ, I’m with B. Mac, on it being all fighting and little plot. And I, for one, have watched a few episodes, just so I could say that from personal experience.
And it takes no imagination whatsoever to write a guy with limitless powers. The imagination comes into play when the hero has to win, even despite his limits.
However, one thing I am going to say: If you’re doing manga, the odds are a good deal better that you can get away with limitless powers. Manga fans seem to tolerate that a lot better.
State why you disagree remeber I’m doing manga which I’ll still need help but manga is more about limitless power.
Um I can name tons of things Dr.Manhattan from Watchmen had no danger of loosing yet was a main character and all powerful still involved sometimes people want to see a limitless person who never looses like me. I know lots of people who hate vulnerable people and pepole who are weak.
Tenchi another anime/manga guy is a human who can become ominpotent,omniscient, and omniscient. Good series TTGl everyone in the show was godly if they want to win they do.
That’s not true I enjoy watching a hero who can beat up a hero and not loose.
It dosen’t matter unless you’ve watched EVERY episode of DBZ, than I’d like to hear your opinions and give reasons. I just don’t like when pepole say it’s all fighting because I saw one episode where they just fought.
You know I don’t mind critics if they’ve truly watched every episode and such. Because DBZ is far from just fighitng it has a great plot that involves fighting. A few episodes can you describe the episodes,characters ect? Most people who enjoy action/comedy enjoy DBZ it has lots of plot it depends the longest fight is proboably Goku vs Freeza and they don’t just fight they use cool techniques.
I disagree Dr.Manhattan was very good imagination involved not just kill by thoughts he did a few times but he had other methods.I prefer my heroes to be limitless because I want them to be able to know they can do anything if they train and try. ANYONE in my story can become powerful if they train I hate stories where destiny chooses and others are forced to never be as strong.
Manga/Anime fans love limitless powers I’m a bigger Manga fan than comics. Novels generally have more realistic abilties which I dislike.
Why I disagree about what specifically? I was sure I covered most of it…
As for your responses:
I’ve not seen Watchmen, so B. Mac would have to address that part.
And yes, your story is manga, so you’ll have more lenience.
Well, of course, all of us love watching our hero win, but it’s really unsatisfying to watch them win when they win every single time and have no chance of losing. Then, we might as well just say ‘pff, they’re going to win’ and turn off the TV or shut the book or manga.
…I’m not sure many ‘critics’ could stick around to watch every single episode, to be honest. =/ I survived five or six, and have since watched and read enough better things to cleanse my mind of it. Let’s agree to disagree on this point, alright?
Well, that is limited, the way you describe it. They can only get stronger if they train. That’s a physical limitation right there.
“I also think limits aren’t needed. Yeah look at Goku he has unlimited use of his power and is capable of causing massive damage. He’s a known character and very popular. Flash(Wally Wesy) can move faster than light and make people implode.”
Well, umm… I think that publishers would prefer to work with characters that are easier to challenge, particularly if the target audience is Americans older than 13. I wish you the best on your project, but personally I think it will be a hard sell.
In the United States, I notice that more limited superheroes (Wolverine, Spiderman, Batman, etc.) tend to sell much better than Superman and the Sentry. In manga, DBZ gets outsold by Naruto, Fruits Basket, Vampire Knight, Warcraft: Legends, Tbusasa, Chibi Vampire, Gantz, Rosario + Vampire, MPD-Psycho, Eden, etc. I don’t believe that DBZ has ever cracked the New York Times best-sellers list for manga.
I wish you the best, but I’d like to reiterate that I think it will be seriously hard to find a publisher. If I were the editor evaluating your submission, the main thing going through my mind would be something like “but DBZ manga doesn’t sell very well in the US. If DBZ manga doesn’t sell well, what chance does a DBZ-like manga without a TV show tie-in have?”
Also, I’m not sure how applicable Dr. Manhattan is to your situation. The Watchmen was definitely not an action series, but it sounds like yours is. Over the course of 12 issues and hundreds of pages, I think Dr. Manhattan had two fights totaling perhaps three pages. Dr. Manhattan is pretty much a satire of the character you are proposing. Unlike Goku, he is not a straight-up action hero and probably wouldn’t have succeeded as one.
I’m not that familiar with Tenchi, but it strikes me as more of a comedy or perhaps a romance than a straight-up action. I don’t think I’m familiar with the examples you cited, but the iterations of Tenchi I’ve seen seem pretty unpowerful. In any case, I don’t think that Tenchi manga sells all that well in the US.
Okay, guys. First, the Flash can run at the speed of light, but he gets caught in speed force. That was shown in JLU.
Goku can use his power anytime, but using his energy continuously tires him out, and Goku has been killed a few times, so he has the weakness of being a mortal. He and his friends only win through sheer determination and their desire to protect the people of earth and their friends.
Now, I agree that weaknesses like kryptonite and yellow (Green Lantern’s weakness) are a little bit dumb, but the possibility of death should always be available.
Thank you, B. Mac, for clarifying on the Dr. Manhattan part.
Hot damn, David! Your punctuation and capitalization have improved markedly.
Well, I had help, I admit. But anyways, do you agree with my comment?
Aww, B. Mac, now I feel guilty. I kinda… helped him out a little bit, with that one. But he’s still improving, so yay for David~.
It’s fine. I’m doing my best to improve.
Watchmen is very good but it’s rated R for a reason very graphic and not just violence. Yes I realized I could never do a novel with how creative I wanted to be limits restirct my imagination.
Well I mean to me it isn’t at the end he’ll be the strongest he’ll win most of his fights maybe a major villian or two might beat him once due to some help. Well he can fake being in danger like some other famous anime/manga people like Kenshiro and Tenchi.
I would keep reading I love strong people. Well I’m just saying if you criticize it’s all fighting you should watch more than five or six episodes because it wasn’t even a martial arts thing in the first thirteen episodes.
Well they have other ways Broly gets stronger the more he fights so he can NEVER loose a physical fight luckily Goku blasted him int othe sun. All saiyans can transform to get stronger or if they loose they get hundreds of times stronger so what dosen’t kill them makes them way stronger so if they loose they still win.
Well yes, but anime/manga? I am older than 13 and so are many of my friends who like overpowered people. I plan to make an anime around 400 episodes so I can’t START them off omnipotent like I have a person who can control and generate water. He can’t generate ocean amounts of water the largest is the amount in an average sized pool later he will be able to surround a galaxy in water to drown al inhabitants who need to breath.
Well I know all types of fans and you guys assume people are weak based on movies correct? Wolverine is immortal, can regernate from anything, super senses, increased strength and speed, unbrekable claws he’s limited. Spiderman can lift 15 tons,dodge almost every weapon, unlmited webbing and has beate Irnoman, batteled the entire Fantastic Four and and severly injured Hulk when serious and tapping into the magical energy all spider-like beings wield.
Batman has almost every weapon in his belt from nuclear bombs to teleportation devices, to gloves to contain godly energy. anti gravity ect. Sueprman and Sentry are great heroes.Also DBZ is one of the best manga’s it outside tons of manga when it was still being made and it is still great. I personally think Naruto is nothing to DBZ no single character can destroy an island.
I’m going to be a mangaka and I’m doing pretty good almost got a writer. Well the anime sells very well the new boxsets.
Watchmen had lots of action Dr.Manhattan had more than two fights he just insta slaughters his oppponent he instantly disintegrated somone he’s the only one with powers and he’s god how can normal humans fight him?
Tenchi is an action hero like Goku and some action heroes have godly powers in manga I can name thousands.
Tenchi: He has a weapon that lets him redirect any attack if he foguht Superman he would use a kryptonite beam. Wolverine he would use a beam to supress his powers ect. He can become omnipotent,omniscient, and omnipresent. TTGL is so big the earth is an atom to him and he was tossing galaxies at his opponent like shurikens plus he controls fate and reality. Haruhi controls reality and Goku can beat up people who easily destroy the universe.
Tenchi sells VERY well. Again David your basing this off the cartoon Justice League Unlimited who’s characters are much weaker than their comic book coutnerparts. Flash runs MUCH FASTER than the speed of light in the comics and does not get trapped in speed force.
Goku does not run out till he’s beaten which dosen’t happen often. He wipes out entire armies without breaking a sweat. He rarely looses and he’s NEVER DIED. Both times he commited suicide to save others the first time he held onto his brother and let them both get impaled by the Special Beam cannon the second time he teleported Cell to the afterlife where he could explode without harming anyone except king kai, and the third time he gave his life energy to the universal spirit bomb to destroy Omega Shenron.
If you’re reading or watching Watchmen for the action scenes, I think you’re kind of missing the point…
No, that’s not why I read/watch Watchmen. I love the storyline, plot, ect. I’m just mentioning the action scenes.
I would disagree that Dragonball Z is one of the most popular or best anime/mangas. It’s very well known but it has a large number of failings. DBZ suffers from poor, predictable plotting, too much filler fight scenes and unattractive artwork (I admit that last one is a personal thing but I know people who agree). The ‘big three’ of that genre of manga are without a doubt Bleach, Naruto and One Piece. Every single one has serious limitations on their character’s powers and this makes them better shows.
By all means write an overpowered character, but it will seriously compromise your publishing/airing potential.
Also, I think writing 400 episodes is a mistake for two reasons.
1) Assuming you get published/aired, audience feedback will provide a major feedback to the story. Characters you like and have written major roles for may meet with criticism and have to be changed, forcing you to change large chunks of your story, something that can be very time consuming and annoying. You are better off planning a loose synopsis and working out each episode at a closer date.
2) 400 episodes is incredibly ambitious. The entire DB franchise has (around) 200 at the moment and the most popular animes at the moment are at around 100-200. I think you would be safer writing maybe 26 episodes, about two seasons worth, and leaving some small plot threads to pick up should it prove popular enough to continue. People will be very wary of taking on something that will not have a conclusion until its 400th episode.
Sorry if this seems rather negative, but I really think it’s time to worry when you plan on having a character who can drown an entire galaxy.
Well that’s your opinions I’m not lying when I know tons of people who enjoy it a lot tons of sites about it and know more people thatr dislike naruto than like it. My favorite anime/manga is One Piece, or DBZ. Well that’s your opinion about it faliing because of poor predictable plotting if you watch in order it’s not predictable. Yeah watch Dragonball Kai which dosen’t have too much filler content.
Some Filler however is really really good like extra fighting. Bleach,Naruto, and One piece? There are many who have other favorites such as DBZ ,TTGL,Tenchi Muyo.Inuyasha, but their the current Big 3 see their still making it when DBZ was being made it was one of the big three anime/manga’s it’s still very popular considering no new episodes are being made.
Yeah okay Luffy has a technique to instantly paralyize people, Naruto has sage mode he can fall of cliffs onto spikes and fell no harm, gain MORE chakra while others loose chakra, has an attack to moleculary destroy the opponent, can tap into Kyuubi giving him inifnite power not to mention tails. Ichigo he can move at super speed ripping arms off in his new Hollow/Vizard form,total regernation, super strength, and speed. Luffy has Gears making him extrely fast and DB level strength soon he’ll have DBZ level strength.
The main characters of that show always surpass their limits dude. TTGL has gods and it’s really popular so was Tenchi Muyo.I’ll get published/ aired and as for audience feedback? I’m not prepared to change anything maybe only minor things. all characters I have written major roles for will keep their major roles despite if people hate those characters.
I’m an ambitious person again your wrong the entire DB franchise having 200 episodes that’s not true DBZ alone has 296. It has 513 episodes if you include movies it’s 526 and if you include the three species it’s 529. One peice has around 399 episodes.
http://www.watch-onepiece.com/
My first season was going to have around 20 episodes and the second maybe 40 something.
Yes he can drown a galaxy and I plan on his girlfriend eating one. See they train to become really powerful they start out at semi-realistic levels for example he was barely able to trap a man in a water cube and drown him. I have one guy who can cotnrol mass he’ll destroy an island later on which will cause the public to develope hate against people with abilties
Sorry, you’re right about the number of episodes, I don’t know where that came from.
I still stand by my points but that shoudln’t stop you by any means. My taste in anime/manga is impossibly unique and I think you’d struggle to find someone with the same three favourites; Gantz, Ouran High School Host Club and Monster. Still, I like to think I have an idea of what makes them successful and I have never liked overpowered characters, especially those with galaxy destroying abilities. These shows tend to either completely ignore death or ignore the repurcussions. If you can make sure that people feel the results of their actions, then you should be able to circumvent a few of the problems with overpowered characters.
No problem, it’s really hard to find the exact number of episodes. Okay well I mean I want readers to see the characters get stronger it will be a long time before they get galaxy destroying abilties. Mine is just characters who fight and are really strong so the big three,DBZ, ect. Yes you would I know friends who like Ouran I’m thinking of watching it.
We have very different tastes. Well they’ll get galaxy destroying and other things. What do you mean by ignoring death? Some characters will still die and what do you mean by ignoring reprocusions? I want to make sure pepole feel the results of their actions as there will be consequences but tell me what you mean?
well if you flood a galaxy with water and thats a big if
one dont forget all the blackholes in the galaxy or the super black hole in the center of the galaxy thats like thousends of bottomless sinks
also all the stars would eather go out or ignight the oxagen in the water
Hi, Chulance. I think our contributors have done a lot to explain why they think it would be very difficult for your story to get picked up. I hope you prove me wrong, but I can’t come up with any reason that your story could possibly make it. I don’t think that we can do anything more for you or your story.
Here are some final tips.
(1) When you argue to a station or a publisher that there is a big market out there for your work, I’d recommend focusing on what has already made the best-sellers list. What you and your friends like is kind of irrelevant. It doesn’t matter how many of your friends like DBZ more than Naruto; Naruto manga sells and DBZ manga does not. If you can’t come up with any similar stories that have sold well, your story is probably dead on arrival.
(2) Only the Simpsons– the longest-running US cartoon show– has gotten even close to 400 episodes. I’d really recommend taking this one season at a time.
(3) Overpowered characters are distinctly less interesting. You’re probably thinking “well, that’s just your opinion.” It is an opinion, but it is shared by most consumers and editors. Companies don’t want to deal with anything that looks like it won’t sell, and overpowered characters typically don’t sell. In terms of sales, Superman gets ruined by Spiderman and Wolverine and often Batman. DBZ hasn’t made the best-sellers list for manga even once.
By ignoring deaths, I mean anime that has amazing attacks but they never kill anyone. They’re described as incredibly dangerous but they never use their powers in that way simply because it would be too easy. If you’re going to make a superpowered character, you have to use those powers.
But it can be annoying in some that try to take themselves too seriously. Monster is my favourite example of it done well. It’s this incredible, psychological battle to kill a killer while remaining a good person. I realies it’s not you’re style of manga/anime but it is very good and I’d recommend it to anyone 
Ignoring the repercussions is the other end of the spectrum. Killing is mundane and how it makes you feel is totally ignored. Gantz is partly guilty of this. At the beginning, the main characters are normal people and they do question their ability to kill but, by the second fight, they happily slaughter aliens. It doesn’t matter that much in Gantz because it’s not exactly the deepest anime
Regarding Ouran, I know people who like it as well, I have yet to meet someone who likes Gantz, Ouran and Monster though. The first is full of violence and fanservice, the second is a romantic comedy and the last is a deep psychological thriller. They’re all very good at what they do though.
Mr. Brit said “I think you’d struggle to find someone with the same three favourites; Gantz, Ouran High School Host Club and Monster.”
Ha, I love Gantz. The anime was lame, but the manga is amazing. Never heard of OHSHC, but Monster was pretty good, too. I also like Afro Samurai and Samurai Champloo.
Chulance, you know beforehand my dislike of superpowerful characters. I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Brit. DBZ, is well-known, but also widely disliked for all the reasons Brit explained. I wouldn’t want to discourage you from writing your amazingly powerful character, but I must ask you. Is making your all of your characters ridiculously powerful worth the amount of effort you’ll have to put into writing the story? Assuming that you spend months (maybe a year) writing the story and you actually do get it made into a show, what would be the point if you’re writing into a market that most people obviously dislike?
Yeh, Gantz is brilliant, although all my favourite characters keep dying. Still, what can you expect from a manga like that?
OHSHC is a sort of semi-parody of romance and high school cliches. It’s quite hard to explain but it’s like the polar opposite of Gantz. I’m not sure you’d enjoy it as it really doesn’t fit with the other ones you’ve mentioned. But hey, I could be wrong
If we’re listing other good anime/manga then I’d say: Hellsing and Fruits Basket. Especially the former. That’s how vampires should be done. No sparkling in sight.
I don’t care much for vampires, but I think Hellsing portrays them well. I didn’t care for Fruits Basket.
I initially liked Fruits Basket, but it got weird.
I have never heard of these programs.
Don’t worry, David, I’ve only heard of them because a few characters from those series’ are in my RPG.
An example of an incredibly powerful character would be Haruhi Suzumiya…
She is unaware that she is God. Therefore, everyone around her must keep her entertained in order to avoid her from accidentally destroying the universe due to boredom. She doesn’t know she is incredibly powerful, and in contrast, feels very insignificant about her own existence.
Ok what do you think of my main, Jack Walker. Originally he can absorb energy and later project it. At first he uses this power to become invisible and totally silent, and later to create ice. Now weaknesses…I figure just the limitations on his power should be enough. I mean if you stick him in a cold dark room there’s sweeet fa he can do.
u know its less weakness for the power and more how can i use a superheros weakness to beat them
know waht i mean?
Here’s my question: what if you had a character who was already dead… sort of. He’s a zombie. He’s very different from a normal zombie because he fell in a mysterious chemical, so he can do thinks like a normal human but his features are different now. He has the appearance of a zombie and he can lose limbs but he doesn’t have any desire to eat human flesh. His family and girlfriend think he’s dead, he sleeps in a graveyard, he has a crush on one of his teammates and all he wants is to blend in but he knows he never will. What weakness can I give him?
Poor physical coordination… a vulnerability to fire… slow speed… his team might be cautious about deploying him in public because they don’t want to start a panic… I imagine his new body would take some time to get used to… etc. I think there are a lot of ways you can handicap him in battle.
I think vulnerability to fire and caution to make an appearance in battle are good ways to make him believable and relatable. Thanks. One last question (sorry)… I also have a girl character who has the ability to tie, swing, and grasp with ribbons. What weakness should I give her? She is not overly silly but mostly sarcastic and has many witty remarks… unlike the zombie. Like the rest of the heroes, she is a teenager.
I don’t think she really needs a specific weakness. Unlike the zombie, she doesn’t seem to have strong healing powers, so she can just be beaten normally, right? (If ribbons are her main weapon, I suspect that it would not be too hard to beat her).
then I have to make her alittle stonger. Thanx
It’s also always worth asking the question: do superheroes have endless energy?
I mean think about it, normal human beings get tired from exertion. Depending on their physical condition some do so quickly and some slowly, but even Lance Armstrong can’t cycle forever without resting.
When you step outside the super genre into fantasy role-playing such as D&D, spellcasters and psionic manifesters are usually bound by some sort of system that limits just how much power they can throw around without needing to rest. So while in practical terms they have “super powers”, those powers are not unlimited, even without a single finite limit like Hourman has.
So the same thing applies when discussing super powers. Does using them tire the hero out? Do their powers start to get weaker as they get fatigued?
There is precedent here. In the early days of the Fantastic Four comics both the Invisible Girl and the Human Torch could temporarily exhaust themselves using their energy-based powers. Sue would often become exhausted, even fainting (it’s was the 60′s, the writers had old-fashioned notions of women) if she had to use her force field to deflect some powerful force. Likewise, Johnny could literally “burn out”, using up the biochemical energy that fueled his flame powers. In addition, Johnny was also vulnerable to flame retardants, water and removal of oxygen from his vicinity.
So even great powers may have upper limits. I’ve often wondered at how much energy the Sun must put out in many comics universes to fuel the awesome powers of heroes like Superman. This while most space probes with big solar panels are producing a couple of hundred watts of power at best! I’ve also often wondered at how Superman’s power levels never seem to vary even when he is not exposed to sunlight, such as at night or underground.
If you want to be more “realistic” (as much as you can be in a superhero story) then such energy limitations may be a quick answer. Maybe the hero can expend their power faster than it naturally replenishes and they can exhaust themselves just like normal people? Maybe they need consistent exposure to an external energy source to use their powers? A solar-powered hero really should need to actually be exposed to sunlight for their powers to work for example.
Finally, as already noted, certain other powers may be affected by other things. For example, on Babylon 5 the powers of telepaths could be supressed by drugs called “sleepers”. On The 4400 there was a drug that neutralized the neurotransmitter that gave people their powers. A psychic hero might be susceptible to anything that effects their nervous system. Even something as simple as getting Tasered might temporarily put them out of commission.
Yeah, Psionycx, that’s kind of what we’re getting at. One of the main points that B. Mac has suggested a few times is that your character will probably not succeed if it’s overpowered. ‘Overpowered’ means, in B. Mac’s definition at least, any level of power that makes it hard for the writer to challenge the character. Characters are less likely to seem overpowered if they, as you were saying, had realistic capabilities that they couldn’t exceed. If they tired out like normal humans.
hey Psionycx,
F.Y.I modern solar panels are only 15% effcient, hence space prode only generate a few wats an hour. The sun however generates 3.86*10^26 watts per second or more simply in one second the sun creates enough energy to fullfill the entire earths energy needs for 500,000 years. So powers that are based on the sun are kinda limitless
Just a quick question…I have a character that’s basically made of dark energy, which is sort of like a sentient goo. He’s a shape-shifter, so he can turn parts of his body into blades, hooks, or whips. Right now, his only weakness is he can’t change into something big unless he has enough mass. What else would make a good weakness?
Also, if you could give me an idea for a weakness for a living skeleton, I’d appreciate it.
Riku,
In physics dark energy is a hypothetical type of energy that is believed to be the cause for the universe expanding and act against dark matter which causes the universe to shrink. Dark energy or DE also is not very dense, so flight or gliding might before possible, and make up about 74 % of the universe so you character would have a pretty constant energy supply. Given that information, I would say you should reverse the weakness you have. Since DE cause matter to separate and is in constant supply, make it neccessary for him to always burn off energy or he rapidly grow or could possibly explode.I am not sure if making his power his greatest liability counts as a weakness, but its all i could think of.
Hey, guys. Just me again– it’s been a long time.
My character (Vir) is completely human. He doesn’t have any superpowers, unless you count massive amounts of will and awesomeness. So he’s susceptible to bullets, bats, oncoming trains, etc. I need a few suggestions on how he (a moderately poor seventeen year old boy) can improvise ways of dealing with and utilizing his weaknesses.
For example, in the chapter coming up, there’s a three-way gunfight between two gangs and the cops. Vir is on top of a building watching it all. He has no way to get down, so he just wings it and uses a gangster to break his fall for him.
How do I go about not making him a Mary Sue? He’s already been beaten up, so it’s shown that he can succumb to physical stuff. Any suggestions would be great, guys.
-Dallas
PS: Sorry for my dyslexia. (EDITOR: I’ve proofread this comment, but it might show up in the future).
Dallas,
I kinda depends on your character and the situation. How tall is the building, becuase that would impact whether or not he could jump into a dumpster, dump truck, or something semi soft(like gansters but i wouldn’t suggest is) What kinda architecture is the building, because buildings built in the early1900 tended to have lot of decorations that could be used to climb down(look up neoclassic architecture). Also, what kinda gear is your character equiped with, becasue a little knowledge, a nylon rope, and a locking d-ring can make something he could repel down the side of the building with(a harness called a swiss seat).
Ghost,
I know how dark energy works, thanks. It’s just that since it’s science FICTION, I’m taking a small liberty. But the idea is actually pretty good. It would make things more interesting, say, if he were to be taken captive or tied up or something. But frankly, I’m looking for a weakness in the already set parameters.
But if I were to change his substance from dark energy to something else, what would be a good idea to use?
Well hes really unprepaired, He wasnt expecting to run into any trouble, he was actually jsut coming back from getting his mask made.
and no its more of a apartment building. Hes wearing no shirt (he takes it off cause it catches on fire) and some torn jeans.
But later on in the book when he gets his chaacter settled, i think i mihgt take ur suggestion and give him a like rope and a clip that he can maybe repell on
Riku,
well I wasn’t sure if you were using DE as I understand it or you had your own concept of what it did your fictional universe that did not apply at all to reality, so I added the info just in case.I understond fictinal liberties. My characters are infected with a nanotech that simulates a virus and changes the phyiscal characteristics.
To answer your question better I would need to understand what you want your character to do(powers) and how they do what they do. For instance, with the DE is your character made of it or do they simply channel it. Or posibbly a comboof both. If your character is made of DE then they would be unable to interact directly with anything made of matter because DE repels matter. So no driving, talking on the telephone, touching another person, and if he is seriously injuried( and your character still has a physical body of sorts) a doctor couldn’t help him.
If you want to stick with what you explained earlier (which I understand to be a character kinda like Dr. Manhattan or Cpt. Atom, but with shape shifting ablities instead of energy projection) then a weakness could be that over exhuastioning could lead to the character losing cohesion.
Dallas,
What city is the story set in
also dallas, how old is the building and how tall. Does it have a gutter he could climb down? Is it close enough to another building so that he might be able to wedge himself between the two and shimmy(is that spelled correctly) down. Could he use his ripped jeans as a rope. lol that would be funny if his first apperance as superheroe X was in nothing but his mask and underwear! he could still feel like a failure even if he did save the day. Anyways just some suggestions.
oh oh oh, I got it dallas.
- hero takes off his pants throughs them over a power line at the top of the building and uses the to slide down the wire to gound level where he saves the day-
No all jokes aside I do have a question. If your character is so unprepared for this gun fight why his he trying to get invovled. As some one who has been in combat, I would have to have some really good motivation to attempt to some crazy stunt to get off the top of a building just to show up for a gunfight without even knife. Althought, you could use scene to show your character the dangers of running into something when he is not ready.
Well, really, he sees 2 hummers filled with a bunch of gangsters and one of the main badguys heading in one direction. he follows, witnesses a car accadent where the humemr flips over. People start shooting, he watches behind a corner, the cops show up like right beside him and he climbs the fire escape to get out of sight.
2 cops see him and try to chase him, he ends up on the top of the building. Guns pointed, he letss them semi-arrest him, then goes all awesome on their cop asses, incapacitates them, and needs to get away, the fire escape is broken in the process of climbing (note how the cops notice him)
and its in a major metropalis called Recadentia.
Hahaha, when the cops corner him and start to arrest him, Vir’s going to say
“Listen, do you want to sit down, talk about this situation and maybe settle our differences?”
“What? No, mister masked man, you’re under arrest.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
*NINJA SHIT*
*jump*
Ok dallas,
So my recommendation is go to gooogle or yahoo and search images for ” new york city brownstones” and just look at the buildings with all the crap sticking out of them and if you want you can that type of architecture in you book and have Vir free climb down from the roof(which would be plausible, dangerous, and exhausting) or simply have him jump from the roof to the fire escape of the next building over(this would require alot of testicular fortitude, lucky, and a good running start). If you chose the jumping one you could always make his aim a little off or have him mees up the landing and injury some ribs. Finally, if you are going to have him take down the two cops he might as well collect some usefull equipment(cuffs, asps, kevlar vest, pepper spray)
Good idea, maybe the cuffs mainly. I was thinking for an easier way of a bulletproof vest… Its improvising remember, you know thoes counter tiles that come in sheets
they’re thin, very licht and apperantly stop bullets.
Hey dallas,
I dont know anything about the tiles, you would have to explain it to me, but why improvise what you can “burrow” from bad guys and dumb cops. Besides, the kevlar will be lighter than a bunch of tile armor, and it may make more sense to your readers from a practicle stand point.
Dallas,
I have seen it done both ways (I have an extenstive collection of superhero books), like Superman being called Kal-El while in costume, and clark kent when he is not. However, most of the time the narrator just refers to the hero by their real name. Your point of veiw will also determine what your hero is called. If you’re using 3rd person limited point of view and switch to a character that isn’t your hero then he should be refered to as Vir, and while you are narrating from the Vir’s point of view you should use his real name. For example:
– Ken crouched on the fire escape and watched as the muuger approach the two elderly women talking a short cut through the alley. Within seconds, the three muggers descended on women, pinnig one to a wall and slamming the other to the ground.
Grabbing hold of the guard rail, Ken leapt from the fire escape and onto the attackers below.
(change point of veiw to mugger)
A movement from above caught John’s eye as he pinned one of the women to the wall. Looking up, John spotted a black figure flying throught the air. for a second he did not believe his eye. The Vir was only suppose to be some urban legend cooked up by the cops to scare young punks off the street.-
I know its rough but i hope you get the idea about 3rd person limited. Of course, If you are use 3rd person omniscient then you should probably always refer to your hero as Ken. Hope this helped.
I’d have to disagree on that point, actually, based primarily on why multiple perspectives are shunned so often; orientation.
If Ted is interacting with Orson Scott Cardigan, the billionaire industrialist that works every night as Mor-Man to fight against the evils of alcohol and equality, at a business party and just as Ted delivers a retort to Orson that implies he knows that he is a supervillain, the front wall of the Richie Inn explodes and a half dozen mercenaries pour through like so many Vienna sausages.
Of course, wouldn’t you know it but that’s the moment when the front doorbell rings? Of course, it’s Sherry, the cute but socially neglectful secretary, Allen, the friendly neighborhood comic book shop owner and a hundred and sixty seven angry penguins? But, they brought pizza! So, the reader puts down the book for the rest of the day, carefully marking the page first, of course.
Later, he returns to the book, Ted is trying to find Beth, his beloved high school sweet heart amongst the rubble, luckily she was in the bathroom vomiting up the remains of the day so Kevin Spacey wouldn’t feel lonely, she steps out of the smoke-filled hallway and shouts to Ted, declaring her undying love for him while using his name at the end of every sentence so we know that she knows who he is, because readers doubt that sometimes. All the while, the real reader is confused about how she recognized him in his toga, giant orange sombrero, and gold fish shaped nipple tassels.
Ghost,
sorry. I thought you were lecturing me for having a scientific inaccuracy. But he’s actually made of the stuff, so the input is actually much appreciated. Though, to tell you the truth, the latter idea sounds the best to me, so maybe I could change him up a bit. Also because, if I kept him the way I had him before, he wouldn’t have a mouth, so he wouldn’t be able to talk…which for me would be more difficult to write than it should be.
Thanks again for the idea!
Lighting man,
I do agree with you in a way. Mulitple POVs should not jump around multiple times in a scene, and even when the technique is used an author must do so carefully. However, I don’t believe that as a technique it is shunned. In my opinion, Multiple POV storys are very common and popular in the marketplace today. For example:
-any novel by Dan Brown
-the Artemis Fowl series
-any novel set in the star wars universe
-The quantum prohpecy series
-several novels written by Dean Koontz
-Enemies and Allies by Kevin J Anderson
-The night angel series by Brent Weeks
-Both sequels to Eragon
-Several books by Michael Crichton
These are just several successful examples of multiple POV stories that I could think of. Like I said earlier, I believe the ability to use multiple POVs well in a story depends entirely on the authors skill. If done correctly, this technique lends itself greatly to stories that have alot of important characters and in creating suspense by creating mini cliffhangers when switching to another character.
Riku,
No problem. Having taken a class or two on communication theory, I understand that text does not relay the the same information as a verbal conversation. So no harm no foul. Actually, after I read your response I thought that I had offended you. Anyway, glad I could help, and if you need anymore you know where to find me.
how about for a boy with cyrokenises?
All it takes for the reader to re-orient themself, Lighting Man, is to reread the last page they read prior to closing the book. And honestly? This happens whether it’s a different point of view or not.
Ice Boy, I think the most obvious for a kid with cyrokinesis is heat and the need to be hydrated. I can’t think of anything deeper than that. As long as he can be adequately challenged it really doesn’t matter if he has a particular weakness or not.
Ghost,
Just to follow up, I know about the Sun’s total output. However, that energy output is being spread out into space in an expanding sphere. So yes, if you could sweep up a significant portion of that output then you would have a lot of energy on your hands. But the actual amount of energy hitting a surface area the size of a human body is comparatively small, even if that surface had a 100% absorption efficiency.
This means that a solar-powered super can’t just be passively absorbing energy. They would have to be actively drawing it in from the environment. To me this has always raised the question: should it be getting darker in Superman’s vicinity whenever he uses his powers?
It is in this way that we go back to the finite versus infinite power source question. Going back to the solar panel analogy, just because the Sun is putting out 3.86*10^26 watts per second of energy doesn’t mean that the solar panel on the roof of a house can absorb that much power. And even if the technology were more efficient it still couldn’t tap into all, or even a miniscule fraction of that power because most of it is flowing out in other directions and will never come into contact with the solar panel.
Even with an active absorption mechanism there are still questions, such as how efficient is it, from how far away can energy be drawn, what quantities can be drawn in at one time, does doing so impose entropic effects on the absorber, etc…
Regular human bodies do not self-produce energy. We consume energy from external sources (food). But even so, the biochemical processes involved in releasing energy from sugars, carbohydrates and fats do produce wastes, fatigue chemicals and such. Michael Phelps readily admits to consuming around 10,000 calories per day! Yet even he is not tireless. Nor would he be even if he could consume calories somehow even while he exerts himself. Fatigue chemical buildup, strain on the physical structures of his body and excess heat would eventually wear him down.
So while a super might be able to tap into a theoretically limitless energy source, just as an ordinary person could consume food containing vast amounts of calories, it does not follow logically that they have ALL of that energy at their disposal, nor that they could physically utilize an unlimited amount of energy without physical ill-effect.
Ice boy,
I assuming that when you say “cyrokenises” you mean that your character can freeze things with their mind. So for a weakness you might want to consider where the energy from the things they are freezing goes. In the real world, heat is a from of energy, and “cold” is the absences of this energy. Also, The law of conservation of mass and energy states that matter and energy can not be destroyed (as far as humanity currently understands thing) they can only be transfered. So in order to freeze something, like water, in a freezer you have to remove heat from the water, not introduce “cold” into the water. So freezers freeze things by absorbing heat and caring that heat outside to be absorbed by air.
So maybe your character, like a freezer, absorbs the heat into himself and its causes him to slow over heat, Or maybe he has to transfer the heat else where. I think you should focus on what happens to the heat energy in order to develope a waekness for your character.
Umm… who posted under my name?
Ghost, I’m not sure who that was. We could IP track them I think, but that may be a little much for just one mistake.
I just wanted to write a response to them, but I wanted to know who I should address the comment to. No biggie
“All it takes for the reader to re-orient themself, Lighting Man, is to reread the last page they read prior to closing the book. And honestly? This happens whether it’s a different point of view or not.”
Yeah, I hadn’t slept, so I was hyper, didn’t make my point well at all, and it doesn’t make sense in the slightest, then I got distracted trying to be funny and it went over like an ignorant pigeon eating squab. I apologize for the lengthy meandering idiocy of it, quite sincerely to everyone.
No problem lighting man. I actually prefer a little verbal jousting, it keeps the mind sharp and is more entertaining than shower jousting
“How do you weaken a guy who can freeze time and rewind time? I need help for weaknesses.”
Don’t any of you people watch Heroes??? Hiro, at least at the beginning, was notoriously inaccurate with his time-traveling (in the 2nd season he sent himself back to Feudal Japan). On the other hand, I suspect that’s why they took away Hiro’s and Peter’s powers in the 3rd (4th?) season – they were way too powerful for an ensemble show.
Yeah, I’m sort of wondering about Hiro. If he can’t freeze time anymore, what can he do? Teleport, perhaps. That’s way underpowered relative to (say) Matt “I’m in yr head stealn yr mindz” Parkman.
Worse, it appears at the moment (I missed the premier, gonna hafta download it off the NBC website) that he can’t use -any- power without his head possibly exploding.
I disagree about teleportation being underpowered; it’s a cheap way to get places, and it’s an instant escape hatch. That’s why Star Trek: TOS went to such pains to set up situations where Kirk couldn’t just beam back up to the ship.
In my opinion, Heroes is just plain Superheros Done Right. No flashy costumes, no cheesy superhero names, no comic-speak dialog, just ordinary people with extraordinary abilities trying to live their lives till fate intervenes.
Oh, and he can stillfreeze time; what he’s lost (for now) is the teleportation and the time traveling.
Jeez, I wish these forums had an edit feature!!!!
Hey, I looove Heroes
And Hiro has ALL his powers back he can freeze time, teleport, and time travel.
Yeah, what’s the point of taking your character’s powers for one arc and then bringing them back?
I too am having problems with a weakness for my character, who I don’t classify as a “super hero,” but just a man who has to be a hero when called upon. But what i really wanted to say is that I don’t feel that Superman’s weakness is gimmicky at all. You asked why anyone would be vulnerable to his own planet… well, there are many natural things in our own planet that will kill us. Something as simple as a plant actually can kill us. Superman is vulnerable to a radio active material from his planet and if I’m not mistaken, we can die from the radio active materials as well, so it being a gimmick doesn’t really make sense.
Superman’s weakness becomes gimmicky in that, out of all the billions of things that could crash land on Earth from his home planet, excusing the earlier issues where he had twelve cousins, dogs, cats, monkeys, horses and I think a time machine once, crash land on Earth from Krypton, it is a radioactive rock that the mere presence of renders him temporarily deathly ill.
If five hundred years from now, Earth blows up and we’ve got a colony on Mars, if they get any thing from Earth bumping them on the heads, what are the chances that it’d be Uranium? Pretty small, I’d guess.
Now, that one continuity that I can’t remember, it might be Smallville or the old animated series, helped defeat this problem by suggesting that Krypton died due to all of its mass being converted to Kryptonite, and then Jor-El making it asplode while trying to fix it which lessens the problem greatly.
hey b. mac,
Just wanted to run ally’s weaknesses by you, see if I can get some additional input on it.
The basis for his powers is that he’s a digital construct composed of the electrical impulses of his former body bonded to the plasma remains of his disentigrated body.
In a way, he does have internal limits due to the fact he can only do so much with his powers as long as he knows the science behind it roughly. It’s a big part of the beginning of his story as mentioned in the other comments. He’s got a robust amount of powers, superstrength, energy projection and construct generation to name a few… but at the same time, being a digital entity leaves him open to EMPs, if he’s caught offguard eletricity does more damage then if he’s prepared to absorb energy, though even then it still does damage. He’s hackable, he still has to follow the laws of physics so he’s still easily knocked around if caught off guard. He’s also been caught off guard by quick flashes of light like you mentioned for senses.
Is there anything that sticks out that I’m not thinking of for a weakness?
There’s another really obvious weakness for super-fast characters. Throw a can at them.
This sounds stupid, but– because they’re going so fast, anything that hits them would feel as if it was striking them at 100, 200, 300 miles per hour. If someone threw a pencil at you while you’re going 300mph, it WILL leave damage, and a lot of it.
So I was thinking about this thread and I came up with a few more weaknesses.
My MC is the type of hero that uses a power suit, but the catch is that the suit is difficult to take off quickly. It’s a complicated power suit that’s about as hard as a kimono to get off properly. (You’d be SURPRISED how difficult those kimonos are.)
Which means…
–Electrical or EMP attacks used on her would short out the suit, but not HER. She’s trapped inside until she can either get it off or the suit powers back up. (Especially bad, ’cause one of the major villains happens to be an electrokinetic, ha. XD)
–The suit, as it’s made of metal, has no real buoyancy. I.E., it’s a bad idea to try and fight underwater, as she’d probably drown.
There’s probably a few more, I just felt like sharing that, lolz.
Yeah, I don’t think that the air contained inside a suit like Ironman’s would last all that long. Maybe a few minutes. I think Ironman eventually got around that by coming up with a model of his suit that’s specialized for the water (able to withstand tremendous pressure, able to generate breathable air from water, etc). He still gets beat by pirates at one point, though.
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Those sound very interesting, Miss Myna. Would you like to share a chapter?
Thank you
And yeah, especially if the suit is almost skin tight- or close to it- carrying around oxygen would get rather cumbersome, and kind of weird too. “Oh, I’m only carrying this oxygen tank on the off chance I get trapped underwater.” XD Yeah.
I’d like to share a chapter, but I haven’t written the story yet, I’m still putting it together. DX Your site has inspired me a lot though, so I have to say, thank you muchso~
And I absolutely need to show this to a friend, she’s also writing a superhero story.
Plus, a compressed oxygen tank is likely to be HIGHLY explosive. I wouldn’t want to carry that (especially into battle!) unless I absolutely had to.
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Thanks for telling your friend. It’s always more fun with more people.
Thanks a bunch for this one!! I’m creating a superhero and I had issues with finding a valid weakness…
Hi! I’m having a bit of trouble. My superhero has the power to harness electricity and his villian controls fire. I know theres a ton of weakness for both powers, but i need on thats unique and surprising to the reader and its easy for the enemy to get their hands on.
Hmm. With the fire guy, using water is cliche (although you could probably come up with a unique way to bring in the water). As a somewhat fresher alternative, you could seal off the room and wait for him to burn up the oxygen. Alternately… I think 50-pound bags of soil cost $5 at Home Depot. It wouldn’t cost too much money to buy enough soil to set a trap that could bury him or at least thoroughly coat him in wet soil or sand. Either one would probably interfere with the oxygen he needs for his body to make fire.
For the lightning guy, the only two things coming to mind are water (horribly cliche) and variations on lightning rods. I imagine that the hero will take precautions against getting shorted by a spray of water. So you could have the villain take a hostage and spray HIM with water, so that the hero can’t use his powers without electrocuting the hostage. Alternately, you could have the villain lock the hero in a room and wait for him to suffocate. I don’t think that electricity would be too useful for breaking out of a prison.
I am making a super hero novel as a course work. and i have my super hero set and kind of introduced a problem.. was wondering if someone has any ideas to help me out or know a better name for my character. his name is Lightning Devil. He can teleport and read into peoples past. a newly aquired power is the fact that he shoots lightning from his eyes, however he cannot control it. ( he got his powers in an experiment with extreme high magnetic waves) if you could help me with anything would be gratefull. even any tips for the plot or such. thanks
Hmm. I tried looking through the Wikipedia page for lightning and a few phrases stuck out at me for name candidates. Do you like Staccato or Fulgurite? (One is a type of lightning and the other is a byproduct of lightning).
What do you have in mind for your plot? Unless the piece is unusually long, you probably only need to focus on a single goal for the main character. So what kind of goals would this LD fellow have? Possibly something to do with a troubled backstory, if he’s going to use his past-reading power. So, for example, maybe he has unresolved business with his parents. Or maybe someone around him has some nasty skeletons in the closet and he’s getting drawn in (voluntarily? or not?).
He or somebody around him is probably a scientist, if he’s near an accident when it happens, so you could do something with that. For example, maybe the scientist had to rip off some shady people for the funding for this experiment, and now they’re angry. Sort of like Doc Brown in Back to the Future, or the opposite of Joker duping the doctor in Arkham Asylum.
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What’s the personality of the main character like?
How do you plan on working teleportation into the story?
I need an opnion on a weakness.
The hero has the power to turn his flesh, bones, internal organs,ect. into diamond. Every thing but is nervious system is a diamond. Meaning that if he gets shot, to him it will feel like he got shot, though their is not real tissue damage.
Hmm. That will make his life unpleasant, but will it actually make his quest harder to pull off? (IE: does the prospect of imagined pain somehow make it possible that he will fail even though he is very hard to actually harm?)
Some consequences I suspect would arise would be…
–I think it’d help a lot if the character is a solo hero rather than a single guy on a team, because the element of pain is something that would really benefit from the attention of the reader and probably the perspective of the character. I suspect this would be hard to pull off if the character isn’t the point-of-view.
–The book’s camera is going to zoom in pretty tight on this character and his state of mind. If you’re doing a more psychological work, I think that’s appropriate. If not, making his primary issue mental (imagined pain) rather than physical (actual physical danger) may be problematic.
–I’d be more optimistic about this succeeding in a novel than a comic book.
Good luck.
You’ve actually commented on this character in the list of superpowers, Black Diamond. When I thought about it the imagined pain would not work because he is not the POV. Do you think that heat could work? As in because his diamond form is not permanent, his diamond would turn to ash at lower temperatures. Around 120 degrees.
“Do you think that heat could work? As in because his diamond form is not permanent, his diamond would turn to ash at lower temperatures. Around 120 degrees.”
I’m sorry but I don’t understand what you mean here. Is 120 degrees a low temperature in your opinion? Why would he turn to ash? I understand that you’re going for a weakness, but I think turning to ash is a bit much. A weakness needs to weaken, not totally (and permanently?) impair the character.
Personally, it’s reason like this that I don’t like invulnerability as a power. It’s just a nuisance coming up with ways to hurt them.
On a minor scientific point, I think 120 degrees is a sort of low temperature when compared to what diamonds can usually take. (Diamonds are formed at ~2000+ degrees Fahrenheit).
That said, I agree with RB on the main point, that 120 degrees is high relative to human life, probably too high for criminals to use much. If the threshold were something closer to 100 degrees, a crafty antagonist might be able to mess him up just by cranking the heater. And the hero might get worked up enough over the course of a battle that his body starts to overheat. With 120 degrees, the only two situations that come to mind are 1) fire-based weaponry and/or blazing rooms and 2) extremely warm places, like Death Valley. (Or maybe his body creates a LOT of heat when he exerts himself and he’ll gradually get into the ~120 degree danger zone if the fight goes too long).
Regarding electricity based powers, one weakness not mentioned (I think) are insulated materials. What if the villain was made of plastic, made of diamond or wore a plastic suit? It would be hard to electrocute the said criminal. Glass is a good insulator, what if a villain made maze or prison of super thick glass. That would make it hard for the hero to break out of.
Maybe, the heat could weaken his structure making it more plyable going from diamond to steel strength and allowing him to feel the pain making him more cautious.
I’ll lower the temp to 1O5 or lower. I like the self generated heat idea to.