Sep 07 2009
Kryptonite-style Weaknesses Are Usually a Poor Option
1. Well-constructed characters generally do not need weaknesses. If you have to resort to something like a vulnerability to Kryptonite or the color yellow or whatever, it’s probably because the character is too powerful to begin with. Something like Kryptonite is not a satisfying or particularly effective way to resolve that. For one thing, going from “largely unchallengeable” to “helpless rag-doll” does not make for great fight scenes. Also, relying on Kryptonite may force writers to pull goofy Kryptonite Ex Machinas where minor criminals somehow acquire rare and random substances.*
*Some Superman stories explain this by having Lex Luthor give Kryptonite out to criminal groups, but it’s incredibly rare. Why would a random gang have a better chance of killing Superman than his own assassins?
2. Kryptonite-style weaknesses are a bit outdated. In the past twenty or thirty years, there haven’t been many major superheroes that have been successfully introduced with a serious vulnerability to something that’s usually harmless.
3. Rather than using something like Kryptonite to limit your protagonist, I’d recommend limiting his capabilities instead. If the character is practically indestructible and can move as fast as a space shuttle, then you practically have to pull something like Kryptonite out of a hat whenever you want to challenge him. But the fight scenes are generally more interesting and the character will probably be more relatable if his powers are less impressive to begin with. Over the past thirty years, heroes that are merely somewhat better-than-human (like Wolverine, Batman and Spiderman) have been dominant. Heroes that are so impervious that they need a gimmick weakness have generally not fared as well.
4. If you’re deadset on using a vulnerability, I’d recommend using something that is usually dangerous. For example, the Martian Manhunter has sometimes been vulnerable to fire. That is a lot less goofy than the Green Lantern’s vulnerability to the color yellow. Alternately, if you’d like to try something creative, I’d recommend looking at things that are plausibly dangerous for someone with his powers. For example, someone with particularly good hearing might be sensitive to loud sounds. Someone with psychic abilities might be vulnerable to anything that disrupts his concentration.
5. If you’re deadset on using a Kryptonite-style weakness, I’d recommend having it be merely damaging rather than incapacitating. As noted above, if the protagonist is limping around like a rag doll after getting poisoned by Kryptonite, that really limits your opportunities for fight scenes and other interesting sequences. One alternative would be having the weakness temporarily disable the character’s powers. The character would still be very vulnerable without his powers, but at least he’d be able to try to do something. (For example, you might have him fight an unpowered battle against low-level mooks or do an escape scene where he tries to get away from a superpowered villain that is far too tough for him at the moment).
Thank you so much! This really helped!
Have you considered this approach?
Have the protagonist’s ability slowly kill him. While your story may not necessarily have to end with his/her death, it will certainly build up to a climax.
If your hero starts off using his powers to fight petty crime, and it’s easy because he’s so healthy and powerful…then what happens when he has to face the main villain when the hero is weezing, faint, and feverish?
But then it sort of defeats the purpose of the hero being the hero. If he’s in some epic battle and his health is slowly wittling away, he’ll end up either dead or hospitalized for a long time with his identity (possibly being discovered).
Depends on the kind of story you wanna write, ShardReaper.
Paul A.’s comment sounds a lot like a plot element I’ve been wanting to work into my novel, “Second Life”, where the hero’s powers are slowly killing him. But I’m hesistant on going with the idea, because there’s so much going on in my story already.
With a hero whose powers are draining his life force, he’d probably need to find some crafty way to defeat the villain BEFORE his time is up. That adds suspense because the clock is ticking for the hero. Maybe he DOES end up hospitalized at some point, and maybe his friends/sidekick would have to help cover-up his identity so he won’t be exposed? There’s a lot of neat stuff you could do with an in-the-hospital-cover-up. Maybe one of the doctors DOES discover the hero’s secret, but the hero convinces the doctor to keep the secret? After this brush with death, the hero would have to work very hard to defeat the villain without completely depending on his powers.
I think it’s a fun idea, but sort of a downer, LOL.
Hmm. And suppose that the doctor finds out his secret identity, then tells the villain. The hero would then have to possibly go into hiding. Or get plastic surgery.
There are endless possibilities when writing. That’s why I love it.
On another note I have a friend that wrote a story that her two main characters could not only turn invisible and intangible, but were also super strong, super fast, extremely brilliant, they have extremely dangerous poisons that can kill the hero but they are immune, and they can’t be killed. I asked her if they had any weaknesses at all and she said that they could only be killed by obsidian. I rolled my eyes at her two utterly too superman-like characters. I think I’m going to show her this article. I’ve already told her that her characters are way too powerful to make the story interesting.
My question is why don’t the villains just load their guns with kryponite bullets and shoot Superman? That would solve all their problems.
@# Lwrcaseltrs krytonite bullets made me laugh they could blast him in the eye like in superman returns,except he’d be missing an eye or most likely dead lol
My weakness… is bullets.
Bullets, my only weakness! How did you know?
Lol! “Bullets! How did you know?” That was great!
Hey, does anyone know the episode of JL where Batman takes a bullet for Superman?
Lol harold straight blasted that a**hole cop.
I’m pretty sure he said something like “I took a bullet for you” in the episode “The Doomsday Sanction,” but it was actually a missile, not a bullet.
Ohh.. Thanks!
Hmm I just wanted to point out that Superman over the years has grown resistant to kryptonite so he can actually fight, and move aroud when exposed to kryptonite an example in live action is when he shoved that krytonite mass into space.
And Superman does have some ways to harm him such as magic, but then again he can heal.
Anyway what would be a good weakness for a few characters, none of them have as many powers as Martian Manhunter, just some recommended weaknesses. I was thinking what is a weakness for superhumans that gain their powers from residue energies from the Big Bang?
What are their powers? That could help me think of somthing.
I have a hero with a weakness that’s like a kryptonite style weakness. Any suggestions to make it more interesting rather than just the bad guy using the weakness against him?
With the caveat that I think it’s generally not a promising approach (see above), here are some things you might consider.
–How does the villain find out the hero is vulnerable to the substance?
–How does the villain use it? Simply putting a kryptonite bullet in a gun would probably not be enough to kill someone that has impossibly fast reflexes. For example, maybe the villain deliberately weakens the kryptonite and then plants it in Clark Kent’s wallet or in Clark Kent’s desk, figuring that he’ll be gradually poisoned without realizing it (a boiling frog approach*).
*Well, a frog actually will jump out of gradually boiling water before it gets cooked, but the myth is vaguely plausible.
–How are you going to keep this from sounding like Superman and Kryptonite? (Your character’s powers are already pretty similar to Superman’s, right?)
No his powers are fairly different from Superman. He has durable skin and organs(not to be confused with invulnerability), he can fly as fast as a jet, shoot beams of heat, heat vision, slight intangibility and super strength.
There are also some similarities to Superman though. Like superman his powers run on a type of solar battery and the heat vision. Could you comment on my power set, if you don’t mind?
Between the enhanced durability, the enhanced speed, the heat vision, superstrength, the connection to the sun, and possibly a vulnerability to something like Kryptonite, my vague impression so far is that DC might sue you over the similarities to Superman if the story gets published. Both DC and Marvel have very aggressive legal departments, particularly when major characters are involved.
Lol yeah but the hero is still in the beta stage, thanks for the help