That was a terrible musical episode cross over - four songs in 1 1/2 hours? All this talk about how they were in a musical and how strangely people just seemed to do things seemed to be crying out for a song to justify people's sudden change of heart but they just never came. Was just a badly written play for the most part.
Think they could have had a lot more fun with the concept too - chorus of mind controlled gorillas, given it'd be CGI and you'd get away without needing actors singing on set. Breaking reality/the script by jumping into song in order to move a plot section in your favour after you've been told your in a musical. Could have even saved a bit of money on sets and properly staged the whole 'dream' portion as an actual musical just on a single stage with different backdrops (with an audience and crew of mind controlled gorillas to keep them on the stage). Rather than just doing an alternative reality with a song.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
+2
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lwt1973King of ThievesSyndicationRegistered Userregular
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
Or read the comic book "Astro City" for more of that. It's one of the most uplifting superhero comic books out there.
"He's sulking in his tent like Achilles! It's the Iliad?...from Homer?! READ A BOOK!!" -Handy
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
There was one character from "The 4400" who decides to use his powers to become a superhero.
There are three ways to play with the premise of "people get superpowers" (and by superpowers, I mean like, scientifically inexplicable abilities that even if they're given a sciencey explanation are clearly superpowers)
You can play it completely straight and realistically, and show how real people with such powers would respond, how governments would respond, etc. That's not a superhero show, that's a sci-fi show with superpowers. The 4400, Alphas, and Misfits are basically in line with this. Played straight, these shows aren't necessarily about heroism or villainy, but often have messages about humanity, godhood, elitism, eugenics, government conspiracies, etc.
You can dump a bunch of superhero tropes on it, very few of which are realistic and rely heavily on audience investment in suspension of disbelief. Many of these tropes are either super-antiquated and reliant upon cultural conceits or facets of everyday modern life that are simply no longer relevant now versus when comic book super-heroes originally crystallized these ideas... or they're patently absurd, and just followed because they're comic book superhero things. Adapted media of comic book super-heroes usually follow this route, and the CW "Arrowverse" shows are good examples of this.
The third way is something of a hybrid, and that's to include some of the superhero tropes and archetypes and genre conceits, but make a point of highlighting their absurdity or subverting them in some way. Usually these shows fixate on characters who are themselves not necessarily superheroes, but live in a world where other superheroes do exist and their culture and worldview is informed by that. The show (and comic) Powers, Agents of SHIELD, Jessica Jones, and the upcoming adaptation of Wild Cards are examples of this.
In my opinion, all three ways of doing it "work" as long as you do it right, and as long as you commit. When you try to be the first type (no superheroes, just people with superpowers) and play it straight and realistic, it strikes as a giant tonal and thematic shift if you start to include superhero tropes (Heroes, Smallville), since you might've spent a good chunk of the earlier part of the show sneering at those ideas. If you try to be the second type, it gets weird when suddenly shit gets real and it leaves the audience questioning this or that. Flash, season 2 and onwards, ran into this. Supergirl is starting to run into this in its second season too.
Like when people start asking "practical questions" about the Flash's universe and how say... the police respond or whatever, it's basically asking it to be a different show. When it tries to also be that show, it's not... it's not good at it.
If you can't accept that super-heroes, the very concept of super-heroes, is inherently somewhat absurd and nonsensical, then it's going to continue to burr you.
Nice analysis and definitely seeing the Arrowverse shows slipping a little bit. Last night while watching Arrow I started thinking back at how much different season 1 was and it made me a little sad.
I don't know if I agree with you about Smallville being in the first category since it's entire first season, and maybe longer, was pretty much just monster of the week type stuff. Seems to plant itself closer to your second category.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
Construction, or joining the military.
Heating a boiler to make electricity.
His beams are pure force from the punch dimension. He just looks at a fly wheel all day to create the electricity directly.
There are three ways to play with the premise of "people get superpowers" (and by superpowers, I mean like, scientifically inexplicable abilities that even if they're given a sciencey explanation are clearly superpowers)
Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners books fall into the first I guess?.
There, everyone who gets powers goes bad. There are no superheroes. Only supervillains.
It's marketed as YA, but I thought they were fine books .
Sorry for the non-Flash related reply, just chiming in to the discussion.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
Construction, or joining the military.
Heating a boiler to make electricity.
His beams are pure force from the punch dimension. He just looks at a fly wheel all day to create the electricity directly.
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
Construction, or joining the military.
Heating a boiler to make electricity.
His beams are pure force from the punch dimension. He just looks at a fly wheel all day to create the electricity directly.
I honestly can't tell if this is for real.
The best comic books.
[/quote]The original 1983 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe volume stated that Cyclops's eyes contain inter-dimensional apertures, releasing powerful energies from another dimension into his own via the beams. This account states that his body naturally metabolizes ambient energy that is used to open and focus the apertures in his eyes.[/quote]
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
Construction, or joining the military.
Heating a boiler to make electricity.
His beams are pure force from the punch dimension. He just looks at a fly wheel all day to create the electricity directly.
I honestly can't tell if this is for real.
The best comic books.
The original 1983 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe volume stated that Cyclops's eyes contain inter-dimensional apertures, releasing powerful energies from another dimension into his own via the beams. This account states that his body naturally metabolizes ambient energy that is used to open and focus the apertures in his eyes.[/quote]
Not sure if it's still canon though.[/quote]
It was never canon. It was literally made up by one guy, put in a Marvel Handbook, and it keeps getting repeated ad nauseum on listicles and dumb shit like that.
The guy who wrote that idea (Mark Sanderson) actually tried to put a lot of pseudo-sciencey bullshit explanations for superpowers that don't make sense (because they're superpowers), and a favorite idea of his was the idea of extra-dimensional energy or matter (in order to explain how super-heroes seem to blatantly defy laws of thermodynamics)
This included Hulk growing in size and strength due to drawing from extradimensional energy (which leads to the idea of there being a MUSCLE DIMENSION that contains Hulk's mass) and stupid nonsense like that.
Comic book writers working for Marvel generally hate the Official Handbooks, because not only are they really dumb, they actually limit how characters can be written or portrayed. If you quantify The Thing as having this much strength and being able to lift this many tons, and take that seriously as canon, it hamstrings future Fantastic Four writers on how strong they portray The Thing.
Writers ignore the Handbooks and always have, they have never been canon. What is canon is that Cyclops' optic beams are pure kinetic energy and "concussive force", meaning he doesn't shoot high-energy lasers. He can't melt stuff with his eyes or generate heat, but he can blow things the fuck apart and smash shit.
Over time, it also became canon that Scott is able to generate his beams because his body processes and releases solar energy in this way. He's a living battery, absorbing solar radiation and expelling this red concussive force (which can be harmlessly dissipated by ruby quartz, which is what his goggles and visor lenses and sunglasses are made of). His own body can absorb his red energy harmlessly, which is why he doesn't blow off his own eyelids and why there's no opposite force from him shooting a building with them blowing off his own head; the "kickback" of his beams hitting an object are just absorbed back into his body.
This also means Cyclops can be depowered by just denying him access to sunlight for long enough, and that has come up in the comics from time to time. Keep him underground or inside for long enough and his powers shut off.
Scott's brother Havok's powers work more or less the same way, except even more powerful. He doesn't just project beams of energy from his eyes, his entire body can project energy in every direction (there's points in Havok's history where he had to wear a body suit to dissipate the energy safely). Interestingly, Havok and Cyclops' energy is so similar that their own bodies absorb the energy from each other, meaning they're effectively immune to each other's powers. Cyclops could blast his brother right in the face and nothing would happen.
Occasionally, writers forget that Cyclops doesn't actually shoot laser beams and they'll write him burning stuff with his blasts, but that's just inconsistency (or an alt-u where his powers do actually work like that).
To date, no actual comic outside the Handbook has ever used the stupid "eye portals to the punch dimension" thing.
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
edited March 2017
i wish we had more gothed out superheroines because black lipstick looks gr8 but its always on evils
Really not looking forward to Killer Frost. Been there, done that. The entire concept of 'using your powers makes you eeeeeeeviiiiiilllll' is bad. They'll just pile on from there.
This is the kind of thing that bothers me about most superhero shows. We have a city where a lot of people get superpowers and all but our main characters turn evil? Where is the freezing power guy who uses his powers to run a successful ice cream business? Where is the person with diamond skin acting as a bodyguard? Where is the person who talks to animals working as a vet? We never see metahumans trying to live normal lifes with powers, it's like the show just wants to push this idea that powers change a person so much they become evil.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
Construction, or joining the military.
Heating a boiler to make electricity.
His beams are pure force from the punch dimension. He just looks at a fly wheel all day to create the electricity directly.
I honestly can't tell if this is for real.
The best comic books.
The original 1983 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe volume stated that Cyclops's eyes contain inter-dimensional apertures, releasing powerful energies from another dimension into his own via the beams. This account states that his body naturally metabolizes ambient energy that is used to open and focus the apertures in his eyes.
Not sure if it's still canon though.[/quote]
It was never canon. It was literally made up by one guy, put in a Marvel Handbook, and it keeps getting repeated ad nauseum on listicles and dumb shit like that.
The guy who wrote that idea (Mark Sanderson) actually tried to put a lot of pseudo-sciencey bullshit explanations for superpowers that don't make sense (because they're superpowers), and a favorite idea of his was the idea of extra-dimensional energy or matter (in order to explain how super-heroes seem to blatantly defy laws of thermodynamics)
This included Hulk growing in size and strength due to drawing from extradimensional energy (which leads to the idea of there being a MUSCLE DIMENSION that contains Hulk's mass) and stupid nonsense like that.
Comic book writers working for Marvel generally hate the Official Handbooks, because not only are they really dumb, they actually limit how characters can be written or portrayed. If you quantify The Thing as having this much strength and being able to lift this many tons, and take that seriously as canon, it hamstrings future Fantastic Four writers on how strong they portray The Thing.
Writers ignore the Handbooks and always have, they have never been canon. What is canon is that Cyclops' optic beams are pure kinetic energy and "concussive force", meaning he doesn't shoot high-energy lasers. He can't melt stuff with his eyes or generate heat, but he can blow things the fuck apart and smash shit.
Over time, it also became canon that Scott is able to generate his beams because his body processes and releases solar energy in this way. He's a living battery, absorbing solar radiation and expelling this red concussive force (which can be harmlessly dissipated by ruby quartz, which is what his goggles and visor lenses and sunglasses are made of). His own body can absorb his red energy harmlessly, which is why he doesn't blow off his own eyelids and why there's no opposite force from him shooting a building with them blowing off his own head; the "kickback" of his beams hitting an object are just absorbed back into his body.
This also means Cyclops can be depowered by just denying him access to sunlight for long enough, and that has come up in the comics from time to time. Keep him underground or inside for long enough and his powers shut off.
Scott's brother Havok's powers work more or less the same way, except even more powerful. He doesn't just project beams of energy from his eyes, his entire body can project energy in every direction (there's points in Havok's history where he had to wear a body suit to dissipate the energy safely). Interestingly, Havok and Cyclops' energy is so similar that their own bodies absorb the energy from each other, meaning they're effectively immune to each other's powers. Cyclops could blast his brother right in the face and nothing would happen.
Occasionally, writers forget that Cyclops doesn't actually shoot laser beams and they'll write him burning stuff with his blasts, but that's just inconsistency (or an alt-u where his powers do actually work like that).
To date, no actual comic outside the Handbook has ever used the stupid "eye portals to the punch dimension" thing.
That is not accurate. Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men suggests that not only can he fully control his optic blasts but that he can control where his beams come from. In the Ultimate Universe, he is able to basically become superman-lite with the drug Banshee.
I don't know that denying him of Solar Energy would actually depower him. While he can absorb solar energy, he outputs way more energy than he could possibly absorb for a man with his surface energy.
Also, ruby quartz also does not dissipate his energy. It is more psychological than anything as he has shot through it multiple times. During Civil War, he loses control of his powers due to mental manipulation. They are unable to turn off his powers despite having access to his glasses so they had to use Leech.
There are three ways to play with the premise of "people get superpowers" (and by superpowers, I mean like, scientifically inexplicable abilities that even if they're given a sciencey explanation are clearly superpowers)
Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners books fall into the first I guess?.
There, everyone who gets powers goes bad. There are no superheroes. Only supervillains.
It's marketed as YA, but I thought they were fine books .
Sorry for the non-Flash related reply, just chiming in to the discussion.
I was going to bring up Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart trilogy as well. They're really quite excellent!
I think the Abra Kadabra episode has turned me off the series. Like, there was nothing specific it did over any of the other episodes, I just did not give a single iota of a damn about anything at all that happened within it's runtime.
Also someone needs to tone down the Hamilton references in the Arrow-verse shows, it's getting absurd.
My main problem with that song is that the dubbing is really obvious.
Barry more so.
The dubbing was, ahem, super-obvious throughout the whole episode. Distractingly so.
edit: We did get a mention of The Thinker in the current episode though, so maybe they'll be the main villain next season before being supplanted by another speedster.
edit: We did get a mention of The Thinker in the current episode though, so maybe they'll be the main villain next season before being supplanted by another speedster.
If Barry is going to have to out think someone next season, I think they might all be boned.
About 20 minutes into the musical episode from a couple weeks ago and so far it's everything I hoped it would be! I knew Barry, Kara, and Wynn could sing from other shows but had no idea Cisco or Merlin could.
Edit: now that I've finished it I can safely say Best Crossover Ever!!!
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edit: We did get a mention of The Thinker in the current episode though, so maybe they'll be the main villain next season before being supplanted by another speedster.
If Barry is going to have to out think someone next season, I think they might all be boned.
He got schooled by Captain Cold in season one.
Barry Allen: You gave me your word!
Leonard Snart: [laughs] It's true I did, but here's the thing: I'm a criminal and a liar and I hurt people and I rob them. What did you expect me to do? Not be what I am? I saw an opportunity to turn things to my advantage and I did. Who you're really mad at is yourself. This is on you, Barry.
"He's sulking in his tent like Achilles! It's the Iliad?...from Homer?! READ A BOOK!!" -Handy
edit: We did get a mention of The Thinker in the current episode though, so maybe they'll be the main villain next season before being supplanted by another speedster.
If Barry is going to have to out think someone next season, I think they might all be boned.
He got schooled by Captain Cold in season one.
Barry Allen: You gave me your word!
Leonard Snart: [laughs] It's true I did, but here's the thing: I'm a criminal and a liar and I hurt people and I rob them. What did you expect me to do? Not be what I am? I saw an opportunity to turn things to my advantage and I did. Who you're really mad at is yourself. This is on you, Barry.
I really hate that they ruined Snart
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My main problem with that song is that the dubbing is really obvious.
Barry more so.
That is all.
No, and I have a co-worker who is pissed it didn't happen and hasn't shut up about it all day.
PSN : Bolthorn
Aaaaaand then it's gone...
Think they could have had a lot more fun with the concept too - chorus of mind controlled gorillas, given it'd be CGI and you'd get away without needing actors singing on set. Breaking reality/the script by jumping into song in order to move a plot section in your favour after you've been told your in a musical. Could have even saved a bit of money on sets and properly staged the whole 'dream' portion as an actual musical just on a single stage with different backdrops (with an audience and crew of mind controlled gorillas to keep them on the stage). Rather than just doing an alternative reality with a song.
You might be interested in checking out "The 4400," which was a lower budget but much less frustrating counterpart to "Heroes."
Or read the comic book "Astro City" for more of that. It's one of the most uplifting superhero comic books out there.
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I have all the seasons of the original Avatar show and LoK, plus most of the comics that have come out with both.
it has Golden Globe winner Mahershala Ali!!
I'd love to see a series like this, TV, comics, novels whatever. Some world where mutants/metas just lived their lives without all going super criminal or vigilante.
Like a teleporter who decides to start up his own small courier service. Maybe he does organ transport pro-bono because he's a decent human being and getting a kidney from one hospital to the other side of the country in 15 seconds means someone gets to live.
Or Colossus working in construction (or demolition).
Iceman could work as an artist doing temporary installations with his ice powers, maybe work with Pyro for some really cool performance pieces combining fire and ice.
(Yeah, I'm more familiar with Marvel, sorry.)
Then have someone like Cyclops trying to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do to earn a living when he shoots uncontrollable death beams out of his eyes.
What kind of sports do you play when the players might have super powers? Cause I'd be down to watch some mutant ball on TV.
There was one character from "The 4400" who decides to use his powers to become a superhero.
There are three ways to play with the premise of "people get superpowers" (and by superpowers, I mean like, scientifically inexplicable abilities that even if they're given a sciencey explanation are clearly superpowers)
You can play it completely straight and realistically, and show how real people with such powers would respond, how governments would respond, etc. That's not a superhero show, that's a sci-fi show with superpowers. The 4400, Alphas, and Misfits are basically in line with this. Played straight, these shows aren't necessarily about heroism or villainy, but often have messages about humanity, godhood, elitism, eugenics, government conspiracies, etc.
You can dump a bunch of superhero tropes on it, very few of which are realistic and rely heavily on audience investment in suspension of disbelief. Many of these tropes are either super-antiquated and reliant upon cultural conceits or facets of everyday modern life that are simply no longer relevant now versus when comic book super-heroes originally crystallized these ideas... or they're patently absurd, and just followed because they're comic book superhero things. Adapted media of comic book super-heroes usually follow this route, and the CW "Arrowverse" shows are good examples of this.
The third way is something of a hybrid, and that's to include some of the superhero tropes and archetypes and genre conceits, but make a point of highlighting their absurdity or subverting them in some way. Usually these shows fixate on characters who are themselves not necessarily superheroes, but live in a world where other superheroes do exist and their culture and worldview is informed by that. The show (and comic) Powers, Agents of SHIELD, Jessica Jones, and the upcoming adaptation of Wild Cards are examples of this.
In my opinion, all three ways of doing it "work" as long as you do it right, and as long as you commit. When you try to be the first type (no superheroes, just people with superpowers) and play it straight and realistic, it strikes as a giant tonal and thematic shift if you start to include superhero tropes (Heroes, Smallville), since you might've spent a good chunk of the earlier part of the show sneering at those ideas. If you try to be the second type, it gets weird when suddenly shit gets real and it leaves the audience questioning this or that. Flash, season 2 and onwards, ran into this. Supergirl is starting to run into this in its second season too.
Like when people start asking "practical questions" about the Flash's universe and how say... the police respond or whatever, it's basically asking it to be a different show. When it tries to also be that show, it's not... it's not good at it.
If you can't accept that super-heroes, the very concept of super-heroes, is inherently somewhat absurd and nonsensical, then it's going to continue to burr you.
I don't know if I agree with you about Smallville being in the first category since it's entire first season, and maybe longer, was pretty much just monster of the week type stuff. Seems to plant itself closer to your second category.
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Construction, or joining the military.
Heating a boiler to make electricity.
His beams are pure force from the punch dimension. He just looks at a fly wheel all day to create the electricity directly.
Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners books fall into the first I guess?.
There, everyone who gets powers goes bad. There are no superheroes. Only supervillains.
It's marketed as YA, but I thought they were fine books
Sorry for the non-Flash related reply, just chiming in to the discussion.
I honestly can't tell if this is for real.
The best comic books.
Not sure if it's still canon though.
Not sure if it's still canon though.[/quote]
It was never canon. It was literally made up by one guy, put in a Marvel Handbook, and it keeps getting repeated ad nauseum on listicles and dumb shit like that.
The guy who wrote that idea (Mark Sanderson) actually tried to put a lot of pseudo-sciencey bullshit explanations for superpowers that don't make sense (because they're superpowers), and a favorite idea of his was the idea of extra-dimensional energy or matter (in order to explain how super-heroes seem to blatantly defy laws of thermodynamics)
This included Hulk growing in size and strength due to drawing from extradimensional energy (which leads to the idea of there being a MUSCLE DIMENSION that contains Hulk's mass) and stupid nonsense like that.
Comic book writers working for Marvel generally hate the Official Handbooks, because not only are they really dumb, they actually limit how characters can be written or portrayed. If you quantify The Thing as having this much strength and being able to lift this many tons, and take that seriously as canon, it hamstrings future Fantastic Four writers on how strong they portray The Thing.
Writers ignore the Handbooks and always have, they have never been canon. What is canon is that Cyclops' optic beams are pure kinetic energy and "concussive force", meaning he doesn't shoot high-energy lasers. He can't melt stuff with his eyes or generate heat, but he can blow things the fuck apart and smash shit.
Over time, it also became canon that Scott is able to generate his beams because his body processes and releases solar energy in this way. He's a living battery, absorbing solar radiation and expelling this red concussive force (which can be harmlessly dissipated by ruby quartz, which is what his goggles and visor lenses and sunglasses are made of). His own body can absorb his red energy harmlessly, which is why he doesn't blow off his own eyelids and why there's no opposite force from him shooting a building with them blowing off his own head; the "kickback" of his beams hitting an object are just absorbed back into his body.
This also means Cyclops can be depowered by just denying him access to sunlight for long enough, and that has come up in the comics from time to time. Keep him underground or inside for long enough and his powers shut off.
Scott's brother Havok's powers work more or less the same way, except even more powerful. He doesn't just project beams of energy from his eyes, his entire body can project energy in every direction (there's points in Havok's history where he had to wear a body suit to dissipate the energy safely). Interestingly, Havok and Cyclops' energy is so similar that their own bodies absorb the energy from each other, meaning they're effectively immune to each other's powers. Cyclops could blast his brother right in the face and nothing would happen.
Occasionally, writers forget that Cyclops doesn't actually shoot laser beams and they'll write him burning stuff with his blasts, but that's just inconsistency (or an alt-u where his powers do actually work like that).
To date, no actual comic outside the Handbook has ever used the stupid "eye portals to the punch dimension" thing.
Not sure if it's still canon though.[/quote]
That is not accurate. Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men suggests that not only can he fully control his optic blasts but that he can control where his beams come from. In the Ultimate Universe, he is able to basically become superman-lite with the drug Banshee.
I don't know that denying him of Solar Energy would actually depower him. While he can absorb solar energy, he outputs way more energy than he could possibly absorb for a man with his surface energy.
Also, ruby quartz also does not dissipate his energy. It is more psychological than anything as he has shot through it multiple times. During Civil War, he loses control of his powers due to mental manipulation. They are unable to turn off his powers despite having access to his glasses so they had to use Leech.
Basically, Cyclops' powers are ridiculous.
I was going to bring up Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart trilogy as well. They're really quite excellent!
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
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Which is maybe where the Flash writers are drawing the inspiration from now. It would explain some things!
Also someone needs to tone down the Hamilton references in the Arrow-verse shows, it's getting absurd.
The dubbing was, ahem, super-obvious throughout the whole episode. Distractingly so.
edit: We did get a mention of The Thinker in the current episode though, so maybe they'll be the main villain next season before being supplanted by another speedster.
If Barry is going to have to out think someone next season, I think they might all be boned.
Edit: now that I've finished it I can safely say Best Crossover Ever!!!
He got schooled by Captain Cold in season one.
I really hate that they ruined Snart
You don't really need super genius on the resume to out think Barry (at least CW Barry).