Lots of superheroes are “children of the atom” in the sense that they derive powers from some sort of radioactivity (think Spiderman or Hulk or even Daredevil) while others are just born with powers without explanation (X-Men, Thor, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman).
Who is a superhero that is somehow grounded in reality, meaning that they could “potentially” make sense (either their origin story is believable, even if it has some obvious gap to make a super power happen, or their power is somehow limited or constructed in a “reasonable” way).
I guess with these restrictions, Batman would be OK since he’s got no superpowers, but he’s insanely rich and therefore can both train himself and have access to sophisticated gadgets, but can you think of less obvious ones (even if they’re minor characters)?
Thanks for reading this!
Edit: thanks for all the answers and apologies for the slow replies. I’ve had a couple of complicated days. I’ll now go through answering you. Several people made me realize I hadn’t been precise in what I meant and helped with their answers. I was looking for superheroes or superpowers that are somehow “believable” in that they’re either constructed in an unexpected way or in a way that you could almost accept as plausible
Hawkeye, really good archer.
daredevil, trained from a young age to use his hearing as he is blind.
black widow, trains from a child to be an assassin.
Mr freeze, scientist looking for a cure for his wife’s illness.
poison ivy, wants to limit man’s destruction of the natural world.Daredevil got super powers from an accident where he was exposed to radioactive chemicals.
You’re right! I initially ruled Daredevil out but, as I was reading answers, I concurred Daredevil actually has a “believable” origin story (in that chemicals heighten his spatial senses)
That last one sounds pretty fuckin’ villianious. Are you sure you’re not describing Hitler?
Hawkeye and Black Widow are examples of what I was looking for, thanks! They are normal people with extremely good training.
Daredevil is one I was kind of ruling out in my original post since he gets his powers from chemicals spilled on him, so it feels a bit like a “deus ex machina” plot device, like being a mutant or an alien or touching something radioactive. EDIT: on second thought, you’re right that it’s known that if you (unfortunately) go blind your other senses somehow help you make up for the loss of sight and so it may be believable that by chance the chemicals he was wetted with could somehow heighten his senses, so actually Daredevil is more in line with what I was looking for than I initially thought!
Poison Ivy and Mr Freeze are amazing answers! Poison Ivy is “believable” in that she’s grown immune to poison because the mix of herbs she’s taken “could” have an unexpected effect and Mr Freeze too is awesome in that he’s a scientist trying to save his terminally ill wife with cryogenics and somehow the experiment goes wrong.
Now you’re also making me think about the very first episode of the Batman animated series where a scientist researching bats is turned into one.
Your answer suggests that a source of “believable” origin stories are experiments gone wrong, if the experiments are somehow well thought and resembling actual science
Edit: updated my thoughts on Daredevil after reading another answer on para humans in this thread.
Jack Knight Starman. His dad was the OG Starman back in the 40s and invented a Cosmic Staff and Gravity Rod to give himself Green Lantern style super-powers.
Jack’s brother, David, becomes the new Starman using his dad’s costume and tools, Jack wants no part of it, preferring to run an antique shop.
David is killed, their dad is nearly killed, an attempt is made on Jack that he only survives because he had one of his dad’s Cosmic Rods stashed in a closet somewhere.
So, Jack begrudgingly becomes Starman to save his dad and avenge his brother.
That’s a great and involved origin story. Jack takes the mantle though he wants no part in it and becomes a superhero to protect and avenge his family.
It’s interesting to have superheroes who are born out of revenge, like the Punisher mentioned in another comment. I guess revenge is also part of the Spiderman lore, though it isn’t involved in what makes him Spiderman in the first place (and also isn’t shown acting out of rage, like the Punisher).
I admit to not knowing Starman enough so I don’t know if he’s shown acting out of rage (like the Punisher) or of justice (like Spiderman)
Neither rage nor justice, it’s really self defense.
Here’s a great moment after the initial story arc where he thinks he can go back to running an antique shop.
Hired killer is sent to find a magic Hawaiian shirt with the gateway to heaven painted on the back:
All of the Robins; Batman is basically the least interesting character in his own city…
That’s right! In a sense, Batman is very grounded as a comic book in that several of the main characters (Batman and the Robins) all are well trained people but with no super powers, so they are believable!
There is another answer below about Poison Ivy and Mr Freeze which I also liked and commented on and which (coupled with your answer) points to how much of the lore around Batman is well constructed (that is, characters and villains have a “believable” and well thought origin story)
Saitama
100 pushups! 100 squats! 10km run every day!
Ahahahah! Great answer and a great comic. Being a parody comic, no one (not even the characters of the comic book) believe he can be real since he’s grown to become a god like creature simply by doing a fairly normal workout. Genus is so pissed off when he learns about the source of Saitama’s power
This isn’t a “comic book” universe, but the parahumans story universe (Worm and Ward) fits this pretty well.
Without spoiling too much of the story, characters all get powers in response to traumatic events. The powers they get also tend to reflect the type of trauma that occurred, so if they lost an arm they might get a healing power, or if they were trapped in a burning building they might get the ability to phase through walls and a resistance to fire. All of the powers in the setting tend to follow this approach, and stay within the rules of the setting.
I really like this. It has a similar (but different) feel than the answer involving Poison Ivy and Mr Freeze (which at the end I was abstracting as “believable experiments gone wrong with unexpected but somehow credible outcomes”).
In the case of para humans you’re saying, powers are well constructed within the limits of the world they live in and are related to something traumatic (and not necessarily reversible) which gives them abilities related to the event.
I admit ignorance in their respect and will look more into it. Thanks!
I’m not super knowledged in X Men lore so feel free to correct me but, isn’t Wolverine the result of an experiment that doesn’t involve radioactivity? All the others are just mutants but he wasn’t born like that. Also there is another neuron in my brain saying Sabertooth is similar to wolverine in that sense but maybe I’m just making this up, I’m not sure.
Wolverine is a mutant and was born that way, but the experiments added the whole indestructable skeleton on top of that. The only reason he survived the experiments in the first place was because he’s got crazy fast healing as a mutant power.
However, Deadpool might fit the bill, at least in some versions. He was given Wolverine’s healing factor in the same Weapon X project. It’s actually super powerful and would kill him if it wasn’t in a constant deadlock with his cancer which is also constantly killing him. There was a comic where Norman Osborn attempted to assassinate him by shhoting him with a cure for cancer…
That’s an interesting take, because it is a plausible origin story arising from an “implausible” one! What I mean is that, according to the (admittedly not well defined) “bounds” of my original post, mutants have a less believable origin story since they’re just born with powers, but Deadpool becomes a superhero since he already lives in a universe where mutants and healing factors exist and so it makes sense they make experiments on it!
I didn’t know Norman Osborn tried to kill Deadpool with a cure for cancer. That’s a neat plot device!
Cheers!
I’m trying to answer everyone and you pointed out correctly something I didn’t define well in my original post: I was trying to find either “believable” powers (in the sense of being well constructed) or “believable” origin stories. They didn’t need to come from radioactivity only. The reason I was excluding mutants in my original post was that they have powers since they have a different gene, but that is a very “cheap” way of creating a superhero, since no other explanation is necessary!
Wolverine (as pointed out in the first answer to your comment) is born a mutant and later on given an indestructible skeleton.
Make no mistake: the post is not about superheroes being or not being cool because of their origin story or super powers. I really like Wolverine and Sabertooth!
There are many that are results or accidents from experiments. The Flash got his powers from a lab accident. Iron Man’s suit is part of his own research. Cyborg from Teen Titans was an experiment from a father trying to save his son. Elonging Man did “a life research on yogi’s elasticity” to create a potion that gave him his powers. Plastic Man was also an “accident” with an unidentified chemical.
Ghost Rider and Spawn made deals with the devil to get powers. Spawn even has an actual limit on how much he can use his hellish powers
These are all great answers. As discussed in another answer to a comment (the one on Poison Ivy and Mr Freeze), I agree that “believable” experiments gone wrong based on actual science provide a source of “believable” super powers.
On the other hand: Ghost Rider and Spawn have really nice origin stories which also place restrictions on what they can do not to make the characters god like.
Green Lantern! Take one Regular Human and add one Alien Ring.
Everyone in Watchmen.
Doctor Strange, just learns magic.
Watchmen is a great answer! All characters are normal people, save for Dr Manhattan and, even if the source itself of his super power is “sketchy” (in that it involves a radioactive event that just makes it true, without real explanation), there is a long section showing us how he tried to reassemble himself very very slowly while learning how to use his new powers which makes for a great and detailed origin story.
Doctor Strange is also a great answer since it taps into something that people have believed existing for centuries (aka magic) and Stephen Strange goes on to study it to save his own hands. It’s a great origin story!
Green Lantern is also awesome in that it’s a very unexpected origin story with aliens from Oa and lanterns being used to give this incredible power. I would say it’s unbelievable as a power (with respect to the restrictions I was thinking about in my post), but the origin story and lore is much more unexpected than so many other superheroes
Oh! Daredevil: blind, develops sonar, can fight really well in the dark.
Moon Knight: has mental issues and just fights well The Punisher: Has military training
That’s right! Moon Knight is a former mercenary (so believable training) with split personality. Then he also receives power from a god. This is also “believable” in that he is bestowed power after making a pact.
Of course, the Punisher also fits the bill. He has no powers (like Batman) just lots of training and motivation
Then he also receives power from a god.
Or did he?
Hahahahahahaha, touché!
thor and superman are aliens and aquaman is a different species from out planet and wonder woman might be human but her ancestry is gifted by gods (aliens?) All alien origin and magical and technological are based on hom much you think the abilities are possible. Magic though pretty much opens the door to anything. its magic. if your talking whats the most realistic that makes the most super seeming I would say the phantom. using inheritors to make the hero seem immortal would technically work. lets not include cartoon versions were he can call on the spirit powers of animals and such though. the original phantom that is basically batman.
Your comment nailed perfectly one of two the things I was aiming at with my post which I realized wasn’t as well defined as I was hoping (the other thing being a colorful or original origin story, even if the power is unbelievable).
The Phantom is a perfect example: he’s got no superpowers, but he managed to create an immortality myth around himself which makes him scary to others. That’s great!
