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Why was Marvel obsessed with radioactivity?
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41 posts in this topic

I cant think of a single DC hero that got their powers from radioactivity.  DC writers seemed to understand that um RADIOACTIVITY KILLS YOU.
Marvel has radio active heroes up the yin yang.

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5 hours ago, kav said:

I cant think of a single DC hero that got their powers from radioactivity.  DC writers seemed to understand that um RADIOACTIVITY KILLS YOU.
Marvel has radio active heroes up the yin yang.

The Flash's origin story is basically just as silly, though.

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2 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

The Flash's origin story is basically just as silly, though.

Yup. Caused by a bolt of superheated, charged plasma rather than simple radioactivity.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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8 hours ago, kav said:

I cant think of a single DC hero that got their powers from radioactivity.  DC writers seemed to understand that um RADIOACTIVITY KILLS YOU.
Marvel has radio active heroes up the yin yang.

Doctor Phosphorus

Firestorm

 

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As well as radioactivity, Marvel, and especially Tony Stark, were fixated on transistors.  The ones created in their 60s universe were clearly far more advanced than even modern day silicon chips and nanotechnology.

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How many sources for change are available?

Innate / born with it - mutants, extraterrestrials.

Radioactivity.

Chemical agents - toxic waste, drugs.

Magic - Juggernaut.

Experimental alteration - aliens such as the Kree, space gods such as The Celestials, human laboratories.

Technological enhancement.

For a normal human on the street becoming a mutate with superpowers, tech, alien probing and magic are out, leaving chemical agents or radioactivity to fall back on repetitively.  For the early 1960s, radioactivity best fit the constantly tense, paranoid zeitgeist, and exploitation of that allowed Lee to churn out large volumes of material without having to think too hard at all about origination.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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35 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

How many sources for change are available?

Innate / born with it - mutants, extraterrestrials.

Radioactivity.

Chemical agents - toxic waste, drugs.

Magic - Juggernaut.

Experimental alteration - aliens such as the Kree, space gods such as The Celestials, human laboratories.

Technological enhancement.

For a normal human on the street becoming a mutate with superpowers, tech, alien probing and magic are out, leaving chemical agents or radioactivity to fall back on repetitively.  For the early 1960s, radioactivity best fit the constantly tense, paranoid zeitgeist, and exploitation of that allowed Lee to churn out large volumes of material without having to think too hard at all about origination.

Supernatural - The Spectre,

 

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14 minutes ago, seanfingh said:

Supernatural - The Spectre,

 

Yup. I included that as magic, but you’re right. :smile:
 

There’s a degree of crossover.
 

Juggernaut magically empowered by a supernatural being, Cyttorak.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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3 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

The Flash's origin story is basically just as silly, though.

This always bothered me as a kid... a lightning strike shatters a collection of random chemicals and covers Barry Allen in the residue, giving him super powers... And then a little later, another random lightning strike shatters another collection of other random chemicals and covers Wally West in another residue - giving him exactly the same powers.

It's almost as weak as getting hit by a radioactive truck and gaining super radar sight.

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57 minutes ago, Brock said:

This always bothered me as a kid... a lightning strike shatters a collection of random chemicals and covers Barry Allen in the residue, giving him super powers... And then a little later, another random lightning strike shatters another collection of other random chemicals and covers Wally West in another residue - giving him exactly the same powers.

It's almost as weak as getting hit by a radioactive truck and gaining super radar sight.

I could be wrong here, but I’m sure I read a story once where the coincidence was explained as being due to some magical entity manipulating the situation, exposing them both to an identical lightning and chemical mix combination that created super-speed powers in exactly the same way, but then realised the idea was rubbish and made the origin even more ridiculous, and soon retconned it out.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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I just remembered the actual story, and then found this video...

I didn’t quite get it right.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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I'm convinced that Doctor Solar # 1 is basically Radioactive Man # 1 from that classic Simpson's episode where they pool their money to afford a copy.

Also, interesting to me that Doctor Solar # 1 had an October 1962 cover date, the same month the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred.

Edited by Gatsby77
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1 hour ago, Ken Aldred said:

I could be wrong here, but I’m sure I read a story once where the coincidence was explained as being due to some magical entity manipulating the situation, exposing them both to an identical lightning and chemical mix combination that created super-speed powers in exactly the same way, but then realised the idea was rubbish and made the origin even more ridiculous, and soon retconned it out.

I think you're right, but "some magical entity" was spelled R-E-T-C-O-N. :smile:

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