Just thought we needed a thread for us geeky comic book types to argue comic book science and powers etc....
I was one of the readers who loved all the detail Marvel put in their old handbooks and enjoyed the effort made to come up with rational explanations for the various character's powers.
So..to start it off...hmmm...let's see....

What was the deal with Cyclops and Havok being immune to each other's powers because they were brothers. Alex's genetic makeup would keep the blunt force of his brothers' optic blast from smashing every bone in his body while the superheated plasma of his own powers would not incinerate Scott?? What's up with that?

Edward

The explanation worked for me because they both would have to be immune to their own powers to remain in one piece! If you take that as a given, it's not a far stroll to "and they're brothers, genetically similar, therefore immune to each other's powers as well".

I agree. Cyclops doesn't smash his skull or blow his eyelids off when he closes his eyes, and somehow the ruby quartz glasses aren't blown off his head (ripping his ears off with them)

Part of me is still hoping that some clever writer puts one of them in the position of being hit by a Gambit charged-item and discovering that they're immune to that as well...

Good thing the bad guys don't realize this fact about the Summers boys...I can picture one knocking Havok out and using him as a human shield against his brother.

Edward

Again, a set-piece a clever writer might throw in...

Heck, get a good chunk of living skin tissue and grow yourself a shield or other costume in the lab...

Or a costume with a outer layer made from ruby quartz to handle Cyclops.

Edward

hmmm...clone the DNA of various super heroes with different power immunities, then build yourself a meat suit for defense..hmmm...sounds like a great Vertigo supervillian to me...

So, Scott and Alex do know enough to fire at overhanging ceilings/rocks/aircraft to knock out their brother, right? I mean, if I was Alex, and I was sick of the way Scott lords it over me all the time, and Scott was standing on a rope bridge over a bottomless chasm, I wouldn't just whine 'gee, it is too bad I can't just kill the bastard with my energy blasts..oh, well, what's on TV?'.

Oh man, you take the fun out of Hal's yellow ring problem...

Hmm. If they make a HeroClix of Havok someday....

How exactly does Cyclop's optic blasts recharge....I seem to remember in that X-Men annual drawn by George Perez those many years ago that they needed to supercharge Cyclop's beam so Storm was zapping him with lightning bolts...what's up with that?

Edward

Just got finished watching the first Blade on DVD and got to wondering how Blade would fare in the Buffy-verse??

Could Blade take Buffy in a fight and how would he do against Angel or Spike??

The lack of gun usage in the buffy verse would give Blade an edge don't you think? Mr. Pointy vs. Glock

I dunno exactly HOW they recharge his powers, but if I recall correctly from my REEEEEEEEEEAAAAALLY old copies of Marvel Universe (when everyone had extremely detailed entries of their powers, strength levels, etc.), I believe that they said Cyclops's powers would immediately begin to recharge themselves the instant they were not in use, and while it IS possible for him to exhaust his powers, since they begin to regenerate each time they are not in use, I would presume that if he quit firing his eyebeams, they would start the recharge process immediately and soon, he could emit a weak beam. I don't recall anything having to do with his powers being related to a bio-electric field or anything, though, so I would be hard pressed to see how lightning bolts would turbo-charge him (although it would not surprise me it it did happen).

Here's a REALLY obscure continuity question (and probably just a case of the cartoon getting it all wrong), but if Cyclops's powers are just a force beam, is there heat or some other energy discharge involved? I remember an episode of "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" from my younger days where Cyclops was trapped in a room, and he focused his eyebeams into a very narrow beam, saying "If I can't blast through, I'll burn through." I know my physics classes are long ago, and while I suppose there could be a friction issue involved from blasting such force in a concentrated area, I wasn't sure if there were other instances where his powers were used in this same way in the comics.

Cyke's powers are derived from sunlight or stellar energy from our sun. I think in the X-Men annual with Arkon, Cyclops had to recharge under starlight.



Byrne addressed this in the pages of the Fantastic Four ( # 250 ). A Skrull posing as Cyclops zapped The Thing with an "optic" beam ( really an energy blaster in the Skrull's visor ). After being hit with the Skrull's energy-beam, the thing said:

<I>"YEOW! Cyclops! Snuck up on me with that blasted beam of his ... but ... wait a minute! That burned my back! I've been on the receivin' end of his zaps before, an' I know his beam ain't hot."</I>

That very same episode starred a living Thunderbird and Wolverine had an Australian accent, correct? Y'think they may have made a mistake on Cyke's power beam too?



There may very well be some old issues of X-Men where his beam is used as a heat-beam ... but there's also an old story where Professor X deflects a thrown object "telepathically" ... It's difficult to determine what's canon and what's not since there are contradictory things in print.

Jim Lawless

Let's say Bruce Banner got bitten by a werewolf....when the full moon rose that month the wolf transformation would start and the stress of that would trigger the Hulk metamorphosis ...would we end up with a superstrong hairy green monster??

Also....the light of a full moon is just reflected sunlight...correct? So how come it doesn't fry vampires??

I had this idea a few years back, what if vampires are actually solar powered (keeping in mind that they aren't real so can't actually be anything). A full moon would give them power, indirect sunlight would be okay, but direct sunlight would cause a system overload. Like a fuse or power cell given to much electricity. Exposure to pure sunlight would result in massive energy production and cell eruption. Big old fire ball.

Makes sense to me John!!

If Pyro ran across the Human Torch what would happen?? Would Pyro jerk Johnny around like a puppet?? Whose control of flame is greater??

Usually I go with the "Specialist Rule." That would put Pyro in the driver's seat. However, we're talking about Johnny remaining in control of HIMSELF. I give Johnny the upper hand. However, it would be a tough fight.