What do you think about the possibility of heroes to have a more powerful form?

[Masterff]

Hello,

in Flash 86 Barry reached a new form of himself which is even more powerful than he was before.
Diana has armours and also had (I think in NEW52) the possibility to become more powerful by removing the bracelets
Bruce has also his armour

Do you think it would be a good idea to give heroes such forms which they can use if necessary?

I mean I always thought that also Conner could power himself incredibly up if he would uses TTK+Kryptonian Strenght AND the Solar Flare could also be used to build like an aura around Superman instead of just a Solar Flare..

[king81992]

I like the idea.

[Tzigone]

I dislike it. Never liked it in cartoons and such, either. Just feel like it's a way to sell more toys and you end up tons and tons of "alternates" and stories built around those alternates (toys) that feel like advertisements. Probably wouldn't be as much an issue in comics, I admit, since audience skews older. Still, it doesn't make logical sense for the vast majority. I don't even like the Bat Armour. Defeats the purpose of him being human to me. I like them having weaknesses.

[Phoenixx9]

I like it, but not for every character or too many in succession. Spread it out over time (years) so it does not appear as a "usual" thing.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

it's so overdone in anime at this point, keep it out of DC.

[Blue22]

I love me some anime tropes that find their way into comics. So while I'm KINDA in favor of it, it mostly depends on the hero and the circumstances/conditions behind said power-up.

I've often pictured a version of Jon or Conner, that mastered the Solar Flare power, having a time limited form similar to Carol Danvers' Binary. Or Beast Boy having a really powerful monster form that only gets used in emergencies because it makes him feral.

Basically, I'm okay with stuff like that being implemented. But there's gotta be some kind of drawback or reason for a hero to not solve all of their problems with it.

[Lightning Rider]

I generally dislike it, for a few reasons.

One is that it somehow makes the power feel less internal. If it has to be activated or augmented by something else, or is constantly changing, it feels less organically part of the character. I like to imagine Superheroes living with their powers as a natural part of their life. It's not just a weapon but a charming feature they get to incorporate into their everyday lives.

Another is that simplifies the use of the power itself. If Superman just gets a power boost, or Flash gets a speed boost, etc. it robs them the opportunity of becoming more clever or using their powers in a creative way.

And story-wise, these kinds of transformations and power-ups often end up becoming the center of the story. While I love action in comic books, there's already a lack of stories where the goal is something more than to simply out-punch a villain. I'd rather a conflict be infused with moral dilemmas, interesting journeys, cleverness, etc.. More powerful forms are low-hanging fruit for writers to use as a crutch and reduce story conflict resolution to achieving more powerful states.

I could see it working to a limited degree for some characters, but I'd generally much rather my comics not use them.

[Robanker]

It's a little too anime for my tastes. What I like about superhero comics is they generally have their skillset mapped out and thus have to find ways to adapt that skillset into solutions; it's like playing Dungeons and Dragons with a cool DM.

Alternate forms essentially just allows lazy writing to power creep exponentially. Superman went Super Kryptonian VI but got absolute stomped because Diana went Hyper Amazon God Form. Ugh.

[phantom1592]

I'm not a fan of that at all. Not a fan of it in Anime, hate it in comics. I personally consider it lazy storytelling.

I think I first noticed it in Power Rangers. Season starts out where they're super awesome heroes... then suddenly their weapons aren't enough... so they spend a long time getting their NEW Super Weapon!!! New Super Weapon kills the mega evil fine. Next season, NEW Mega Evil... Try out New Super Weapons AND IT DOESN"T WORK... I guess we need to spend THIS seasons getting the New ULTRA Super Weapon... Which will save the day... until the next newest enemy will require the New MEGA ultra Super Weapon.... It's just a continuous roller coaster trying to challenge the heroes after you JUST gave them a power up. Same thing with Digimon. The super form they worked so hard to get to... was just pointless a couple seasons later.

Some other examples. CW Flash... He spends multiple seasons needing to get 'EVEN FASTER!!!" to beat the speedster of the season.... Despite the fact that we've already seen Season 2 top speed breaks the time barrier... somehow season 4 MUST GO FASTER!!! Despite the concept that in order to reach X +3 you've already hit X and that screws up teh timeline... but .... POWER UP!!!!

Immortal Hulk is another one. People keep pushing that this is the most dangerous hulk ever... when we already saw Maestro who was stronger than Savage and WORLDBREAKER... who's footsteps were creating earthquakes across the eastern seaboard. There's just no 'upgrading that'. We've SEEN top form.

I'm personally more interested in characters with weaknesses and flaws who have to come up with ultra creative ways to get around problems than just see them get powered up and bulldoze through them. For example I used to LOVE seeing how Hal Jordan would deal with the yellow weakness and time limits. He's a LOT less interesting without those weaknesses.

[Gaius]

Too anime for my tastes.

[Frontier]

I'm a fan of it in anime and Tokusatsu but I'm not sure about it's viability with Western Superheroes aside from in rare instances.

[9th.]

As an action junkie and anime fan I love it, of course it's something that shouldn't be used all the time but I have 0 problem with it existing. Who doesn't want to see a sundipped Superman?

[MadFacedKid]

It’s corny as hell. Depending on the character. I could understand it for Wonder Woman with the whole bracelet thing. Given the history behind it. I could understand Cyborg having upgrades and maybe an upgraded form he can go in.

But when I saw it for flash it just seemed like story is definitely not the focus of the series. Reason I hopped off the show was the repetitive theme of “I have to get faster” Every season... wash, rinse and repeat. There’s no character faster than the Flash at this point how many times do you have to outrun death, the speed force, teleportation before having to get faster stops being a theme..

[Vakanai]

Depends. Anime over does (looking at you Goku), but most anime isn't some big long lasting juggernaut like DBZ. Tokusatsu shows like Ultraman does it, but there's a new Ultraman with a new gimmick every season. For something truly unending like Western comics, kind of hard to do since the problem of permanence comes up. Will this power up last? If not why not? Why not use power up for every problem? How often do you get a new power up? Easy way to mess things up after say a decade. Most anime and such ends, so power ups can work over 2 to 4 seasons. Superman never ends.

[Lee]

Most of DC's heroes are already too powerful. The villains should be able to plausibly get the upper hand, otherwise there's no challenge to overcome, no drama.