Expand Or Add To The Powerset Of DC's Mid-Tier Supers

[Agent Z]

This is an exercise regarding DC's mid-tier supers: those superpowered heroes and villains that sit in-between the badass normals like Batman and high-level busters like Superman and Wonder Woman. How would you expand on or add to the powersets of those characters without increasing them to god-level?

[king81992]

Metal manipulation, lava manipulation and diamond manipulation/mimicry for Terra.

[SuperX]

TTK with a YJ tv show based Conner Kent, on the showS, and the comics

[Riv86672]

I know this is just a thought exercise, but DC has a HUGE lack of depth in the mid tier dept., they really don’t need to be powered up imo.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I'd expand on Black Canary's sonic powers, making her more akin to Banshee/Siren from the X-men.

[lemonpeace]

it's a little weird but go with me

I would give Duke Thomas two things, a black Signal version of his bulletproof We are Robin jacket (I loved that Duke's Robin set-up) and a reflective Nth metal mask what bolsters his photokinetic vision and allows him to see into people's heart like the Batman Who Laugh's visor; and all that other cool stat boosts that Hawkman says come with Nth Metal use. something reminiscent of Looking Glass.



Batman training, daredevil-esque senses, psuedo-empath abilities, and Cap level stats? that's a solid upper tier street-leveler and with his boosted photokinesis a possible Kryptonian fail-safe.

[phonogram12]

I know this is just a thought exercise, but DC has a HUGE lack of depth in the mid tier dept., they really don’t need to be powered up imo.

For the most part, I agree. However...

Not exactly a power boost, but I would like the Hawks to have all the fighting prowess that their countless lives would give them. They lived several lives, in several cultures and they are always warriors, they learned countless combat styles, and have millions of years of experience. Forget Batman, Lady Shiva and Wonder Woman, those two should be DC's top fighters.

Also, giving more relevance to the "bird" abilities of the Hawks, apart from just flying.

I wouldn't mind seeing either/both of these in the least. It only makes sense.

Finally, more than adding or expanding Zatanna's abilities, I'd ask DC to "define" them.

I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, I don't see DC ever doing this because if there's one thing they seem to hate is clearly defining most anything. On the other, I'm not even sure if they should. Superhero magic tends to just be whatever the writer wants it to be, contradicting what someone else established before, then later being contradicted itself.

[LifeIsILL]

I know this is just a thought exercise, but DC has a HUGE lack of depth in the mid tier dept., they really don’t need to be powered up imo.

I think DC already has a lot of mid-tiers....they're just in limbo somewhere.

[lemonpeace]

I'd tweak Duke Thomas' powers.

i'd start by revealing that Duke's metahuman affinity for 8th metal is due to his parents both being descended from a specific clan from the Weapon Maker tribe (see Black Manta by Chuck Brown) who specialized in that particular metal. 8th metal is already established to originate from the Sphere of the Gods so I would establish Duke's family's metagene is divine in nature, essentially making it "magic blood" (a la Constantine) and explaining how he had the potential to became one of the most powerful mages in Future State. besides connecting Duke to his Future State self and fleshing out Duke's mysterious lineage, this tweak is more so to make Duke's powers more metaphysical and abstract. I wouldn't want Duke to pivot to become a mage or magic user or anything like that, but rather, I'd use it more as a vehicle for Duke to explore more magic and/or metaphysical stories and as a basis for incorporating two concepts to tweak his powerset: negative mass via darkness and imaginary mass via light.

now this next part is gonna get a lil gege akutami-esque lol but just go with me. I would give Duke the ability to alter the presence of "negative mass" found within the darkness he creates. by amplifying that negative mass he can cause the shadows to behave like negative matter that repels positive matter. he could use this ability to float, walk up walls and on air, send objects flying on contact, enhance his speed and mobility, create reflective barriers, fire bolts of condensed shadow, etc; the ability has a lot of potential applications depending on how creative you can be with it. He'd also have to ability to imbue light with "imaginary mass" to produce "heavy" magenta light. this application allows him to create magenta hard-light contructs. the Duke's enhanced light is magenta because magenta is an "imaginary" color and the mass of his light is also "imaginary".

**BONUS**

eff it, while I'm here I'd throw in an alternative or addition if you like. So I would have it that he studied Starfire (whether it's straight-up instruction through their mutual connections to Nightwing or maybe through Batman's files on the Titans) and learns to hone his raw solar-based photokinesis to generate Starbolts. if you know Starfire you know that her Starbolts are just an expression of concentrated solar energy from the solar radiation she absorbs. so it essentially a functions under the same photokinetic absorption and processing principles as Duke's powers; just on different scale. So I would take Duke back to his original power, the ability to manipulate the way he processes light, just honed offensively to tap into the same Starbolt phenomenon as Starfire. but I would balance it by saying it's something that requires a lot of energy so he can't just whip it out willy nilly. make it a last ditch maneuver in a pinch.

so in summary Duke would gain the ability to:

• create negative mass phenomenon via darkness
• create hard light constructs via imaginary mass
  
  and/or
• generate Starbolt energy using Photokinesis.

sure this upgrade is a little complex but I think it's an ability that makes Duke very powerful but it's an ability whose strength comes from of it's versatility and nuance, so he's not TOO powerful imo. because in my mind I feel like Batman with superpowers it effectively just a seinen protagonist, a complex ability that would realistically require skill and ingenuity to work convincingly make sense to me.

[Stanlos]

This is an exercise regarding DC's mid-tier supers: those superpowered heroes in villains that sit in-between the badass normals like Batman and high-level busters like Superman and Wonder Woman. How would you expand on or add to the powersets of those characters without increasing them to god-level?

Hmmmmmm.

Let's see. Aquaman already has THE trident of Poseidon and that Hecatoncheire armour so he has plenty already on his own.

Joto/Slagger/Hotspot could do with some other abilities tied to his pulse. Maybe with with practice he gains the ability use the pulse to create shields that protect him and others from projectiles by flash evaporate anything that touches it.

All the team members of Soyuz just need upgrades to range and stamina of their powers.

Tsunami and Blue could gain the bulletproof hide that all the other undersea people's suddenly have.

Canary already has a built in plot device for scream upgrades tied to her Shiva training. Maybe that add the skill to create a focused low decibel shield to repel bullets giving her some crowd protection powets

[Agent Z]

Hmmmmmm.

Let's see. Aquaman already has THE trident of Poseidon and that Hecatoncheire armour so he has plenty already on his own.

Joto/Slagger/Hotspot could do with some other abilities tied to his pulse. Maybe with with practice he gains the ability use the pulse to create shields that protect him and others from projectiles by flash evaporate anything that touches it.

All the team members of Soyuz just need upgrades to range and stamina of their powers.

Tsunami and Blue could gain the bulletproof hide that all the other undersea people's suddenly have.

Canary already has a built in plot device for scream upgrades tied to her Shiva training. Maybe that add the skill to create a focused low decibel shield to repel bullets giving her some crowd protection powets

Who are Blue and Soyuz?

[Stanlos]

Who are Blue and Soyuz?

Soyuz was a team introduced in FIRESTORM in a story where he was fighting a Russian purple guy Zuggernaut or something. They were a team of five. Serafina aka FIREBIRD had telepathic abilities. Rusalka had aquakinesis, Perun has electrical powers, Morozko has ice powers, and Vikhor has wind powers.I

Deep Blue is a member of Aquaman's rather extensive set of undersea allies. She can hyper-evolve aquatic life making sea life giant sized and way more powerful. She was believed to be the daughter of Tsunami and Neptune Perkins. But Atlan later revealed he was her father making Arthur her half-brother.

[Agent Z]

Soyuz was a team introduced in FIRESTORM in a story where he was fighting a Russian purple guy Zuggernaut or something. They were a team of five. Serafina aka FIREBIRD had telepathic abilities. Rusalka had aquakinesis, Perun has electrical powers, Morozko has ice powers, and Vikhor has wind powers.I

Deep Blue is a member of Aquaman's rather extensive set of undersea allies. She can hyper-evolve aquatic life making sea life giant sized and way more powerful. She was believed to be the daughter of Tsunami and Neptune Perkins. But Atlan later revealed he was her father making Arthur her half-brother.

Speaking of Neptune Perkins, got any ideas for him?

[Agent Z]

Lorena Marquez should get her telepathy if she ever comes back.

[The_Lurk]

.... How would you expand on or add to the powersets of those characters without increasing them to god-level?

By telling a good story arc around the character that give not only more insight on the character and her/his live but also shows how/why the power changes.

Just declaring (i.e.) Katana now has the speed force just out of the blue would be not only boring but also imo kinda disrespectful to the character and said characters fanbase.