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

[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

[Stanlos]

Speaking of the Hawks, I'd just give them some kind of long-range offensive weaponry. They can still have their maces, etc for close-quarter combat, but they need to be able to strike from a distance.

That Justice League Heroes game have them a cry like Canary's. Morrison kind of did the same when he made Zauriel as a Hawk replacement

[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.

[scary harpy]

You can find some examples in this thread

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...s-Appreciation

Here are the examples I found:

• Acrata aka Andrea Rojas
• Bumblebee
• Cameron Chase
• Cynthia Reynolds (Gypsy)
• Daniel Tsang aka Striker Z
• Duke Thomas: Signal
• Elongated Man
• Grace Choi
• Lorena Marquez aka Aquagirl II
• Mirage
• Sideways (Derek James)
• that Silencer
• The Projectionist from Stormwatch
• Tom Bronson (Wildcat III/Tomcat)
• Tula aka Aquagirl
• Yolanda Montez (Wildcat II)

[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?

[scary harpy]

Speaking of the Hawks, I'd just give them some kind of long-range offensive weaponry. They can still have their maces, etc for close-quarter combat, but they need to be able to strike from a distance.

The Hawks should have armor made of Nth metal...it has all sorts of amazing powers.

[Sutekh]

Speaking of the Hawks, I'd just give them some kind of long-range offensive weaponry. They can still have their maces, etc for close-quarter combat, but they need to be able to strike from a distance.

Even if it was just daggers, javelins or spears that they could throw (and, ideally, that would return to their grasp, allowing reuse?).

Or, if going with the Thanagarian backstory, rayguns or even some sort of alien tech gauss needler that shot tiny slivers of Nth metal.

[Agent Z]

Would anyone be okay with giving the Hawks metal wings that fire feathers are projectiles?

[j9ac9k]

Would anyone be okay with giving the Hawks metal wings that fire feathers are projectiles?

That's just Archangel, so no. Better to not rip that off.

[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.

[lemonpeace]

Would anyone be okay with giving the Hawks metal wings that fire feathers are projectiles?

I mean, she can't shoot feathers (I don't think) but Kendra does currently have wings made of Nth metal.

[Stanlos]

With the military/Hawkworld version, Thanagarian tech was a big deal so they could always incorporate more nth meta and have more ordinance

[K7P5V]

I mean, she can't shoot feathers (I don't think) but Kendra does currently have wings made of Nth metal.

Awesome! That sounds very similar to...

Warhawk
(Rex Stewart)
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Rex_Stewart_(DCAU)

[Incognito]

Expanding to have more utility functions (she's already got a kickass attack), could be fun. Heightened hearing. The ability to 'hum' a white noise that interferes with / cancels other sound in the area (essentially creating a zone of silence!). Sonar (both for fighting in the dark, or when her sight is impaired, and to tell what's in the box / behind the door, without opening it!). A tone that disorients someone (causing the fluid in their inner ear to vibrate, so that they have vertigo), possibly even one above or below the human hearing threshold, so that someone doesn't know why they suddenly feel dizzy when she's in the room and 'whistling' at them. Maybe a tone that makes someone suggestible, or a vocal trick that makes her commands extra unnerving, triggering the fight-or-flight response and making nervous or uncertain people prone to hastily do whatever she said before realizing she's not the boss of them?

All those application for her power you have listed gives her lots of storyline potential.


Nightshade - manipulating her targets' shadow like a marionette, using the shadows/darkness for stealth and a using her portals as dimensional storage for her items or trapping her targets.

Animal Man (I don't think he classify as a mid-tier super he seems high-tier to me because he is the main avatar of the red)/Beast Boy/Vixen - Supernatural senses: detecting ghosts, spirits, supernaturals, life, death, good, evil and magic.

[Stanlos]

All those application for her power you have listed gives her lots of storyline potential.


Nightshade - manipulating her targets' shadow like a marionette, using the shadows/darkness for stealth and a using her portals as dimensional storage for her items or trapping her targets.

Animal Man (I don't think he classify as a mid-tier super he seems high-tier to me because he is the main avatar of the red)/Beast Boy/Vixen - Supernatural senses: detecting ghosts, spirits, supernaturals, life, death, good, evil and magic.

I was wondering about the classification for mid tier too. Canary is street level fighter but the Cry can stagger even an alpha level opponent so I look at her as mix tier