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

[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.