Most radical power creeps and nerf

[Micabe]

That whole event depended on everyone not using their brains, power levels, or ignoring select powers. And that's exactly how it should've/would've gone down. The saddest part is that people took that event seriously and hold that bad writing against them. The worst part of Death of Inhumans was none of them using their powers AT ALL, and Black Bolt being reduced to just his voice... again. I don't think some of today's writers have read Kirby era books, or purposefully decide to ignore them to make up for lazy writing.

I concur... Emma poking Blackagar in the throat and dropping him in his tracks is right up there with T'Challa holding Norrin Radd in an arm-lock.

I call PIS on that entire sequence of events because we all know (or should) that even if hitting Blackagar in the windpipe could somehow stop him the resulting response would not have been immediate silence but a rather audible gag that would have spread so much organic diamond dust (if that) throughout the atmosphere that not even Jean Grey in her host persona could have put her back together again

[ComicNoobie]

Cliche as it may be to say the biggest power creep I've seen is the Hulk. I know I'm pointing out the obvious and easy choice. Just see the "Thing vs Hulk" thread. There was a time Hulk fights were unpredictable and creative. In today's Marvel I don't know anybody outside the absolute god-tier characters who has a chance against Hulk. It's funny how one of the complaints in the MCU is they nerfed Hulk. If he was like the comics then they would constantly "Sakaar" him because he's too powerful. He would be the obstacle for the villains to try and overcome not the other way around. It's a shame because I like Hulk/Banner and would love for him to be more involved in the Marvel world then he currently is.

[davew128]

Hmm... Doesn't Tony have a Stark Reactor in his chest which powers his armor of the month?

Not since like 1975 or something.

[Agent Z]

Crystal was much more powerful and dynamic in the 70's to 90's when she was on the Avengers and Fantastic Four, and she even cleaned a part of Earth's atmosphere so to make it safe for inhumans to breathe and lifted Attilan from an island. In her last iterations they hardly used her powers to that extent.

Black Bolt was also nerfed and his last appearance ignored 99% of his powers.

I think we need to establish the difference between a character being nerfed and the writers simply opting to not have them go nuts all the time.

[Nomads1]

Power Creep: Carol Danvers, Scarlet Witch, Jean Grey, etc... Someone said that Jean was once written as weak because all women were. Nowadays, the switch flipped the other way, they are written as supremely powerful... because all women are. I find both terribly boring and just atrociously bad writing. I haven't kept up with the Inhumans, but the Karnak thing really seems to have gotten out of hand. Many Inhumans have been boosted ever since Marvel wanted them to take the mutants place (and other, oddly nerfed). I wonder what has been done with Triton, who used to be my favorite Inhuman and was regularly nerfed in the old days.

Nerfed: Thor. This is, IMHO, the most nerfed of all. He went from Marvel's guy you went to when it was all or nothing, do or die, to the guy every writer has to put down and humiliate just to boost his flavor of the month character he wanted to push. Of course, this happens quite a lot with most established characters, who contract plot induced stupidity or plot induced waekness, but, being Marvel's original heaviest hitter, I don't think it has happened so much with anyone as it has with Thor.

As for the Black Bolt debate, as I said, I haven't kept up with them, but I seem to recall that Black Bolt's devastating voice had nothing to do with sonic force. If I remember correctly, Black Bolt's myriad of powers and abilities have to do with electrons manipulation, with he can do through the antena in his forehead to increase his strength, fly, emit energy blasts, etc... However, for some reason, his powers come at the cost of an uncontrolable electron concentration on his vocal cords, which, when activated, even by the slightest murmur, manifests itself in a devastating and uncontrolable burst of desintegrating physical force. Maybe this has changed in recent years.

Bottom line, power creep or nerfing, IMHO, it all comes down to poor and lazy writing.

Peace

[Username taken]

Power Creep: Carol Danvers, Scarlet Witch, Jean Grey, etc... Someone said that Jean was once written as weak because all women were. Nowadays, the switch flipped the other way, they are written as supremely powerful... because all women are. I find both terribly boring and just atrociously bad writing. I haven't kept up with the Inhumans, but the Karnak thing really seems to have gotten out of hand. Many Inhumans have been boosted ever since Marvel wanted them to take the mutants place (and other, oddly nerfed). I wonder what has been done with Triton, who used to be my favorite Inhuman and was regularly nerfed in the old days.

Nerfed: Thor. This is, IMHO, the most nerfed of all. He went from Marvel's guy you went to when it was all or nothing, do or die, to the guy every writer has to put down and humiliate just to boost his flavor of the month character he wanted to push. Of course, this happens quite a lot with most established characters, who contract plot induced stupidity or plot induced waekness, but, being Marvel's original heaviest hitter, I don't think it has happened so much with anyone as it has with Thor.

As for the Black Bolt debate, as I said, I haven't kept up with them, but I seem to recall that Black Bolt's devastating voice had nothing to do with sonic force. If I remember correctly, Black Bolt's myriad of powers and abilities have to do with electrons manipulation, with he can do through the antena in his forehead to increase his strength, fly, emit energy blasts, etc... However, for some reason, his powers come at the cost of an uncontrolable electron concentration on his vocal cords, which, when activated, even by the slightest murmur, manifests itself in a devastating and uncontrolable burst of desintegrating physical force. Maybe this has changed in recent years.

Bottom line, power creep or nerfing, IMHO, it all comes down to poor and lazy writing.

Peace

Agreed.

Thor has been nerfed pretty badly. His superspeed is gone and he isn't the "last resort" that he once was for the Avengers. Thor was guy that kicked the crap of Kang while trash talking the guy and could take on the Masters of Evil by himself. Jason Aaron wrote a Thor that had superspeed but that was Jane Foster and not Odinson...yeah.

A lot of mutants have gotten severely powered up lately. With the immortality they are more like Eternals than anything else now. I just read an X-title where Storm hit both Hope and Exodus with a lightning that could shatter a mountain and she said it was just like splashing water in their face or something, basically, it did nothing to them. Exodus I can understand but when did Hope become that durable??

[Arachne]

Hope was changeling Exodus's powers at the time, so she'd be as durable as him.

[Force de Phenix]

Power Creep: Carol Danvers, Scarlet Witch, Jean Grey, etc... Someone said that Jean was once written as weak because all women were. Nowadays, the switch flipped the other way, they are written as supremely powerful... because all women are. I find both terribly boring and just atrociously bad writing. I haven't kept up with the Inhumans, but the Karnak thing really seems to have gotten out of hand. Many Inhumans have been boosted ever since Marvel wanted them to take the mutants place (and other, oddly nerfed). I wonder what has been done with Triton, who used to be my favorite Inhuman and was regularly nerfed in the old days.

Nerfed: Thor. This is, IMHO, the most nerfed of all. He went from Marvel's guy you went to when it was all or nothing, do or die, to the guy every writer has to put down and humiliate just to boost his flavor of the month character he wanted to push. Of course, this happens quite a lot with most established characters, who contract plot induced stupidity or plot induced waekness, but, being Marvel's original heaviest hitter, I don't think it has happened so much with anyone as it has with Thor.

As for the Black Bolt debate, as I said, I haven't kept up with them, but I seem to recall that Black Bolt's devastating voice had nothing to do with sonic force. If I remember correctly, Black Bolt's myriad of powers and abilities have to do with electrons manipulation, with he can do through the antena in his forehead to increase his strength, fly, emit energy blasts, etc... However, for some reason, his powers come at the cost of an uncontrolable electron concentration on his vocal cords, which, when activated, even by the slightest murmur, manifests itself in a devastating and uncontrolable burst of desintegrating physical force. Maybe this has changed in recent years.

Bottom line, power creep or nerfing, IMHO, it all comes down to poor and lazy writing.

Peace

These are some pretty bad takes, but I agree that power creep or nerfing all comes down to poor and lazy writing. The most powerful and smartest characters are men, like Franklin Richards, the Maker, Sentry, and Doctor Doom. The Illuminati are all men. They stripped Franklin of his powers for more of less the same reason they did it to Jean, lazy poor writing.

[Sutekh]

As for the Black Bolt debate, as I said, I haven't kept up with them, but I seem to recall that Black Bolt's devastating voice had nothing to do with sonic force. If I remember correctly, Black Bolt's myriad of powers and abilities have to do with electrons manipulation, with he can do through the antena in his forehead to increase his strength, fly, emit energy blasts, etc... However, for some reason, his powers come at the cost of an uncontrolable electron concentration on his vocal cords, which, when activated, even by the slightest murmur, manifests itself in a devastating and uncontrolable burst of desintegrating physical force. Maybe this has changed in recent years.

Back in the early days, it was indeed nothing at all to do with sonics or sound, but the act of vocalizing triggered a massive shockwave of concussion force.

But, back in the 80s?, IIRC, he ended up teaming up with Dazzler against the Absorbing Man (who had absorbed Dazzler's light and was getting a bit hyper with all that giant energy body power), and Black Bolt screamed, Dazzler absorbed it, and bam, new canon, Black Bolt produces mega-sound (which Dazzler can absorb and turn into light, back when that was her power, instead of pew-pew laser lass that she's turned into, unlike *her* early days when she had to use Reed Richard tech to function outside of a concert), and it's been pretty much the assumption ever since.

Hope was changeling Exodus's powers at the time, so she'd be as durable as him.

Which is sus itself, since Exodus started as a teleporter, who also could telepath and telekinese, got ramped up to Omega level TK and well above average telepathy (including crazy strong TK shields, obv), but now suddenly is invulnerable underneath the force fields? Why does he bother with force fields, then, just to preserve his wardrobe? And when did he pull this, uh, not secondary..., not tertiary..., quarternary? mutation get pulled out of his ochre butt-cheeks?

Stahp just adding new powers, 'Xodi. You're not Monet!

[Arachne]

I don't know when he got that power, but it's not new. Apparently, he's got a healing factor, too. His powers are faith based, which may have something to do with it. The more faith he and others have in his abilities, the more powerful he is.

[Username taken]

Hope was changeling Exodus's powers at the time, so she'd be as durable as him.

Oh..ok.

That makes sense. I was wondering how she could just withstand a lightning bolt straight up like it was nothing.

[Micabe]

I don't know when he got that power, but it's not new. Apparently, he's got a healing factor, too. His powers are faith based, which may have something to do with it. The more faith he and others have in his abilities, the more powerful he is.

Isn't that how the All-Goddess of the Sol system's powers currently work now being that it was the faith of her Wakandan worshippers that empowered her to soundly defeat Sefako the Twice-Risen God?

[marhawkman]

I don't know when he got that power, but it's not new. Apparently, he's got a healing factor, too. His powers are faith based, which may have something to do with it. The more faith he and others have in his abilities, the more powerful he is.

Fall of Avalon... The Acolytes find Holocaust and go "Hey, it's a Mutant!" then take him to the Avalon space station to talk... that went spectacularly badly. Exodus and Holocaust get into a fist fight that shatters Avalon.... when Exodus nails Holocaust with a flying tackle that smashes Holocaust through the superstructure of the station. Technically Holocaust wins in the end, but not until the two of them had knocked each other through multiple tons of rock and machinery. It was a lot like that fight in Superman: MoS... but in a space station, not Metropolis.

Oh and neither of them got injured by the re-entry into the atmosphere.... or suffocated in space.... or DIED, despite doing their absolute best to kill each other.

[nx01a]

I think the Invisible Woman has the best 616 power creep. She started off as the weakest physically and emotionally but ended up the strongest FF member.

What's annoying is how amazingly good her 'bad luck bolts' were, back in the Marvel Handbook days. She had, through training, developed to where she could cast hexes back to back *for hours* and reliably control exactly what 'bad luck' happened. (Which was a good thing, because she'd be handing out aneurysms and random car collisions and other fatal 'bad luck' if she didn't hold back and just make people's guns jam or have an awning fall on their head or something.)
But she totally could, if she wanted, give some mega-threat a stroke. Or have a falling plane part or chunk of 'blue ice' land on him from 3000 ft. Or have an out of control citibus ram into them. Or a gas main explode beneath their feet. Or an electrical line fall off the pole and wrap around their neck. Her power was endlessly creative and amazingly potent, and it got replaced with this brainless reality manipulation BS.

Totally agree. Her original mutant hex power was cool, original, and versatile. Snapping your fingers and erasing an opponent from existence is boring. It's a lack of creativity on the part of the writers who felt the need to magic her up and then make her a reality warper. Pity she fell victim to the typical Marvel 'female gets uber-powerful and goes insane' trope just like Jean and Sue... all written by John Byrne. Hmm.

Isn't that how the All-Goddess of the Sol system's powers currently work now being that it was the faith of her Wakandan worshippers that empowered her to soundly defeat Sefako the Twice-Risen God?

Storm's gone from a powerful mutant and great fighter to this unbeatable, unstoppable, ultimately powerful goddess. That's boring. I found her most interesting during the Outback era when she was powerless and occasionally lost a fight but still successfully leading the X-Men, not today when she's hurting the Silver Surfer with lightning and boasting about never having died.

[Arachne]

She had powers in the Outback era. She got them back during Fall of the Mutants. I do agree that uber powerful characters get boring, though.