A Comic Psychology Question- Uber Powerful Characters 1 1

[electricprune]

I don’t know if the title is perfect, but I have a question for the boards. Why are uber powerful characters not usually brought into the Marvel and DC Universes with their own stand alone series?

Im talking about characters such as Galactus, The Living Tribunal, The Watcher, The Celestials and other similar characters. You can make your own argument for others.

Are we as readers, as both kids and adults, not as fascinated by them? Do we need more vulnerability, even from super heroes? Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Thing and others have powers, but are still relatable has having weaknesses and flaws. Even Kid Colt lasted a long time in his own series.

Both Marvel and DC also had series for bad guys, such as Dracula and The Joker. Batman and The Punisher are both hugely popular characters, even though the don’t have super powers.

Would The Living Tribunal just not hold enough interest to have been introduced in his own series? What about the original Beyonder? The One Above All?

Are these characters just not relatable enough even though they are wildly powerful? Do we, as humans, need flaws and vulnerabilities for the character to be able to support a successful series? Would their powers just make most foes, good or bad, uninteresting to us? If so, why?
 

There may be exceptions. Even Superman has his Kryptonite though. I’m thinking the one real character that eventually had his own series was The Spectre. Once he had a host, he could certainly be considered uber powerful. Galactus had a limited series, but well after he was introduced.

I’m not sure if this topic has been broached before. I’d be interested to read your opinion. Maybe I’m just wrong about this.

 

[The Commissioner]

I would be interested to read a series regarding the super powerful Marvel cosmic entities that is just about them.

[bc]

Cool question.

Will ruminate on this over a few pints.....

-bc

[Djrodunchained]

Are all powerful characters as entertaining longterm? Superman has been stale through long stretches and I believe it's due to his powers. I think it makes the writing more difficult, coming up with stories that don't rely on gimmicks or a 'kryptonite' to be a threat. Great adversary's are harder to come up with. Spiderman probably has the best list of villains, because they don't have to be world-beaters.

[s-man]

On 8/22/2022 at 4:44 PM, Djrodunchained said:

Are all powerful characters as entertaining longterm? Superman has been stale through long stretches and I believe it's due to his powers. I think it makes the writing more difficult, coming up with stories that don't rely on gimmicks or a 'kryptonite' to be a threat. Great adversary's are harder to come up with. Spiderman probably has the best list of villains, because they don't have to be world-beaters.

Agreed.

I think a limited series on each one you named would be interesting, but longer then that would drag.  With great power comes great responsibility and with greater power comes tougher story lines.

[Lazyboy]

On 8/22/2022 at 2:47 PM, electricprune said:

Im talking about characters such as Galactus, The Living Tribunal, The Watcher, The Celestials and other similar characters

Those are basically plot devices, not characters. They don't do anything... until they do.

[Grendel72]

There was a mini series on Galactus called World Devourer in the 90s. Dunno abt the rest but I rly doubt any one character could pull off a stand alone series. Some maxi crossover thingmajig I can see happening. 

[shadroch]

Did Galactus ever have a rematch with the Wraiths? They kicked his pretty bad in their first encounter.

[electricprune]

On 8/22/2022 at 6:46 PM, shadroch said:

Did Galactus ever have a rematch with the Wraiths? They kicked his pretty bad in their first encounter.

The Dire Wraiths from ROM? If so, I have to admit that I don’t remember them fighting.

[s-man]

On 8/22/2022 at 7:00 PM, electricprune said:

The Dire Wraiths from ROM? If so, I have to admit that I don’t remember them fighting.

If I remember correctly, ROM averted the big G from devouring his planet by showing him the Wraith world which he was not able to consume.  In retaliation, the big G bannished ROM and friends far away from their homeworld.

[electricprune]

On 8/22/2022 at 7:06 PM, s-man said:

If I remember correctly, ROM averted the big G from devouring his planet by showing him the Wraith world which he was not able to consume.  In retaliation, the big G bannished ROM and friends far away from their homeworld.

Wow, I don’t remember that. I read most of the ROM run as it came out too. It has been 40 years though, and my brain is far from what it used to be.

If that storyline didn’t happen, maybe it should have.

[s-man]

On 8/22/2022 at 7:11 PM, electricprune said:

Wow, I don’t remember that. I read most of the ROM run as it came out too. It has been 40 years though, and my brain is far from what it used to be.

If that storyline didn’t happen, maybe it should have.

I only read two issues of ROM and they were the ones with Galactus in them...last page of the 2nd book (and he actually moves the planet, not them):

[MattTheDuck]

I agree that the plotting challenges of such a series would be tough to overcome.  I suspect most comic buyers would not be rooting for Galactus to "win" in every issue as genocide is not generally that popular.  Now, if you could find something interesting for him to do besides devouring planets and committing mass murder....

[Ken Aldred]

Because they’re too powerful, few characters can match and have a chance of beating them, except Squirrel Girl, and stories involving them would quickly become boring as there is little tension or a sense of challenge, and a comic series wouldn’t have much of a chance of lasting very long. Overwhelming odds is one thing, impossible odds another. Where’s the thrill in stories where the protagonist can effortlessly defeat practically anything that’s thrown at them? The fight needs to be more grounded, feasible and / or relatable.
 

This is why The Spectre works best when moderately powered rather than a cosmic force of nature where nothing is a real challenge to him, where he’s unstoppable, and similarly Doctor Fate at his peak. Both characters at times have been so overpowered that in JSA stories they’ve been limited as deus ex machina solutions rather than participants in the initial struggles. Sure, in the Fleisher / Ostrander stories The Spectre was very powerful, but not on the level of the abstract cosmic entities the OP is talking about, such as The Living Tribunal.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[electricprune]

On 8/22/2022 at 7:18 PM, MattTheDuck said:

I agree that the plotting challenges of such a series would be tough to overcome.  I suspect most comic buyers would not be rooting for Galactus to "win" in every issue as genocide is not generally that popular.  Now, if you could find something interesting for him to do besides devouring planets and committing mass murder....

I think you’re probably right about Galactus in that context. But how about this? A series about The Watcher from way before earth existed. Maybe he still watched the inhabitants of planets, but would also inject himself into their development, good or bad. Some planets could even have their own supervillains and heroes.

This could provide endless storylines. Other worlds could easily be used to portray current issues we currently face or entirely unrelatable issues to our earth. 

Eventually, something went so wrong that he vowed to only observe.

 

[JC25427N]

On 8/22/2022 at 8:33 PM, electricprune said:

I think you’re probably right about Galactus in that context. But how about this? A series about The Watcher from way before earth existed. Maybe he still watched the inhabitants of planets, but would also inject himself into their development, good or bad. Some planets could even have their own supervillains and heroes.

This could provide endless storylines. Other worlds could easily be used to portray current issues we currently face or entirely unrelatable issues to our earth. 

Eventually, something went so wrong that he vowed to only observe.

 

It would have to be a different genre of story than the typical super-hero action stories that Marvel are all about right now since the watcher would defacto win any conflict he might get into, and it's more likely a show revolving around The Watcher would have no conflict since he is just an observer. The way around this wouldbe  to have other characters in the show be the main drivers and actors in conflicts that The Watcher merely observes, but then is it really a show about The Watcher at that point? It would basically be What If

Edited August 23, 2022 by JC25427N

[electricprune]

On 8/22/2022 at 8:41 PM, JC25427N said:

It would have to be a different genre of story than the typical super-hero action stories that Marvel are all about right now since the watcher would defacto win any conflict he might get into, and it's more likely a show revolving around The Watcher would have no conflict since he is just an observer. The way around this wouldbe  to have other characters in the show be the main drivers and actors in conflicts that The Watcher merely observes, but then is it really a show about The Watcher at that point? It would basically be What If

I’m thinking this would just stay in comic book form. The Watcher could interact with the inhabitants. It wouldn’t need to be a win/lose situation though. It could just be help in some way. He may also not be as powerful as he is now. The writers could take it in many different directions.

[MattTheDuck]

On 8/22/2022 at 5:33 PM, electricprune said:

I think you’re probably right about Galactus in that context. But how about this? A series about The Watcher from way before earth existed. Maybe he still watched the inhabitants of planets, but would also inject himself into their development, good or bad. Some planets could even have their own supervillains and heroes.

This could provide endless storylines. Other worlds could easily be used to portray current issues we currently face or entirely unrelatable issues to our earth. 

Eventually, something went so wrong that he vowed to only observe.

 

That could be a cool book series

[kav]

On 8/22/2022 at 12:47 PM, electricprune said:

I don’t know if the title is perfect, but I have a question for the boards. Why are uber powerful characters not usually brought into the Marvel and DC Universes with their own stand alone series?

Im talking about characters such as Galactus, The Living Tribunal, The Watcher, The Celestials and other similar characters. You can make your own argument for others.

Are we as readers, as both kids and adults, not as fascinated by them? Do we need more vulnerability, even from super heroes? Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Thing and others have powers, but are still relatable has having weaknesses and flaws. Even Kid Colt lasted a long time in his own series.

Both Marvel and DC also had series for bad guys, such as Dracula and The Joker. Batman and The Punisher are both hugely popular characters, even though the don’t have super powers.

Would The Living Tribunal just not hold enough interest to have been introduced in his own series? What about the original Beyonder? The One Above All?

Are these characters just not relatable enough even though they are wildly powerful? Do we, as humans, need flaws and vulnerabilities for the character to be able to support a successful series? Would their powers just make most foes, good or bad, uninteresting to us? If so, why?
 

There may be exceptions. Even Superman has his Kryptonite though. I’m thinking the one real character that eventually had his own series was The Spectre. Once he had a host, he could certainly be considered uber powerful. Galactus had a limited series, but well after he was introduced.

I’m not sure if this topic has been broached before. I’d be interested to read your opinion. Maybe I’m just wrong about this.

 

because they are not interesting enough to carry it.  Galacticus has no real character or foibles or weaknesses.  He has no real goal.  He eats planets.
Stopping him from eating planets-now there's a goal and therefore the heroes that do that have a story.  Uber powerful beings just have nothing of interest to offer as a solo plot character.
An interesting character has to have a goal he is interested in.  What goal could the watcher have?

[universal soldier]

While there can be some really interesting stories with these characters,  they are better suited for story arcs and mini-series. The flawed character is what we related to, not the ultra powered beings. It would be really cool to have minions though...