And Iron Man built his in a cave! With a box of scraps!
this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2026
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Batman created his powers
If I remember well, Batman does not have superpowers. He’s a guy who’s rich, trains a lot, is smart and due to being rich is able to get great equipment to use.
One could argue that his genius level intellect and his master detective skills (best detective in the world) are borderline superhuman.
Then it could be argued that he was born with his powers
Same if you consider his power being money
Exactly. We see plenty of Bruce’s physical training. But how often is he depicted designing, implementing, debugging, or maintaining any of the software that is guaranteed to be necessary for the majority of the seemingly endless well-beyond-cutting-edge technology underpinning most of his practical abilities and every one of the impressive number of deus ex machinas in the franchise?
OK, so the only logical conclusion is that he (or Fox as proxy) outsourced most or all of it, requiring obscene wealth. Batman fans may not like it, but money is unequivocally the key super power of the troubled Wayne heir, not his genius or inventiveness. Without the money, Bruce becomes a washed-up chess boxing enthusiast at best, or a cop at worst, but definitely not Batman.
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A long time ago, I read that his superpower was, or was theorized to be, luck. No idea if that's canon anywhere.
At first I thought, not very lucky to have your parents gunned down in front of you. Now I’m thinking how lucky he was to also not be shot. Damn…
Possibly the hypothetical power hadn't manifested, or maybe had done so only in part, at that point.
I’ve always theorized that his power is “superhuman willpower.”
He has the massive will to obsessively train, study, and do all the things he does. Becoming one of the strongest, smartest, and most effectual people alive. I doubt any human has a higher willpower than Bruce Wayne.
He has even out-willpowered Wonder Woman’s lasso-of-truth.
True, but wasn't he also the only human (or otherwise, I think) to dodge Darkseid's eyebeams? Admittedly it would take willpower to get to the point of being physically able to do so, but from what I understand of the eyebeams, also quite a bit of luck.
Wait, I thought he did get hit by the beams and they sent him back in time, and through what could only be described as an exceptional demonstration of determination and willpower, he worked his way back up through time- through ages & ages, to confront Darkseid again. Maybe we’re thinking of different storylines?
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Iron Man is a better example of a superhero who created powers for himself, but he isn't one of the three most popular
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His superpower is plot armour.
His superpower is being rich enough to be called eccentric instead of just crazy. You know, crazy, like the label used on all the villains he fights.
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I'm pretty sure Superman wasn't born with them. He got his powers from his flyby of earth's yellow sun in the escape pod from Krypton.
Also, Batman was born with his power. (His power is money).
You can't use money to fight crime, lol. Otherwise USA's police departments would be doing it.
Investing in children reduces crime. So yes, you can fight crime with money.
Study after study shows money spent on food, housing and education does more to prevent crime than policing and incarceration.
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You can. They just don't.
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I thought he had powers because he was born on Krypton under a red sun, and all Kryptonians gain superhuman powers when exposed to a yellow sun.
But if he had stayed on Krypton, he wouldn't have any powers, so it took an event to activate it, which isn't any different than the other scenarios. Batman was born rich, so he already had the potential to be batman, but it took the murder of his parents to set him on his path. Really Spiderman is the odd one out.
Spidey’s parents and his uncle who helped raise him are all dead/murdered. All three are orphans, so that all cancels out. :-).
Peter Parker only became spider-man once his uncle was killed, that set him on the path to use his “great power” with “great responsibility.”
True, true. I guess I was thinking of the spider bite, not the trauma.
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Seems a bit daft of the Kryptonian folk to stay there even if they didn't believe their planet was doomed.
"Move to another planet to be a nearly indestructible God who can fly and shoot lasers and stuff? No thank you. I just got my cabinets arranged how I like them and I am not going through that again."
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I think it was from Kill Bill, but thrtrs a cool speech about how Superman has to put on the costume to become Clark Kent. While other hero's have to put on the costume to become the hero.
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And wolverine is all three
I get the inborn super-healing, and I get the addition of the adamantine (sp?) skeleton, but what powers did he create on his own?
Martial arts ability?
Popularity is Wolverine's greatest super power, at least according to Deadpool. It's why he can never be killed. Well I think he was killed, but death isn't permanent in comics.
Fun fact: Wolverine was cut from the X-Men by the executives at Marvel because they thought no would like him. After about a year of mediocre sales, the execs didn't care what they did with X-Men so the writers only then introduced Wolverine. Then suddenly the X-Men was one of the best selling comics at Marvel.
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Batman was born rich. It's the billionaire class that want you to think they are creating wealth and not stealing it.
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Spider-Man is half'n'half. He got super strength and agility as well as his "spider senses" from the spider bite.
His webshooters, suits, and other tools he made himself. The Raimi films always bugged me that they made his web shooting stuff a mutation from the bite and not showing off his intelligence and engineering skills. Cuz he also didn't have money like Batman or Ironman.
The biological webbing coming from his wrists was stupid. If it was a spider mutation, he should have had spinnerettes growing from his rear end. The handmade web shooters were way more logical.
Until a writer noticed that the web shooters mean Peter is a once-in-a-century chemist and should be swimming in cash from selling a few things he cobbled together in his apartment. Now, Peter Parker runs a mega-corp. Part of the reason that Miles Morales was introduced is specifically because Peter was no longer an everyman protagonist.
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Wolverine is at least born and thrust upon. Any examples of all three?
I am a lay person when it comes to comics, so feel free to tear me apart here. Could Bruce Banner potentially be all 3? His DNA was able to absorb the gamma radiation (born with it), he then had the radiation thrust upon him, and then he did whatever he did to make himself the smart hulk?
A bit of a reach, I know.
Yeah, that'd play. I was thinking maybe Dr. Strange, but Banner is better.
Dr. Strange is a really good one too! Drawing energy from other realms and all.
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Wolverine was born with healing factor, trained in his fighting skills and then had his admantium skeleton thrust upon him
Yeah, I was thinking that but wasn't convinced. Similarly Batman was born rich, trained hard and had bereavement thrust upon, which likely created the persona. Perhaps we're all a bit nature, nurture, and luck.
Naruto i guess? He's a child of a very powerful ninja(born), had a powerful creature sealed inside him at birth(thrust upon), and have to learn how to actually unlease and control that power(create).
Otherwise i can't seems to remember anyone that does have the 3.
I like this one, but I'm not sure I'd call Naruto a superhero.
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batman has no powers whatsoever. he just a very rich person, much like stark, who bought/develop tech. not really thrust as more of an accident, much like brunce banner.
closest thing would be apocalypse the super-mutant, he was forced upon to gain celestial enhanced powers. i think juggernaut is another one, as is lady deathstrike? another one is phoenix.
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