Superheroes are usually super for a reason and that is usually super powers or abilities. There are some exceptions of course such as Batman who only has the normal abilities of a human to contend with. That and an unlimited bank account and a taste for sweet vengeance.
In creating comic superheroes there have been many ways that writers have explained how the heroes gets his or her special powers. Oh no, wait a minute. There hasn't. There's been one thing used again and again. Radiation. Here's a look at some of the more famous superhero origins.
Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider and bingo, he now has the proportionate strength of a spider. This means he can walk up walls, shoot webs (in the movies he can anyway) and he also gains super strength. He also develops a spider sense which tells him when danger is a foot. Not sure if spiders have spider sense. More testing is probably required to answer that question. Thankfully Spiderman toys don't come with a dose of radiation.
Spiderman's powers' origins are simple enough to grasp and quite easy to accept. In real life he would have either had mild radiation poisoning or died soon after. That wouldn't have worked so well though.
Radiation is a recurring theme for Stan Lee. In the Fantastic Fours' case it was cosmic radiation that they were exposed to which gave them freaky powers.
The story goes that Stan Lee was running out of ideas about how to make his characters super powered when he hit on the idea of mutants. In his comic X-Men his heroes were mutants whose powers developed through an evolutionary mutation in their DNA. Mutants would only discover their powers when they hit puberty. The idea that Evolution could jump ahead suddenly and give us all wings, blue skin and laser eye blasts was an inspired one and has led to hundreds of X-Men characters being dreamt up.
Superman is sent to Earth from Krypton to save his life from the destruction of his home planet. It is Earths yellow sun and different gravitational which differs from Krypton gravity that gives Superman his powers.
The Incredible Hulk or sometimes just known by his last name Hulk is created due to. Yes you guessed it. Radiation, this time of the gamma variety. Bruce Banner after being in a gamma radiation explosion turns into a big green monster when he gets angry.
In the Simpsons there is an episode where Bart, Milhouse and Martin buy the first issue of the Radioactive man comic. Bart says. "Who would've thought being in a radioactive blast would have given him superpowers". The reply is "well now you know better".
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