cmdrjanjalani said:
The appeal of many Marvel characters in general is that they happen to be regular people thrust into extraordinary situations, and this includes people who are just really good what they do without the need of superhuman powers. Frankly, this means that people liked reading stories about these Marvel characters because they can relate to them, and in some cases, find that these people can actually exist in the real world with just the right circumstances.
I've watched a couple of TV shows such as Ripley's Believe it or Not, and see people that have extraordinary intelligence and markmanship abilities, but doesn't mean I have to conclude that they had genetic enhancements or having their brain in their entire body. I've seen an archer on TV who was able to hit a target miles away and could only appear as a speck to the naked guy. I don't see the need for convoluted explanations for everyone. Hawkeye is just really good at practicing with his archery skills, dedicating countless hours of their lives honing his abilities, and Tony Stark could be simply a child prodigy just like Reed Richards who had a normal birth. Is that so bad? :roll:
No, it's not, but my point is, People like the un-super-powered heroes we know and love are not unique. The one thing about the Green Lantern that turned me away is that ANYBODY CAN BE HIM. Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Kyle Raynor, and John Stewart are all The Green Lantern, and frankly, it takes away from the mythology of the character. Iron Man works as a drunken womanizing CEO, not as a 'every white man is out to get me' black guy. I feel that the changes like Tony's brain body are at least symbols that 'lock' him into the Iron Man position. It says, Tony Stark is Iron Man, and not Jim Rhodes. Natasha Romanov is the Black Widow and not Yelena Bolova, Clinton Frances Barton is Hawkeye, not the man from Ripley's Believe it or Not. Superman can't be replaced, Captain America can't either, niether can Wasp, any mutant, or super-human, they have the power and in most cases it was product of freak accident and cannot be re-done. Or is unexplainable (a-hem Captain America).
Bass and I had once said that reality and actuality are two different things. In all actuality a branch of the US military would not hire a man extrodinary at the bow and arrow for a SUPER-HUMAN team. Even though a super-human team is not 'realistic'.
A realistic venture would be a way to say that this person is by far better than any human could ever hope to get because of this: (insert explination). So in actuality he makes for a good super-human for the team. I am NOT saying it should be this way, I AM saying that it makes for not only the better story and reasoning, and places firmly (or as firmly as the other heros we read about) Tony in the rocket boosters of Iron Man, of Natasha Romanov in the size seven's of The Black Widow, and Clint Barton in the boots of Hawkeye.
One more point, a lot of people in the Ultimate Univere has gotten SOMETHING more than their 616 counter-part
Cap: actual super-human, not peak human
Thor: has powers beyond Mjonlir, has own lightning and flight capabilities
Iron Man: Human brain
Black Widow: peak human instead of regular human
Hawkeye: we'll see in Wizard 170
Wasp: born with abilities
Colossus: Impervious to adamantium
Rogue: Gambit's powers
Hulk: it's in Hulk vs Wolverine
Scarlet Witch: major expansion of powers
Dazzler: doesn't need sound to generate light
(there's more, but I'm done)