Black Widow

Black Widow has graced the pages of comic book lore since the 1960s. The female superhero is so proficient with firearms that she has been named one of the Marvel Universe’s top assassins. She’s been known to fight alongside super-powered beings, in defense of the planet.

An agent of SHIELD, as well as the first female Avenger, Black Widow was trained by the Russian government, under a Top Secret training operation known as the Black Widow training program. Her expert use of hand-to-hand combat and weapons has made her one of the most formidable heroes in the Marvel Universe. 

Daredevil

Daredevil doesn’t have superpowers, per se, but relies on heightened hearing, a sense of smell, and other senses, except sight. He lost his ability to see when he encountered a strange serum/toxin that left all his other senses sharp. 

His inability to see puts him at no disadvantage against villains of all manner.  Superpowered or not, he usually comes out on top when facing off against his foes. 

Green Arrow

First, of the billionaire vigilantes on our list of heroes without powers is Green Lantern, a human being who wields the bow and arrow as though he were an Elven prince on a quest to destroy a ring. The only thing Green Arrow has, in the way of superpowers, is near-unlimited funds, which he uses to equip himself with combat ability augmenting technology. 

Green Lantern

Green Lantern may seem to have superpowers, but his near-limitless abilities are the product of the Green Lantern ring he wears, which is a tool. Without the ring, he is much like Tony Stark outside of the suit. Not a billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, but an ordinary human being. 

Well, not ordinary-ordinary, but as ordinary as a fighter pilot can get. Extraordinary bravery and willpower could be classified as his only powers.

Bat Girl

Daughter of Gotham City’s commissioner of police, Barbara Gordon or Bat-Girl, just like her caped trainer, Batman, is just an exceptionally trained human being wearing a cape. She does possess a high degree of intelligence, however, which she uses to best her enemies. 

Cassandra Cain

The daughter of David Cain, and Lady Shiva, Cassandra possesses no superpowers. Her abilities are the result of extensive training from her parents, the League of Assassins, and Batman himself. 

Due to her long list of trainers, Cassandra has developed the ability to sense an opponent’s moves before they know what they’ll do next. Making her quite a formidable person to go up against. You may get your larynx ripped out of your throat if you lose against her. Even The Batman has admitted that she could take him out. 

Dick Greyson (Nightwing)

The first of Batman’s recruits and leader of the Teen Titans corps of the Justice League, Dick Greyson grew up being mentored by Batman. With access to state-of-the-art tech and weaponry, along with his acrobatic skills, Nightwing can go against the worst of baddies, with or without backup.

Iron Man

The second entry on our list who could count money as a superpower is billionaire, playboy, philanthropist himself, Tony Stark, or Iron Man – as he is best known. The genius inventor built himself an artificial heart that powered a suit he used to get himself out of a pinch one time. 

He has been perfecting that suit ever since. In the suit, Tony Stark can fly, project beams from his palms, fire miniature missiles, and has super strength.  

Captain America

No, he doesn’t have superpowers. Captain America was injected with a serum that put him at human physical ability. He’s just really fit. If he has any superpowers to speak of, it’s his sense of justice, and ability to lead.  

Batman

The Dark Knight makes the first place as the best of our list of superheroes who have no powers, and also as the 3rd billionaire superhero to be mentioned. The Bat is just a highly skilled and intelligent, rich human in a suit. He has, however, gone up against super-powered beings, and even leads a team of heroes with powers. 

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Since the 1970s brought us the Bruce Lee-inspired Green Hornet franchise, which spanned television, film, and comic book media, and Marvel’s Bruce Lee homage, The Hands Of Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, martial arts have played a bigger and bigger role in comic book lore. As a result of the decade-by-decade growing acceptance of martial arts in modern-day popular culture, many comic book heroes have had one or the other martial discipline incorporated into their repertoires.

There are a lot of characters who have been created by comic book artists and writers, and plenty more have had their abilities reimagined, with martial arts as their ”almost” superpower. Without any further explanation, here is a list of comics with martial arts, from boxing to ninjutsu.

Shaolin Cowboy

Shaolin Cowboy follows the exploits of an excommunicated Shaolin Monk, who travels with a talking donkey. The Eisner Award-nominated comic series, published by Burleyman Entertainment, was created by artist Geoff Darrow. 

Seeing as relations between monk and monetary were less than friendly upon the unnamed protagonist’s departure, there is a very large bounty on his head with many a man trying to collect it. He doesn’t make it easy for his attackers, thanks to his combat skill. This makes for some stunningly violent, vividly drawn imagery.

Master of Kung Fu

This is a classic. Hands of Shang-Chi is a Marvel comic book title that was first published in 1972. The Steve Engelhardt creation featured Shang-Chi, a formidable Kung Fu fighter. The lesser-known partner to Iron-Fist has even joined the Avengers.

One-Punch Man

Created by mysterious graphic novelist the One, One Punch Man tale follows an overpowered superhero who has grown bored with not being able to find an opponent who challenges his abilities. Capable of ending his foes with a single punch Saitama travels from battle to battle, dealing with baddies.  Though martial arts aren’t the main theme here, they are part of the furniture. 

Cimmaronin

The year is 1632, the place, Manila, Philippines. A disgraced samurai sits in his home getting ready to commit ritual suicide, then an old friend, who happens to be a priest, walks in and stops him. The mission? Escort a Manchurian princess to South America. What ensues is a story that sees the warrior pulled into something bigger than he could have anticipated, while also getting a shot at redemption.

The Mask of Fudo

Izuna and Legend of the Scarlet Blades spin-off, The Mask of Fudo follows a young Nobu Fudo, when he was still known as Shinsuke. As a lad, he dreamed of growing up and becoming powerful samurai. Having worn a white mask since boyhood. The warrior within him is awakened when his younger sister is attacked, but that is not the only thing that has awoken. 

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There are a good number of female superheroes out there, aside from the box office heavy hitters, who do their part in the name of justice. Some are powerful enough to save galaxies, others go out there armed with nothing but a sense of justice. All heroic, in their own right.

Here is our pick of the 6 best female Superheroes:

Batwoman

As the maternal figure of the Bat-Family, Batwoman is strong-willed and is quite convicted in her sense of justice. She’s incredibly intelligent and resourceful, a decent counterpart to Batman

Storm

The movies underplay just how powerful Storm is. This Wakandan superhero is second, only to Jean Gray (In The X-Men) in terms of power.

Storm can bend the weather to her will. It could snow one second, hail the next, and before you know it, she is dropping lightning bolts on you. Gentle and noble, Storm has incredible control over her power and uses it to pursue her convictions that humanity and mutant-kind could live together in peace.

She-Hulk

The Hulk’s female counterpart, She-Hulk is a version of the mean, green, giant we all know and love, but she’s quite comfortable. Badass lawyer by day, even more, badass superhero all the time.

Before Deadpool used the breaking the fourth wall trope, She-Hulk had one-sided conversations with readers of her comic. Her taking comfort in her condition and owning it offered another perspective on the Hulk condition and the possibilities that accepting it opens. There’s probably a message somewhere in there.

Invisible Woman

The sole female member of the fantastic four, Suzan Storm, better known as The Invisible woman is the quintessential team player. She is sister to the hyper-confident Human Torch (who behaves as though his powers are exactly what he’s always wanted,) a devoted wife too, extra stretchy Mr. Fantastic, and a person that The Thing can always talk to.

She is essentially the glue that holds the team together, without her, during the Civil War event, the team virtually disintegrated. Though her powers startup virtually useless, with writers assigning her to a more motherly role within the team. Invisibleble woman’s character has since been revamped to be a more hardcore personality, able to form force fields and with telekinetic abilities.

SuperGirl

Cousin to, and another Kryptonian to hang out with, The Man of Steel, Superman, Super Girl is every bit as ultra-durable super-breath-having, hyper-strong, able to shoot laser beams from her eyes, and up-up-and-away as her male counterpart. She has a heart of gold to boot, capable of sacrificing herself for a greater cause. This proved this quite well in the Crisis of Many Earths comic book event.

Wonder Woman

Daughter of the Greek god Zeus, and sworn defender of the human race, Diana Prince, who goes by the costume name, Wonder Woman is an incredibly powerful female superhero. Super intelligent, and, pretty much, on par with Superman in durability, and strength, Wonder Woman makes a great leader and even better warrior.

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From Darkseid to Superman, to the mischievous Mr. MXYZPTLK to the Czarnian Bastich himself, The Main Man, Lobo! The DC universe is crammed with beings who possess god-like powers, heck some of them actually are gods.

This is a subject we are revisiting, as we have examined it in a tad more detail in a previous article. However, this time around, we will be concentrating our focus on the DC character who came out top of this list of the 6 most powerful beings in the DC cosmos.

While others are veritable gods, he is the god. The reason the DC Universe exists in the first place, apart from the artists and writers of course Mr. Let There Be Light himself, The Presence (known, on this side of existence, as God.)

Origins of The Presence

According to the DC narrative, The Presence is the all-powerful being who began it all. Modeled after The God of the Abrahamic religions, reigning over a hodgepodge of pantheons derived from various religions, and mythologies, The Presence, also known as The Voice, first made appearance on DC pages in 1940 in the original The Spectre comic.

However, according to the DC narrative (which borrows heavily from the Christian Bible), in the beginning, was The Presence and only The Presence. As The Voice, he created the word, along with the DC Multiverse which contained heaven and Earth.

He then created the first order of beings, The Celestials. Among whom was The First Of The Fallen (Satan) who was meant to embody The Presence’s consciousness. After which, he created other beings, deities, and demons who would go on to rule their own sections of the multiverse.

Plans Go Awry

That didn’t happen, as his creations had wills of their own. The First Of The Fallen goes and decides that God is mad, and is banished to Hell. A Guardian that The Presence had created, Kronus, then went rogue, and looked back in time and witnessed something he probably shouldn’t have. A). A secret manifestation of The Presence, known as The Hand, who shaped the Multiverse, and B). The creation of a female who was a companion to Adam She rebelled against The Presence and found herself being banished to hell.

Rebellion against The Presence

The Presence then took the form of The Presence, speaking to his creation, only in voice, which led many to doubt his judgment. Samael then decided that all of creation should write their own destiny, and not follow God’s plan. He then leads a rebellion against The Presence.

The Archangel, Michael, and his cohorts eventually defeat Samael. He and his fellow rebels are thrown into hell. The Presence, believing that Samael would do better being away from him, gives him command of hell (knowing what that would lead to.) Samael assumes the name Lucifer and goes on to ruin humanity’s relationship with The Presence.

Ultimately, the fall of humanity was also part of The Presence’s plan, as he desired all of creation to write their own destinies. To choose for themselves, what is right, and what is wrong. The story that plays out throughout all the comics in the DC Universe is The Presence’s plan, in motion. If that isn’t power, we don’t know what is.

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First published in 2003, the comic book, now turned into a cartoon series, by the same comic book house that brought us titles like The Walking Dead, LightHouse, Sweet Paprika, and Killadelphia, Image Comics‘s adult theme Superhero title, Invincible. The story follows the growing pains of a teen who discovers that he has superpowers shortly after his 17th birthday.

Invincible Comic book

Mark Grayson, the protagonist, takes on the pseudonym Invincible and joins the ranks of Earth’s, and the galaxy’s superheroes following his discovery of the fact that he is the half-human son of the Earth’s most powerful superhero, Omni-Man. Going by the name Nolan Grayson, his father is from the planet Viltrum.

The Viltrumite are super-powered beings who are on a mission to guide the galaxy’s development, through benevolence, and enlightenment. Under the mentorship of Omni-Man, Invincible meets and joins forces with Atom Eve, Dupli-Kate, Rex Splode, and Robot as a member of the Teen Team.

The comic book series, although drawn and colored in a style that gives the impression of a lighthearted tale, is rather graphically violent. The Invincible comic book title was written by Robert Kirkman, and drawn by Robert Ottley, and Corey Walker.

Ottley provided the title’s art from issue 1 to 7 and from issue 117-132. Walker was responsible for the issues between Ottley’s run as the title’s artist, as well as later issues. The Invincible comic book series reached the end of its lifespan in February of 2018 with the double-sided final issue, having run since 2003.

The TV Series

Available for streaming over Amazon Prime Video, the animated television series, which is now in its second season, remains true, in terms of style and theme, to the original comic series. The 8 episode-long first season of the animated series covers Mark’s discovery of his powers under his father’s wing, as a crusader for good.

Though the television adaptation of the Invincible franchise is handled by Skybound, the title’s creator, Robert Kirkman is still involved as one of the executive producers of the animated adaptation of the story. Other notable names attached to the series are Sandra Oh, and Seth Rogan, among other stars.

Differences between the show and the comic book

As with any book-to-screen adaptation of a tale, there are some differences between how certain events and characters are depicted differently. Mark’s (Invincible’s) love interest, Amber, is depicted as a person of color in the animated adaptation, offering a more diverse set of characters.

Some gender-swapping also takes place, as Shrinking Rae, and Green Ghost, are of different genders, between the comic books, and animated shows. The funeral of Guardians is also carried out differently in the animated series, which alters chunks of the overall storylines. Only time will tell how the show’s developers aim to fill the plot holes that are created by the different takes on events.

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