ScienceSuperheroes

No Matter, There’s Energy: an article by GF Willmetts.

Initially, this article was intended to examine a single superpower, but the explanation for its demonstration was flawed. It was a simple matter of generating cold, like Iceman of the X-Men. It works against physics. You have to draw heat out of objects, not put cold into them. So the comic book depiction, as also witnessed with the former Legion of Substitute Super-Heroes and later Legion of Super-Heroes Brek Bannin aka Polar Boy, is right but in a wrong way, as the heat is actually being drawn out but not what he does with that much energy. Considering he and other immigrants to the hot temperature planet Tharr use this ability to stay cool, you would think they could exploit it in some way as well as keep warm.

However, upon thinking about it, the actual power is the absorption of energy and either magnifying, changing, or even turning it into organic matter, and there are examples of this, especially in the Marvel Universe, where it is quite prevalent.

Robert Drake, the mutant Iceman, takes this to extremes, drawing in so much energy that it encases him in ice. However, if this ice was truly solid, he would not be able to move, so it must be in a state of flux and some sort of slush state with the outer layer continually looking icy once he refined it from looking like a snowman. Quite what he does with this energy he absorbs is debatable, but he has greater control, or he would wipe out John Storm in his Human Torch phase whenever they met.

In many respects, you would think the Torch, like his earlier android counterpart, would be the reverse of the Iceman, expelling heat, although you would have to wonder where this energy is coming from. If we make the assumption that what is depicted is accurate and the Torch can expel increasingly higher temperatures for limited periods of time before running out of energy, then a different mechanism is at work. They, like many superhumans on Marvel Earth, rely on a natural energy source that they can dispel in various ways..

The torch has more in common with the likes of the Summers brothers—just expressed in a different way as an embodiment of heat and flame, controlled in such a way that he does not incinerate the people around him or his own body. It is highly probable that this plasma energy is actually an inch or two from his body, so when absorbed, it returns to his normal appearance; he has not sustained any physical damage. As such, he bears similarities to the Iceman, as his icy appearance envelops his body without actually touching his skin, and when he reverts to his normal appearance, he is not drenched in water..

In a recorded instance where the second-generation Sentinels temporarily depowered Drake in a steam bath, he showed no discomfort in minimal clothing, as he was still able to absorb sufficient heat to stay warm. Drake’s ability to absorb heat in directed ways—turning moisture into ice, making slides, etc.—is a phenomenal aspect of this ability. We just don’t see what happens to this ice or how long it lasts after he loses concentration over it, but presumably it gets quickly absorbed back into the natural environment. If it wasn’t, Drake would be forever being pursued by lawsuits for falling ice blocks on people. Ergo, he must be expelling his energy and controlling the ice.

It should be noted that for a time, and probably by the administrations of En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse and Nathaniel Essex aka Mister Sinister, the older Egyptian Ahmet Abdol was energy-paired with the younger Alexander Summers, later called Havok, to curtail both their energy-yielding abilities, making the former aware of the connection. Abdol channelled Summers’ cosmic energy-absorbing ability into himself, transforming his energy into matter and growth for a brief period. It was the Sentinels who curtailed this ability, and a public revelation ensured it was no longer concealed. Ultimately, Abdol became the size of a humanoid planetoid as he continually absorbed cosmic energy no longer linked to Summers and was totally out of control of his ability.

This example is significant because it illustrates how a simple absorption of cosmic rays can transform into blast energy and, in the case of Abdol, undergo metamorphosis. Gamma radiation does not transform individuals in the same way. Blocking gamma rays does not return them to normal. The process of mutation has already begun.

For some, it is a case of direct absorption and transformation, like with the elder Summers brother, Scott, aka Cyclops, who absorbs local star radiation and transforms it into energy force. Thus, he functions akin to a solar battery, albeit subject to the amount of energy he releases. From a technical perspective, his energy absorption should resemble a singularity or black hole. However, it would require continual energy absorption to even use his power beam at night. As he tends to retain the energy he absorbs, Cyclops could actually be a step-up generator that he discharges continually through his eyes, absorbed by the ruby-quartz sunglasses or visor he wears. At a wider scale, Havok might well be doing the same thing.

However, not all superhumans on Marvel Earth have such obvious energy sources. As such, one could surmise that there are many people absorbing energy and acting as batteries to store ambient energy for others to use in a non-aware situation. It makes much more sense to believe that potential energy is constantly available for use. In the normal physics sense of the word, an object raised to a particular height expresses potential energy as kinetic energy when dropped, but it doesn’t actually store this energy. Maintaining an understanding of the storage and use of energy is more important. It would explain why energy-welders have limits to how much energy they can express beyond what they store in their bodies.

Why there are a variety of energy expulsions is pretty much down to the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum engulfs very few, such as the Human Torch and the Iceman, who are anomalies rather than the norm.

Those super-beings who can transform from human to extended metamorphic beings, such as the Hulk, She-Hulk, Doc Sampson, the Abomination, and the Leader, store gamma radiation in their bodies before initiating the change, usually outside of their control. The fact that Bruce Banner has been in several different Hulk transformations indicates it is possible to be flexible, depending on how much additional gamma radiation he absorbs.

The extent of energy projection before it reaches Earth remains a matter of debate. There are so many factors involved. Even such beings as Galactus’ heralds show some limitations but were principally transformed by Galactus to make use of the ‘power cosmic,’ absorbing the ambient energy around them in quantity in space. The fact that Victor Von Doom temporarily absorbed the Silver Surfer’s power without his silvery sheen does tend to indicate this is not related to his power. Of course, Galactus himself is the ultimate energy transformer, needing to absorb inhabited worlds to fulfil his needs. The further the distance, the weaker the energy level; hence, they prefer to be close-up in such fights or at least do the most damage in the shortest time simply because they cannot do a prolonged fight.

One has to consider that all these Marvel Universe energy-absorbing/expelling mutants and superhumans have to be doing it in a similar way, each varying from the other by how much energy they absorb and expel. With their bodies acting as batteries and capable of stepping up their expulsion, even for a brief time, it still makes them formidable and explains why they are not continually doing it.

I have largely excluded the DC Universe powerhouses from this argument due to their lack of clear connections. Take the example of five beings who can manipulate and change matter and yet have no obvious connection. Rex Mason, aka Metamorpho, is composed of the elements he can turn into. Firestorm, depending on the bonding of two people together but limited on his element-changing ability by the speed he needs to do this, is more like a living nuclear reactor. In the 30th century, Jan Arrah, aka Element Lad, is the last survivor of the planet Tronn who can transmute elements into each other without causing a nuclear reaction and seemingly dispel excess energy in some way. Quite why he couldn’t create compounds is never revealed, although it must be possible. Condo Arlik, aka the misnamed Chemical King, and later Hadru Jamik, aka Chemical Kid, acted as a catalyst between elements and compounds, usually speeding up their reactions to the point of neutralising them, and give no indication of what they do with all that energy.

Equally misnamed is Ulu Vakk, aka Colour Kid, who seemingly just changes the colour of the material. However, when the future Earth gained a coating of green kryptonite in its atmosphere, preventing the kryptonians Superboy and Supergirl from time travelling into the future, he was the only one capable of transforming it into a harmless blue kryptonite, unless they were from the Bizarro planet. This tends to indicate he plays with material isotopes in changing their colour, making him potentially the most dangerous being of all. I mean, all he has to do to stop any powerhouse from Krypton or Daxam is change green kryptonite to gold kryptonite for the former and anything into lead, including the antidote, for the latter.

Looking at all of these characters, there is no common denominator for how these chemical-transforming abilities work that makes sense. Even those who used Chemical King only created him because of Adventure Comics #354, where future events were sort of laid in stone of who died, although we never saw the entire gallery. Even Chemical King’s writers didn’t really know what to do with him. Let’s not even address how Laevar Bolto, the self-proclaimed Cosmic King, and how his power works so selectively.

The rule structure of the DC Universe superpowers is, frankly, a mess to make sense of. Energy-based powers, like a lone chemical transformation as shown above, don’t have a common denominator to make sense. I’m not even sure if Stan Lee had a master plan with the Marvel Universe superpowers; he was just fortunate that he had less contradictory information for other writers to build on. I wouldn’t have been able to write this series of articles without our desire to make sense of what we were reading as comic fans getting older and more sceptical.

Looking over what I’ve written above, I do think I’ve only touched the surface of energy-matter transformation powers simply because there are so many characters to touch on, especially where they are permanent with the likes of Benjamin Grimm, aka the Thing. Now we have the complication of these realities being remade for future readers on a regular basis but not sorting them out; then it’s worth reflecting on them.

© GF Willmetts 2025

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UncleGeoff

Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 21 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’ If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.

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