The Weirdest Ways Comic Heroes & Villains Turned Superhuman

At some point in their lives, every comic fan has wondered how to get superpowers. Flying around and saving lives sounds like a dream come true, and all it takes to accomplish such feats is a great origin story. That is, in most cases. As it turns out, not every hero’s origin is as cool as being born on an alien planet like Superman or channeling mutant powers from a young age like the X-Men.

There are multiple characters across the DC and Marvel universes who have unearthed their powers in less enviable ways, with certain origins verging on outright ridiculous. Even the most renowned heroes in comic history aren’t exempt from reality checks, nor are the most vile villains. For those who are curious about how superpowers come to fruition, here are ten superheroes and supervillains who unlocked their powers in the weirdest way possible.

10 Deadman Got His Powers Offered By A God

First Debuted in Strange Adventures #205 by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino

Deadman’s name in and of itself conveys the nature of how he earned his spooky powers. Boston Brand spent his days as a trapeze artist for a circus, with “Deadman” getting its start as his unassuming stage name. Then, everything changed when he was killed in the middle of a performance. Death isn’t where this hero’s story ends, though. After his murder, the Hindu god Rama Kushna appeared to him and offered him the power to possess the living.

Superhero origin stories tend to be uplifting tales, so Deadman’s is a staggering tonal departure from what readers expect. It takes death for him to earn his possession power, giving his heroics a morbid toll. Many characters take drastic measures to develop superpowers, but dying is an extreme way of doing so.

9 Meteor Man Had A Space Rock Land on Him

First Debuted in Meteor Man: The Movie #1 by Dwight Coye and Robert Walker

Meteor Man is a lesser known hero in this line-up who made his debut in 1993’s The Meteor Man movie before receiving a comic adaptation from Marvel. He possesses an array of classic superpowers, from super-strength to the ability to fly, as well as some odder ones like the ability to communicate with dogs via telepathy. Of course, it isn’t Jefferson’s powers themselves that make him an unusual figure in Marvel lore, but rather how he got them.

Hence his name, Meteor Man’s powers manifested when he got hit in the head by a meteor that had fallen from above. He suffered from horrific burns, only to heal on his own thanks to one of the many abilities at his disposal. A single meteor going after one man is as silly as it gets, but that silliness is part of comics’ magic.

8 Daredevil Was Splashed With A Mystery Chemical

First Debuted in Daredevil #1 by Stan Lee and Bill Everett

Daredevil’s origin story seems feasible at first, but unravels upon closer inspection. When he was younger, Matt Murdock saw an old man who was about to be hit by a truck. He jumped in the way to save his life, then got covered in radioactive waste that spilled out of the vehicle. This mysterious fluid got into Matt’s eyes, blinding him – while also heightening his senses to a superhuman extent. There are several perplexing variables here, from the truck just so happening to be holding this substance to it somehow giving Daredevil superpowers.

As comically convenient as this story is, Daredevil isn’t the only character in comics who acquired his power in this manner. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles borrowed from this origin as a similar radioactive fluid transformed them from average turtles into mutants, so Daredevil’s method isn’t a one-hit wonder like other entries on this list.

7 Elongated Man Was Experimenting With Stretchy Fruit

First Debuted in The Flash #112 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino

Elongated Man’s powers are the result of his lifelong interest in contortionists. By interrogating circus contortionists to figure out how they accomplish such feats, he learned that they all drink a soda known as Gingold that contains gingo fruit. Ralph distilled the essence of this fruit and drank it, which gave him the ability to stretch his body beyond the average human capacity.

Gingold causes an allergic reaction in most who partake in it, so Ralph obtaining superpowers via the soft drink is a unique phenomenon. Elongated Man isn’t the only stretchy hero out there – he isn’t even the only one in the Justice League, thanks to Plastic Man – but the way he discovered his powers stands out as the strangest of any elastic hero in comics.

6 Beast Boy Needed To Become A Monkey To Live

First Debuted in The Doom Patrol #99 by Arnold Drake and Bob Brown

One of the Titans’ key heroes, Beast Boy is known for transforming into different animals. This power didn’t come naturally to him, and was the product of an experiment gone wrong. One day, Garfield Logan fell ill with a fatal disease that only the West African green monkey could survive. In an effort to save his life, his father gave him a serum to transform him into that monkey for one day, but he was instead permanently left with green skin and his shapeshifting superpower.

Plenty of other heroes receive powers through serums injected into their bodies. However, Garfield’s father being the one to inject him with it makes this a deeply troubling incident. It’s tough to imagine any good parent turning their child into a monkey with a serum that hasn’t been tested, let alone having a monkey serum lying around at all.

5 Double Down Got His Skin Replaced With Cursed Playing Cards

First Debuted in The Flash: Iron Heights by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver

Double Down is one of the Flash’s weirdest villains, boasting a power that sticks out as truly baffling. A notorious gambler in Keystone City, Jeremy Tell flew off the handle after losing an intense game of poker. He lashed out by killing the winner in cold blood, but then the victim’s cursed deck of cards bonded to him in gruesome fashion, replacing his skin. From that point on, he could detach the cards and attack opponents with them.

This is one example where the circumstances of the character obtaining powers are downright laughable. The odds of a cursed card deck being present during this scuffle are slim to none, and yet it looks like Double Down got the luck of the draw – for better and for worse.

4 Spider-Man Got Randomly Bitten By A Freak Experiment

First Debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Spider-Man’s origin is undeniably iconic, but its pop culture renown doesn’t make it any less comical. While perusing a science exhibit, high school student Peter Parker was bitten by a spider that turned out to be radioactive. He gained a wide range of superpowers after the fact, such as super-strength and the ability to climb walls. Leaning into the spider theme as an homage to his powers’ source, he designed web-shooters to fire at enemies and called himself Spider-Man, and the rest is history.

Despite readers being used to this classical tale, it can’t be denied that there’s absurdity at play within it. A radioactive spider raises eyebrows on its own, and that’s without acknowledging the unrealistic notion of its bite bestowing a human with power. Nonetheless, Spider-Man’s backstory remains beloved because of the hero that spawned from it, not the practicality of it.

3 Ruby Thursday Replaced Her Regular Head With A Magic Ball

First Debuted in The Defenders #32 by Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema

Some comic characters have their powers forced upon them as a byproduct of tragic backstories, whereas others voluntarily alter themselves in hopes of unveiling their hidden potential. Ruby Thursday is one such character, seeing as she replaced her own head with a malleable red orb that gives her access to various abilities. The organic plastic can shapeshift and unleash energy constructs, making it formidable despite how unappealing it is from a visual standpoint.

Ruby Thursday’s methods are successful in that she develops superpowers, though most don’t see the merits of her unorthodox methods – and rightfully so. Ultimately, replacing one’s own head is a disturbing way of strengthening oneself that only the most power-hungry would consider attempting, which fits the bill for this underrated She-Hulk villain.

2 The Flash Counted On Lightning Striking Twice (Literally)

First Debuted in The Flash #110 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino

There are several heroes in DC lore who have inherited the Flash mantle, but the Flash with the most bewildering origin is Wally West. The second Flash, Barry Allen, developed his powers in a freak accident when lightning struck him in his lab just as chemicals spilled onto him. From then on, Barry could run at super-speed. Later, he took young Wally to his laboratory to show him where he’d been granted his metahuman abilities.

In a shocking twist, a bolt of lightning struck Wally in the exact spot where Barry had been hit before, and he was suddenly able to tap into super-speed as well. Barry being struck by lightning is an unlikely occurrence on its own, so Wally replicating that event is that much more implausible. Lightning can strike twice after all, and Wally West’s unbelievable origin proves it.

1 Snowflame Took So Many Drugs, He Unlocked Super Abilities

First Debuted in New Guardians #2 by Steve Englehart and Cary Bates

The rest of the power sources on this list are peculiar enough, yet this one undoubtedly takes the cake. Snowflame is a drug dealer who can harness superhuman abilities, but not without first partaking in a certain snow-white substance that befits his name. That’s right; Snowflame unlocks superpowers by ingesting cocaine. By doing so, he’s capable of using a wide range of powers. These include strength, speed, pyrokinesis, and an inhumanly high pain tolerance.

This cocaine-fueled supervillain has the most bizarre power source of any other comic character, hero or villain. Where other origin stories have their confusing elements, Snowflame’s origin is just a drug addiction. This method of attaining superpowers is not advised, although it does definitively reward DC’s Snowflame with the top spot on this list.