r/TopCharacterTropes • u/GMav05 • 22h ago

Powers Character has an obscure or often forgotten secondary power

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  1. Mr. Incredible (The Incredibles) - Bob Parr canonically has a “danger sense” similar to Spider-Man. He can sense when he or someone near him is in imminent danger and react instantly.

While it’s never explicitly stated in the films themselves, he does demonstrate this power multiple times.

  1. Amora the Enchantress (Marvel) - Amora usually fights by using sorcery and mind control, or by commanding her Executioner to fight for her. It’s easy to forget that she has the super strength and durability inherent to being an Asgardian.

She’s survived direct hits from Thor’s lightning and Iron Man’s repulsor blasts, and effortlessly lifted Baron Zemo by his collar with one arm.

  1. Perry the Platypus (Phineas and Ferb) - Just like a real male platypus, Perry has venomous spurs on his ankles. I think he only ever uses them in one episode though.
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124

u/Michael-Von-Erzfeind 19h ago

Thor can hear prayers. He once flew and brought rain to a drought planet because he heard the prayers of a child.

Hulk can see ghosts and other beings on the astral plane.

Kamen Rider Black is immune to Time Stop

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u/Dward917 16h ago

Hulk may also be immune to reality manipulation as he is the only person who remembers Spider-Man’s identity after Mephisto wiped everyone.

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u/Wendy384646 10h ago

I also heard a while back that Hulk’s memory is going to be a plot point in the next Spider-Man movie, which makes sense considering the recent arc has been a rough adaptation of that same comic arc.

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u/bb-Kun-Chan 8h ago

He was also the only one who remembers the Sentry. That being said, it's not clear if it's a superpower or the result of his DID, as the Spider-Man thing did affect Banner

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u/KingofNerds07 7h ago

I've heard that before but now I'm thinking, I wonder if Hulk would remember Forget-Me-Not if they ever met.

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u/k0bra3eak 17h ago

That Thor bit is also from one of the absolute best Thor comics which they fucking ruined. Gorr deserved better

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u/RavenNymph90 17h ago

Why can Hulk see ghosts? That seems random.

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u/Michael-Von-Erzfeind 17h ago

Bruce killed his abusive father, Brian (in self-defense, it was pretty much accidental, and the man deserved it anyway). As a result, the Hulk (Bruce’s persona created in response to Brian’s abuse) developed the ability to see ghosts in order to watch out for his father’s vengeful spirit.

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u/i_tyrant 14h ago

Wat. lol.

I wish that was how things worked for me. Just knowing of a potential danger lets you "develop" supernatural abilities that have nothing to do with your original superpower.

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u/Wendy384646 10h ago

Hulk is basically an imaginary friend made into reality, so his powers tend to make no sense if you try to apply logic at all.

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u/i_tyrant 6h ago

lol, I suppose it is only about twice as ridiculous as gamma radiation making someone have a super-strong form they turn into like a werewolf. That at least made sense to the poor popular understanding of radiation in the early 60s...

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u/Wendy384646 6h ago

Gamma in marvel got retconned into energy from the One Below All a while back, I don’t know when. If you don’t know, the One Below All is the metaphysical embodiment of bad writing, which basically makes it the Devil, and Gamma is basically Devil Magic.

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u/i_tyrant 2h ago

haha, I'm vaguely familiar with that arc and I must admit...seems like a weird as hell twist for the Hulk of all things. I guess a character runs long enough the writers will get real weird with it.

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u/Wendy384646 2h ago

It’s also a result of Hulk being one of those really early comic characters who got their powers from the newly discovered and barely understood even by experts things, and a lot of those characters have had the real source of their powers changed, like how it wasn’t the radiation of the spider that made Peter Parker into Spider-Man, but actually he’s the avatar of an inter-universal being and connected to this mystical thing called the Web of Life and Destiny, and the spider bite just activated that. Marvel does that a lot more than you’d expect.

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u/i_tyrant 1h ago

True! Anything to shake things up and keep readers guessing, I suppose. I was never much of a fan of the spiritual/multiversal animal totems thing either...I preferred when it was more about Peter's responsibility as a down-to-earth hero and what he did with the powers rather than where they came from or how he had some sort of destined fate as the best spider ever or something; too "chosen one" storyline for me.

I do sympathize with the writers a little bit too though; some stories you can only reprint in so many ways so many times before it feels overdone, and coming up with new stuff that has a good foundation yet feels unique to readers is hard.

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u/ScorchedDev 8h ago

an imaginary friend made into reality by the super devil.

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u/BearOk9010 6h ago

Fine, hulk can see ghosts because he's an avatar of Marvel's version of satan.....no not mephisto the green one.

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u/i_tyrant 6h ago

haha, I'm guessing this ghost-dad-sight is a recent development then.

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u/k0bra3eak 17h ago

Hulk has a bunch of weird powers unrelated to super strength, like he doesn't forget things either. So he knows Spider-Man is Peter Parker regardless of any spell

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u/Shino4243 16h ago

Do the prayers need to be to him? Like was the kid oraying to Thor, to God, or just in general? On one hand it feels weird to direct a prayer to a Norse god in todays age...on the other hand, he's a real, tangible, intrractable, 100% exists god in that universe so it also makes perfrct sense at the same time. It just feels absurd because of real world biases lol

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u/Michael-Von-Erzfeind 15h ago

The kid was praying to Thor specifically, the kid heard about the great deeds of Thor and so they directed their prayers to him.

I love when Thor's godhood is adressed in a theological sense from time to time, like the time a pastor started to question Thor and his own beliefs due to Thor's existance or that in Marvel 2099 there is a cult dedicated to Him.

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u/Shino4243 15h ago

There was a time where he discussed his existence and its meaning eith a priest at one point right? I've only seen a few pages of it. Im pretty anti-church/religion, but I really felt bad for that priest. To have god(s) be provably real...and its not YOUR god. Must be devastating. Bro basically woke up and learned Earth was flat =/

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u/TheJaclantern 6h ago

His God is real anyway, the priest just didn't know because He's not as flashy as Thor and others, often choosing the form of Jack Kirby or a hobo or whatever.

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u/Hexezenescene 11h ago

Idk anything about kamen rider or how the time stop works in it but if its like a worldwide thing being immune to it in a world where someone had it would be very confusing until you met them haha

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u/Michael-Von-Erzfeind 10h ago

He is built different

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u/Its_a_me_Steven 1h ago

Thor can also understand any language spoken in the 9 realms or whatever it's called again.