Disabled Superheroes
May. 30th, 2014 04:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithHere's an interesting post about disabled superheroes with attention to combinations of disabilities and superpowers.
One reason I think supports such combinations is that the acquisition of superpowers is often violent. If you don't get some kind of regenerative ability, you are rather likely to sustain permanent damage: Dr. Laser has disfiguring scars. Other times it may be transient but still really uncomfortable: Aquariana has hypersensitive skin so she can't wear clothes comfortably, which might or might not improve. Certain causes that may be less violent can still have negative side effects: Koroleva is a supervillain whose powers probably came from radiation -- her parents were evacuated from Chernobyl -- and her right hand has fused fingers.
Another obvious reason is that superhero work is dangerous. Soldiers, police, firefighters, etc. all work high-risk jobs and have a consequently high rate of retiring due to disability. Cheersquad has Super-Speed but is mostly paralyzed now; he used to drive a zoom ambulance until someone crashed into it. Then again, some people keep working despite disabilities. Dr. Doohickey lost his legs and kept going. Valor's Widow deals with monumental grief.
Factors can combine, too: Groundhog has Flight, but never uses it due to agoraphobia, acrophobia, and weak lungs. It manifested when he was an infant, he went sailing up into the sky, and the altitude injured his lungs before anyone could get him down. Then his parents kept him indoors while he was growing up.
One reason I think supports such combinations is that the acquisition of superpowers is often violent. If you don't get some kind of regenerative ability, you are rather likely to sustain permanent damage: Dr. Laser has disfiguring scars. Other times it may be transient but still really uncomfortable: Aquariana has hypersensitive skin so she can't wear clothes comfortably, which might or might not improve. Certain causes that may be less violent can still have negative side effects: Koroleva is a supervillain whose powers probably came from radiation -- her parents were evacuated from Chernobyl -- and her right hand has fused fingers.
Another obvious reason is that superhero work is dangerous. Soldiers, police, firefighters, etc. all work high-risk jobs and have a consequently high rate of retiring due to disability. Cheersquad has Super-Speed but is mostly paralyzed now; he used to drive a zoom ambulance until someone crashed into it. Then again, some people keep working despite disabilities. Dr. Doohickey lost his legs and kept going. Valor's Widow deals with monumental grief.
Factors can combine, too: Groundhog has Flight, but never uses it due to agoraphobia, acrophobia, and weak lungs. It manifested when he was an infant, he went sailing up into the sky, and the altitude injured his lungs before anyone could get him down. Then his parents kept him indoors while he was growing up.
