While formulating today’s Question Of The Day, I asked my daughter (age 8) if there were any unanswered comic book questions that plagued her slightly more than half a dozen years on the planet. She looked at me, squished up her adorable little nose, and threw me for a loop with some high-octane comic query: “Why isn’t Iron Man made of steel?” She then proceeded to explain that steel is much stronger and easier to work with, making Daddy very proud in the process. I was going to explain to her about the half a dozen characters already named Steel when the QOTD leapt fully formed from my brow like Athena or The Great Gazoo…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) is this: We have Iron Man, Steel, The Silver Surfer, even Little Iodine… Which of the remaining elements would make the best superhero identity?
Shazamium, obviously
There is a whole periodic table of awesomeness waiting to team up here…
Doctor Lithium, Master of Manic-Depressives
The Explosive White Phosphorus
The Mysterious Mister Xe(non)
And the Table Salt Twins, Sodium and Chloride.
All under the watchful eye of the Noble (Gas) Krypton!
Quartz and her sidekick Crystal, who can, uh, bend light slightly and look sparkly?
Hey, it works for strippers (and whiny vampires), why not superheroes?
Unobtanium man. With the power to be unsubstantial and unobtainable.
I think Cobalt was only used once in an old Metal Men comic, so I’d call that up for grabs.
There was Milestone’s Kobalt, but he was named after, ostensibly, kobolds… Cobalt Man was a minor Iron Man villain back in the day, as was Titanium Man. Great name, though.
Don’t forget Barry Allen’s evil twin… Cobalt Blue!
How about Oxygen thief? He is obnoxious and shouldn’t have survived his power accident :)
The Alimonium Wench… Made from a combination of aluminum and greed, she has the ability to take half your stuf for a looong time (I’m not bitter; not at all).
Helium Man, obviously, because his voice would sound like Donald Duck.
The Mighty Thorium?
Captain Americium?
The Good Samarium?
Berenstein Barium?
Lead Foot. ‘Nuff said. ^_^
The Plutonium…
Err, never mind.
Lesion Lad, who, after eating a special sandwich of cesium salami and beryllium bolgna, discovers he can thwart his foes with removable hair and teeth…