Despite what it may seem in today’s crossover-crazy pop culture scrum, the idea of Mash-Up Culture is nothing new. Welcome to Ten Things: Ten Supers With The Powers Of A Whole Super-Team!

Whooshman-Bicarbonate Films, in conjunction with An Amateur Comics Historian and Amazo who, full disclosure, is not actually in today’s collection, Presents:

TEN THINGS: TEN SUPERS WITH THE POWERS OF A WHOLE SUPER-TEAM!

10) THE X-MEN – The Mimic   

The first-ever recruit to Charles Xavier’s namesake mutant team, Calvin Rankin gained the power to duplicate the abilities of others from an accident in his scientist father’s lab. Finding that he was suddenly as smart as all of his teachers, as athletic as any of his classmates, and able to do pretty much anything as long as he was in the right company made The Mimic an arrogant jerk. But when he met the members of the original X-Men and discovered that he could duplicate their mutant superpowers as well, The Mimic’s ego went right out of control.

Later stories have retconned a number of elements of his story, making him a mutant, restricting his powers to only mimicking mutants, and making it clear that he had bipolar disorder, but the biggest change is that he has maintained the powers of the original five X-Men and Professor Xavier on a more-or-less permanent basis.

9) THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA – Super-Duper

Created by a small-time criminal with a device called the Panacomputer, The Super-Duper combines the powers of Flash, Hawkman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman, which was most of the Justice League of the era. (Aquaman, Green Arrow, The Martian Manhunter, and Superman were otherwise occupied.) The Super-Duper’s first appearance was also the issue where Hawkman joined the League, and the Winged Wonder was the first to realize that, since the gestalt being was created from yellow energy, its power ring was inoperable, leading to its defeat by the Winged Wonder.

8) THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 2.0 – Replikon

An alien made of gas in his natural state, Xum encountered the satellite headquarters of the JLA, where he observed Wonder Woman, Batman, and The Flash, duplicating their powers and assuming a composite form that combined their appearances. He was eventually defeated by Green Arrow and Black Canary, despite the power disparity between himself and the heroes. Replikon has made a few return appearances, including one where he was killed in the midst of a battle with Superman.

7) THE NEW 52 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA – The Fan

The very definition of toxic fandom, The Fan (real name unrevealed) was obsessed with the members and activities of the Justice League, so much so that he got in the middle of of battle between the team and the Shaggy Man. Thanks to his background as a LexCorp employee, he was able to cobble together a battle suit that allowed him to simulate certain of the Leagues’ abilities, attacking the team for… Uh… reasons.

6) THE INHUMANS – The Composite

In the 30th Century future of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, centuries of selective breeding and horrifying genetic manipulation gave us The Composite! With the powers of all the Inhuman Royal Family, including sonic screams, amphibiousness, superhuman strength and hooves, magical kung-fu, and prehensile hair.

Their life is absolutely going to be a living hell.

5) THE WEST COAST AVENGERS – The Composite Avenger

A slightly more meta-example comes in the form of this non-existent hero, the creation of a super-computer controlled by the alien race called The Sligs. After their probe battled The West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Tigra, Wonder Man, Iron Man, Moon Knight, and Dr. Pym) one at a time, the Sligs’ super-computer created this rather cumbersome hero from the data it was able to recover, Rashomon-style. The terrifying apparition convinced them to give up their dreams of conquering the Earth, so that’s… something?

It coulda been worse, as this came out just after Wonder Man gave up his most hideous red-green-and-gold pajama set, which would have made this character even more eye-bleedingly bizarre.

4) THE MIGHTY AVENGERS – The Super-Adaptoid

With the powers of the Avengers circa 1966 (Goliath, The Wasp, Captain America, Hawkeye, and maybe Quicksilver?), The Super-Adaptoid is actually able to change its appearance as it gains or loses powers,  thanks to being powered by the reality-warping energies of a Cosmic Cube. This particular Adaptoid went head-to-head with The Mimic, making for an Avengers Vs. X-Men matchup several decades early. During that fight, The Mimic and the Super-Adaptoid used their respective duplicating powers against one another, canceling each other out and leaving both powerless.

3) THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES  – The Composite Legionnaire

While skinning space dragons for their radioactive scales, four Legionnaires were caught in a strange explosion that merged them into one giant, insane creature. Their fellow Legionnaires were forced to try and find a way to save their pals (ironically two LSH couple, Lightning Lad & Saturn Girl and Shrinking Violet & Colossal Boy) before the hunter called Bounty kills all four of them.

Of course, they’re not the first time someone composited the Legion…

2) THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES – Composite Superman

The ironic part of Joe Meach having the powers of the entire Legion is that he never met that team in any of his appearances. Instead, he was a villain in World’s Finest Comics, facing Superman and Batman with the powers of Colossal Boy, Shrinking Violet, Triplicate Girl, Lightning Lad, Sun Boy, Light Lass, Star Boy, Matter-Eater Lad, Invisible Kid, Bouncing Boy, Elastic Lad, Chameleon Boy, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Ultra Boy, Element Lad, Phantom Girl, Superboy, Supergirl, Mon-El and Brainiac 5.

That last one explains why he’s green, apparently. It’s a good thing Joe Meach is a complete moron, because anyone with any brains at all would have left nothing but ashes behind.

1) THE FANTASTIC FOUR – Super-Skrull

On the Skrull home world in a secret laboratory. they modified a chromosome and so begins the story of a Skrull whose nearly impossible chore was to battle and defeat the Fantastic Four. He’s Super Skrull–incredible! He’s as geechy as Nietzsche and that’s no bull! Though to us he seems preposterous, it’s really not for us to just pass a rash judgment on the Super Skrull. ‘Cause his left arm can stretch like it’s made out of plastic; it’s as elastic as Mr. Fantastic. His right arm’s got orange rocks for skin; from the shoulder down he’s as strong as big Ben Grimm. He can turn one leg invisible, which really isn’t all that practical. Unless you’re extremely gullible, you won’t be fooled by Super Skrull. His other leg is flammable (same thing as inflammable). he crossed his legs and then he learned his invisible leg could still get burned. Though his appearance is comical and raises many questions anatomical, his features aren’t as malleable as the features of his fellow Skrull. From his hat down to his shoes, he wears unstable molecules. He’s endorsing RC Cola and cruising chicks with Arnim Zola. He’s not even possible! But what the hell, he’s Super Skrull! He can’t tie his shoes without an oven mitt and he has a hard time finding shirts that fit. Painfully implausible, technically impossible. Socks? He’s got a closet full. His favorite band is Jethro Tull.

He’s not just any ordinary Skrull, he’s Super Skrull!  *DING*

As a bonus, I also wanted to share a story that inspired today’s list. In the early days of the Justice League satellite era, a transporter accident merged The Flash, Hawkman, and an amorphous slime-mold alien into three freakish giant amalgam blobs. First, we have Hawkman’s head, the alien’s torso, and Flash’s legs or “Hawaliash.”

A second had Flash’s head, Hawkman’s torso, and the alien’s lower extremities, also known as the “Flawkmalien” combo.

And the last weirdie went into battle with the alien’s oddly simian head, The Flash’s torso, and Hawkman’s legs, or the “Aliflawkman” package.

Enjoy the nightmares, kids! I’ve been having them for thirty-five years or so.

Once again, this week’s topic, Ten Supers With The Powers Of A Whole Super-Team, is all me, but feel free to follow along on social media to suggest a topic of your own! There’s always more Ten Things madness on my Twitter or check out the full Ten Things Nerdery™ archive here! As with any set of like items, these aren’t meant to be hard and fast or absolutely complete, if only because composite characters are comic book bread and butter. Either way, the comments section is below for just such an emergency, but, as always: Please, no wagering!

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