Spider-Man’s web shooters are a smaller example of this problem. * The only downside is that someone with nefarious intentions might make an Iron Man suit, but so what? Stark’s suit is a lot less dangerous than a nuclear bomb, and we already have plenty of those floating around.

So why is the MCU dependent on fossil fuels the same way we are? Stark could single-handedly solve the global energy crisis by licensing his design or just making it open source. That is, a way to produce massive amounts of energy without any harmful by-products like carbon dioxide or radioactive waste. In order to make his suit work, Stark had to perfect the arc reactor technology, which is described in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as being something akin to nuclear fusion. It could be his paranoia and fear that others will misuse his inventions, but that excuse doesn’t hold up so well in the face of repeated threats to Earth’s existence.īeyond the suit itself, Stark’s technology could have completely reshaped the world. It’s clearly not a production problem, as Stark makes dozens of suits in Iron Man 3. Imagine what Black Widow could do with one. So why don’t heroes share their gadgets? Ton y Stark, a man with little to no skill in combat, is nearly unstoppable when wearing his suit. If someone else gets their hands on it, they’re probably a nemesis, as we saw with Obadiah Stane in Iron Man. And yet, gadget heroes have almost exclusive access to their particular brand of tech. Unlike inborn abilities, technology is shareable. That’s great, except why doesn’t everyone have access to that gear? Iron Man, Batman, even Spider-Man with his web shooters: all rely on their gear to get the job done. Who doesn’t love a nice suit of powered armor to wear on a Saturday night? While technology isn’t strictly a power, it’s used the same way. If you’re planning to include powers in your story, keep a close eye on these troublemakers. Some powers create a bigger risk of plot holes than others. That is, your real-life brain may not consider all the ways a power co uld be used, leaving audiences to wonder, “If Superman can fly fast enough to make time go backward, why didn’t he just fly fast enough to stop the missiles?” Whenever you give your character an ability that people in real life don’t have, it creates a potential plot hole. Maybe they can levitate, shoot lightning out of their hands, or read long blog posts in a single glance.

To celebrate, we're giving every patron at our $10 (Pegasus) tier and up feedback on 1,000 words! Join by August 14th to participate.Ĭostume-clad or not, many speculative fiction characters have a superpower of some kind.

All of shifty powers metals