Lots of superheroes are “children of the atom” in the sense that they derive powers from some sort of radioactivity (think Spiderman or Hulk or even Daredevil) while others are just born with powers without explanation (X-Men, Thor, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman).

Who is a superhero that is somehow grounded in reality, meaning that they could “potentially” make sense (either their origin story is believable, even if it has some obvious gap to make a super power happen, or their power is somehow limited or constructed in a “reasonable” way).

I guess with these restrictions, Batman would be OK since he’s got no superpowers, but he’s insanely rich and therefore can both train himself and have access to sophisticated gadgets, but can you think of less obvious ones (even if they’re minor characters)?

Thanks for reading this!

Edit: thanks for all the answers and apologies for the slow replies. I’ve had a couple of complicated days. I’ll now go through answering you. Several people made me realize I hadn’t been precise in what I meant and helped with their answers. I was looking for superheroes or superpowers that are somehow “believable” in that they’re either constructed in an unexpected way or in a way that you could almost accept as plausible

  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
    2·
    3 months ago

    thor and superman are aliens and aquaman is a different species from out planet and wonder woman might be human but her ancestry is gifted by gods (aliens?) All alien origin and magical and technological are based on hom much you think the abilities are possible. Magic though pretty much opens the door to anything. its magic. if your talking whats the most realistic that makes the most super seeming I would say the phantom. using inheritors to make the hero seem immortal would technically work. lets not include cartoon versions were he can call on the spirit powers of animals and such though. the original phantom that is basically batman.

    • ConstipatedWatson@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      3 months ago

      Your comment nailed perfectly one of two the things I was aiming at with my post which I realized wasn’t as well defined as I was hoping (the other thing being a colorful or original origin story, even if the power is unbelievable).

      The Phantom is a perfect example: he’s got no superpowers, but he managed to create an immortality myth around himself which makes him scary to others. That’s great!