In the earliest decades of superhero comics from companies like DC Comics, every superhero had a weakness to balance out their incredible abilities. Naturally, those weaknesses are less common now that most heroes' enemies have grown as strong as they are.
During the earlier days of comics, weaknesses were a narrative aid that put the hero in some form of peril, but that doesn’t mean all of them made sense. Some weaknesses were ridiculous even at the time. Most of these bizarre weaknesses no longer exist or have been forgotten about by fans, but they remain a strange part of various heroes' histories.
Updated on August 22, 2022 by Scoot Allan: The Justice Society of America and their successors will appear in the upcoming The New Golden Age series. Classic characters like Alan Scott will appear again as the original Green Lantern, and the series is set to kick off a new group of comic titles that will explore a mystery in the DC universe. However, the big mystery for fans is whether Alan Scott's power ring still has a bizarre weakness to wood? He's not the only DC character with a unique weakness either.
13 Superman's Weakness To Magic Doesn't Make Sense Considering His Invulnerability
The Man of Steel is one of the DC Universe's most powerful characters. However, he has a few weaknesses that can bring him down a few levels. Superman's most well-known weakness is irradiated pieces of his home planet known as Kryptonite, which can affect him in a variety of different ways. However, he's also incredibly weak to magic.
A weakness to Kryptonite radiation feels consistent with his character. However, magic affecting him makes little sense, given his invulnerability. Superman is usually rooted in science-fiction, yet the lack of magic on his home planet creates an inherent weakness to more fantastical elements like magic that can weaken or even kill the Man of Steel.
12 Black Canary's Devastating Canary Cry Can Be Stopped By A Common Cold And A Sore Throat
Dinah Lance was one of the founding members of the Justice League as Black Canary. She was also one of the Justice League's most experienced leaders, having worked with different iterations of the team for years. She earned her place among the League's strongest heroes due to her extreme martial arts skills and her devastating sonic scream.
Black Canary's Canary Cry can clear rooms and take down villains she can't physically defeat on her own. Unfortunately, her cry comes from her vocal cords, which means she can lose her most powerful weapon if she catches a common cold. A sore throat can spell trouble for Black Canary, and on one occasion, a vicious neck wound almost erased her cry completely.
11 Martian Manhunter's Weakness To Flame Easily Counters His Incredible Powers
Some fans don't know Martian Manhunter has most of Superman's abilities, along with telepathy, invisibility, and shape-shifting. He’s supposed to be just as overpowered as Superman, but he sometimes doesn't get included in that group.
This is likely because Martian Manhunter's weakness is far more plentiful. Despite the Martians being capable of taking down the JLA, all of them get defeated with nothing more than a pack of matches. The weakness is largely psychosomatic, but in the end, a weakness is a weakness.
10 Wonder Woman Would Lose Her Strength If She Was Tied Up Or Chained By A Man
The early Wonder Woman comics have a distinct edge that isn’t present in later comics. The Amazons took part in games that involved tying one another up. However, if a man were to tie them up, they would lose all of their effectiveness.
This concept doesn't make much sense. Superheroes are a power fantasy and Wonder Woman is meant to be a liberating figure. The idea that one of her major weaknesses involves men is questionable and doesn't work well with the character in the modern age.
9 Captain Marvel, Jr.'s Powers Meant He Couldn't Say His Own Name Without Transforming
When Shazam started at a different comic company, he transformed into Captain Marvel by saying the magic word "Shazam." That wasn't quite the same for Freddy Freeman, who would become Captain Marvel, Jr. The character received his power by Billy Batson instead of the wizard Shazam, and gained his power by saying "Captain Marvel!" instead of "Shazam."
However, any use of the word "Captain Marvel" could summon the transforming lightning bolt. This meant just saying his superhero name would turn him back to Freddy Freeman. He started to go by CM3 instead after the original and Mary Marvel. The modern version of the Shazam family would drop the "Captain Marvel" connection, and Freeman became known as Shazam, Jr.
8 Power Girl Could Be Harmed By Raw Or Unprocessed Natural Materials Like Wood And Stone
Power Girl's origins are a bit confusing even to fans of the character. Her connection to Superman and her origins as a Kryptonian has fluctuated over the years, which resulted in an unusual weakness that remains one of the weirdest facts about Power Girl.
When creators weren’t sure about her origins, Power Girl gained a new weakness to "natural, unprocessed materials." This includes anything from wood to stones, which somewhat negated her title as Power Girl. Tossing a sharp rock at her head would be more effective than a fist-to-fist fight with Doomsday. Thankfully, her re-establishment as a Kryptonian erased this weakness.
7 Superman Can Lose His Powers And Become Human When Exposed To Red Solar Energy
While magic is definitely one of Superman's more bizarre weaknesses, it isn't his only one. He also reacts strongly to red solar radiation, as opposed to the yellow solar radiation on Earth. While the yellow sun empowers Superman with his incredible abilities, red solar energy can drain them until he's just an average human.
Krypton orbited the red star known as Rao before it was destroyed, and the red solar radiation lives on as another piece of Superman's origins that can help destroy him much like Kryptonite. His enemies, like Lex Luthor, have utilized red solar energy in their ongoing battle against Superman, which can weaken him enough to take him out.
6 Wonder Woman Can Be Harmed By Any Sharp Weaponry With Enough Force Behind It
There are a few things about Wonder Woman that make little sense, including her weaknesses. She’s nearly as strong as Superman, and a far better fighter because of her years of training as an Amazonian warrior. However, she's much less durable than the Man of Steel, which is why she originally wore her bullet-deflecting bracelets.
Unlike Superman, Wonder Woman’s invulnerability only correlates with blunt objects. She can take a punch from Superman, no problem, but a blade will hurt her just like it would anyone else if there's enough force behind it. The character can lift tanks, but a knife can spell defeat.
5 The Entire Green Lantern Corps Originally Possessed A Weakness To The Color Yellow
This is by far one of the worst weaknesses any superhero has ever had. A weakness to the color yellow, which was used quite a bit during Hal Jordan's earliest years as a member of the Green Lantern Corps. His villains were always wearing yellow or tossing something yellow at him, so he couldn’t control it with his power ring.
It was later retconned that the weakness came from an impurity in the GLC's Central Power Battery. The impurity was a cosmic being known as Parallax, the entity of fear. The Green Lantern Corps learned how to overcome the weakness presented by the color yellow by utilizing their ability to overcome fear, making their ring's emerald energy of will even more powerful.
4 Aquaman's Powerful Thirst Causes Him To Lose Power The Longer He's Away From Water
In his earliest years, Aquaman could stay outside of the water for two hours before he weakened. Being a half-Atlantean meant he could breathe air, but he wasn’t meant to stay topside for too long. This weakness persisted into the ’90s and was emphasized in many stories.
Unfortunately, this weakness didn't make much sense for the modern version of the character. Arthur Curry was raised on the land by his father, so it made little sense for him to be weak where he grew up. Aquaman's one of the best Justice League members, but he never would have been if he remained dependent on water.
3 Zatanna's Magic Is Entirely Dependent On Her Ability To Speak
One of DC's most powerful magic users is the Mistress of Magic known as Zatanna. She was raised by her father Zatara, who taught her his unique spoken form of magic. Zatanna and her father could cast powerful and nearly limitless spells by speaking them in reverse. Unfortunately, this came with a deadly vulnerability.
In her early days, Zatanna's villains could stop her with a simple cloth bag. If she couldn't speak, she couldn't use her magic against them. However, this proved to be too costly of a weakness and Zatanna eventually learned how to manipulate other powerful forms of magic in case her speech was ever taken.
2 Flash Can't Go Faster Than Light Speed Without Being Pulled Into The Speed Force
Saying that The Flash’s weakness is speed makes as much sense as Superman’s weakness being sunlight. When Wally West was Kid Flash, he could only go so fast before it aggravated a heart condition. This was eventually fixed once he became The Flash, but he had another hurdle to face. He couldn't go beyond the speed of light.
Wally West was one of the first speedsters to discover the Speed Force. However, he soon learned that he would be lost in the Speed Force if The Flash ran too fast. During the Terminal Velocity event, his body began converting into energy after he ran too fast. Thankfully, Wally West often found his way back home.
1 The Original Green Lantern Was Weak To The Incredibly Common Element Of Wood
Green Lanterns in the DC universe are known for having unusual weaknesses. The original Green Lantern was Alan Scott, who derived his power from the mystical Starheart instead of the GLC's Central Power Battery. Green Lantern has changed since Alan Scott, which includes his original weakness to wood as well.
The original weakness to wood was explained by Alan Scott's subconscious belief that it couldn't affect wood. This got retconned after comics revealed the Starheart, its role as the Green Flame of Earth, and its connection to growing things like plants and trees. The ring couldn't destroy or defend itself against what it was designed to protect.