In the early days of comics, the powers of the heroes were all over the place. Creators were still finding their way through the new genre, and that meant that from issue to issue, your favorite hero's abilities could change drastically. An ability they never had before could just materialize at the right moment, or a power they used just three issues earlier would be totally forgotten by the writer right when the hero needed it most.

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These days, the powers of every hero is carefully cataloged and kept in check. And if the creators happen to forget, the readers will be quick to remind them on Twitter. But with so many changes to characters over the years, some just aren't as powerful as they used to be, and others are even more powerful.

10 More Powerful: Green Lantern

Alan Scott as the Golden Age Green Lantern

The original Green Lantern, aka Alan Scott, wasn't a space cop as we know them today. The origins of his power start in ancient China when a green meteor fell to Earth and was crafted into a lantern. Hundreds of years later, Alan Scott would find the lantern after a train accident and use a part of it to craft a ring - as the flame from the lantern instructed him to - becoming Green Lantern.

While the Golden Age Green Lantern suffered a weakness to wood similar to the current Green Lantern's weakness to the color yellow, one thing that was never an issue for Alan Scott was charging the ring. Unlike the current Green Lanterns, his ring could hold a charge longer than 24-hours.

9 Less Powerful: The Atom

Al Pratt The Atom from DC Comics

Al Pratt, the Golden Age Atom, didn't have any superpowers. His entire origin can be condensed to "short guy learns to box and decides to fight crime in a cape". He had no special skills, wasn't all that smart, and wasn't even that good of a fighter, but he was filled with heart. His superhero name came not from any power, but from his short stature.

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Today's Atom, be it Ray Palmer or Ryan Choi, can actually shrink to sub-atomic size and control their mass, meaning that even if they're as small as an ant, they can kick and punch with the power of a person who works out a whole lot. This makes the current Atoms far more powerful than Al Pratt ever imagined himself to be.

8 More Powerful: Shazam

Shazam activating his powers in DC Comics.

Going by the name Captain Marvel in the Golden Age, young orphan Billy Batson would speak the word "Shazam!" and turn into the World's Mightiest Mortal. In time, Billy would share his powers with other and the Marvel Family was created. But in these classic adventures, when Billy shared his power with Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, or Uncle Marvel, it didn't weaken him.

Today, when the Shazam Family all use their powers at the same time, Shazam himself becomes weaker, and each member of the family has a specialty power; Darla Dudley, for example, is faster than the others while Eugene Choi has the added ability of technopathy.

7 Less Powerful: Batman

The Golden Age Batman breaks a henchman's neck

In essence, the Batman of today is the same character he was in the Golden Age - he's a brilliant detective with gadgets that help him solve crimes and fight a variety of criminals. But if you look back at the Golden Age Batman stories, you'll see a hero who has really powered up over the years.

Part of that is the change in real-world technology, but the Dark Knight has also gone from being a fairly good fighter to one of the greatest martial artists in the world, knowing dozens of fighting styles, even Kryptonian martial arts. This boost in fighting skills make it clear that the Batman of today would wipe the floor with the Batman of 1940.

6 More Powerful: The Ray

Since the hero's first appearance in 1940, four men have fought evil as The Ray. Each of them has the ability to absorb light and then use it as energy blasts, they can all fly, though their speeds are slightly different, and they can all make light constructs. But Happy Terrill, the original Ray had a power than the others didn't; telepathy.

How telepathy fit into Ray's power set is anyone's guess. As it was explained in the old comics, Happy could target "solid light vibrations" at someone's inner ear, allowing them to hear what he was thinking and for them to basically "hum" what they were thinking back at him. It makes no sense, but then again, a lot of superpowers don't make much sense.

5 Less Powerful: Flash

Jay Garrick, the original Flash, gained his super-speed by being a bad scientist. While conducting an experiment with hard water, Jay decided to take a smoke break and leaned against his lab table, knocking everything over. Jay inhaled the hard water fumes and passed out. Somehow, by breathing those fumes all night, Jay Garrick woke up with super speed.

As Flash, Jay was plenty fast, but compared to Barry Allen and Wally West, both of whom can go faster than the speed of light, Jay was a slowpoke who was a little faster than the speed of sound. It looks like Jay will be returning soon, and chances are he'll be faster than he used to be.

4 More Powerful: Johnny Quick

Johnny Quick

Johnny Quick was something of a Flash plus. Like Jay Garrick, he had super speed, which he gained by reciting a mathematical formula - 3X2(9YZ)4A - that he discovered. Unlike Flash, Johnny Quick wasn't just fast, he could fly too.

Over the years, Johnny's flying took a backseat to his running, and by the time he came back during the Modern Age, Johnny's flying had all but been forgotten. Even he seemed to forget that he could fly. Unless DC plans to bring Johnny Quick back from the dead any time soon, it seems unlikely that he'll be regaining his flying abilities.

3 Less Powerful: Aquaman

Today we know Aquaman as the King of the Seven Seas. Half-human and half Atlantean, Aquaman can swim at incredible speeds, breathe underwater, and telepathically communicate with ocean life. Adding to all that, he's also super strong and has, from time to time, shown the ability to control water.

But when he was introduced way back in 1941, Aquaman's story was very different. The Golden Age Aquaman lived in an underwater home with his explorer father and could hold his breath for up to an hour. Instead of being able to speak to fish telepathically, he had learned the languages of the ocean creatures.

2 More Powerful: Sandy

Sandy The Golden Boy Swinging In With Sandman

Sandy Hawkens was the sidekick of Wesely Dodds, the first Sandman who went by the hero name Sandy the Golden Boy. During this time, Sandy had no powers to speak of and was little more than a rip-off of Robin the Boy Wonder as Sandman himself was made to look more like a superhero and less like the pulp heroes that were the inspiration for the character in the first place.

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In the 1970s, it was revealed that Sandy and Sandman had been experimenting with a silicon-based weapon when things went wrong and Sandy was exposed to radioactive silica particles, changing him into a sand creature. Sandy would later return and, now imbued with a number of superpowers, would take on the name Sandman, joining the JSA and carrying on the legacy of his mentor.

1 Less Powerful: Superman

In his early adventures, Superman was more powerful than a locomotive, faster than a speeding bullet, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Over time, that leaping became flying, but that isn't the only increase to Superman's powers. As the Golden Age gave way to the Silver Age, Superman became strong enough to move planets and had a seemingly endless list of powers, from heat vision to super ventriloquism.

While many of the odder powers were left behind after Crisis on Infinite Earths, today's Superman is still stronger, faster, and overall more powerful than he was in the Golden Age. The ability to fly alone is a major increase in power.

NEXT: Flashpoint: 5 Huge Changes the DC Universe is Still Feeling (& 5 That Have Already Been Forgotten)