No Powers? No Problem!

For every mutant, alien jewel, radioactive spider, cosmic experiment powered hero out there, there are those who have nothing more going for them than just their nerves of steel and a few cool gadgets. Here are some "normal" guys who can still hold their own against the big guys.

Batman

Just pick your incarnation of this one. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson both are great at what they do. Nothing more than extreme athletic ability and more nifty toys than James Bond, and these guys are ready to stand their own against tough villains like Solomon Grundy, Darkseid, and more.

I guess you could count his "you can hit me even at point blank range" ability as an actual power, but for the most part he's pretty much just a normal guy who's been extremely lucky.

Oh, and let us never forget he can beat Superman down whenever he feels like it.

Hawkeye/Ronin

Yes, at one point he was Goliath and had super powers, but for now he's back to being plain on Clint Barton. When he was Hawkeye, he had no super powers other than incredible archery skills.

Now that he's become Ronin, he's shown a sudden ability to use anything as a weapon and be incredibly good at it. I don't remember him being an expert martial artist before, but I guess he is now.

Even though he doesn't have any super-soldier serum in him, he was even considered by Tony Stark as a replacement Captain America. I, for one, am glad he turned that one down.

Gangbuster

Jose Delgado appeared about 20 years ago in a Superman comic book. He disappeared for a while but recently was brought back in the weekly "Trinity" series from DC Comics last year.

He doesn't have any super powers, but just like the others on this list he's made it just fine without them. Operating mostly out of Metropolis, Gangbuster has one of the cooler costumes out there.

He did end up crippled at one point from a fight, but he's back now and ready to go.

Punisher

He's dead now, but Frank Castle made it for years with nothing more going for him than a burning desire for revenge and about a million bullets.

Here's the guy who's taken on just about every hero AND villain in the Marvel universe. He's never backed down from anything, and played a key role in the Civil War and in World War Hulk.

Unfortunately, somebody at Marvel got the stupid idea that killing him off and bringing him back as a zombie would sell books. They've tried this before and it didn't work, but they just didn't learn. Bring back Frank Castle!

Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu

In the 70's, this guy was popular! Of couse, so was Bruce Lee and Kung Fu movies in particular. The son of Fu Manchu himself, Shang Chi is an expert martial artist and yet isn't cocky about it.

He recently made a return in Heroes for Hire, but it's his series in the 70's that we remember him for. It was 70's camp at its best with secret agents, angry Chinese bad guys, and villains that have pretty much disappeared from continuity. Still, the artwork was cool (even if some of the covers were blatant rip-offs of Bruce Lee posters) and the stories stayed fairly consistent.

The biggest thing going for him was the fact that he didn't kill his enemies that often. For the most part, he'd beat them down and move on. If his stories came out today, I have a feeling he'd make Quentin Tarrantino blush.