No Powers? NoProblems (part 2)

We looked at some of these a while back, but here are a few more. These are the heroes who don't have anything more going for them than spandex and cool moves, yet we still see them go toe-to-toe with heroes like Superman and the Hulk. The funny thing is that you probably never notice they don't have any powers because they're in the fight just as much as the big guys.

Union Jack

Now here's a guy who's gone up against vampires, terrorists, and other super-baddies, but has never backed down. Armed only with a silver-bladed knife and a revolver, Union Jack's latest incarnation (Joey Chapman) carries on the tradition started in World War 1 by Lord Falsworth.

Another cool thing about the character is the fact that he's one of the few that hasn't changed costumes that much over the years. Considered the UK's version of Captain America (even though Captain Britain would make a better choice to me), this hero proves you don't have to be super-powered to fight evil. It was even brought to the forefront in his "London Falling" miniseries as he was teamed with powerful heroes and actually made leader of the team.

Catman

While this guy might not be classified as a hero per se, he's done enough in "Secret Six" to show he has the potential to be quite the hero. He has superior tracking skills, incredible fighting abilities, and a really nasty looking blade. The thing that makes him different is his leadership style.

This is one guy who actually leads his team. He doesn't always make the right decisions necessarily, but at least he sticks to his decisions and runs with them. Unfortunately, when you're leading a group of psychopaths, it doesn't always go smoothly. Still, you've got to give him credit for keeping most of them alive this long.

Moon Knight

The Fist of Khonshu makes the list with the most gadgets, vehicles, and other toys of all of them. He even has more secret identities than anyone else!

For a while, Marvel took him down this incredibly dark road where he killed everyone he fought in an attempt to make him some super-dark version of Batman, but now it appears Marvel has changed their mind and doesn't mind having a hero who doesn't kill.

Even though he doesn't kill, he's probably the most brutal hero on this list. The criminals definitely know not to mess with him again.

Adam Strange

This was a suggestion by a reader from our last list.

I've never really understood the value of this character, but there's no denying he's just a normal guy doing a bang-up job in the hero world. He teleports to Rann on the Zeta Beam and has managed to keep a fairly normal life for himself there with a wife and child.

The recent Rann-Thanagar War was a pretty cool storyline that saw him leading the fight against Hawkman's home world. He also had a pretty big role in "52" with Animal Man and Starfire as they tried to get back to Earth. And keep in mind these are just recent adventures...he's been around for over 40 years!

Green Arrow

Yet another example of a "normal" guy keeping up with the super-powered titans around him, Green Arrow has been a member of the JLA off and on for years. He's faced off galactic threats and even those closer to home. And let us never forget that he's the man who shot Deathstroke in the eye during their fight in Identity Crisis.

He's an incredible archer with a hot temper who never seems to back down from any fight. He's been the yang to Hal Jordan's yin for years. He's one of those heroes that you just take for granted has some super power because he always holds his own in every fight. And yet, through it all, he's just a normal guy with some mad archery skills.

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)

I know it's weird to finish out this list with a dead hero (especially since his lack of superpowers didn't help his death by gunshot), but you have to give credit where it's due. While Green Arrow held his own around other heroes in the JLA, Blue Beetle held his own in the JLI around guys like Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, and Martian Manhunter.

Another "gadget guy", it was Blue Beetle's last adventure that took the time to turn him from a comic relief character into one bad dude. He single-handedly snuck into Maxwell Lord's fortress and found out the truth of what he was doing. Forget Batman's stealth, Beetle had potential too from what we saw there! Unfortunately, they finished him off rather permanently and the Black Lantern version we're seeing is a pale imitation of the real thing. Of course, with so many heroes dying in "Blackest Night", you know DC will have to bring many of them back in the end. Here's hoping Ted Kord is one of the lucky ones.

More Cool Costumes!

It's been a while since I've looked at cool hero suits, so let's see how things have fared since last year! Here's my "Best Dressed" collection:

Union Jack

He wears the British flag...and a gun and a knife. He holds his own in a world full of super-soldiers, vampires, and mutants. What more do you need?

This costume has remained relatively unchanged since his introduction years ago in Invaders #8. The person behind the mask has changed 3 times though. There must be something right with the costume to have it last that long.

Yes, I know Marvel has played around recently with some major deviations from the original design, but here's hoping they realize some things just need to be left alone. This is simplicity, and it works.

Ultimate Hawkeye

You have to admit the obvious comparisons to Grifter, but the Ultimate version of Hawkeye really stands out. While keeping the purple color that seems forever linked to the original version, this suit takes the character in an entirely different direction.

He's also given up the bow and arrow for pistols (and basically anything else he can get his hands on). While I'm not too fond of the bullseye on his forehead, the rest of the suit looks good.

Moon Knight

Ok, so he may be Marvel's answer to Batman, but the dude looks cool. The complete opposite of Batman's dark colors, Moon Knight still has most of Batman's toys. He has crescent darts, a cool helicopter, flowing cape that can help him glide, and all the other nifty trappings of a hero.

Originally the suit had a glider type cape attached to his wrists, but thankfully that went to a full cape very early on and has stayed that way ever since. Otherwise, this is the suit that's been true to the character for 30 years.

Catman

The anti-hero who was once nothing more than a running joke in Batman comics has stepped into his own and become one of the only reasons to read "Secret Six" each month (Deadshot being the only other reason).

I don't know who at DC decided to reboot this character, but they did the job right. They also did a great job on his suit. He looks a lot like Batman in design, but the color scheme and weapon choices make him different enough. The earth tones rock in this one.

The Spectre

Probably the most basic costume you'd see (and definitely the most basic on this list), but still it has a way of being cool. No logo, emblem, or design of any kind. Just basic green and white, but when you see that glow coming off the suit in Alex Ross drawings, or the way Jim Aparo gave him the vengeance look as he took down criminal after criminal in some cold-hearted fashion, you just realized how cool the guy really was.

His look changed briefly when Hal Jordan was the Spectre, giving him sort of a Green Lantern touch to the outfit. Recently he's grown a beard thanks to his current host, but I still think his simple, original look remains the best. The term "actions speak louder than words" could be applied to this hero more than any other on this list. You mess up with him, it's over.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight - Is Marvel Finally Coming Around?

I am a Moon Knight fan. Even when I first read his stories in the back section of the magazine format "Hulk" in the 70's, I knew this dude was cool. He was like Batman in so many ways, but somehow just a little edgier because he had 3 different secret identities.

When Marvel announced two years ago that they were bringing him back, I subscribed to the title as soon as possible. I was excited to see this hero coming back, though Marvel warned he would be "a little more violent". That was an understatement. The title was so graphically violent (including a scene where Moon Knight literally rips Bushmaster's face off with his teeth) that I canceled the subscription and dropped reading the title altogether. Call me a wimp if you want to, but I grew up in an age where heroes were heroes and didn't have to kill someone just to prove they were big and bad.

And now along comes Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1. I was a little leery about giving the title a try, but boy am I glad I did! Marvel has set this character up to be everything he was meant to be by giving him this code against killing. Now he just wants to take the bad guys down without seriously hurting any of them, and it's a breath of fresh air from the ultra-violent crap Marvel has been putting out lately.

Issue 1 starts out with Moon Knight stopping a bank robbery in broad daylight with such flair and panache it makes Batman look like an amateur. My favorite scene is him riding an overturned van down the street like a surfboard. And issue #2 even brings in the Sentry for Marvel's ultimate "This is our Superman and Batman" type of confrontation. I know this might be considered a second-rate comparison team, but I still love it! The characters are similar, yes, but different enough from their DC counterparts to give us some cool possibilities. While I really like the Sentry character, we're almost five years into him as a regular hero in the Marvel universe and Marvel still hasn't figured out what to do with him so I imagine he's not long for this world anyway. Still, it's good to see him in action again.

Now issue #3 is bringing Bushmaster back, so I'm holding off on subscribing again until I see if this whole "no killing" rule is written in stone or if Marvel is just toying with us before making the character so gruesome it's sickening. But I hope Marvel has decided to make this a trend and finally give us one title that we can read without seeing tons of blood and gore all over every fight scene.

DC consistenly out-performs Marvel with its core heroes. Batman does not kill (unless Grant Morrison writes him) and hasn't for decades, and he remains one of DC's most popular characters. It's not necessary to make him a killer to make him cool, and DC has proven that time and again. Why can't Marvel pick up on this and realize a hero who slaughters every group of thugs he faces isn't that cool?

So for now, I'm giving Marvel a big thumbs up for doing a great job with the first two issues of this title. Now let's see if they can actually use restraint and give us a hero to root for without him killing everything that moves. I don't care how much he gets compared to Batman by the press, let us enjoy him!

What about you? Do you feel comics are too violent today and need to dial it back just a little for the average reader?