You MUST believe in the details of characters’ superpowers. If we were ever to play fast and loose with heroes’ or villains’ powers, fans would call us on it. It was crucial to let the X-MEN:TAS writers know the fine distinctions and maintain them. Storm doesn’t fly — she creates winds and rides them. Cyclops’ eye beams are not made of fire or burning laser light but instead are concussive; they don’t burn things (sorry current movie), they slams things. Wolverine isn’t immortal, he just heals quickly (the movies tend to cheat this a bit as well). If some badass villain were to reach up under his adamantium ribs and rip out his heart, Logan would die. All this said, we audience members tend to accept these powers at face value as long as the storytellers stay consistent. How does Storm access the elements? Medically, how do you take someone’s skeleton out of his body and replace it with another one? Even stranger questions come up when you think hard about some of the more obscure details of living with special powers. If shape-shifters can change their own clothes when the shift, why can’t they prank other people by changing theirs? The clever question in the artwork below is a good one, and I doubt Wolverine co-creator Len Wein has a ready answer. But if we buy the magic once, and stay consistent, we will buy it always.
