Is anyone else sick of the "My powers are such a burden." trope?

Enzom21 · Mar 6, 2019

Every superhero movie or TV show is filled with people who seem hate having super powers.
Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Man of Steel, The Gifted, The Flash, Supergirl, Umbrella Academy, etc. all have some variation of this and it is ruining the shows for me.
Doom Patrol I give a pass because their "powers" are actually negatively affecting their lives but it just doesn't make sense for those other shows.
If their powers don't have life debilitating affects or physical deformities why are these people so miserable?!

Why can't they just enjoy their powers? Dash is one of the reasons I love The Incredibles so much, he is absolutely in love with his powers. He never once complains about his powers.

He is so excited about not being seen placing the tack and you can tell how much he loves his powers.

The realization that he can run on water and the subsequent glee shows just how much he is enjoying himself.

I blame Smallville for all of this. He was always so miserable about not being "normal," bullshit.

Pomerlaw · Mar 6, 2019

Yeah the latest Superman was so boring because of this.
Iron Man doesn't have powers but he enjoys his toys.

Indy in the Fridge · Mar 6, 2019

You try walking around with a 14" dick and see how great it is, pal

Deleted member 733 · Mar 6, 2019

In general I can tolerate it sometimes, but Heroes was the worst in this regard to me. It felt like for most of the first season Claire was constantly going on about how it was so tragic she was a gorgeous member of the cheerleading squad who would automatically heal any injury and literally didn't need to fear anything hurting her good looks or even killing her.

I understand they tried to go for the angle of other people calling her a freak or something, but given how positive it was, it felt kind of obnoxious to me.

Siggy-P · Mar 6, 2019

I think infamous: Second Son was all about the hero loving his powers and how his cockiness is getting out of control because there's legitimately no downside.

JDSN · Mar 6, 2019

This is what I loved about Into The Spiderverse, the one thing they all share un common is that they all love being Spiderman.

Black Lighting also makes a point that the drama of hating ones power is childish as fuck.

CloudWolf · Mar 6, 2019

It can be done well when it makes sense. In Spider-Man 2 for instance Peter's life as a superhero was actively affecting his personal and social life and most conflicts in the X-Men around this was because these kids were teenagers that just wanted to be normal and were ostracized for their powers. However, it can definitely be done wrong though, but if done well it can be incredibly effective.

BigWinnie1 · Mar 6, 2019

Only some powers. I mean Superman has right to bitch and moan. Super hearing and super sight aren't great powers and as we see in Man of Steel, can be fucking horrifying if you don't know how to control them. I mean Super hearing would just make you depressed. Hearing Domestic disbutes from across the city and all the rapes and murders. hearing all the awful shit people say about other behind each others backs? not great.

Now when supes is older and can control it becomes less of an Issue but starting off its pretty fucking terrible all around.

Dark Knight · Mar 6, 2019

Cipher Peon · Mar 6, 2019

The opposite for me. I want MORE "my powers are a burden" stories, because they're so dark and gritty :)

Chivalry · Mar 6, 2019

"I just want to be normal". Fuck off.

PantherLotus · Mar 6, 2019

Great post, OP. Mostly agreed. I do tend to like the "powers come with a drawback" trope, which I know isn't the same thing, but I think lacking a drawback creates a need in the writers' minds to build a little more tension. Which leads to a lot of this brooding stuff.

Anyway, another data point in support of OP:

It's not the best gif but you get the idea. Between Neo's eyes popping open and him wondering in awe, "I know kung fu," his smile during practice here with Morpheus, and then later as he recalls this Bruce Lee 'come here' move against Agent Smith, it's all very clear that being Neo is pretty freaking fun.

Hyun Sai · Mar 6, 2019

Well, some powers are not really practical, so I could understand...

Netherscourge · Mar 6, 2019

entremet · Mar 6, 2019

It's so dumb. It needs to die.

mrmoose · Mar 6, 2019

It's usually only ever a problem when the hero feels like they have responsibilities because of their powers. Like that initial Samaritan story in Astro City really shows how exhausting it must be to be Superman. And then when others get hurt because of your powers, it magnifies. If you could just do cool stuff and not care about saving everyone you could, well you wouldn't exactly be a superhero but you'd probably enjoy your powers a lot more.

The annoyance is usually compounded because 90% of superheroes also look like supermodels/athletes.

Plus, if everyone knows you have powers, it could probably become annoying. It's like owning a pickup truck, it's cool and all, but everyone and their mother is going to ask you to help them move.

PBalfredo · Mar 6, 2019

Blizzard said:
In general I can tolerate it sometimes, but Heroes was the worst in this regard to me. It felt like for most of the first season Claire was constantly going on about how it was so tragic she was a gorgeous member of the cheerleading squad who would automatically heal any injury and literally didn't need to fear anything hurting her good looks or even killing her.

I understand they tried to go for the angle of other people calling her a freak or something, but given how positive it was, it felt kind of obnoxious to me.

Yeah, but in the meta sense fast healers always have it the worst. They're guaranteed to get rocked hard every episode/ issue because they're the one who can take grievous bodily harm and keep ticking. Just ask Wolverine.

Though half of Claire's injuries were self inflicted since every other cutaway to her in the first season was her testing "Can I really heal from any injury?" and cutting off her toes for the 27th time so yeah actually fuck Claire.

Scullibundo · Mar 6, 2019

Spider-Man 2 gets a pass because it's not his powers that he hates. It's his crippling sense of responsibility that once he abandons, gives us that glorious Raindrops scene.

SliceSabre · Mar 6, 2019

Yea I get entirely sick of it because the movies or shows are trying to make a point that life isn't easier with super powers...but then at the end of the story "actually yea superpowers are awesome."

R0b1n · Mar 6, 2019

I love that trope only if the hero realises his/her powers are hurting others and because it burdens him/her with too much responsibility, or if the powers come with an actual cost

PantherLotus · Mar 6, 2019

Scullibundo said:
Spider-Man 2 gets a pass because it's not his powers that he hates. It's his crippling sense of responsibility that once he abandons, gives us that glorious Raindrops scene.

Yes, this is a good example of what I was trying to differentiate above.

WedgeX · Mar 6, 2019

Pomerlaw said:
Yeah the latest Superman was so boring because of this.
Iron Man doesn't have powers but he enjoys his toys.

Agreed. Sure, there's a burden with not knowing/being able to save everyone. But there's the inspirational aspect - particularly for Superman - that's entirely lost if the whole superhero business becomes merely a burden.

ldcommando · Mar 6, 2019

Not really no

Deleted member 33533 · Mar 6, 2019

Enzom21 said:
Umbrella Academy, etc. all have some variation of this and it is ruining the shows for me.
Doom Patrol I give a pass because their "powers" are actually negatively affecting their lives but it just doesn't make sense for those other shows.
If their powers don't have life debilitating affects or physical deformities why are these people so miserable?!

Did Umbrella Academy not justify this? Besides, most of the characters don't have any issue with their powers. I can only think of:

Klaus, for who I can't imagine seeing dead people being that fun most of the time. Especially with the way he was traumatized as a child, being locked in a room with spirits of the dead. Why would you love to be haunted?

And Allison's hate of her powers was more directed towards herself and her actions because of the things she used them for. It was very easy to understand why she didn't want to use them anymore. If anything, she initially saw them as the opposite of a burden and that caused her to do bad things with them.

I don't think Diego disliked his powers at all. Luther did have a "physical deformity" but that was separate from his powers and Five seemed to enjoy using his powers but obviously it got him into a lot of shit.

HStallion · Mar 6, 2019

You can tell who hasn't been watching Mob Psycho 100 where this trope is one of the defining themes of the series and it's executed masterfully.

SuperBoss · Mar 6, 2019

He hates it so much.

Slayven · Mar 6, 2019

Dude loves having powers, he just hate that people keep trying to involve him in comicbook bullshit. He just wants to use his super intelligence to steal cable and veg out

Burli · Mar 6, 2019

Yeah, it sucks. Also superheroes feeling 'conflicted' about using their powers on bad guys. What was even more annoying than this though was the constant nagging from friends in Daredevil that what he was doing was immoral and dangerous.

Deleted member 21339 · Mar 6, 2019

PantherLotus said:
Great post, OP. Mostly agreed. I do tend to like the "powers come with a drawback" trope, which I know isn't the same thing, but I think lacking a drawback creates a need in the writers' minds to build a little more tension. Which leads to a lot of this brooding stuff.

Anyway, another data point in support of OP:

It's not the best gif but you get the idea. Between Neo's eyes popping open and him wondering in awe, "I know kung fu," his smile during practice here with Morpheus, and then later as he recalls this Bruce Lee 'come here' move against Agent Smith, it's all very clear that being Neo is pretty freaking fun.

I totally agree and good example. Also, Neo's journey in the sequels is less about the burden of being Neo and more an exploration of free will vs determinism and the path to his enlightenments has is an acceptance of a kind of choicelessness, free from the controls of the power structure.

This is also one of the reasons I liked Spider-Man: Homecoming. Peter loved being Spider-Man and although he made sacrifices he didn't spend the whole movie sulking about it.

astro · Mar 6, 2019

I get why, as a normal person with all the normal mortal issues, a meta-human with powers whining about their powers would annoy you.

But unless you had superman's abilities and were nigh on immortal/untouchable, a power could make you feel super-vulnerable too. Entirely depends what your power was.

i agree, though, if you had Superman's powers and you were whining about it you deserve a kryptonie slap. The good you could do would be incredible.

HStallion said:
You can tell who hasn't been watching Mob Psycho 100 where this trope is one of the defining themes of the series and it's executed masterfully.

ONE plays with tropes though, so it's not really fair. That's the gimmick.

Deleted member 2802 · Mar 6, 2019

With Shazam it's the complete opposite
wooooooooo look at me

Deleted member 3815 · Mar 6, 2019

It's funny how you use Dash as an example when he's the most boring character in the movie.

JDSN said:
This is what I loved about Into The Spiderverse, the one thing they all share un common is that they all love being Spiderman.

Yeah Peter in the comics actually likes being Spider-Man but he hates the responsibility that comes with it but knows that he can't ignore it no matter how hard he tries.

Sanjuro · Mar 6, 2019

SuperBoss said:
He hates it so much.

This was the one scene where he wasn't hiding in a closet or destroying civilization.

Scullibundo · Mar 6, 2019

SuperBoss said:
He hates it so much.

Is there a single scene in Man of Steel where Superman doesn't seem like a psychopath? He's literally doing the Dr. Evil laugh in this gif.

Pai Pai Master · Mar 6, 2019

Scullibundo said:
Spider-Man 2 gets a pass because it's not his powers that he hates. It's his crippling sense of responsibility that once he abandons, gives us that glorious Raindrops scene.

Yup. Plus Spider-Man in general, despite his need to protect his identity, is a character generally defined as loving his powers and being Spider-Man. What we got in SM2 is a very specific arc that has him struggling with this before he gets over it and realizes what's holding him back. It's an iconic part of Spider-Man's history but in the grand scheme of things it's one storyline dealing with this. It doesn't define him as a character.

There are characters this works for and characters it doesn't, and Spider-Man is one of the former for sure.

Deleted member 21339 · Mar 6, 2019

I think writers do this because overpowered heroes are kind of boring so they need to give them some kind of internal conflict for added complexity.

andymcc · Mar 6, 2019

it depends. in the bio-booster guyver anime/manga i felt it was pretty effective use of the "trope". he got in deep with the enemies very fast simply for acquiring his ability. even with his powers, he can barely protect those around him, never mind trying to make the world a better place.

The Adder · Mar 6, 2019

HStallion said:
You can tell who hasn't been watching Mob Psycho 100 where this trope is one of the defining themes of the series and it's executed masterfully.

Powers aren't a burden in MP100.

The lesson is that they just don't make you special or more important than anyone else.

Mob's got some emotional issues that make his powers more dangerous than the average esper's, but if Mob didn't have powers he'd still have emotional issues.

ItRhymesWithDoom · Mar 6, 2019

Scullibundo said:
Is there a single scene in Man of Steel where Superman doesn't seem like a psychopath? He's literally doing the Dr. Evil laugh in this gif.

Bad casting (tm)

Mandos · Mar 6, 2019

I mean there can be some interesting plays on it: for example most tech based heroes are happy with their powers like movie Falcon, Antman and Wasp. However there are cases where heroes are reliant on their artificial powers to stay alive like classic iron man where the entire chest plate was an electro magnet keeping him alive and he could never take it off or run out of juice or else the shrapnel would kill him. Then there's the tech powers with unintended side affects screwing up your life. Classic Antman for example got stuck at 20 ft tall for three years during the 70's because shrinking would cause him to go into cardiac arrest due to heart strain(not to mention later on he asorbed so many pym particles he could change size at will... or his fragile psyche getting further messed up and him creating his Yellowjacket alter ego). Or classic Wasp having organic wings and insect telepathy resulting in full on genetic mutation. Still loved being a hero, but she really appreciated not being a bug hybrid when turned back to normal

Deleted member 21339 · Mar 6, 2019

This might be why the general public liked Venom so much. Hmmm

HStallion · Mar 6, 2019

astro said:
ONE plays with tropes though, so it's not really fair. That's the gimmick.

I'm not sure how it's "not fair". It's one of the defining points of the main character.

The Adder said:
Powers aren't a burden in MP100.

The lesson is that they just don't make you special or more important than anyone else.

Mob's got some emotional issues that make his powers more dangerous than the average esper's, but if Mob didn't have powers he'd still have emotional issues.

Mob on several occasions calls his psychic powers a burden, good-for-nothing, dangerous and so on. He acts and lives the way he does because a small injury or emotional moment could cause him to turn into a walking nuke. The series beats you over the head on this point.

FUNKNOWN iXi · Mar 6, 2019

Good example with Dash from Incredibles, he loves his powers lol. For most superheroes who fit into this category of finding their powers a burden, I'm usually of the mind "Shit, I'll take them then!"

Pomerlaw said:
Yeah the latest Superman was so boring because of this.
Iron Man doesn't have powers but he enjoys his toys.

I feel like Superman is different because he can hear people's cries 24/7. That'd be a huge problem, for sure.

PsionBolt · Mar 6, 2019

When the powers are actually bothersome to have, it's not terrible. Like, when Kamen Rider 1 realizes that he is incapable of hugging people without crushing them, and then turns that regret into good ol' Sunday morning violence against the jerks at Shocker that altered his body, that works pretty darn well -- though it very much helps that it's only a small scene or two, and not something the show constantly drones on about.

But yeah, superpowers that are all upside? I admit, I often can't help but think of the "drying tears with a stack of money" gif.

astro · Mar 6, 2019

HStallion said:
I'm not sure how it's "not fair". It's one of the defining points of the main character.

My point was it's an outlier based around's ONE's trip of fucking with tropes. It's not really a cure for the trope itself, even if it's a short-term soothing balm.

andymcc · Mar 6, 2019

PsionBolt said:
When the powers are actually bothersome to have, it's not terrible. Like, when Kamen Rider 1 realizes that he is incapable of hugging people without crushing them, and then turns that regret into good ol' Sunday morning violence against the jerks at Shocker that altered his body, that works pretty darn well -- though it very much helps that it's only a small scene or two, and not something the show constantly drones on about.

Guyver pretty much is a Kamen Rider series isn't it

HStallion · Mar 6, 2019

astro said:
My point was it's an outlier based around's ONE's trip of fucking with tropes. It's not really a cure for the trope itself, even if it's a short-term soothing balm.

Who cares about curing tropes? Tropes are not a negative or a positive in of themselves. MP100 is a great use and exploration of the idea that special powers being a burden. The Dune novels are another even better example.

The Adder · Mar 6, 2019

shira said:
With Shazam it's the complete opposite
wooooooooo look at me

Most of the time.

apocat · Mar 6, 2019

I don't hate the trope per se. Used right it lends itself to interesting storytelling. It does dominate a lot of superhero fiction, though. Especially in film and television. A big part of the appeal of these kind of stories is that they are empowerment fantasies, and there is nothing shameful about that. Depicting the sheer visceral joy of flying or lifting a truck with your bare hands should be a bigger part of superhero fiction. If you create a character with godlike powers, allow yourself to have some fun with it!

HamCormier · Mar 6, 2019

The reason Dash enjoys his power is because he's too young to understand that they'll be a burden. BOOM.

Is anyone else sick of the "My powers are such a burden." trope?

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