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Topic: Alas, Poor Puck Post ReplyPost New Topic
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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 137046
Posted: 12 September 2026 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Found this:

Strength: Can lift up to 10 tons under optimal conditions, though it has occasionally fluctuated lower depending on his physical state or genetic shifts.

Durability: His body density is like compressed rubber or vulcanized rubber. He can withstand bullets, high impacts, explosions, and extreme temperatures with little to no injury.

Agility & Reflexes: He moves with lightning speed and acrobatics, often bouncing or cartwheeling like a pinball to bowl over enemies much larger than himself.

Longevity: He possesses an extended lifespan and can slow his bodily functions down drastically.

sigh

I presume to assume all this is canon, shoveled in after I left. And for the most part I can but shrug. The character has clearly been carried far, far away from my intentions.

But the most central of those intentions was to portray Puck as a man who had overcome physical shortcomings (stop it!). Nature (as I intended) dealt him a bad hand, and he just went out and beat it.

But with all that’s listed above, what was there to beat? Able to lift 10 tons? Impervious to gunfire? Longevity? Point lost.

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Brian Miller
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Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 32235
Posted: 12 September 2026 at 5:52pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Good lord. Can no one be “normal’ in these books anymore. Even fucking
Mary Jane is a Spider-person now. I can’t stand this trend of making all
these supporting characters into super-powered comrades. It’s just ruining
it all.
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Eric Jansen
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Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2585
Posted: 12 September 2026 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

There needs to be a way to "retire" certain characters, send them to a parallel Earth (or a tropical island) where they can live happily ever after without some later writer or editor killing them, turning them evil, mutating them into something unrecognizable, etc.  (Especially those associated with a specific creator.)  Every human supporting character or lesser hero becomes cannon fodder at some point (if they don't turn into an invulnerable super-being first).  Not every story has to end in tragedy.

Nothing good has been done with Howard the Duck post Steve Gerber.
I would have been fine if nobody but Frank Miller ever wrote an Elektra story.
I was horrified when I read everything that has happened to the enjoyable (and normal) Moira MacTaggert since the heyday of X-MEN.  (She and Banshee could have been sent off to enjoy a nice life.)
It still makes me a little sick to think of what they did to Elongated Man and his wife Sue, a couple of likable and lighthearted characters.

To me, it has always felt like bad writing when a character from a super-hero's private life gets killed in the super side of the series.  That's not what the supporting character is there for.  I suppose it could be well-done (Captain Stacy's death still moves me to this day), but it usually isn't.
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