Extra-Dimensional Power Sources (from Hero A Day)

[Rob Knotts]

don't Invisible Woman's powers have something to do with Hyperspace or something?
.....what?In the original 80s run of the , it frequently described powers as tapping into another dimension as a catch-all for powers Marvel either hadn't or didn't want dissected in fine detail.

For example, the (osmium?) metal of Colussus' armored form was supposed to come from another dimension, Cyclops' eyebeams were supposed to be the result of tapping into and directing destructive energy from another. Characters like the Hulk or Ant-Man who changed in size were supposed to divert/draw mass to/from another dimension.

Characters that could summon/manipulate "darkness" (such as Cloak) were consistantly described as possibly sharing a single dimension as the source for thier powers, resulting in the most convincing of the "extra-dimensional source" explanations.

I don't remember the original OHOTMU entry for Invisible Girl, but it probably mentioned something about drawing force from another dimension.

Personally it always seemed to me that the "other dimension" mechanic for superpowers was more like a placeholder than anything else, and despite a few isolated stories I really don't think Marvel treats this sort of explanation as canon for most characters.

And let's be honest, Marvel and DC only ever treat a limited amount of character information as canonical:smallamused:

EDIT - From [URL="http://www.marvel.com/universe/Invisible_Woman"]the official Marvel page for the Invisible Woman (]OHOTMU[/url):

Sue can also mentally generate a psionic field of invisible force apparently drawn from hyperspace, which she manipulates for a variety of effects. (emphasis mine)

[Grod_The_Giant]

it's a hell of a lot simpler then thinking up a complex reason for such violations of physics.

many of which come from the author not having thought of a good explanation in the first place.


I've noticed another common explanation is psionic powers.

[Scientivore]

I can see why it would be the default explanation since "hyperspatial" is literally supernatural (above what we're born to) and "extra-dimensional" is literally paranormal (beside the usual). It's just magic by a science jargon name.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

That's pretty much how I see it, Scientivore. I'm still holding out for the hero that says he gets his powers from "science" and just leaves it at that.

[kpenguin]

Never gonna happen. Some people, myself included, like long, pseudoscientific, explanations.:smallbiggrin:

[Ranis]

Though that's something I've never heard of before, thanks for clearing that up.