I was originally going to post about this after Power Girl #11, then I forgot about it, then I remembered it some time in the last couple of weeks, and here we are.
OK, Satanna and Angry Badger Scientist switched out Terra and Ultra-Humanite's brains, so U-H could slip into Power Girl's life and learn a bunch of stuff, and generally be evil. He could also use Terra's powers, which made him quite formidable.
I thought it was kind of odd that was the case. I guess I thought of what Terra did as a sort of specific telekinesis, where she can only manipulate earth. That being the case, her power would be localized in her brain. The genetic sequence that is the source of it would be in every cell, but the way I had it figured, that sequence was only transcribed into the proper proteins in brain cells. So Ultra-Humanite wouldn't be able to do squat, because his brain doesn't have that power. Obviously I was mistaken, and the power is present throughout her being. But not in her brain, perhaps, since she showed no ability to manipulate earth while in the Ultra-Humanite's body. That may have been because his body was badly damaged, and she was in too much pain to concentrate, though.
I don't know if this is how it's commonly portrayed in the superhero comics. In The Defenders, Chondu the Mystic's brain was placed in Nighthawk's body, but Nighthawk's power is being twice as strong at night, so I wouldn't expect the brain in the body to matter. I don't think it came up, regardless. Chondu could still use his powers in Nighthawk's body (which is probably why he didn't bother with Kyle Richmond's powers), but I assume those were magics he'd learned, and were reliant on knowledge in his brain. It's worth noting, when Dr. Strange transferred Chondu's soul out of his brain and Nighthawk's body, and placed Jack Norriss' consciousness in its place (with Chondu's consciousness going into a fawn the Hulk had brought with him), Jack showed no sudden ability to cast spells, I assume because Chondu's knowledge was part of his consciousness, so Jack wouldn't know the necessary incantations.
Emma Frost was able to use Iceman's powers, but I think that, like Chondu, was a case of her consciousness taking over Bobby Drake's brain, rather than his brain being removed, and hers put in its place. I can't think of any others off hand, though I'm sure brain swapping probably happened to the Silver Age Justice League all the time. Pity the Leaguer who wound up with Hal Jordan's brain in their body.
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6 comments:
Don't forget Justice League: Foreign Bodies, where all the main Leaguers of the time had their souls and consciousnesses switched around (much to Zauriel's amusements, as he hadn't thought souls capable of such transference). They were each capable of using the other's powers in that case - even telepathy and the like.
Again, however, that was a case where the brains stayed firmly in the respective noggins.
Yeah, it would suck to have Hal bopping around in your body. He'd be powerless except from the waist down.
Oh, they had some real trouble, Calvin. Kyle Rayner the Martian Manhunter had difficulty not dissolving into protoplasmic goo, Steel discovered that Green Lantern rings have a safety lock to stop unauthorised brain patterns from using them, Princess Aquaman found his altered ... centre of gravity ... to be offputting, and Flash couldn't use Steels suit until it had been modified to compensate.
Batman had a jolly old time as the Last Son of Gotham, though. Plus J'onn was able to boost Aquaman's 'talks to fish' power to allow him to converse telepathically with Plastic Man (who, of course, pointed out that he was an Eel ... ). I'm not sure if that was the first time the argument was raised that Aquaman's power was so broad, though I know it's been mentioned elsewhere.
Oh, and Oracle had a rather corny 'dark' moment where she pondered whether she would have really cared about trapping one of the Leaguers in her paraplegic body if it had meant she could walk or fly for even a day.
matthew: Well that's good that it wasn't easy for them. It makes sense there'd be an adjustment period.
I have to say, I'd think Kyle would take to J'onn's form pretty well, given the shapeshifting abilities, it'd be like his entire body was a power ring. Think of something, become it (rather than have the ring work it up). So does that mean J'onn has to concentrate a lot on not dissolving in a puddle of goo?
sallyp: Yeah, there's no doubt Hal would get up to some mischief, given the opportunity.
That's exactly what happened near the end, Calvin: Kyle started doing Marvin the Martian, Mars Attacks and Mekon bodies with J'onn's powers. Conversely, Steel was able to use the ring in a similar manner to John Stewart, by envisioning blueprints and having the ring work from those.
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