Popeye (Clearly)
This post might not be as long as I planned. I mean, it’s pretty self-explanatory. You can boil power catalysts down into two categories using what I mention in the title. So, let’s look at each one.
Permanent Power Up
First example that comes to my mind is Spider-Man. The radioactive spider bite was the catalyst and it created a permanent change. He cannot go back to normal without going through a bunch of hoops. This is Peter Parker’s new life and he needs to figure out how to live with powers. He can’t turn them off, but can restrain them. They’re still there though, so he can easily access them when needed. As the story progresses, the powers can evolve due to continuous use too. It opens the door for a lot of possibilities in terms of abilities branching off the original.
A potential downside here is that the villains need to be boosted to maintain a threat to a hero who is never without their abilities. As those abilities are honed and new ones acquired, stronger enemies will be needed. You can end up going to an incredibly high power scale, which can create some boredom. It can be avoided if you simply figure out new ways the basic power set can solve problems, but staleness is a constant threat. This is something you can find with any story that involves a superpowered character though, but I feel like it’s easier to fall into this trap with a permanent power up.
You do tend to pigeonhole yourself with this category. Going back to Spider-Man, you have to stay within the range of spider abilities. You can’t suddenly give him heat eye beams or an electricity form. Even real-world spider abilities can be a stretch since not every species can do every trick. You would have to explain how the one type of spider gives him the powers of a different one. So, you can get yourself stuck in a tight box of powers, which is a headache for superhero stories that tend to go without an ending.
Temporary Power Up
Let’s look at Popeye. He’s a pretty strong fighter to begin with, but he becomes nearly unstoppable when he eats spinach. The boost doesn’t stay forever though. He has to consume it again after the previous can wears off. Yes, it’s definitely an analogy for steroids either by accident or on purpose, but we’re not getting into that. It’s more how this type of power up works. You get incredible power for a limited time by using this catalyst.
The downside to this is pretty obvious. A character who depends on a catalyst being used repeatedly can be caught unprepared. If they are separated from whatever gives them a boost, they are rendered harmless. Might be a problem for the character, but it’s an easy way to create tension. Of course, it gets repetitive if you’re always having to figure out a new way for them to get to their catalyst. Again, we run into an issue if this is a long, on-going story like we see with cartoons and comics. You won’t really have this problem in a shorter adventure where it can only happen once.
You get limitations with a temporary catalyst as well. It’s more of a pigeonhole than the permanent situation I mentioned. Unless the character has a variety of items to create multiple abilities, they really only get the one thing. For example, Popeye only gets incredible strength, which can be used in a lot of ways. This can limit the evolution of abilities or remove any growth at all. How can these be enhanced if they disappear and return at base level? They don’t last long enough to improve upon, so a character can only come up with new tricks. This is why a temporary power up tend to be massive in scale and scope. The jump in power is enough that one wouldn’t really need or couldn’t expand it any more.
So, what do you think of these two categories? Have a preference?
Legends of Windemere 
This is a good analysis. Both kinds create some type of conflict, which is appealing regardless. I think of Green Lantern also, who seems to be a hybrid of the two. His ring has to be recharged. When it loses power, he goes back to being a regular guy. When I first read a Green Lantern comic book ages ago, I was annoyed by the fact that he wasn’t Superman and had to charge his ring. But I grew to like the temporariness of it because of the trouble that sometimes found him when the power of his ring was low. He had to rely on ingenuity in those instances. And I later discovered that Superman’s powers could be cut off under certain circumstances also.
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Thanks. DC is pretty good about weaknesses, but I think Green Lantern charging hasn’t been big for a while. They really need to have that be more of a problem.
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I saw a couple episodes on the Green Lantern animated series where his ring lost power. And on The Batman animated series, in one episode (might have been season 4) his ring lost power. Before he coud charge it, he was attacked by Sinestro and had to send the ring to Batman. But yes, those debuted years ago. I still watch the old episodes.
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Green Lantern animated was great. Shame it didn’t go far.
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I like that idea of a charge wearing off. I use that in my Elemental Worlds duo. Gems are used to create magic, but the charge wears off and they need to be recharged by a magician.
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I really enjoyed it. Still don’t understand why they didn’t continue it.
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This makes me think of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. If he puts it down, he turns back into Donald Blake. However, as the different writers got really into the Asgardian mythos, he just stopped ever putting the hammer down. Poor Donald has been MIA for a long time now!
Actually, there must eventually have been some solution so Thor doesn’t turn back into Donald anymore.
But when they had Jane Foster be Thor, a while back, there was a big mystery about Thor’s “true identity.” She was putting Mjolnir down and turning back intentionally, to keep that mysterious. Also, she used the hammer in some different ways than the Thor-Thor had done, which was another nice thing to see.
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Weirdest thing is that this comment went to spam. No idea why. Thor’s hammer is a good example. At least from the early days when he was in Donald Blake’s body. I think Blake became Thunderstrike with his own hammer. Not sure if he’s still alive or not. Think they killed him off, but they probably brought him back at some point. I’m kind of disappointed in the Foster Thor thing. Only because I felt like they handled it so poorly that it hurt the character and missed out on some great potential.
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I like both ideas. (Go figure) Even kryptonite was like the mirror image of spinach. Over the long haul some things have to evolve. That’s why we got kryptonite, and it’s why things moved beyond “Hulk smash.” The lengthy series is different than a solo title for sure.
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Hulk had his limits too, right? Banner had to be angry to change.
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