Marvel’s heroes are known for being tough. They may not be as powerful as the heroes of their distinguished competition, but they make up for it with skill. Over the years, many heroes have gotten more powerful, learning new facets of their abilities or gaining new powers. However, there are heroes that have also gone in the opposite direction. Instead of their powers growing, they’ve seemingly lost power.
Oftentimes, there’s not even an official reason behind it other than making the stories better. Some heroes have been written as too overpowered and have been scaled back. It does sometimes make for better stories, but it doesn’t always make sense.
10/10 Havok’s Mental State Has Affected His Powers
Havok is a powerful mutant, but he doesn’t have the history with the X-Men his brother does. On his own, he’s an excellent leader, having led X-Factor, the X-Men, and the Avengers Unity Squad. Being in his brother’s shadow and the multiple times he’s been mind-controlled have affected him and his powers in strange ways.
Havok’s body absorbs ambient cosmic energy that he can discharge in powerful blasts. Since coming to Krakoa, Havok’s mental health hasn’t been the best, and it’s affected his powers. He’s lost control of them several times, and when he does use them, they don’t have the oomph they used to.
9/10 Black Bolt Has Taken More Losses Than He Should Have
Black Bolt is the most powerful Inhuman. He has super strength and durability and the ability to control electrons. That last power gives him a wide range of abilities, like his vaunted destructive voice, allowing him to fire powerful energy blasts, a level of molecular control, and flight. He can also focus all of his powers into the master blow, a powerful punch that has destroyed many enemies, but it leaves him weakened.
Black Bolt is superlatively powerful, but for some reason, he’s taken a lot of losses in recent years. With Bolt, it’s more about writers not really understanding how his powers work than him getting weaker. Most people forget about everything but his voice powers, making him seem weaker than he is.
8/10 Captain Avalon Lost Much Of His Power When His Sister Became Captain Britain
Brian Braddock wasn’t a mutant like his siblings Elizabeth and Jamie, but he did gain amazing powers. He became Captain Britain, a member of the multiversal Captain Britain Corps, gaining super strength, durability, and flight. He led Excalibur for years, but he eventually lost his place as Captain Britain to his sister Elizabeth.
Brian still kept a measure of his powers and became Captain Avalon. He worked with his sister’s incarnation of Excalibur and the mutants of Krakoa, but he’s definitely weaker than he was before. Brian is still a skilled and experienced fighter, which has allowed him to survive even with his diminished powers.
7/10 The Sentry’s Powers Were Never All They Were Cracked Up To Be
Some Marvel heroes have disappointed readers by not living up to their potential. The Sentry is one of those. He was sold as the most powerful Marvel hero ever, harnessing the power of a million exploding suns. He was his own worst enemy, as his dark side came to life as the Void. He was a dangerous hero, and his powers supposedly outstripped nearly everyone he fought.
The Sentry was able to stand up to the Hulk, which showed just how powerful he could be. Eventually, the Void completely took over, and he was at his most powerful. He died, but he came back to life eventually. While everyone was still scared of him, he wasn’t nearly as powerful as he was before. Overall, the Sentry never really was as powerful as he was sold to be, which worsened over the years.
6/10 Wolverine’s Healing Factor Is Still Powerful, But He’s Not As Formidable
Wolverine has long been the tank of the X-Men, able to take an unprecedented amount of punishment and dish it out. His healing factor has grown in leaps and bounds, but it seems to have plateaued in recent years. In fact, it does feel like it’s gotten weaker in the Krakoa era of the X-Men, as he’s been killed multiple times by attacks that wouldn’t have killed him before.
Wolverine definitely needs to change his tactics. Even his fighting skills have seemed to be worse in the recent era. All in all, this seems like narrative convenience more than anything else, as there’s no real reason for it other than for him to use Krakoan resurrection.
5/10 Storm’s Power Level Isn’t What It Used To Be
Marvel has made Storm a much better character over the years. She’s led the X-Men, was Queen of Wakanda, and served as Regent of Krakoa. Her weather-manipulating powers have grown in leaps and bounds, and she’s a formidable combatant even without them. Storm is the total package when it comes to being a superhero.
However, she currently feels weaker than she has been before. This might have more to do with her roles in Krakoa and Arakko than anything else. Storm just doesn’t fight very much anymore and when she does, she usually uses conventional weapons in order to prove how dangerous she is.
4/10 Hercules Isn’t As Strong As He Used To Be
The Marvel Universe boasts powerful demigods, with Hercules being the most active on Earth. He’s been an Avenger and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, acting as muscle against formidable enemies. Hercules has held his own against Thor and the Hulk in the past and is billed as having infinite strength. This is something that hasn’t really been born out by his feats in recent years.
Hercules is pretty formidable, but he’s also taken some gnarly beatings, including a hospitalization from an attack by the Masters of Evil. Hercules has been trapped on the B-list for years because no one really lets him live up to his power level.
3/10 Nova Went From Smacking Around Thanos To Not Being As Powerful
Richard Ryder was the representative of the Nova Corps on Earth. When the Corps was destroyed, he gained the power of all of them and helped fight the Annihilation Wave. Nova ended up locked in battle with Thanos, completely holding his own against the Mad Titan, and stayed in the Cancerverse to hold the villain there.
Nova escaped and joined the Secret Avengers, but since then, he has seemingly fallen in power. He’s not as powerful as he used to be and has taken losses that he definitely shouldn’t have. It often seems like he’s working off his original power base instead of the height of his powers as Nova Prime.
2/10 Silver Surfer’s Been Getting Beat By Villains He Shouldn’t Have
Silver Surfer is Marvel’s premiere cosmic hero. After leaving the yoke of Galactus, he set out to make up for the destruction he helped the World Devourer spread. The Power Cosmic is among the most powerful in the universe. It gives Silver Surfer a wide variety of abilities that have allowed him to defeat enemies like Mephisto and Thanos.
Silver Surfer’s power level has been going down since he lost his ongoing book in the ’90s. Surfer used to be the main cosmic Marvel hero, but the Guardians have since replaced him. With that loss in prestige, writers have been writing him as weaker than he was in his heyday.
1/10 Jean Grey’s Power Level Has Fluctuated Wildly
The X-Men’s Omega-level mutants are the most powerful beings on Earth. Jean Grey’s place among them is undisputed, but her power level has been in flux since the beginning. When she started out, she didn’t have her telekinetic powers, but she developed them as time passed. She was often considered the X-Men’s second most powerful telepath after Professor X, and her affinity with Phoenix Force added to her power.
Jean has gained and lost the Phoenix, lost and regained her telekinetic powers, and has seemingly gotten weaker telepathically. Jean can be supremely overpowered, but she’s been written very inconsistently since her return to life. Sometimes, she’s as powerful as she used to be, but other times she’s obviously weaker.
