Having a superhero with no weaknesses makes for a mostly boring reading experience. Some DC Comics' heroes are vulnerable to a specific weakness, such as Superman with kryptonite and Martian Manhunter with fire. These weaknesses come from the character's origins and have a direct tie on what made them a hero, to begin with.
However, there are other weaknesses that make little sense outside of giving otherwise ultra-powerful heroes something they have to fight to overcome. These relatively unknown weaknesses only pop up randomly when the writers need to put the heroes in a dangerous situation, and outside of this, many of these weaknesses disappear.
10 Flash – Extreme Temperatures
The Flash is one of DC Comics' most powerful superheroes. He can run faster than anyone, he can reverse time, he can pack a limitless punch when building up speed, and he heals almost instantly from all injuries.
However, he has one weakness that really hurts since two of his most famous villains are Captain Cold and Heat Wave. If he falls into a trap that includes extreme temperatures (hot or cold), it can nullify his Speed Force and durability.
9 Power Girl – Natural Materials
Power Girl is Earth 2's version of Kara Zor-El, that world's Supergirl. As such, she has the same weaknesses as this world's Supergirl, including Kryptonite and a vulnerability to magic.
However, Power Girl had another weakness that seemed off-the-wall and many readers might not know about. Power Girl is vulnerable to raw materials, meaning any unprocessed, natural materials. These include wood and rocks. She even made a joke in Supergirl Vol. 4 #16 by Peter David and Leonard Kirk, when she said sticks and stones could break her.
8 Green Lantern – Wood
Green Lantern has one of DC Comics' most famous weaknesses, as he can't do anything to something yellow, and any yellow weapon can cause severe damage. However, the first Green Lantern, Alan Scott, had a more obscure weakness that many people might not know about.
His powers did not work against anything made of wood. He couldn't move them or break them with his powers, and his ring couldn't stop an attack by a wooden object. Plantlife, by extension, also caused his power to weaken.
7 Wonder Woman – Piercing Weapons
One of the strangest weaknesses that most fans don't know about in DC Comics affected Wonder Woman. This was having her hands bound by a man, something that stripped her of the role of feminist icon early in her career. Luckily, DC eliminated this weakness and it no longer exists.
However, there is another weakness Wonder Woman has that most people might not know about. While Wonder Woman can deflect bullets with her bracelets and take blunt force attacks without suffering damage, sharp objects can pierce her skin. Wonder Woman explained sharp objects are always deadlier than blunt force.
6 Superman – Magic
One of the biggest complaints about Superman is that he remains overpowered and his only true weakness is green rocks from his home planet, which are rare to find. That is not his only weakness, though. Superman also has a weakness and vulnerability to magical attacks.
This does not mean he is any different from a normal person when dealing with magic, it just means that magic attacks affect him while almost nothing else does. This has been a Superman weakness since 1942's Superman #14 by Jerry Siegel, Leo Nowak, and John Sikela.
5 Zatanna – Being Gagged
Zatanna is one of DC Comics' most powerful magical superheroes. However, she can't use her powers without verbally saying the spell using her backward-related magic. This is a way to do almost anything by saying the spell backward, powerful enough to earn the title of a Sorceress Supreme.
However, if she can't speak, she can't cast the spell and many times villains have gagged her or taped her mouth shut, which strips Zatanna of her powers completely.
4 Cyborg – Mind Control
Cyborg's brain is basically a supercomputer. He can interface with any computer, including those controlling weapons and technology, and download any information he needs to operate any system. He also has cosmic awareness and can see almost any possible outcome of an event. However, his mind is also his biggest vulnerability.
Cyborg is vulnerable to both magic and mind control. Magic can affect different parts of his physical body, which is not a big surprise. However, even with his computer mind, someone can technically hack into it with mind control and attack him telepathically and psionically.
3 Green Lantern – Speed Force
Hal Jordan is one of the most capable and powerful members of the Green Lantern Corps. His biggest known weakness is the inability of his power ring to affect anything yellow, which is the color of the Sinestro Corps.
However, he also has a lesser-known weakness that ties into one of his closest friends. The Speed Force, which gives The Flash his powers, disrupts Green Lantern's ring functions, which was shown in The Flash Vol. 5 #49 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter.
2 Supergirl – Sensory Overload
Supergirl has almost all the same weaknesses as her cousin Kal-El, Superman. Kryptonite hurts or affects her, depending on the color. Supergirl is also vulnerable to magic and has to have the sun within a certain proximity to utilize her full powers.
However, there is another weakness that some readers might now know about. Supergirl is vulnerable to a sensory overload. This means that if something is too loud or too bright, it can disorient or even known her out. In Supergirl Vol. 6 #27 by Tony Bedard and Vildiray Cinar, Lobo tossed a sonic grenade under her and it knocked her out.
1 Guy Gardner – Color Blind
One thing that Green Lantern members have to keep in mind is that their power does not work against anything colored yellow. This might be tough for Guy Gardner.
In Red Lanterns #40 by Landry D. Walker and J. Calafiore, Guy was talking about his different rings after using a blue ring, green ring, and red ring, all of which had different purposes and powers, from fear and love to rage and hope. Guy admitted in this issue he was colorblind and didn't know what ring color he wore at any time and could barely tell any of them apart.
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July 05, 2021 at 12:00AM
