The Marvel Cinematic Universe has barely scratched the surface of the absurdity of the comics, missing out on some incredibly weird powers. Though it started out quite grounded with 2008"s Iron Man, the series gradually became more and more supernatural and fantastical over time, adding in Norse gods, aliens, magic, and alternate dimensions. Still, even the MCU"s most powerful heroes haven"t exhibited abilities as strange as those to be found in the original comics.
The heroes of the Marvel universe draw their power from all sorts of strange sources, resulting in quite a few unorthodox abilities that are just as mind-boggling to describe as they are to see in action within the pages of a comic book. One standout source of odd powers is the mutants of X-Men fame, whose random gifts and curses can take all sorts of forms without requiring any more explanation than an X-gene. Weird enough as illustrations, it"s hard to imagine some of these powers will ever make it to a live-action MCU adaptation.
10 Starfox's Literal Lovebombing A unique form of mind control with creepy implications One character with strange powers who does actually briefly appear in the MCU is Starfox, played by Harry Styles in the Eternals post-credits scene. The brother of the Mad Titan Thanos, Starfox is also an Eternal, having his own signature gift bestowed upon him at creation by the mighty Celestials. Whereas Thanos is a harbinger of death, Starfox, also known by his real name, Eros, represents the deep-seated element of desire.
In addition to the standard Eternal suite of durability, strength, and longevity, Starfox can use his powers to induce powerful emotions in other people, specifically, a deep-seated love for him. Mantis is able to do something similar in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, causing a security guard to fall in love with Drax, but she never uses this ability to cause undue affection towards herself. The alarming implications of this power have made Starfox a controversial figure in-universe, even once put on trial for using his powers to seduce a married woman.
9 Squirrel Girl's Rodent Control Somehow defeats powerful villains Perhaps the single most popular character from the Marvel Comics yet to get even a vague mention in the MCU is the Great Lakes Avenger, Squirrel Girl. Thanks to a genetic anomaly (somehow distinct from an X-Men-style mutation), Doreen Green is gifted with a squirrel-like physiology, including buck teeth, a bushy tail, and a superhuman sense of agility. But most terrifying of all is her strange power to communicate with and befriend squirrels, causing the adorable fuzzy creatures to do her bidding en masse.
Squirrels might not seem like intimidating opponents, but Squirrel Girl has somehow used this ability to canonically defeat opponents as powerful as Doctor Doom, Thanos, and Wolverine, all off-screen. In doing so, Squirrel Girl is the ultimate gag character, somehow able to use her armies of rodents to embarrass Marvel"s most dangerous villains entirely off-screen. Considering her renewed popularity thanks to her appearance in the hit video game Marvel Rivals, it"s surely only a matter of time before Squirrel Girl makes it to the MCU.
8 Flatman's Two-Dimensional Shapeshifting A very specific take on Mr. Fantastic Speaking of the Great Lakes Avengers, the team is also canonically home to many other gag characters with strange powers, including one Flatman. True to his name, Flatman is a mutant whose powers grant him an incredibly flat appearance, looking like a two-dimensional paper cutout of a person. Flatman"s powers are similar in practice to Mr. Fantastic"s stretching abilities, allowing him to form a variety of shapes and stand up to tremendous punishment with a rubber-like body.
Being able to be completely flat also comes with some fringe benefits on top of traditional stretching, allowing Flatman to infiltrate difficult to reach areas by slipping through cracks or remain stealthy by keeping his side profile turned towards opponents, making him disappear into a thin line. Additionally, Flatman has some degree of shapeshifting powers, able to form his flat body into a variety of origami-like animal shapes such as frogs or monkeys. Perhaps too weird for even the MCU, Flatman might never get a live-action appearance.
7 Maggot's Nasty Parasitic Mutation One of the grossest X-Men ever created Few mutant powers actually great entirely new life to beings within a given mutant"s control, but Maggot is a nasty exception to this rule. An obscure X-Man of South African descent, Maggot"s mutation comes in the form of two massive worm-like maggots who reside in his abdomen. On command, Maggot is able to dispel these creatures and send them into action, using their powerful digestive enzymes to break down and eat nearly any material on Earth.
Even more disgustingly, Maggot is then able to reabsorb these monsters back into his body, where they pass the nutrients of whatever they"ve eaten back on to him. In doing so, he gains a temporary boost of superhuman strength and durability, making him a multi-faceted and versatile superhero. That being said, the whole process is incredibly gross, making Maggot perhaps too unappealing of a mutant to ever see mention in the MCU going forward.
6 Ice Cream Creation And Control Somehow comes up twice in the comics The mutations found in the Marvel universe"s mutants don"t usually directly involve artificial objects, but a couple of glaring exceptions can be found in bizarre mutants like Eye-Scream. A villainous assassin who has only very briefly appeared in the comics, Eye-Scream is able to turn his body into sentient colloidal ice cream. Notably, Eye-Scream can make his body into any flavor he wants, and the power is surprisingly useful as a means of infiltration and even combat.
Shockingly, Eye-Scream himself isn"t even the strangest mutant in the Marvel universe with ice cream-related powers. Enter Soft Serve, a noncombatant Marvel character living on the mutant island nation of Genosha with the ability to poop any flavor of ice cream she chooses. Suffice it to say, there"s zero chance either character will be making it into the MCU any time soon.
5 ForgetMeNot's Perfect Stealth A tragically useful power that's always active Many of the X-Men, such as Rogue, have had their lives all but ruined by powers that they can"t turn off. ForgetMeNot is a great example of one such character, who has a difficult time even getting anyone to remember his existence thanks to his unique abilities. Rather than relying on stealth or invisibility to remain undetected, ForgetMeNot"s powers keep him literally out of mind by forcing anyone who perceives him to immediately forget about his existence.
In this way, ForgetMeNot exists in a state of total supposition, always simultaneously there and not there. Powerful psychics like Psylocke are sometimes able to overcome this, detecting his psychic presence, but it"s still a difficult task - Professor X has to set psychic reminders to continue perceiving ForgetMeNot once every hour in order to keep him in his memory. This perfect stealth might be a hard thing to portray in a movie, but it is nevertheless a strange and tragic power.
4 Penance's Painful Energy Projection A startling re-tooling of a more traditional power The events of the famous Civil War comic storyline unfolded very differently in the MCU, as evidenced by the absence of Robbie Baldwin. Once known as the hero Speedball, Robbie was granted the ability to store and release kinetic energy in bubbles he could create by mysterious cosmic energy. In practice, this power is nothing new to the MCU, being used multiple times by Black Panther thanks to the Wakandans" brilliant kinetic-energy-absorbing suit.
However, the traumatic incident that caused the Civil War in the comics, resulting in hundreds of innocent deaths, forever altered Robbie"s powers. Now going by Penance, Robbie"s spiked costume digs into his skin to cause him pain, allowing him to store up and eventually release far more violent and explosive streams of energy. This interesting evolution of a classic powerset is perhaps a touch too grim to ever be incorporated into the MCU.
3 Skin's Loose Folds Of Prehensile Skin Make him an aptly-named X-man The mutants of the Marvel universe aren"t always the most creative with their naming conventions, as evidenced by strange X-Men like Skin. Technically, Skin is actually part of the team Generation X, an off-shoot of the X-Men created by Emma Frost. One of the many mutants incapable of passing for human, Skin"s epidermis is gray and waxy, with six extra feet of loose skin that he can manipulate like a prehensile organ.
This spine-chillingly gross power allows Skin to stretch, shapeshift, and deform his body to limited degrees, giving him a versatile power suite that works like a toned-down version of Mr. Fantastic or Flatman"s. Though he could pass as a regular person with great effort, Skin eventually resorts to telling people he was bitten by a radioactive element as a joking way to stave off questions about his unique appearance. Quite the obscure character with an only marginally useful power, it"s unlikely Skin will be getting a live-action version any time soon.
2 Fantomex's Living Mutation One of the Frenchman's many odd powers If there"s one comic character that never made it to the Fox X-Men movie timeline who truly deserves a live-action appearance, it"s the mysterious Fantomex. Appearing as part of the comics" X-Force, Fantomex has a staggering variety of abilities and equipment, including the ability to psychically misdirect people with sheer confidence and living bullets that can guide themselves to any target. His actual mutation, however, may be the strangest power of them all.
Fantomex has described that his mutation was something he coughed up, a techno-organic external nervous system called E.V.A. E.V.A. mostly takes the form of a flying saucer, but has her own consciousness, and can even shapeshift into a deadly humanoid form on-command. Psychically linked to Fantomex, E.V.A. is one of the most unique mutations ever dreamed up by X-Men writers.
1 Adam X's Edgy Blood Boiling The most aggressively 90s Marvel character ever created The 90s were a strange time for superhero comics, with both Marvel and DC aggressively attempting to out-do one another with the edginess of their new characters. No superhero better represents this trend as a time capsule, almost doing so to the point of parody, than Adam X, also known as Adam X the X-Treme. The grunge-inspired character is a half-mutant, half-Shi"ar alien genetically engineered to diversify the gene pool of the Shi"ar empire.
To go with his literally edgy blade-covered appearance, long scruffy hair, and backwards baseball cap, Adam X has an appropriately bleeding edge power. His abilities allow him to ignite oxygenated blood with intense heat, crippling essentially any biological organism with searing pain. The effect can even spread from one target to the next, making Adam a significant threat to entire armies. This very specific power may be appropriately extreme, but it"s nowhere near cinematic enough for an MCU appearance.
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