The DC Universe is home to some of the greatest superpowers in fiction. From the superhuman swiftness the Speed Force grants to the endless constructs a Green Lantern’s Power Ring, DC’s heroes are the owners of some truly impressive abilities. However, not every power is as enviable as Superman or Wonder Woman’s skills. In fact, some are just downright disgusting.
While few people in the DC Universe ask for the gifts they’re bestowed, some heroes and villains are saddled with powers that are pretty revolting. Whether they cringe or love what they can do, read on to discover 15 of the most disgusting powers in DC history.
15 Bizarro’s Self-Replication
Bizarro is Superman’s failed clone and has the opposite of many of the hero’s powers such as freeze vision or flame breath. But Bizarro discovered a power unique to him when he wound up in a galaxy with a blue sun. Under the celestial object’s rays, Bizarro could grow new beings just like him, enough to populate an entire backward Bizarro world.
14 Doctor Destiny’s Reality Manipulation
For a time, Doctor Destiny owned the Sandman’s mystical Dreamstone. John Dee could use this powerful item to manipulate reality around him. In The Sandman #6, Destiny takes over a small diner and uses the Dreamstone on the patrons and staff within, making their nightmares a reality and forcing them to kill one another. With the Dreamstone, there’s nothing the psychopath couldn’t do.
13 Arm-Fall-Off-Boy’s Limb Detachment
The Legion of Super-Heroes is the home of numerous strange heroes, but Arm-Fall-Off-Boy’s powers were too much even for them. Arm-Fall-Off-Boy aka Splitter’s power is exactly what his name implies: He can remove his arms and use them as melee objects. While not bloody, Arm-Fall-Off-Boy’s inner musculature is exposed when he does this. Unfortunately, his power wasn’t up to the Legion of Super-Heroes’ standards.
12 Animal-Mineral-Vegetable Man’s Contagious Bites
Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man is one of the Doom Patrol’s oldest villains. And while Sven Larson’s power to turn into multiple animals, vegetables, or minerals at once was always kind of creepy, the villain recently found out how to spread the joy. Now, the villain has a bite that can spread his powers to others, forcing the Doom Patrol to stop him before creating an “Animal-Vegetable-Mineral World”.
11 Anton Arcane’s Rot Avatar Abilities
Swamp Thing’s nemesis, Anton Arcane, was selected as an avatar of the Rot, the evil, undead force that embodies death. As the avatar of the dead and the dying, he could corrupt and spread decay to other avatars of the Green and the Red, the life forces of plant and animal life. Arcane also created a new line of zombified ‘Un-Men’ with his new Rot-based powers.
10 Matter-Eater-Lad’s Hyper-Consumption
When it comes to the Legion of Super-Heroes and its strange members, Matter-Eater Lad literally takes the cake. Thanks to his unique Bismollian physiology, Tenzil Kem can eat anything. His teeth can bite through the hardest surfaces and his stomach can digest the most toxic of substances. Matter-Eater-Lad’s powers do have a bonus though, as he gains enhanced speed when his body metabolizes whatever he’s eaten (food or otherwise).
9 Infectious Lass’ Disease Spreading
Those who don’t make it into the Legion of Super-Heroes could always have a shot at the Legion of Substitute-Heroes. Infectious Lass, aka Drura Sehpt, possesses an immunity to all known and unknown diseases. Unfortunately, she also spreads disease to others. Training helped Infectious Lass control her powers so others aren’t accidentally infected, but she still takes down villains by spreading germs to people.
Metawoman is the product of Metagen, a company founded to create designer metahumans. Metawoman is CEO Brian McClane’s prototype and initially had standard powers such as flight and super-strength. Unfortunately, Metagen’s alterations to the newbie hero’s DNA caused her to horribly mutate into a giant, bloated creature with excess limbs that leaked a lime-green substance. McClane promised Metagen’s next metahuman shouldn’t have such problems.
7 Flex Mentallo’s Inflation Intensity
Flex Mentallo is known to his fans for his Muscle Mystery ability, the power to change aspects of reality simply by flexing his muscles. However, the hero revealed a new power at the end of the “Milk Wars” crossover called Inflation Intensity. Rather than flexing, Mentallo, along with the Justice League and Doom Patrol, inflate so hard that reality resets and saves the entire universe. Seriously.
6 Red Lantern’s Corrosive Bile
These red-hued maniacs might wear Power Rings, but they have a much more disgusting power they like to use. Red Lanterns are too lost in anger to form constructs, so they prefer to spew acidic bile on their enemies. The substance is so corrosive it can eat through constructs forged by Green Lanterns with willpower as strong as Hal Jordan or John Stewart.
5 Flemgem’s Super Phlegm
A member of the low-class heroes Section Eight, Flemgem has one of the most disgusting abilities in the DC Universe: superpowered expectoration. Flemgem has powerful mucus and aim as deadly as Bullseye. He can spit in his enemies’ faces and blind them or, in rare cases, suffocate them. While it’s not the most useful power, it’s at least kind of effective.
4 Ten-Eyed Men’s Finger Vision
The Ten-Eyed Man doesn’t see the world in the way everyone else does. The eyes of this lesser-known Batman villain are impaired, but he can still see through his fingertips, giving him an impressive range of sight. While initially a joke villain, the Ten-Eyed Man got a serious boost in power and is now able to ‘phase’ through people’s bodies and remove organs from his victims.
3 Dogwelder’s Dog-Welding
Yes, Dogwelder’s name is exactly what his name implies. He spot-welds dead dogs to villains or anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. But Dogwelder’s actually the victim of a curse. After the death of the original Dogwelder, a man bought the hero’s tools and found himself overwhelmed with the compulsion to weld dogs to people. The nature behind Dogwelder is inexplicable and downright horrifying.
2 Everyman’s Cannibal Shape-Shifting
The DC Universe has a lot of shape-shifters, but Everyman puts an incredibly gross spin on the idea. After being granted powers by Lex Luthor, Hannibal Bates could turn into anyone else, provided he ate genetic material belonging to them. He was able to duplicate someone by eating things as small as a fingernail, a chilling and disgusting power, indeed.
1 Bueno Excellente’s Perverted Justice
The most notorious member of Section Eight, Bueno Excellente, fights crime with, as the team’s leader put it “the power of perversion”. The creepy ‘hero’ stalks the shadows, laughing and repeating the word ‘bueno’ before striking at his victims. It’s never shown what Bueno does, but one can imagine what disgusting things he’s capable of. What’s worse, Bueno Excellente’s degenerate behavior has gotten the better of heroes such as Green Lantern Kyle Rayner.
Not every superpower is a winner. But out of all the abilities in the DC Universe, these 15 stand out as some of the most disgusting imaginable.