History BlessedWithSuck / MarvelUniverse

** Another character in ''Avengers: The Initiative'' who fits this trope is Trauma, who possesses both [[{{telepathy}} telepathic]] and [[VoluntaryShapeshifting metamorphic]] powers, and can therefore transform into whatever a person is most afraid of. Often, he will give this attack a nightmarish twist; if you're afraid of death, he'll morph into a mutilated corpse, if you're afraid of spiders, he'll turn into a spider about the size of a ''T. rex'', and so forth. Unfortunately:

## During ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', the guys with which he was fighting Skrulls with were so afraid that one of them could be Skrull, that their fear made him change into one. While his buddies beat on him, ''real'' Skrulls caught them. He's no teamplayer at all.

* This is a major plot point in the Creator/MarvelComics series ''ComicBook/StrikeforceMorituri''. To fight back against an AlienInvasion, humanity has developed the Morituri Process that give human subjects superpowers. The drawbacks?
## The process is biologically incompatible with humans, and causes ''guaranteed death'' in a year or less, [[YourHeadAsplode usually in a messy fashion]].
## The training procedure to activate the superpowers was fatal, unless the powers actually triggered and you were able to use them quickly.
## The power that would manifest was [[SuperpowerLottery completely random]].
## The more powerful the superpower, the less time you lived.
* [[ComicBook/Warlock1967 Adam Warlock]], whose Soul Gem gives him various spiritual powers, up to and including the ability to rip someone's soul from their body. As the souls taken then go to a miniature paradise dimension contained within the gem, this doesn't seem too bad... until you learn that the gem is sentient and has a nasty tendency to try and break free of his control to steal souls on its own. Also, during the soul stealing process, Warlock has to relive ''every single one'' of the victim's memories. Now think about the fact that at one point, the only way to save the universe was to soul steal about 10,000 or so enemy black knights at once.
* The Boulder (better known by others as Butterball), who made one appearance in ''[[ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative Avengers: The Initiative]]'' (which, again, is a Marvel Comic, demonstrating just how much they are in love with this trope), has the superpower of total [[NighInvulnerability Invulnerability]]. He's impervious to harm, can't be worn out, and is otherwise invincible. Sounds great, until you realize:

* Another character in ''Avengers: The Initiative'' who fits this trope is Trauma, who possesses both [[{{telepathy}} telepathic]] and [[VoluntaryShapeshifting metamorphic]] powers, and can therefore transform into whatever a person is most afraid of. Often, he will give this attack a nightmarish twist; if you're afraid of death, he'll morph into a mutilated corpse, if you're afraid of spiders, he'll turn into a spider about the size of a ''T. rex'', and so forth. Unfortunately:

* The ComicBook/AvengersAcademy seems to be ''built'' on this. We have Veil who can turn into mist...yet her power is slowly killing her. Then we have Hazmat whose body produces deadly radiation, and has to be confined to a suit to protect others. Then there's Finesse, who is a super fighter but her brain can't handle all the information and in the future... it's revealed she's [[spoiler: continually forgetting her daughter's name.]] Then there's Mettle, who was a champion surfer before his powers awakened, granting him SuperStrength and NighInvulnerability... but making him look like a metal version of ComicBook/RedSkull (he even yells once 'I'm not related to Red Skull, I'm Jewish'), and then there's Reptil who could only transform his body parts into dinosaurs before getting a future power-up.
* [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avenger]] Black Knight had this in his magic sword, the Ebony Blade. On one hand, [[AbsurdlySharpBlade it could cut through nearly anything]]. On the other hand, it had a curse that took effect if it ever drew blood, which would do things like paralyze him, turn him into a statue, or drive him insane. These curses were generally pretty permanent, to the point even ComicBook/DoctorStrange had trouble removing them. Worse, even if someone else used the blade to draw blood, the curse would still affect Black Knight. It was no surprise when he eventually stopped using the damn thing. Later, it's just resorted to trying to drive him and turn him into a literal BloodKnight. As an expert on the Ebony Blade remarks, every single previous Black Knight has gone mad. Except him. So far...
* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} had terminal cancer so he turned to the Canadian government's Weapon X program for help. The good: He won't die of cancer. The bad: His cancer is now supercharged on HealingFactor and constantly destroys and rebuilds his ''entire body'', including his brain, leaving him with a face that... has the consistency and appearance of a hamburger patty, and made him just plain crazy, and very, very funny. At least his fans love him. Moral of the story? Canadian healthcare ain't all it's made out to be.
* While most of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' embraces their powers, the Thing genuinely believes that his superpower is a curse, and who can blame him? Even though he possesses super strength and near invulnerability, it doesn't change the fact that he's been turned into a hideous rock monster that scares the shit out of anybody who sees him, and destroys his chances of living a normal life. He was also forced to quit his job as a test pilot because he was too big and heavy to fit in a plane. Oh yeah, and did we mention that he was turned into a ''hideous rock monster''?
** As Reed said once, "He has his good days and his bad." Ben will never really be at peace with his monstrous form. For every writer who gives him a break from the angst, there's one who brings it back because it's so central to his character. Mark Waid's run is a good example of the latter.
** This is also offset by the fact that [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Ben Grimm]] is one of the most absolutely loved heroes in the Marvel Universe. No hero has as many friends and is as respected and genuinely loved by other heroes. Laying the smack down on Ben Grimm in front of the Avengers [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor is a wonderful way to get some Asgardian hammer driven repeatedly into your face.]]

* The newish mutants from the Marvel Universe, ''ComicBook/GenerationHope'', all have powers like this, or at least linked to this. You have Velocidad, who's a super-speedster who ages up with each use of his power as it just makes time move slower/faster/whichever would be relevant for him, Sadie (Transonic) who's trapped forever in some blue alien-looking body, some guy who got super-animal strength and senses... and the mind to go with them. Another one of them's walking BodyHorror. Idie is the one exception. Too bad her upbringing convinced her that just being a mutant was bad enough. Being one of the new generation of mutants sucks.
* ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn2021'' reveals Blur's SuperSpeed throws his mind into overdrive and makes it so he needs ''massive'' amounts of stimulation in order to stay sane. His downtime consists of watching TV, playing video games and livestreaming on dozens of devices all at once at nightmarish rates.
* Parodied in ''ComicBook/TheHood'' comics, when Parker offers his cousin a chance to try his flying shoes.

* ComicBook/BlackBolt, king of ComicBook/TheInhumans. This guy can produce a destructive force with his voice. If he so much as whispers, he'll destroy the landscape around him. Black Bolt has a bad case of PowerIncontinence -- and the only way he can avoid destroying everything around him is by not vocalizing (talking, laughing, crying, etc.). An old ''Fantastic Four'' comic revealed that Black Bolt had spent his childhood in an isolation chamber until he had learned the discipline to stay forever silent. And he ''killed his parents'' with an ill-timed utterance. The reason why Bolt's brother Maximus is an ''insane'' supervillain (instead of just a supervillain) is that BB used his vocal powers too close to him once, and that shattered his sanity.
* ComicBook/IronMan built his first armor to keep himself alive -- the powers were just a bonus to help him escape his captors. Ever since, his dependence on the suit has been a recurring plot element. For a long time, it kept his heart running (he could never take off the chestplate, and running out of power was a deadly problem); then that was fixed, but Tony was shot and paralyzed below the waist, unable to walk without his armor; still later, the chip that cured Tony's paralysis went on to sabotage his nervous system, and he couldn't control his body at ''all'' without a special Iron Man suit. Tony was nearly killed gaining the power of Extremis, which lets him control machines -- this too is a power with serious downsides, as it makes him feel detached from humanity and allows smart enough enemies to attack his vital systems ''electronically.'' And now Extremis has been removed (or at least shut down) thanks to Skrulls, meaning his current armor can't be used anymore because it's far too complex for a normal human brain to use. ComicBook/{{Ultimate Marvel}}'s version is arguably worse off. On the one hand, he doesn't need the armor to support his heart like the mainstream Tony Stark does, and he has genuine SuperIntelligence plus a HealingFactor because of having "undifferentiated neural tissue" scattered throughout his body. The downside of this? ''Pain''. He's in perpetual agony; even when hovering on a blood alcohol level that would leave an ordinary man insensible ''and'' wearing a special bio-suit that was created to block out the pain, he's still constantly suffering.
* One of the few examples of this trope who is also a BadassNormal comes in the form of [[StevenUlyssesPerhero Michael Van Patrick, aka MVP]]. Long story short, he went through a diet and exercise regimen (starting from ''infancy'' it seems) devised by his grandfather who had worked on the SuperSoldier program that created ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. On the plus side, it made MVP a human being whose physical abilities were on par with ComicBook/CaptainAmerica himself, without SuperSerum. The downside? Hoo boy. When it was discovered that his grandfather worked on the project, school officials suspected that MVP's abilities weren't natural, so he got booted off his high school sports team. Then he got drafted by the Initiative because they also believed he had SuperSerum in his veins. While he adjusted well enough, he and his fellow recruits took part in an ill-advised live fire exercise on ''their first day''. End result? [[spoiler: To quote the Sniper from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', "BoomHeadshot."]] [[FromBadToWorse It didn't end there]].
* Verity Willis, from the supporting cast of ''ComicBook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'', [[LivingLieDetector can see through lies]]. All lies, every lie, up to invisibility powers and high level illusions. Unfortunately [[PowerIncontinence she can't turn it off]] so not even the small white lies that make daily life easier work on her. She can't even enjoy a book or a film because she lacks suspension of disbelief.
* ComicBook/LukeCage has NighInvulnerability to the point that bullets can't pierce his skin. Which is pretty awesome until something manages to injure him badly enough that he needs intensive medical care. Then it becomes a problem that needles can't pierce his skin.

* The ''ComicBook/MarvelWesterns'' portrayal of Hurricane establishes that he was given the power to be the fastest gun in a fight, provided he is in mortal peril at the time. Problem is, he didn't know that at first, so his attempts to profit off of this power failed and got him in trouble with a lot of people. Plus, as he points out, being the best means everyone wants to best you, too. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor But at least now he gets plenty of opportunities to use his power]].

* Rick Sheridan, from the 1990s Creator/MarvelComics series ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'' ends up having to share his head with the titular alien hero, who can only come out when Rick sleeps. Sleepy's presence causes no end of trouble for Rick in his social life, up to and including putting Rick in a coma when Sleepwalker tries to force his way out while Rick is still awake. At least Peter Parker got some cool powers to balance things out...

* ''ComicBook/Spellbound1988'' revolves around this. The Spellbinder can reshape matter on an atomic level, levitate objects, fire energy blasts, and essentially do whatever they want, but the power ''will'' drive them mad and alienate them from anyone they may care about.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Despite the perks of his powers, Spider-Man has always viewed them as a burden and [[ComesGreatResponsibility responsibility]], rather than a blessing, because of the bad guys who've been pulled toward his family and friends because of them, and the problems that have cropped up when he chooses ''not'' to use them. This only got worse when Spidey briefly had cosmic powers. The responsibility that comes with his ''normal'' powers is bad enough; the responsibility he felt when he had ''cosmic-level'' powers was [[{{Wangst}} crushing]].
* Jessica Drew AKA ComicBook/SpiderWoman was one to get over this problem but initially, her powers caused accelerated aging, unwanted attraction due to pheromones and unjustified hatred because of those same pheromones.
* ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}} can perfectly memorize and copy the movements of other people. Fighting styles, sports, the works. Permanently. This comes with a heavy trade-off: All of the information that is involved with perfectly imitating so many people is too much for Taskmaster's brain. As a result, he constantly forgets things that aren't combat-related: people, places, even a conversation from last Monday. He reveals all of this to Avengers Academy member Finesse, who has similar abilities [[spoiler: because she might be his daughter]] and might have the same problem down the road. He wants to fight her because memorizing her movements is the only way he won't forget her. FromBadToWorse in a mini that reveals just how much of his life he's forgotten. He used to be known as Tony Masters, a married S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and he forgot about his former vocation and his wife, who was also a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He forgets all of this again at the end of the mini when he copies the skills of his attacker in order to save his wife. His wife is determined to keep reminding him though.

* In ''ComicBook/Thor2014'', Jane Foster proves worthy of Mjolnir and gains the power of Thor. Unfortunately, every time she transforms, all poisons are purged from her body, including the chemotherapy drugs she needs for her cancer. If she keeps transforming, she's eventually going to die, but she doesn't let that stop her.
* Thunderbolt's super-fast metabolism caused him to die of old age about a week after getting his powers.
* ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'':
** Prodigy possessed the ability to absorb the knowledge of those around him. After he lost his powers to ComicBook/ScarletWitch after the ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', the Stepford Cuckoos were able to help him compensate by unlocking the accumulated knowledge of everyone he'd ever been in contact with. While this makes him one of the smartest teens in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, it also means he ended up with a ton of awkward, intimate stuff like ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s bathroom habits or ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} and ComicBook/EmmaFrost's sex life.
** Billy "Wiccan" Kaplan essentially won the SuperpowerLottery and has power potentially on par with the gods. Great! Unfortunately, he doesn't have all that much ''control'' over his immense power. This means that when he screws up, the consequences are usually disastrous and potentially world-ending. That is not hyperbole. He also might be ''accidentally'' warping reality just by existing and wanting things, although considering [[ConsummateLiar the]] [[MagnificentBastard source]] [[BigBadFriend of]] [[EvilAllAlong that]] information, it's likely a lie. Billy's still worried about it, though. There's also the part where his power scares the crap out of some people -- including his heroes, the Avengers, and ''himself'' -- and he's viewed as TooPowerfulToLive by Wolverine, leading to two attempts on his life. And there was an EldritchAbomination that wanted to eat him to gain his power. ''And'' Loki tried to [[DrivenToSuicide drive Billy to suicide]] to steal his power, which would have worked if Loki hadn't [[ConscienceMakesYouGoBack changed his mind]] and [[InterruptedSuicide stopped Billy from pulling the trigger]] at the last possible second. After that, Loki ''still'' tried to manipulate Billy so that Loki could control said power by proxy. In short, Billy was a lot happier back when he thought his powers consisted of nothing but flight, electricity, and basic magic.
** It's not difficult to imagine that Tommy "Speed" Shepherd has the same problem of his uncle Quicksilver because he shares the same powers. It's incredibly easy to imagine, therefore, why he did the things that landed him in juvie in the first place, and why he's so distraught when [[spoiler: the Young Avengers split up at the end of ''ComicBook/AvengersTheChildrensCrusade'']] - he's literally incapable of fitting into normal society because of his time perception. The ComicBook/MarvelNOW ''Young Avengers'' volume makes it even worse. It's established that when his body moves at super-speed, all of his forms of perception do as well. So while using his speed to assemble some cellphones at his civilian job, he claims that he essentially just wasted a week of his life in the span of a few seconds.
** Melter II of the ''Dark Young Avengers'' has the ability to dissolve objects. However, he's had it since a very young age, and his control is weak, leading to him [[spoiler: accidentally killing his parents, and later an old woman.]]

** ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} is another classic case, with his destructive optic beams that, again, ''don't turn off'' without special glasses or shutting his eyes. His brother Havok has sometimes also needed special equipment to control his own powers. An often overlooked aspect of Cyclops's condition is that due to having to wear ruby quartz glasses to control his powers, he can only see everything in shades of red (or, if you're Creator/GrantMorrison, yellow). In practice, he's completely colorblind.

** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen2001'' has a heart-breaking example: a child whose entire mutant power is the dissolution of all living tissue within a ridiculous distance of him. When he wakes up and discovers his power has activated, the first sight are the corpses of his family and friends. He kills 385 people the day he hits puberty. In order to prevent the spread of widescale panic and revelation of mutants in such a way, Wolverine is sent to kill him. His regeneration powers protect him, but the whole ordeal is heartbreaking as Wolverine is pretty much performing a MercyKill on him.

* This was the motivation behind one-time ''ComicBook/XFactor'' foe Josef Huber's attempt to orchestrate the extinction of mutants. Unlike others with this goal, he wasn't a deranged fanatic; he just had the ability to automatically copy the [[AllYourPowersCombined powers of every mutant on the planet]], which resulted in him having telepathy so powerful that even the isolated arctic cave he lives in offers little refuge from the constant noise of thoughts from all over the world.
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}:

* Logan's daughter/OppositeSexClone ''ComicBook/{{X 23}}'' ([[Characters/MarvelComicsLauraKinney Laura Kinney]]) shares much of this, but unlike Logan is also burdened with ''remembering everything that's ever happened to her''. [[DarkAndTroubledPast And everything that's ever happened to her has really]], ''[[BrokenBird really]]'' sucked. And she has even more drawbacks to her powers:

* For a time, Rhino's suit was grafted to his skin. While this provided the permanent secondary powers for him to break through walls without pain, he had a lack of feeling and required a special flap for natural functions. Also, a side story mini-series from the perspective of Kitty Pryde as a new X-Man revolved around Wolverine running off with her in the middle of the night and telling her about some bank robbers he had fought while in Canada that wore adamantium suits. Unfortunately, the suits could not be removed; and one of them ended up with some disease. The man was left on life support for decades because the doctors weren't able to give him the single injection he needed, and the suit was of similar strength to Wolverine's claws. Wolverine took Kitty because he suddenly realized her powers would allow them to phase the needle past the suit, but he had died shortly before they arrived.
* The miniseries ''Worst X-Man Ever'' is about a boy who learns that he has the powers to explode, without any of the RequiredSecondaryPowers that allow him to survive said explosion, meaning he just has the power to die and kill people around him on command.
* Every time Magneto rejuvenates, his memories of Auschwitz become as fresh as the first time he was that biological age.
* One sort of sideways example: the mini-series ''Beauty and the Beast'' introduced a mutant whose power was to change the color of flowers. Absolutely useless for anything except making interesting centerpieces yet she was still subjected to the same fear and hatred as every other mutant.
* Mortimer "Toad" Toynbee is generally regarded as ugly and deformed, in exchange for mutant powers. In one comic series, when Toad is stripped of his powers, [[spoiler: he is revealed as extremely handsome, and would have looked that way if he hadn't been born as a mutant.]] Toad is more than happy to make the trade-off.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateIronMan'': Superhuman intelligence and a HealingFactor at the cost of living in perpetual agony -- the same biological mutation that makes him super-smart also gives him an awful form of SuperSenses, making his skin so sensitive that the mere touch of air through protective coating is painful.
* C-lister superhero [[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Kenneth_Hale_(Earth-616) Kenneth Hale]], aka "Gorilla-Man" (not to be confused with C-lister super''villain'' [[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Arthur_Nagan_(Earth-616) Arthur "Gorilla-Man" Nagan]], a MadScientist who transplanted his head onto the body of a 600 pound bull gorilla) has magical {{immortality}}; he doesn't age or get sick and will never die of natural causes. The sucky part is two-fold. Firstly, he ''can'' still be killed, and [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt his immortality will pass on to whoever kills him]], meaning he is often pursued by people who want to be immortal. Secondly, a side-effect of the magic is that he is permanently trapped in the body of a talking gorilla, which naturally does quite a number on his social life. In [[ComicBook/TheAvengersJasonAaron Jason Aaron's run]] of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', he actually has the worst of both worlds; he's [[WhoWantsToLiveForever sick of being an immortal gorilla]] and [[DeathSeeker wants to finally die]]... but nobody wants to kill him and take his place as the new Gorilla-Man. [[spoiler:He even betrays the Avengers to a Russian super team because they promised to have someone finally kill him. Only to then betray him by not keeping their word.]]

* Logan's daughter/OppositeSexClone Laura Kinney AKA ComicBook/{{X 23}} shares much of this, but unlike Logan is also burdened with ''remembering everything that's ever happened to her''. [[DarkAndTroubledPast And everything that's ever happened to her has really]], ''[[BrokenBird really]]'' sucked. And she has even more drawbacks to her powers:

** The adamantium that makes Wolverine's skeleton unbreakable and makes his claws even deadlier is also toxic. Wolverine would never have survived the adamantium infusion if it weren't for his HealingFactor. Another drawback is that his HealingFactor is weakened due to needing to work overtime to compensate for the adamantium poisoning. Having a metal skeleton also makes him a pretty poor opponent against on and off BigBad ComicBook/{{Magneto}}. This was graphically demonstrated in the ''ComicBook/FatalAttractionsMarvelComics'' arc (specifically ''X-Men'' vol. 2 #25) when Magneto ''ripped off the adamantium'' from Wolverine's bones, nearly killing him. [[spoiler: In ComicBook/UltimateMarvel, Magneto ''did'' kill Wolverine this way in ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}''.]] It also makes him much slower (as far as combat speed, reaction time and running speed) than he would otherwise be, due to its not-so-light weight. He tends to have difficulties going through airports and any other facility with metal detectors. And (theoretically speaking), it makes him easy to track for any being with sensitivities to metal (obvious candidates being Magneto & ComicBook/{{Polaris}}) and he is much more susceptible to attack via electricity. The additional weight would make swimming a bit more of a chore than it would be otherwise.