Technobabble of the Week

December 8th, 2005

Filed under: Comics

Scene from the New Thunderbolts

This is news to me. Not only is Spider-Man still radioactive (and how many years has it been since that spider bite? How much venom did that spider inject anyway?), but apparently he is actually emitting radiation of a particular wavelength. Furthermore, if this wavelength is somehow absorbed, Spider-Man will lose his powers.

Wow. This is one of those explanations that just makes things worse. It poses more questions than it answers… here’s just a few that popped in my head:

  • I wonder why no other villain has thought of that. Isolating that wavelength would sure make it easy to track him. Or just get a Geiger counter. Maybe wrap him in lead.
  • Will Spidey permanently lose his powers?
  • Emitted radiation can often have strange effects on unprocessed film — and yet he’s an award winning photogtapher who develops his own film.

This image is from New Thunderbolts #14, art by Tom Grummet and story by Fabian Nicieza.

4 Responses to “ Technobabble of the Week ”

  1. David Lawson
    December 8th, 2005 at 2:33 pm

    This isn;t the first time this has happened. Spidey also fought Radioactive Man a few years back and found that his powers weakened when he go to close to Chen Lu the Human Bugzapper. Fortunatly it was at a Science Expo hosted by Tony Stark. Iron Man showed up allowing Spidey to put on a radiation suit and help beat Radioactive Man.

    Sorry that I can’t remember the exact issue.

  2. Randy
    December 8th, 2005 at 5:04 pm

    It was an issue of Iron Man. I think it was issue #234. I knew it was an issue or two after the Armor Wars story. And, no, I do NOT know why I remember that after all these years.

  3. Chris Arndt
    December 8th, 2005 at 11:28 pm

    I was going to mention that story…

    my only problem with it is that I cannot recall what the technobabble was. But the story was good and Spidey’s power was sapped by the rads that Radioactive Man was spitting out.

    But no, Spidey’s blood is not still radioactive… except for that song.

    I would not doubt that it is mutated and might have a bit more electric zip than your blood or mine!

  4. Blake
    November 20th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

    Worse though, it shouldn’t matter what happens to the photons after they leave Spidey’s body. Therefore it won’t matter whether the villain ‘absorbs’ the radiation. It is also not all that hard to absorb radiation.
    It would be more reasonable to suggest that Spidey’s blood is mutated and is now sensitive to a particular wavelength of light (i.e. some gamma ray spectrum). However, whatever that does to his blood, it shouldn’t immediately destroy his enhanced muscles, etc.
    Also, Mary Jane is in for some increased cancer chances it would seem.

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