10 Comic Book Weapons That Broke All The Rules

The comics medium has seen some pretty wild and wonderful weapons over the years, and nowhere more so than the superhero genre.

Some are unquestionably wacky, while others are badass in nature or design, but every now and then a weapon comes along that just... breaks everything, whether because it's so unconventional or just so devastating that readers didn't know what to think when they first saw it.

It's a testament to the creativity in the medium that a lot of these weapons have then gone on to become iconic parts of a respective mythos both on and off the page, but also that wilder and wackier weapons emerge in the pages of Marvel and DC near enough every year.

Not every single creation manages to land of course, but most go on to become a recurring fixture in the comics and can end up even redefining heroes, villains, and their wider adventures, becoming synonymous in the process.

Where would the Silver Surfer be without his cosmic surfboard, Thanos without his Infinity Gauntlet, or Wonder Woman with the *checks notes* spine and skull of Superman wrapped around the Lasso of Truth?

Well, the latter most one would still be kicking obviously, but once you've seen the Princess of the Amazons wielding the spinal column of her former ally to take down mutant monsters in a post-apocalyptic future, every other weapon sort of pales in comparison.

The Infinity Gauntlet made its debut in the pages of Marvel Comics some 30 years ago, but few would've predicted it would go on to become such an indelible part of the Marvel mythos.

First appearing in Silver Surfer #44 in 1990, the Infinity Gauntlet was forged with the sole purpose of harnessing the power all of the Infinity Gems into one destructive weapon. Thanos used the device in a bid to first impress Lady Death, who he fancied the pants off of, back in Jim Starlin's seminal Infinity Gauntlet comic from 1991, which resulted in the deaths of half the entire universe.

Adam Warlock managed to wrest control of the Gauntlet from the Mad Titan eventually, thanks to a little help from Nebula (who he then also had to defeat), and the weapon has since featured sporadically in various other Marvel comics.

As a weapon though, the Infinity Gauntlet is incredibly unique. It harnessed the power of some of the most powerful individual items in the galaxy, and briefly consigned Marvel's greatest heroes to all kinds of grizzly fates - especially Wolverine, whose bones Thanos turns to goop.