5. Matter-Eater Lad
The Origin: Matter-Eater lad is one of the most inane members of DCs Legion of Superheroes; ranking even behind Bouncing Boy. His power is that he can bite through, digest and metabolise any substance from mashed potato all the way up to fictional elements in the DC Universe that are supposed to be indestructible. Sounds neat, but in reality, how do you make that interesting in a combat situation? Is it just me, or does the Legion of Superheros sounds like they were conceived in a deal with Americas fast food industry? Bouncing Boy drinks anything that finds its way into his hands, and Matter Eater lad clearly has an out of control eating disorder. His origin? He was born on the planet Bismoll, on which microbes had made their entire food supplies inedible, causing them to evolve and develop the ability to eat anything. Thats right, Matter-Eater Lads power set is a simple racial trait, no big deal. Lucky then that their planet hadnt suddenly been shrouded by methane, or we may be looking at a superhero that could fart his enemies to smithereens on cue.
In Reality: If microbes suddenly made Earths entire supply of food inedible, how long do you think wed survive as a species? Evolution is an extremely slow process; generational changes are impossible to see and its only over millions, even billions of years that a species can develop a new genetic trait. In reality, Matter-Eater Lads entire planet would have died out completely in a horrific famine that men and women eating their own children through sheer, uncontrollable starvation. If Matter-Eater Lad had indeed survived this horrific apocalypse and somehow found his way to earth, he wouldnt have been fit for active Superhero duty hed most likely be checking himself directly into therapy.