Every Superhero (And Villain) Power In Secret Invasion’s Super Skrull Cocktail

Here in the real world, the powers of DNA have been both overstated and understated, because deoxyribonucleic acid is complicated and difficult to translate into pop science. That very complexity is what has made it useful as a catch-all story device in science fiction; most people don’t understand how DNA works (and even scientists who specialize in it have still only scratched the surface), so DNA can do pretty much anything you need it to in a fictional context.

Still, G’iah and Gravik’s Super Skrull powers stretch suspension of disbelief, and not just because of the phrase “Super Skrull.” After being stabbed by G’iah’s Frost Beast arm, Gravik transforms one of his arms to look like that of Ebony Maw and uses Maw’s telekinetic abilities to smash a bit of concrete into G’iah. Ebony Maw’s powers appeared to be supernatural when he went up against fellow magic-wielder Doctor Strange, but Gravik’s casual use of them implies that telekinesis is not only coded into Maw’s DNA, but requires absolutely no training to use. Even more baffling is Captain Marvel’s powers being transferred via her DNA, when Carol herself obtained them by getting a massive dose of energy directly from the Tesseract. Are the powers of the Infinity Stones really so easily replicable?

Then there’s the moment when G’iah grows Mantis’ antennae and instructs Gravik to “sleep,” causing him to crash down to earth. Mantis has only used this power once on Earth, putting an Outrider to sleep amid the chaos of the Battle of Earth, so unless someone was live-streaming that exact moment, it’s unclear how G’iah would know precisely how to use Mantis’ abilities to induce sleep.

Yes, all of this is nitpicking comic book science. But the casual doling out of unique and remarkable abilities, and the Super Skrulls’ ability to immediately deploy them with zero practice, somewhat cheapens the miracle of superpowers in the MCU.