MovieChat Forums > Zoom (2006) Discussion > Why do the boys have such weak powers?

Why do the boys have such weak powers?

posted 19 years ago by jasonpollitt
44 replies | jump to latest

I saw the trailer for Zoom, and I have to ask this: why do both of the boy characters have such lame-o superpowers? The teenage girl has telekinesis. That's always good. The little girl has super strength. Also good. But what's with the 2 boys' "super" powers? Out of all the cool superpowers they had to choose from, are you telling me that the best thing they could come up with for the teenage boy was invisiblity? No enhanced ablities. No flying. No energy throwing. Just "You can't see me." Yeah, that'll bring down a guided missle. And then there's Spencer Breslin's character. What exactly is his power? Blowing up like a balloon? Why no energy powers, flying, shapeshifting or super speed? Zoom is potentially a good idea for a film, but the boys' lack of decent superpowers could be a weakness in what's otherwise an OK concept.

Of course, the kids didn't all have to be caucasian either, but that's another rant.

[–] werwer384 19 years ago

A side note on the argument about girls having "weak, passive" powers.

Wonder Woman
Hawkgirl
Supergirl
Spidergirl
Jean Grey
Storm
Elektra
Star Girl
Black Canary
The Female Green Lanterns

Should I continue? All of the above are some of the most powerful superheros of all time. Batman has no powers! Spiderman shoots webs! Oh wow!

Supergirl can bench press and airplane while being shot at with nuclear missles. You call that "weak" and "passive"? He never said that they had to have weak and passive powers.

A side note about white superheros and no black ones

Green Lantern
Static Shock
Cyborg
Crimson Avenger
Steel III
Mr. Terrific II
Firestorm II
Black Lightning
Bishop
Storm
Rage
Rocket Racer
Hybrid
Beast Boy (was black before he got superpowers)
Hothead

Shall I continue? You people are acting so self-centered that you didn't look outisde the box. The world isn't black and white. You have to actually think before you speak for once.

[–] CallyWally 19 years ago

o_O Who said girls had weak, passive powers?

P.S. Wtehf? Beast Boy was not black before he got powers. Where did you get this from?

[–] mandaknowsbest 19 years ago

He also has magic hair, idiot.

[–] dmb0903 19 years ago

This is yet further evidence of the de-balling of the American male perpetrated by left-wing extreme feminism.

Or maybe it's just a crappy movie.

[–] Neptuny 19 years ago

all that matters is the tactic that the teen audience can drool over the TK girl and girls can drool over the Invisilad person. the powers dont care as long as they have alot of the teens flirting. the powers are just part of the side story...

Drumstrang Boy:May I have your arm?
Parvati Patil: Arm, leg, I'm yours.

[–] WingLiger496 19 years ago

Well, the movie does look interesting but I kinda see it as a sort of side story to Sky High. I mean, so many super heroes have been done that they're running out of ideas for super powers. Maybe the movie would have more of an impact if the two boys had a whole jumble of super powers. That would be cool. Or maybe if they could turn into a 50' mechanical t-rex that shoots hyper beams and charged particle cannons...now that would be kool.

Of course, my theorie is that the invisible guy and balloon/elasto kid are the children of Invisible Woman and Mr.Fantastic. Then again their parents could be aliens. Just a thought.

Now, if you want the best super hero movie, they should get a bunch of 'Super Hero Experts' (Marvel Fanatics and such) to write a script. Now THAT I would watch.

I think, therefore I am.....a dangerous sykotik.

[–] dcskater2345 19 years ago

*cough*
girls should be in the kitchen making dinner, men should be the real superheroes.

black people should be in africa, asians in asia, etc.

and everyone of you needs to go back to your own damn countries and let my people *native americans* have our land back.

oh and nighar, spick, wetback, cheink, kyyke, WOP, honkie, fahgots, bitch, and sahndnighars just so all of you are included in my tirade.

ha i beat the censors

[–] Jessica_Alba_Lover 19 years ago

the only other thing i gotta say is no one see this piece of flaming crap movie. nobody should be paid for another persons idea.

"Everybody's Gotta Have A Dream" - DJay From Hustle & Flow

[–] porisfreak 19 years ago

I thought that it was kind of funny in the commercial when the invisibility guy punched some dude and then disappeared while doing it. Hehe, wuss.

[–] CoastieGurl_33 19 years ago

I agree with you, the boys powers in this movie totally suck! But think about it this way....If you mix someone who has invisibility powers, with someone who has strechy powers, you could wind up with someone who has reality powers that could take down the universe!!!!!

Stream Of Consciousness

[–] gothicprince132 19 years ago

Here are my thoughts:

1: You all need to SHUT UP!! IT'S A MOVIE FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!
2: you all need to learn that the producers [usually] arent racist! So what, theyre all white! HOO GIVES A DAMN!!
3: I agree with whoever said, the superpowers are [for the older viewers] a sidebar. The point of a movie for the makers is to make it appeal to as many people as possible. For the little kids: superpowers. Who doesnt like to see someone get smashed into a wall or punched in the face? For the teen guys: the TK girl. And lemme tell you that worked!!!! For the teen girls: The invisible dude. For the kids who are around 3rd grade, they put in some of that classic Tim Allan humor. For the adults: they dont need a hook. No sensable parent would let a 8 year old son or daughter go to a ovie by themselves. So as for the guys with their powers: WHO CARES?!? If you dont like it, don't say you loved it by giving your money to the people who made it. Now if you have any other retarted arguments, please, throw them out so i can shoot them down like an idiot with a missle launcher.

[–] adamhoelscher 19 years ago

weak? The abiltiy to increase your body mass and size instantly is weak? Not to mention he is able to carry the extra mass around, sounds to me like a suped up Mr. Fantastic...Richards powers only gave him elasticity not volume control. It i showed clearly in the trailer, when the young boy jumps off of the high dive his body increases in mass, as well as in the glass room with Tim Allen, he is stuck to the glass from the force of his expanding body.

[–] I-Am-Quantum 19 years ago

There were comments above about super heroes only being white...you guys obviously dont know anything about the history of comics. Marvel and DC the two prime industries tried for years to promote black heroes...the fact is they just didnt sell. Blade wasnt even really that popular until the movies came out. He was just part of a vampire hunting team called the Nightstalkers. When marvel did its huge push to register black members of the avengers and when green lantern was accused of being racist all these things are dealt with in the comics. Stan Lee helped start the X-men which were in essence a prime example of racial discrimination. Mutants Vs. "Normal People" (They almost lynched angel in one comic) now you have a more modern take on it of people attacking superheroes with the civil war registration act series. (Johnny storm "human torch" gets mugged at a club for being a super hero.) Although black heroes(there are many many more than there used to be) are not as previlant the issue of racism is constantly addressed.

[–] skyboy3 19 years ago

As a comic book geek I gotta give my two cents.The boys have decent powers when you remeber that the heroes will have to work as a team to acomplish their goal of saving the world or whatever they're doing.Super teams always have a mix of powers and ablities,some are awsome,some are more subtle because different situations call for different skils.

Cooler powers DO NOT make a better hero.Didn't we learn that in Sky High?Also look at the Teen Titans and Justice League cartoons.Neither Batman or Robin have any powers and they're both considered to valuable members of their respective teams.In the X-Men movies Storm and Jean Grey are much more powerful than Wolverine and very few peole consider him to be one of the weaker X-Men.In fact a lot of people consider him their favorite character.

The characters in Zoom seem remarkably similar to the Fantastic Four and The Incredibles.It looks like on only Human Torch and Dash got left out of the mix.Mr.Incredible/The Thing=the little girl,Mr.Fantastic/Elastic Girl=the chunky kid and Invisble Woman/Violet were divided to =telekinetic girl and invisible boy.These powers are not "new" by any means and many male and female comic book characters have them.The fact that the boys have passive abilities isn't a big deal because several male comic book charcters have THE SAME powers.The same is true for the girls,there are many super-strong or telekinetic female characters,and many male characters that have same abilties as well.It looks like it was just the luck of the draw.Step up to the sorting hat and pick out a superpower.

About all the kids in Zoom being white.That's a bit odd in one way because there are many diverse heroes from both Marvel and DC Comics but for some reason most movie super-heroes tend to be white which I don't think is racist just merely short-sighted.If they are family members that might explain it,like Power Pack or The Incredibles but even in The Incredibles you had Frozone or whatever his name was.I can't really think of a good reason as to why there aren't any ethnic characters in this movie if they turn out to be just a bunch of random kids with superpowers.What?Don't black,latino or asian kids develop superpowers in the ZOOM universe?Maybe it's explained in the movie,maybe not.

Finaly,in all honesty this movie looks pretty bad.It looks terrrible but until I see it I can't say for sure how good or bad it is so until then I'll keep an open mind.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] shoe456 19 years ago

Doesn't Xavier in X-Men have TK powers? Magneto has sort of TK powers because he can manipulate metal over distances, so I think it's unfair to say that women mostly get the distance powers that set them away from the action. Mystique has a cool-ass power too. I would love to be Mystique.

"Up until the punching, it was a real nice party."- Kaylee

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] arohly1 18 years ago

Okay, you haven't seen the movie. The older boy has mindsight, too, and what he learns from that (what their assignment is) saves their lives. That is not weak.
I am not a fan of Spencer Breslin nor his character. He doesn't seem to have much point on the film, except they need a fourth person and there are a couple good things he does, but for the most part, his "power" doesn't do much, true.

[–] sth128 18 years ago

Houdini has pervert powers. He can spy on a showering chick without her noticing. The creator therefore counter this with the girl having the ability to kick him through the roof once she found out.

And I don't think I'm allowed to comment on "Mega Boy"'s "expanding powers"... Ahem...