Warning: contains spoilers for Power Pack #1!
It's hard to enjoy your childhood when you're also a superhero in the Marvel universe. While one could argue the Power Pack's childhood ended the day they were given their incredible superpowers by a dying alien, this family of superheroes has remained strong, navigating superhero threats and everyday challenges. In Power Pack #1, Katie (aka Energizer) prepares for a battle with the team's longtime enemy the Bogeyman, with writer Ryan North employing a The Iron Giant quote to explain how her powers have developed from their original depiction.
Created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman for Power Pack #1 (1984), the unsupervised team of super-siblings got their start when their father Dr. James Power's work in anti-matter energy reached a breakthrough that gained the attention of warring alien species. When one died trying to prevent the experiment from dooming Earth, he passed down his powers to the Power children, enabling them to stop the experiment and save their parents from alien captors. The children - Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie - agreed to work together as superheroes but to keep their activities secret from their parents. The Power Pack found themselves involved in a few signature Marvel events, often alongside the X-Men, and the older siblings Alex and Julie eventually joined the New Warriors, the Avengers Academy and the Future Foundation, whose adventures often kept them busy or off-planet. Although they all kept in touch, this new series marks the first time in a long while that all four siblings are back together as the Power Pack.
In the issue where the family celebrate their parent's 25th wedding anniversary, their dinner is interrupted by news that their old enemy Douglas Carmody, aka the Bogeyman, is terrorizing an orphanage in the Bronx. Concocting an old-fashioned yet hilarious excuse from dinner, the Power Pack suits up and flies over to where the shape-shifting demon is at a standstill with the police. While the Power Pack decide on a plan, Katie powers up, reflecting on how she has adapted her offensive powers to be a little less directly violent, echoing the Iron Giant's insistence that, "I'm not a gun."
In Brad Bird's beloved 1999 animated film, the Iron Giant and his human friend Hogarth Hughes are playing in Dean McCoppin's scrapyard when the sight of Hogarth's toy ray gun causes the Giant's internal defenses to activate. Dean prevents Hogarth from being hit by an alien laser beam, yelling at the robot that he's dangerous and that he could have killed someone. The child-like robot tearfully claims, "I'm not a gun" and runs away, with Hogarth following him. In Power Pack, Katie realizes that her powers could kill someone, whether she wants to or not, and is clearly not comfortable with this potential consequence. But it's her sister Julie that uses her hands to explain that a human hand can look like a weapon or something gentle and non-lethal - it all depends how you decide to use it.
Although the Power Pack have clearly been growing since their debut in 1984, they're still young and, in some case, still children who were thrust into this unpredictable world of superheroes and supervillains. When confronting someone who's literally threatened to kill them and their family in the past, its natural to be afraid of letting go and doing something you'll regret. But despite her power, Katie and the rest of the Power Pack are not weapons, they're heroes, and thus use their powers to help and protect others while fighting those who do the opposite. Like the Iron Giant, they are who they choose to be.
Power Pack #1 by Ryan North and Nico Leon is in stores now!