In fiction, especially comic books and cartoons, superpowered characters are a dime a dozen. In the real world it's hard to find someone looking into the sky, but in comic book worlds people are constantly looking up to catch a glimpse of one of their favorite heroes. Flight, super speed, and super strength are the most common abilities, but some heroes have unique powers that make them a force to be reckoned with.
No matter how strong some of these characters may be, a few of them had kids who were even more powerful than them. Just like a blonde woman will pass down a gene associated with that trait to her child, superpowered individuals hand down their genes. Instead of just passing down things like eye or hair color, these individuals often pass down genes associated with developing abilities.
More often than not these kids develop similar abilities to their parents, but sometimes they develop their own unique abilities. Usually the parents maintain dominance over their kids from a power perspective, but a select few superpowered kids can easily take down their parents if they were ever forced to do so.
With that said, come learn about 15 Superpowered Kids Way Stronger Than Their Parents!
Cable (Cyclops)
Cyclops may be the leader of the X-Men, but he's certainly not the most powerful mutant in the world. His optic blasts definitely pack a hefty punch, but take that away and Scott Summers isn't especially powerful.
Cable, a.k.a. Nathan Summers, is the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey's clone from a ravaged, war-torn future. Even on his best day, there's no way Cable could take down his mom, but his dad is a completely different story.
An excellent marksman, meaning he can fight at long-ranges just like his father, Cable is also an expert fighter with telepathic abilities. Like his mother, he can read people's minds, even over massive distances - a technique that would allow him to constantly stay one step ahead of his father. While he doesn't utilize it all the time, he has even been shown using telekinetic blasts that have the ability to kill or knock someone unconscious without causing any physical damage.
X-23 (Wolverine)
Wolverine may think he's the best at what he does, but Laura Kinney definitely gives him a run for his money.
Laura, better known as X-23, is a clone of Wolverine who was originally introduced in X-Men: Evolution. Since then, the character has exploded in popularity as she has taken on the Wolverine mantle in the comics and even joined the film universe this year in Logan. B
efore she joined the X-Men and became one of Charles Xavier's students, Laura spent years working as an assassin, using both her expert fighting abilities and various weapons to get the job done.
Like her father, she has super senses, an adamantium-laced skeleton, and a healing factor that keeps her fighting longer than her allies. Unlike her father, though, Laura has claws on her hands and feet, making her a far deadlier Wolverine.
Gohan (Goku)
Over the course of Dragon Ball Z, audiences watch Gohan grow from a meager child into a powerful warriors. Goku may receive all the glory, but at the end of the day Gohan is (or at least was because Dragon Ball Super has kicked things up a notch) stronger than his father.
A Saiyan with various abilities like flight and energy projection, Gohan was trained by his father and Piccolo - two of the world's toughest fighters. During the Cell Games, as the Z fighters scramble to try and stop the evil android, Gohan spends time with Piccolo in the Time Chamber, training at an accelerated rate. While he was always a strong fighter, he emerged as one of the world's most powerful beings.
Near the end of the saga, Goku forfeits his battle against Cell because he knows only one warrior can stop him: his own son. Goku even tosses Cell a senzu bean, allowing him to restore all of his health/energy, because he believes in his son. While Gohan struggled at first, as his anger built over the fight he becomes the first individual to achieve Super Saiyan 2 and easily takes down the bad guy.
Conner Kent (Superman)
Conner Kent is the second clone on the list, but that doesn't mean Superman doesn't look at him like a son. Though cloned from the DNA, Lex Luthor and Superman, Conner lives with Ma and Pa Kent in Kansas and lives a life very similar to the one Clark did as a child.
Born with all of the standard Kryptonian abilities, Superboy has a chip on his shoulder due to the fact that he was cloned using Luthor's DNA.
The thing that distinguishes the two of them is an ability Conner has that Superman lack. Nicknamed "touchdown," Superboy has the ability to project a tactile field around him. Anything inside that field can be manipulated or even destroyed using his mind, including other Kryptonians. During Infinite Crisis, he successfully destroyed Alexander Luthor's multi-verse altering tower using this ability.
Jai and Iris West (The Flash)
Being the world's fastest man may make parenthood easier, but when your kids also have abilities things are bound to become hectic.
Wally West, the original Kid Flash who took over the mantle after Barry Allen sacrificed himself in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and his wife Linda had twins: Jai and Iris West. When the children were first born, they didn't display any hints of having abilities.
Then, when the kids turned three months old, their metabolisms kicked into hyper drive, causing them to age at an accelerated rate. Not only did they age quickly, but both developed unique abilities. Iris, like her father, has super speed but also has an accelerated healing factor due to her rapid metabolism. Jai, on the other hand, can temporarily speed up his muscle development and generate super strength.
Wally is a trained fighter and an amazing hero, but if he had to fight both of his kids at once it's likely he would lose.
Valeria Richards (Fantastic Four)
The Fantastic Four is the most iconic family in comics. At the heart of the team are Reed Richards and Sue Storm, a married couple with unique abilities. In addition to being one of the smartest people in the world, Reed can stretch himself to ridiculous lengths,while Sue can turn invisible and generate force fields.
In addition to receiving genes that gave her superpowers, their daughter Valeria inherited her father's brains and her mother's looks. When she was first introduced, she had an altered version of her mother's abilities. She can turn invisible and generate force fields, but she can also wrap these fields around herself to achieve a limited degree of super strength. In addition to that, she can shoot energy blasts and has a limited sense of telepathy that she can use to take down both of her parents if they ever anger her. Plus, even without her abilities she's smart enough to develop tech that can take down the entire Fantastic Four.
Legion (Professor X)
Charles Xavier may be the leader of the X-Men, but that doesn't mean he's the most powerful mutant in the world. One of his very first students, Jean Grey, was a more powerful psychic than her mentor, but there's another, less famous mutant who can take him down.
David Haller, a.k.a. Legion, is an antihero who suffers from numerous mental illnesses. He also happens to be Charles Xavier's son - an omega-level mutant, who can't control his powers. The thing that makes him so dangerous is his extreme case of dissociative identity disorder where each of his personalities has the ability to wield a specific, dangerous power. He has the ability to manipulate matter to the point of warping reality, read people's minds, and even travel through time, making him a serious force to be reckoned with. After House of M, he's most likely the strongest mutant in all of the Marvel Universe.
Jack Jack (The Incredibles)
Mr. Incredible, one of the world's most famous heroes, has super strength and invulnerability like The Thing. His wife, Elasti Girl, can stretch her body into extreme shapes and sizes like Mr. Fantastic. Their two teenage children have similarly routine abilities, super speed and astral projection (an ability Mrs. Fantastic has) but Jack Jack is a whole other beast.
While his family has yet to discover that he even has powers yet, Jack Jack has numerous abilities. Not only can he shapeshift, but he can also shoot lasers, teleport, and even crawl through walls. He may just be a baby now, but as he grows and learns to control his powers, Jack Jack will be the most powerful being in The Incredibles' world.
Scarlet Witch (Magneto)
Magneto is the X-Men's oldest and most complicated rival. The Master of Magnetism has been hunted his whole life, starting as a child in the Holocaust and then again as an adult due to the world's fear of mutants. His persecution has pushed him on a dark path as he tries to reassert the greatness of mutants around the world.
He also had two children, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Quicksilver is a powerful mutant with super speed, but Scarlet Witch is an omega-level mutant who can alter reality with just a whisper. Originally Wanda Maximoff was a member in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but she grew into a key member of both the X-Men and Avengers.
A wielder of chaos magic, Wanda can fly and shoot energy blasts at her enemies. What makes her truly dangerous is her ability to warp reality around her, put on display in House of M when she is manipulated into saying "no more mutants" and sets the Marvel Universe on a dark path.
Hunter (Wonder Woman)
A new addition to the DCU, Hunter is Wonder Woman's son from the future. While the arc tries to trick readers into believing he is Superman's biological son, his birth father is never revealed.
Equipped with his mother's lasso and all of her abilities, Hunter is an incredibly strong fighter. While the two never directly fight, Hunter is visibly buffer than his mother, and is blessed with the same Amazonian ferocity that drives Diana in a fight. Skilled in both hand-to-hand combat and archery, Hunter has the abilities of flight, super strength and a limited healing factor.
Ultimately, Hunter was taken in by Superman after Wonder Woman abandoned him. While he didn't inherit any Kryptonian traits, learning and fighting alongside Superman helped prepare him to lead the future incarnation of the Justice League.
Raze (Mystique and Wolverine)
The son of Mystique and Wolverine from a future timeline, Raze is an incredibly powerful, sneaky mutant.
Debuting in the Battle of the Atom story line, Raze is part of the future's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Alongside his half-brother, Charles Xavier II, Raze sets out on a mission to attack the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning. Equipped with both of his parents abilities, Raze was first introduced to audiences while in disguise as Kitty Pryde as he tried to get close to and attack his father.
During the No More Humans story, Raze even tried to remove the entire human population from Earth in order to make room for the displaced mutants from his own timeline. It was later revealed that he killed his mom in the future as she had no way to defend herself from his claws.
Thane (Thanos)
Thanos may think of himself as the most powerful being in the universe, but in reality there are multiple villains who can take him down. He's always a sore loser, but the character he hates to lose to most is his own son, Thane.
A secret child of Thanos' with an Inhuman woman, Thane was originally a relatively powerful creature. But as Thanos searched the galaxy for his son, Black Bolt, the King of the Inhumans, detonated a Terrigen mist bomb that fully activated the abilities of anyone with inhuman genes. After the blast, Thane has the ability to warp reality with his left hand while locking people in a near-death state with his right.
As the Avengers all struggled to stop Mad Titan during Infinity, it fell to Thane to ultimately stop his father. Instead of killing him outright, he left him in a near-death state with no effort.
As if he wasn't powerful enough, Thane eventually becomes the host of the Phoenix force, making his already seemingly unlimited power even greater.
Invincible (Omni-Man)
Invincible is an amazing book, written by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, that just happens to be coming to a close this year. The story of Mark Grayson, Invincible follows him as he transitions from a normal teenager into one of the world's most powerful superheroes.
Unlike a lot of heroes in Marvel and DC, Mark is more comfortable killing his enemies if he doesn't think there are any other options. Currently stuck in the middle of a galactic war, Invincible has defeated some of the most powerful warriors in the galaxy.
While Mark was badly defeated by his father Omni-Man near the beginning of the series, his power has grown since then. At this point, Mark Grayson is one of the strongest, and easily the most crafty, Viltrumite in the entire universe. The two are on the same side now, but if a situation came up where they needed to fight again, Mark would wipe the floor with his old man.
Naruto (Minato)
Naruto Uzumaki, the seventh hokage, is the most powerful ninja in the world. On top of his own massive chakra levels, he can access the powers of the Nine-Tailed Fox, a demon-like entity that was sealed inside of him as a child. While he started out as a bit of a goober, he ultimately transformed into a sharp warrior who single handedly saved the Leaf Village from Pain's assault.
Naruto starts the series unaware of his own lineage, but it is later revealed that his father is the fourth hokage. Often considered the strongest hokage of all time, Minato has is an incredibly quick warrior who utilizes lightning style attacks.
As the series progressed, Naruto discovers who his parents are and essentially has fan-girl moment because he was such a big fan of the fourth hokage. During a conversation between Minato's spirit and Naruto, Minato revealed that he indeed thought his son was more powerful than him.
Franklin Richards (Fantastic Four)
Reed Richards and Sue Storm have already been mentioned on this list, but their son Franklin hasn't.
An Omega-Level mutant, Franklin's abilities started manifesting when he was just a toddler. Gifted with the ability to warp reality, anything Franklin imagines will appear or take place. He can even rearrange the molecular structure of matter, meaning he could kill both of his parents with just a single thought. He was even under consideration to become a new member of the Celestial Host, a god-like group within the Marvel Universe.
When Franklin first developed his abilities, Annihilus, a galactic dictator, sensed how great his power was and aimed to steal some of it for himself. While he was successful, he ended up releasing Franklin's full powers, forcing his father to shut off his mind because he feared that Franklin would accidentally destroy the planet due to his lack of control.
A future version of Franklin has made repeat appearances in Fantastic Four comics and has been shown to have complete control over his other-worldly abilities.
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Which other superpowered kids are stronger than their parents? Let us know in the comments!