So, I've been thinking recently about the death of Nemesis Kid, and thinking about it, something strikes me as not being quite right.
For those of you that are not aware, Princess Projectra killed Nemesis Kid after he killed Karate Kid. Projectra did this with her bare hands. With me so far?
So, here's where I run into problems. Nemesis Kid's power is the ability to defeat any single opponent. If he's faced by Superboy, he can either turn parts of his body into Kryptonite, or adapt to have the strength, durability and invulnerabilty to take him head on. However--as I understand it--if Superboy and Mon-El carried out a coordinated attack, Nemesis Kid is done.
Now, Nemesis Kid killed Karate Kid by adapting and overcoming his years and years of martial arts training. This makes sense, despite the fact that Val Armorr has no superpowers.
Here's where the problem crops up: Nemesis Kid kills Karate Kid, and Princess Projectra is understandably upset and angry, and manages to kill Nemesis Kid with her bare hands.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if Nemesis Kid's powers work in that way, there's no way this ever should have happened. Projectra is still a singular opponent, albeit one with a super power. In fact, she attempted to use illusions on him, and he laughed those off.
So, how in the world does Projectra manage to defeat him on her lonesome? If anger is all it takes to defeat Nemesis Kid, shouldn't he have been killed well before?
Just something I've been thinking about recently, and something that doesn't quite sit right.
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I don't know the situation, but did she catch him by surprise?
Here's one page from Legion of Super-Heroes #5--
Nemesis Kid does negate Princess Projectra's illusions but she physically attacks him while he's countering her super-power which may have left him vulnerable. Also remember he was no longer countering Karate Kid so his martial arts abilities were gone by this point. There is also the possibility that Projectra who received her powers magically may have had some mystic edge in their battle.
Then there was the paplable fact that Nemesis Kid saw the resolve in Projectra's eyes and her intent to kill him which filled him with fear so that he couldn't use his power to make his neck unbreakable. Fear was his downfall before:
That's from Superboy #208 (Ap'75) by Cary Bates and Mike Grell. It's a nice bit of unintentional foreshadowing as it shouldn't have worked either time!
But then Nemesis Kid was never used properly anyway.
O.K., I wasn't going to get into this one. I really wasn't. For me, anything involving the Legion after its last story in Adventure Comics doesn't count. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. I don't have an answer to your question---and it's a sound one, Randy---but I do have some thoughts on Nemesis Kid and Princess Projectra which may have an impact on it.
The first issue that needs examination is the nature of Nemesis Kid's power. What I mean is the degree of voluntary control the Kid has. He has the power to defeat any single opponent, but what the stories never made clear was did the Kid consciously choose what that power would be? Or did his body automatically acquire it and the Kid simply used it?
The scenario you cited above, Randy, provides a perfect case in point. Nemesis Kid is squaring off against Superboy. Now, there are a number of powers which the Kid could adopt to beat the Boy of Steel. N.K.'s body could turn to green kryptonite or he could acquire greater super-strength than that possessed by Superboy or he could acquire the power of magic. The question is---does N.K. decide which method to adopt and then his power conforms, or does his body automatically "select" one of those methods?
As I said, none of the texts or dialogue describing the Kid's power ever made that clear. I myself lean toward his body automatically assuming whatever power it needs, based on the end of Adventure Comics # 347 (Aug., 1966). Here, when the Kid is confronted by nine angry Legionnaires, he states something to the effect of "I never used my power against more than one foe before, so I don't know what will happen . . . ." This suggests, but doesn't indicate that his power is automomic.
If we assume his power is autonomic, then it opens the door to ask "How automomic is it?" In other words, does Nemesis Kid have to be aware of an attack by a single opponent before his power works?
Let's say N.K. is kicking back at the Interplanetary Ice Cream Shoppe, enjoying a Martian milk shake and he is completely unaware that assassin is standing behind him, pointing a plasma blaster at him and getting ready to pull the trigger. Does the Kid's power kick in or not?
The answers to both of these questions are integral to the matter of Princess Projectra and himself.
In the majority of instances, both Silver Age and after, Princess Projectra was never shown using her power in a sensible fashion. In most cases, the panel depicted Projectra standing there casting the illusion against her opponent and almost always saying that she was, to boot. In other words, the opponent knew she was using her power.
Now, her illusions are so realistic that, when she came up against your common homegrown crook, it wouldn't matter that he knew it was an illusion. It would still scare the bejeesus out of him.
But many of her foes were experienced, hard-bitten villains with plenty of moxie and will power. If Projectra stands in front of one of those guys and says "This illusion should scare you into giving up!" and he sees a man-eating borlat coming at him, this kind of veteran bad guy is going to stand there and probably laugh. Or just go ahead and shoot Projectra with his plasma blaster.
For that level of villain, the Princess' power works best if they don't know she's using it or that she's even there! If Projectra is standing behind a wall and casts her illusion at, say, Mano, he's going to think that vicious man-eating borlat is real.
Against strong-willed, experienced super-villains, Princess Projectra defeats her own purpose by standing there and even saying that she is using her illusion power.
Now, everything I've just said comes into play in a scenario where Nemesis Kid confronts Princess Projectra.
Let's say from a place of concealment, Projectra casts an illusion making N.K. think he's adrift in outer space and about to be eaten by a giant space dragon. This is where the question of whether his power is conscious or autonomic becomes crucial.
If the Kid's power is activated consciously, then, believing he's about to be eaten by a giant space dragon, he will adopt whatever power he needs to keep from being dragon-chow. If his power is autonomic, does it activate because the Kid believes there's a threat, or does it not activate because there's isn't really a threat?
Either way, the illusion is pretty much worthless. Either the Kid will adopt a power that, it turns out, he doesn't need; or his body fails to adopt a power, tipping the Kid off that there isn't really a threat---hence, it's an illusion.
But if Princess Projectra does her usual stunt of standing in front of the Kid and saying "This should scare the pants off of you!" and N.K. suddenly sees a hoard of demons coming at him, he knows it is only an illusion. He doesn't need to adopt a power to defeat illusions. The power he needs to adopt is one sufficient to defeat Projectra.
And presuming his power works as advertised, then N.K. will acquire that power and will defeat Projectra. There is no other outcome, not without going against what DC established about his power.
Philip, you mentioned the scenario where Nemesis Kid was so filled with fear by the look of resolve in Projectra's eyes that he couldn't activate his power. That's serviceable only if he needs to consciously activate his power for it to work. If his power is autonomic, then it wouldn't matter how scared he was, his power would still kick in.
If it's the former, then it's stretching things a bit too far for me to believe that a lad who has faced a determined Superboy, a bunch of angry Legionnaires, and a half-dozen killer robots is going to be "too scared" to activate his power against one girl who's got a pissed look in her eyes. At that point in his career, activating his power should be instinctive.
I agree with you, Commander, that the "filled-with-fear" scenario doesn't make much sense but, based on the texts, it's a definite possiblity. It could be that Nemesis Kid never understood how his power really worked. After all, the writers didn't so why should he?
Perhaps another theory could resolve around her later identity of Sensor Girl. It was explained that she had the power to remove illusions including personal ones. She may have strip Nemesis Kid's self-perception as a powerful, important , unbeatable conqueror and made him see himself as what he really was: a cowardly, small-minded, all-too mortal murderer. Either way he had to die after killing Karate Kid.
Still I find it hard to believe that Nemesis Kid was free so much. After all, he was a traitor, not only to the Legion but to the United Planets!
It's possible Nemesis Kid had sufficient power to defeat Projectra, but failed to used it. When he fought Superboy in Adventure Comics #372 he apparently adapted both strength and invulnerability (Superboy gave him a black eye, but he survived the punch and KOed him). Facing Projectra, he may have adapted superior combat skills in addition to immunity to her illusions but not realised he was going to have to bring them to bear. Given the staging of the scene, this explanation only works if Nemesis Kid didn't realise what Projectra was about to do. Perhaps a Naltorian fortune-teller told him that he'd die at the hands of a enranged monarch with enlarged pupils and the recollection of this distracted him?
The reason I am putting it in those terms is that I seem to recall a SA story and I am not even sure I am remembering ANY of this correctly but I am fairly certain it was Superman who is able to make a hero's power backfire. So the hero walks across the room and the character is thinking "If he uses heat vision I can block it with cold powers or if he uses superbreath I can use a wind shear" or something along those lines & in the end the villain gets socked in the jaw & falls unconcious because the character used ordinary not super strength. I am just wondering if maybe NK's power works along those methods. Super powers only not normal human abilities. In which case Projectra could have easily done the deed.
Finally pulling out my Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Volume 5, I've reread Nemesis Kid's debut from Adventure Comics #346 (Jl'66) which was also the debut of Karate Kid, Princess Projectra and Ferro Lad. When he auditions for the Legion, the Tableturning Turncoat explains his power as such: "I use my alchemical skill to give myself the power to defeat any opponent." He then goes on and beats a tough-to-beat atomic robot. He never says that his opponent has to have super powers or even be a living creature. Thus he could defeat a boxing champ, a chess champ, a master swordsman and even the greatest martial artist of the known universe.
He should also be able to counter weapons and devices, if he is directly confronted by them, making him Punisher-proof.
Nemesis Kid also says as the robot advanced on him that "his (the robot's) powers cause mine to react, giving me just the abilities I need to lick him!" Therefore he could have been solely concentrating his efforts against Projectra's illussion-casting power, leaving himself vulnerable to a physical attack.
Also by saying he gained his powers alchemically, being on a mystically orientated world like Orando may have had an adverse effect on him which led to his death.
Philip Portelli said:
But that was the point I tried to make before. There was no reason for his powers to "concentrate" on Projectra's illusions. Nemesis Kid knew they were illusions---Princess Projectra was standing right there and essentially told him they were illusions---so he knew they weren't a threat and there was no reason to use his powers to stop the Princess from doing so. At least, not as long as all she was doing was casting illusions of demons and other beasties.
The Kid's reaction should have been "Oh-hum, is that the best you can do?"
Unless his power automatically activates when confronted by an opponent. If anyone tries to attack him, Nemesis Kid subconsciously scans them and counters first their super-powers, then their abilities. It's not that he didn't have to negate her illusions, he had no choice but to!
Remember, his powers ensure that he can defeat any one opponent. No matter what Projectra told him, he couldn't 100% for sure defeat her unless he countered her illusions. As an example, if he doesn't, and Superboy appears, how could he be sure it's really Superboy and not an illusion?
I may be wrong (big shock there) but wasn't her illusions so realistic that others react to them even if they know that they're illusions? How else could they still effect her fellow Legionnaires or recurring foes?
I am struck by how similar this sequence is where Projectra tells him to look into her eyes... how similar to the climactic scene in X-men #134 or so, when Jean Gray, snapped out of her illusion from Mastermind, tells Jason Wyngard to look into her eyes, little man...and he winds up going on a mental trip. It just echoes or similarity. When were these two epics produced? Which came first? (or has this already been covered?)
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