In a recent article, I touched upon the topic of the Power Pack comic book series. The title was published by Marvel Comics starting in 1984 and has since made a substantial mark on the historical development of Marvel’s comic books. The series has a recent revival with Power Pack Outlawed being the latest series, but in this article, I am going to talk about the legacy of the original Power Pack comic book and why it was so important.
The Power Pack became the first pre-teen superhero group when they appeared back in 1984, but their importance doesn’t just lie with them being first at something, it also lies with the topics and issues they tackled during their run.
In today’s article, I am going to be discussing the comic book legacy of the Power Pack comic book, as already stated. You’re going to find out why the Power Pack was so special, as well as how their legacy manifests itself in modern pop culture. Enjoy!
Why was the Power Pack so special?
The Power Pack was created by editor Louise Simonson, who was nudged by Marvel to come up with a comic book idea of her own. She came up with the Power siblings and her idea was accepted. Together with artist June Brigman, Simonson saw the first issue of the Power Pack comic book come out in August 1984.
The Power Pack became relevant almost instantly and there are several important historical reasons for that. First of all, when the Power Pack debuted, they became Marvel’s first pre-teen superhero team ever created. The oldest Power sibling, as we already know, was 12 and the youngest was just five years old.
The Powers were basically kids when they debuted and it was certainly revolutionary from a historical point of view, as there weren’t many pre-teen superheroes at the time and Marvel’s slate – even today – doesn’t include that many pre-teen superheroes.
Even DC Comics isn’t much better in that aspect, as the only group that includes pre-teen superheroes that we can think of is the Marvel (Shazam) family, but even they aren’t all pre-teen; they are children, but some of them are well into their teens, just like the Teen Titans, for example.
Another thing that made the Power Pack historically relevant at the time was the fact that they were the first pre-teen superhero group in the history of American superhero comic books that operated alone, without adult supervision. Never before have such young characters fought crime by themselves, without the help of some parent or mentor-type figure.
This is why Power Pack is so historically relevant, as the group has broken several well-established rules, showing children – who were the targeted age group of the publication – that they could also be well-represented within the comic book community and that children also have a relevant story to tell in the usually adult world of superheroes.
But, this is not everything there is to tell about the importance of the Power Pack stories. Namely, the comic books themselves were known for tackling serious social issues such as child abuse, homelessness, drug abuse, bullying, but also moral dilemmas such as the ethics of using excessive or lethal force in combat. This is exceptionally important because the Powers were actually children.
Of course, these comics never tackled these issues in the same way as Batman or Daredevil comics would do it, but that is actually what makes them so great. Namely, the authors managed to tackle and focus on very serious social and moral issues, issues that would usually appear in much darker and more adult-oriented comic books, and they managed to make them suitable for children.
Power Pack comics showed children how they, too, can be an important element in the betterment of our society and how darker and more serious subjects can be taught and shown to children without the fear of them misunderstanding the morale of the story.
What is the Power Pack’s legacy?
Now that I’ve covered why the original Power Pack comics are so special and what historical importance they have, I can give you a brief look into their legacy in modern pop culture.
The Power Pack characters were never mainstream superheroes like the Avengers or the X-Men, yet it has been established that they are practically as relevant as them, even more than some of their individual members. Still, they haven’t been represented in mainstream adaptations, although there have been several attempts.
The first attempt to bring the Power Pack to the silver screen happened in 1991, when a TV series was produced just after the cancellation of the original comic book series. The writers made some small changes to the setting, but most plot elements had been kept. A pilot was made, and the series was supposed to air as part of NBC’s Saturday Morning Kids block, but the broadcaster passed on the show. Fox picked up the pilot, but not a whole series; the 27-minute pilot was aired on September 28, 1991, and that is, sadly, everything people saw of the show.
Animated versions of the four Power siblings appeared, albeit in cameo roles, alongside Franklin Richards, who was an honorary member of the Power Pack in the comics, in the episode “Support Your Local Sky-Father!” of The Super Hero Squad Show. The group was also mentioned by Spider-Man as one of the “big guns” in the superhero community in the Ultimate Spider-Man, but it remains unclear whether Spidey actually referred to this Power Pack or some other group.
Also, there was a plan to bring the Power Pack to the big screen back in 2000, when Marvel Entertainment listed it as one of their 15 planned adaptations. Years later, in 2017, Marvel Studios reiterated their intentions to bring the Power Pack to the big screen and even introduce them to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU),
“Power Pack is a property that we’ve been interested in for a long time. For many years because we wanted to do something for families, something that’s a little younger, Ant-Man has kind of become that franchise, certainly with Ant-Man and the Wasp, but Power Pack still is one of the many things that we discuss, wouldn’t it be fun to do someday?”
Kevin Feige, Disney+ Streaming service
A few years on and there’s still nothing…but who knows? A recent tweet from Disney TV Animation News suggested that the Pack could be returning int heir own animated series on Disney + soon…