Like Iris being from the Future!

This got me thinking about a Very Bad Habit that turns up in superhero comics -- that being how slowly but surely, if a book is around long enough, NONE, or nearly none of the supporting cast are allowed to remain "ordinary people".

Superman was among the first to start this, of course, with Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Lana Lang and even Perry White having wild adventures, developing super powers, hanging out with aliens, etc. (When I was working on Superman, editorial compelled me to "reveal" that Perry, Jimmy or Lana was really a Manhunter agent. I chose Lana, as I was able to structure a story that did the least damage to the character.)

The X-Men are great sinners in this department. Of course, the initial premise of the book is that they are an odd bunch who tend to hang out only with themselves, but over the years -- especially once Claremont came along -- more and more was shoveled in. Scott Summers parents aren't simply dead, they were kidnapped by aliens! And now his dad is a space pirate! Betsy and Amanda, Kurt and Peter's gal pals, are "revealed" to be witches! And on and on.

Sometimes I think it's amazing that J. Jonah Jameson didn't develop super powers at some point -- altho he did, of course, take to driving the Spider-Slayer, which is something less than "ordinary".