Mirror Man - powers

[dans]

Mirror Man had a pretty long run in Tip Top Comics. He started off as a super hero and after World War II started he retired his powers and became a soldier. His powers are sort of confusing...

With his magical costume on he could step into and through a mirror and come out the back invisible. (He glowed with a pale blue light that was pretty much invisible to most people in daylight). He remained invisible and partially intangible until he stepped into the back of a mirror and came out the front as a normal human. His intangibility was the confusing part...

He could pass through transparent or highly reflective surfaces - so for example, he could walk through a plate glass window or though a mirrored surface to the other site. He was intangible to bullets and physical attacks, so nobody could punch him, for example. But... he couldn't pass through walls, and an open window set with bars blocked him. And he could definitely punch bad guys out or drive cars.

His costume seemed to make him stronger than a normal human; he was able to knock a door out of its frame with a single punch. And while he was invisible, he healed very quickly, a bullet wound to the shoulder in maybe 10 minutes.

So how is it that he could punch bad guys but their punches passed through him, or he could fire a gun, but a bullet fired at him passed through him? Any thoughts about how to explain these discrepancies?

[dans]

He's rich, got his own plane, skilled pilot, skilled driver, likely was a championship gymnast as a kid, and has a faithful very large Oriental servant named Sa Gu. Lives in a penthouse. And got his powers and some special training in Tibet after he saved the life of the High Lama. There were a few issues where they tried to turn him into the Green Lama, and a fairly long sequence when he would sometimes go more than a whole story without using his powers.

[johnreiter902]

Most characters who can become intangible have fine control over it. They can make parts of their bodies (like their hands) solid while the rest of them are intangible.

[dans]

Well, his costume IS mystical, so the powers it grants don't have to be consistent - perhaps the magic has the mandate to project him from impacts with the normal world that would injure him. I think I'm going to go with speed of impact plus his conscious intent as the determining factor in being intangible - he is intangible to anything that would impact him with relative velocity delta of >15 kph faster (or slower) than he is moving. ( | ΔV | ≥ 15 kph ). And the magic can sense his intent, so if he deliberately tries to hit something he will remain tangible. He might be able to throw a punch faster than 15 kph and intangible punches wouldn't do him much good!

So his limitations are:

• when not invisible, he's a normal human, although if he is wearing his costume, his strength is enhanced (probably about as strong as 3 men)
  
• he must pass through a reflective surface (usually a mirror) from front to back while wearing his costume to activate his power, and he must pass through a mirror from back to front while wearing his costume to return to normal
• his costume provides him the ability to enter and exit mirrors; without his costume he cannot pass through mirrors in either direction
  
• if he removes his costume while his powers are active, he would be stuck being invisible until he put his costume on and passed through a mirror
  
• he can activate his power via a two-way mirror (or any other reflecting surface large enough) but he must pass through the back of a one-way mirror to return to normal
  
• he can't use just any mirror; the mirror must be large enough for him to fit through (so he can't just carry a hand mirror with him)
• when his powers are active, anything he is wearing or small things he is carrying become invisible as well, so he can't put on clothes and makeup or even wrap himself in mummy cloth so that the people around him can see him. 

I think I'm going to add some more details to his origin story and post in the multi-verse section...