After 85 Years, Marvel Just Gave A Classic Hero New Superpowers

Published Sep 12, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT Nicolas Ayala is a Senior Writer for the Comics team at ScreenRant, with over five years of experience writing about Superhero media, action movies, and TV shows. One Marvel hero's underrated weapon receives a major upgrade that makes it more lethal than ever before. The Avengers earn the title of Earth's Mightiest Heroes thanks to their incredible biological and artificial abilities, but they also augment their power with a huge arsenal. While individual members possess genetic mutations or mystical skills, their gear allows them to adapt to diverse scenarios, to the point that Hawkeye and Black Widow can fight shoulder to shoulder with Hulk and Thor. Heroes like Hercules and Doctor Strange, more than capable on their own, also pick up powerful ancient weapons to boost their combat. The most iconic of the Avengers' weapons are Thor's Mjolnir and Captain America's round shield, both of which tend to play a key role in the team's battles. Tony Stark's signature weapon is constantly evolving, as the Iron Man suits of armor are torn to shreds in almost every battle, before they are rebuilt and redesigned by Stark himself. Likewise, Black Panther's vibranium suits and the Ant-Men's Pym-Particle-powered gear are constantly refined, either exclusively by their owners or in collaboration with other genius Avengers, who also work together to give less powerful members their own state-of-the-art weapons and suits. Still, most of the Avengers' best weapons can be stolen or locked far away, including Thor's Mjolnir and Tony Stark's Iron Man armory. Only a select few Marvel heroes can protect their weapons until the very end, since those tools are a part of their body. Marvel Mangaverse: Arcane Avengers #1; Written By Ashley Allen; Art By Mirka Andolfo & Federico Blee Ashley Allen, Mirka Andolfo, and Federico Blee's Marvel Mangaverse: Arcane Avengers #1 reveals the connection between Web of Blood's Weapon X-Tremis and the Marvel Mangaverse's version of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The Ten Heads of Hydra, of which the Marvel Mangaverse's Taskmaster is a member, performed painful experiments on young test subjects, only some of which survived. One of these test subjects is Bucky Barnes, who develops a powerful tree-like arm that can extend, twist, and divide into branches. Bucky can't escape his tragic Winter Soldier fate in the Marvel Mangaverse, but his prosthetic arm is much stronger in this continuity. Bucky Barnes singlehandedly breaks Yokai's head by punching it with his arm in the preview pages for Marvel Mangaverse: Arcane Avengers #1, but there may be much more to it than it seems at first sight. After all, Weapon X-Tremis retains a similar version of Laura Kinney's traditional claws, but she can also sprout giant eyes all over her body. It's possible that the Arcane Avengers' Winter Soldier is also able to transform, either his arm or his entire body, into a Groot-like tree material. Bucky Barnes' Winter Soldier Arm Is An Incredibly Versatile Weapon The Winter Soldier's Prosthetic Arm Could Be As Coveted As The Super Soldier Serum The Winter Soldier's bionic arm has the potential to hold an entire arsenal of offensive features, including integrated plasma casters and electromagnetic pulse generators, or organic upgrades like the Marvel Mangaverse Winter Soldier's tree-like branches. Although Bucky Barnes rarely seeks out these upgrades due to his preference for straightforward combat, their versatility makes Bucky's prosthetic arm an incredibly lucrative asset. If a malevolent corporation chose to mass-produce this technology, enhanced appendages could be used by virtually every criminal in the Marvel Universe, instantly gaining superhuman strength and a long list of technological upgrades. Some characters are already acquainted with the concept. Misty Knight uses Stark-engineered bionic arms capable of crushing steel, and Ulysses Klaue converts his prosthetic into a sonic cannon. Others use additional appendages, like Doctor Octopus and Scorpion, who coordinate mental-linked tentacles and a tail, respectively, to overwhelm Spider-Man's superhuman reflexes. Given how seamlessly these neural-linked apparatuses integrate with human biology and how drastically they elevate a user's power, it seems entirely logical that almost every combatant in the Marvel Universe would eventually adopt some form of augmentation to stay competitive on the battlefield. Which character would you like to see reimagined in the Marvel Mangaverse? Marvel Mangaverse: Arcane Avengers #1 is available September 16 from Marvel Comics