Raquel Ervin/Rocket is one of Milestone Media‘s most powerful young heroes. Yet a fight scene in the final issue of Icon vs. Hardware revealed a new ability which makes her more powerful than ever.
Icon vs. Hardware #5 by Reginald Hudlin, Leon Chills, Yasmin Flores Montqanez, and Denys Cowan, opened with Rocket under attack. The mothers of the mean girls at her school paid for a Q Juice treatment to give them superpowers. Thankfully, while Rocket was outnumbered, she was not outclassed by the “Super-Karens.” More, their coordinated fire and ice attacks led to Rocket discovering a new power of her own.
Rocket can absorb and reflect elemental attacks
Rocket’s powers come from her Inertia Belt, which was built for her by her partner, Icon. The belt absorbs and stores any form of kinetic energy directed at Raquel. She can then reroute this energy, enhancing her own strength, throwing force blasts, and generating force fields. The belt also enables her to fly.
Rocket had always believed her inertia field could only protect her from physical force. However, the mothers’ attempt to freeze and roast her proved the belt could also absorb elemental attacks and reflect them. This realization allowed Rocket to end the fight even faster.
This new ability is somewhat limited. While it does open Rocket’s avenues for attack considerably, it is also dependent upon her facing Bang Babies with elemental powers. Another problem is most metahumans with elemental powers are immune to the effects of their own abilities. This means that Rocket can’t throw ice back at a cryomancer and expect much to happen.
Even with these limits, Rocket’s new power is notable. While absorbing elemental energies may offer limited combat benefits, it does mean there’s a wider variety of attacks she can absorb safely. That’s is incredibly useful, given how frequently she takes on the task of crowd control, and protecting innocent bystanders with her inertial field.
Icon vs. Hardware #5 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
