Nemesis Kid - Powers and Abilities

Powers and Abilities

Nemesis Kid possessed the superhuman ability to spontaneously develop the powers appropriate to defeat any single opponent for the duration of the battle, though against more than one opponent his powers would either work against only one target, allow him to escape the situation via teleportation, or fail to work at all. In one recorded instance (Karate Kid #1), he displayed the ability to choose adaptations but his choices were less than successful. In all other cases, his power somehow "sensed" what would be most effective against a given opponent and generated an adaptation automatically.

Nemesis Kid never manifested any but the most basic and direct power to counter an opponent. Thus, against Superboy or Supergirl he would gain superior strength and resistance to damage, rather than the ability to emit kryptonite radiation. Against Karate Kid he gained superior fighting skill, and against Projectra he gained the ability to see through her illusions. His power only gave him the relative minimum necessary to defeat a designated opponent. Thus, while gaining Superman's strength would certainly give him the power to defeat Princess Projectra with only human-level strength, instead Nemesis Kid's power would simply give him the ability to ignore her illusions. Thus he sought out the most powerful opponent whenever possible. Nemesis Kid's powers didn't or couldn't give him complete immunity to physical harm caused by an opponent. Thus, both Superboy and Karate Kid could injure him, and Projectra was able to kill him. His power simply seemed to assure that, all things being equal and if he maintained his power, he would inevitably win.

It is not known what the upper limits of his power were, or if they could generate an adaptation powerful enough to match cosmic menaces such as the Anti-Monitor, the Monarch, Imperiex, or Mordru. While Nemesis Kid could adapt to defeat robots, it was never shown if he could adapt to defeat passive barriers such as a prison cell, spaceships and vehicle-mounted weaponry firing upon him, or an opponent at anything other than a physical level (such as defeating them at chess or outhacking them on a computer). However, despite his villainous nature, he somehow passed the Legion's customary (and undepicted) test of a candidate's good character.

Nemesis Kid was purportedly a skilled alchemist, and magic is a recognized power in the 30th century. However, he has never displayed any ability and/or interest in creating other mystical potions, or replicating the potion that gave him his abilities, so the claim may have been a cover story to disguise his power's true origin (whatever that might be). He has a passing knowledge of 30th century technology and a basic understanding of tactics and strategy.