Powers and Abilities
In most of his stories, Jonah Hex displays no supernatural or superhuman powers. However, he does possess some exceptional abilities, acquired through a combination of talent and training.
Despite being blind in his right eye, Hex is an outstanding marksman who rarely misses his target. He is extremely fast on the draw and can be seen in many stories gunning down multiple foes before any of them can get off a shot. He can wield two guns, one in each hand, with equal proficiency. He is also a resourceful combatant, often relying on stealth, tricks, and improvised weapons and traps to defeat enemies. Hex was taught to shoot by the legendary gunslinger Windy Taylor. His reflexes are strong enough that he has proven to be faster on the draw than both Wild Bill Hickok and Batman. Hex became an expert at driving various motor vehicles during his time in the 21st Century.
In the DC Universe, he is known as having almost superhuman ability and marksmanship with 19th-century weapons, mostly revolvers. After Jonah Hex is transported to the future in Hex, he acquires a pair of Ruger Blackhawk .357 Magnums. He chooses these because they are single action revolvers like he used in the Wild West, but he still manages to outshoot everybody armed with more modern weaponry.
Hex is an exceptional tracker, able to follow trails several days old through rain and mud in spite of his quarry's best efforts to cover their tracks. Hex often displays a keen danger sense which warns him of ambushes and traps. This is not a supernatural ability: it is simply an instinct honed through years of experience in battle and hunting dangerous foes. Hex is also extremely tough and has been known to continue fighting even after suffering torture or severe injury.
Jonah Hex has a reputation throughout the West as a ruthless and prolific killer, but like Batman, he is bound by a personal code of honor to protect and avenge the innocent. On many occasions, his reputation by itself has proven enough to deter potential foes. Knowing that the infamous Jonah Hex is pursuing them often unnerves Hex's targets so badly that they make fatal mistakes, such as wasting ammunition, falling into traps, or turning and engaging Hex in a desperate stand-off.
In Superman/Batman #16, when Batman & Superman have ended up being catapulted through various earths after a conflict with Darkseid, they ended up meeting Hex and other Western superheroes. While Superman was attending to Batman's wounds, Jonah ambushed him and manages to kill Superman using Kryptonite bullets, and blowing his head off in the end. Although Superman wasn't really killed, it was heavily implied because in that story arc, the only way for Superman and Batman to be transported to another dimension is for them to be killed.
Jonah Hex has, in many times, met and fought Batman. In Superman/Batman #16, Hex defeats Batman in hand-to-hand combat. In Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, Hex and Batman faces off in a showdown. Even though being skilled in throwing batarangs and disarming gunmen, Batman was still outdrawn by Hex, and Hex shoots him in the gut.
In the live action movie, he was able to raise the dead and force them to speak truthfully, a power he never possessed in the comics.
Read more about this topic: Jonah Hex
Famous quotes containing the words powers and/or abilities:
“The poet is the person in whom these powers are in balance, the man without impediment, who sees and handles that which others dream of, traverses the whole scale of experience, and is representative of man, in virtue of being the largest power to receive and to impart.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Who can measure the advantages that would result if the magnificent abilities of these women could be devoted to the needs of government, society and home, instead of being consumed in the struggle to obtain their birthright of individual freedom? Until this be gained we can never know, we can not even prophesy the capacity and power of women for the uplifting of humanity.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)