10 Weapons That Became as Legendary as Their Characters

[Music] what's up my comic comrades over the past few years we have dropped several episodes on the most powerful weapons in comics but recently we have been having a debate around the studio about what are the most iconic weapons Beyond just Comics I'm talking about iconic weapons for movies TV and video games as well as Comics regardless of how powerful the weapon is the only thing we're considering here is how popular and universally known the fictional weapon is so we're looking for weapons that are synonymous with the characters who wield them and have essentially become a character of their own with that in mind we're going to give you the top 10 list we've narrowed it down to as of now and before we kick things off with number 10 a quick reminder that the podcast returns next week on Monday January 15th so keep an eye out for that and now on with the show are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic have you or any of your family ever seen a spook Spectre or ghost if the answer is yes then you need the weapon at number 10 on our list the Ghostbusters proton pack these positron colliders were introduced to the world in the original 1984 Ghostbusters film and are the primary and immediately recognizable weapons used by the Ghostbusters Egon Spangler Peter Venkman Winston zmore and Ray stance taso ghosts or as they call them negatively charged ectoplasmic entities they were invented by Egon and while Venkman initially referred to the packs as unlicensed nuclear accelerators they actually portable cyclotron systems that Collide high energy positrons to generate a proton being powerful enough to dissipate the psychokinetic energy of the ghosts they then fire the beam using the particle thrower called the neutrona wand you know it's technical the important thing is that the proton pack is not a toy and what we know about them has evolved and expanded quite a bit since they were first introduced in fact the Ghostbusters iconic weapon wasn't even given the name proton pack until Ghostbusters 2 when Egon used the term for the first time in the subway tunnel scene regardless since they first started busting ghosts in New York in 1984 the Ghostbusters have become a pop culture staple that has spawned numerous films cartoons comics and one of the most recognizable theme songs in film history and it's impossible to even hear the name Ghostbusters without picturing them wearing their jumpsuits and proton packs they're basically inseparable which has also made it one of the most used cosplay weapons in coveted prop Collectibles and geek Dum altogether the proton pack is easily among the most famous fictional weapons in all of Pop Culture but remember don't cross the streams it would be bad by the power of gry skull we have he-man's power sword landing at number nine this magical and epic weapon became part of the daily imagination of most young boys in the early 1980s after Mattel launched the Masters of the Universe toy line along with the He-Man and the pow sword mini comic that came with the original He-Man action figure The Power sword initially came in two pieces half with the He-man figure and the other half with the Skeletor figure and the mini comic provided the backstory explaining that the Sorceress originally called The Goddess had split the sword in two and separated the pieces to protect the castle gry skull and its source of magical power the two pieces of the sword could then be combined and used as the key to lower the jawbridge on the castle grey skull playset which was mind-blowing as a kid especially after reading the awesome story in lore that came with the action figures needless to say the Masters of the Universe toy line was a massive hit for Mattel and it only got bigger when the filmation Animated Series dropped the following year in 1983 the breakout success of this toy line cannot be overstated and by the second season of the Animated Series the merchandise had already made around half a billion in sales for Mattel which immediately put He-Man his sword of power and the rest of his Universe on the cultural influence Level of Star Wars Barbie and the like if you've never seen the Netflix series the toys that made us there's a great episode dedicated to the Masters of the Universe toy line which you should definitely check out anyway the Power sword quickly became synonimous with He-Man for an entire generation of kids and every little boy wanted one so even though He-Man and the Masters of the Universe has not stayed in the cultural Spotlight the massive imprint and left on 80s kids especially still makes it one of the most iconic weapons ever next up in the eighth slot we have the sting and andal swords from The Lord of the Rings now both of these weapons have been famous in literature since tolking released The Hobbit in 1937 and the Lord of the Rings between 1954 and 1955 but their Fame went to an entirely different level after Peter Jackson released his live action adaptations of the classic stories for the movies both of these iconic swords were brought to life in unbelievable detail by a true Master swordsmith at w a workshop and for the first time we got to see sting glow blue when Orcs and goblins were near and then the andero reforged and wielded by King Aragorn these movies have expanded what was already a massive tolking fan base to A Whole New Generation making these swords Staples in pop culture lore look at it this way if you think of billbo or Frodo you picture them holding either the one ring or the sword sting and if you think of Aragorn you picture him chopping down Orcs with the King sword tied all together and you have two weapons that deserve their place on this list at number seven we have Thor's hammer Muer Thor Hammer was an icon of Norse mythology centuries before it ever hit the pages of Marvel Comics but once Stan Lee Larry Liber and Jack Kirby incorporated into the Marvel Universe they gave Muir new life and expanded its mythology into the modern pop culture then 48 years later during a post credit scene in Ironman 2 Phil Coulson discovers munir inside of an impact crater in the New Mexico desert setting the stage for the first Thor movie in 2011 and just as the MCU has done for many characters weapons and artifacts from the Marvel Comics it rocketed Thor's hammer into one of the most recognizable and loved weapons in all of fiction in fact I would say that Muir is among the top three weapons or items of any kind in the Marvel Universe at this point the fact that it's made from the heart of a Dying star and infused with unique ASG Guardian enchantments giving munir a level of sentience also makes it one of the coolest and certainly one of the most compelling of any other weapon on this list including the fact that not just anyone could use it or even pick it up lest they be worthy to wield its incredible power which essentially makes it the Norse version of the classic Sword in the Stone story anyway Thor's hammer is is just awesome all the way around and has claimed a prominent place in our pop culture ethos when you talk about action heroes and Adventure Indiana Jones is going to come up pretty quickly and the two items that quickly became indelible Hallmarks of the character are iconic Fedora and the weapon at our number six spot his equally legendary bull whip we first see Indie wield his bull whip in the opening sequence of his very first movie Raiders of the Lost arc when he uses it to disarm a traitorous guide who tries to sneak up on him with a revolver he actually uses his whip for several purposes in the opening Temple scene as he tries to recover a golden idol from an ancient South American Temple so George Lucas and Steven Spielberg established the bull whip as ind's weapon and Tool of choice and it's been synonymous with Indiana Jones as a character ever since to the point that for many you can't see anyone with a bull whip without immediately thinking of Indiana Jones we know that George Lucas is a fan of 1930s and 40s era pulp Heroes which has led many to speculate that Lucas may have drawn inspiration from Zoro to give India bullet either way several years after Raiders we are given the fictional origin of Indies Fedora and why he wields his whip during the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade the movie opens up with a flashback of a young Indiana on a Boy Scout trip when he stumbles on a group of treasure Hunters who have found the Lost Cross of Coronado he immediately recognizes the artifact and believes it should be in a museum so he steals it and runs from the treasure Hunters they eventually chase him onto a circus train where young Indie falls into a lion's car and uses the tamer's whip to keep the big cat from turning him into lunch his first attempt at swinging the whip also gives us the origin of the scar on indie chin which was a fun ad to the character story then in the most recent indie film dial of Destiny he continues to wield his iconic whip but it's now the 1960s and everyone in their mama has a gun so this leads to a scene where Indie tries to use his whip to hold off a room full of bad guys but every one of them just pulls a gun on him at the same time it's actually a fun call back to the scene in Raiders where an evil henchman tries to bring a sword to a gunfight anyway the point here is that Indiana Jones's bull whip is without question one of the coolest and most recognizable weapons in modern pop culture now before we break into our top five let me introduce you to exter today's sponsor they recently sent us two of their Parliament wallets and it's pretty awesome check out this piece of pocket hot and it's wrapped in its environmentally certified premium leather exter's premium leather Parliament wallets holds up to 12 cards and bills but is still super slim while giving me quick card access the built-in aluminum card holder fans out your cards at the click of a button and protects them against RFID skimming better known as Wireless theft not to mention it comes in six different colors another one of my favorite options is their tracker card this add-on can be placed with your wallet so you could track it using a worldwide lost and found Network should it get away from you the tracker is also solar charged and voice activated using Siri Alexa or Google and is the size of a credit card right now exter is running a killer New Year sale until January 24th so check them out before the deal is gone at number five is a weapon that really doesn't need much introduction or explanation at this point in fact some of you will likely argue that it should be higher on our list because of it its prominence in pop culture over the past decade and that is The Infinity Gauntlet the insanely powerful Infinity Gauntlet which consolidates the power of the six Infinity Stones or infinity gems as they're called in the comics and channels it into one Universe commanding weapon was first introduced in the 1990 Marvel limited series The Thanos Quest this of course was the setup for the 1991 Infinity Gauntlet story that inspired the entire first decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe this all powerful Gauntlet in the hands of Thanos one of the greatest villains in cinematic history became the center point for one of the biggest and longest running pop culture phenomenons of all time so between the popularity of The Infinity Gauntlet story in Marvel Comics and the impact it made once it was carried over to live action with the MCU The Infinity Gauntlet has reached the upper deck of cultural awareness and popularity around the world easily earning a top five spot now speaking of cultural phenomenons in 1997 a new children's book called Harry Potter in the philosopher stone written by little known author JK Rawling hit bookshelves in the United Kingdom introducing Young readers to the story about a boy wizard for the very first time the book was an immediate hit which led to it being published in the US a year later under the title Harry Potter in the sorcerer Stone sparking a worldwide cultural obsession with the Wizarding World the mythology and lore that Rin created runs deep so of course there are many relics artifacts and weapons but the one must have weapon of any good Wizard or Witch is their wand in fact especially once the widely successful books became equally successful movies they basically made the wand synonymous with being a wizard you just have to get one to earn the title like a write of Passage and while there are countless wands the most notable and Central wand in The Wizarding World is the weapon taking our number four spot and that is the Elder Wand created by death as one of the three magical objects called The Deathly Hollows As Told in the tale of the Three Brothers the Elder Wand is the most powerful wand in existence which is why Voldemort wanted to get his hands on it well to everyone's surpris it turned out that Albus Dumbledore was the master of the Elder W the whole time at least during the Harry Potter timeline because he actually won Mastery of it by defeating grenald in a duel in 1945 but the point is much like The Infinity Gauntlet in the mcu's infinity Saga the Elder Wand became the Central and most coveted weapon in the Wizarding World and whoever gained control of it believe they could claim ultimate power as a result the Elder Wand specifically the design created for the Harry Potter films is the first wand that comes to mind when you think about iconic wands in that world and as the most powerful and iconic wand in a franchise that birthed a massive Global fandom big enough to generate immersive theme park experiences yearly conventions countless fan websites and much more the forest might not even be doing it justice the only reason it's not higher on our list is because there are other popular wands from the Harry Potter stories as well including Harry's Original wand which he actually goes back to at the end of the Deathly Hollows after winning the Elder Wand from Draco Malfoy and eventually deciding to return it to Dumbledore's grave unlike in the movie where he bizarrely and impulsively snaps it in half and throws it off a bridge anyway we'll leave that for another day on to number three at number three is a true American Icon and that is Captain America Shield this star spangled Shield turned assault weapon has transcended into a legendary symbol at the level of Superman's Crest and the bat signal it's a symbol of Hope for those on the side of justice and a symbol of fear for those seeking to go the other way I know it sounds crazy but it's true especially after the MCU turned cap into a household name for a whole new era cap shield first appeared in Captain America comics issue 1 in 1941 and it has evolved and gone through several Transformations since but regardless of its shape or design pattern it has consistently remained a recognizable icon for the hero who wields it in addition to protecting Captain Rogers and being used to keep Thor and Iron Man from killing each other cap Shield has become a central symbol for the Avengers and even the MCU in general then in 2018 The Shield used by Chris Evans was added to the Smithsonian for preservation that alone should tell you how iconic and symbolic the shield and weapon has become and why we placed it in our top three runner up on our list is the batang that's right this iconic movie and comic weapon has had more comic movie animated and TV appearances than any other character or weapon on this list and it's not even close Batman has an array of different batter rangs but they all mainly serve as Batman's signature offensive Weapon It's essentially his version of the ninja star in general Batman is known for his gadgets most of which are stored in his utility belt but Batman's batang is easily the most iconic only rivaled by the grapple gun over the years we've seen countless iterations of his bangs across Comics movies games and so on but the batarang from the 1989 Batman movie The batarang used by chrisan Bale Batman and the batarang from the Arkham games are probably the three most recognizable versions at this point regardless the batarang has become one of the longest lasting iconic weapons of pop culture and has to be toward the top of anyone's list taking the top spot is the lightsaber why because for the majority of you when you read the title of this video the first weapon that popped into your head was likely the lightsaber well there's a good reason for that since George Lucas first introduced the world to this battle weapon of choice for both Jedi and Sith alike in Star Wars and New Hope it has become a prominent fixture of pop culture for people of all ages in fact Lucas did such an incredible job solidifying the lore and mythology around the lightsaber that we immediately associate different colored lightsabers with the light or dark side of the force in the Star Wars Universe like blue and green for Jedi and red for Cy I mean even the sound of the lightsaber is famous it's just become that universally adopted and ingrained in our Collective awareness it's kind of crazy actually now the first lightsaber ever shown on screen was Anakin Skywalker's blue lightsaber from his time as a Jedi Knight when Obi-Wan Kenobi gave it to his son Luke later in a new hope we saw Darth Vader use his red lightsaber for the first time during his Final Duel against Obi-Wan since then we have been introduced to countless iterations of the lightsaber but there are a few clear standout fan favorites including Darth Maul's double-bladed lightsaber Luke Skywalker's green lightsaber Darth Vader's red lightsaber the spinning lightsabers of the inquisitors Ahsoka tunnel's dual white lightsabers Revan duel red and purple lightsabers and the now legendary dark saber and of course the hero blade for the entire Star Wars Skywalker Arc the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker I could go on but regardless of which lightsaber is your favorite the important Point here is that you have a favorite we all do which is why it's sitting at number one and undoubtedly the most iconic weapon in all of Pop Culture now that wraps up our top 10 list but there are several insanely iconic fictional weapons that didn't make the cut and need honorable mentions starting with Iron Man's armor this nearly made the list as there are serious Arguments for it but it just missed for several reasons most notably the fact that it's a mech suit and it needs to be in a separate category next we have the Star Trek phaser which is another one that was hard to leave off our list because of its long-standing place in pop culture then there's the master sword from Zelda Wolverine's claws hellboy's Good Samaritan gun RoboCop's auto9 Conan The Barbarians Atlantean sword the identity disc from Tron Freddy Krueger's bladed glove the m41 a pulse rifle from the alien franchise the noisy cricket from Men In Black and James Bond's Walter PPK all of those are massively iconic in their own right so you could see why this was a tough list to assemble who knows we might need to do a part two on this topic but now it's your turn let us know what your thoughts are on this list and how yours would shake down in the comments other than that we'll see you next time when we talk about all things [Music] comics

Channel: Variant Comics

Views: 31,836

Keywords: Most powerful comic book weapons, Famous movie weapons, Iconic movie weapons, Iconic comic book weapons, Top video game weapons, Lightsabers, Iron Man armor, Ghostbusters proton pack, Indiana Jones, Batman, Batarangs, Noisy cricket, Robocop, marvel, dc comics, movies, gaming

Id: nfiFoaO8Fy8

Length: 16min 22sec (982 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 10 2024