History ReedRichardsIsUseless / MarvelUniverse

* In ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'', none of Marvel's brains can prevent Aunt May's death from a simple bullet wound (or remember the things which have healed much worse injuries). Including ComicBook/DoctorStrange, who (totally removed from his ability to alter the fabric of the universe at will, being the Sorcerer Supreme), is a ''neurosurgeon.'' Enter Characters/{{M|arvelComicsDemons}}ephisto. And at the end of Creator/JossWhedon's run on ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'', Cyclops said that he had contacted Reed, [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]] and the other brain trust members, who were unable to rescue Kitty from the giant bullet. In both cases, the writer wanted to set up a specific plot resolution which wouldn't have been possible if Reed Richards (and the other brains) weren't useless.
* Guardian (James Hudson) of ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'' was originally a petrochemical engineer who developed his exoskeleton for mining purposes. Once he learned that his boss intended to sell his invention to the American military to be used as a weapon, he proceeded to destroy the plans, steal the prototype, and keep the control helmet for himself, as he'd created it at university. Hudson is then able to get the Canadian government on his side, and he went to work for the Ministry of Defense, leading to the creation of Alpha Flight.
* A nonsensical attempt to justify this trope was given in ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Amazing Spider-Man]] #698''. The titular character (actually [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan Otto Octavius in Peter Parker's body]]) was with the Fantastic Four in an alien world. Spider-Man says how this world's super-science gives him plenty of things to invent for his job at Horizon Labs. Reed Richards says that Earth's science must advance at its own, natural rate (whatever that means).
* In one story of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', a group of Avengers enter a secret U.S. government facility in search for answers towards a [[SyntheticPlague mysterious contagion]] that started in Mount Rushmore. As they're looking through computers, [[ComicBook/AntMan Scott Lang]] finds out that only a few scientists knew the truth of what they were making, that the others thought they were making a cure for HIV and he sadly laments that, with so much money poured into it, they could have.
* During the Creator/BrianBendis run of ''The Avengers'', Marvel Boy was recruited into the team and used his knowledge of advanced Kree science to create a functioning time machine. When Iron Man offered to set him up with a Stark Industries lab in order to create more inventions, Marvel Boy declined, saying that mankind would destroy itself if given advanced technology that it didn't "earn" first.
* In ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' humanity has so many inventions and resources that it could easily become a galactic empire, but it doesn't because Immortus, GuardianOfTheMultiverse, subtly influences everybody so that Earth remains at its present state.
* The first arc of ''Avengers Assemble'' has the ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy explaining that were it not for the constant string of global crisis and superhuman-related catastrophes, Earth would be a much more advanced civilization. In effect, the superhero/supervillain dichotomy keeps humanity from reaching its true potential.
* Toyed with in ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', where the Phoenix-powered Phoenix Five use their powers to make the world a better place by ending war, starvation, disease, etc. However, the Phoenix Five eventually let the power get to their heads, and their fellow mutants ultimately turn on them. Furthermore, the Phoenix Five grow increasingly naïve, such as Colossus, in wanting to make lives better for the whales, endows them with the ability to walk on land (forgetting that these sea mammals cannot breathe outside of water). Meanwhile, the members of ComicBook/TheIlluminati (which contains people like Reed Richards and [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]]) justify not getting involved in the conflict by stating that the X-Men might be right, and thus helping the Avengers defeat them could prevent a whole lot of good from being done.
* The presence of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/{{The Invaders|MarvelComics}} didn't make UsefulNotes/WorldWarII turn out any differently, even though the Invaders routinely decimated Axis forces. Nowadays, it's assumed that those super-heroes mostly served to cancel out the efforts of the equally fantastic [[Characters/MarvelComicsRedSkull Red Skull]] and other Axis supervillains, resulting in a war that played out exactly as though neither of them had existed. Later on in the Marvel Universe, it was implied that the US did not use any superhuman soldiers in real-world wars, out of threat of retaliation from other nations' superhuman forces. However, it is worth mentioning that in the original run of ''The Invaders'', [[FictionalizedDeathAccount the Human Torch is shown to have burned Adolf Hitler alive]], with the real-life account of his death (suicide) being a fabrication that the dying Hitler tells his aide to spread. (It remains unclear why the Torch's own account isn't accepted.) In ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', [[Characters/MarvelComicsBuckyBarnes Bucky]] (the Captain America at the time) contradicts this, claiming that ''he'' killed Hitler -- the circumstances and consequences of this are never elaborated on.
** One of the biggest examples of this trope in the Marvel Universe if not superhero comics in general is the original Human Torch, a sentient superpowered android ([[ArtificialHuman made up of synthetic flesh]]) created in 1939 America. Never mind the countless scientific advances needed to create such a being, his creation had 'no'' apparent effect on the fields of genetic engineering and synthetic biology, in which he would be a major breakthrough.

* During the ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' storyline, [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]] reveals that he has the CureForCancer, too. Except he decides to use it on ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}[[note]]Since curing Deadpool's cancer would cause his HealingFactor to go out of control and kill him.[[/note]] after the Merc with a Mouth goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge over Osborn stealing his thunder at the end of ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion2008''.
* Back in the '90s, [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doctor Octopus]] attempted to cure the AIDS virus to save a former flame. However, ComicBook/SpiderMan thought he was trying to turn it into a superweapon after he stole a few vials of it. Octavius is able to hold off Spidey until his tests are complete, but when he finds out that they were a failure, he heartbreakingly shuts down and allows his defeat, befuddling Spidey immensely.
* Before he became the Sorcerer Supreme, ComicBook/DoctorStrange was a brilliant yet arrogant neurosurgeon. When one charity approached him to help them cure a disease, Dr. Strange refused as there was little if any money involved.
* The {{Trope Namer|s}} is Reed Richards, better known as Mister Fantastic, leader of the ComicBook/FantasticFour. A certified super-genius and one of the smartest people in the whole universe, he regularly invents mind-bending devices that tell physics where to shove it, but almost never devotes his considerable talents to anything other than superheroics. While Marvel has attempted to justify his lack of [[BuffySpeak world-changiness]] in various ways, including that his inventions are too expensive and that nobody else can understand them, the real reason is that allowing him to make a real difference would make the world far too different to reality. The justification being used in Creator/JonathanHickman's run on ''Fantastic Four'' and ''ComicBook/{{FF}}'' and by Creator/BrianMichaelBendis in the ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' universe, is that it's his family which prevents Reed from putting all his efforts into changing the world. He has to choose between being a loving father and husband and devoting himself to advancing humanity (although why Reed can't take a middle ground has yet to be explained). It's implied that the world is ''lucky'' when Reed takes the first option since, if he doesn't or if things don't work out between him and Sue, he becomes a KnightTemplar (Hickman's books) or full-on villain (the ''Ultimate'' 'verse).

** Characters/DoctorDoom has a healing ray machine that can regenerate full-body third-degree-burn patients to full health in a day. Being the bad guy, he hasn't released it. But Reed hasn't even tried to duplicate or reverse-engineer that project... and Reed not only knows about the device (it appeared in ''Fantastic Four vs. X-Men'') Reed's had possession of Doom's castle at least twice since that story arc. This gizmo appears to have been derived from [[ComicBook/SecretWars1984 Battleworld]] technologies that can revive people to full health so long as any remote spark of life still exists in their body, which makes the lack of creation of similar technology by Richards look even worse by comparison.

** In Creator/JohnByrne's original run, it was a RunningGag that someone would suggest to Reed some solution to a mundane problem, only for Reed to reply with some variant of "What makes you think I didn't try?" In one issue, Sue idly suggests it'd be nice if there was a laundry detergent that could clean, soften and dry in one cycle. Reed states he actually had created such a product, but he couldn't get it to work without adding phosphorous (an environmental pollutant).
* Tony Stark (a.k.a. ComicBook/IronMan) is, depending on the invention, one of the more {{justified|Trope}} versions of the trope. Regarding his [[PoweredArmor signature invention]], he constantly has to struggle between the potential good of releasing or mass-producing his Iron Man suit and all the related technological advancements behind it for the good of the world, with the potential harm it would do if all the supervillains out in the world reverse-engineered it and turned it on its head. (The ''ComicBook/ArmorWars'' storyline actually dealt with the ramifications of the latter.) Several ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' stories have dealt with the trade-off and it rarely is as much of a HandWave as with most heroes capable of producing such revolutionary inventions. Although, when the series started in the sixties, technology still used transistors and vacuum tubes. Iron Man's armor worked with a set of miniaturized transistors. What is a set of miniaturized transistors? A microchip. We owe modern computers, cellphones, and almost all the electronics that we have now to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kilby Jack Kilby]]... er... Tony Stark.

** In ''Incredible Hulk'' #420, the Hulk is reunited with Jim Wilson, one of his old traveling companions who is now dying of AIDS. Bruce attempts to use his connections with the Pantheon to use an experimental drug they're making, but the doctor there refuses because it's not ready for humans. Jim, then, begs Bruce for a blood transfusion, but Bruce isn't sure if he should. [[spoiler:He doesn't and Bruce laments that he should have]].

* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''ComicBook/XMen2019''; the mutants were able to leverage pharmaceutical and technological trade into being a globally recognized nation (outside of a few holdouts like Russia) and upending the old world order. Mutants have also become immortal through BrainUploading technology that [[TheGrimReaper Death itself]] [[TheDeathOfDeath was in danger of dying]] in ''ComicBook/JaneFosterValkyrie''.
* Originally, the Legacy Virus (a disease [[SyntheticPlague specifically engineered to exterminate mutants]]) was created by writers as an analogy to the AIDS virus (which, according to a real-world conspiracy theory, was designed to exterminate homosexuals/drug users/people of African decent/communists/liberals/criminals/veterans/whatever else). The Legacy Virus was going to remain uncured until a real-life cure for AIDS was discovered. However, numerous fans complained that the inability of Marvel's super-geniuses to cure the Legacy Virus made them look incompetent, and Marvel decided to go back on its original decision, and instead ended the virus by having Colossus pull a HeroicSacrifice to release a airborne cure ([[DeathIsCheap he eventually got better]]).
* ''ComicBook/MsMarvel2014'':

* In ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' # 9, some [[Characters/MarvelComicsAIM A.I.M.]] agents stole some of ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s blood to manufacture bio-weapons. Iron Man then replied, "Do you realize how far we would advance as a technological species if we didn't [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed have to put up with this every ten minutes]]?"
* In the {{short|Runners}}-lived ''ComicBook/NFLSuperpro'', the protagonist's armor was designed to be the safest and most durable football uniform ever built. When [=SuperPro=] points this out to the suit's creator, he explains that the super-strong materials needed to make it cost millions of dollars, [[AwesomeButImpractical making it totally impractical for mass production]].
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'', Silver Samurai reveals that he possesses high-tech nanites that allow him to survive seemingly-fatal injuries. He then casually mentions that actually producing the nanites is far too expensive to market the tech to the public.
* In ''ComicBook/AvengersOfTheWastelands'', which is set in [[ComicBook/TheWastelands the same world]] as ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'', Dr. Doom has cured individuals of all kinds of bizarre sci-fi maladies and created various technological wonders like time machines, but he can't cure his own terminal cancer.
* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8k-PHnfIe8 this video interview with]] Creator/GarthEnnis, the author says that one of the advantages of writing [[ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} Nick Fury]] or ComicBook/ThePunisher for [[Creator/MarvelMAX the MAX line]] (separate from the regular Marvel Universe), is that if you have incredibly powerful super-beings then it makes many of the wars and events of the real world look unnecessary.
* Zig-zagged in the 2020 ''ComicBook/PowerPack'' miniseries. The underage heroes' official adult mentor points out to them that their powers might be useful fighting crime, but all of them would be even more useful as pollution-free means of generating large amounts of electricity. Then it turns out that their mentor was actually the supervillain the Wizard, and that his mechanisms were leaching their powers to empower him. However, after the Wizard is defeated and they get their powers back, they genuinely do use them to generate electricity for the general public in the ways that he suggested.
* Project Pegasus, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy devoted to discovering alternative energy resources, has a method of converting solid radioactive waste into harmless material. This invention alone should revolutionize nuclear power and earn billions of dollars. The ramifications of such technology among the world has yet to be explored.

* The ComicBook/SquadronSupreme of Earth-712 did try to remake their world into a utopia with their powers and technology. The end result was a totalitarian dystopia, and the battle that finally forced the Squadron to acknowledge this resulted in the deaths of several members, as well as the deaths of some of those who fought against them.
* In the case of [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] and other characters with WeatherManipulation powers, it's been suggested that continual use of their powers would destabilize weather patterns (as demonstrated in one battle between the X-Men and ComicBook/AlphaFlight where Shaman's blizzard spell wreaked havoc on the weather cycle). Most weather controllers aren't creating weather out of nothingness, they're manipulating the existing environment, and drawing resources such as airborne moisture towards one location simply draws those resources away from other areas in need.
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'', the VigilanteMan Cardiac breaks into the Boneyard, the warehouse where the confiscated weapons and gadgets of supervillains are stored. While searching for a specific item, Cardiac angrily states that all this technology should be out there making the world a better place, not wasting away on shelves. However, at one point one of Spidey's co-workers at Horizon Labs is concerned about all the time being spent on developing new weapons, and Spidey provides a list of all the revolutionary civilian applications his weapons offer, leaving the co-worker astonished.
* {{Invoked|Trope}} in ''ComicBook/TheUnstoppableWasp''. When Nadia is in the throes of her first [[TheMadnessPlace major mania episode]], she starts writing notes down concerning people she knows, particularly her friends within G.I.R.L.. When one of those girls, Taina, catches sight of a note wanting to fix her cerebral palsy, she's furious that she thinks she really wants to "fix" that as that's a part of her and she has no right on what she should or shouldn't fix. It takes about a week and Nadia seeking help for the young heroine to confront Taina and admit that that wasn't her at all, but her bipolar disorder talking. After admitting she also wanted to try to fix her bipolar disorder as well under that drive, Taina calms down considerably and reaccepts Nadia's friendship.
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'':
** The fictional African nation of Wakanda is, due to a surreptitious abundance of {{Unobtainium}} as a natural resource, [[{{Afrofuturism}} more advanced than even first world nations]]. This does not extend to any other part of Africa we see, though this is probably why writers don't show it very much, although to their credit from fairly early on they attempted to {{justif|iedTrope}}y it by having the Wakandans have a policy of isolation that goes back centuries, due to a belief that TheWorldIsNotReady and would only use their tech for evil. Fair, but that doesn't explain why they refuse to share non-harmful inventions. For example, the Wakandans have also [[CureForCancer cured cancer]] but are holding out on the rest of the world; when [[ComicBook/TheDeathOfCaptainMarvel Captain Marvel was dying of cancer]], the Wakandan King was there and said he could do nothing due to the long-term effects of Mar-Vell's nega-bands... but that still doesn't explain why Wakanda withholds its cancer cures from the rest of the world. During Creator/GeoffJohns' ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' run, Black Panther and Iron Man were seen signing documents to allow portions of their tech to be shared with the world for the betterment of mankind; [[AbortedArc nothing ever came of this]], [[StatusQuoIsGod and the documents were never mentioned again]].
** Regarding the cancer thing, the council discussing notes that if the rest of Earth really wanted to deal with cancer, they wouldn't sell items with carcinogens or something of the like. So, they may think that the rest of the world could actually develop things like a cancer cure if they wanted to (at least regarding the macro-level.) Additionally, the reveal they did have a cure came a decade after Mar-Vell's death (and whether it would've worked in him, given he's an alien, especially a genetically-modified super-soldier). Of course, the fact that many kinds of cancer come from a multitude of sources including dumb luck (Sunlight can cause cancer after all) or even occupational is never brought up, which only raises further questions as to the extent of Wakandan science.
** It's eventually revealed that Wakanda has a galactic empire of their own. Meanwhile, many parts of the Marvel Earth would be awestruck at seeing a toilet for the first time.
* This premise is partly explained by [[AllPowerfulBystander the Watchers]]' intention to [[AlienNonInterferenceClause not interfere in the affairs of other races]]. Their first attempt to help others involved them sharing their knowledge of the atom with a less advanced alien race. While most of the aliens used their newfound knowledge of nuclear energy for peace, some used it to create destructive nuclear weapons which led to a massive atomic war and then to an attack on a neighboring planet whose inhabitants managed to retaliate with their own nuclear missiles, leaving both worlds devastated and both civilizations in ruins, with a surviving member of the first race blaming the Watchers for giving them the knowledge before they were ready for it. This led the Watchers to being non-interventionists.
* Over the years, dozens of supervillains and government agencies have invented {{Power Nullifier}}s that essentially allow them to turn superpowers on and off with a flick of a switch. At no point does anybody suggest using this technology to help the many Marvel characters suffering from crippling PowerIncontinence. Especially noticeable in ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'', where the Mutant Response Division has developed collars which suppress all mutant powers. Despite the series including characters like [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] and Rogue, two of the most iconic examples of "I can't turn my powers off", nobody even suggests stealing a few and either picking the locks, or modifying/streamlining the devices so the users could take them off at will. To be fair, Rogue herself has used similar devices at certain points, most recently during her marriage to Gambit. The implications are that most of those devices aren't that viable for everyday use, and thus are only brought up on specific occasions.
* Unlike Oracle, no-one wonders why ''ComicBook/XMen'''s [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]] is still in a wheelchair. This is because he doesn't seem to really ''care''. He was [[BodyBackupDrive moved to a healthy clone body]] under highly unusual circumstances, but his spine was broken later. Originally, Professor X used his telepathy to prevent himself from feeling pain coming from his injured legs. This in turn, caused his clone body to receive the same injury. He hasn't been in a wheelchair for years, thanks to a combination of BlessedWithSuck and CursedWithAwesome.
* In ''X-Men Legacy'' #242, Hellion, angrily, invokes this trope when, after witnessing many incredible events during his run with the X-Men, they are just trying to replace his lost hands with [[ArtificialLimbs robotic hands]] instead of finding a way to [[CloningBodyParts grow new ones]] for him.
-->'''Hellion:''' Seriously. [[DeathIsCheap We bring people back from the dead]]. FROM THE DEAD! So how hard can a pair of hands be?
* Averted in ''Big Town'', an AlternateUniverse miniseries where Reed Richards actually did release all his technology for civilian use, rapidly turning New York City into a techno-utopia. He also finds a way to replicate the accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers, so anyone who wants to can be a superhero. However, while he has vastly improved the average quality of life, he can't fix underlying societal problems so crime, poverty and violence still exist.

!!ComicBook/UltimateMarvel:
The trope was both {{averted|Trope}} '''and''' played straight, according to circumstances. That's because Reed Richards is usually useless in universes with steady and ongoing publications with no defined closing date; and he's usually {{a|lternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome}}wesome in alternate universes. Ultimate Marvel is a rare case of an alternate universe with ongoing publications during 15 real-world years.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Before Professor X and Magneto founded the X-Men, they offered their mutants to help government/industry solve numerous problems (i.e., the energy crisis, ending world hunger etc.). Government/industry declines the offer, not wanting to upset the status quo.
* Upheld with the lack of superhuman involvement in political affairs. When the Ultimates assisted the US government in the overthrow of a rogue Middle Eastern regime in ''ComicBook/TheUltimates2'', it resulted in an invasion force of a Chinese/Russian superhuman task force against the USA.
* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' with Reed Richards himself; the governmental think-tank he belongs to keeps him focused predominantly on military technology and restrains release of his successful creations. The frustration at not being able to change the world despite knowing his technology could provide incredible advances to humanity eventually drives Reed ''insane''. So insane that he takes up the mantle of the now-deceased Ultimate Doctor Doom and becomes a supervillain known as the Maker, whose actions lead to the annihilation of [[spoiler:Germany and Asgard]]. Furthermore, Reed then [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans tried to turn Earth into a utopia]] with plans including distributing free energy, the sentient seed, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick blowing up the Iranian Parliament]]. After that, he turns into a multiversal scale menace, reappearing in ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' and ''ComicBook/TheUltimates2015''.
* Upheld in the ''Hunger'' mini-series, where Captain Marvel, right before he can give final approval for NASA's human colonization of Mars, is distracted by the arrival of [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] (the Earth-616 version).
* Tyrone Cash, who perfected the Hulk serum so that the user does not lose his intellect when hulking out, was called out on this by both Nick Fury ''and'' War Machine. He could have used his genius to help the government in the [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke superhuman arms race]] or even turned his refined Hulk formula towards the greater good in medicine. Instead, he operates in a third-world country living a ''Film/{{Scarface|1983}}''-inspired life. [[ItsAllAboutMe And that's how he likes it]].

** In Creator/JohnByrne's original run, it was a RunningGag that someone would suggest to Reed some solution to a mundane problem, only for Reed to reply with some variant of "What makes you think I didn't try?" In one issue, Sue idly suggests it'd be nice if there was a laundry detergent that could clean, soften and dry in one cycle. Reed states he actually had created such a product, but it but he couldn't get it to work without adding phosphorous (an environmental pollutant).

** The graphic novel ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfCaptainMarvel'' [[LampshadeHanging hung a lampshade on this]] by claiming that every (mortal) sentient race has a disease similar to cancer, and many of the races had already found [[CureForCancer a cure for their race's version of the disease]]. Furthermore, when Rick Jones appeals to the superheroes who are scientists and doctors to find a cure for Mar-Vell's cancer, they find themselves uncomfortably realizing they could have made this kind of effort beforehand for others. The superheroes do manage to develop a tunic that slows down Captain Marvel's cancer by 20%, although no explanation is made if they developed a similar device for humans. There is a HandWave that this was a special, magical cancer, so research on it is not necessarily helpful for normal medicine.

* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''ComicBook/CaptainMarvelTheEnd''. Set after a mysterious alien invasion had slaughtered most of the heroes, including Thor, humanity launched nukes globally. The surviving superheroes were able to use their powers to get to X Mansion and make a survivable habitat there: Armor used her force-field to shield their home from radiation and incoming attacks for over a year, Spider-Woman's radiation immunity allowed her to scavenge supplies, Magneto (though it cost him his life) made underground living quarters and Hazmat drained off rad zones. The Atlantean/Asgardian hybrid villain Ove learnt about this and kidnapped heroes to make a paradise city. He and his mother Amora the Enchantress took Armor and used her to make a force field arcology, Jolt from the Thunderbolts powered the city, Crystal provided permanently good weather and Magik was taken to provide quick transportation and an endless supply of demons for security.
* The graphic novel ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfCaptainMarvel'' [[LampshadeHanging hung a lampshade on this]] by claiming that every (mortal) sentient race has a disease similar to cancer, and many of the races had already found [[CureForCancer a cure for their race's version of the disease]]. Furthermore, when Rick Jones appeals to the superheroes who are scientists and doctors to find a cure for Mar-Vell's cancer, they find themselves uncomfortably realizing they could have made this kind of effort beforehand for others. The superheroes do manage to develop a tunic that slows down Captain Marvel's cancer by 20%, although no explanation is made if they developed a similar device for humans. There is a HandWave that this was a special, magical cancer, so research on it is not necessarily helpful for normal medicine.

** The fictional African nation of Wakanda is, due to a surreptitious abundance of {{Unobtainium}} as a natural resource, [[{{Afrofuturism}} more advanced than even first world nations]]. This does not extend to any other part of Africa we see, though this is probably why writers don't show it very much, although to their credit from fairly early on they attempted to {{justif|iedTrope}}y it by having the Wakandans have a policy of isolation that goes back centuries, due to a belief that TheWorldIsNotReady and would only use their tech for evil. Fair, but that doesn't explain why they refuse to share non-harmful inventions. For example, the Wakandans have also [[CureForCancer cured cancer]] but are holding out on the rest of the world; when ComicBook/{{Captain Mar|velMarvelComics}}-Vell was dying of cancer, the Wakandan King was there and said he could do nothing due to the long-term effects of Mar-Vell's nega-bands... but that still doesn't explain why Wakanda withholds its cancer cures from the rest of the world. During Creator/GeoffJohns' ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' run, Black Panther and Iron Man were seen signing documents to allow portions of their tech to be shared with the world for the betterment of mankind; [[AbortedArc nothing ever came of this]], [[StatusQuoIsGod and the documents were never mentioned again]].

* During the ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' storyline, [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]] reveals that he has the CureForCancer, too. Except he decides to use it on ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}[[note]]Since curing Deadpool's cancer would cause his HealingFactor to go out of control and kill him.[[/note]] after the Merc With A Mouth goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge over Osborn stealing his thunder at the end of ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''.