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In the first two episodes of The Boys it is made clear that Translucent's skin in impenetrable because its made of carbon, but throughout the first season you can see multiple cases of other supes with impenetrable skin and also higher strength, here are some examples:

  • A-train running through Robin (According to newtons 3rd law he should had been just as damaged)

  • Starlight punching through the wall while training

  • Maeve getting shot by HomeLander

  • StarLight getting shot by butcher

So do all supes share certain powers?

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    Superheroes in general tend to be tougher then normals, sometimes it's required secondary powers, sometimes bad writing.
    – Mithoron
    Sep 10, 2020 at 21:03
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    yeah, without a tougher skin, they would be too easy to be killed. It is common for them to have a tougher skin or ability to heal super fast.
    – Yu Zhang
    Sep 10, 2020 at 22:38
  • Better watch the second season to find more info, there might be more supes or more info (I haven't watched it yet)
    – Luciano
    Sep 11, 2020 at 9:46
  • With the A-Train example .... I'm assuming some sort of 'speed force' explanation can be used, not just that he's super tough. Whatever makes him super fast also makes him immune from danger of damage from hitting something at that speed, like a baseball.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Sep 11, 2020 at 14:56
  • One of the things that bothered me about the movie Watchmen was that there was really only one super-powered character: Dr Manhattan. Everyone else was a Batman-like “normal human with a gimmick”. But in the movie they’re routinely punching through stone and whatnot — obvious in the very first scene. IMO it weakened the story because everyone was kind of Super, not just Manhattan
    – Stephen R
    Sep 11, 2020 at 21:46

2 Answers 2

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The strength and skin appear to be up to par with the powers they have.

A person with super strength would need skin that's strong enough to not tear apart when lifting a literal ton over their head, or when they punch through a concrete and steel wall as is often the case in a Supes' profession. A person who swims deep in the ocean needs a body that's resilient enough to withstand the pressure of the deep ocean. A person with superspeed needs to be able to withstand the air resistance as well as all the bugs they're sure to run in to which are basically bullets. These added resiliencies will have carry over to other things like being bullet or knife proof.

They could have alternate explanations as well, for example in the DC universe, speedsters have a "Speed Force aura" that protects them and the people around them from harm. These are never explicitly mentioned (yet). Though the Supes' powers are generated by a drug and not some external force or deity, so being ultra-resilient would fit more.

In the case of Translucent, he's unique in that his power doesn't require added resiliencies. However, the Boys and other Supes throughout season 1 go out of their way to mention that he has impenetrable skin which would imply that it's not standard. They never state that he has impenetrable skin because he's a Supe. So his skin seems to be exceptionally strong even by Supe standards.

Mesmer is one example of a Supe that doesn't have any enhanced physical abilities. We know this because:

Mesmer is easily beaten to death by Butcher who is a normal strength human.

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  • Pretty much sold, why is starlight bulletproof if her power is electricity + light?
    – nick zoum
    Sep 11, 2020 at 17:53
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    @nickzoum Her other power is super strength which is shown when she lifted a car, so she would have super durable skin to not tear under that pressure. If I remember right, they show her bleeding from getting shot so it's not total invulnerability. A direct hit from a tank might do her in.
    – DeeV
    Sep 11, 2020 at 18:05
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Do all the superheroes in “The Boys” have higher strength and thicker skin?

Probably not

Certainly members of The Seven appear to have enhanced healing and/or some degree of invulnerability but this does not seem to be carried to ALL supes.

We see Doppleganger (in Season 2) who's only ability appears to be shape-changing without any additional abilities.

We don't have a very large sample size to go with but universal invulnerability (or the like) does not seem to be the case.

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