Inside the sprawling, often terrifying mythology of Marvel's gamma mutants, few revelations landed with the force of Jackie McGee's optic blast in Immortal Hulk #50. A reporter who had attached herself to the Hulk while researching the Strongest Avenger, McGee was never supposed to become a weapon. Yet by the end of Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, and Ruy Jose's landmark issue, she had unleashed an eye-beam powerful enough to gravely injure the One Below All, an elder god manifesting through the twisted form of the Leader. The moment did more than rescue Bruce Banner from a demonic grip. It announced a new kind of Hulk-adjacent hero, one whose gamma powers could plausibly rival Superman's heat vision.
Before that climax, Jackie's abilities were subtle. She could perceive gamma-linked supernatural entities that were invisible to ordinary people. Her sight reached into the Below-Place, the metaphysical realm tied to the Green Door and the endless cycle of gamma resurrection. In practical terms, she was a witness with a supernatural lens, not a brawler. Her power was like a fault line running beneath a quiet city street: invisible in daily life, catastrophic when the right pressure arrived. That pressure came when Hulk, Joe Fixit, and Jackie traveled into the Below-Place to retrieve Banner and confront the One Below All.
When the elder god appeared through the Leader's gigantic, warped body, the two Hulks attacked with their fists. Jackie, whose powers were still manifesting, gained full access to her blooming abilities. She fired a laser beam from her eyes. The blast was enough to wound the One Below All severely and was integral to pulling Banner free. This was not a minor support feat. It was damage dealt to one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, an entity that had been treated as a cosmic horror rather than a punching bag.
The comparison to Superman is inevitable, and it is not as one-sided as it first appears. Superman's heat vision is insanely powerful. He has used it to deflect Darkseid's Omega Beams, and it is backed by solar energy stored in his Kryptonian cells. Jackie's eye-beam, by contrast, is fueled by gamma and the supernatural logic of the Below-Place. It is not a mere ray of heat; it is a verdict delivered by a haunted star. Where Superman's power is solar, Jackie's is telluric and occult. It comes from a realm that does not obey thermodynamics, and that makes its upper limits difficult to measure.
A table can clarify the matchup. In raw physical durability and speed, Superman holds nearly every advantage. He could likely kill Jackie without much difficulty. But killing her is not the same as defeating her. Jackie is a gamma-mutate with access to the Green Door, which makes her functionally immortal. If Superman killed her, she would return. If Jackie's gamma-infused eye-beam could hurt the One Below All, then it might also be able to hurt Superman, whose invulnerability is extraordinary but not absolute. The reverse is not true in the same permanent way. Superman can die. Jackie, so far as gamma resurrection goes, cannot stay dead.
| Category | Jackie McGee | Superman |
|---|---|---|
| Power source | Gamma radiation and Below-Place supernatural energy | Solar energy stored in Kryptonian cells |
| Signature attack | Gamma eye-beam | Heat vision |
| Best damage feat | Gravely injures the One Below All | Deflects Darkseid's Omega Beams |
| Durability | Enhanced but not Kryptonian-level | Vastly superior |
| Immortality | Green Door resurrection | None in the same sense |
| Weakness | Limited combat experience | Magic, Kryptonite, red sun radiation |
The table only tells part of the story. Jackie's beam carries a metaphysical weight that Superman's heat vision lacks. Superman's heat vision is a solar furnace, but Jackie's blast is a lightning bolt fired from the Green Door itself, carrying the authority of a realm that does not obey physics. That distinction matters in comic-book logic. A being who can be wounded by a god-touched gamma beam is not merely enduring heat; he is being struck by a concept. Superman's heat vision has hurt gods before, but Jackie's beam has hurt something that rules a hellish afterlife.
None of this means Jackie would win a fight against Superman. She would not. Superman is faster, stronger, more experienced, and far more durable. He could blitz her before she processed the threat. But the question raised by Immortal Hulk #50 is not who wins a random encounter. It is whether Jackie's eye-beam belongs in the same conversation as Superman's heat vision. The answer, based on her damage to the One Below All, is yes. Her power source is stranger, her immortality is more reliable, and her potential is still largely unexplored.
In 2026, years after Immortal Hulk #50, the feat remains a benchmark for gamma-powered characters. It shows that the Hulk mythos can produce heroes who are not simply bricks. Jackie McGee is a reporter turned cosmic witness turned weapon. Her eye-beam is a reminder that gamma in Marvel is not only rage and muscle. It is perception, death, rebirth, and occasionally a laser that can make an elder god flinch. Superman may still be the Man of Steel, but Jackie McGee is a woman with a Green Door behind her eyes. That is a different kind of power, and it deserves a different kind of respect.
Key takeaways:
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👁️ Jackie McGee's optic powers evolved from supernatural sight to a destructive gamma eye-beam.
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⚡ In Immortal Hulk #50, that beam gravely injured the One Below All and helped save Bruce Banner.
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🟢 The feat places her eye-beam in Superman's heat-vision tier, though Superman remains physically superior.
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🚪 Jackie's Green Door immortality means killing her is temporary, while Superman's death would be permanent.
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🌌 The supernatural source of Jackie's power may be able to hurt Superman in ways solar heat cannot.