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Despite its non-threatening appearance, the Heart Ring is easily there most powerful of the five Planeteer Rings.
Since its debut on September 15th, 1990, Cartoon Network’s Captain America and the Planeteers has become something of a running gag to many cartoon fans. Although its earnest dedication to its environmental message and its willingness to tackle difficult subjects like drug abuse and the AIDS moral panic has earned the franchise a strong cult following, its campiness and utter lack of subtlety have also made it the subject of countless jokes, memes, and parodies. These include Funny or Die’s Don Cheadle is Captain America or Rick and Morty‘s “A Rickonvenient Mort.”
One of the things that fans enjoy poking fun at the most about the series is the character Ma-Ti, one of the five teenagers gifted with magical rings that allow them to command the five elements of nature and summon the titular Captain Planet. While his friends Kwame, Wheeler, Linka, and Gi were given the Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water Rings respectively, Ma-Ti was given the infamous Heart Ring, representing the supposed fifth element of the same name. Although the ring and its wielder have been frequently made fun of both within the series and among the fanbase, it might be the most powerful and useful ring out of them all.
On the surface, the Heart Ring seems like a significant downgrade when compared to the other Planeteer Rings. Drawing their powers from the classical four elements, the other Planeteer Rings can directly command the natural world around them, so long as the area that they’re used in isn’t significantly polluted. Although each of the rings has certain drawbacks, such as the Fire and Wind Rings’ ability to conjure their respective elements coming at the cost of control and the Earth and Water Ring only being able to control earth and water that’s already in the environment, they still offer their wielders some exceptionally impressive powers. With the ability to throw fireballs, summon gusts of wind, shake the earth, and re-direct the flow of rivers, the Planeteers are more than capable of defending the Earth from peril.
In contrast, the powers of the Heart Ring are not as immediately useful. While the other Planetteer rings allow their wielders to manipulate a specific element, the Heart Ring grants Ma-Ti empathic and telepathic abilities that allow him to communicate with all living beings. With it, Ma-Ti can telepathically communicate with other humans and understand the language of animals. Due to its limited ability to directly harm foes or protect its wielder, the Heart Ring is often dismissed as the weakest of the Planeteer Rings.
However, the Heart Ring is much more powerful than it might initially appear. Gaia, the being who created the Planteer Rings, claims that the Heart Ring is the most powerful out of all of them and its unique abilities can be put to great effect through some outside-the-box thinking. Through the Heart Ring, Ma-Ti can command animals to fight on his behalf, and there are no limits to what animals he can do this with. As a result, Ma-Ti can command powerful animals like elephants, lions, and even the anti-bodies within the human body. X-Men Unlimited‘s “X-Men Green” storyline has shown how powerful the ability to control wildlife can be through Nature Girl’s war against pollution, and it’s safe to assume that Ma-Ti could be as capable of utilizing animals similarly.
On top of that, the Heart Ring can also manipulate the emotions of other living beings. With it, Ma-Ti can calm people consumed by anger or fear, allowing him to defuse potentially dangerous social situations. In the third issue of Marvel’s Captain America and the Planeteers comic, Ma-Ti pushes this ability in the opposite direction by forcing a poacher to stare into the darkness of his soul in a manner eerily similar to Ghost Rider’s infamous Penance Stare, proving that this ability can be used both defensively and offensively.
Despite its non-threatening appearance, the Heart Ring is easily there most powerful of the five Planeteer Rings. Although characters like the Purple Man have used similar abilities for evil, Ma-Ti’s pureness of heart drives him to use them for good, proving that he is more than worthy of the power that Gaia’s given him.
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