 His power is superhuman intelligence, having invented a number of weapons and devices for Static and himself to use.His superhuman intelligence allows for a very limited form of technopathy with his visor and Back-Pack, as seen in episode 52 when Richie was no longer able to interpret the data stream in his visor and his backpack was no longer able to sync with his brain, which was at genius level when Back-Pack was programmed.According to series creators, Richie's character was based on Rick Stone, Virgil's best friend in the comics, who is gay.