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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2023 19:54:52 GMT -5
My daughter threw this topic my way...it got me thinking!
What power(s) seem like they would be cool to have in a comic book setting, but in the "real world" might not be quite as cool to live with.
Some are tragic and might not be cool in either the funny books OR the real world...losing human form like Ben Grimm, or even more tragically losing physical form like Wildfire from the Legion who lives in a containment suit and has no actual body.
In the real world though, a telepath who has to constantly filter out other thoughts comes to mind (though this issue is touched on in comic books as well occasionally). Would the Human Torch's powers really be that fun? Feels like keeping tight control of your flame would always be a pressing concern.
What do you think?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 12, 2023 20:44:05 GMT -5
Super speed! Just think how much you'd have to spend on food.. never mind tearing up so many roads, shattering every window with the sonic boom as you go by.. it would really be an epic fail.
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Post by tarkintino on Mar 12, 2023 23:41:57 GMT -5
Kryptonian powers. His very nature would have him unable to do anything other than walk on eggshells for the rest of his life, as everyone/thing around him would be so fragile, he'd risk destroying anything he touch. The only answer would be lifelong isolation, as there's no way a being with power of that kind would ever learn to modify / control himself around infinite new situations, without destroying all he touched.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2023 6:49:06 GMT -5
Super speed! Just think how much you'd have to spend on food.. never mind tearing up so many roads, shattering every window with the sonic boom as you go by.. it would really be an epic fail. Great points!! I think this has also been addressed in the comics before so this may not be the case, but I always had this thought in my mind what if you were not personally experiencing "going fast" but rather everything seemed normal and everybody else was really slowed down. Like you run across the city, country, world, etc. but it's just like a normal person (other than your stamina doesn't give out, joints hold up, etc.) to yourself even though to others you seem super fast. If the powers worked like that, it always seemed like a horror to me! (I also hate running). Kryptonian powers. His very nature would have him unable to do anything other than walk on eggshells for the rest of his life, as everyone/thing around him would be so fragile, he'd risk destroying anything he touch. The only answer would be lifelong isolation, as there's no way a being with power of that kind would ever learn to modify / control himself around infinite new situations, without destroying all he touched. Very interesting way to consider, and I can definitely see that! I also think it might be like how Busiek depicted Samaritan in Astro City...you never really can "take a break" for the most part, how would you stop helping knowing you "could" just power through it and keep going?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2023 7:40:29 GMT -5
This is more "equipment" related, but anything bulky to conceal under normal clothing like Hawkman and Hawkgirl's wings (I guess Angel would be the same, but not sure permanent wings would be so cool), or even Captain America's shield. I never bought he could just strap that close to his body and somehow look and move normal!
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Post by MWGallaher on Mar 13, 2023 9:03:24 GMT -5
I gave this a lot of thought once, and I concluded that almost every single comic-book superpower would either be useful in primarily unethical ways or would likely get you or someone else killed unless it was supplemented with an additional superpower. Flight? Beware of power lines, freezing, hitting a building, getting lost over the ocean, being shot down by a hunter or foreign power or scared gun owner. Super-strength? Be careful not to crush a loved one, bring your house down over your head. Super-speed? Hope there are no obstacles or tripping hazards. Walking up walls? Not gonna help if you fall off the wall. Invisibility? Read some H. G. Wells, that's going to end in disaster; even if you can turn it off at will you're susceptible to all sorts of severe injuries accidentally inflicted by people who can't see you. Intangibility? What if you sink into the ground, or re-materialize around airborne contaminants?
Healing powers, now those would be nice to have, but that's entirely self-centered.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2023 9:13:25 GMT -5
Spider-Man. He’d be forever stuck in the bath. Seriously, MWGallaher mentioning flight and getting lost made me think of that “New Universe” book where a hero had to get his bearings. As for the question, I’d say super speed. As D.P. 7 showed, super-speed means replenishing yourself and burning through a lot of calories, requiring almost constant food.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2023 10:45:15 GMT -5
MWGallaher - interesting observation on single powers! It gave me pause for thought because I agree with those perils you mentioned. Invulnerability was an exception that came to mind potentially. But for a fun thought exercise, I thought I would use my beloved Legion of Super-Heroes and see how their powers might stack up with that consideration in mind: Cosmic Boy - magnetism, seems useful to me. Grab guns away, lift a car, etc. Could still be dangerous, but not as inherently perhaps as more directly destructive energy based powers. Saturn Girl - aforementioned telepath issue, all depends if you can shut it off Lightning Lad - electrical powers, feels like we are straying into potentially destructive risk again Triplicate Girl - not sure as a power, would be fun to mess with people at the office though Phantom Girl - risks around phasing back in (e.g., solid surfaces) Chameleon Boy - used for honorable purposes (so we're going to assume these are all noble hypotheticals), this seems useful and lower burden. Case of "mistaken identity" in criminal type situation could backfire maybe. Colossal Boy - yeah...one "bad step" is all it would take Invisible Kid - as pointed out, invisibility would definitely have major risks Star Boy ("make things heavy" power) - heck, he accidently killed someone in the comic with this and was expelled for a period! Brainiac 5 - super computer smart, high intelligence does not always make life easy and this is at a whole other level, but direct physical danger seems low Sun Boy - energy based destructive risk again Shrinking Violet - one "bad step" again, but coming the other way Bouncing Boy - other than knocking stuff all over the place like a cat at 3 in the morning, I don't see the issue Ultra Boy - In addition the Superman like burden mentioned earlier, having to switch them on and off one at a time feels like a timebomb waiting to backfire on you (like switching to invulnerability a micro second too late!). Mon-El - Superman type burden again Matter-Eater Lad - I want to give a serious answer, and I know this is all make believe...but HOW WOULD THIS EVEN WORK??? Light Lass - Little Billy accidently floats away forever... Dream Girl - knowing the future would drive one mad quickly I think Ferro Lad - Fairly invulnerable, risks around strength level potentially. Karate Kid - not a meta human. Princess Projectra - somewhat like shapeshifting, used for honorable purposes might be very effective and lower burden. Chemical King - controlling chemical reactions feels high risk if something goes wrong Timber Wolf - enhanced agility strength, I feel like this could be a little more practical category for the real world (I think of Captain America in this regard as well). Not nearly the level of risk of Superman having to hold back, but enough of an extra edge to fight crime potentially. I'll cut it off there even though there are many more characters, but it feels like that further supports (to me at least) that yes, many powers really would be hard to manage in a real world setting.
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Post by badwolf on Mar 13, 2023 11:09:11 GMT -5
I imagine most of them would be. The only one I can think of that would be 100% positive would be Cypher's ability to speak and understand any language, a power thought of as "uncool" in the comics but totally practical.
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Post by MWGallaher on Mar 13, 2023 11:37:33 GMT -5
Oh, the Legion are the ideal test subjects for this thought experiment! Triplicate Girl - I assume there are some convenient definitions of how her power works, but before accepting it in real life, I'd want to know what happens if one body is injured when you reunite? If the composite body is restored to health, that would be a separate power from triplicating. If injuries are retained, that triples the risk to the whole. It's established that if one body dies, the remaining two can unite, but can two unite if all three are alive? If not, there's a risk that one body could be imprisoned, or lost, or comatose, forcing the others to live separately, which at the least would double the grocery bill. Matter-Eater Lad - Grocery bills are of course no problem, but depending on "HOW WOULD THIS EVEN WORK???", the power might be a liability to the general public as a threat to the sanitation system! Brainiac 5 - Agreed, that one probably wouldn't get you killed, and could potentially be financially beneficial via ethical applications, but getting too far beyond current genius levels could be just as maddening as Dream Girl's powers. I'd imagine a "12th Level Intelligence" would be capable of nearly identical prognostication, analyzing current states to predict outcomes of nearly everything, including your own actions. But assuming it's just being really smart about science and history and arts, I wouldn't be as scared of it as most other powers. I wouldn't volunteer for that kind of intellectual leap, though. Chameleon Boy - Used judiciously, probably safe enough, but as I recall, he could also transform into very large or very small animals, risking the same consequences as Colossal Boy or Shrinking Violet face. Princess Projectra - Agreed, safe if used wisely, and potentially financially beneficial in, say, a magic act. Cosmic Boy - The danger here is the inability of a magnetic field to discriminate. While you're grabbing that gun away--which would imply a very strong magnetic field!--you're also yanking out medical implants from people's bodies, nails out of structures, and lots of easily-imagined magnetically-susceptible metals the displacement of which would be disastrous. Saturn Girl - It's hard to think of an ethical application of that power. In criminal investigations, it could potentially reveal details that could be confirmed via hard evidence, identify witness, and clarify the timeline of events to refute defenses. But if you've got the wrong guy, mind-reading would be a gross personal violation, right? Timber Wolf - He needs a combination of powers to be safe, I would think. Exercising the enhanced agility without the strength to weather things like landing impacts could be risky. Invulnerability - Potentially extremely dangerous unless you can turn it off at will. Bummer about the appendicitis, man, but we can't get to it.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 13, 2023 12:09:31 GMT -5
(...) Triplicate Girl - I assume there are some convenient definitions of how her power works, but before accepting it in real life, I'd want to know what happens if one body is injured when you reunite? If the composite body is restored to health, that would be a separate power from triplicating. If injuries are retained, that triples the risk to the whole. It's established that if one body dies, the remaining two can unite, but can two unite if all three are alive? If not, there's a risk that one body could be imprisoned, or lost, or comatose, forcing the others to live separately, which at the least would double the grocery bill. (...) Man, don't get me started on Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel. There's been times when I've twisted my brain into knots overthinking the various implications of her powers - the one aspect that troubles me in particular is what happens if she gets pregnant ( which I wrote about in greater detail elsewhere).
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2023 12:20:22 GMT -5
(...) Triplicate Girl - I assume there are some convenient definitions of how her power works, but before accepting it in real life, I'd want to know what happens if one body is injured when you reunite? If the composite body is restored to health, that would be a separate power from triplicating. If injuries are retained, that triples the risk to the whole. It's established that if one body dies, the remaining two can unite, but can two unite if all three are alive? If not, there's a risk that one body could be imprisoned, or lost, or comatose, forcing the others to live separately, which at the least would double the grocery bill. (...) Man, don't get me started on Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel. There's been times when I've twisted my brain into knots overthinking the various implications of her powers - the one aspect that troubles me in particular is what happens if she gets pregnant ( which I wrote about in greater detail elsewhere). I think it's simple: If it's Silver Age, things like that just don't happen and everything is la dee da simple. If it's Bronze Age, Duo Damsel does have children, but conveniently it's twins and each personality is carrying one of them when they split apart and nothing inconvenient happens along the way and she eventually delivers both in her united form. If it's Modern Age, one of Triad's selves is carrying a single baby but the other two aren't and they get into a whole conversation about how their individual rights are being robbed and how they should have the freedom to be their own people and not burdened. And they frown a lot and say snarky things and refuse to rejoin up and go off on their own talking about how they are FINALLY their own people now. Oh, and it's all told with bad art.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2023 12:21:58 GMT -5
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Post by james on Mar 13, 2023 14:55:34 GMT -5
Telepathy seems like it would be a real bitch to have.
On the flip side I think Mr Fantastic's power would be fairly handy
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Post by Chris on Mar 13, 2023 21:19:32 GMT -5
Brainiac 5 - super computer smart, high intelligence does not always make life easy and this is at a whole other level, but direct physical danger seems low Would be horrible. You figure out a perpetual motion machine that also gives out free candy and bumper stickers but not one person in the world understands your blueprints. And even if someone did, you would have to spend at least 20 years teaching them how to build the tools to build the tools to build the tools to build the machine. Matter-Eater Lad - I want to give a serious answer, and I know this is all make believe...but HOW WOULD THIS EVEN WORK??? It works extremely well, come the apocalypse. Bonus feature: You can safely eat anything. You are surrounded by deadly post-apocalypse radioactive fallout. Outside your tummy, it's lethal, but inside your tummy, it's delicious (but might need salt). Also if your ATM card is stolen. Step one: you don't need money for food. Step two: Eat the front of the ATM. Now you have lots of money, which you don't have to spend any of on food.
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