Superhero DuJour

 #TalkNerdyToMeLover's Awesome Applesauce: Charles Quevedo

When I was a kid, I often enjoyed flipping through the pages of "mythology" books and reading about the Ancient Greeks, especially "Hercules" and "Achilles".  Hercules was a half-man/half-god that performed some heroic acts ("The Slaying of The Nemean Lion", "The Slaying of The Lernaean Hydra", "The Capture of Cerberus", and others), often using the superhuman strength that he was blessed with at birth.  Achilles, one of Greek mythology's foremost warriors (known for his bravery, military skills, and invulnerability to harm) could destroy enemy armies single-handedly.  I was in awe of these guys.  They were absolute bad-asses.

Besides loving to read "mythology" books, I loved reading comic books even more, especially "Superman" comics.  My room was literally cluttered with them.  After reading a few issues, I would lay on my back on the floor and stare up at the ceiling and imagine myself with superpowers, saving the world from great evils.  I definitely wanted some.  Like Hercules and Achilles, Superman was a force to be reckoned with.  He had superhuman strength, power of flight, invulnerability, and the ability to shoot lasers from his eyes.  He was pretty indestructible (except for having a weakness to tiny "green" rocks).  I knew I wasn't the only one who had dreamt of having Superman-like powers.  I once heard this story around the neighborhood of some kid that broke his arm as he jumped off the roof in an attempt to fly (his favorite blanket tied to his neck, resembling a cape).  As much as that kid wished he could fly, I'm sure he finally realized he couldn't (his arm in a cast probably reminded him of that fact every day).  That incident with the neighborhood kid was a wake up call for me NOT to try something similarly stupid.

"What if we all had superpowers"?

I know, I know... this question probably seems better suited for a group of 10 year-olds.  But this is a question that everybody has secretly asked themselves at one time or another.  People have always fantasized about being more powerful than they really are... to be more "extraordinary" than their normal lives will let them.  Logic tells us that superpowers don't really exist.  After all, "superpowers" are restricted only to the world of comic books and science fiction movies, right?  But wouldn't it be cool if they actually existed, if we could violate the laws of physics and do the impossible?  With the advances in technology and genetic manipulation becoming more and more sophisticated each day, everybody on the planet (in one form or another) may someday have a superpower.  Think about it.  Having superhuman speed to run across oceans.  Having the power of weather manipulation to make it rain in dry areas of the world.  Having the power of flight without the assistance of planes (and not having to wait in those long lines at the airports).  The possibilities would be endless.

 

Below is a list of superpowers compiled from comic books, television shows, and films.  If you had the choice of any superpower, which one would you pick? 

Telekinesis (also called Psychokinesis) -- Ability to manipulate and control objects with the mind.

Invisibility -- Ability to render oneself unseen to the naked eye.

Superhuman Strength -- Ability to have a level of physical strength much higher than normally possible.

Disintegration -- Ability to disintegrate matter through touch or through beams.

Superhuman Vision -- Ability to see better than normally possible.

Night Vision -- Ability to see clearly in darkness.

X-Ray Vision -- Ability to see through solid matter.

Omniscience -- Ability to know about anything and everything.

Intangibility (or phasing) -- Ability to phase through solid matter without harm.

Superhuman Intelligence -- Intelligence far above that of a genius level.

Astral Projection (or Astral Travel) -- Ability to separate and control one's astral body.

Light Manipulation -- Ability to control, generate or absorb light particles.

Invulnerability -- Ability to be immune to all forms of physical damage.

ESP -- The abilities of extra-sensory perception (ESP) and communication.

Duplication (or Self-Replication) -- Ability to create physical clones of oneself.

Reality Warping -- Ability to change or manipulate reality itself.

Self Detonation (or Explosion) -- Ability to explode one's body mass and reform.

Power Augmentation -- Ability to enhance or weaken the powers of others.

Superhuman Tracking -- Ability to track an individual or object.

Omni-Linguism -- Ability to understand any form of language.

Elemental Transmutation -- Ability to alter chemical elements, changing them from one substance to another be rearranging the atomic structure.

Animal Mimicry -- Ability to take on the abilities of certain animals.

Merge -- Ability to temporarily merge two beings into a single being, resulting in a completely new and stronger being.

Poison Generation -- Ability to assault others with one or more varieties of toxins, with widely desperate effects.

Sonic Scream -- Ability to generate vocal sounds of a higher amplitude than a normal human.

Wall-crawling -- Ability to crawl on vertical and horizontal surfaces.

Teleportation -- Ability to move from one place to another without occupying the space in between.

Psychic Weapons -- Ability to create a weapon of psychic energy that can harm mentally and not physically.

Flight -- Ability to lift off the ground and fly self-propelled through the air (or to ride wind currents).

Time Travel -- Ability to travel back and forth through time.

Superhuman Reflexes -- Ability to react faster than a normal human.

Force Field Generation -- Ability to project powerful fields of manipulated energy.

Energy Conversion -- Ability to absorb one form of energy and convert it into another form of energy.

Energy Constructs -- Ability to create complex shapes or even functional machinery out of solid energy.

Energy Blasts -- Ability to expel various forms of energy from the body.

Concussion Beams -- Ability to generate or transform various forms of energy into a "solid" or concussive beam of energy.

Superhuman Speed -- Ability to move at speeds much faster than a normal human.

Power Bestowal -- Ability to bestow powers or jump-start latent powers.

Electrical Transportation -- Ability to travel through electrical conduits (such as power lines or telephone lines by entering through devices such as televisions, electrical poles, or computers).

Electric Manipulation -- Ability to control, generate or absorb electric fields.

Fire and Heat Manipulation (also known as Pyrokinisis) -- Ability to control the kinetic energy of atoms to generate, control or absorb fire.

Water and Moisture Manipulation -- Ability to control, generate or absorb water.

Bone Manipulation -- Ability to manipulate the bones in one's own body.  This includes the generation of new bone mass, projecting bones out from the skin or rearranging one's own bones.

Superhuman Durability -- Ability to have a higher resistance to one or more forms of damage before being injured.

Water-breathing -- Ability to respirate through water in lieu of a gaseous medium.

Psionic Blast -- Ability overload another's mind causing pain, memory loss, lack of consciousness, vegetative state or death after having created a psionic mind link into that individual's mind.

Darkness Manipulation -- Ability to create or manipulate darkness or shadows.

Superhuman Senses -- Ability to see, smell, taste, feel and/or hear more than a normal person.

Immortality -- Ability to live forever, encompassing complete or partial invulnerability.

Resurrection -- Ability to come back to life after being killed.

Plant Manipulation -- Ability to control, manipulate or animate all forms of plant life.

Biological Manipulation -- Ability to control all aspects of a living creatures biological make-up.  This includes genetic alterations, physical distortions/augmentations, healing, disease, and biological functions.

Technopathy -- Ability to manipulate technology.  Manifested as a special form of electrical/telekinetic manipulation, a special form of "morphing" which allows physical interaction with machines, or even a psychic ability that allows for mental interface with computer data.

Ecological Empathy -- Ability to sense the over-all well being and conditions of one's immediate environment and natural setting stemming from a psychic sensitivity to nature.

Earth Manipulation -- Ability to control earth; sand, stone, rock, lava, dirt, or ohter minerals.

Time Manipulation -- Ability to affect the flow of time by slowing, accelerating, reversing, or stopping it.

Probability Manipulation -- Ability to alter probability, causing unlikely things to happen or unlikely things to not happen.

Microwave Manipulation -- The ability to convert ambient electromagnetic energy into microwaves and manipulate it into various effects such as heat, light, and radiation.

Sound Manipulation -- Ability to manipulate sound.

Magnetism Manipulation -- Ability to control and/or generate magnetic fields.

Molecular Manipulation -- Ability to mentally manipulate the molecules of objects and/or one's self on a molecular level.

Radiation Manipulation -- Ability to generate, manipulate or have immunity to to toxic radiation.

Classical Elements -- Ability to control or manipulate the elements.

Air and Wind Manipulation -- Ability to control, generate, or absorb air or wind.

Mass Manipulation -- Ability to increase or decrease mass in an object.

Power Mimicry (or Absorption) -- Ability to copy or absorb another's powers or skills.

Power Sensing -- Ability to sense or recognize superhuman powers.

Acid Generation -- Ability to generate acid, can be manifested through touch or as a spray.

Cross-Dimensional Awareness -- Ability to detect actions and events in other dimensions.

Echo Location (also known as Sonar or Radar Sense) -- Ability to determine location of items in the environment by use of reflected sound waves. 

Telescopic Vision (or Microscopic Vision) -- Ability to magnify vision to various levels.

Innate Capability -- Ability to naturally have skills and/or knowledge typically earned through learning.

Size Shifting -- Ability to increase or decrease one's size.

Illusion -- Ability to alter or deceive the perceptions of another (it can be sensory, a light or sound-based effect , or an alteration pf mental perceptions).

Cold and Ice Manipulation -- Ability to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms and thus reduce temperature, can be used to control, generate, or absorb ice.

Summoning -- Ability to summon objects for assistance (invoking simple implements to mighty familiar spirits).

Shape shifting -- Ability to change appearance or body structure.

Superhuman Breath -- Ability to inhale/exhale with super human powerful strength (generating gale force winds or gravitational vortexes, and in some cases, achieving freezing temperatures).

Animal Morphing -- Ability to take on animal forms.  May be able to take on the abilities of the altered form.

Medium-ship -- Ability to see and communicate with the dead.

Precognition -- Ability to perceive the future (expressed in vague dreams while awake, other times appearing clear and occurring at will).  It also be used to sense danger when a threat is near and from what direction it's coming from.

Psychometry -- Ability to relate details about the past or future condition of an object or location, usually by being in close contact with it.

Accelerated Healing -- Ability to heal rapidly from an injury.  Can sometimes result in the slowing of aging.

Reactive Adaption/Evolution -- Ability to develop a resistance or immunity to whatever they were injured by or exposed to.

Telepathy -- Ability to read the thoughts of, or to mentally communicate with others.

Domination (and Mind Control) -- The ability to alter the perceptions of others, and general ability to control the actions of others within the mind.

Gravity Manipulation  -- Ability to manipulate or generate "gravitons" (or other types of gravitational interactions).

Power Negation -- Ability to cancel the superpowers of others.

Body Part Substitution -- Ability to replace one's limbs or body parts with those of another.

Liquification -- Ability to turn partially or completely into a liquid.

Sublimation -- Ability to transform into a gaseous state, mist or fog-like form.

Substance Mimicry -- Ability to transform into substance touched.

Dream Manipulation -- Ability to manipulate one's dream scape environment.  Can also cross into another other people's dreams and manipulating their dream scape environments, as well.

Possession -- Ability to take control and inhabit the body of another person.

Weather Manipulation -- Ability to control or mentally affect the weather (rain, tornadoes, lightning, ocean currents, etc.) or control the intensity of the weather.

Superpowers In Television & Films:

Thanks to television shows ("Heroes", "The 4400", "Mutant X", "Jake 2.0" and "Tru Calling") and movies ("X-Men", "The Incredible Hulk", "Spider-Man", and "Daredevil"), we can imagine what it would be like to have god-like powers and abilities.  But along with the coolness factor that they show with having superpowers, they also show the problems with having them.  In the movie, "Unbreakable", the character, "David Dunn" (played by actor, Bruce Willis) discovers he has superhuman strength, invulnerability and a "sixth sense".  David is about to lose his family as he struggles with his new found powers, his reasons for his existence and his destiny to become a superhero.  In the movie, "Hancock"; the title character, "Hancock" (played by actor, Will Smith), a superhuman being with powers of superhuman strength, invulnerability and flight; struggles with the problems of the entire planet hating him as he struggles with his existence and destiny (very much like the David Dunn character).  If one possessed superpowers, the following questions would need to be asked...  Would you be able to control your powers?  Would you be driven insane by them?  Would your friends and family members be in danger when around you?  Would you use your powers to become famous?  Would you use them to help benefit the planet?   These are the things that would need to be considered.

"Would you use your superpowers for good or evil"?

In the "Spider-Man" comics and movies, the quote "With great power, comes great responsibility", is mentioned from time to time.  If the human species were given the gift of "enhancement", they would have to be careful not to abuse such abilities for criminal or terrorist acts.  Let's admit it, throughout history, "we" as the dominant species on the planet, have a track record of performing cruel and horrible acts against each other (the Civil War, the Holocaust, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9/11).  But we have also shown great compassion to "our fellow man" when it comes to a crisis (9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Haiti earthquake). 

If you had superpowers, would you become a "superhero" and use them for the greater good?  A doctor with healing powers could touch patients and instantaneously cure them of their injuries and ailments.  A police detective with telepathy could read the minds of criminals during interrogations and know when they're lying.  A "search and rescue" worker with superhuman strength could use it to lift building debris off earthquake victims.

In television shows and films, individuals with superpowers are shown using them in different ways -- for good... and sometimes for evil.

Examples of the "good":

   "The Six Million Dollar Man"

After a tragic crash accident, test pilot, "Steve Austin" (played by actor, Lee Majors), is surgically rebuilt with state-of-the-art "bionic" limbs.  Now a unique cybernetic being... he is stronger, faster and better.  He becomes a secret agent and goes on "top secret" missions for the U.S. government.  He is a one-man wrecking crew against the bad guys.

 

"Buffy, The Vampire Slayer"

Born in her generation to be "The Slayer", sixteen year-old high school-er, "Buffy Summers" (played by actress, Sarah Michelle Gellar"), wields great power of strength and agility.  She stands against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness that threatens humankind.

 

"The Sentinel"

After spending years in the Peruvian jungle during his tour in Army Special Forces, Cascade PD "Detective James Ellison" (played by actor, Richard Burgi), developed "hyperactive senses", which comes back after five years while investigating a crime.  Ellison brings a whole new edge to the war on crime.

 

"The Listener"

A young paramedic, "Toby Logan" (played by actor, Craig Olejnik), discovers he has telepathic powers and helps those he comes into contact with.

There's a saying, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely".  If everybody were given superpowers, would crime and corruption rise?  A thief with the power of intangibility could walk through the walls of a bank vault to steal huge amounts of money.  A murderer with the power of invisibility could easily evade law enforcement.  A terrorist with the power of self detonation (to explode) could destroy a Federal building, reducing it to rubble.  Not a pretty thing to visualize, huh?  With such powers at people's fingertips, the omnipotence individuals would feel would be overwhelming.  The morality of each individual endowed with a superpower would come into play.  Could people be trusted NOT to use their powers for criminal ends?  If you had superpowers, would use them to become a "super-villain" and try to dominate the world?

Examples of the "evil":

"Hollow Man"

A cocky government scientist, "Sebastian Caine" (played by actor, Kevin Bacon), working on a "top secret" project, discovers the secret to "invisibility" and becomes the "Hollow Man".  He slowly goes insane, killing off his co-workers.

 

"The Abomination"

In "The Incredible Hulk" movie, ultimate soldier, "Emil Blonsky" (played by actor, Tim Roth), mutates into the monstrous "Abomination" after multiple injections of a "super soldier" formula.

"Iron Monger"

In the "Iron Man" movie, wealthy and ruthless industrialist, "Obadiah Stane" (played by actor, "Jeff Bridges") , becomes the powerful "Iron Monger" after encasing himself in state-of-the-art battle armor.  He wrecks havoc through the city to prove his unstoppable nature.

"Magneto"

In all three "X-Men" movies, the villainous "Magneto" (played by actor, "Ian McKellan"), has shown his abilities to control and generate magnetic fields.  He gathers together an army of evil mutants and forms "The Brotherhood" in an attempt for world domination of the planet.

Experiments in Future Humans:

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has invested in many projects to make the ultimate "Universal Soldier"-type weapons.  Among the rumored projects are "anti-sleep" programs where soldiers can do 40 hour patrols and "remote viewing" programs so soldiers can psychically pinpoint the exact location of enemy bunkers.   There are many advances in "nanotechnology", "exoskeletons", "cybernetics", and other projects that DARPA is finding promising.

Nanotechnology:

Trillions of dollars are being spent on "nanotechnology" research.  With billions of "nanobots" (microscopic self-replicating machines, each about the size of a red cell) someday floating in the bloodstreams of individual soldiers; it will grant them superhuman strength, enhanced senses, and rapid healing during combat in wars.

 

Exoskeletons:

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have invested over $50 Million to develop an exoskeleton suit for ground troops.  While NOT technically a superpower, the wearable "exoskeleton" robotic systems will grant soldiers superhuman-like strength, speed, and agility.  When the exoskeletons are encased in state-of-the-art armor and equipped with futuristic offensive weapons, they will provide the soldiers protection against all forms of attack and make them the ultimate "Iron Man"-type warriors.

      

Cybernetics:

There have been a sudden leap in the advancement of prosthetics (synthetic limbs) in the last two decades.  Today, they're much more advanced and realistic looking, some covered with layers of synthetic skin (with real hair sprouting out).  Like something out of  

"The Six Million Dollar Man", soldiers who have been injured in combat by having limbs either blown off completely or amputated (due to roadside bombs), will be able have them replaced with one of these state-of-the-art cybernetic limbs to make oneself physically stronger and get an edge in combat.  To replace an organic eye lost in battle, a cybernetic eye piece will be able to be implanted directly into the optical centers.  While still at the theoretical stages, these eyepieces will be able grant soldiers the abilities to see more than orgainc eyes.  These optical enhancements will possess a wide variety of functions: the ability to see in the darkness (night vision), see objects or enemy soldiers a far distance away (telescopic vision), see directly through solid objects (x-ray vision) and focus on objects on the microscopic level (microscopic vision).  In the future, a soldier wil be able to simply replace his old limbs/organs with cybernetic ones and become stronger, faster and better.  It will be the total submergence of man and machine.

Genetic Engineering:

 

Ever since scientists in 1953 discovered what "genes" really were, they've been trying to unlock their secrets and figure out what each one does. For those of you who don't know, "genetic engineering" is the direct maniputlation of an orgaism's genes, using the techniques of "molecular cloning" and "transformation" to alter the structure and characteristics.  Since the completion of the sequencing of the "human genome", the possibilities of genetic research is immeasuable.  For parents who wish to have a custom-order baby, scientists have been using their skills in genetic maniputlation to change the eye, skin, or hair color of the child before it's even born.  They are also tinkering with eliminating any possible "imperfections" (such as disease) the fetus could have .  What's next?  Giving human beings superpowers?

Conclusion:

In the short thousands of years that human beings have existed, we've gone from creating "the wheel" to creating "nanotechnology".  We've accomplished much in that time.  Within the next 150 years or so, humans may be able to give themselves superpowers as easily as it is to take a pill.  But are we, as a species, ready for such responsibilities?    Are we ready to be living in a world that's like a real-life comic book?  Would it be wise to have a planet full of human "Weapons of Mass Destruction", strutting around and packing lethal superpowers?  Could we end up destroying ourselves with superpowers?  Unless there's a leap in evolution where we all freakishly develop superpowers overnight, I don't think we'll have to worry about that anytime soon.  But with the rapid progression of technology and genetic engineering that will, more than likely, sweep over the next few generations of human beings... "superpowers" are gonna happen... whether we want them to or not.  It's inevitable.  Once the genie is out of the bottle, it's gonna be pretty hard to put it back.  Something to think about.

Follow Charles on Twitter: @FuglyCharlie