Super Powers: Which Ones Would You Want?

Back when my brother and I were young, we used to have wild imaginations. We would select a group of super powers, usually limited to around three or four, and we would go into great detail about the limitations of those powers before fighting off both imaginary “bad guys” and each other. Being four years older than him, I usually had the advantage of using “big brother logic” and defeating him every time, but it was still great fun.

One of my favourite moments in the game was when my brother was introduced to a character named Rogue in the Marvel comic universe. A woman who could basically steal the powers of others by touching them. My brother then proceeded to use that as his ace in the hole and thought of himself as invincible.

Watching the show Heroes on television with Peter Petrelli and Sylar, I am reminded of this fun game that we used to play.

One of the issues I always had was describing how teleportation would work. It was one of the powers I most enjoyed having myself. I had decided that along with teleportation, there would have to be some sort of fore-sight to make sure you wouldn’t teleport into a wall, floor, vehicle, tree or other object.

What kind of ranges would those powers have? How often could you use them, would there be any physical strain in using your super powers? What kind of supporting powers would you need?

My brother hadn’t thought about such things, but having the ability to run really fast wouldn’t be any good if you didn’t have the energy level and endurance to match. It wouldn’t make sense to be able to fly if you couldn’t breath thinner air, or deal with the colder temperatures.

So many things that comics, cartoons, television shows, and movies gloss over as they show us the fantastical world of super heroes.

For me, I would still like Jean Grey’s telekinesis which I would use to seem like I had super strength, force push from my extended, palm-out hands, as well as levitation and flight abilities. Mix that with Wolverine’s healing factor, which would allow me to heal from the wounds I would no-doubt cause myself in trying to be a hero and I think I’d be a fairly capable super hero.

Immortality would also be a nice “power”, but I don’t know if I’d consider that something which should be on the “list” to choose from.

Which super powers would you want? How would they function? And finally, would you be good, evil, or somewhere in between?

Tagged as: jean grey, peter petrelli, rogue, slyar