Superpowers you would want to see more in media

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Well, after watching the newest episode of "A Certain Scientific Accelerator", I want to open a casual discussion on what powers we would love to see in media more often.

As expected from the catalyst of this post, Vector Manipulation of any sort is fascinating as it opens so many combat and utility applications.

 

[CyanCat47_v1legacy]

I would like to see more stories with very specific and situational superpowers. The hero in this scenario would not have your bog standard nuclear-kamehameha ready to be pulled out of their arse or your standard-suite of diet-Superman powers, neither would they have Batman's limitless gadget arsenal or wealth. I'm thinking powers like telepathy that can only be used to create illusions, or telechinesis that only works on small objects. Powers that would have to be carefully employed in order to get results. Rather than large-scale conflicts typical in super hero media, i would want to see characters with this kind of power used for detective work, professional heists and espionage

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I want to see superpowers that on the surface sound awesome, but in reality are nightmarish curses. Like Wolverine's metal skeleton? Can you imagine the pain? Not only is marrow and blood production down, you're weighed down by hundreds of pounds and your organs are being crushed.
Or setting yourself on fire, except you actually do burn. Or you have super speed, but the body isn't meant to move that quickly so your muscles are always blowing out, ligaments and tendons are tearing, your joints are all but destroyed.

Imagine having powers you can only use at great cost to yourself. Like super speed to save all the orphans in the burning building, but you're crippled for years and have hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical bills and agonizing surgeries and recovery.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Probably something involving the color spectrum (ROYGBIV) with associated powers. Maybe something to do with chakras as well?

https://powerlisting.fandom.com/wiki/Aura_Manipulation

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Powers like the Penance Stare that are used to give out ironic or 'equal' punishments, or are similarly situational:

-The ability to redirect a percentage of the pain inflicted on you into the nervous system of someone nearby.
-Similarly, the power to redistribute the fear and anguish of all nearby people into someone else.
-A power that acts on its own to harm someone who tells serious lies, perhaps filling their throats with black bile.
-Conversely, the ability to inflict the 'birthday wish' effect from the movie Liar Liar on someone. Of course that's similar to the Lasso of Truth, which really should be used more.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

One Piece has a lot of creative devil fruit powers, the things they come up with for Luffy to do with just rubber is incredible. The hormone fruit was especially hilarious as well. As for something I'd want to see more of, I'd go for some of the more mystical powers like Perona's ability to remove your soul. You get to do a lot of interesting stuff in a story when you're a disembodied soul lol.


Oh and on a sidenote, Accelerator is one of the most interestingly-redeemed characters ever. I just finished Index 3 the other day in preparation for his show taking off and it was very exciting to see what he got up to there.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

I would like to see more stories with very specific and situational superpowers. The hero in this scenario would not have your bog standard nuclear-kamehameha ready to be pulled out of their arse or your standard-suite of diet-Superman powers, neither would they have Batman's limitless gadget arsenal or wealth. I'm thinking powers like telepathy that can only be used to create illusions, or telechinesis that only works on small objects. Powers that would have to be carefully employed in order to get results. Rather than large-scale conflicts typical in super hero media, i would want to see characters with this kind of power used for detective work, professional heists and espionage

So you are interested more in applications in a utilitarian sense. That is interesting and certainly forces creative usage. I can approve of this

 

[Marik2]

Ghost powers

 

[Squilookle]

The absence of superpowers. Like a complete embargo on them. For maybe about 10 years.

Let's just see real people struggling with their obstacles without just smashing through them every single time for a change.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

I really like the concept of the Boys expressed at the start, if you're a superhuman especially just some random without training, using your superpowers without caution will cause a lot of collateral damage when the rest of us are so fragile by comparison.

A superhuman like The Flash or Superman just accidentally bumps into you and you're now a red mist. Think about using those powers in a city in real life.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

The absence of superpowers. Like a complete embargo on them. For maybe about 10 years

I am calling for a complete shutdown of all super powered individuals entering the country, until such time as S.H.I.E.L.D. can figure out what the hell is going on.

OT: I would like a presentation of super heroes in a gold-age/ silver-age sort of throwback. The idea of a man running around in tights punching bank robbers and then flying off is silly. Go with that. Not every super hero needs to remind us that Watchmen was good.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

The Soviet Union

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U06jlgpMtQs

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

I'd like to see a power that was more about bolstering other people. You yourself are not superstrong or supersmart, but use your power and you can make someone else superstrong or supersmart or whatever, at least for a little bit. I just think it would be interesting seeing how you'd use that, how do you decide who needs the boost, how would they react to it?

 

[twistedmic]

I'd like to see a super power involving shadows. Like being able to create physical weapons or implements with the shadows, manipulating them to affect the physical world (e.g. anything you have your shadow do to another shadow happens to the person casting that shadow) or being able to traverse through shadows.
I want to see more water manipulation as well.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'd like to see a super power involving shadows. Like being able to create physical weapons or implements with the shadows, manipulating them to affect the physical world (e.g. anything you have your shadow do to another shadow happens to the person casting that shadow) or being able to traverse through shadows.
I want to see more water manipulation as well.

I feel like both of those only really work in animation. Both of those tend to look pretty bad in live action. The water can be ok, but tends to be pretty expensive to animate, and a lot of work. I've never seen good shadow manipulation done in live action and I'm not sure it's even possible without looking stupid.

 

[Agema]

I want to see superpowers that on the surface sound awesome, but in reality are nightmarish curses.

Have you watched the old Roger Corman film, The Man With The X-ray Eyes? From the above, you might enjoy it.

 

[Agema]

I really like the concept of the Boys expressed at the start, if you're a superhuman especially just some random without training, using your superpowers without caution will cause a lot of collateral damage when the rest of us are so fragile by comparison.

There was a comic years ago (1980s/early 1990s?) called Marshal Law, the premise being that most superpowered are being genetically engineered as super-soldiers by the US military, but mostly end up deranged. The lead character was a self-hating superpowered antihero whose job was to police them, and it involves some pretty vicious satire of golden and silver age superheroes.

I suspect whoever made The Boys will have read it.

 

[Silent Protagonist]

While not really a superpower I'd like to see more stuff where something completely ordinary about humans is basically seen as a superpower by non-humans. In so much media featuring aliens or fantasy races, humans become the boring default where everyone else basically becomes "we're you but better". And in the same way those fictional races are defined by their particular superpower, you could have fun with an outside perspective on humans largely colored by the thing that we take for granted that makes us stick out. For example, you could have most of your non-humans groups rely on a very narrow diet of what they can digest, but make humans stand out with our omnivorous nature, our unique love of spicy food, and our cultural routine of selectively poisoning ourselves for recreation. You then have a non-human be all "watch out for the humans. They'll stick anything in their mouths." while they have to make sure they have enough distilled lotus nectar to make it through their journey.

 

[Agema]

While not really a superpower I'd like to see more stuff where something completely ordinary about humans is basically seen as a superpower by non-humans.

Sounds like you're asking for Bicycle Repair Man [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2howud]!

 

[Asita]

I would like to see more stories with very specific and situational superpowers. The hero in this scenario would not have your bog standard nuclear-kamehameha ready to be pulled out of their arse or your standard-suite of diet-Superman powers, neither would they have Batman's limitless gadget arsenal or wealth. I'm thinking powers like telepathy that can only be used to create illusions, or telechinesis that only works on small objects. Powers that would have to be carefully employed in order to get results. Rather than large-scale conflicts typical in super hero media, i would want to see characters with this kind of power used for detective work, professional heists and espionage

It was so refreshing to see the characters in Mistborn actually have to specialize and pick their battles. Rioters and Soothers can influence emotions, but in order to make effective use of that ability they have to really understand human psychology and how to inspire the desired emotions to make their manipulations feel natural. And while they can affect morale, put them in an actual battlefield and that's pretty much all they're good for. Every kind of Misting has their own niche to fill, and - barring full Mistborn - they can't just replace one with another. And I certainly want to see more of that kind of writing.