Color experts: would this be a useful superpower?

[Love Rhombus]

Wasn't sure where to put this thread, feel free to move it.

Long story short, I was arguing with a friend about the worst superpower to have, and eventually we got to Color Kid, who can control color (obviously). I think it would be one that could be kinda cool, but he thinks it would be like commanding butterflies; maybe fun at parties but that's it. I know bupkis science.

How would this be helpful in crimefighting or otherwise?

[cromulent]

Instant camouflage? That would make it much easier to hide from criminals, or the police, depending on the superhero.

I think this would be a fairly useful superpower. If the person were evil, they could do other things, like make bronze coins appear golden.

[Annie-Xmas]

If you were commiting a crime and your skin started glowing purple, would you be distracted enough for the good guys to take you down?

[Love Rhombus]

True. I'm assuming that if you could, turning yourself invisible would be pointless though, since you would be blind? Dunno if transparency falls under this area.

[Colophon]

I predict he would get a networked home make-over show, at the very least.

[CalMeacham]

It's a little useful -- he could make everything in one place the same color. It's PERFECT camouflage. He could enhance the darkness at night y making everything black./

He can Blind his enemies (and cameras) by making the lenses dark.

He can improve the thermal heating (or reduce it) by making things lighter or darker.


He can make scads of money from Sneetches (and similar situations)


He can prevent people from, say, finding a critical document by making all of them the same color all over. The same for money. He can effectivelu obliterate signs and labels at will.



Heck, it's a LOT more useful than Bouncing Boy. Or Matter-Eater Lad.

[Love Rhombus]

Ooo,he could change lights from red to green or vice versa. Say, that means he could manipulate printed words, doesn't it?

[chacoguy]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

It's a little useful -- he could make everything in one place the same color. It's PERFECT camouflage. He could enhance the darkness at night y making everything black./

He can Blind his enemies (and cameras) by making the lenses dark.

He can improve the thermal heating (or reduce it) by making things lighter or darker.


He can make scads of money from Sneetches (and similar situations)


He can prevent people from, say, finding a critical document by making all of them the same color all over. The same for money. He can effectivelu obliterate signs and labels at will.



Heck, it's a LOT more useful than Bouncing Boy. Or Matter-Eater Lad.

"Sneetches (and similar situations)"

Boy, do I get THAT all the time.

[Pithy Moniker]

I'm not really up on my comics any more but I seem to remember that the Green Lantern's power didn't work on yellow objects. What a perfect arch-nemesis for him.

Barring that, he could start his own car and / or house "painting" business.

[RealityChuck]

If he can change the color of the air, then he's in great shape: make the air in front of the person black and opaque. Even villains who don't wear glasses would be useless.

[Shagnasty]

There is a bunch of stuff you can do. You could make people wearing safety vests turn black at night so they get hit by cars. You could make red lights appear to be malfunctioning and make them green on all sides or appear to be broken to cause accidents. You could make fresh food like fish in stores turn a disgusting color so that no one will buy it. You could do the same with the cars in a car dealership or even an arch-enemy's car. Make the asshole drive a hot pink-mobile around for a while.

Pick a popular beach and make the ocean look like it has red tide to ruin people's vacation. Take pictures of the kids as they cry. Pick out people that are obviously fashion conscience and make their clothes and hair butt ugly day after day under they end up in the hospital from PTSD. Change their clothes back to normal just before they get to the hospital so that they look like a loon and get committed.

You get the idea. This isn't a weak power if you have a little creativity. You can destroy lives and whole families with it which is the real purpose of any good superpower.

[cromulent]

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

If he can change the color of the air, then he's in great shape: make the air in front of the person black and opaque. Even villains who don't wear glasses would be useless.

Or he could just make the crystalline lens of the eye opaque. Instant cataracts for enemies!

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

He saved Superboy, back in the Silver Age, by altering the color of Green Kryptonite to Blue. This implies altering the frequency of radiation. He may possess vast, but undeveloped, power.

BTW--can he change colors permanently, or does the change stop when he stop concentrating?

[jayjay]

Never mind...I didn't see that he was actually mentioned in the OP. Duh.

[Der Trihs]

Originally Posted by Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor

He saved Superboy, back in the Silver Age, by altering the color of Green Kryptonite to Blue. This implies altering the frequency of radiation. He may possess vast, but undeveloped, power.

Perhaps like turning the white light from a searchlight to, say, the single frequency of a laser. Or the opposite - turning a laser into harmless white light.

If he can turn invisible "colors" to visible ones, there are scientific and tactical uses for that. Infrared vision or ultraviolet vision, seeing in gamma rays or radio, and so on.

[Love Rhombus]

Originally Posted by Der Trihs

Perhaps like turning the white light from a searchlight to, say, the single frequency of a laser. Or the opposite - turning a laser into harmless white light.

If he can turn invisible "colors" to visible ones, there are scientific and tactical uses for that. Infrared vision or ultraviolet vision, seeing in gamma rays or radio, and so on.

Seeing in radio?

[Fish]

It would depend on the limits of the color-changing mechanism.

If by changing the color of something, he actually changes its physical characteristics in some way, then we're talking about some fun stuff. Changing an object's color might involve adjusting the wavelengths of light that are absorbed, for instance — plants are green because they absorb high-energy blue wavelengths of light (and the green light bounces off, basically, right?). Could Color Kid deforest an entire area (slowly) by turning plants pure white? They'd reflect all light, and suddenly they aren't able to photosynthesize...

He could change the color of photo negatives, presumably tampering with criminal evidence.

If he could change the color of a green bottle to blue, or clear, then presumably he could do the same thing in reverse; he could turn someone's windshield into black glass. ... but that's more of a refraction of light. And if he could change the refraction index of a medium like glass, then why not air? Change the refractive index of air and ... instant telescope! Instant ant-burning device! Instant ... well, big swirly blobby thing!

If his color-change powers are essentially telepathic illusions, then that's different. Powerful in a different way, though.

[eleanorigby]

Can he (and why is he a boy? Why not a girl?) only change to one color at a time or are blends, plaids, paisleys etc possible? I see great potential for camouflage, secrecy and mischief--why else have a superpower?

I mean, I doubt you could rule the world with it, but ruling the world is over rated.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by Fish

If his color-change powers are essentially telepathic illusions, then that's different. Powerful in a different way, though.

As has been mentioned, he changed the band of kryptonite gravel that encircled the earth in the 30th Century from green kryptonite (fatal to normal Kryptonians) to blue kryptonite (fatal to Bizarro-world natives), thus making it safe for Superboy and Supergirl to remain in the 30th Century (they were visiting). If he were only changing the perception of color, that wouldn't have worked.

[Fish]

Long story short, I was arguing with a friend about the worst superpower to have, and eventually we got to Color Kid, who can control color (obviously).

Bolding added. They're speaking of a specific person. And, oddly enough, Color Kid was a girl for a short time. (There's something on the Wikipedia article about Grandarin Gender Reveral Disease or some other blather. Just sayin'.)

Well, jayjay, we might then reasonably wonder if the Kryptonian aversion to kryptonite is only psychosomatic.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by Fish

Well, jayjay, we might then reasonably wonder if the Kryptonian aversion to kryptonite is only psychosomatic.

I know you were kidding, but let me counter that. There were numerous times in the various comic series, movies and television shows (both live-action and animated) when Superman/Clark Kent reacted to the presence of green kryptonite (by collapsing or feeling ill) without actually knowing any was around, which definitely seems to work against that hypothesis.

[Fish]

Maybe the sound of kryptonite's radioactive decay affects his super-hearing in some way. Maybe there's something about the wavelength of its light that causes his powers to short-circuit.

I take your point, but there are holes in comic-book physics that you could drive a Batmobile through.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by Fish

I take your point, but there are holes in comic-book physics that you could drive a Batmobile through.

No argument there. And if you don't like the reasoning they give you, wait six months and they'll retcon it...

[nd_n8]

So, color is reflected light. Changing color would be changing reflected light. He wouldn't need camoflage or to mess with someone's cornea, he could just affect all light in an area so it does not reflect and the area goes dark.

Or gather light to form beams of various functions. He could be a light bender from Avatar.

If he is crafty enough then he could change reflected light selectively and convince criminals of some pretty neat illusions: "Your hand is on fire" "No it's not" "Sure it is, look and see" Criminal looks at hand and sees flames licking up and down between his fingers "Yahh... my hand is on fire!"

[Ranchoth]

I must ask—are there any (canon) limits to the duration of effect of his powers? I mean, if he changes something's color to red, is it red forever, red until he changes it back, red until he dies or is knocked unconscious, or does the new color just "wear off" after awhile?

Speaking of Kryptonite...you might have some luck taking a sample of one of the other, relatively harmless varieties of Kryptonite, some of which I'd at least hope are more common or less valulable than one of the more lethal varieties, tricking Superman (or another Kryptonian) into picking up or getting near the "harmless" substance, and then turning it Green...or Gold.

Heck, would it be possible to create new varieties of Kryptonite in this fashion, by changing a sample's color to something not previously seen (like purple, or orange, or the colour out of space)? Or would that just make the universe implode...a little more. _Again.

[Der Trihs]

Originally Posted by Love Rhombus

Seeing in radio?

Radio waves are just another frequency. And what else is radar than a form of seeing with radio ?

[Green Bean]

Originally Posted by Shagnasty

There is a bunch of stuff you can do. You could make people wearing safety vests turn black at night so they get hit by cars. You could make red lights appear to be malfunctioning and make them green on all sides or appear to be broken to cause accidents. You could make fresh food like fish in stores turn a disgusting color so that no one will buy it....

Of all the things that Color Kid could possibly do with his powers, I'd think that reducing retail sales of fish would be pretty low on the list.

[Kamino Neko]

Originally Posted by eleanorigby

(and why is he a boy? Why not a girl?)

He was, actually, very briefly, because he was a member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes (an unofficial adjunct to the Legion of Super-Heroes who were rejected for powers too iffy), along with Infectious Lass, who accidentally infected him with Grandin Gender Reversal Germs. (She was powerful, but had NO control at all.)

He was cute as a girl.

(And Bouncing Boy's powers are odd, not useless - they, even if you think the bouncing itself useless, involved increased durability, and demonstrated immunity to electric shock - and Matter Eater Lad, who could eat and digest anything short of Inertron, regardless of hardness or size...if he were evil, he'd be one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy.)

[Love Rhombus]

Originally Posted by Tengu

Matter Eater Lad, who could eat and digest anything short of Inertron, regardless of hardness or size...if he were evil, he'd be one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy.)

In the spirit of the OP ( since it's mine), how would he be dangerous?

[Der Trihs]

Originally Posted by Love Rhombus

In the spirit of the OP ( since it's mine), how would he be dangerous?

By eating Superman ?

"Mmmm . . . Kryptonians are so nice and crunchy."

[Bryan Ekers]

Getting back to the OP, I can imagine all kinds of nasty and cool and nastycool things I could do if I had the ability to shift energy wavelengths up and down.



I could, uh, colourize old movies!

[Ranchoth]

Say, he couldn't chance the color of a star, if he got close enough to it, could he?

And how precise are his abilities? Could he change the color of scar tissue, or tattoos? Could he make tattoos appear on a living being?

[Kamino Neko]

Originally Posted by Love Rhombus

In the spirit of the OP ( since it's mine), how would he be dangerous?

As an assassin, he'd be top notch. He's well trained as a fighter, and when he goes for the kill, no armour (at least none that anyone short of a Kryptonian or Daxamite could move in) could stop him. If he wanted to kill you, he could, quite literally, bite your head off. Hiding's no good - If he wanted to get at you, he could simply chew through you your walls.

And less direct damage... He could ruin economies (as there are still worlds in the UP whose economies are based on physical goods), he could cause famines, if he had a little time - he appears to have a bottomless pit for a stomach, given some of the stuff he's eaten. Destroy Winath's weather control devices. (In the continuities where they exist.)

Only two things have ever stopped him that have been shown - inertron, which he can't get through, and the Miracle Machine, which he was able to eat, but was driven insane by the energies it contained.