# A World with Super-Powers. How would YOU make money? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037 "2010-11-01T01:17:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/21 "2010-11-02T20:03:35Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > DON’T! Every time someone buys a Wild Cards book, George R.R. Martin delays the next Song of Ice and Fire book by a month! Don’t worry. I buy all my books used. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/22 "2010-11-02T22:12:38Z")
> [@Silver Tyger Girl](#): > > I keep meaning to read that… > [@jayjay](#): > > DON’T! Every time someone buys a Wild Cards book, George R.R. Martin delays the next Song of Ice and Fire book by a month! And the Baby Jesus makes a wee. Mary dislikes changing diapers as much as anybody. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/23 "2010-11-02T22:19:22Z")
Would would be more effective at putting out a fire, Mister Freeze or Super Bladder Man? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/24 "2010-11-02T22:41:56Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Would would be more effective at putting out a fire, Mister Freeze or Super Bladder Man? Or the Baby Jesus. Mary _really_ hates changin’ them diapers! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/25 "2010-11-02T22:44:24Z")
> [@Silver Tyger Girl](#): > > I’m Skald could do this better than I can, It’s faintly disturbing that I’ve become a genre. ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/26 "2010-11-02T22:45:47Z")
If I could stop time or turn invisible, I would steal high-end luxury items and sell them on eBay. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/27 "2010-11-02T22:47:49Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > If I could stop time or turn invisible, I would steal high-end luxury items and sell them on **eBay**. There’s a flaw in that plan. It’s in the word I bolded. This is why I don’t let y’all use the stuff in the lair. 'Cept **Oak** of course. The rest of y’all don’t think these things though. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/28 "2010-11-02T22:48:26Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Generalized search & rescue, for an exorbitant fee. 9/11 would have been a freebie, though. Yeah, probably, particularly if you charge per life saved. Not a lot of rescues that day. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/29 "2010-11-04T09:34:31Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > And not… Bicycle Repair Man!? > … Awwww _pout_ ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/30 "2010-11-04T09:59:59Z")
My superpowers might have no relationship with my job; having, for example, superspeed might make me more effective in physical emergencies, but it wouldn’t help me get through meetings, nor would I want to make a living as Super Messenger. I’m thinking of that story **VunderBob** told, of him and his EMT/Firemen colleagues being asked how much would they need to be paid to turn their volunteering into jobs and their response was along the lines of “no way you can”. Nowadays I don’t use every skill I own at work, having one or more of those skills classified as a superpower would be no different. It might motivate me to go to the gym and work on my upper body strength (to be able to pull someone from a dangerous spot more easily, or carry them to the nearest ER). ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/31 "2010-11-04T10:32:23Z")
Super sense of smell: airport security. “Clean…clean…Semtex…clean…reefer…clean…” ---
**Author:** ![heavyarms553](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/779978/32.png) [@heavyarms553](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heavyarms553)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/32 "2010-11-06T02:51:44Z")
I’d have super speed, and I’d work for the USPS. ---
**Author:** ![Beltane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@Beltane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beltane)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/33 "2010-11-06T15:44:39Z")
There was a character in an old roleplaying game (The Free Lancers supplement for Top Secret, for anyone who might remember it) who had the ability to digest basically anything he could eat. He could also breakdown extremely toxic materials by doing this, and suffered no harmful effects He was the only person who had this ability. He ate toxic waste all day long, and charged just about whatever he wanted for disposing of it. ``` I don't think I'd want to dine on toxic sludge for my paycheck, but it is an odd way of using a power for money making. ``` I think someone who can sense (and perhaps even identify) powers could make boatloads of cash- as a sporting official, or as a recruiter. That could be interesting, at least until they try to get me to work as a “hound” hunting down other powered people after the norms revolt. But hey, that could never happen, right? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/34 "2010-11-06T16:06:43Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It’s faintly disturbing that I’ve become a genre. You don’t know the half of it. The fanfic…! ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/35 "2010-11-06T23:59:44Z")
If it’s just for the money and marketability, my superpower would be making love potions. A few thousand bucks would buy you a one-night only potion, and I could make lifetime guaranteed ones for multi-millions. Anyone you could slip a Mickey to would be your everlasting love for the night or for life. Let’s say I make them with eye beams that I can capture in a bottles or vials. Anything else sounds like I would secrete them… blugh. Really, my rates could be whatever I’d like, because no one else can do what I do. It’d be cool to sell love potions to couples. I could get divorce rates under 25% in no time. Couples’ discount. “We only want to be in love til the kids leave for college. How much?” ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/36 "2010-11-07T00:26:04Z")
Hmmmm. I’ll try one: turning water into wine. Demonstrate publicly in a big way, then sit back and wait for the lucrative offers from the world’s vintners _ **not** _ to do so. I’d be **RICH** , I tells ya! ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/37 "2010-11-07T11:12:48Z")
Having the ability to turn invisible would be an asset in Hollywood. Imagine what Jim Hensen could do with an invisble puppeteer on THE MUPPETS. The special effects buffet for a lot of films could be lessened. No need for CGI to remove the wires. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/38 "2010-11-07T22:02:58Z")
> [@audit1](#): > > Having the ability to turn invisible would be an asset in Hollywood. Imagine what Jim Hensen could do with an invisble puppeteer on THE MUPPETS. The special effects buffet for a lot of films could be lessened. No need for CGI to remove the wires. That’s brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/39 "2010-11-09T11:59:42Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > You don’t know the half of it. The fanfic…! Try not to think about the slash… ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037/40 "2010-11-09T12:53:13Z")
Flying. I wouldn’t necessarily make a living out of it, but I’d save a bunch of time and money going and coming from work and running errands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-with-super-powers-how-would-you-make-money/559037.md?page=1)