Heinlein suggested that in A Door into Summer – a scientist reported that a student of his, Leonard Vincent, tried time travel and never came back, and he couldn’t help but think…
Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper of Rat River.
Otto Skorzeny was one hell of a commando. He did what the US Special Forces was formed to do, and did it without a governament to support him.
Despite all the terrorist work he did after Germany’s surrender, he was acquitted in his post-war trial, and denazified by the post-war German government, which suggests some mind-control powers. After having two tumors removed from his spine, he walked again, against doctors’ predictions.
or [, AKA Haile Selassie, last emperor of Ethiopia. He was (and still is) worshipped as God incarnate by the Rastafarians. Considerable controversy surrounds his death, and it was 17 years before his remains were found.
[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo"]Geronimo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_Tafari"=Ras Tafari[/ur), medicine man and war chief of the Chiricahua band of Apache Indians. Allegedly bulletproof, highly charismatic, skilled desert survivalist, tracker and scout. Supposedly posessed the “medicine of the mole”, which gave him the ability to disappear into the earth and reappear somehwere else, ready to fight again. He surrendered to the US authorities to protect the women and children of his band, and after his release he became a celerity. He rode in President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1905 inaugural parade.
Red Cloud was also supposed to be bulletproof, as were many plains Indians of the 19th Century. This might have more to do with the quality of gunpowder at the time than anything else.
Mary Jo Putney’s The Alchemical Marriage uses that idea–although it isn’t Queen Elizabeth who has the ability to control weather.
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, AKA Ras Tafari, The last emperor of Ethipoia is considered God incarnate by the Rastafarian religion. He never denied these claims. His death is shrouded in mystery, and his remains wern’t found for 17 years afterwards. In 1978 he was missing, presumed dead, with no remains yet found.
This far into the thread and nobody’s mentioned Teddy Roosevelt? The man was a force of nature.
As i said earlier assigning mass mind-control to figures like Adolf Hitler and his ilk is too obvious. Whst i’m after is the inexplicable man or event that covert superpowers explain. Of the suggestions we’ve had so far Rasputin was the first and still the best, though i’m not denigrating the many others i’ve liked.
We have a glut of modern and some ancient figures so far. anbody got any Dark age / Medieval figures. i was thinking maybe Harald Hardrada might be interestung.
For a physical threat, perhaps Jackie Robinson, Jim Thorpe, or Lionel Conacher. Hell, his middle name was Pretoria. If that doesn’t destine you for powers…
Old school, perhaps Amalek, a Biblical baddy. So evil that God wanted his name blotted out and forgotten.
Or good old Babbage.
Rommel or Canaris?
This is too fun.
John “Grizzly” Adams, lycanthrope.
For badass Vikings, look no further than the Icelandic Sagas. They’re at least “based on a true story”. Or rather said, written quite awhile after the events depicted take place.
I’d recommend checking out the badassness of:
[ul]
[li]Brennu-Njáls Saga[/li][li]Grettissaga[/li][li]Egilssaga[/li][/ul]
Spring-Heeled Jack.
Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler)
Squanto
Alvin York
Audie Murphy
Crazy Horse
Bruce Lee
Miyamoto Musashi
Nikola Tesla, as a mentat?
Archimedes had fairly superhuman smarts, thinking up stuff others wouldn’t understand for hundreds of years.
A favorite from Irish legend is Cuculain, who singlehandedly defended Ulster from an attack by the other four-fifths of Ireland (the men of Ulster were incapacitated by labor pains, you understand). Several of his feats were clearly early superheroics, though he wasn’t very nice to Finnabair.
Teddy Roosevelt
Peter Francisco was, arguably, superhuman in real life!
About 12 years ago, Mark Waid was writing the Flash, and he was developing a mystery of the true identity of Max Mercury, I offered the theory that Max was really Benjamin Franklin, having gained super-speed through being struck by lightning.
He was quite an ahead-of-his-time scientist, I imagine he would make a plausible super-hero.
How about Bach?
From Wikipedia:
I think there is a theory that the various Eastern European physics geniuses (genii ?) that emigrated to America in before WW2 (such as John von Neuman), were in fact aliens sent to impart their supernatural knowledge to mankind.
Warren Buffett can see the future.