# What if someone developed X-men style powers....? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 3, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551 "2014-11-03T20:58:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@MrLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrLee)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/1 "2014-11-03T20:58:37Z")
Let’s say someone developed some kind of super-hero super-power, I dunno…say…telekinesis. It’s totally legit, and proven beyond doubt that this individual can pick up cars and spin them around purely with the power of their mind. Then what? Can the government invoke some kind of law to have that person forcefully imprisoned or experimented on? Could it invent a law precisely for that purpose? Or would, for all intents and purposes, that person be pretty much untouchable by the authorities until/unless they break the law (with or without their powers)? Presumably said individual would be in top demand from lots of different corners - scientific and military research to name but a few. But how exactly would things go down, after the initial ‘woah shit - he/she really \*can \*do that’ has died down? I guess TV appearances and book-deals galore - but would there be much commercial demand for said talents? (not sure if this is GQ, GD or IMHO - I trust the mods in their infinite wisdom) Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/2 "2014-11-03T21:15:28Z")
> [@MrLee](#): > > (not sure if this is GQ, GD or IMHO - I trust the mods in their infinite wisdom) Since this requires speculation, let’s move it to IMHO. Colibri Infinitely Wise Moderator ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/3 "2014-11-03T21:24:52Z")
Presumably the 4th amendment would prevent the feds from just throwing the poor sod in jail, although I would entirely believe an unconstitutional law gets passed and has to work it’s way to the Supremes for narrative reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/4 "2014-11-03T22:10:12Z")
Those powers would be a highly desired military trade secret, so I’m sure the constitution wouldn’t last long as a barrier. I doubt people go after that guy personally though as his powers would make him hard to control. They will probably use his loved ones as leverage to get him to do their bidding. Locking him up wouldn’t work, but threatening to harm his loved ones would. So I see various governments and criminal enterprises doing that in an effort to get him to do their bidding. Although I’m sure there would be a lot of financial investments in him too, but I’m sure threats against his family would be common. There would be some demand for the talents, but the big demand would be finding out how to replicate them for military and commercial purposes. Basically, the US government claims they will protect his family from Mexican drug dealers and Russian spies if he agrees to let the military study him. If so, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a false flag operation and the government was behind the threats to his family in the first place because that was the only way to control the guy. That is a spy tactic I’ve heard of used before, you covertly create a problem then come in as the good guy and offer a solution, and the solution is what you wanted him/her to do in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![MrLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@MrLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrLee)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/5 "2014-11-03T22:20:06Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Those powers would be a highly desired military trade secret, so I’m sure the constitution wouldn’t last long as a barrier. > > I doubt people go after that guy personally though as his powers would make him hard to control. They will probably use his loved ones as leverage to get him to do their bidding. Locking him up wouldn’t work, but threatening to harm his loved ones would. So I see various governments and criminal enterprises doing that in an effort to get him to do their bidding. Although I’m sure there would be a lot of financial investments in him too, but I’m sure threats against his family would be common. > > There would be some demand for the talents, but the big demand would be finding out how to replicate them for military and commercial purposes. > > Basically, the US government claims they will protect his family from Mexican drug dealers and Russian spies if he agrees to let the military study him. If so, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a false flag operation and the government was behind the threats to his family in the first place because that was the only way to control the guy. That is a spy tactic I’ve heard of used before, you covertly create a problem then come in as the good guy and offer a solution, and the solution is what you wanted him/her to do in the first place. Yeah…the future wouldn’t look bright for our ‘superhero’. The moral so far is that if you were to develop superpowers tomorrow, the brightest thing to do would be to keep it all very much low-profile… ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/6 "2014-11-03T22:42:19Z")
I think he phrase, “Test to destruction” might apply. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/7 "2014-11-03T22:45:35Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I doubt people go after that guy personally though as his powers would make him hard to control.[…] > Basically, the US government claims they will protect his family from Mexican drug dealers and Russian spies […] And that’s not counting the possibility of some other faction or power deciding that “if we can’t have him, nobody will” and just seeking to preemptively eliminate him. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/8 "2014-11-04T01:13:53Z")
If I developed powers like this, I wouldn’t tell anyone. Find a way to use them legally to get what I want. Maybe I talk to a lawyer to confirm whether buying and selling stock based on information obtained with Precognition counts as Insider Trading. Possibly not because you didn’t commit a breach of confidence. Or maybe because the applicable statutes define “Insider” information as “knowledge of a past or present fact that is not generally known to the public”, and what you have are future facts. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/9 "2014-11-04T01:30:59Z")
> [@MrLee](#): > > the brightest thing to do would be to keep it all very much low-profile… …and hope they go away? _Head, meet Mr Sand._ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/10 "2014-11-04T01:44:17Z")
I think I’m the only person who, if I developed superpowers, would immediately voluntarily seek out labs to study them. But I’d also make sure to out myself to as many media outlets as possible, so I couldn’t just be inconspicuously “disappeared”. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/11 "2014-11-04T01:48:24Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Those powers would be a highly desired military trade secret, so I’m sure the constitution wouldn’t last long as a barrier. > > I doubt people go after that guy personally though as his powers would make him hard to control. They will probably use his loved ones as leverage to get him to do their bidding. Locking him up wouldn’t work, but threatening to harm his loved ones would. So I see various governments and criminal enterprises doing that in an effort to get him to do their bidding. Although I’m sure there would be a lot of financial investments in him too, but I’m sure threats against his family would be common. > > There would be some demand for the talents, but the big demand would be finding out how to replicate them for military and commercial purposes. > > Basically, the US government claims they will protect his family from Mexican drug dealers and Russian spies if he agrees to let the military study him. If so, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a false flag operation and the government was behind the threats to his family in the first place because that was the only way to control the guy. That is a spy tactic I’ve heard of used before, you covertly create a problem then come in as the good guy and offer a solution, and the solution is what you wanted him/her to do in the first place. This is why you always wear a mask. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/12 "2014-11-04T02:18:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think I’m the only person who, if I developed superpowers, would immediately voluntarily seek out labs to study them. But I’d also make sure to out myself to as many media outlets as possible, so I couldn’t just be inconspicuously “disappeared”. You only think that would help. You know why there are no real super powers? No real people with powers? Because the shadow government kidnaps them and holds them in secret military/research bases where they … wait, that’s just a TV show/movie/comic book trope. Check out the show with Stan Lee, actual super humans. [http://www.history.com/shows/stan-lees-superhumans](http://www.history.com/shows/stan-lees-superhumans) It’s no joke. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/13 "2014-11-04T03:33:01Z")
Depending on the superpower I could also,while laying low, try and get a gig as the greatest magician/ illusionist/tightrope walker/strongman ever; win the Randi challenge; start a religious ministry or cult – stuff that will at least provide me an income. > [@cmyk](#): > > This is why you always wear a mask. And get a secret identity – a \*real \*secret identity. Not one of those Marvel/DC identities where half the world knows your name, address, underwear size and last 4 digits of social security number and your associates are continually calling you by your legal name and the only people who don’t get it are the unfortunate sufferers of the brain damage known as Severe Lois Lane Syndrome. We’re talking real cover identities in the style of an international hitman or of a civil-rights activist in one of your nastier despotates. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/14 "2014-11-04T03:51:22Z")
It seems to me that the most likely super powers would be mental, and the people with them would do things like start computer companies, or maybe software, and become super wealthy. Then go out and use money to change the world. But that’s crazy talk. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/15 "2014-11-04T05:53:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think I’m the only person who, if I developed superpowers, would immediately voluntarily seek out labs to study them. But I’d also make sure to out myself to as many media outlets as possible, so I couldn’t just be inconspicuously “disappeared”. Not the only one: I’d do the same. I don’t belive in the view, held by many, that such an individual would be imprisoned, vivisected, made to disappear, etc. I’m not even sure I’d bother with a media blitz. I’d leave word with one or two people – the cliched letter left with a lawyer – but, frankly, I feel pretty safe with the legal, academic, and even military establishment. Some colonel somewhere might tell me to keep it secret, but they don’t kill everyone who knows secrets. If they did, no one would ever be allowed to retire from the CIA. (“The Prisoner!”) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/16 "2014-11-04T07:59:56Z")
I posted a thread asking pretty much the same thing just over a year ago. Here Coincidentally, I also used telekinesis as the example. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/17 "2014-11-04T10:15:46Z")
> [@MrLee](#): > > Then what? Can the government invoke some kind of law to have that person forcefully imprisoned or experimented on? Could it invent a law precisely for that purpose? If anyone tries, I’d be fully in favour of putting their head on a pike. Persecuting innocent people _because_ they are exceptionally capable of making you regret your bigotry isn’t just evil, it’s stupid. ---
**Author:** ![MrLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@MrLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrLee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/18 "2014-11-04T12:14:19Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I posted a thread asking pretty much the same thing just over a year ago. Here > Coincidentally, I also used telekinesis as the example. That’s the _second_ time that I’ve started a thread to find out that someone else has asked the exact same thing already… I should hone my _checking-to-see-if-it’s-been-done-before_ skills, it’s really not that hard… ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/19 "2014-11-04T13:02:49Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > This is why you always wear a mask. Yeah, that whole “secret identity” schtick is actually a pretty damn good idea. Ironically, I don’t think the X-Men have secret identities any more. It seems like most of their identities are publicly known (with a handfull of exceptions like Rouge) and monikers like “Cyclops” and “Beast” are more like nicknames. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551/20 "2014-11-04T13:13:20Z")
The X-Men “went public” in the comics in 01 or 02 and they’re pretty much celebrities now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-someone-developed-x-men-style-powers/703551.md?page=2)