# What is the best (limited) superhero ability? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345 "2008-12-02T15:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Necroscopics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@Necroscopics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necroscopics)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/1 "2008-12-02T15:38:03Z")
You’ve been inducted into a Secret Society of Superhumans (SSS). You’ve got the look, you’ve got the charisma, you’ve got the spandex tights and cape. The only thing you don’t have is a superhuman ability. Lucky for you, the SSS has a lab and can give you any ability you want, but you can only have one, and due to the effect splicing genetic modifications has on your system, you can’t mix and match to get more than one without seriously bad consequences. What would be your pick? - These are limited superpowers. You can’t have laser eyes AND the ability to fly, you have to pick one or the other. \*\* Certain abilities (like Spiderman’s ability to walk on walls and websling) go hand-in-hand (and would be kind of lame alone) and should only be counted as one – spider sense would be a separate ability. The idea is that you can’t just have the ability to get more abilities or change them at whim. It’s like the situation where you can’t wish for more wishes. Mine would either be telekinesis or the ability to stop time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/2 "2008-12-02T15:47:21Z")
The ability to bend the spacetime continuum to move threads from one forum to another! That or flying. /thread moved to IMHO/ ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/3 "2008-12-02T15:49:54Z")
The ability to heal people. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/4 "2008-12-02T15:50:06Z")
I want [Cypher’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypher_(comics)) ability to learn any language in a matter of hours. It’s no use in a fight, but you don’t always win the fight by fighting; there’s also intelligence-gathering and diplomacy. Besides, it has private-sector marketability. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/5 "2008-12-02T15:51:03Z")
It’s got to be invisibility, as long as my powers extend to anything I am touching. I’m not sure if I’ll be a goody or a baddy, yet. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/6 "2008-12-02T15:53:09Z")
Being able to access and use the fourth spatial dimension. With that you could effectively disappear and be untouchable. No jail could hold you. No place would be inaccessible to you (you could go in and out of the best vault in the world with ease). You could pull your enemy’s heart out without cutting them open regardless of armor they wore and they cannot touch you in the 4th dimension. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/7 "2008-12-02T15:56:35Z")
I’ll take Nightcrawlers teleport. That would cut my commute down to seconds. Just pop on top of a big building, pop across town to the next one, and so on until Bamfing in front of work. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/8 "2008-12-02T16:04:44Z")
shapeshifting. and not the sucky “can only shapeshift into human form, and only look like other humans you’ve touched” or any other whacky rules. I want to be able to shapeshift into any form I want without restriction. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/9 "2008-12-02T16:05:10Z")
Just for the sheer joy of it, rather than usefulness in crime-fighting, I don’t see how anything can touch the ability to fly. I guess telekinesis would be the best overall power (especially if you can use it on yourself, thereby back-dooring flight capability). ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/10 "2008-12-02T16:24:32Z")
Super-intelligence. Then I can just invent whatever I need to give me plenty of other de facto super powers. But I don’t know, degrees matter. If I say telekinesis, does that mean I can use my mind to hurl rocks, boulders, skyscrapers, or mountains? Does super-speed mean I can run at the speed of sound or at some not-insignificant fraction of the speed of light? Does super-intelligence mean I get to be Isaac Newton times 2 or Isaac Newton to the 20th power? ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/11 "2008-12-02T16:25:48Z")
The ultimate power of Persuasion (convince anyone to do anything I want them to)! I’d start out trying to do good, but I’d probably turn bad within the first half-hour. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/12 "2008-12-02T16:31:30Z")
No! No capes! ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/13 "2008-12-02T16:33:06Z")
Have to go with Wolverine’s healing ability. The heck with fighting crime, nowadays I can’t even run bases without pulling a hamstring. So a self-patching body would be great to have. Plus, I seem to recall that no one really knows how old Wolverine is, so there might be some limited form of immortality/extended life in there too. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/14 "2008-12-02T16:41:54Z")
Wolverine’s 130, give or take. He was born in the late 1800s to Canadian plantation owners in Alberta. I’d probably go with persuasion, too. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/15 "2008-12-02T16:56:38Z")
Definitely healing factor. How are you supposed to fight crime if you’re recuperating for six weeks after each fight? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/16 "2008-12-02T17:07:51Z")
Nigh-invulnerability. **SPOOON!!!** ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/17 "2008-12-02T17:27:25Z")
The ability to communicate with animals. Be wary of every mouse, vole, mole and tiger that crosses your path. Bwahahahahaha! ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/18 "2008-12-02T17:30:33Z")
Flying, without question, would be so cool! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gwyen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/858c86/32.png) [@Gwyen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gwyen)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/19 "2008-12-02T18:16:04Z")
That is so strange, my SO and I had this conversation last night. I want to be able to reproduce, exactly, anything that I touch. Anything. Cars, clothes, medicine… anything I say. Muuuaaahaaa ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/20 "2008-12-02T18:28:26Z")
One of the most dangerous abilities from a security standpoint (the one I’m glad doesn’t exist) is teleportation. Though mental domination is also nasty. I think I would enjoy self-teleportation, mentally dominating others not so much. > [@Necroscopics](#): > > Mine would either be telekinesis or the ability to stop time. 🙂 Those are brilliant choices. I would like those as well. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345.md?page=2)