# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/41 "2008-12-02T21:11:20Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > The ability to communicate with animals. > > Be wary of every mouse, vole, mole and tiger that crosses your path. > > Bwahahahahaha! So by “communicate with the animals” you mean also “be able to control and command them.” Because I’m sure my cats can understand me, but rarely if ever do they obey me. Call me mundane, but I think simple super strength would be the best single power to have, as long as I get the appropriate level of near-invulnerability and structural cohesiveness. You could do a lot with super strength to simulate other single powers, such as leaping over tall buildings instead of flying over them. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/42 "2008-12-02T21:14:36Z")
Bah! Your puny **super-powers** are no match for my **invincible intellect**! **Fools!** I’ll destroy you all! Hahahahhaha! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/43 "2008-12-02T21:20:35Z")
The ability to grow hair. I’m going to make a killing on bald people. ---
**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, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/44 "2008-12-02T21:33:37Z")
> [@Taenia\_spp](#): > > I think there’s a problem with that: super-intelligence can’t build you a flying machine or any of the other superpowers. Let’s say you were in the stone age, but you were super-smart and figured out how to build an airplane. The necessary technologies and implementations of the manufacturing don’t exist yet, so you’d be SOL. Likewise, you may be able to envision some sort of teleportation device with your super-intelligence, but it might require development of many other related technologies first. True enough, but it’s just a hitch in my plan. I’ll invent the necessary related technologies, become obscenely wealthy thanks to my patents, then use my money to set up a huge infrastructure of labs and manufacturing plants to develop the subsequent necessary technologies; with my flawless intellect guiding the R&D processes, it shouldn’t take too long. Or, hell, maybe I just stop at being super-insanely wealthy. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/45 "2008-12-02T21:36:07Z")
> [@Taenia\_spp](#): > > or the ability to pass through solid matter (Disneyland turnstiles won’t phase me!). Damn, stole my idea. I’ll take Shadowcat’s phasing ability. It’s useful in a variety of situations when something is physically stopping you or trying to hurt you. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/46 "2008-12-03T01:11:10Z")
There _is_ another way to manipulate reality, y’know. I’d like the ability to rewind time two minutes at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/47 "2008-12-03T01:42:14Z")
I always say Wolverine’s ability to heal instantly. However, if being able to heal \*people \*included being able to heal _myself_, then I like that one. ---
**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:** [December 3, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/48 "2008-12-03T01:48:09Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > The ability to grow hair. I’m going to make a killing on bald people. But you’ll make new friends! Eveywhere! Luthor. Blofeld. Professor X. Kojack. The list goes on & on! ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/49 "2008-12-03T03:41:52Z")
Reanimation of corpses. As everyone knows, reanimated superhumans retain their powers even while zombified, so I would easily be able to amass an army of undead superpowered minions, without the troubling battle of wills that invariably ensues when dominating the souls of the living. Granted, superheroes never stay dead. But that just means that I’ll have a constant variety to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![AllWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@AllWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllWalker)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/50 "2008-12-03T04:00:32Z")
My friend from highschool had an interesting idea for a superpower - the ability to move along your own timeline. I guess it’s like timetravel, but you are ‘possessing’ your previous body so no time duplicates, and you are limited to your own lifespan. _But_, assuming you can use the power when you are dead (indulge me, please,) no one could touch you. Clever ambush? Rewind ten minutes, ambush averted. Screw up in averting the ambush? Try again. Ad infinitum. Personally, I’d take mental domination. But still, a reset button could come in handy. ---
**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 3, 2008, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/51 "2008-12-03T06:36:02Z")
> [@Necroscopics](#): > > Try as I might, I have no clue what FISS is… I reckon it’s “Flight, Invulnerability, S(upers)trength, S(upers)peed.” The stereotypical [Flying Brick](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FlyingBrick) set. (warning: tvtropes link) ---
**Author:** ![prisoner6655321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@prisoner6655321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prisoner6655321)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/52 "2008-12-03T07:06:24Z")
With the ability to control every aspect of time you would be invulnerable. You could change the time of just the air around you to become a shield through which nothing could penetrate. If you could control that shield you could move unencumbered. You might even be able to switch it on/off in such a way to allow air to penetrate so you could breathe. You could use time to do just about anything from flying, to teleportation, to moving through walls, to giving you super strength and your enemies wouldn’t stand a chance. Time: the super super-power. ---
**Author:** ![prisoner6655321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@prisoner6655321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prisoner6655321)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/53 "2008-12-03T07:16:31Z")
Although **Scissorjack** ’s probability power is pretty darn cool too. I wonder who would win, the probability power or the time power? I suppose probability could affect time but time could affect probability too. This would probably be the greatest battle of all time. Excuse the pun. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/54 "2008-12-03T09:20:25Z")
If I were going to be a crimefighter, I’d go with Professor X-levels of telepathy (mental domination + sensing individual minds seems to be the standard package, as per the OP’s combination of Spidey’s wallcrawling+webslinging\*) If a villain, I think Magneto’s manipulation of metal works quite nicely. Easy to break into vaults and out of prisons. Either that or Micah’s “Make machines do what you want” power, for the electronic theft angle. If neither (“just a citizen”), then flight. 'cos it’s cool. \*have the organic webshooters been introducedinto the comics, or only the movies? ---
**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 3, 2008, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/55 "2008-12-03T09:54:30Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > \*have the organic webshooters been introducedinto the comics, or only the movies? I think they were part of the ill-advised “The Other” arc, which now doesn’t count. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/56 "2008-12-03T11:00:02Z")
Prescience. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/57 "2008-12-03T13:51:23Z")
Just don’t turn yourself into a snake. It never helps. ---
**Author:** ![Necroscopics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@Necroscopics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necroscopics)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/58 "2008-12-03T14:13:44Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I reckon it’s “Flight, Invulnerability, S(upers)trength, S(upers)peed.” These would be 4 separate abilities. The exception I made for the Spiderman abilities are because shooting webs makes no sense if you can’t walk on them. > [@Scissorjack](#): > > Nothing. Once you can manipulate probability at a quantum level, you become a god. Then you would not be limited. Hence, this power breaks the rules of the question. By limited superhero ability, it is meant that you **cannot** become a god. Now, if you’re attempting to create an ability that works like the infinite probability drive Douglas Adams created, then you’d have to deal with the strange consequences. For example, if I shoot a bullet at you and you use your infinite probability power on it, you _might_ turn it into pudding, but you might turn it into a raging bull as well. Now _that_ would be limited. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/59 "2008-12-03T14:36:52Z")
I’ll take The Flash’s superspeed. C’mon, NY to LA in 20 secs? I’d make a KILLING on delivery services. “If it absolutely, positively, has to be there before this commercial ends.” (Either that, or being the greatest centerfielder ever. 20 million a year to play baseball? Sign me up.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345/60 "2008-12-03T14:49:43Z")
> [@Necroscopics](#): > > For example, if I shoot a bullet at you and you use your infinite probability power on it, you _might_ turn it into pudding, but you might turn it into a raging bull as well. Now _that_ would be limited. And AWESOME. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-limited-superhero-ability/475345.md?page=4)