# Which superpower would you choose? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 5, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247 "2011-02-05T03:33:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/21 "2011-02-05T16:07:56Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Just pick the ability that lets you absorb the contents of books. Go to the language section of your local bookstore and walk down the isle trailing your fingers across the spines as you go. > > Presto, you now speak a bunch of languages. Yeah, but that’s just fancy book-learnin’. Which has its limitations, with language in particular. mmm ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/22 "2011-02-05T16:23:10Z")
Invisibility, because once you’ve seen one girl naked, you pretty much want to see all of them naked. All sorts of useful and fun, not to mention very easy to abuse for personal gain. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/23 "2011-02-05T16:25:30Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > The OP specified that you decide the specifics of how your power works, so you’re not going to suffer an unwanted, eternal life. > > Assuming “Live Forever” covers “Impervious to all harm except that which I will”, I’d go for that one. Ditto. Someone will no doubt be along shortly to explain that immortality would eventually be boring, because once you’ve done everything once, there’s nothing left to do. I think these people lack imagination. firstly, ‘everything’ is a lot of stuff, and nextly, what the heck is wrong with doing the same things more than once, or infinitely many times. ---
**Author:** ![MareIt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MareIt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MareIt)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/24 "2011-02-05T16:57:38Z")
I want the ability to smack sense in to people. I’ve, sadly, put a lot of thought in to how this would work. My costume would be white gloves and a big ol’ grandma purse. Someone would do something stupid and I would don my white gloves and smack them. My subject would shake it off and then say “thank you, I needed that” just like they do in the cartoons 🙂 The really difficult cases would require being hit upside the head with my grandma purse. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/25 "2011-02-05T17:24:02Z")
Understanding all languages. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/26 "2011-02-05T17:38:01Z")
I chose teleportation. Live forever sounds mighty tempting. But I get an uneasy feeling that might be one of those “careful what you wish for” things. Actually, I chose: other: the ability to absorb all those powers. 😃 Yeah, I know, that’s cheat’n. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/27 "2011-02-05T18:18:58Z")
Another vote for mind control. That way I could get my student loans to disappear. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/28 "2011-02-07T01:36:01Z")
There’s a thread in IMHO that sounds like something that I’d like . . .Things That You Would Really Like To Know That Are None Of Your Mollyfocking Business? Anything that happened that I was curious about would be revealed to me by way of a magic newspaper, website, whatever. Lots of possibilities with this one. Or, the ability to open any locked door and step into whatever place I wanted to go, a la the plot of a SyFy miniseries I vaguely remember. That superpower would be pretty useful as well. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/29 "2011-02-07T03:53:50Z")
In x-men the blue woman who could shapeshift to any form she wanted. That, but look like myself now when not shifted instead of blue 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/30 "2011-02-07T08:13:32Z")
Another language one: The ability to effortlessly speak, understand, read, write, translate, and transliterate every human and sentient extraterrestrial language, dialect, and accent to ever be. I don’t care to understand the inanities of the flies buzzing around me in the park, nor if aliens ever arrive, the inanities of their flies. Talking to animals is just the kind of Twilight Zone trap that would drive you insane. Failing that, I would choose super strength, so that if someone angered me I could move their house two inches to the left so that when they tried to unlock their front door, they’d miss with their key. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/31 "2011-02-07T08:43:14Z")
Perhaps this is what you meant by “Temporarily ‘freeze’ all life (except my own)”, but I’d want the power to slow the world around me, and my own body clock, for as long as I wanted. This way, I would have time to do all of the things I want to – painting, writing, engineering, studying, etc. – that it’s currently infeasible for me to do in a reasonable amount of time. I have to choose one at a time. But of course, I wouldn’t want to age while that was happening, and of course I’d want to be able to keep my PC going like it was unaffected, so I could work, though it would also not diminish in its longevity during these shifted time phases. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/32 "2011-02-07T10:56:04Z")
Another one for the “understand all languages” pile. If I’m the only person with the power, I can make a decent living as a translator, or maybe go back into education, as I love ancient literature but hate learning languages. If this is a comic book universe, I’m going to be one of the back room boys, gathering intel for Unfeasibly Strong Fellow and Impressively Fast Young Lady. Out of harm’s way, at least until ratings start to fall and the bad guys storm our Castle of Amazingness and kill off a few minor characters. Of course, in a comic book universe I’d be brought back with a Lazarus Pit or cosmic radiation or giving birth to myself, so that wouldn’t be an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/33 "2011-02-07T11:48:01Z")
What, all this and no telekinesis? Teleportation was my first choice, but now it seems kinda meh. What do you do after travelling the world? I’d take time travel, and hope that I don’t end up in some dystopian wreck of a future. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/34 "2011-02-07T11:56:17Z")
Which of them would make life worth living? Hmmm… None of them. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@Electric\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/35 "2011-02-07T14:34:30Z")
Living forever sounds awesome, but I’ll go with healing sickness with a touch. At the very least that’s got the potential to \*extend \*my life, not to mention make it more pleasant, and as a bonus I could help people out as well. Make it general “healing powers” (injuries as well as sicknesses) and I’m double sold. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/36 "2011-02-07T15:50:02Z")
I’d take “predict the future”, if the predictions are “shadows of things that might be” (i.e. changeable if I act on the information). Otherwise, it would be too depressing when I predicted crap inevitably coming down the pike. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/37 "2011-02-07T16:10:44Z")
How has nobody taken time travel yet? I want it remote-control style. That is, I can fast forward, rewind, pause, jump to “scene 15” or whatever. It’s like immortality because you can live til you’re, say, 40, then rewind and live it in a different place. Bored with repeating 2011-2031? Then hop into the future for a while. I could win millions on the roulette wheel (tanget: “roulette wheel” is redundant) or invent Facebook. I can deal with 12-hour flights, no problem. I can have that threesome 6 times in a row! I can learn languages the hard way, but after only a minute has passed on the clock. Time travel is really all the other powers combined. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/38 "2011-02-07T17:46:26Z")
Immortality is pretty hard to pass up. Time travel is a distant second, followed by teleportation. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/39 "2011-02-07T18:15:10Z")
Immortality would kind of worry me. I read some science fiction short story many years ago concerning a vampire of some sort (it was sci-fi, not a vampire story!) that was punished by being put onto an asteroid. He was immortal, but couldn’t eat, and so his suffering seemed pretty crappy to me. Now I wouldn’t expect to be put put onto an asteroid to suffer, but eventually the heat death of the universe would occur. I assume that immortality would exclude me from the effects of entropy, and it’d be a pretty crappy eternity. I’d have to choose teleportation, with the stipulation that I could take someone with me, and there were no distance limits. That would actually involve faster-than-light travel, so I’m guessing I could turn that into time travel as an added bonus. ---
**Author:** ![Eriond\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ad7895/32.png) [@Eriond\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eriond_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247/40 "2011-02-07T18:25:57Z")
Funny how most of the options aren’t supernatural powers at all – esp. #4 & #5. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-superpower-would-you-choose/570247.md?page=3)