# Would you accept powers if it meant an evil person got them as well? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 2, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774 "2026-09-02T18:52:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cmyers1980](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyers1980/32/11814_2.png) [@Cmyers1980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cmyers1980)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/1 "2026-09-02T18:52:01Z")
You are given the chance to get powers. The powers are super strength (500 tons), durability (nothing short of a 750 kiloton nuclear weapon can harm you), speed (Mach 500), reflexes (nanosecond reaction time), flight (Mach 500), stamina (you never tire) and immortality (you won’t ever age). The powers can’t be duplicated or passed on in any way and you will have perfect control of them and any secondary powers required to use them without issue. The catch is that the moment you accept a serial killing psychopath somewhere in the world will get the same powers. Think someone like Dennis Rader or Richard Ramirez. They will know they have them and that someone else in the world has them as well. You are capable of killing each other like normal humans but it will take a bit longer because of the durability. Would you accept the powers or continue living normally? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/2 "2026-09-02T18:55:46Z")
No way, nohow. I don’t think I’d want those powers even IF the serial killing psychopath didn’t get them (the only remotely tempting one is immortality, but I wouldn’t want to outlive everyone I loved), but also having to be the designated psychopath-killer seals the deal. Normal life, please! ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/3 "2026-09-02T19:12:19Z")
> [@Cmyers1980](#): > > Would you accept the powers or continue living normally? It seems like some guy named “God” took your deal, so some guy named “Lucifer” got the same powers as well. Seems like a fruitless battle to me. So, I’ll pass on the powers because I don’t want to be responsible for fighting evil incarnate. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/4 "2026-09-02T19:25:53Z")
> [@Cmyers1980](#): > > You are capable of killing each other like normal humans but it will take a bit longer because of the durability. ::Sigh:: What’s his name so I can make another entry to my list. I’ve got a Battle Royale scheduled with Doc Ock for tomorrow; can we wait until Tues or Wed to grapple? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/5 "2026-09-02T21:09:50Z")
No. Or, more emphatically HELL no. One of my disconnects with characters like Superman is their willingness to sacrifice much of their life in service of others. I can admire that, but never emulate that, especially on that _scale_. So you’d have my middle of the road good intentions, but lack of time and interest to make use of such powers for the common good. Otherwise, they’re geek-ups _for me_ that have a very limited utility in my life. Not none of course, but limited (other than immortality and that is it’s own can of worms). On the other hand, you specify the alternate powers are going to someone who is actively, often _unspeakably_ evil. They have the fixation on doing harm, and are going to be spending literally countless (immortality, 'natch) hours and years doing so with no one on Earth other than me being able to do something about it. Bad deal for the world, bad deal for me as each time he does something I’m going to be tormented with guilt. If it was some lazy, indifferently evil schmuck like myself, I might think about it for more than a second. But that sort of person would probably pull off one decent theft or capping wins at a casino once using their powers undetectably (again, if my equivalent, they’d be semi-smart at least) and live with the money for quite some time. We’d probably meet in a bar from time to time and say “Why are you bothering being nice?” and “Why are you going out of your way to be mean?” Again, if you’re the only two immortals on the planet, they’re likely to be the only person you connect with at all due to your shared social settings, given more than a few decades. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2026, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/6 "2026-09-02T21:30:26Z")
Hell no. It’s harder to create than to destroy. The evil that my doppelganger can do with those powers is far greater than the good that I can do with them. I could immediately go fight them, but that’s at best 50-50 odds, and probably worse than that, because I’d probably be pulling my punches and they won’t be. ---
**Author:** ![StringsandHammers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stringsandhammers/32/17933_2.png) [@StringsandHammers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StringsandHammers)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/7 "2026-09-03T00:51:59Z")
I’m pretty sure if I had powers like that I would have already killed quite a few people with my reckless b.s. plus I had really bad bouts of pure rage when I was a kid… I was from a rough background where all the kids in neighborhood fought all the time… anywhoo I think hurting innocent people would have eventually eaten me up inside.. Glad those days are behind me. No I don’t want those sort of powers. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/8 "2026-09-03T00:56:37Z")
What **Chronos** said. With superpowers of that kind, that villain can wreck the world and I or others can’t stop him no matter what I do. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/9 "2026-09-03T02:06:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I could immediately go fight them, It’s worse than that; there’s no guarantee in the setup that you’ll be able to find them immediately. With their powers they could stay on the move, cause an immense amount of death and destruction, and our hero might never catch up with them to force a battle. No, I would not be taking this offer either. A definite deal with the devil. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-powers-if-it-meant-an-evil-person-got-them-as-well/1032774/10 "2026-09-03T03:55:43Z")
Sure. I wanna fly.