SUPERPOWER: ARM TRANSFORMATION

Have you ever been dissatisfied with how your arms are? What if you could change your arms into whatever form you wish? The ability to transform your arms is a limited version of shapeshifting. You can enlarge your arms’ size to increase your strength. You can have several arms sprout from your original limbs in order to multiply your grabbing and punching power. You can alter the shape of your arms to create weapons such as swords or hammers or whips. The possibilities of transforming your arms are nearly limitless. I will be featuring at least two characters who possess this ability in my new superhero book.

SUPERPOWER: AURA GENERATION

For my next superhero series, I am thinking of creating a character who can generate an energy aura around themselves in order to display their power. There have been multiple examples of superhumans who generated energy auras that gave them unique powers. Superman and the Juggernaut had energy auras that served as the secret to their superhuman strength and invulnerability. In Superman’s case, his energy aura also allowed him to control his personal gravity field, which is the secret to his ability to fly. The Flash envelopes himself in an energy aura known as the Speed Force, which grants him his superhuman speed. Overall, I am thinking of creating a formidable character with this power.

IF YOU HAD DOCTOR MANHATTAN’S POWERS

What would you do if you had Doctor Manhattan’s limitless powers? Doctor Manhattan’s power is so immense that he defeated the combined strength of all the superheroes of the DC universe. Me? If I had Doctor Manhattan’s powers, I would do the things Doctor Manhattan was too detached to do: make the world a better place. I would exterminate evil, make all regions of the world fertile for farming and agriculture, reverse pollution and global warming, I would eliminate any disease, and I would come up with new technological innovations for people to toy with. To permanently remove the threat of nuclear war, I would turn all radioactive isotopes (either in nuclear weapons or still buried) into lead. Doctor Manhattan gave humanity the means to develop electric cars and teleportation, he could create life on other planets, and he could see the past, present, and future all at once. Since I would be able to see time and the universe in its entirety, I would be able to influence the development of human civilization towards the stars. Essentially, when you have powers as immense as Doctor Manhattan’s, the possibilities are limitless.

OVERWHELMING POWER

No matter how much power you wield, there are limits to how much your mortal body can handle. The most grotesque example I can think of is what happened to Tetsuo in the anime film Akira. Tetsuo’s psychic powers were so immense that he had to take potent medication to keep them under control. Even with that medication, Tetsuo was still a powerful psychic who could demolish cityscapes, defeat armies, and even punch a hole in the moon. However, once the drugs wore off, Tetsuo’s powers became dangerously unstable to the point in which he could not control them anymore. As a result, his body mutated into a giant cybernetic fetus-like abomination. Either Tetsuo was subconsciously manipulating his atoms or his body was trying to increase its size to accommodate his growing power. Regardless of the reason, this incident demonstrates that when you wield god-like power, your mortal mind and body will be overwhelmed unless you have inhibitors in place. I am thinking of putting the main character in my new superhero series in a similar position when his true power surfaces.

ALTERNATE REALITY

We often think of the infinite possibilities of alternate timelines. With each new possibility, the multiverse grows. What if there was an alternate timeline where superhumans exist? For my new superhero series, I am thinking of creating an alternate reality. In our timeline, the first true superhero, Mandrake the Magician, was created in 1934. With this in mind, what if in this alternate reality, the first superhuman appeared in 1934? If such a thing happened, a lot of historical events would have turned out differently. First, the concept of the superhero wouldn’t be invented yet. Second, World War II, Cold War, Vietnam War, Korean War, and the Iraq War would have all turned out differently. Different regimes would rise to power, other regimes would become stronger, and other regimes would crumble into nothing with the rise of superhumans. With superhumans being the ultimate modern weapon, American imperialism will increase to a degree that hasn’t happened in our timeline. This will result in a completely different 2019, where the United States becomes the dominant superpower in the world with a dozen lesser regimes scattered across the globe. This will be similar to Watchmen in two aspects: First, the story will take place in an alternate timeline. Second, America will rely on superhumans to make their nation the most powerful on the planet just as America did with Doctor Manhattan in Watchmen. This provides me with lots of historical and political inspiration to work with and it makes me so giddy!

SUPERHUMAN ARMS RACE

As superhumans rise, a new ability to wage war is brought into the world. With each new innovation, the rules of warfare change. When guns and cannons were invented, they made swords and plate armor obsolete. When the atomic bomb was invented, it introduced the ability to destroy entire cities and wipe entire countries off the face of the Earth. If superhumans become real, a new commodity would be introduced to battlefields and arms dealers across the planet: living weapons of mass destruction and super soldiers! Such an arsenal would make a nuclear warhead look like a firecracker and an army of human soldiers look like toy soldiers. Also, a new form of human trafficking, slavery, and kidnapping would be introduced to the streets and arms dealers and corporations grow fatter and richer off the suffering of their superhuman victims. That will be one of the main themes my new superhero series will revolve around.

SUPERHUMAN OUTBREAK

I am a rather dark idea for my new superhero series. What if the rise of superhumans was the result of a global epidemic? Where would such a virus come from? How many normal humans would die to give rise to superhumans? I am thinking of drawing inspiration from the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, which resulted in the deaths of five percent of the world’s population.

A SUPERHERO’S WEAKNESS

As powerful and extraordinary as superheroes are, they are not without their weaknesses. Easily the most iconic superhero weakness is Kryptonite, which is one of Superman’s few weaknesses alongside red sun radiation and magic. To serve as a countermeasure against superhumans in my new superhero series, the government will be employing a weakness that does not just affect one superhero but all superhumans in general. This weakness can kill the weakest superhumans in seconds or minutes while the strongest superhumans take between a half hour to an hour to kill. I won’t say what this weakness is, but the way it kills its victims is going to be gruesome.

MUTATED ARM

In my new superhero book, I will be featuring a character with a mutated arm. This arm will be a grotesque mixture of bare muscle, sharp bone claws, and dozens of tentacles that are tipped with sharp barbs. This arm is going to be a deadly weapon when used in hand to hand combat and the damage it inflicts will be frightening.

ENHANCED MUSCLES!!!

While watching futuristic documentaries on Curiosity Stream, I discovered ways in which people can be made superhuman through artificial means. Experiments were done to increase the muscle mass of cows and mice through genetic engineering. These animals were injected with the IGF1 Gene, which stimulates muscle growth on a cellular level. Unlike steroids, the IGF1 Gene is a natural protein that does not break the body down. The muscles of these cows and mice were increased in size by 400 percent. Imagine if the Running of the Bulls involved unleashing bulls that were as large and powerful as these super cows. Also, the super sized mouse in the picture above would be a real life Mighty Mouse and it reminds me of something from a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Both of these animals could be test subjects for a real life super soldier program like Captain America! Based on these test results, I wonder what these muscle enhancers will do to humans. We can have a real life Hulk on our hands! I will toy with this concept of genetic engineering in my new superhero story and it will serve as a potential countermeasure for humans against real Superhumans.