I watched a film that was based on Michael Crichton’s, Sphere. What I found intriguing about the Sphere was its ability to grant reality warping powers to those who come in contact with it. For most of the movie, the characters managed to manifest their darkest fears and subconscious thoughts. I would love the power to make whatever I imagine real, but I would prefer to be able to manifest my conscious thoughts because I would have more control. If my subconscious thoughts manifested, I would have no control and it would have world-ending consequences.
What would you do if you could make anything explode with the power of your mind? This power can be achieved by infusing your target with energy until it explodes. For example, if your target is a person, then you turn them into a living bomb. To quote the first Ghostbusters movie, “Imagine life as you know it ending instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.” That pretty much sums up what happens to the target of this power.
Imagine having skin and muscles that are so flexible and durable that they can absorb the impact of any attack. Punching characters with this ability has been described to be like punching a pillow. This would make a character like a living punching bag, but they would be a punching bag that could punch back. I am thinking of including a Hulk-like character in my new superhero series with this power.
There have been countless examples of superhumans that possess multiple powers. A few cases involved these characters combining several powers to create powerful and unpredictable techniques. For example, the supervillain known as All For One from My Hero Academia (pictured above) displayed the following mixture: air pressure manipulation, muscle mass manipulation, four kinetic energy boosters, and three strength enhancers. The end result produced a shockwave that was powerful enough to overwhelm even the mightiest of opponents as well as demolish his surrounding environment for miles. In my new superhero series, both the main hero and the main villain will each have many powers and can combine these powers into complex mixtures. This will make their duel to the death even more epic and destructive than if they each had only one power.
One of my favorite esoteric superhuman powers would be animation, which is the ability to give a form of life to inanimate objects. With this power, you could animate statues, vehicles, or even corpses and make them do your bidding. I am thinking of including this ability in my new superhero series and the wielder will be particularly sadistic.
I had a new book idea that involves creating an encyclopedia of every superhuman power in the superhero genre. I have acquired a great deal of knowledge about superhumans and their powers that I feel like sharing my knowledge with the rest of the world. I thought the best way would be to compile an encyclopedia of superpowers. Let me know what you think and I will let you know when I make it.
I have watched A LOT of anime and read A LOT of manga. Out of the many awesome techniques I have seen in battles is power that includes crippling side effects to its wielder. As the combatant accesses this power, their bodies start to break down. This involves their blood evaporating, their muscle fibers shredding, and bones shattering like glass. This level of raw power can transform the most minor character into an unstoppable warrior. However, if used too often, the side effects will either cripple the wielder or kill them. I like this type of power because it not only makes the character immensely strong and fast, but it also adds a deeper sense of vulnerability to them as they are ripped apart by their own power. One of my characters in my new superhero series will have multiple abilities and when they use these abilities at the same time, they acquire this kind of crippling power. I am eager to write this out!
For my spin-off fantasy series, I am thinking of introducing a female lead who possesses what is known as absolute beauty. Absolute beauty is when someone has the beauty of a god and is so beautiful that no mortal can resist them. The female lead will essentially be the goddess Venus made flesh. However, because someone with this power would be divinely beautiful, they would attract a lot of unwanted attention to them. This will make the female lead constantly uncomfortable and irritable. In the end, she just wants to be left alone. She will also have some additional powers that some would consider miracles, which would make even more desirable to those around her.
Imagine being able to fire a concentrated beam of energy from your mouth. You could cause large scale death and destruction with a single breath. This would be like Cyclops’s power except the beam comes from the mouth instead of the eyes. I am thinking of giving one of the supervillains in my new superhero series this ability and it will be frightening.
When it comes to superpowers, I am thinking of applying them in the way that the human nervous system is arranged. Voluntary nerve impulses are activated through a person’s will while reflexive nerve impulses act independently of the will. With this in mind, I am thinking of making some superhuman powers activated by their wielder’s will while others remain constantly active when the wielder wants them to be or not. For instance, their intelligence, strength, speed, and durability would remain constantly active while other powers like telekinesis, heat vision, and telepathy can only be activated by the user’s will. What do you think of this concept? Please share your thoughts.
Grady P Brown - Author 