List of comic book superpowers
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- Note: This is a list of powers/abilities, not a list of superheroes by their power/ability.
Comic book fiction traditionally features characters with superhuman, supernatural, or paranormal abilities, often referred to as "superpowers" (also spelled "super-powers"). Below is a list of many of those that have been known to be used. Some of these categories overlap.
Means
Examples of ways in which a character has the ability to generate an effect.
Object-based powers
- See also: List of objects in the DC Universe
Powers derived from objects (also known as artifacts), such as armor, jewelry, weapons, and wands.
- Examples: Juggernaut's Crimson Gem of Cyttorak[1] or Green Lantern's power battery and ring[2]
Mutation
These powers are a direct result of some form of either induced evolution or natural selection in humans beings, usually manisfested during adolescent puberty when other mental and bodily adaptations take place.
- Examples: X-Men or Captain Comet
Methods
Examples of methods by which a character generates an effect.
Energy sourcing
Ability to draw power from large or small but abundant sources of energy, such as turning kinetic energy into physical blasts or converting solar energy into other forms. Sometimes based on proximity to source, sometimes stored for future use.
Magical powers
Ability to use magical forces to varying degrees. Often used to simulate other powers, such as mind control and elemental attacks.
- Supernatural
- Examples: Doctor Strange[4] or Doctor Fate[5]
Not all "magical" superpowers are actually supernatural, but are based on alternate or futuristic "science" which is unexplainable [1]. Mxyzptlk's abilities, for instance, rely on a set of physics different from our dimension's.
- Pseudo-supernatural
- Example: Mister Mxyzptlk[6][7] or Impossible Man[8]
Technopathy
Ability to manipulate technology. Manifested as a special form of electrical/telekinetic manipulation, a special form of shapeshifting which allows physical interaction with machines, or even a special form of ESP that allows for mental interface with computer data.
Telekinesis
Ability to manipulate and control objects with the mind, often in ways not visible to the naked eye.
Powers
Superpower manipulation
This section refers to the ability to manipulate superpowers themselves, not "power" such as electrical power or gravitational power.
Power bestowal
Ability to bestow powers or jump-start latent powers.
Power mimicry or absorption
Ability to copy or absorb another's powers or skills.
- Examples: Rogue[15] or Black Alice[16]
Power negation
Ability to cancel the superpowers of others.
Power sensing
Ability to sense or recognize superhuman powers.
- Example: Caliban[19] or Nemesis Kid
Personal physical powers
Powers which affect a physical person's body.
Accelerated healing
- See also: Regeneration (biology)
Ability to heal rapidly from any injury; the rate of recovery varies from character to character. Can sometimes result in the slowing of aging.
Acid generation
Ability to generate acid, can be manifested through touch or as a spray.
Animal mimicry
Ability to take on the abilities of certain animals.
- Examples: Animal Man[24] or Vixen[25][26]
Biological manipulation
Ability to control all aspects of a living creature's biological make-up. This includes, but is not limited to, genetic alterations, physical distortion/augmentations, healing, disease, and biological functions.
Body part substitution
Ability to replace one's limbs or other body parts with those of another.
Bone manipulation
Ability to manipulate the bones in one's own body. This includes, but is not limited to, the generation of new bone mass, projecting bones out from the skin or rearranging one's own bones.
Duplication
- See also: Molecular cloning
Ability to create physical duplicates of oneself.
- Examples: Multiple Man[32] or Triplicate Girl[33]
Temporal duplication
Ability to bring past and future versions of oneself back to the present.
- Examples: Flashback[34] or Damian Tryp[35]
Echolocation
Ability to determine location of items in the environment by use of reflected sound waves, whether generated by the character or ambient sound. Also known as sonar or radar sense.
Invisibility
Ability to render the user unseen to the naked eye.
- Examples: Invisible Woman[38] or Invisible Kid[39]
Invulnerability
Ability to be immune to one or more forms of physical damage or injury.
Kinetic absorption
Ability to absorb forms of kinetic energy into oneself and convert it into physical strength.
- Examples: Strong Guy[43] or Sebastian Shaw[44]
Matter ingestion
Ability to consume any sort of matter without any ill effects on the user.
- Examples: Matter-Eater Lad[45]
Merge
Ability to temporarily merge two beings into a single being, which results in a completely new and stronger being.
- Examples: Kleinstocks[46] or B'Wana Beast[47]
Pheromone manipulation
Ability to generate and control pheromones which may have various effects.
- Examples: Wallflower[48] or Crimson Fox[49]
Poison generation
Ability to assault others with one or more varieties of toxins, with widely disparate effects.
- Examples: Cobra[50] or Poison Ivy[51]
Prehensile/animated hair
The ability to animate and lengthen one's hair.
- Examples: Medusa or Spider Girl[52]
Reactive adaptation/evolution
Ability to develop a resistance or immunity to whatever they were injured by or exposed to. This effect can be permanent or temporary.
Self-detonation or explosion
Ability to explode one's body mass and reform.
Sonic scream
Ability to generate vocal sounds of a higher amplitude than a normal human.
- Examples: Siryn[55] or Black Canary[56]
Superhuman breath
Ability to inhale/exhale with superhumanly powerful lungs. This can range from exhaling on par with a giant fan's wind current to inhalation on par with the power of a gravitational vortex.
Superhuman durability
Ability to have a higher resistance to one or more forms of damage before being injured.
Superhuman reflexes
Ability to react faster than a normal human.
- Examples: Blade or Midnighter or Madman
Superhuman senses
Ability to see, smell, taste, feel and/or hear more than a normal human.
- Examples: Sabretooth or Timber Wolf
Superhuman strength
- See also: Strength level
Ability to have a level of physical strength much higher than that possible by a human being in real life.
Superhuman vision
Ability to see better than normally possible.
Heat vision
Ability to project beams of concentrated radiation from the eyes.
Night vision
Ability to see clearly in darkness.
- Examples: Owl or Doctor Mid-Nite
X-ray vision
Ability to see through solid objects.
Telescopic or microscopic vision
Ability to magnify vision to various levels.
- Examples: Hyperion or Power Girl
Wallcrawling
Ability to cling to objects or surfaces by a variety of means. Often related to animal mimicry.
- Examples: Spider-Man or Anole
Waterbreathing
- See also: Liquid breathing
Ability to respirate through water in lieu of a gaseous medium. Not to be confused with an ability to go without breathing or to be able to breathe an alternate air supply.
Mental faculty and knowledge-based abilities
Innate capability
Ability to naturally have skills and/or knowledge typically earned through learning.
Omni-linguism
Ability to understand any form of language, a natural polyglot. This can be accomplished in various ways.
Omniscience
Ability to know anything and everything.
Superhuman intelligence
Ability to have intelligence far above that of a genius level.
- Examples: Leader or Brainiac 5
ESP
The abilities of extra-sensory perception (ESP) and communication.
Astral projection
Ability to separate and control one's astral body.
- Examples: Marvel Girl or Ravager
Cross-dimensional awareness
Ability to detect actions and events in other dimensions. This is occasionally used in comics as an awareness of the fourth wall between the characters and the artist or audience.
- Examples: She-Hulk or Ambush Bug
Empathy
Ability to read or sense the emotions and/or control the emotions or feelings of others.
- Examples: Empath or Psycho-Pirate
Mediumship
Ability to see and communicate with the dead (ghosts).
- Examples: Wicked or Lionel Zerb
Precognition
Ability to perceive the future. It may be expressed in vague dreams while asleep, other times it can be clear and can occur at will. It may also be used as a form of "Danger sense" to show the user that they are being threatened and from what direction it is coming from.
- Examples: Spider-Man, Destiny or Dream Girl
Psychometry
Ability to relate details about the past or future condition of an object, person or location, usually by being in close contact with it.
- Examples: Adrienne Frost or Abe Sapien
Telepathy
Ability to read the thoughts of, or to mentally communicate with others.
- Examples: Emma Frost or Saturn Girl
Domination and mind control
The ability to alter the perceptions of others, and general mind-control.
Astral trapping
Ability to cause an astral projection to stay on the astral plane, usually in one specific place.
- Example: Shadow King
Memory manipulation
Ability to erase or enhance the memories of another.
- Example: Professor X or Zatanna
Mind control
Ability to control the actions or reasoning of another with the mind.
- Examples: Mesmero or Maxwell Lord
Possession
Ability to take control of another person's body via astral projection or mind transfer.
Psionic blast
Ability to overload another's mind causing pain, memory loss, loss of consciousness, vegetative state or death after having created a psionic link into that person's mind.
- Examples: Psylocke or Gorilla Grodd
Psychic weapons
Ability to create a weapon of psychic energy that can harm mentally and not physically.
- Examples: Danielle Moonstar or Wild Thing
Manipulate fundamental forces or reality
These powers may be manifested by various methods, including: by some method of molecular control; by access to, or partially or fully shifting to another dimension; by manipulating the geometric dimensions of time or space; or by some other unnamed method.
Animation
Ability to bring inanimate objects to life or to free a person from petrification.
- Examples: Selene or Ozymandias
Darkness or shadow manipulation
Ability to create or manipulate darkness, often by mentally accessing a dimension of dark energy (the Darkforce dimension in Marvel Comics, and the Shadowlands in DC Comics) and manipulating it.
- Examples: Black Death or Obsidian or Darkness
Density control
Ability to increase or decrease the natural density of an object and/or one's self.
- Examples: Vision or Martian Manhunter
Disintegration
Ability to disintegrate matter through touch or through beams.
Elemental transmutation
The ability to alter chemical elements, changing them from one substance to another by rearranging the atomic structure. May be limited to self-transmutation.
- Examples: Alchemy[65] or Metamorpho[66]
Gravity manipulation
Ability to manipulate or generate gravitons, or other types of gravitational interactions.
- Examples: Alex Power[67] or Geo-Force
Immortality
Ability to live forever. This may be complete immortality encompassing invulnerability, partial invulnerability to all but specific events (i.e. decapitation or exposure to a specific chemical such as kryptonite), the ability to die but become resurrected, or simply an inability to age normally.
- Examples: Mr. Immortal or Vandal Savage
Intangibility or phasing
Ability to phase through solid matter without harm.
- Examples: Shadowcat or Phantom Girl
Light manipulation
Ability to control, generate or absorb photons (particles of light).
- Examples: Northstar or Doctor Light or Angelus
Magnetism manipulation
Ability to control and/or generate magnetic fields.
- Examples: Magneto or Doctor Polaris
Mass manipulation
Ability to increase or decrease mass in an object or person.
- Examples: Harry Leland or Star Boy
Molecular manipulation
Ability to mentally manipulate the molecules of objects and/or one's self on a molecular level.
- Examples: Apocalypse[68] or Firestorm or Solar
Probability manipulation
Ability to alter probability, causing unlikely things to happen or likely things to not happen.
- Examples: Domino or Calamity King
Radiation manipulation
Ability to generate, manipulate or have immunity to toxic radiation.
- Examples: X-Ray or Captain Atom
Reality warping
Ability to change or manipulate reality itself.
- Examples: Franklin Richards or Mister Mxyzptlk
Sound manipulation
Ability to manipulate sound waves.
Time manipulation
Ability to affect the flow of time by slowing, accelerating, reversing, or stopping it.
Classical elements
Ability to control or manipulate the classical elements.
- Examples: Crystal
Air and wind manipulation
Ability to control, generate, or absorb air or wind.
- Examples: Wind Dancer or Red Tornado
Cold and ice manipulation
Ability to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms and thus reduce temperature, can be used to control, generate, or absorb ice.
- Examples: Iceman or Killer Frost
Earth manipulation
Ability to control earth; sand, stone, rock, lava, dirt, or minerals.
Electric manipulation
Ability to control, generate or absorb electrical fields.
- Examples: Electro or Black Lightning
Fire and heat manipulation
Ability to control the kinetic energy of atoms to generate, control or absorb fire.
- Examples: Pyro or Fire or Liz Sherman
Plant manipulation
Ability to accelerate the growth of, control or animate plant life.
- Examples: Gardener or Poison Ivy
Water and moisture manipulation
Ability to control, generate or absorb water.
Weather manipulation
Ability to control or mentally affect the weather. This includes the ability to generate various natural phenomena (rain, tornadoes, lightning, ocean currents, etc.) or control the intensity of the weather.
- Examples: Storm or Typhoon or Sarah Rainmaker
Energy manipulation
These powers deal with energy generation, conversion and manipulation. In addition to generic energy, versions of these powers exist that deal with such things as light, sound, electricity, nuclear energy, and the Darkforce dimension.
Concussion beams
Ability to generate or transform various forms of energy into a "solid" or concussive beam of energy.
Energy blasts
- See also: Heat vision
Ability to expel various forms of energy from the body.
Energy constructs
Ability to create complex shapes (such as giant boxing gloves or cages) or even functional machinery (such as fire extinguishers or laser rifles) out of solid energy.
Energy conversion
Ability to absorb one form of energy and convert it into another form of energy.
Force field generation
Ability to project powerful fields of manipulated energy.
- Examples: Captain Britain or Argent
Transportation or travel
Dimensional transportation
Ability to create wormholes, portation "discs" or other spatial portals for transport between two non-adjacent locations
Electrical transportation
Ability to travel through electrical conduits (such as power lines, or telephone lines). Can enter through devices such as televisions, electrical poles or computers.
- Examples: Atom
Omnipresence
Ability to be present anywhere and everywhere always.
- Examples: Eternity or the Source
Summoning
Ability to summon objects or beings for assistance.
- Examples: Magik or Kid Eternity
Superhuman speed
Ability to move at speeds much faster than a normal human.
- Examples: Quicksilver or Flash
Teleportation
Ability to move from one place to another without occupying the space in between.
- Examples: Nightcrawler or Misfit[69]
Time travel
Ability to travel back and forth through time.
- Examples: Kang the Conqueror or Waverider
Miscellaneous
The following powers could be manifested in any number of ways.
Flight
- See also: Gliding, Levitation, and Transvection (flying)
Ability to lift off the ground, to ride air currents or to fly self-propelled through the air.
- Examples: Characters with flight
Different forms of flight include:
Energy propulsion methods
- Cosmic energy control
- Examples: Ikaris
- Energy aura projection
- Gravitational manipulation
- Example: Gravity
- Magnetic levitation
- Molecular manipulation
- Sonic repulsion field
- Telekinetic power
- Thermo-chemical energy
- Example: Cannonball
Physical propulsion methods
- Insectoid form
- Examples: Wasp or Insect Queen
- Wind current control
- Examples: Cyclone
- Wings
Illusion
Ability to alter or deceive the perceptions of another. Can be sensory, a light or sound-based effect, or an alteration of mental perceptions.
- Examples: Mastermind or Princess Projectra
Shapeshifting
Ability to change appearance or body structure.
Types of shapeshifting include:
- Animal morphing: Ability to take on animal forms. May be able to take on the abilities of the altered form.
- Elasticity: Ability to stretch, deform, expand and contract one's body into any form they can imagine.
- Examples: Mister Fantastic[38] or Elongated Man
- Inorganic: Ability to transform completely into an inorganic substance while retaining organic properties.
- Liquification: Ability to turn partially or completely into a liquid.
- Size shifting: Ability to increase or decrease one's size.
- Examples: Yellowjacket or Giganta
- Sublimation: Ability to transform into a gaseous, mist, or fog-like form.
- Examples: Amelia Voght or Mist
- Transformation: Ability to transform into substance touched.
- Examples: Absorbing Man or Amazing-Man or Grunge
References
- ^ The X-Men #12
- ^ All-American Comics #16
- ^ Nexus #1
- ^ Strange Tales #110
- ^ More Fun Comics #55
- ^ Superman #30
- ^ The Origin of Mister Mxyzptlk
- ^ Fantastic Four #11
- ^ Deadpool: The Circle Chase #2
- ^ Adventures of Superman #500
- ^ The Drummer #3
- ^ New Teen Titans #3
- ^ X-Men #132
- ^ Stormwatch #1
- ^ Avengers Annual #10
- ^ Birds of Prey #76
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #179
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #210
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #148
- ^ The Incredible Hulk #180
- ^ Omega Men #3
- ^ X-Force vol. 1 #116
- ^ Savage Tales #1
- ^ Strange Adventures #180
- ^ Action Comics #521
- ^ Animal Man #48-50
- ^ New Mutants vol. 2 #5.
- ^ DC Comics Presents #26
- ^ St. George #2
- ^ Cable #15
- ^ X-Statix X-Statix vol. 1
- ^ Giant Size Fantastic Four #4
- ^ Action Comics #276
- ^ Alpha Flight #1
- ^ X-Factor vol. 3 #2
- ^ Daredevil vol. 1, #1
- ^ Detective Comics #400
- ^ a b The Fantastic Four (vol. 1) #1
- ^ Action Comics #267
- ^ Avengers: The Initiative #13
- ^ Action Comics #252
- ^ Brit (Oneshot)
- ^ New Mutants vol. 1 #29
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #131
- ^ Adventure Comics #303
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #298
- ^ Showcase #66
- ^ New Mutants vol. 2 #2
- ^ Justice League Europe #6
- ^ Journey into Mystery #29
- ^ Legends of the Dark Knight #43
- ^ Adventure Comics #310
- ^ Captain Marvel #34
- ^ Damage #1
- ^ Spider-Woman #37
- ^ Justice League of America #219
- ^ Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1
- ^ All-American Comics #61
- ^ Newsletter #14
- ^ The Incredible Hulk, vol. 1 #1
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes #272
- ^ WildC.A.T.s, vol. 1 #11
- ^ Action Comics #1
- ^ Legion/Titans: Universe Ablaze #1-4
- ^ X-Factor vol., 1 #41 (June 1989)
- ^ The Brave and the Bold #57
- ^ Power Pack #1
- ^ X-Factor #6 (vol. 1, July 1986)
- ^ Birds of Prey #1003.
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