List of superhuman features and abilities in fiction

Note: This is a list of features/abilities, not a list of characters by their feature/ability.

Fiction traditionally features characters with superhuman, supernatural, or paranormal abilities, often referred to as "superpowers" (also spelled "super powers" and "super-powers") or "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.

InHuman nature

These powers are native to the non-human or partially human nature of the character. This includes, but is not limited to, characters who are aliens, demons, and/or gods.

• Examples: Homo mermanus or Kryptonians or Shinigami

Object-based powers

Powers derived from objects (also known as artifacts), such as armor, jewelry, weapons, and wands.

• Examples: Juggernaut's Crimson Gem of Cyttorak or Green Lantern's power ring

Mutation

These powers are a direct result of some form of either induced evolution or natural selection in human beings, usually manifested during adolescent puberty when other mental and bodily adaptations take place.

• Examples: X-Men or Captain Comet or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Dark Claw

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.

• Examples: Nexus or Ray or Apollo

Chi

Many characters who train in martial arts gain superhuman capabilities by learning to harness chi or some form of life energy. This type of method GeneRally provides extraordinary strength, speed, durability and reflexes. Also often used for superhuman awareness, energy blasts, elemental powers and sometimes invulnerability.

• Examples: Iron Fist or Krillin

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 or Doctor Fate or Ganon or Wizardmon

Not all "magical" superpowers are actually supernatural, but are based on alternate or futuristic "science" which is unexplainable. For instance, Moon Knight's strength, endurance and reflexes are enhanced depending upon the phases of the moon. Uncle Sam has his powers in proportion to the people's belief in the ideals of America.

• Pseudo-supernatural
  • Examples: Mister Mxyzptlk or Impossible Man

Technopathy

Ability to manipulate technology. Manifested as a special form of electrical/telekinetic manipulation, a special form of "morphing" which allows physical interaction with machines, or even a special form of ESP that allows for mental interface with computer data.

• Examples: Black Box or Cyborg Superman or Drummer or Micah Sanders

Telekinesis

Ability to manipulate and control objects with the mind, often in ways not visible to the [...] eye.

• Examples: Jean Grey or Maxima or Battalion or Sylar

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.

• Examples: Sage or Synergy

Power mimicry or absorption

Ability to copy or absorb another's powers or skills.

• Examples: Rogue or Black Alice or Kakashi Hatake or Peter Petrelli

Power negation

Ability to cancel the superpowers of others.

• Examples: Leech or Scrambler

Power sensing

Ability to sense or recognize superhuman powers.

• Example: Caliban or Nemesis Kid

Personal physical powers

Powers which affect an individual's body.

Accelerated healing

Ability to heal rapidly from any injury; the rate of recovery varies from character to character. Can sometimes result in the slowing of aging.

• Examples: Wolverine or Lobo or Alucard or Claire Bennet

Acid generation

Ability to generate acid, can be manifested through touch or as a spray.

• Examples: Anarchist or Man-Thing or Reptile

Animal mimicry

Ability to take on the abilities of certain animals.

• Examples: Animal Man or Vixen

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.

• Examples: Elixir

Body part substitution

Ability to replace one's limbs or other body parts with those of another.

• Examples: Terror

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.

• Examples: Marrow or Spike

Duplication

Ability to create physical duplicates of oneself.

• Examples: Jamie Madrox or Multiplex or Naruto Uzumaki

Temporal duplication

Ability to bring past and future versions of oneself back to the present.

• Examples: Flashback or Damian Tryp

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.

• Examples: Daredevil or Man-Bat or Dare the Terminator

Invisibility

Ability to render the user unseen to the [...] eye.

• Examples: Invisible Woman or Invisible Kid or Mew

Invulnerability

Ability to be immune to one or more forms of physical damage.

• Examples: Emery Schaub or Supergirl or Brit or Doc Strange

Kinetic absorption

Ability to absorb forms of kinetic energy into oneself and convert it into physical strength.

• Examples: Strong Guy or Sebastian Shaw

Matter ingestion

Ability to consume any sort of matter without any ill effects on the user.

• Examples: Matter-Eater Lad

Merge

Ability to temporarily merge two beings into a single being, which results in a completely new and stronger being.

• Examples: Kleinstocks or B'Wana Beast or Trunks

Pheromone manipulation

Ability to generate and control pheromones which may have various effects.

• Examples: Wallflower or Crimson Fox or Beastling

Poison generation

Ability to assault others with one or more varieties of toxins, with widely disparate effects.

• Examples: Cobra or Poison Ivy

Prehensile/animated hair

Ability to animate and lengthen one's hair.

• Examples: Medusa or Spider Girl

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.

• Examples: Lifeguard or Doomsday

Self-detonation or explosion

Ability to explode one's body mass and reform.

• Examples: Nitro or Damage

Sonic scream

Ability to generate vocal sounds of a higher amplitude than a normal human.

• Examples: Siryn or Black Canary or Diva

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.

• Examples: Toad or Superman or Kirby

Superhuman durability

Ability to have a higher resistance to one or more forms of damage before being injured.

• Examples: Luke Cage or Solomon Grundy or Tick or Yasutora Sado

Superhuman reflexes

Ability to react faster than a normal human.

• Examples: Blade or Midnighter or Son Gohan

Superhuman senses

Ability to see, smell, taste, feel and/or hear more than a normal human.

• Examples: Beast or Icon or Tarzan

Superhuman strength

Ability to have a level of physical strength much higher than normally possible given their proportions.

• Examples: Hulk or Blok or Mister Majestic or Sakura Haruno

Superhuman vision

Ability to see better than normally possible.

Night vision

Ability to see clearly in darkness.

• Examples: Owl or Doctor Mid-Nite

X-Ray Vision

Ability to see through solid matter.

• Examples: Peepers or Ariella Kent

Telescopic or microscopic vision

Ability to magnify vision to various levels.

• Examples: Hyperion or Lar Gand

Wallcrawling

Ability to crawl on vertical and horizontal surfaces.

• Examples: Spider-Man or Nightcrawler or Knuckles the Echidna

Waterbreathing

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.

• Examples: Namor or Aquaman

Mental faculty and knowledge-based abilities

Innate capability

Ability to naturally have skills and/or knowledge typically earned through learning.

• Examples: Forge or Razorback

Omni-linguism

Ability to understand any form of language, a natural polyglot. This can be accomplished in various ways.

• Examples: Cypher or Wonder Woman or Shatterstarfire

Omniscience

Ability to know anything and everything.

• Examples: Infinity or Mageddon

Ecological empathy

The ability to sense the overall well-being and conditions of one's immediate environment and natural setting stemming from a psychic sensitivity to nature.

• Examples: Storm or Swamp Thing

Superhuman intelligence

Intelligence far above that of a genius level.

• Examples: Leader or Brainiac

Superhuman tracking

Ability to track an individual or object through supernatural means; sometimes referred to as "pathfinding."

• Examples: Dawnstar or Molly Walker

ESP

The abilities of extra-sensory perception (ESP) and communication.

Astral projection

Also known as astral travel, this is the ability to separate and control one's astral body.

• Examples: Rachel Summers or Rose Wilson

Mental projection

Ability to project one's consciousness/emotions into the astral plane, into another, or to make them real.

• Examples: Morpheus

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 Raven or Belldandy or Will Vandom

Mediumship

Ability to see and communicate with the dead (i.e., ghosts).

• Examples: Wicked

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: Blindfold or Nura Nal or Seras Victoria or Phoebe Halliwell

Psychometry

Ability to relate details AbOUT the past or future condition of an object or location, usually by being in close contact With It.

• Examples: Adrienne Frost or Jack Hawksmoor or Tuxedo Mask

Telepathy

Ability to read the thoughts of, or to mentally communicate with others.

• Examples: Exodus or Saturn Girl or Piccolo or Mewtwo

Domination and mind control

The ability to alter the perceptions of others, and general ability to control the actions of others with the mind.

• Examples: Karma or Universo or Lelouch Lamperouge or Matt Parkman

Astral trapping

Ability to cause an astral projection to stay on the astral plane, usually in one specific place.

• Examples: Shadow King

Memory manipulation

Ability to erase or enhance the memories of another.

• Examples: Professor X or Zatanna or Haitian

Possession

Ability to take control and inhabit the body of an individual.

• Examples: Nocturne or Jericho or Orochimaru

Psionic blast

Ability to overload another's mind causing pain, memory loss, lack of consciousness, vegetative state or death after having created a psionic link into that individual's mind.

• Examples: Psylocke or Psimon

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.

• Examples: Gateway or Access

Animation

Ability to bring inanimate objects to life or to free an individual 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 Shade or Wraith or Shikamaru Nara

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.

• Examples: Wither or Plasmus

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 or Metamorpho or Edward Elric

Gravity manipulation

Ability to manipulate or generate gravitons, or other types of gravitational interactions.

• Examples: Alex Power or Geo-Force or Spider-Boy

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), or simply an inability to age normally.

• Examples: Mephisto or Vandal Savage or Adam Monroe or Raiden

Resurrection

Ability to come back to life after being killed.

• Examples: Mr. Immortal or Resurrection Man or Doctor Doomsday

Intangibility or phasing

Ability to phase through solid matter without harm.

• Examples: Kitty Pryde or Phantom Girl or D. L. Hawkins

Light manipulation

Ability to control, generate or absorb light particles.

• 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.

• Examples: Harry Leland or Thom Kallor

Molecular manipulation

Ability to mentally manipulate the molecules of objects and/or one's self on a molecular level.

• Examples: Apocalypse 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.

• Examples: Klaw or Fiddler

Time manipulation

Ability to affect the flow of time by slowing, accelerating, reversing, or stopping it.

• Examples: Tempo or Zoom or Hiro Nakamura

Classical elements

Ability to control or manipulate the elements.

• Examples: Crystal or Aang

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 or Iceberg or Tōshirō Hitsugaya

Earth manipulation

Ability to control earth; sand, stone, rock, lava, dirt, or other minerals.

• Examples: Petra or Terra or Gaara or Terra-X

Plant manipulation

Ability to control, manipulate or animate all forms of plant life.

• Examples: Klara Prast or Floronic Man

Electric manipulation

Ability to control, generate or absorb electric fields.

• Examples: Surge or Black Lightning or Sailor Jupiter or Elle Bishop

Fire and heat manipulation

Ability to control the kinetic energy of atoms to generate, control or absorb fire.

• Examples: Pyro or Fire or Sailor Mars or Spyro

Water and moisture manipulation

Ability to control, generate or absorb water.

• Examples: Garth or Sailor Mercury or Katara

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: Monsoon or Typhoon or Sarah Rainmaker or Trisana Chandler

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.

• Examples: Nukla

Concussion beams

Ability to generate or transform various forms of energy into a "solid" or concussive beam of energy.

• Examples: Cyclops or Gunfire

Energy blasts

Ability to expel various forms of energy from the body.

• Examples: Havok or Starfire or Sparrow or Yamcha

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.

• Examples: Cerise or Jade or Uryū Ishida

Energy conversion

Ability to absorb one form of energy and convert it into another form of energy.

• Examples: Dazzler or Wildfire

Force field generation

Ability to project powerful fields of manipulated energy.

• Examples: Captain Britain or Argent or Orihime Inoue

Transportation or travel

Dimensional transportation

Ability to create wormholes, portation "discs" or other spatial portals for transport between two non-adjacent locations

• Examples: Blink or Gates

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: Electro or Atom or Livewire

Omnipresence

Ability to be present anywhere and everywhere always.

• Examples: Eternity

Summoning

Ability to summon objects for assistance. This may range from invoking simple implements to mighty familiar spirits.

• Examples: Magik or Kid Eternity

Superhuman speed

Ability to move at speeds much faster than a normal human.

• Examples: Quicksilver or Flash or Seta Sōjirō or Sonic the Hedgehog

Teleportation

Ability to move from one place to another without occupying the space in between.

• Examples: Julie Power or Misfit or Son Goku or Zero

Time travel

Ability to travel back or forth through time.

• Examples: Kang the Conqueror or Time Trapper

Miscellaneous

The following powers could be manifested in any number of ways.

Flight

Ability to lift off the ground, to ride air currents or to fly self-propelled through the air.

• Examples: List of fictional characters who can fly

Different forms of flight include:

Energy propulsion methods

Cosmic energy control

• Examples: Ikaris

Energy aura projection

• Examples: Sunfire or Halo

Gravitational manipulation

• Examples: Gravity

Magnetic levitation

• Examples: Polaris or Static

Molecular manipulation

• Examples: Dead Girl

Sonic repulsion field

• Examples: Banshee or Tyroc

Telekinetic power

• Examples: Vance Astrovik or Sapphire

Thermo-chemical energy

• Examples: Cannonball or Jetstream

Physical propulsion methods

• Insectoid form
  • Examples: Wasp or Insect Queen
• Wind current control
  • Examples: Cyclone
• Wings
  • Examples: Warren Worthington III or Northwind or Rouge the Bat

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 Manchester Black or Runaway or Sasuke Uchiha

Shapeshifting

Ability to change appearance or body structure.

• Examples: Mystique or Reep Daggle or Frieza or Count Dracula

Types of shapeshifting include:

• Animal morphing: Ability to take on animal forms. May be able to take on the abilities of the altered form.
  • Examples: Wolfsbane or Beast Boy
• Elasticity: Ability to stretch, deform, expand or contract one's body into any form they can imagine.
  • Examples: Mister Fantastic or Plastic Man or Monkey D. Luffy
• Inorganic: Ability to transform completely into an inorganic substance while retaining organic properties.
  • Examples: Colossus or Ferro Lad
• Liquification: Ability to turn partially or completely into a liquid.
  • Examples: Hydro-Man or T-1000
• Size shifting: Ability to increase or decrease one's size.
  • Examples: Henry Pym or Giganta or Garganta or Maya Natsume
• Sublimation: Ability to transform into a gaseous, mist, or fog-like form.
  • Examples: Amelia Voght or Mist or Johann Kraus
• Transformation: Ability to transform into substance touched.
  • Examples: Absorbing Man or Amazing-Man

External links

• ComicVine: Superpowers at http://www.comicvine.com/

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