That old "Which Superpower" question

[Trainz]

I think that if a gov't would kill you for the other powers, they could certainly capture/imprison you if they were worried about your invulnerability.

I thought about capture of course. Before revealing yourself, make yourself a portable back-pack nuclear bomb. Last time I checked, very little can withstand the up-close burst of a nuclear blast. And it wouldn't harm me because I'm invulnerable.

I'd probably need new clothes though...

 

[Morrus]

I thought about capture of course. Before revealing yourself, make yourself a portable back-pack nuclear bomb. Last time I checked, very little can withstand the up-close burst of a nuclear blast. And it wouldn't harm me because I'm invulnerable.

Unless you were deep, deep underground. Then you'd be stuck there for ever.

Or someone might do to you what happened to Angel - chain you up and drop you to the bottom of the ocean (after removing any equipment you may have). Being invulnerable, you'd be on the bottom of the sea for the rest of eternity.

And invulnerability has another problem - if you can't die, you'll outlive the human race. In fact, you'll outlive the earth itself - one day you'll be floating alone in space. For ever.

Not a pretty thought!

 

[Particle_Man]

I thought about capture of course. Before revealing yourself, make yourself a portable back-pack nuclear bomb. Last time I checked, very little can withstand the up-close burst of a nuclear blast. And it wouldn't harm me because I'm invulnerable.

I'd probably need new clothes though...

Governments are sneaky. They might threaten your loved ones. [Of course, you could be a "lone wolf" type]. They might disguise themselves as your loved ones, disarm your bomb, and then capture you. Or they might coerce/convince your loved ones to disarm your bomb and capture you, or send agents that pretend to love you to gain your trust, and then do the same (playing Delilah to your Samson). They might even have "jamming" tech of some sort that stops the trigger of the bomb from working (I have no idea if this is possible, as my physics knowledge is lacking, so this may be a non-starter).

 

[Trainz]

Unless you were deep, deep underground. Then you'd be stuck there for ever.

Unlikely. They would need to catch me quite unaware to put me underground. They can't poison me or render me uncounscious. The fact that I could trigger said bomb within a second makes making such attempts too risky.

Or someone might do to you what happened to Angel - chain you up and drop you to the bottom of the ocean (after removing any equipment you may have). Being invulnerable, you'd be on the bottom of the sea for the rest of eternity.

Same counter-argument as I said above.

And invulnerability has another problem - if you can't die, you'll outlive the human race. In fact, you'll outlive the earth itself - one day you'll be floating alone in space. For ever. Not a pretty thought!

Your poll never matched invulnerability with immortality. I would never pick immortality. I could be invulnerable but still die of old age.

 

[Trainz]

Governments are sneaky. They might threaten your loved ones. [Of course, you could be a "lone wolf" type]. They might disguise themselves as your loved ones, disarm your bomb, and then capture you. Or they might coerce/convince your loved ones to disarm your bomb and capture you, or send agents that pretend to love you to gain your trust, and then do the same (playing Delilah to your Samson).

Which is why super-heroes have alter-egos.

Or simpler, with my greater purpose, I would forfeit all my loved ones (like Spider Man wanted to do) or fake my own death. Once this is achieved, it would be close to impossible to get someone to come close to me emotionally.

Even barring all this, the retaliation I could bring on someone trying for my loved ones should be enough to discourage it. Remember, *I'm* the invulnerable one, not "them".

Now the logical counter-argument to this is that "they" would use an unidentifiable third-party to threaten the loved ones. The fact is that I can logically debate this argument on both sides ad-nauseam. Which I won't. It's like the Elminster v.s. Raistlin debates: pointless.

They might even have "jamming" tech of some sort that stops the trigger of the bomb from working (I have no idea if this is possible, as my physics knowledge is lacking, so this may be a non-starter).

I think EMP's can achieve this. I'm not sure. It's been studied under the U.S.'s "StarWars" program.

 

[rich]

I voted on the poll with a "if it was a power I had in today's world" approach.

Sure, I'd love to teleport, fly, mind control and all that. But it wouldn't take long before some government agency aproaches me and say "You're purty powerful there suh. How about coming to work for the agency... no ? (screws on silencer on pistol) damn shame suh... damn shame... *pfft* *pfft* we had such high hopes for that kid...".

very important to think about!
that's why I would choose either telepathy or mind control. What I'd like to do is read minds -- know what people (not animals!) are thinking. Its much more subtle, can be exploited in good and/or bad ways. Mostly though, I'm just a really curious person... And of course, if mind reading was combined with control, or even "suggestion," even better!

close second would be shape-shifting...

 

[Ferret]

Oh contraire. Name me one animal that can see in pitch black? That can read blind folded, or tell which organs inside someone are burst? Hear very quiet people?

Of course Agility and Teleporation were next on my list.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

As always, a tough call, but ultimately the balance of fun and utility won out and Shapechange was the winner.

Nobody ever suspects the squirrel.

 

[Pielorinho]

Oh contraire. Name me one animal

Stop right there--who's limiting my shapechanging to animals?

that can see in pitch black?

Bats, dolphins, fireflies, if we stick with animals; Mack Trucks with video cameras, otherwise.

That can read blind folded

Me, after I've removed the blindfold with my brand new tentacles .

, or tell which organs inside someone are burst?

A tapeworm? A monera? An MRI machine?

Hear very quiet people?

A dog? A bat? a collection of hundreds of tiny concealed listening devices?

As for the government trying to kidnap you, why not simply change into an armored tank, or a housefly? The nice thing about shapechanging is that if they decide to threaten you, you can ramp the counter threat up so quickly and absurdly that, absent their own superpowers, they're gonna back down. "Oh, you want to shoot me, do you? Considering that I'm now an H-bomb, do you maybe want to reconsider?"

Daniel
who can't believe he's arguing this

 

[Zappo]

Even though I've wanted to teleport more times than anything else, I've selected mind control. Instead of teleporting, I can get someone else to do whatever I wanted to do for me. It's a subtle power; before someone discovers me, I would have agents planted in most of the world's governments, secret services, or whatever could threaten me.