It’s hard to imagine a world without superheroes anymore. Since the early ’30 s, the creation and popularity of superheroes and villains seem endless. From the early black and white comic books to the million-dollar box office film productions, heroes and villains never seem to fade away from our imagination.
Some of these superheroes and villains are more popular than others and we all seem to have our special favorite one.
Superman is one of these heroes that is considered the “grandfather” of superheroes. He made his first appearance in a 1938 comic book in Action Comics #1 and is still going strong in the recent film Justice League and Man of Steel 2.
Then there are the famous Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, Aqua man, man…oh man…I could go on forever. Hundreds of well-known superheroes with their own superpowers.
But there are some superpowers you probably never heard of.
Allow me to introduce you to some rare and unusual superpowers that you never knew existed.
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X-ray vision
So besides Superman, who we rule out from this article since he covers almost all superpowers, who would benefit from having x-ray vision?
I could think of a few reasons. Imagine pulling up at the blackjack table in a minimum deposit casino and seeing exactly what card is going to be dealt next. Or a high-stake poker game with the knowledge of your opponents’ cards in hand.
Ultra Boy would never even think of such a wicked thing. This character gained his superpowers after flying into a “space whale” while cruising the universe in his space vehicle. His real name is actually Jo Nah from the planet Rimbor. Get it? Jo-Nah, Space Whale?
Anyway, he used his powers to do good and fight crime. He was actually welcomed into the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Ghost powers
Imagine being able to do all the things that a ghost can do. I don’t just mean scaring the living daylight out of someone, but more in terms of transformation, making yourself invisible, floating around, shooting ectoplasm, teleportation, etc.
These superpowers belong to Danny Phantom, a shy 14-year-old boy who gained his powers by entering a ghost portal that was left open by his parents who make a living as ghost hunters. Since he got in touch with some ghostly ectoplasm, he switches his identity between Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom.
He mainly uses his superpowers to fight against evil spirits and ghosts with bad intentions.
The power to change colors
Here is a useful one for you; what if you could alter all the colors in the world, shoot rays of colored beams at villains and confuse your enemies by using a rainbow camouflage suit? Wouldn’t that be a colorful ability?
These superpowers belong to Color Kid who got hit by a beam of light from another dimension while working on a laboratory experiment.
Unfortunately, the League of Super-Heroes didn’t see much good use in his unusual powers and denied him a seat at the heroes table. He did, however, receive a ring of flight which allowed him the power to fly. At least he got a chance to get closer to a rainbow, I guess.
The power to eat ANYTHING
Some people have an undying appetite and will eat anything you serve them on a plate. Well, to be honest, that would include me too. But is that considered a superpower?
It is when you can literally eat anything. Stone, metal, diamond, nothing is too much for Matter-Eater Lad. This character is from the planet Bismoll, where its population evolved in eating anything to stay alive. This gives his jaw and teeth extra super strength to chew his way out of every dangerous situation.
No matter what you throw at him, he will eat anything that you consider as ammunition.
He is also romantically involved with a female superhero named Calorie Queen who turns all she eats into…yup…useful calories.
Turn your head into objects
Turning your body into anything makes sense in a way. But when this applies to only your head, what use would that have?
Ruby Thursday is a female superhero who can do just that. After replacing her “human” head with a super organic computer, she can make her head look like anything she can imagine.
She dropped out of the Defenders Superhero Team and started running for the presidency in the US. It didn’t work out (she couldn’t get her head around it).
Some of the shapes her head took while fighting battles, were a pair of giant lips, a sword, and a pair of wings. You have to see it to believe it, I guess.
Fight villains with your detached limbs
Sometimes it costs an arm and a leg to get what you want. But this guy takes it a step further.
Arm-Fall-Off-Boys’ arm fell off shortly after he was born and scared the daylight out of his parents.
Later, he used his abilities to detach his arms to use them as blunt weapons in combat.
He travels to earth to join the Legion of Super-Heroes and somehow manages to impress the superheroes but the tryouts to join the Legion aren’t scheduled yet so he returns to his home planet.
This guy is considered the most useless superhero in DC history and is therefore adopted in the movie Suicide Squad where he goes under the name TDK (The Detachable Kid).
What superpower do you have?
You don’t need to have a flashy suit of armor to be a superhero with superpowers. I am sure that you have your own, unique abilities that can truly surprise someone.
Like curling your tongue like a tunnel or making your eyelids stick to your eyeball. Maybe you can hold your breath for a huge amount of time or remember all the lyrics from twelve national anthems. Either way, as long as you are proud of your abilities and use them to do good in the world, you are surely a real superhero to me. 