Flight or invisibility?

[samldanach]

So, a little while back I was listening to the This American Life podcast. Apparently they were doing a repeat; the episode I heard, 178: Superpowers, says that it had an original air date of 2/23/2001. I actually recommend giving the whole episode a listen, as it's really good. In particular, I am fascinated by Zora, a self-made superheroine

Comments

[annodoom]

I would really hope that there would only be one such powered person, and that s/he'd choose flight. If there were a whole gang of invisoids around, I fear I would become paranoid.

I also come down in the "flight" category, and would not change my habits to become some kind of hero.

tangent: I remember ages ago a MAD Magazine panel that had a punchline "Superman, you're a jerk when you're drunk." The whole thing hinged on his ability to fly.

[samldanach]

Yeah, part of Hodgman's original question was that you were the only person with superpowers in the world.

Yeah, I know that joke. I can't say I really like it. Mostly, I think, because I can't stand Superman being a jerk. Which is a bit weird, because I don't really like Superman.

[yimkin]

it occurs to me that without some level of accompanying invulnerability, high speed flight would lead to a very quick death. I would give a cautious person two months tops. The average person would be unlikely to last a week.

Even so, I am tempted to pick it over invisibility. There are few uses for invisibility that wouldn't feel wrong to me.

---
Opening things up to any superpower I would probably pick Wolverine level regeneration. Basically what I want is immortality but I think the cell regeneration approach has the least drawbacks. Teleportation would be a close second.

[samldanach]

Yeah, a lot of those concerns get hand-waved. Of course, I would give a cautious person a bit longer than that. Assume that, say, you have the forethought to check the FAA website for flight paths. It must be possible to get a radio that can tune in to the local tower. Birds would, of course, be an issue. And you would need to get something like a motorcycle helmet and leathers to protect you from 600mph rain drops.

Perhaps we can propose that, when flying fast, you produce a bow wave that shunts any objects smaller than yourself to the side. That would protect you from most issues, without needing to add some complicated invulnerability.

[yimkin]

I find myself thinking of Cannonball from the New Mutants. And yes, it was more the incidentals like rain and birds that I was thinking of. That and various hazards that would come up with low altitude flight as a power like that would be used for local travel as well.

[samldanach]

Cannonball is not a bad model. A bit over-dramatic, but very useful.