Overrated and Underrated Superpowers

[CleverGoat]

What do you think is the most overrated superpower and underrated superpower?

[Stargazer31]

I'm not sure about overrated powers, but Wolverine's healing factor always seemed underrated to me.Without it, his claws would be useless and could potentially kill him via infection when he re-sheaths them.
Probability manipulation and luck (like Domino) always seemed underrated too.

[TroyVSTheWorld]

Well I wouldn't call regeneration UNDERpowered--There's a reason Wolverine is the main focus in X-men movies.

[KeinanX]

Elemental powers like fire, ice, and thunder seem kind of overrated at this point, the same for super speed and teleportation (even though it's cool as hell!) I think abilities with a clear weakness and intriguing strategy is the way to go, kind of like nen HxH or stands from Jojo. I also think the ability to slow down time through reflexes is awesome!

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Overrated:
- Superhuman strength
- Superhuman speed
- Transformation
- Elemental powers (sorry Avatar)
- Telepathy and telekinesis. Also the ability to read mind would suck more that it seems to be.
- Stopping time, because—wait, why there is a road roller behind me?

Underrated:
- As everyone has said before, healing ability. I am also thinking of biokinesis or body manipulation (I think of it as an extension of healing)—that can open up a whole possibilities of combat style and even eldritch abomination designs
- Superpower that based in manipulating possibilities and luck (curses included)
- Superpower that copies or steal other superpowers
- Superpower that functions as a buff or debuff (or even neutralizer) for other superpowers.

[NickRowler]

Seeing into the future and time travel I feel is a bit overrated. Mostly because it sort of breaks the construct of the story.

I feel like with time travel, you would need a giant flaw with it so that the characters can't just use it all the time.

For future vision, the characters just always come off as an asshole or stupid. If they know what is going to happen, why don't they just tell people? Or they know a baddy is going to punch them in the face and they just let it happen because timeline??? Maybe if their visions were super limited or random, I would be OK, but for those who see everything, I find it a bit annoying.

I guess for underrated I would say dream powers, the the ability to manipulate people through their dreams. I just think dreams are interesting in general.

[CommissarTarkin]

Flying usually tends to be overrated, in my opinion, whereas various liquid (or just straight-up water) manipulation powers are often underrated - humans are 60% water, so unless your opponents are aliens or machines, you being able to manipulate water at a distance should be terrifying for them.

[VibrantFox]

gonna get super specific and say tactile telekinesis which i didn't know about till i saw this guy's tiktok about it which i honestly found to be both really interesting and kinda funny

as for others i do think that like elemental (i.e. fire, water, earth, air, etc) has gotten a lil redundant lately but i think there's just got to be a level of acceptance in that it's simple it's easy to catch onto and it doesn't get old...usually

and the same could probably go for other powers like flight, super speed, super strength etc

whenever i think underrated tho i tend to think of specific series where their specific use of certain superpowers or how they were used caught my attention like the Kagerou Project (songs, manga, anime) had eye abilities tied to snakes from a medusae character in the story. Even the quirks in MHA kind of caught my attention especially the way they're presented in that "this is the ability x character has but these are the downsides/weaknesses/limits to said power" which sure isn't a new thing but it felt refreshing

if anything though i think it boils down to execution and implementation because some superpowers are really really cool but the way some folks use them end up wasting their full potential.

like the hydrokinesis example: that can branch into thing like controlling any liquid or blood (ie hemokenisis) so like making overdone superpowers interesting is possible it's just about putting enough thought into it

[system]

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.