Supervillian powers

[Flarecobra]

So I stumbled across this article that was on a radio station's website... the "Top 11 Best Supervillian Powers" which can be found here. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-d-wilson/best-superpowers_b_1475503.html)

Looking through it, I have to ask, what do you all think would be the best supervillian powers? If you were one, what powers would you have?

[Amake]

Necromancy is the only power I can think of offhand that can even approach being categorically evil. But it would be pretty sweet to have a zombie army and such.

[Locke cole]

It depends on how it works. If it traps the soul of the deceased, then it's pretty evil. If it's just animating the body, then it's rude at worst.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Based on empirical and comic book evidence- being real rich is hands down the best power. Nothing else even comes close.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

That's not an evil power though, unless Bruce Wayne is evil.

[Sifright]

That's not an evil power though, unless Bruce Wayne is evil.

Bruce wayne is pretty evil

[Professor Smarmiarty]

That's not an evil power though, unless Bruce Wayne is evil.

Bruce Wayne=Most effective supervillain.

[Flarecobra]

Based on empirical and comic book evidence- being real rich is hands down the best power. Nothing else even comes close.

Lex Luthor backs up this point I beleve.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

The power to influence external retcons on your own comic series to make the heroes as miserable as possible for as long as possible.

[Locke cole]

So, Spiderman is his own worst villain.

[Marc v4.0]

Bruce Wayne is one more Robin death away from being an evil psychopath instead of just a neutral one.

[Fifthfiend]

Batman: A multibillionaire whose primary contribution to society is roaming the streets at night violently assaulting the poor and mentally ill.

EDIT: Like at least Tony Stark usually only tries to kill you if you threaten his business interests.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Batman: Tough on Crime.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

So I've been on a pretty big Xmen/Avengers/Planet Hulk bender recently and I just watched the opening 2 episodes of that Avengers; Earths mightiest heroes series and holy shit that Graviton dude in ep 2. Like, holy crap balls, what the fucking hell. I mean, ok yeah the guy was totally fucking nuts and he like to stupidly repeat about how he could "control all of gravity" but he did just literally rip New York in two, nearly drowned Thor, crushed Hulk and sent Ironman to the fucking MOON!

It may have taken a few liberties with actual physics but it was pretty awesome.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces by far. that's the shittest power.

[Flarecobra]

It's a superhero thing. They're always exempt from the laws of physics.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces by far. that's the shittest power.

Yeah I know, but you never see Magneto destroying cities when he totally could. Really that dude should have won years ago since he effectively controls the entire EM spectrum, the building blocks of matter and a large portion of what makes physics work. It was just nice to see someone take one of the fundamental forces and go totally apeshit with it for once, even if it was just one of the weakest forces. It makes everyone else who should be more powerful look like morons.

[Locke cole]

Gravity may be the weakest force, but it still completely fucks us up if you go screwing with it.

But yeah, Magneto is far more deadly.

For one thing, all matter interaction is governed by electromagnetism. I'm pretty sure that he could fuck up anything he wanted on a fundamental level. Probably even make things intangible if he wanted.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

No it doesn't.

[Locke cole]

It kinda does, unless I really screwed up in my chemistry and physics classes.

Like, the behavior of elements in relation to other elements is governed by how many valence electrons they have, and how readily they attract and bond with other elements. (what element it actually is is dependent on the number of protons) And, of course, electrons only stay with an atom because of magnetism with the protons. Like, on the atomic scale, physical interaction between matter is an electromagnetic thing.

Of course, if I've completely screwed up my understanding of things, please explain.

[Magus]

Mind control is usually the most effective. You can make everybody your slaves or have them kill each other for you. Presumably, no one should be safe, although for the purpose of stories, it seems like something always comes up to defeat them even though it presumably shouldn't (telepathy blocking helmets like Magneto wears, or in the case of technological-based mind control, Batman beats everybody up and turns off the mind control machine. Sorry, Mad Hatter).

Necromancy is always pretty cool, like Master Darque, although sometimes its used for humorous purposes, like the Black Talon (but seriously dressing like a rooster? He's just asking to be mocked).

Technological prowess is always a good choice. Dr. Octopus is one of my favorite villains. Being super rich and technologically advanced is the best, though, which is why Lex Luthor is always wearing badass powersuits.

[Locke cole]

Didn't Mad Hatter, at one point, decide to just cut out the villainy and mind-control himself to be blissfully happy?

Now, the best villain power, is the political prowess to do whatever the hell you want without it being illegal, at least on the surface. About half of the heroes won't be able to touch you without compromising their precious "morals".

[Professor Smarmiarty]

It kinda does, unless I really screwed up in my chemistry and physics classes.

Like, the behavior of elements in relation to other elements is governed by how many valence electrons they have, and how readily they attract and bond with other elements. (what element it actually is is dependent on the number of protons) And, of course, electrons only stay with an atom because of magnetism with the protons. Like, on the atomic scale, physical interaction between matter is an electromagnetic thing.

Of course, if I've completely screwed up my understanding of things, please explain.

I was talking about gravity. The other things can fuck you up but gravity ddoesn't really do anything. The most it does is make things fall.


Didn't Mad Hatter, at one point, decide to just cut out the villainy and mind-control himself to be blissfully happy?

Now, the best villain power, is the political prowess to do whatever the hell you want without it being illegal, at least on the surface. About half of the heroes won't be able to touch you without compromising their precious "morals".

Once again- be rich.

[Locke cole]

Oh, right. Well, yeah. Gravity can't do much. However, there is stuff you can do with it, depending on how fine your control is and how creative you are with it. Perhaps I should have said that someone controlling gravity could fuck you up, provided their control of it is strong enough.

Like, if you can intensify it, you can immobilize a person with their own weight. If you can invert it, you can have someone get thrown into space. If you can point it wherever, you might be able to make a person explode, depending on how fine your control is.

But it's not as completely devastating as electromagnetism. Like, Magneto could destroy just about anything he wanted. It's a good thing he's not a generic apocalypse villain.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

And speaking of Apocalypse, now there's a dude who won the super power lottery about 10 times over, what with his vague "I can control molecules, also I can use telekinesis/assorted pyschic abilities, oh and I can teleport and manipulate "energy" and am also immortal and a genius."

Is there anything he can't handwave himself doing?

[Locke cole]

Vague powers suck. It's more fun to have specific powers that the character is frighteningly creative with.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Vague powers suck. It's more fun to have specific powers that the character is frighteningly creative with.

Case in Point (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/BananaNoNana)

In the absurd comedy manga, Banana no Nana, the main character has the power to manipulate... bananas! Of course, in a world where there's more traditional powers like water manipulation and superhuman strength, this seems like a pretty lame power to end up with. But Nana later explains (and demonstrates) she can manipulate everything about the banana, including size, weight, and hardness. Cue the absurd, but unusually badass scene of her using the banana as a bludgeon, morphing into a shield, and then morphing it into a sword. The fight ends with the villain taking a hostage, and demanding that Nana, "drop the banana!"

[Locke cole]

There's also the Law Of Ueki.

I haven't seen the original, but in the sequel series, the main character has, of all things, the power of "Grabbing" in the form of a mop. And manages to be totally badass with it. Other powers include the power of "hardness" in the form of hair gel.

[Magus]

Apocalypse is your standard nigh-unstoppable, nigh-invincible god-like villain, though, the archvillain of archvillains, so that's probably why it is so vague on what exactly his powers are. See also: Darkseid, Thanos, Kang the Conqueror (technically advanced technology but it renders him on the same level as the other two), Galactus, and so on. Their power is being a plot device which can almost kill the most powerful superhero or group of superheroes (Justice League, X-Men, the Avengers, Fantastic Four) before somehow being defeated by the skin of their teeth.

[synkr0nized]

Lex Luthor backs up this point I beleve.

He's not a supervillain. He's just really angry about losing his hair.

[Locke cole]

Being that petty may be a power, I guess.

Exhibit B: Doctor Doom.

[Amake]

Like, if you can intensify it, you can immobilize a person with their own weight. If you can invert it, you can have someone get thrown into space. If you can point it wherever, you might be able to make a person explode, depending on how fine your control is.I always like to point out you can also control the speed of time in or around an object. One villain once beat Superman with some serious fine-tuning of this ability, simply ageing thin slices of his body at a tremendous rate while not ageing the parts in between. Although the rapid onset of time in itself mattered little to the Man of Steel, he had no defense whatsoever against the ravages of intersecting fast and slow time twisting through his indestructible body. Imagine that last sentence being read by the 1940s Superman radio drama narrator Jackson Beck.

[Locke cole]

Wait, how does gravity relate to ti- oh right.

Because messing with gravity would most likely translate into manipulating folds in space-time.

[Amake]

Well, it's one reason gravity manipulation is about the most fantastic (as in removed from reality) power we can imagine. We know time passes faster closer to the Earth's surface than higher up; it's a known feature of gravity. Though I don't know if anyone knows why it works that way.

[Locke cole]

Hurm. If gravity-manipulation takes that sort of track, I wonder if the one using that power could make wormholes, provided he understood his power to that sort of fine detail. As opposed to him just thinking "I do this, and he goes crushy crush."

[Amake]

It's a question Smarty and I have been wrestling with recently: Could controlling gravity allow faster than light travel or just near-lightspeed travel? The answer seems to be we can't figure it out because gravity is just completely impossible to control, at least for a sub-type 1 civilization. Like, if you want to create a planet-scale gravitational field literally the only thing you can do is gather up a planet-scale mass to produce that gravity. You can't fake it any more than you can artificially create temperatures below absolute zero.

So yeah, if you could control gravity you're probably at a point where every known and unknown law of the natural world gathers at your feet to pray and you could probably make wormholes.

On a sidenote it gets pretty funny when you realize every sci-fi TV show ever made has such ubiquitous artificial gravity they can afford to use it just to keep a character's hair from being ruffled.

(Disclaimer: I make no claim of correctly interpreting or remembering what Smarty alias Professor Smarmiarty said in aforementioned discussion.)

[Professor Smarmiarty]

I'm pretty sure what I said was "this discussion is stupid. Also you are ugly" then I left.
Discussing the implications of "controlling gravity" is completely meaningless unless you have a detailed description of what this actually means and how it works. Otherwise you could theoretically justify pretty much anything as extreme gravity control. It's like people who have "energy control". Everything is energy when you get down to it. So like that is basically do whatever yuo want power. The limits are whatever the authour decide.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Man, I just want the ability to make a sandwich so good it causes people to eat it to commit suicide because everything after you eat it is such a letdown in comparison.

[Japan]

Generally speaking super villains are defined and exist in a sort of ego feedback loop with their heroic counterparts, so I guess in that sense having a personality or philosophical outlook that is almost completely antithetical to the nature of the hero would be the greatest ability since generally the villains that are seen as the polar opposite of whoever they fight tend to stick in the collective pop culture subconscious a lot longer, and since super villains aren't real then longevity is probably the only meaningful judgment criteria of success.

See Joker, Lex Luther, that one yellow dude from the green lantern comics.

Or maybe it has nothing to do with the conceptual relationship to the hero and more to do with how many nerds like them.

[Amake]

I'm pretty sure what I said was "this discussion is stupid. Also you are ugly" then I left.
Discussing the implications of "controlling gravity" is completely meaningless unless you have a detailed description of what this actually means and how it works. Otherwise you could theoretically justify pretty much anything as extreme gravity control. It's like people who have "energy control". Everything is energy when you get down to it. So like that is basically do whatever yuo want power. The limits are whatever the authour decide. As I recall we said in its simplest form gravity control would entail pointing your finger at things and make the gravity increase or decrease in that location with the only question being if the effect would be permanent or subject to your conscious effort and I had sexual relations with your mother.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Man, I just want the ability to make a sandwich so good it causes people to eat it to commit suicide because everything after you eat it is such a letdown in comparison.

SCP-294 (http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-294), see addendum 294q-01. Not exactly a villain power, but considering the SCP Foundation...

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

The power of Lawyers is kinda scary and villainy.

[Locke cole]

But there is at least one instance of a superhero trading his usual powers for the power of attorney, and he still made out alright.