8 Superpowers That Would Actually Suck

1. Flight

Captain America Civil War Iron Man Flight
Marvel Studios

Most of us, at one time or another, have fantasised about soaring up amongst the birds. It would, however, be probably on of the most unpleasant experiences of your life. That's if you could avoid getting shot down by twitchy governments. You know how aeroplanes are pressurised, heated and filled with lovely oxygen? Well, thats because the upper atmosphere is not big on creature comforts. Up there, you'll need an air supply to stop yourself passing out and crashing down to Earth. Also, hitting a bird at high speeds up there could well rip you in half, so maybe a windshield would be a good idea.

You'll also need to keep toasty warm, so perhaps you could extend the windshield around yourself to keep the heat in. From up there it will be difficult to spot landmarks, so you should probably take some navigation equipment with you. This will all be pretty heavy to carry, so maybe adding a couple of wings could help it support itself. Congratulations, you've just built yourself a plane (or Iron Man's suit). Alternatively, you could fly low and slow. A great party trick and all but not very flipping useful. On top of all this, zooming around like Superman probably guns through a fair amount of energy.

It has been calculated that an 8 hour flight would torch through 207 billion joules of energy. This is gonna be killer for your waistline, but considering that the average daily energy intake of 2000 kcals only adds up to 8,368,000 joules, you would have to eat an entire lifetime's worth of calories for that flight. But Supes gets his energy from the sun, doesn't he? So perhaps you could recharge that way ... but this would require you to bask in the sun like a reptile for over 100 years to absorb enough energy. Maybe just take the stairs?

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