Faster than a speeding bullet

by Robison Wells

I once heard an interview with an author, John Hodgeman, who began almost all conversations with the question: "Flight or Invisibilty?" It's an age-old superhero debate--if you could have only one, which would it be? What Hodgeman found interesting about the question was that almost everybody would answer immediately, and they would almost all answer Invisibility. However, as they'd talk about it for a while, people would consider the reasoning for their decision--almost all of the reasons would be somewhat dishonest: sneaking into movies, getting free subway rides, evesdropping, and worse--and then nearly everyone would revise their decision and take flight instead.

It's interesting to think about, but he made another interesting observation: almost no one thought they'd become a superhero if they gained superpowers. People who chose flight would fly to work instead of driving, and people who chose invisibility would go to free movies. That was about it.

Last night I was watching Heroes, a new show on NBC which is fast becoming my favorite. It's the kind of show that makes me mad that I didn't think of it first, because it'd be so much fun to write. The basic gist of it, for those of you who don't watch, is similar to the X-Men movies--people, seemingly at random, being to manifest superpowers--but it differs from the X-Men in that it trades outrageous jets and matching outfits for realism.

Anyway, last night my wife asked me which superpower I'd pick (selecting from those featured in the show) and I found myself picking one of the more mundane powers, for the same reasons Hodgeman mentions: I don't really think I'd be a superhero, just a guy with a really handy ability. Maybe I need to have nobler goals.

So, here's the list of powers in Heroes (as far as I can tell so far). Pick which one you'd most like to have, explain why you want it and what you'd use it for.

*Flight
*Stopping time (as in, you could freeze everything, then do something, then unfreeze time again)
*Clairvoyance (you can see the future, in a limited kind of way)
*Super-healing (you can get really hurt--almost dead--and then heal right back up)
*Mechanical Magic (I'm not sure what to call this one. It's the ability to "magically" fix mechanical things.)
*Intangibility (being able to walk through walls)
*Photographic Memory (being able to instantly remember anything you've read or seen)
*Persuasion (the ability to endure crappy Jane Austen movies! Har! No, it's actually the ability to control people's will.)
*Superstrength
*Radioactivity (the ability to control radiation, to heat stuff up)
*Reading people's thoughts

I think that I'd probably pick the photographic memory. Since I don't really plan on saving the world, it seems the most useful in everyday life. But that's just me. What would you pick?