Comic book fiction invariably features characters with superhuman, supernatural or paranormal abilities, often referred to as "superpowers", also spelled "super-powers". Below is a list of many of those that have been known to be used. Some of these categories overlap.
Please note: This is a list of powers/abilities, not a list of superheroes by their power/ability.
Means
editExamples of ways in which a character has the ability to generate an effect.
Innate means
editMutation
editAbilities resulting from either induced evolution or natural selection in humans. These abilities range from enhanced physical abilities, such as strength, speed and accelerated healing, to phenomenal psychic powers, such as telepathy and telekinesis. These powers are sometimes caused by a genetic birth defect, which shows up later on in life as supernatural powers, but exposure to chemicals or radiation has also been known to cause superhuman mutations.
- Examples: Fictional Mutants
Non-human physical feature
editThe power may stem from a non-human feature of the user's physical form (a creature made up entirely of fire, or of rock, for example). This could include physical defenses such as claws, sharp teeth, quills, thick skin, or webbing. This is often a feature of space-aliens.
- Examples: Thing or Swamp Thing
Object-based powers
editPowers derived from objects (also known as artifacts), such as armor, jewelry, weapons, and wands.
- Examples: List of objects in the DC Universe
Methods
editExamples of methods by which a character generates an effect.
Fusionkasting
editThe superpower of the Nexus universe, fusionkasting, psionically draws energy from the cores of stars (or other large sources on rare occasions).
- Examples: Nexus
Magical powers
editAbility to use supernatural forces to varying degrees. Often used to simulate other powers, such as mind control and elemental attacks. Note that not all "magical" superpowers are actually supernatural (Mxyzptlk's abilities, for instance, rely on a set of physics different from our dimension's), but are still so beyond our understanding of science as to be completely unexplainable.
- Examples: Doctor Strange or Doctor Fate
Technopathy
editAbility to manipulate technology. It could manifest as a special form of electrical manipulation, a special form of shapeshifting, or even a special form of ESP.
- Examples: Fictional Technopaths
Telekinesis
editAbility to manipulate and control objects with the mind, often in ways not visible to the naked eye. An extremely powerful telekinetic might be able to control individual atoms.
- Examples: Fictional characters with telekinesis
Power manipulation
editPower Bestowal
editAbility to bestow powers or jump-start latent powers.
Power mimicry or absorption
editAbility to copy or absorb another's powers or skills.
Power negation
editAbility to cancel the superpowers or mutations of others.
- Examples: Leech or Black Alice
Power sensing
editAbility to sense or recognize superhuman powers.
- Examples: Caliban
Powers
editPersonal physical powers
editPowers which effect a physical person's body.
Accelerated healing
editAbility to heal rapidly from any injury; the rate of recovery varies from character to character.
Acid generation
editAbility to generate acid, often manifested through touch or as a spray.
Animal Mimicry
editAbility to take on the abilities of certain animals.
- Examples: Animal Man
Biological manipulation
editAbility to control biology. Biological Manipulators can heal, alter body composition and other things relating to the living body.
Body part substitution
editAbility to replace one's limbs or other body parts with those of another.
- Examples: Terror Inc.
Duplication
editAbility to create physical clones of oneself.
Echolocation
editAbility to determine location of items in the environment by use of reflected sound waves, whether generated by the character or ambient sound, (Also known as Sonar Sense).
Enhanced senses
editEnhancements of sight, smell, taste, touch, or hearing.
- Examples: Sabretooth or Timber Wolf
Invisibility
editAbility to render the user unseen to the naked eye.
- Examples: Invisible Woman or The Invisible Man
Invulnerability
editAbility to be impervious to harm. This may be due to having unusually tough outer shell or skin.
Matter ingestion
editAbility to consume any sort of matter without any ill effects on the user.
- Examples: Matter-Eater Lad or Gluttony
Merge
editAbility to temporarily merge two beings into a single being, which results in a completely new and stronger being.
- Examples: Kleinstocks or B'Wana Beast or Siang
Pheromone manipulation
editThe ability to generate and control pheromones which may have various effects.
- Examples: Wallflower or Crimson Fox
Photographic Reflexes
editAbility to mimic any athletic or martial arts movement after seeing it once.
- Examples: Taskmaster or Echo
Poison
editAbility to assault others with one or more varieties of toxins, with widely disparate effects.
- Examples: Poison Ivy
Reactive Adaptation/Evolution
editAbility to develop a resistance or immunity to whatever they were injured by or exposed to. This effect can be permanent or temporary.
Self-detonation or explosion
editAbility to explode one's body mass and reform.
Sonic scream
editAbility to use one's voice in a manner of offensive or defensive ways.
- Examples: Banshee or Silver Banshee
Superhuman reflexes
editAbility to react faster than a normal human.
- Examples: Blade or Midnighter
Superhuman strength
editAbove normal physical strength.
Wallcrawling
editAbility cling to objects or surfaces by a variety of means.
- Examples: Anole or Spider-Woman
X-ray Vision
editAbility to see through solid objects.
Mental faculty and knowledge-based abilities
editOmni-lingual
editAbility to decipher any language.
Omniscience
editThe ability of knowing everything.
- Examples: Eternity and The Presence
Super intelligence
editIntelligence far above genius level, often accompanied by the ability to invent incredibly advanced technology.
ESP
editThe abilities of extra-sensory perception (ESP) and communication.
Astral projection
editAbility to separate and control one's astral body. Sometimes a form of telepathy or magic. See also Possession, below.
- Examples: Rachel Summers or Raven
Clairvoyance and clairaudience
editAbility to perceive events that are taking place elsewhere or sense places that are not in view. Clairaudience is the auditory equivalent of this. Other remote senses are possible.
- Examples: Mar-Vell or Captain Marvel
Cross-dimensional awareness
editAbility to detect actions and events in other dimensions. This is occasionally used in comics as an awareness of the fourth wall between the characters and the artist or audience.
- Examples: She-Hulk or Ambush Bug
Danger sense
editAbility to sense personal danger. A form of precognition.
- Examples: Ricochet II or Spider-Man
Empathy
editAbility to read or sense the emotions or feelings of others.
- Examples: Empath or Devastation
Mediumship
editAbility to see and communicate with the dead (ghosts).
- Examples: Lionel Zerb or Wicked
Precognition
editAbility to perceive the future. Sometimes it is only expressed in vague dreams while asleep, other times it is clear and occurs at will and when awake.
- Examples: Blindfold or Dream Girl
Psychometry
editAbility to relate details about the past or future condition of an object, person or location, usually by being in close contact with it.
- Examples: Adrienne Frost or Abe Sapien
Telepathy
editAbility to read the thoughts of, or to mentally communicate with others.
- Examples: Moondragon or Saturn Girl
Domination and mind control
editThe ability to alter the perceptions of others, and general mind-control.
Astral trapping
editAbility to cause an astral projection to stay on the astral plane, usually in one specific place.
- Examples: Shadow King
Mind control
editPower to control the actions or reasoning of another.
- Examples: Mesmero or Maxwell Lord
Possession
editAbility to take control of another person’s body via astral projection or mind transfer. A specialized form of Mind Control.
Psionic blast
editAbility to overload another's mind causing pain, memory loss, loss of consciousness, vegetative state or death after having created a psionic link into that person's mind.
- Examples: Professor X or Gorilla Grodd
Psychic weapons
editAbility to create a weapon, like a knife or grenade, of psionic energy that can harm mentally and not physically.
- Examples: Psylocke or Wild Thing
Manipulate fundamental forces or reality
editThese powers may be manifested by various methods, including: by some method of molecular control; by access to, or partially or fully shifting to another dimension; by manipulating the geometric dimensions of time or space; or by some other unnamed method.
Animation
editAbility to bring inanimate objects to life or to free a person from petrification.
- Examples: Ozymandias or Quislet
Darkness or shadow manipulation
editAbility to create or manipulate darkness, often by mentally accessing a dimension of dark energy (the Darkforce dimension in Marvel Comics, and the Shadowlands in DC Comics) and manipulating it. A character with this power may possibly be able to create solid forms or travel via this dimension. (For the ability to create the absence of light, or to control light intensity, see Light Manipulation, below).
Density control
editAbility to increase the natural density of objects or possibly even one's self. Typically provides some form of invulnerability.
Disintegration
editAbility to disintegrate matter.
Elemental transmutation
editAbility to alter chemical elements, changing them from one substance to another. May be limited to self-transmutation. (Also known as alchemy.)
- Examples: Alchemy or Metamorpho
Gravity manipulation
editAbility to manipulate or generate gravitons, or other types of gravitational interactions.
Immortality
editAbility to live forever. This may be complete immortality in which the character cannot be killed in any way, appears to die but is resurrected somehow, or simply an inability to age normally, or even only be killed in specific ways (i.e. decapitation).
- Examples: Mr. Immortal or Vandal Savage
Intangibility or phasing
editAbility to decrease the natural density of objects or possibly even one's self. This includes the ability to phase through solid matter without harm.
- Examples: Shadowcat or Martian Manhunter
Light manipulation
editAbility to control, generate, or absorb photons (particles of light).
- Examples: Dagger or Doctor Light
Magnetism manipulation
editAbility to control or generate magnetic fields.
- Examples: Magneto or Doctor Polaris
Mass manipulation
editAbility to increase or decrease mass in an object or person.
- Examples: Micromax or Black Mass
Molecular manipulation
editAbility to mentally manipulate molecules and objects on a molecular level.
Omnipotence
editAbility to have unlimited powers.
- Examples: The One Above All or The Presence
Probability manipulation
editAbility to alter probability, causing unlikely things to happen or likely things to not happen. This is often described in terms of blessings and curses.
Radiation manipulation
editAbility to generate or manipulate toxic radiation.
- Examples: Radioactive Man or Doctor Phosphorus
Reality warping
editAbility to change or manipulate reality itself.
- Examples: Franklin Richards or Mxyzptlk
Sound manipulation
editAbility to mentally manipulate sound waves.
Time manipulation
editAbility to affect the flow of time, slowing, accelerating or even stopping it.
- Examples: Sway or Time Trapper
Classical elements
editAbility to control or manipulate the classical elements.
Air and wind manipulation
editAbility to control, generate, or absorb air or wind.
- Examples: Wind Dancer or Red Tornado
Cold manipulation
editAbility to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms and thus reduce temperature, often used to control, generate, or absorb ice.
- Examples: Iceman or Killer Frost
Earth manipulation
editAbility to control the classic element of earth; sand, stone, rock, lava, or dirt.
Electrical manipulation
editAbility to control, generate, or absorb electrical fields.
Fire manipulation
editAbility to control the kinetic energy of atoms to generate, control or absorb fire.
- Examples: Human Torch or Firebrand
Plant manipulation
editAbility to accelerate the growth of, control or animate plant life.
- Examples: Plantman or Swamp Thing
Water manipulation
editAbility to control, generate, or absorb water.
- Examples: Hydro-Man or Aspen Matthews
Weather manipulation
editAbility to control or mentally affect the weather.
Energy manipulation
editThese powers deal with energy generation, conversion and manipulation. In addition to generic energy, versions of these powers exist that deal with such things as light, sound, electricity, nuclear energy, and "darkforce".
- Examples: Silver Surfer or Captain Atom
Concussion beams
editThe ability to generate or transform various forms of energy into a "solid" or concussive beam of energy.
Energy blasts
editVarious forms of energy that are expelled from the body.
Energy constructs
editSimilar to Force Fields, but far more intricate; the ability to create complex shapes (such as giant boxing gloves or cages) or even functional machinery (such as fire extinguishers or laser rifles) out of solid energy.
Energy conversion
editAbility to absorb one form of energy and convert it into another form of energy.
Force fields
editEnergy shields, often invisible or translucent, produced as a form of protection.
Transportation or travel
editDimensional transportation
editAbility to create wormholes, portation "discs", or other spatial portals for transport between two non-adjacent locations
Electrical transportation
editAbility to travel through electrical conduits (such as power lines, or telephone lines), often entering through devices such as televisions, electrical poles, or computers.
Omnipresence
editAbility to be present anywhere.
- Examples: Eternity or The Source
Summoning
editAbility to summon objects or beings for their assistance.
- Examples: Magik or Kid Eternity
Superhuman speed
editAbility to move faster than usual. Often times approaching light speed.
- Examples: Quicksilver or Flash
Teleportation
editAbility to move from one place to another without occupying the space in between.
- Examples: Nightcrawler or Warp
Time travel
editAbility to travel through time.
- Examples: Trevor Fitzroy or Hourman
Miscellaneous
editThe following powers could be manifested in any number of ways.
Flight
editAbility to lift off the ground, to ride air currents or to fly self-propelled through the air. Different forms of flight include:
- Avian (feathered wings)
- Bat-winged
- Examples: Fallen
- Cosmic energy control
- Examples: Ms. Marvel
- Energy aura projection
- Gravitational manipulation
- Examples: Gravity
- Insectoid form
- Examples: Wasp or Insect Queen
- Magnetic levitation
- Examples: Magneto
- Solar flare
- Examples: Sunfire
- Sonic repulsion field
- Examples: Siryn
- Telekinetic power
- Examples: Justice
- Thermo-chemical reaction control
- Examples: Cannonball
- Wind current control
- Examples: Storm
Illusion
editAbility to alter or deceive the perceptions of another. Usually visual, it may be a light-based effect, a sound-based effect, a mind-affecting effect, or any other effect that causes one to perceive things that are not necessarily real.
- Examples: Mastermind or Brainwave
Shapeshifting
editAbility to change appearance or body structure.
- Examples: Mystique or Madame Rouge
Other types of shapeshifting include:
- Animal morphing: Ability to take on animal forms. May be able to take on the abilities of the altered form.
- Examples: Beast Boy
- Elasticity: Ability to stretch, deform, expand and contract one's body into any form they can imagine.
- Examples: Mister Fantastic or Plastic Man
- Liquification: Ability to turn partially or completely into a liquid.
- Examples: Aspen Matthews or Hydro-Man
- Size shifting: Ability to increase or decrease one's size.
- Sublimation: Ability to transform into a gaseous or mist form.
- Examples Amelia Voght or Vapor
- Transformation: Ability to transform into substance touched.
- Examples: Absorbing Man or Amazing Man