If you could have a single super power, what would it be? And what would you do with your powers?

[sonofspam1972]

Back in the 1980s, I believe both Alan Moore with Marvelman/Miracleman (depending on which side of the Atlantic you lived on) and John Byrne (with his Superman reboot) each managed to heavily imply in their stories that some if not all of each hero's key powers -- flight, invulnerability, superhuman strength, etc. -- might be heavily rooted in "subconscious telekinesis -- the power of mind over matter." For instance, in the "Man of Steel" mini, there's a bit where Superman is carrying Lex Luthor's super-large yacht through the air and is thinking, "Holding this up isn't as much of a strain when I'm airborne as it would be if I were standing on dry land. I've noticed that before." To my eyes, the implication seemed to be that when he's on dry-land, his super-strong Kryptonian muscles do all of the heavy lifting, but when he's airborne, the telekinesis which lets him fly is also "automatically" exerting itself to help support the mass of the item he's carrying through the air with him.

As I understand it, that sort of thing is why someone decided to give Kon-El (the Superboy who debuted in the 1990s) the power of "tactile telekinesis." The idea was that Superman had the same power, but only used it subconsciously to fly, to augment his natural strength, etc. Superboy had a greater degree of conscious control over it, although naturally he needed a lot of practice before he quite understood how the silly thing worked.

On a similar note: I've noticed before that in some comic book stories about telekinetic superheroes -- Marvel Girl in the Silver Age X-Men, for instance -- it seems as if the heroes only think their power can be used to do such things as "yank the gun out of somebody's hand" or "pick up a piece of furniture and throw it through the air at the villain." They don't seem to think of "reaching inside his body and blocking the flow of air into his lungs" (or achieving much the same effect by putting pressure against blood vessels in his neck which carry the oxygen to the brain after it's gone through the lungs), although that seems a much simpler method which would require less force and should yield quick results if the villain has something resembling a normal human metabolism!"

To be honest that sounds more complicated and life threatening than just the normal way they do it.

[theBellrhino]

Back in the 1980s, I believe both Alan Moore with Marvelman/Miracleman (depending on which side of the Atlantic you lived on) and John Byrne (with his Superman reboot) each managed to heavily imply in their stories that some if not all of each hero's key powers -- flight, invulnerability, superhuman strength, etc. -- might be heavily rooted in "subconscious telekinesis -- the power of mind over matter." For instance, in the "Man of Steel" mini, there's a bit where Superman is carrying Lex Luthor's super-large yacht through the air and is thinking, "Holding this up isn't as much of a strain when I'm airborne as it would be if I were standing on dry land. I've noticed that before." To my eyes, the implication seemed to be that when he's on dry-land, his super-strong Kryptonian muscles do all of the heavy lifting, but when he's airborne, the telekinesis which lets him fly is also "automatically" exerting itself to help support the mass of the item he's carrying through the air with him.

As I understand it, that sort of thing is why someone decided to give Kon-El (the Superboy who debuted in the 1990s) the power of "tactile telekinesis." The idea was that Superman had the same power, but only used it subconsciously to fly, to augment his natural strength, etc. Superboy had a greater degree of conscious control over it, although naturally he needed a lot of practice before he quite understood how the silly thing worked.

On a similar note: I've noticed before that in some comic book stories about telekinetic superheroes -- Marvel Girl in the Silver Age X-Men, for instance -- it seems as if the heroes only think their power can be used to do such things as "yank the gun out of somebody's hand" or "pick up a piece of furniture and throw it through the air at the villain." They don't seem to think of "reaching inside his body and blocking the flow of air into his lungs" (or achieving much the same effect by putting pressure against blood vessels in his neck which carry the oxygen to the brain after it's gone through the lungs), although that seems a much simpler method which would require less force and should yield quick results if the villain has something resembling a normal human metabolism!"

I personally have never read Miracle Man and didn't read many Superman books before the early 2000's, so it's nice to see that there were some comics that lend some credibility to my theory on the versatility of Telekinesis.

However, in regards to your listed uses of TK, I think that it's so much an ignorance or lack of interest in expanding their powers as much as it is their morals preventing them from using their powers in that way. Sure, most heroes that can use TK most likely had no idea they could do that when they first started their heroic careers, but once they thought about it a little bit, they must have realized that it was indeed possible, but also saw the inherent dangers of it. One little slip up and suddenly "cutting off air flow to the lungs" to knock the foe out turns into crushing the trachea and choking the target to death. The dangerous proximity of those two sides of the line is what prevents the heroes form utilizing Telekinesis in that way.

[Summers]

Omnipotence

Leave this planet. & Travel the Cosmos creating and destroying life as i see fit.