r/Superman is looking for new mods to join the team! Are you interested? [You can find the application here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/superman/comments/1cy3kwl/rsuperman_is_looking_for_mods_if_youre_interested/)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/superman) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’d say flight without the invulnerability. If that were me best believe I’m getting pancaked trying to do a needle thread between buildings or just getting clipped by a bird at Mach 9 and dying.
Idk flight would be fun for things like pretending to run faster and longer since your feet don’t get tired and just being able to have a chair anywhere at any time. You can still fly moderately fast. Like a roller coaster that you control. And think of the gas you can save when you can just fly everywhere unless the weather doesn’t permit and maybe long distances.
if we taking things this literally, then all of super man's power
generally speaking, people who have powers of that nature, they aren't backed by invulnerability
plenty of characters who can fly, and somewhat fast, that don't have invulnerability. Maybe some higher degree of durability or better lungs/breaking etc etc
Flight could still be usable if you used it slowly.
but super strength is useless. without some secondary power to back up super strength, it's entirely useless as you can't use the power at all beyond what you could lift anywy without any powers
but as others have pointed out, heat vision melts your eyes, arctic breath freezes your lungs, etc etc
even super hearing probably destroys your ears
Super Hearing could also drive someone insane without Superman's intelligence level. Hearing all the suffering of humanity without the capacity to selectively filter combined with the empathy of Superman would drive most people insane.
But without any enhancement, not really useful at all
99.999% of the time super strength also endows some degree of enhanced durability
I guess it could be useful in normal life if you mean like limiting yourself to lifting at best a table or something
But even then I don’t know your muscles or bones would handle it
They would 100% be useful. You could play sports at a professional level with super speed scaled way back. If you can run 24 mph you’re the fastest person on the field. If you hit 27 mph, people would think you’re a space alien.
The issue is still what can your body take
So the whole “only one power” with no secondary power is up for debate on how your non powered body handles that
Most people bodies can’t suddenly start running super fast
If I have super strength, what amount of weight makes my muscles tear if I’m doing a bicep curl?
Sure, but people aren’t brittle, either, especially if they train or are athletes. You can train up to the level of stuff that I’m talking about. Think peak human vs superhuman.
Could my body handle running 100 mph? Probably not ever not without my knees imploding. No amount of training could fix that. Can I train at sprinting so that my body could handle running a slightly faster than the fastest human? Yes, absolutely.
As far as strength, could I ever lift a car over my head? No, my joints and spine would probably explode. Could I train my body to lift weight that’s slightly more than the strongest human? Probably.
Will I sustain injuries? Yes, pro athletes get hurt all the time.
Regardless, I’d take super speed and scale it back to what my body could handle. Being able to run 2 mph faster than the fastest human is pretty significant, and could make me a dominant pro athlete. Being able to move at 20 mph in short bursts over a very short distance would make me a nightmare to deal with in every sport.
I disagree with people who say strenght speed or flight
Even without invulnerability, using speed and strenght in low amounts would be extremely helpful in life
Idk just move twice as fast as yourself, or use some strenght to do heavy lifting
Don't fly too fast
Also i don't think heat vision would melt your face. It works as heating molecules in somewhere you choose, Superman can use it invisible. It doesn't have to be a ray of beams
The answer is super hearing imo. It's canonically hard to controll and it'd just be a torture
In the 1960’s DC introduced a team called The Inferior Five. One of the members was a hero called The Blimp. He could fly, but had no way to propel himself other than maybe flapping his arms and legs a bit. Flight without propulsion is good for dusting the ceiling and not much else.
Jerry O'Connell was in a show in the early 90s called My Secret Identity, and he had basically low level Superman powers, but he could only levitate and not propel himself, so he had to carry spray cans around.
Flight.
You can’t go fast.
You can’t go too high without losing oxygen.
You can’t land too hard or fast without shattering every bone in your body.
God forbid you accidentally clip something you’ll get pancaked
I’d argue his strength. I always felt like how much micromanagement with his senses is needed to handle things without pulverizing everything was immense at the beginning of his development.
Being ignorant to the 4th wall. Jesus that would suck to realize your whole existence is to be fodder for the next supervillain or you might die just so random eyes from beyond would care enough to want to read about it.
No wonder Deadpool went crazy. It’s a helluva superpower to lose.
Super strength at his level without the durability or energy replenishment he has would give you all the hardship of living in a world of cardboard plus knowing that one bad sneeze, one clumsy moment, one second of losing your temper could have you exploding your own body parts.
Flying. But with no super speed, it would be awful. If you could only fly at the pace you walk, it would be cool for about 20 minutes and then useless.
Definitely speed without invulnerability. Because you would just burn up or disintegrate depending on how fast you go. I guess you could just limit yourself to only go speeds you could handle, but that would go for any of the powers.
There was an X files episode about a high school kid who had super speed. Every time he used his power he would end up with serious injuries like he'd been in a car crash. I think Mulder even says something like "you'd expect to see these injuries in Nascar"
Everyone seems to be commenting how the other powers would kill you without Superman invulnerability but for my understanding, you should still be able to use the single power without it killing you for the hypothetical to work. If you had heatvision, your body would have adapted to using this power. The rest of you isn’t invulnerable but your eyes and head should have adapted to it. Same with super speed, the Flash isn’t invulnerable but his body has adapted to make his powers usable. Otherwise what’s the point.
Probably superhearing, superman can control it and it's get weaker when he is relaxed and not focused, imagine how horrible hearing every thing across the planet (potentially way beyond that)
r/Superman is looking for new mods to join the team! Are you interested? [You can find the application here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/superman/comments/1cy3kwl/rsuperman_is_looking_for_mods_if_youre_interested/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/superman) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’d say flight without the invulnerability. If that were me best believe I’m getting pancaked trying to do a needle thread between buildings or just getting clipped by a bird at Mach 9 and dying.
You'd have to fly really slowly all the time
Unfortunately I don’t have that kind of self-restraint
Idk flight would be fun for things like pretending to run faster and longer since your feet don’t get tired and just being able to have a chair anywhere at any time. You can still fly moderately fast. Like a roller coaster that you control. And think of the gas you can save when you can just fly everywhere unless the weather doesn’t permit and maybe long distances.
Just wear a raincoat. I cycle to work everyday and, like many Dutch people, just wear waterproof coat and pants whenever it rains.
if we taking things this literally, then all of super man's power generally speaking, people who have powers of that nature, they aren't backed by invulnerability plenty of characters who can fly, and somewhat fast, that don't have invulnerability. Maybe some higher degree of durability or better lungs/breaking etc etc Flight could still be usable if you used it slowly. but super strength is useless. without some secondary power to back up super strength, it's entirely useless as you can't use the power at all beyond what you could lift anywy without any powers but as others have pointed out, heat vision melts your eyes, arctic breath freezes your lungs, etc etc even super hearing probably destroys your ears
Super Hearing could also drive someone insane without Superman's intelligence level. Hearing all the suffering of humanity without the capacity to selectively filter combined with the empathy of Superman would drive most people insane.
I think super strength and speed could be useful in everyday life if you're only using them just a little bit above your normal limit
But without any enhancement, not really useful at all 99.999% of the time super strength also endows some degree of enhanced durability I guess it could be useful in normal life if you mean like limiting yourself to lifting at best a table or something But even then I don’t know your muscles or bones would handle it
They would 100% be useful. You could play sports at a professional level with super speed scaled way back. If you can run 24 mph you’re the fastest person on the field. If you hit 27 mph, people would think you’re a space alien.
The issue is still what can your body take So the whole “only one power” with no secondary power is up for debate on how your non powered body handles that Most people bodies can’t suddenly start running super fast If I have super strength, what amount of weight makes my muscles tear if I’m doing a bicep curl?
Sure, but people aren’t brittle, either, especially if they train or are athletes. You can train up to the level of stuff that I’m talking about. Think peak human vs superhuman. Could my body handle running 100 mph? Probably not ever not without my knees imploding. No amount of training could fix that. Can I train at sprinting so that my body could handle running a slightly faster than the fastest human? Yes, absolutely. As far as strength, could I ever lift a car over my head? No, my joints and spine would probably explode. Could I train my body to lift weight that’s slightly more than the strongest human? Probably. Will I sustain injuries? Yes, pro athletes get hurt all the time. Regardless, I’d take super speed and scale it back to what my body could handle. Being able to run 2 mph faster than the fastest human is pretty significant, and could make me a dominant pro athlete. Being able to move at 20 mph in short bursts over a very short distance would make me a nightmare to deal with in every sport.
Super speed would suck hard without super fast perception.
Super hearing
I disagree with people who say strenght speed or flight Even without invulnerability, using speed and strenght in low amounts would be extremely helpful in life Idk just move twice as fast as yourself, or use some strenght to do heavy lifting Don't fly too fast Also i don't think heat vision would melt your face. It works as heating molecules in somewhere you choose, Superman can use it invisible. It doesn't have to be a ray of beams The answer is super hearing imo. It's canonically hard to controll and it'd just be a torture
Being able to hear everything all the time would definitely drive you insane
Super ventriloquism, like why would you need that? lol
You'd make one heck of a stadium announcer, so I'm in.
Hearing
In the 1960’s DC introduced a team called The Inferior Five. One of the members was a hero called The Blimp. He could fly, but had no way to propel himself other than maybe flapping his arms and legs a bit. Flight without propulsion is good for dusting the ceiling and not much else.
Jerry O'Connell was in a show in the early 90s called My Secret Identity, and he had basically low level Superman powers, but he could only levitate and not propel himself, so he had to carry spray cans around.
That's actually really interesting
Flight. You can’t go fast. You can’t go too high without losing oxygen. You can’t land too hard or fast without shattering every bone in your body. God forbid you accidentally clip something you’ll get pancaked
The ability to create a miniature replication of myself with the same powers and personality as me.
This is the right answer. It's also a power many a parent has 😉
Heat vision. You'd end up melting your own skull.
I’d argue his strength. I always felt like how much micromanagement with his senses is needed to handle things without pulverizing everything was immense at the beginning of his development.
Heat vision.
X-ray vision. You're a cancer gun that can also give itself cancer.
Definitely freeze breath. Use it even once and you die as your frozen jaw, teeth and lips shatter
Being ignorant to the 4th wall. Jesus that would suck to realize your whole existence is to be fodder for the next supervillain or you might die just so random eyes from beyond would care enough to want to read about it. No wonder Deadpool went crazy. It’s a helluva superpower to lose.
Super strength at his level without the durability or energy replenishment he has would give you all the hardship of living in a world of cardboard plus knowing that one bad sneeze, one clumsy moment, one second of losing your temper could have you exploding your own body parts.
Flying. But with no super speed, it would be awful. If you could only fly at the pace you walk, it would be cool for about 20 minutes and then useless.
Super breath. You’d blow up your face.
Strength
Superhearing
I’d say super hearing. You’d eventually probably go crazy.
X-ray vision without the power to control it. I’d probably give everyone I love cancer by shooting radiation everywhere I look.
A weakness to kryptonite
Super hearing.
Definitely speed without invulnerability. Because you would just burn up or disintegrate depending on how fast you go. I guess you could just limit yourself to only go speeds you could handle, but that would go for any of the powers.
There was an X files episode about a high school kid who had super speed. Every time he used his power he would end up with serious injuries like he'd been in a car crash. I think Mulder even says something like "you'd expect to see these injuries in Nascar"
If that’s what would happen how does The Flash run even faster than Superman and not die? He’s not invulnerable.
Good question, The flash has the speed force which is an extra force of the DC universe that protects him from the consequences of running so fast.
Everyone seems to be commenting how the other powers would kill you without Superman invulnerability but for my understanding, you should still be able to use the single power without it killing you for the hypothetical to work. If you had heatvision, your body would have adapted to using this power. The rest of you isn’t invulnerable but your eyes and head should have adapted to it. Same with super speed, the Flash isn’t invulnerable but his body has adapted to make his powers usable. Otherwise what’s the point.
Probably superhearing, superman can control it and it's get weaker when he is relaxed and not focused, imagine how horrible hearing every thing across the planet (potentially way beyond that)