They Could Do So Much More
Superheroes are usually judged by the powers they show on the page or screen, but some of them have abilities that go far beyond their most familiar tricks. A character might spend years throwing punches, flying, or shooting energy while possessing abilities that could affect minds, matter, time, or even entire universes. Writers understandably have to put limits on these characters, because a hero who uses every ability available to them could make most conflicts very short.
1. Superman
While most people know Superman for his super strength, flight, heat vision, and durability, his powers extend much further than that. Depending on the version, he's had super-hearing, microscopic and telescopic vision, incredible speed, super-fast healing, and impressive mental fortitude. Not to mention, he's capable of manipulating his senses and body.
2. The Flash
Running really fast is only scratching the surface of what the Flash can do thanks to his connection to the Speed Force. He can vibrate through objects, time travel, produce blinding lightning bolts, see events happening at super speeds, and has even manipulated or supplied speed to other lifeforms in certain storylines. He can also think and react at superhuman speeds, rendering normal hand-to-hand combat pointless.
3. Martian Manhunter
Martian Manhunter may have one of the weirdest assortments of powers among Justice League members, but his telepathy and ability to shapeshift are typically what get the spotlight. But J'onn can also turn intangible, become invisible, change his appearance, fly, have super strength, and communicate telepathically over long distances. His mental powers can target entire groups of people.
4. Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch has gone from simply being a powerful magical mutant to being one of Marvel's most powerful reality warpers. Throughout the years, her powers have allowed her to bend probability, manipulate magical energy, read minds, and, on certain occasions, rewrite reality on a massive scale. House of M showed just how badly her powers can affect the Marvel Universe.
Miguel Discart & Kiri Karma on Wikimedia
5. Thor
Thor doesn't just have super strength and a magical hammer. Sure, those are the abilities most think of when Thor comes up, but his godly aspect grants him super durability, longevity, energy manipulation, weather manipulation, and access to magical energy on a level most mortals can't comprehend. Even Mjolnir gives him powers relating to dimensional travel.
6. Jean Grey
Jean Grey is already an extremely powerful telepath and telekinetic, but her connection to the Phoenix forces her powers into overdrive. Even without the Phoenix Force, Jean can move matter with her mind, create massive telekinetic force fields, mentally communicate, and influence the minds of others. With the Phoenix Force, she's had the power to wield cosmic-level abilities.
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America on Wikimedia
7. Silver Surfer
Having the Power Cosmic allows Silver Surfer to do way more than shoot energy blasts and ride around on a board. He can manipulate matter and energy at will, survive the vacuum of space, travel faster than most things in the universe, create force fields, absorb and redirect energy, and pull off a lot of cosmic-based shenanigans.
8. The Hulk
As Hulk's strength is proportional to his anger, his true strength isn't always depicted by the amount of damage he starts an altercation with. While different versions have pushed his strength into obscene numbers, he also has ridiculous durability and regeneration. The important point is that there isn't always a clearly defined upper limit to how powerful Hulk can become.
9. Doctor Strange
Sure, you typically see Doctor Strange hurling magical blasts or creating shields, but those don't even scratch the surface of the spells Strange can muster when fighting. His greatest advantage isn't one specific power but the sheer variety of supernatural solutions available to him. A Strange who has preparation time can therefore be vastly more dangerous than the version who simply trades magical attacks with another sorcerer.
Theme Park Tourist on Wikimedia
10. Green Lantern
A Green Lantern literally only needs to imagine something for his ring to create it. Restrictions include the user's willpower and the ring's bureaucratic rules, but Green Lanterns can build intricate constructs, generate energy force fields, fly, translate foreign languages, scan things, survive in hostile environments, and manipulate energy. Green Lanterns so creative have even built complex tools and machinery to utilize in battle.
11. Franklin Richards
Franklin Richards' power level is one of those Marvel mutants that can become so insanely overpowered at max that his abilities are hard to quantify. He's a reality warper who can create matter, manipulate energy, and pull off crazy feats on a cosmic level.
12. Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers is powerful enough to destroy most things openly looking for a fight, even at her normal power levels. With her ability to absorb energy and manipulate it to boost her strength, she's already got super strength, durability, flight, energy projection, and energy absorption. Most of the time, she's still fighting with a relatively straightforward combination of physical strength and energy attacks.
13. Firestorm
Firestorm has an especially unusual power set because his abilities involve nuclear energy, matter manipulation, flight, energy projection, and the ability to transmute elements. Depending on who's in the suit, Firestorm can go beyond just blasting someone and manipulate their actual matter. Teaching their molecules new tricks.
14. Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is often treated as one of DC's premier physical fighters, but her divine heritage gives her considerably more going on than super strength and combat skill. Depending on who's writing her, Diana has shown incredible speed, durability, a healing factor, magic resistance, enhanced senses, and whatever else the Olympians can cook up. Even her bracelets and lasso give her extra tricks to play with.
15. Blue Marvel
Blue Marvel is another powerhouse whose abilities range far beyond what you see in most combat. He has access to a wide variety of powers thanks to his ability to manipulate antimatter energy. He's super strong, durable, can fly at high speeds, project and manipulate energy, and doesn't faint when transported into space.
16. Raven
Most people know Raven for her dark energy powers and floating kid soul-clone that she uses when fighting with the Titans. But her powers range from telepathy, empathy, astral projection, interdimensional travel, energy manipulation, healing, and dark-based abilities. Raven frequently restrains herself because losing control of those abilities can create problems for everyone around her.
Anastasiya Dalenka on Unsplash
17. Plastic Man
Plastic Man's abilities are generally goofed around with, so people don't take how insanely powerful he actually is. His body can stretch beyond the laws of physics, reshape himself into other objects, flatten himself into sheets, inflate himself to enormous sizes, mimic nearly anything he sees, and withstand injuries that would kill anyone else breathing.
18. The Atom
Being able to shrink yourself down to subatomic levels isn't the craziest part about what The Atom can do. Ray Palmer can explore the microscopic universe, interact with objects smaller than ants can see, and use his powers in combat in ways that make traditional defense ineffective. He's much more than a tiny man who punches villains at ankle level.
19. Shazam
Shazam's powers come from a collection of mythological figures, giving Billy Batson access to considerably more than super strength and lightning. Because his powers are magical, he can fight off things that usual superheroes would be completely helpless against. Shazam's overwhelming strength typically allows him to just trade power blows in a fight, but there's more to him than being a juggernaut.
20. Sentry
At the end of the day, Sentry might be the clearest example I can give you of a superhero who fights day-to-day without fully utilizing what he's capable of. He's had enough strength to destroy small countries, fly, durability that made him undoable for decades, energy manipulation, fast regeneration, and reality-warping feats.
