Ever since the popularization of the medium in the '30s, superheroes and superpowers have been synonymous with comic books. The first characters with otherworldly or enhanced abilities to appear in fiction were pulp heroes like The Shadow (1930) and The Phantom (1936), and then the modern superhero as we now define it debuted in 1938 with the first appearance of Superman. Over the years, readers have been treated to almost every superpower one could imagine. We've seen characters display incredible feats of superhuman strength, agility and speed. We've seen instances of invulnerability, flight, telepathy, telekinesis and pyrokinesis. We've also witnessed a little invisibility, shapeshifting; X-ray vision and enhanced intelligence. These are only a small fraction of the powers wielded by comic book superheroes and supervillains, and it sometimes seems like new ones are being invented every month too.
Most of the top-tier superheroes' powersets have been well-defined over the years. Most fans (and even casual observers at this point) will be aware of what characters like Supergirl, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Thor and Captain America can do, but what about the lesser known powers that heroes have accessed throughout the pages of comic book history? Only real fans will know about these items of semi-obscure trivia. They will therefore delight in being in the know about the period in which their beloved hero developed a new ability that was then written out of continuity, or was simply rarely used by writers in the heroes' subsequent stories. Here are 20 heroes with secret powers only real fans know about.
20 GAMBIT - COULD "SEE" THE FUTURE
In the wake of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run, writer Chuck Austen and artist Salvador Larroca took over the core X-Men title with 2004's #157. In their first story, the X-Men fought a team of superpowered Chinese heroes and Rogue accidentally caused one of them to fire their gun in Gambit's direction. This caused one of Gambit's playing cards to explode in his face, and he went temporarily blind.
He soon realized he could "see" brief glimpses of the future when he had a vision of Sabretooth attacking the X-mansion before it happened. His blindness lasted a mere nine issues, though, as when Chris Claremont took over the title after Austen's two four-issue storyarcs he immediately had Sage restore Gambit's sight.
19 SPIDER-MAN - CAN TALK TO SPIDERS
This one is so obscure that it seems even Marvel themselves forgot about it. During a tie-in to the big "Avengers Disassembled" crossover in 2004, Peter Parker gained the ability to communicate with all forms of insects and spiders. In The Spectacular Spider-Man #20 he used the ability to gather help from several spiders in order to defuse a ticking time-bomb.
He never became as expert a communicator as Ant-Man, however, who has complete control over ants, but fast forward 14 years to 2018's Doctor Strange #390 and we see a bashful Peter Parker request that Strange hook him up with the ability to talk to a spider. It led to a hilarious scene, no doubt, but did everyone just forget Peter could already do this?
18 WONDER WOMAN - CAN TALK TO ANIMALS
Wonder Woman has a whole bevy of superpowers, but we're willing to bet that only the biggest Diana fans will know that she can talk to animals. We're not just saying she can understand what they're saying or that she has a general empathy for their thoughts and feelings, by the way -- we're saying that she can carry on full conversations with every creature great and small, with speech bubbles and everything.
This ability was bestowed upon her by Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, and over the years she's been shown chatting with lions, tigers, bulls and birds, amongst others. Sometimes they have helped her on missions but other times she has just talked with an animal to counsel it about its problems.
17 AQUAMAN - TELEPORTATION
This is a power that the King Of Atlantis doesn't currently possess in DC Rebirth continuity, but only three short years ago (during The New 52 era) he gained the ability to teleport. In Aquaman #40 Arthur Curry was gifted the Trident Of Poseidon, an amazing weapon which granted its user the powers of the god of the sea, meaning he could instantaneously cause earthquakes, typhoons and conjure ice.
He could also teleport himself over long distances, which was a lot better than his usual "super-jumps-really-really-far" ability. In Aquaman #44 he even teleported himself accidentally to an alien planet! This is one power we hope makes a comeback in the Rebirth era, as it brought a whole new dimension to Aquaman's stories.
16 MAGNETO - INVISIBILITY
Magneto is one of the most powerful mutants in existence, despite not really using his powers to their full extent. He has control over metal objects and can manipulate electromagnetic fields, using this ability to fly. However, a pretty useful power that he has utilized in the past (and then seemingly forgot about) is the ability to turn invisible.
By creating a forcefield around himself he is able to warp light around his body, rendering him invisible to the naked eye. He did this way back in 1983's Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4, the issue in which he revealed he was Wanda and Pietro Maximoff's father, but hasn't used it since which is definitely weird, as turning invisible would surely be a handy back pocket option for a supervillain.
15 DAREDEVIL - MINOR TELEPATHIC ABILITIES
Daredevil's unique set of powers have been explored brilliantly by Marvel's writers over the years. Most fans know about his radar sense, which compensates for his blindness, and know that he has enhanced senses of smell, taste, touch and hearing. In practice, for example, he can tell is someone is lying to him by listening to their heartbeat.
Some fans might not know that Matt Murdock also possesses minor telepathic abilities which were developed during his training under Stick/The Chaste. Stick and his elite order of martial arts warriors had mastered the ability and Stick then taught Matt techniques to combat psychic assaults from other telepaths. He also helped him hone the ability to communicate with other telepaths.
14 BATMAN - SKILLED MAGICIAN
Obviously, Batman is the most famous superhero in history with no superpowers. He has honed himself to the absolute peak of mental and physical perfection and has an array of gadgets to help him in his war on crime, but he is resolutely a non-powered human. However, the Dark Knight does possess an aptitude for something which could be considered a superpower: magic.
Bruce Wayne has a long history with Zatanna (and her magician father Zatara) and has been known to dabble in the mystic arts if the need arises. He once used a magic spell to exorcise Deadman from Superman's body, for example, but generally prefers not to muck around with magic as he distrusts its unpredictable nature. He is also a man of science, after all.
13 HULK - CAN SEE THE ASTRAL PLANE
The Incredible Hulk #370 introduced a very intriguing wrinkle into the Hulk's power-set: he was able to perceive Doctor Strange's astral form. The astral plane is a spirit world in another dimension, equivalent to our own, where all matter is composed of ectoplasm. Skilled psychics and sorcerer's (like the Sorcerer Supreme) can astrally project their body into the mysterious realm, and the only people able to perceive them while they do this are called adepts.
It was theorized that Bruce Banner gave Hulk this ghostly ability because he was afraid his evil father (who he ended) would come back to haunt him -- he wanted Hulk to have an early warning system should this ever happen.
12 THE FLASH - IMMUNITY TO MIND CONTROL
The Flash is fast --it's kind of his thing. However, not only is his body fast, but his mind moves at an incredible pace as well. This makes sense when you think about it, because someone moving at such speeds needs a brain that is able to process all the information going on around them. This means his thoughts move too rapidly for telepaths and mind readers to lock on to, making him immune to basic mind control.
Martian Manhunter is the only telepath who is able to get any kind of sense of his thoughts and can pull vague impressions from his mind, but no more than that. It's a good thing that Flash has this ability too, considering one of his main adversaries is the highly-intelligent telepath, Gorrilla Grodd.
11 SUPERMAN - SUPER FLARE
Superman #38 introduced yet another superpower into the Man Of Steel's repertoire, although this one will always have to be a last resort, only to be used if all else fails. In a battle with the villain Ulysses, Superman pushed his heat vision further than ever before and unleashed an energy blast from every cell in his body that knocked him unconscious and left him de-powered for a time period.
The blast incinerated everything in its vicinity -- it was like Superman expoded with the force of a nuclear weapon. Batman later explained that Clark's heat vision had always been a small, focused amount of the total energy he was capable of releasing and when he was pushed to his limits he lost control and all that energy was released at once!
10 SUPERGIRL - SONIC SCREAM
Even though their powersets are very similar, there are a few things Supergirl can do that her cousin Superman can't. For one thing, she doesn't share his weakness to Kryptonite and it's been hinted that she can potentially fly faster than him too. Batman also believes that Kara absorbs the Earth's solar radiation more efficiently than Superman, which means she could potentially be much more powerful than him in every way.
One of the other abilities that he doesn't have is her sonic scream. Kara can emit a scream of extremely high amplitude that can cause havoc to her enemies. Perhaps its use has been limited throughout history, though, so that Black Canary's "canary cry" (a very similar power) is not diminished by comparison.
9 ANGEL - BLOOD HAS HEALING PROPERTIES
The concept of a secondary mutation was introduced into the Marvel Universe in the early '00s. The two most famous examples were arguably Beast (whose blue ape-like form was transformed into something more feline) and Emma Frost (who developed the ability to transform her skin into diamond, on top of her usual telepathy).
Warren Worthington III, aka Angel, developed his own secondary mutation as well, though it's nowhere near as well-known. He found his blood now had the power to heal others, providing they were the same blood-type as him. He may have always had this mutation but didn't realize it (as another winged mutant named Icarus had healing powers derived from his wings) but Marvel kept it purposefully vague.
8 THOR - SPEAKS THE ALL-TONGUE
One of Thor's most essential powers is also one that only the most dedicated fans will know about. The God Of Thunder is the protector of the Nine Realms, so deals with a vast array of different planets and alien races across the known universe. On Earth alone, there are roughly 7,000 languages, some of which are spoken by incredibly small numbers of people.
Now, extrapolate that and imagine how many different languages must be spoken throughout the universe. It's therefore a good thing that Thor, and all other Asgardians, speak the "All-tongue", which means that no matter what language they choose to speak in, the being they are speaking to will understand it in their own native language.
7 GREEN LANTERN - POWER RING CAN CREATE KRYPTONITE
The Power Ring worn by every member of the Green Lantern Corps has the ability to create green energy constructs that are limited only by the imagination and will-power of the Ring wearer. But, in 1999's Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow #13, readers found out that the Ring could also create a working version of one of the most important and deadly items in the DC Universe: Kryptonite.
In this story, Superman seemingly went rogue when he destroyed nuclear weapons and set loose an army of robot duplicates. The JLA was forced to battle their teammate and it led to Martian Manhunter reading Clark's mind to obtain the chemical formula for Kryptonite, which he then related to Kyle Rayner so his Power Ring could create it.
6 CAPTAIN MARVEL - COSMIC AWARENESS
In the Marvel Universe, a being with cosmic awareness is in tune with the harmony of the universe. They sense the ebb and flow of every molecule and can see what is coming over the horizon by recognizing the rhythm of universal events. Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has this power and it has led to an ability to read minds and anticipate an opponent's strategy far in advance.
She can run simulations in her head about which course of action in battle will yield the best results. Carol's cosmic awareness led her to fear for the long-term well-being of the planet, so during "Civil War II" she chose to use Ulysses' precognition ability to imprison people before they committed crimes, but shouldn't that cosmic awareness have shown her the error of her ways?
5 SWAMP THING - CAN TAKE OVER HUMAN BODIES
Alec Holland was a scientist who created a restorative growth formula, before being doused in the chemical by gangsters and set on fire. He jumped in a nearby swamp and was reborn as the Swamp Thing. Eventually, it was revealed that Alec Holland had actually perished that night, and the creature was a humanoid plant elemental creature with Alec's memories.
Over the years the creature has displayed many powers, one of which is the ability to possess a human body. Swampy did this in 1998's Swamp Thing #76 when he inhabited the body of occult detective John Constantine in order to use his physical form to finally make love to his wife Abigail Arcane, which led to the birth of their daughter Tefe Holland.
4 VENOM - TREAT CANCER
The 2003 storyarc "The Hunger" made some monumental changes to the life of Eddie Brock. In Spectacular Spider-Man #4, Eddie revealed to Peter Parker that he had adrenal cancer and only had a few months to live. This was why the symbiote was desperately trying to re-attach itself to Peter. Spidey tricked the symbiote into bonding with Eddie again and it somehow managed to keep Eddie's cancer in check.
Eventually Eddie had a crisis of conscience and in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #6 he decided to auction off the symbiote, giving the $100 million that a mobster paid for it to a charity. He reasoned that the symbiote would find a new host once he died anyway, so he wanted to do some good before that happened.
3 MARTIAN MANHUNTER - CREATE ILLUSIONS
Superman once called Martian Manhunter "the most powerful being on the face of the Earth" and for good reason: J'onn J'onzz' list of powers eclipses even the Man Of Steel's. One of his lesser known powers is the ability to project complex illusions into people's minds. These illusions feel entirely real and J'onn has often used them to distract and cause mental chaos in opponents.
However, another less destructive version of the power is called "Mayavana" and it is seen as the greatest gift a martian can bestow on another. It is a benevolent vision, which is intended to give someone the experience of what they desire most, so most Martian's use it on the one they love the most. It can only be used once, as the mental stress on its creator is so great.
2 DEADPOOL - IMMUNITY TO MIND CONTROL
The Flash isn't the only hero that is immune to mind control -- the "Merc with a Mouth" can also count it amongst his list of abilities, although the reason for his immunity is very different from the Scarlet Speedster's: he is insane. Deadpool has multiple distinct personalities competing in his head, and the cancer that was accelerated by the experiment which gave him his healing factor is also perpetually degrading and regenerating his brain cells.
This means mind readers would have a very tough time making any sense of Wade Wilson's mind (and might even go insane themselves in the process of trying to crack it). Over the years it has enabled him to resist the telepathic probings of both Professor Xavier and Emma Frost.
1 WOLVERINE - IS A HUMAN (WELL, MUTANT) LIE DETECTOR
Wolverine has superhuman senses of smell and hearing, which is in-keeping with his animalistic nature. He uses these senses to sniff out hidden enemies and pinpoint danger before others are aware of it. In fact, he was once able to tell that Peter Parker was Spider-Man simply because of his scent, even though he'd never met Parker before.
His enhanced senses can be pushed even further, though, to the point where Logan can be as good a human (well, mutant) lie detector as Daredevil. He can tell if someone is lying to him by detecting even the smallest amounts of panic in their physiology; a change in heartbeat, the smell of sweat on someone's skin or a subtle change in tone in someone's voice are all obvious to him.