Required Secondary Powers: Difference between revisions

Many characters with [[Super Strength]] also have super anchoring abilities. This keeps them from being shoved into the ground when they lift up something remarkably heavy, like buildings or land masses. An ability to fly such as Superman's - the ability to support and move your own body in empty space as you wish - could do the trick, as you wouldn't need the ground to support you. A common [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] is a hero that lacks this anchoring ability, thereby heavily restricting what they can lift without sending themselves up to their waist in the ground.<br/>

To use super strength effectively also requires the ability to strengthen objects by touching them (Unless the object is made of some advanced material, of course). Otherwise, holding up (for example) an airplane with one hand would simply result in a hand-shaped hole in the still-plummeting airplane. This was addressed in the second episode of ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', as the characters discuss a scene from the original Christopher Reeve ''[[Superman]]'' movie:

If however he matched her velocity, grabbed her, then started decreasing his rate of descent, she would be OK.<ref>Actually, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrClBtyaGVg#t=01m00s watch the scene carefully]. [[Good Bad Bugs|Due to an error in rear-projecting the background]], he actually ''is'' moving downwards when he catches her...</ref> The [[Post-Crisis]] explanation is given in [[The DCU]] that Superman's body emits a "field" that hovers 1-2 millimeters above his skin. Anything within that "field" his superpowers treat it as if it were his skin. Thus his costume (but not his cape, which takes frequent damage) is just as invulnerable as he is, and the field can partially extend its effects into things or people he touches. Perhaps this is how he is able to catch Lois Lane without hurting her, or how he manages to carry her while moving at speeds that would cause her clothes or ''skin'' to rip off by the time they reached their destination. Effectively, he provides her with [[Inertial Dampening]]. Who knows how many super-strong characters have an undetected [[Giant Robot Hands Save Lives|version of this]]?<br/>

Or if you want that summed up in a one-minute video, check [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AHg792eK6Y this] out.

[[Nigh Invulnerable]] characters, with the exception of folks who fall under the [[Made of Air]] version of this trope, also frequently exhibit the ability to anchor themselves. Even if they don't take damage from a heavy blow, it should still send them flying if they can't diffuse that much force. This one is more frequently subverted, with characters who resist damage but get knocked around quite easily, which makes for good [[No One Could Survive That]] moments. If they have superstrength, [[Justified Trope|they could conceivably be bracing themselves for the blow]], but those invulnerable characters ''without'' super-strength have no such excuse; this only works up to a point, however, as no amount of strength can defy the laws of motion. Strike someone with enough force, and they ''will'' move. ([[Superman]] and [[Flying Brick|others of his ilk]] get a pass again because they can hold themselves in place with their flying powers.) Also, see the page opener quote for more downsides. Again, may be excused if the invulnerability in question is essentially due to [[Inertial Dampening]].<br/>

Any character with a [[Healing Factor]] presumably also requires superhuman pain tolerance, to avoid falling unconscious from the crippling pain and then waking up ten minutes later good as new. Still would be useful, but not so much in a combat situation (where being unconscious makes you useless at best, and makes you a liability or opens you up to a [[Coup De Grace]] at worst.) It's not really necessary to make the power work, though, so not actually a ''required'' secondary power, and there are many examples of healing characters who ''don't'' have abnormal pain resistance.<br/>

More importantly, they'd burn up a lot of energy accelerating the healing process that fast, and so would need super-stamina and more efficient internal energy use than normal (or an [[No Conservation of Energy|alternate energy source]]) or their own power could kill them by draining their body's resources too fast. And to regenerate takes mass, so either they have limits to what they can regrow at one time, or access to some other source of mass, like [[Another Dimension]]—see [[Shapeshifter Baggage]].<br/>

Also, they'd need a way to fight infection and other foreign substances. Having your guts spilled all over the floor would open the door to all sorts of germs and viruses, not to mention dust and such. There's a reason hospitals are super sterile. Conversely, they get infected like anyone else, but recover instantly due to the healing factor producing antibodies at an accelerated rate. [[Wolverine]]'s healing factor was used to develop antibodies to a deadly virus on at least one occasion. Most likely they would also have some kind of super-genome, considering that so much rapid healing and DNA replication would increase the possibility for cancer-causing genetic defects massively. This would explain [[Deadpool]]'s Massive scarring, since his skin is both spreading the cancer and healing the damage caused by the cancer And, cancer aside, certain kinds of attacks could reasonably be assumed to cause genetic damage to the tissues which the regenerating tissue is growing from.<br/>

This and other reasons are condensed into a one-minute video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ5w-bzfEFs here].<br/>

In addition to that, it is possible that such a healing factor would have to display some sort of [[Morphic Resonance]] (or at least be controllable). Having broken bones heal almost instantly sounds much less impressive when you realize that this gives almost no time to set the bone before it heals crooked. On top of that, if you got shot you would have to take the bullet out yourself, then wait for it to re-heal. Ouch.<ref>Technically, it's not always necessary to remove a bullet, but serious superheroes would probably end up getting lead poisoning if they didn't do a spring clean every now and again</ref><br/>

Let's not forget when things that are wrong with you body heal as they were. [[Deadpool]] gives us a pretty bad look at what happens when your [[Body Horror|healing factor heals cancerous cells]] or brain abnormalities as if they were normal healthy cells.