83
votes
Is Zack Morris's 'time stop' ability in "Saved By the Bell" a supernatural ability?
As noted, Zack's time-stopping can affect the world of the show in real ways. We cannot read it as merely a narrative device. We have to accept that, in the world of the show, Zack really can stop ...
- 6,533
54
votes
Accepted
Is Zack Morris's 'time stop' ability in "Saved By the Bell" a supernatural ability?
In a word, no. It was a "fourth wall break" that the makers modeled on the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
"People think, oh, that was such a novel idea that you came up with,"
...
- 709k
51
votes
Has Black Widow ever been imbued with Spider-Powers?
Black Widow, along with half of Manhattan, receives viral spider powers in the animated series Marvel's Spider Man - Spider Island Part 2.
We don't see her use spidey-sense, but she slings web, ...
- 709k
50
votes
Accepted
Who was the first super hero with super-speed powers in comics?
Hugo Hercules was featured in a comic that ran for five months between 1902 and 1903. While specifically described as having super strength, in one comic he was able to pull a line of train cars at ...
- 2,851
43
votes
Accepted
A witch, a vampire and a pixie meet in a bar and talk about tomatoes eradicating humanity
The Hollows Series by Kim Harrison
The Tomato-part checks out on this, as well as the titles.
Relevant part from the above wiki:
The alternate history is built upon two premises: the recent open ...
- 1,273
41
votes
Accepted
Why is Thanos so tough at the beginning of "Avengers: Endgame"?
[In Infinity War] We are led to believe that the only reason they are unable to beat Thanos is because Quill loses his cool and because Thanos is wielding all but one of the Infinity Stones
No, we're ...
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35
votes
Accepted
Short story: Man gains X-ray vision, cheats at cards, sees a clot in his blood
This is probably The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, a short story by Roald Dahl. I had not remembered the clot bit but a little online searching found it:
He looks at the place in his chest where ...
- 26k
30
votes
Accepted
Does Colossus have powers beyond his body becoming metal?
Colossus, with his standard power set, does not possess any energy projection abilities, and his only known power is his mutation that allows him to transform his body into an organic metal substance. ...
- 20.3k
30
votes
Accepted
Looking for a short story from the '80s where inanimate objects talk because of a fluke
This is "The Random Man" by Marc Laidlaw.
“No particular reason, it’s yust happening. Given a random universe, it’s perfectly plausible, though the florts are against it.”
“The whats?”
“I ...
- 233k
29
votes
Has Black Widow ever been imbued with Spider-Powers?
Kind of.
In the Ultimate Marvel universe/line of comics, the original (Natasha Romanova) Black Widow dies, and a couple of other characters take up the name while working for SHIELD.
One of the ...
- 4,046
28
votes
Who was the first super hero with super-speed powers in comics?
I'll put forward Prof. Gibberne of H.G. Wells's 1901 The New Accelerator until I'm certain how "heroic" you're wanting submissions.
The story addresses an elixir, invented by a Prof. ...
- 233k
28
votes
Accepted
What story has an alien symbiote bond with a human in a cave?
I wonder if you are remembering the novelette Pard by F Paul Wilson.
The reason I say this is that your description sounds almost exactly like the opening chapter of Healer as suggested in Fuzzyboots' ...
- 113k
26
votes
Has Black Widow ever been imbued with Spider-Powers?
As far as I'm aware Black Widow has never had physical Spider-Man-like powers. However, in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 Issue 86 Black Widow upgrades her costume and equipment. As part of that process ...
- 144k
25
votes
Accepted
What was the earliest fiction to use cloning as a magical ability/superpower?
The Chinese story The Journey to the West was written in the 16th century, and features Sun Wukong, one of the most well-known figures of Chinese fiction.
Quoting from the 2011 translation by Anthony ...
- 138k
24
votes
Does Wonder Woman ever get cold?
Well, there was a scene in an issue of Justice League of America, (vol. 1, from the late 1970s) written by Steve Englehart where Flash, Wonder Woman, and (I think) Batman were in a snowy area in some ...
- 7,159
22
votes
Are White Walkers sentient beings with certain super-powers? If yes, what are their powers?
Unsurprisingly, most of the White Walker (The Others) abilities revolve around ice and cold. I am going to draw on some back story from the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, but only where it is relevant ...
- 61.3k
22
votes
Why is Thanos so tough at the beginning of "Avengers: Endgame"?
When the Avengers hunt down Thanos at the beginning of Endgame, they weren't going for the kill, at least at first. When they go in, they don't know what Thanos has done with the stones, so they need ...
- 23.8k
20
votes
Accepted
A movie where some people were able to guess that a crime would be committed so the police could arrest the "future guilty" party before the crime
Minority Report based on the short story of the same name by P. K. Dick
From the wiki:
In 2054, the federal government plans to nationally implement the Washington, D.C., prototype "Precrime&...
- 56.1k
19
votes
How many types of webbing does Spider-Man have?
Your question doesn't state a specific canon or universe so specifically in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999) Spider-Man originally only has one type of webs, his normal ones. He creates ...
- 144k
19
votes
Accepted
Book about people with psi abilities that end up travelling on a space craft
There are probably many books that would match, but one possibility that occurs to me is The Galaxy Primes by (the legendary!) E. E. Doc Smith.
The protagonists are called Primes, they have ...
- 113k
19
votes
Accepted
Story ID - In a World Where Artifacts Grant Superpowers, a Poor Boy Finds a Unique Artifact
Midnight Blue by Will McIntosh. Published in Asimov's September 2008. You must have read it in Asimov's as it has never been anthologised.
The boy is Jeff and the artifact he finds is the eponymous ...
- 113k
18
votes
Who was the first super hero with super-speed powers in comics?
For an earlier literary hero who admittedly toes the border of mythology, Hiawatha from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous Song of Hiawatha published in 1855:
Swift of foot was Hiawatha
He could ...
- 233k
18
votes
Accepted
1990s(?) story. Someone is killing people who have special abilities (super powers)
Rising Stars, a comic book series written by J. Michael Straczynski. The first issue was released in 1999. This was after he became well-known as the creator, producer, and main writer for the science ...
- 27.6k
17
votes
Accepted
Which superhero first used the power of body shrinkage?
I would suggest it was Dollman that debuted in Feature comics #27 (1939)
Dollman was Darrel Dane, a chemist that discovered a way to shrink to the size of about 15 cm while keeping his original ...
- 8,117
16
votes
Accepted
Can Superman see through his eyelids?
Probably yes
How Superman X-ray vision works varies from comic to comic, but there is a feat that could prove that indeed it is possible for Superman to see through his eyelids: a Kryptonian seeing ...
- 10.9k
16
votes
Accepted
Does Wonder Woman ever get cold?
In the DCAU - Justice League Unlimited: The Balance Diana and Shayera (Hawk Girl) have this exchange:
Shayera Hol: Aren't you cold in that outfit?
Wonder Woman: Not really.
Shayera Hol: Of ...
- 115k
16
votes
Accepted
Is there an objective answer to who "the strongest Avenger" is?
We have not seen what the real limits of the Avenger's powers are in the MCU, but Hulk seems to have an edge so far. He was shown to beat up Thor (and previously, Loki) with relative ease until Thor'...
- 104k
15
votes
What story has an alien symbiote bond with a human in a cave?
Could it be F. Paul Wilson's Healer?
In The Healer, a human, Steven Dalt, travelling to another planet finds himself in a cave, where an alien creature fuses to him forming a symbiotic relationship. ...
- 233k
15
votes
What was the earliest fiction to use cloning as a magical ability/superpower?
Raktabīja in Hindu myth has blood that springs up a whole new Raktabīja with every drop that falls. It probably dates to between 250 and 550 AD/CE. This certainly predates the Journey To The West, ...
- 151
15
votes
Accepted
Strange 2000s TV series, young adults/families, special powers, shown in Australia
This is Life Force (2000).
According to the Wikipedia page, the show centres on four children -- a pair of siblings named Greg and Karen Webber, and two other children with psychic powers, named Mai-...
- 128k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible