Favorite On-Screen Super Powers?

[PaulGriffith]

Hey guys! After a long summer where pretty much our entire team was busy with other projects, we're jumping back into production and it looks like our first scheduled shoot is going to be an effects/choreography test scene for a larger future project. We've done a lot of action and stories around action, but haven't done a ton of fist fights so we're working on that. In planning the shoot (four weeks out) we're toying around with the idea of throwing in some superpowers.

It's going to be a 1 vs 1 fight in a warehouse location that we'll have the entire day. Our actors/choreographers are also dancers. That may sound funny, but they're crazy in shape and can already do super-human stuff like one arm hand stands, no-arm head stands, standing flips etc. With that in mind, and since this is a test shoot, we'd like to throw a lot of sweet super powers in too to amp it up.

What we're thinking about already is some high-speed bullet dodging, teleportation, strength (smash a pillar or wall or something), maybe some sort of energy shield or something? It would be cool to think outside the box though. I know with over 100 years of comic book history and centuries more of super-human traits in fiction it's hard to come up with something brand-new, but what would be cool to be seen on-screen? If it has been done before of course that's fine, but who did it best?

Thanks in advance! Don't let budget stop the creativity here, we're pretty good at figuring out work arounds for most of this stuff haha.

[rayw]

I'm always appreciative of the math involved in combat, be it a chess game, card games, organized sports, gladiatorial, eastern/western/mixed hand-to-hand, power of youth vs. maturity of experience, asymmetrical warfare/revolutionaries, strength vs. speed, etc.

There's a flow that must be respected for fulfilling entertainment, or disregarded for a soulless experience.

Mano a mano, eh?
The warehouse scenario sounds similar those in Push (which I've yet to see myself): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_(2...of_Superhumans
Might be something good in there to work with.

I'll chime back in later if I think of something.
Thank you for moving beyond done to death not even a cliché power/lightning balls.
OMG. Effing kill me. Please. http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...ac.xulACse3UtU

[JoshL]

The Anti-Life, The Destroyer of All That Breathes



...okay, I might be alone on that one

[rayw]

Originally Posted by JoshL

The Anti-Life, The Destroyer of All That Breathes



...okay, I might be alone on that one

Nah, nah. I think I can see where you're going with this: some squirrel-on-girl super power action, right? Just shy of hentai?



Well... it certainly wood, er... WOULD draw some additional attention.

[PaulGriffith]

Haha, so now we're working a rewrite to be sure we include a squirrel that shoots lightning balls. Good stuff.

[Cracker Funk]

How about making inanimate objects come to life? Kinda like the magician in Fantasia, except badass.

[rayw]

Originally Posted by PaulGriffith

Haha, so now we're working a rewrite to be sure we include a squirrel that shoots lightning balls. Good stuff.

[Solliz]

Go the Deadpool route, a bag of never ending weapons. The bigger the better.

[Zensteve]

Dunno if it counts as a superhero power, but the Scanners film sold the mind-reading/battles with not much in the way of effects. Sure, a few random head explosions and some popping veins, but the majority of it was grimacing in twelve different ways while choppy sfx/music played in the background.

Even South Park was able to pull it off.

[Caidh Mor]

Honestly, my favorite implementation of superpowers in any superhero movie was Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen. Two reasons:

1) The in-depth psychological look at the effects of having a "Superman-esque" character, one that can do practically anything, and has practically no flaws, was incredibly intriguing. His humanity dwindles progressively throughout the movie in a way that was heartfelt and believable.

2) The half-disintegrate, half-explode effect was badass.