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SALT LAKE CITY — The last 75 years of comic books has seen some characters with awesome powers (hello flying) and some with powers that may only be useful in specific situations (like growing stronger from slugs).
Brooklyn-based Pop Chart Lab has compiled “the universe’s most extensive charting of superpowers” and it's available for sale. The 24-inch by 36-inch poster charts more than 200 superpowers of 600 superheroes and villains.
The bubble flow chart breaks down the superpowers of Marvel and DC comics – along with those of indie comic book houses – into seven main categories: animal powers, powers of the body, force control, mastery, weapons-based, powers of the mind and object manipulation.
From there, though, it breaks into dozens of other subcategories, and from them, characters’ powers are broken down. Like under “wiggle ears” you’ll find, Willie Lumpkin or “change color of objects” is Color Boy. Those weird powers sit next to things like the agility in martial arts of Black Widow, or Professor X’s ability to read and influence thoughts.
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“There seems to be some correlation between the powers characters have relative to the decade they were popular in,” Pop Chart Lab’s Rachel Mansfield told Co.Design. “Heroes popularized in the '40s were equipped with abilities that helped them defeat the slumlords and crooked bosses of the post-depression era. In the '70s, everyone had zany, LSD-inspired powers. Characters in the '80s showed the first signs of postmodern, self-referential abilities (and yuppie hair, to boot).”
What's your favorite power on the chart?
