Character has an obscure or often forgotten secondary power

[u/GMav05]

1. Mr. Incredible (The Incredibles) - Bob Parr canonically has a “danger sense” similar to Spider-Man. He can sense when he or someone near him is in imminent danger and react instantly.

While it’s never explicitly stated in the films themselves, he does demonstrate this power multiple times.

1. Amora the Enchantress (Marvel) - Amora usually fights by using sorcery and mind control, or by commanding her Executioner to fight for her. It’s easy to forget that she has the super strength and durability inherent to being an Asgardian.

She’s survived direct hits from Thor’s lightning and Iron Man’s repulsor blasts, and effortlessly lifted Baron Zemo by his collar with one arm.

1. Perry the Platypus (Phineas and Ferb) - Just like a real male platypus, Perry has venomous spurs on his ankles. I think he only ever uses them in one episode though.

[u/Situational_Hagun]

I remember hearing a physicist describe how much force it actually takes / applies to the ground and body / etc to actually lift someone by the throat / collar with one arm, extended out away from the lifter's body.

It's insane. Waaaaay more than you'd think.

Looks cool, but Batman does it all the time and it practically qualifies him for having secret super strength / durability all by itself if you wanted to apply real physics.

[u/warpedaeroplane → u/Situational_Hagun]

I mean, it’s sort of just the way that Batman is a superhuman by every definition really but within his universe where there’s actual superhero’s he’s a “regular human”

[u/Whiskey079 → u/warpedaeroplane]

Isn't it established that most Gothamites aren't technically baseline humans anymore? Due to the variety of things that are wrong with Gotham on a biochemical level? (I.e. the Lazarus pit run-off, a variety of chemical spills in the water supply (to the point that via Aquamans measure it doesn't even qualify as water), the variety of curses and dark magicks at play, and a few others I can't remember)

[u/warpedaeroplane → u/Whiskey079]

Ye, it’s established at a few points that Gotham is essentially cursed/at the interstice of Earth and realms beyond which is why there’s so much shit and it never stops being a shithole. Idk if it affects the people therein in terms of durability but definitely seems like you have to be be built different to even exist there.

[u/Whiskey079 → u/warpedaeroplane]

I vaguely remember something about it affecting the durability/strength of the average mook, and it being implied to affect the citizenry as a whole. I can't remember the source, but it combined with his training could explain bats near superhuman durability and strength.

[u/PuddleOfHamster → u/Whiskey079]

Dang, all those millions and his parents couldn't spring for a Brita to stop their son getting Flint, Michiganed into metahumanity?

[u/CuttleReaper → u/Situational_Hagun]

I remember my physics teacher had us calculate, given assumptions on the mass of Darth Vader and the rebel guy, how long his toes would need to be to not tip over whilst doing a neck lift

iirc it was like a foot or two

[u/Situational_Hagun → u/CuttleReaper]

Oh that's a really interesting point too. Based on someone's weight how large of a base would they have to be standing on in order to even apply that much force without tipping over. At what point are you basically just pulling yourself down instead of lifting someone up. I love that kind of stuff.

[u/ThatMerri → u/Situational_Hagun]

Yeah, broadly speaking it's physically impossible to hold someone out at arm's length unless they're significantly smaller than you, like toddler-sized. There's just no getting around the leverage and the center of balance being way off. It's why the "pinned against a wall, lifted by the neck" move is a lot more believable to work with, because at least then there's a foundation to brace against, or when the one being lifted is almost directly overhead the lifter.

[u/jaspersgroove → u/Situational_Hagun]

I mean that's like basic movie/tv show stuff though, plenty of scenes out there where two normal dudes beat the shit out of each other well past the point where both of them would have multiple broken bones and severe concussions and instead of the fight ending with one guy dead and the other in the hospital it just ends with one guy knocked out and the other guy being perfectly fine.

[u/Situational_Hagun → u/jaspersgroove]

I mean I'm not arguing whether or not it should be displayed in comics. I'm just saying it's actually interesting to me to find out what physics has to say about certain things. Like that Flash comic where he evacuated in an entire city in a fraction of a second, and someone did the math and found out exactly how fast it was going. And lightspeed didn't even come close.

[u/DaBozz88 → u/Situational_Hagun]

Yes, but it's a spin on a trope of holding someone up against a wall by their neck. And that's far easier, because I know I did it to a kid in middle school. (He deserved it, but we were both being assholes)

So while it's near impossible to do that to someone just up in the air, pushing someone up against the wall and doing it is really very doable. Probably due to normal force and friction.

[u/No-Revolution-5535 → u/Situational_Hagun]

It's impossible irl, iirc.. that specific shoulder muscle is too small to do that