Real Superhero training

It has been an exciting time recently for SuperHeroes. I really enjoyed Stan Lee's "Who wants to be a SuperHero?" program on Sci-Fi channel and now "Heroes" on NBC. I like that they are focusing on an average person who suddenly gets superpowers and I hope that they spend time exploring how they train to develop and control their powers further.

Despite their enhanced abilities, many Superheroes like Daredevil, Captain America, or the X-men, are dedicated to training to master their abilities and utilize them to the fullest. Each day, regardless of the battles won, they return to their gym, headquarters or Danger Room to continue their training. Captain America was shown teaching Chi Gung to Spiderman in the first issue of the comic "Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman" to help him focus his Chi and accomplish things he never thought he could do before.

Exploration and enhancement of one's abilities is a topic covered in one of my favorite books on training, Chi Gung by L.V. Carnie. I wrote a review of her book recently about how it could be used as a SuperHero training manual. Check it out at the link below and offer some feedback. I'd love to hear it.

Link to My Review

Most superhero training that I have seen sort of treats it like play time.

With my own experiments, I found that how they explore their abilities is just as in portent as how powerful they are. I have a heroine who discovers she can fly, but I combined the freedom and execration with the fear and panic of falling. The result was that she nearly got herself killed with her first attempt. From then on, she practices with deadly seriousness, having learned the hard way that such powers need to be respected.

I my case, this helps to set a grim and gritty tone for the rest of the story.

Most superhero training that I have seen sort of treats it like play time.

With my own experiments, I found that how they explore their abilities is just as in portent as how powerful they are. I have a heroine who discovers she can fly, but I combined the freedom and execration with the fear and panic of falling. The result was that she nearly got herself killed with her first attempt. From then on, she practices with deadly seriousness, having learned the hard way that such powers need to be respected.

I my case, this helps to set a grim and gritty tone for the rest of the story.
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What a fascinating story.

I agree with you that the exploration of one's abilities is a pivotal part of real superhero training. In the case of the Heroes, they all suddenly had their powers "switched on" possibly because their genetic makeup is evolutionary, possibly because an exterior agent is at work. I expect the show will delve into this to some degree.

But it has ramifications for the Heroes. If they don't train with their abilities so that they gain a solid awareness of how their powers work, then they can't be sure that their powers won't "switch off" sometime in the future. And if one was flying over the city or taking a bullet expecting to instantly heal when this happened, the consequences could be disastrous.

The reason I felt Ms Carnie's Chi Gung book is a valuable superhero training manual is because she focuses on the various ways one can explore Chi Gung and encourages you to always push yourself a little further in your training and awareness.

The goal is to know how your Chi flows through you without any guessing or uncertainty because you've spent countless hours training to detect and work with it. Like you said, such powers are to be respected.

Control is the definitely the element lacking in the Heroes at this point.

Claire's abilities seem to be automatic and while she's testing the limits of her healing abilities we don't know what sort of control she has over them. (She can heal herself, can she learn to heal others?)

Nathan doesn't seem to have any interest in his ability to fly.

Matt is still coming to terms with his telepathy and often responded to thought questions as readily as verbal ones.

Niki's alter ego is still a mystery and she loses all control when it is out and about.

Hiro was able to transport himself to New York, but as we discovered, he had no idea he had also traveled through time.

Isaac only seems to reach into his abilities when he is under the influence of heroin. Perhaps the drug allows him to tap into the right side of the brain and gives him access to visions of the future.

I find it interesting that both Isaac and Hiro's abilities involve time. One sees the future, the other can travel to it.

In fact there are several parallels. Matt can hear people's thoughts, Peter has an empathic link with his brother (he knew about his brother's accident before he was told about it).

Both Micah and Mohinder have technical expertise. Whether they have powers remains to be seen.

Hiro can manipulate how time/space affects him. Nathan can manipulate how gravity affects them.

Claire doesn't seem to feel pain, and Niki's alter ego can inflict a lot of pain wink.gif

Also, Niki's alter ego may have some kind of reality warping ability. In only 4 hours it looks like the carnage in her garage was cleaned up, her house got packed into the garage, a new car (with registration) was obtained, bodies were packed into the trunk and she changed her clothes.

Things are definitely becoming interesting.