7 People With Real-Life Superpowers
Updated: Jul. 02, 2019
You won't believe the superpowered feats these real men and women have pulled off.
The samurai
With his amazing ability to move a sword with seemingly superhuman speed and accuracy, Japanese Iaido Master Isao Machii holds multiple world records, including the fastest 1,000 martial arts sword cuts and the fastest tennis ball cut by a sword. But to truly appreciate Machii’s real-life superpowers, check out this video, which shows him slicing and dicing a tiny plastic pellet fired at him at more than 320 km/h.
The woman who can fly
As a BASE jumper, Norweigan Karina Hollekim leaps off cliffs for a living. Wearing what’s known as a wingsuit, a full-length jumpsuit with additional fabric between the legs and under the arms, BASE jumpers “fly” for a couple of seconds before deploying a parachute to slow their fall. Hollekim has made more than 400 jumps, including from the Hand of Fatima in Mali.
If the thought of BASE jumping is enough to give you vertigo, you’ll also want to avoid these popular observation decks with terrifying views.
The blind man who can see
Daniel Kish, 53, can’t see with his eyes—he had both of them removed during a childhood battle with retina cancer—but he has so finely tuned his hearing that he can navigate his bike through heavy traffic, climb trees, camp alone and dance fluidly. His “power” is echolocation. To orient himself, Kish clicks his tongue and listens closely as the sound bounces off objects around him and returns to his ears at different volumes. Bats, dolphins and beluga whales use a similar technique, biosonar, to navigate the ocean. Kish is so adept at getting around using echolocation that other blind people hire him to help them get around. “That tongue click is everything to me,” says Kish.
Speaking of superpowers, these Stan Lee quotes are downright heroic.
The man with the photographic memory
All it took for British artist Stephen Wiltshire to memorize and draw intricate details of the Tokyo, Rome, Hong Kong, Dubai and New York City skylines was a brief helicopter ride over each city. Wiltshire, who is autistic and didn’t speak until age five (his first two words were “paper” and “pen”), has a highly-developed photographic memory—in his panoramic drawing of Rome, he recreated the exact number of columns of the Pantheon. These hidden talents of the royal family may be impressive, but they’ve got nothing on Wiltshire.
The man who can withstand freezing temperatures
Using the Buddhist meditation technique called Tummo, Dutch daredevil Wim Hof keeps his body temperature steady while enduring extremely cold conditions. Hof, whose feats have earned him the nickname Iceman, has completed several marathons and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in sub-freezing temperatures wearing only shorts. Hof holds twenty cold-endurance world records, including, at one hour, 13 minutes and 48 seconds, the record for the longest ice bath.
Get to know the fascinating ways your body deals with freezing weather.
The man who doesn’t stop running
Dean Karnazes, named by Men’s Fitness as one of the fittest men on the planet, is the real-life version of The Flash—only with better stamina. As an endurance athlete, Karnazes has submitted himself to some of the most physically and mentally grueling athletic tests imaginable. Most notably, Karnazes has conquered a 560-kilometre run without stopping (even to sleep!), a sweltering sprint through the 49-degrees-Celsius heat of Death Valley, and a marathon to the South Pole, where temperatures drop to negative 40-degrees-Celsius.
Though Karnazes has already built quite the running resumé, he continues to search for new ways to challenge his mind and body. Recently, the super-runner completed 50 marathons—one in each state—over the course of 50 consecutive days. There is simply no stopping those legs!
Find out how this 71-year-old marathon runner stays just as fit as she was at 20.
The French Spider-Man
If you thought that the only way to harness the powers of Spider-Man was to endure a radioactive spider bite—think again. 54-year-old Alain Robert, also known as the “French Spider-Man,” is famous for his spine-chilling feats in urban climbing. Without any safety equipment to keep him from falling, Robert hoists himself hundreds of feet into the sky, scaling multistory buildings in broad daylight. Among his death-defying ascents, Robert has climbed the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, the Canada Square tower, the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong.
Although urban climbing is not technically illegal, Robert has been arrested more than 100 times for trespassing and causing public disturbances. Most recently, the thrill-seeker was arrested after successfully summiting a skyscraper in London, the 662-feet-tall, 46-story Heron Tower. Though Robert flirts with death each time that he mounts a slippery, sleek building, he takes comfort in the knowledge that he is pursuing his passion—and using his superpowers to do so.
Next, these surprising superhero facts will blow your mind.
