What would your superpower be?
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This is But Why, a podcast for curious kids from Vermont Public. I'm Jane Lindholm. And I'm Melody Beaudet. All year long, you send us questions about things you are curious about, and we find interesting people with answers. But at least once per year, we ask you a question. This year, for our end of year episode, we asked you, if you could have any superpower, what would it be?

And what would you call yourself if you could have any superhero name? And you all delivered. You've been sending us so many responses, and today we're going to hear all of them. Superheroes are kind of having a moment, so it's no wonder we've also gotten some questions from you about superheroes recently. Hi, my name's Elena. I'm seven years old. I live in America.

called Weston, Connecticut. And my question is, who invented the first superhero and what was the first superhero? Hello, my name is Asher and I am seven years old and I live in Berrien Springs, Michigan. How did superheroes and books get started?

There have always been stories of people with special powers. The themes popular in superhero stories, like battles between good and evil, characters needing to learn about who they are and use their power wisely, those kinds of stories have been around for as long as humans have been telling stories.

The word superhero is really only about 100 years old. Superheroes got their start with the creation of comic books in the 1930s with The Phantom, Superman, and Batman, and they've been popular ever since. Superhero movies have been around really since the creation of comic books because both became popular at the same time. I'm Noah, and I am 7, and I live in Marlborough, Connecticut. I should be here with you.

I am Jay. I am five years old and I live at Texas. And how do superheroes fly? My name is Liam. I'm six years old. I live in Idaho Falls. How do superheroes get superpowers?

Superheroes are unfortunately not real. They are works of fiction. That means they're an art form that explores imaginary people and stories. At least as far as we know, no humans can fly on their own or see through buildings or pause time. But the good thing about that is that you can imagine your own superhero stories.

And you aren't limited by what can actually happen in real life. You can create whatever powers you want to give your superhero. And many superheroes have pretty cool origin story about how they went from being a normal human to getting their superpowers. Superhero stories are really fun to read. And it can be even more fun to imagine ourselves with superpowers. So we asked you what superhero power and superhero name you would have if you could invent or be a new superhero.

Hi, my name is Caroline and I'm six years old and I'm from North Carolina, Chapel Hill. And if I had a superpower, it would be to bring stuff to me. My name is Dusty. I'm 25, still a kid. I live in America and I love, but why? If I had a superpower, it would be to duplicate objects like toys. The name would be Dupligooey.

I could share things that I love and there'd be a little less fighting over stuff people like.

Hi, my name is Millie. My superpower name would be Pinky, and my superpower would be Pink Blast, and it would knock over criminals. It would even catch a few things, and it would knock off buildings, knock off trees, knock off really strong things like that. And my outfit would be a pink cape, red boots, and a pink skirt with a red star on it, and a pink tie.

Sure. Hello, my name is Hannah. I am six years old. I live in Istanbul. I want to be superior, live the things that...

Are so heavy. Ooh, wow. Lifting things that are really heavy. I love that idea because it's both a superpower and super practical. But Melody, I really liked all of them. Like if we could make things duplicate so nobody could fight or I like Kaylin's where you could zip things right to you. So if I'm sitting on the couch, I could just zip a glass of water right to me without having to get up. Oh my gosh, that would be so useful. I'm sure so many people would love that one. Especially adults. Yes.

All right, let's hear a few more of your superpowers. Hello, my name is Jordan. I'm 10 years old and early 11. I'm from San Michael Barbados. And if I had a superpower, it would be to control the elements. And my superhero name would be Anita Aerospark. My name is Charlie and I'm five years old and I live in New Hampshire. My superhero name is Sparkle and my

Power is, I wish my power was flying and being visible.

My name is Jason. I'm six years old. I live in Los Angeles, California. My superhero name is Scorpio. His power is to use the electricity web to slash things in half. My name is Ava. I live in Syosset, New York. I'm eight years old. My superpowers would be...

Flight invisibility and x-ray vision, and my superhero name would be Amazing Ava. Amazing Ava. And Amazing Ava mentioned invisibility. That was a really popular power that a lot of you wanted, starting with Benjamin. My superhero name is Invisible Man.

and I'm going to be invisible for my superpower. My name is Ashore. I'm eight years old. I live in New York City and my superpower that I wish would be a thing is sustenance, which is you can blend in with your surroundings and become a material.

so that you can be the best at hide and seek. Hi, my name is Dashiell. If I had a superpower, it would be invisibility, and his name would be Dashiell. Hi, my name's Ryan. I'm nine years old. I live in Wilmington, Pennsylvania. My superhero name would be Invisigirl, and my superpower would be invisibility.

Hi, my name is Alice. My superpower would be invisibility and my name would be Invisigirl. My name's Matilda. I live in Croydon, England and my super name would be the fast girl that can turn invisible.

I can run so fast no one can see me and I'm invisible. My name's Miles and I live in Indianapolis and I'm six years old and if I were a superhero and had a superpower I would be Batman and be invisible.

My name is Holden. I'm nine years old. I live in Salem, Oregon, and my superhero name would be Sir Invisibility, and my superpower would be invisibility. Hi, I am Kendra. I am almost seven. I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

My superhero name will be Chameleon Kendra, and my superpower will be blending in my surroundings. I was having a hard time deciding if invisibility and blending into your surroundings, kind of like camouflage, were the same thing. But either way, it seems like a lot of us want to find a way to disappear, but to also be able to know what's going on. I like that. And a lot of you wanted to be called Invisigirl. Want to know another superpower a lot of kids would love to have? Is it flying? It's flying.

My name is Emmett. I'm five and a half years old. My superhero name is Super Baby, and I would get flying in seconds. My name is Zelda. I'm seven years old. I live in Norwalk, Connecticut. If I had a superpower, it would be flying with the birds in the clouds.

and my super name would be Supergirl. - My name is William. I'm five years old. My superhero name is William, Weeping William because my superpower is flying. - Hi, my name is Borna and I'm from Iran. My superpower name is Haran and my superpower is flying.

My name is Max. I'm six years old. I live in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. And my special ability, I want to fly with wings.

I used to have daydreams about being able to fly. Well, it was actually kind of like sort of flying. I could leap into the air and then float high above for a really long distance before coming down and then leaping right up back again. I would love to be able to fly, Melody.

I mean, that would be cool, but that definitely isn't the superpower that I would wish for. But some of you had superpowers I'd never even thought of. My name is Asher, and I'm nine years old, and I live in Michigan. And if I had a superpower, my power would be to draw anything I wanted perfectly the first time. And my superhero name would be the Drawer.

My name is Emmaus. I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And my superhero name would be Superboy. And my superpower would be lovest, kindest, and strongest. Hi, my name is Sophie, and I live in Arlington, Virginia. I'm eight years old, and if I was a superhero, my name would be Agent Red, and my power would be that I can shoot lasers.

My name is Matthew and my super name would be Blazer and my superpower would be I would be the best soldier.

My name would be Cobalt, and my power would be supersonic speed. That last one was Sid, who lives in the United Kingdom. So many of you wanted to be able to either turn into animals or be able to talk to animals, and that's one that I would want, Jane. Me too! Can you imagine, Melody, just being able to talk to animals and understand everything they're saying? Or turn into one when you wanted to? It would be so cool. Kia ora. My name is Remy. I am from Auckland, New Zealand, and...

And I am seven years old. And my superpower would be talking to animals. And my super name would be Pink Girl. My name is Emma. I'm 12 years old. I'm from Burlington, North Carolina. And if I could have any superpower I wanted, I think I would like to be able to turn into an animal whenever I wanted to.

My name is Santi and I'm from Columbia and I live in Oregon, Hearsboro. And my superhero name would be Krayskill.

And my power would be turning into a ginormous crayfish. Hello, I'm Renata. I'm from Mexico City. I'm seven years old. My superpower would be that I could talk with the stingrays. And my superhero name would be Stingray. My name is Nicole. I'm seven years old. I live in Bermuda. And if I had any superpower, it would be to...

communicate with, to turn into animals and to ride on animals. Hi my name's Nellie and I'm seven years old and I'm from Melbourne, Australia and if I was a superhero my name would be the rainbow and my superpower would be to turn into any animal I want.

Hi, my name is Charlotte. I'm eight years old. I live in Westchester, Pennsylvania. My superpower name is Lily, and my superpower is to turn into animals and to talk to animals. Hi, my name is Roy. I'm five and eleven-twelves. I am from Martinez, California, and if I had a superpower, I would want it to be talking to animals. My name's Henley, and I'm six years old, and my superpower would be

Talking to animals. Maybe talking to animals is because so I can know what they want. Because, like, basically dogs, they're begging. I don't know what they want. So, like, I could talk to them so then I know what they want. My name is Zinni. I live in Stevenson, Washington. My superpower would be to turn people into animals. And my super name would be

Chicken Fingers and my age is four. I love the name Chicken Fingers as a superhero name, Melody. It's so cool. For all of you who want to communicate with animals, did you hear our recent interview and episode about how animals talk to each other and how researchers are working on understanding what they're saying so that we know more about animal communication? Yes.

I know you can't magically turn into an animal or magically understand what they're saying, but maybe you can in real life become a scientist who studies them someday. Here are a few more superpowers that didn't really fit in a category. My name's Lyra. I'm eight years old. I live in Issaca, New York. And my superhero name would be Lyra. And then my superhero power would be I can speak any language that has spoke to me.

and I live in California, Los Angeles, and my superpower is going to transform me into Wonder Woman. Hi, my name is Ellie, and I'm five years old, and I live in Columbus, Ohio. If I had a superpower, it would be shrinking, and my name would be Shrinker Girl.

Hi, my name is Nemo. I'm from Oakland, California. My superhero would be called Knack-Lacker and I'd probably be Knack-Lacker. My name is R and my superpower name is Q and I like building things tall up to the sky. Hi, my name is Sigrid.

I am six years old. I live in Minneapolis, St. Paul. If I had a superpower, my superpower would be knowing everything. And if I had a superhero name, my name would be Sigourney. Knowing everything. Isn't that what your adults already do? They know everything? No. No.

Yeah, that's absolutely not a superpower of most adults. I think we actually feel like we know less now than we did when we were kids. So that might be a good one for a lot of the adults listening. But if you knew everything, would you still be curious? There wouldn't be anything to learn. Yeah, I guess that's true. Okay, maybe I'm okay with not knowing everything. Coming up, more of you superheroes.

This is But Why, a podcast for curious kids. I'm Jane Lindholm. And I'm Melody Beaudet. Usually you ask the questions. Today you're answering the question. We asked what your superhero powers would be, and we're loving hearing your creative ideas. My name is Melanie. I'm four years old. I live in Cape Town. My superpower is magnetic. Super magnetic. It takes things to magnetic.

Hello, my name is Danny. I'm 60 years old. I live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My superpower will be to invent anything that people with good intentions want. My superpower name is Serena. It's going to be being stretchy and being sticky. And there's a superpower that makes villains be destroyed. Ooh, lots of superpowers in comic books and movies are designed to destroy villains. That's a good one.

But sometimes we're just looking for powers that are super cool or just otherwise useful. Like a surprising number of you want a super ability to do math. My name is Allie Jones and I'm six years old and I'm from West Texas. And my superhero name would be Mathemata. And my powers would be solving numbers really fast in my head.

My name is Luca. I'm from Absentee Canada. I'm five and a half years old. My superhero name would be Math Master and he could solve math problems in his head in seconds.

My name is Micah. I'm 11 years old and I live in Huntonville, Michigan. My superhero name is Super Math Solver. I can solve any math problems in an instant. I'm Emerson. I'm 8 years old. My superpower would be solving math equations in seconds because I really like math and I got an A+.

A plus in math. Congrats on that A plus, Emerson. Some of you wanted powers relating to your eyes. My name is Ula. I'm six years old. I live in Perth, Australia. My superhero name is Glowy and my superhero power is I can see in the dark. My name's Lola. I am five years old. I live in Montferry, the UK.

My superhero thing is Blazer. He can shoot Blazers from his eyes. That's a good one, but always use your laser shooting powers for good, not evil. Some of you wanted the ability to mess with time. Hello, my name is Adrian. I live in Colorado. I'm 11 years old. My

superhero name would be Time Stop. I have the ability to stop time and do whatever I want while time is frozen. And when I snap my fingers, time would go back to normal. Bye! My name is Mike Lee. I live in Redmond, Washington. I'm six years old, and I want to be able to time travel with the characters in Magic Tree House.

My name is Karis. I live in Moncton, Vermont. I'm eight years old, and my superhero power would be that I could go back in time and talk to myself. Hi, I'm Katrina, and I'm ten years old. Hi, I'm Haywood, and I'm eight years old. We live in South Carolina. If I had a superpower, it would be telekinesis, to move things with my mind without touching it.

I would be called Blaze. If I had a superpower, it would be to rewind and fast forward time. And my superhero name would be the Time Rocket.

What about moving yourself with just your mind? Teleporting is when you disappear in one place and immediately appear in another. Hello, my name is Daron. I am nearly seven years old. I live in Brisbane, Australia, and my superpower would be teleporting through space and time, and if I held someone's hand, they would be teleported too. My superhero name would be Teleport!

We are the Bolin Sisters. My hero name is Luna and my powers are to fly and teleport. My superhero name is Lavender and my powers are to fly and shapeshift. My superhero name is Bubble Blaze and my superpowers teleporting. My real name is Ellie and I'm seven years old and from Lawrence, Kansas. My name is Jade. I'm eight years old.

I live in Moraga, California, and if I would have a superpower, I would like to teleport. From teleportation to telepathy, the ability to read minds. Hi, my name is Fada. I'm seven years old, and I live in Dallas, Texas. I would like my superhero name to be Sasha, and I'd like my superhero power to

to be telepathy. My name is Ruby. I'm six years old. I live in Moraga, California, and I want my superpower to be to read people's minds. Jane, can you read my mind? Only when you're annoyed with me. That would never happen. Some of you want to control elements like water and fire or to control the weather. Hi, my name is Cecilia. I'm

Nine years old and I'm from Fall City, Washington. And if I were to have a superpower, it would be to control water. Hi, my name is Alexis and I'm five years old. I live in California. My super name will be Super Rainbow. My superpower will be freezing people that are bad and fire. In the house, superpower is rodents.

Hi my name is Ben and I'm eight years old and I live in Jakarta Indonesia and my superhero name name is Boomslayer and his power is

Shooting thunderstorms and be invincible. My name is Claire. I live in Grosvenor, Michigan and I am seven years old. My superpower would be to control the weather so I could make it snow so I can make snowmen all the time.

My name's Freya. I'm seven. I live in England and my superhero name will be Turtle Girl and my problem will be to change the weather. Bye!

Controlling the weather would be so useful, Melody. I think if that was a real power, it would be very much in demand if we were all picking our superpowers. Yeah, but don't you think a lot of kids and, you know, maybe some adults might use that to get some snow days so they don't have to go to school? Well, that's true. All right, we have a few more that didn't fit into any specific categories, but we still love them. Here we go.

Hi, my name is Tom. I'm nine years old. I live in Melbourne, Australia. And if I was a superhero, my name would be the Changer and my power would be shapeshifting. You know, I thought shapeshifting would be much more popular. My name is Kai. I'm six years old and I live in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. And my superpower is I can eat marshmallows all day long.

I'd really love that power. I suppose I could eat marshmallows all day long, but that would definitely give you a stomach ache. My name is Elizabeth. I live in St. Albans, Vermont. I'm four years old, and my superpower is to fly and freeze everything into ice and turn everything into ice cream.

My name is Mika, I'm two years old and my superpower is to talk to the television and to talk to Disneyland. My name is Elliot, I live in Seaton and I am now ten.

And if I had a superpower, it would be rapping really fast because then I could have lots of money and be successful. Oh, and my name would be Rapping Robin. A lot of people have had a lot of success at rapping, and that's one that you could maybe do with some extra practice. You don't need a superpower at all. My name is Karina Robin.

I am seven years old and I live in Massachusetts. My superpower would be, when I think of, it would appear right in front of me. And my name would be the Wishmaker. My name is Georgia. I'm six years old. I live in McLean, Virginia. And my superhero name and power would be Breathing Underwater. And my name would be

Uh, Berlinda. My name is Naomi. I'm eight years old. I live in Everett, Washington. And if I could have any superpower, I would want to be able to climb on walls and ceilings. And then when I came back down, people would be like, "Where were you?" And my superhero name would probably be Super Naomi. Hi, I'm Raphael. I am seven years old. I live in West Reading, Pennsylvania.

And my superhero is named Gilbert, and he can breathe on the water, and he can fly, and he can travel through stuff that humans can't travel through. My name is Niamh. I am five and a half years old. I live in Redwood City, California. My superhero name is Magical Lion Wolf.

My superpower would be to make wishes. Hello, my name is Amir and I'm eight years old. I live in Limerick, Ireland and my superhero name would be the Imaginator and my superpower would be to

turn things that aren't real to reality. I love that one. Turning things that aren't real into reality. Things that come into your imagination. That's an opportunity I think we all have to create something new. Sure, we're limited by technology and things like that. You know, we can't fly on our own, but we can get into a plane and travel all around the world.

It's amazing to think that flying for humans wasn't even possible back when superheroes as we know them today were invented. And now humans have not only flown all over the world, we've been to the moon. That's pretty cool. It is pretty cool. And I guess it's like you have to imagine it as a superpower that's almost unbelievable before you can create the reality of it. So some superpowers...

were magical back when people invented them, and now we've found ways to make them real, even if it's not exactly what we imagined in the comic books and movies. I really wonder what the next century is going to bring. Are we going to be living in houses filled with robots, or maybe someday humans will be living on Mars?

I guess there's no way to know, but we can imagine anything. And here's something else to chew on before we end the episode. It's true that a lot of the superpowers we've talked about today aren't really possible. They're just fun to imagine. But when we expand our definition of what a superhero is, there are lots of ways to be a superhero for real. That's

That's true, Jane. Kindness is a kind of superpower. Yeah, and curiosity is a superpower. And helping out someone in need might make you a superhero. So I guess that's a good way to end the episode, Melody. Our instruction to you as we end the year and end the episode is to think about a way that you could be a real superhero in your own community, family, or life.

That's a great idea, Jane. That's it for this episode. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a superpower.

If you have a question about anything, have an adult record you asking it. It's easy to do on a smartphone using an app like Voice Memos. Then email the file to questions at butwhykids.org. But Why is produced by Melody Beaudet and me, Jane Lintolm, at Vermont Public. Joey Palumbo produces our video series for YouTube. Our theme music is by Luke Reynolds and we're distributed by PRX.

We'll be back in two weeks with an all-new episode. Until then, stay super!