Comic book fiction invariably features characters with superhuman, supernatural or paranormal abilities, often referred to as "superpowers", also spelled "super-powers". Below is a list of many of those that have been known to be used. Some of these categories overlap.

Please note: This is a list of powers/abilities, not a list of superheroes by their power/ability.

Means

Examples of ways in which a character has the ability to generate an effect.

Innate means

Mutation

Abilities resulting from either induced evolution or natural selection in humans. These abilities range from enhanced physical abilities, such as strength, speed and accelerated healing, to phenomenal psychic powers, such as telepathy and telekinesis. These powers are sometimes caused by a genetic birth defect, which shows up later on in life as supernatural powers, but exposure to chemicals or radiation has also been known to cause superhuman mutations.

Examples: Fictional Mutants

Non-human physical feature

The power may stem from a non-human feature of the user's physical form (a creature made up entirely of fire, or of rock, for example). This could include physical defenses such as claws, sharp teeth, quills, thick skin, or webbing. This is often a feature of space-aliens.

Examples: Thing or Swamp Thing

Object-based powers

Powers derived from objects (also known as artifacts), such as armor, jewelry, weapons, and wands.

Examples: List of objects in the DC Universe

Methods

Examples of methods by which a character generates an effect.

Fusionkasting

The superpower of the Nexus universe, fusionkasting, psionically draws energy from the cores of stars (or other large sources on rare occasions).

Examples: Nexus

Magical powers

Ability to use supernatural forces to varying degrees. Often used to simulate other powers, such as mind control and elemental attacks. Note that not all "magical" superpowers are actually supernatural (Mxyzptlk's abilities, for instance, rely on a set of physics different from our dimension's), but are still so beyond our understanding of science as to be completely unexplainable.

Examples: Doctor Strange or Doctor Fate

Technopathy

Ability to manipulate technology. It could manifest as a special form of electrical manipulation, a special form of shapeshifting, or even a special form of ESP.

Examples: Fictional Technopaths

Telekinesis

Ability to manipulate and control objects with the mind, often in ways not visible to the naked eye. An extremely powerful telekinetic might be able to control individual atoms.

Examples: Fictional characters with telekinesis

Power manipulation

Power Bestowal

Ability to bestow powers or jump-start latent powers.

Examples: Sage or Synergy

Power mimicry or absorption

Ability to copy or absorb another's powers or skills.

Examples: Rogue or Parasite

Power negation

Ability to cancel the superpowers or mutations of others.

Examples: Leech or Black Alice

Power sensing

Ability to sense or recognize superhuman powers.

Examples: Caliban

Powers

Personal physical powers

Powers which effect a physical person's body.

Accelerated healing

Ability to heal rapidly from any injury; the rate of recovery varies from character to character.

Examples: Fictional characters with the power of accelerated healing

Acid generation

Ability to generate acid, often manifested through touch or as a spray.

Examples: Anarchist and Man-Thing

Animal Mimicry

Ability to take on the abilities of certain animals.

Examples: Animal Man

Biological manipulation

Ability to control biology. Biological Manipulators can heal, alter body composition and other things relating to the living body.

Examples: Category:Fictional characters with the power to heal

Body part substitution

Ability to replace one's limbs or other body parts with those of another.

Examples: Terror Inc.

Duplication

Ability to create physical clones of oneself.

Examples: Category:Fictional characters with the power to duplicate themselves

Echolocation

Ability to determine location of items in the environment by use of reflected sound waves, whether generated by the character or ambient sound, (Also known as Sonar Sense).

Examples: Daredevil or Man-Bat

Enhanced senses

Enhancements of sight, smell, taste, touch, or hearing.

Examples: Sabretooth or Timber Wolf

Invisibility

Ability to render the user unseen to the naked eye.

Examples: Invisible Woman or The Invisible Man

Invulnerability

Ability to be impervious to harm. This may be due to having unusually tough outer shell or skin.

Examples: Luke Cage or Mongul or The Tick

Matter ingestion

Ability to consume any sort of matter without any ill effects on the user.

Examples: Matter-Eater Lad or Gluttony

Merge

Ability to temporarily merge two beings into a single being, which results in a completely new and stronger being.

Examples: Kleinstocks or B'Wana Beast or Siang

Pheromone manipulation

The ability to generate and control pheromones which may have various effects.

Examples: Wallflower or Crimson Fox

Photographic Reflexes

Ability to mimic any athletic or martial arts movement after seeing it once.

Examples: Taskmaster or Echo

Poison

Ability to assault others with one or more varieties of toxins, with widely disparate effects.

Examples: Poison Ivy

Reactive Adaptation/Evolution

Ability to develop a resistance or immunity to whatever they were injured by or exposed to. This effect can be permanent or temporary.

Examples: Darwin or Doomsday

Self-detonation or explosion

Ability to explode one's body mass and reform.

Examples: Nitro or Damage

Sonic scream

Ability to use one's voice in a manner of offensive or defensive ways.

Examples: Banshee or Silver Banshee

Superhuman reflexes

Ability to react faster than a normal human.

Examples: Blade or Midnighter

Superhuman strength

Above normal physical strength.

Examples: Hulk or Superman

Wallcrawling

Ability cling to objects or surfaces by a variety of means.

Examples: Anole or Spider-Woman

X-ray Vision

Ability to see through solid objects.

Examples: Superboy or Lar Gand

Mental faculty and knowledge-based abilities

Omni-lingual

Ability to decipher any language.

Examples: Cypher or Starfire

Omniscience

The ability of knowing everything.

Examples: Eternity and The Presence

Super intelligence

Intelligence far above genius level, often accompanied by the ability to invent incredibly advanced technology.

Examples: Leader or Vril Dox

ESP

The abilities of extra-sensory perception (ESP) and communication.

Astral projection

Ability to separate and control one's astral body. Sometimes a form of telepathy or magic. See also Possession, below.

Examples: Rachel Summers or Raven

Clairvoyance and clairaudience

Ability to perceive events that are taking place elsewhere or sense places that are not in view. Clairaudience is the auditory equivalent of this. Other remote senses are possible.

Examples: Mar-Vell or Captain Marvel

Cross-dimensional awareness

Ability to detect actions and events in other dimensions. This is occasionally used in comics as an awareness of the fourth wall between the characters and the artist or audience.

Examples: She-Hulk or Ambush Bug

Danger sense

Ability to sense personal danger. A form of precognition.

Examples: Ricochet II or Spider-Man

Empathy

Ability to read or sense the emotions or feelings of others.

Examples: Empath or Devastation

Mediumship

Ability to see and communicate with the dead (ghosts).

Examples: Lionel Zerb or Wicked

Precognition

Ability to perceive the future. Sometimes it is only expressed in vague dreams while asleep, other times it is clear and occurs at will and when awake.

Examples: Blindfold or Dream Girl

Psychometry

Ability to relate details about the past or future condition of an object, person or location, usually by being in close contact with it.

Examples: Adrienne Frost or Abe Sapien

Telepathy

Ability to read the thoughts of, or to mentally communicate with others.

Examples: Moondragon or Saturn Girl

Domination and mind control

The ability to alter the perceptions of others, and general mind-control.

Astral trapping

Ability to cause an astral projection to stay on the astral plane, usually in one specific place.

Examples: Shadow King

Mind control

Power to control the actions or reasoning of another.

Examples: Mesmero or Maxwell Lord

Possession

Ability to take control of another person’s body via astral projection or mind transfer. A specialized form of Mind Control.

Examples: Nocturne or Jericho

Psionic blast

Ability to overload another's mind causing pain, memory loss, loss of consciousness, vegetative state or death after having created a psionic link into that person's mind.

Examples: Professor X or Gorilla Grodd

Psychic weapons

Ability to create a weapon, like a knife or grenade, of psionic energy that can harm mentally and not physically.

Examples: Psylocke or Wild Thing

Manipulate fundamental forces or reality

These powers may be manifested by various methods, including: by some method of molecular control; by access to, or partially or fully shifting to another dimension; by manipulating the geometric dimensions of time or space; or by some other unnamed method.

Animation

Ability to bring inanimate objects to life or to free a person from petrification.

Examples: Ozymandias or Quislet

Darkness or shadow manipulation

Ability to create or manipulate darkness, often by mentally accessing a dimension of dark energy (the Darkforce dimension in Marvel Comics, and the Shadowlands in DC Comics) and manipulating it. A character with this power may possibly be able to create solid forms or travel via this dimension. (For the ability to create the absence of light, or to control light intensity, see Light Manipulation, below).

Examples: The Shade or Darkstar

Density control

Ability to increase the natural density of objects or possibly even one's self. Typically provides some form of invulnerability.

Examples: Vision or Firestorm

Disintegration

Ability to disintegrate matter.

Examples: Wither or Plasmus

Elemental transmutation

Ability to alter chemical elements, changing them from one substance to another. May be limited to self-transmutation. (Also known as alchemy.)

Examples: Alchemy or Metamorpho

Gravity manipulation

Ability to manipulate or generate gravitons, or other types of gravitational interactions.

Examples: Graviton or Freefall

Immortality

Ability to live forever. This may be complete immortality in which the character cannot be killed in any way, appears to die but is resurrected somehow, or simply an inability to age normally, or even only be killed in specific ways (i.e. decapitation).

Examples: Mr. Immortal or Vandal Savage

Intangibility or phasing

Ability to decrease the natural density of objects or possibly even one's self. This includes the ability to phase through solid matter without harm.

Examples: Shadowcat or Martian Manhunter

Light manipulation

Ability to control, generate, or absorb photons (particles of light).

Examples: Dagger or Doctor Light

Magnetism manipulation

Ability to control or generate magnetic fields.

Examples: Magneto or Doctor Polaris

Mass manipulation

Ability to increase or decrease mass in an object or person.

Examples: Micromax or Black Mass

Molecular manipulation

Ability to mentally manipulate molecules and objects on a molecular level.

Examples: Mr. M or Firestorm or Solar

Omnipotence

Ability to have unlimited powers.

Examples: The One Above All or The Presence

Probability manipulation

Ability to alter probability, causing unlikely things to happen or likely things to not happen. This is often described in terms of blessings and curses.

Examples: Longshot or Jinx

Radiation manipulation

Ability to generate or manipulate toxic radiation.

Examples: Radioactive Man or Doctor Phosphorus

Reality warping

Ability to change or manipulate reality itself.

Examples: Franklin Richards or Mxyzptlk

Sound manipulation

Ability to mentally manipulate sound waves.

Examples: Siryn or Vibe

Time manipulation

Ability to affect the flow of time, slowing, accelerating or even stopping it.

Examples: Sway or Time Trapper

Classical elements

Ability to control or manipulate the classical elements.

Air and wind manipulation

Ability to control, generate, or absorb air or wind.

Examples: Wind Dancer or Red Tornado

Cold manipulation

Ability to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms and thus reduce temperature, often used to control, generate, or absorb ice.

Examples: Iceman or Killer Frost

Earth manipulation

Ability to control the classic element of earth; sand, stone, rock, lava, or dirt.

Examples: Petra or Terra

Electrical manipulation

Ability to control, generate, or absorb electrical fields.

Examples: Electro or Static

Fire manipulation

Ability to control the kinetic energy of atoms to generate, control or absorb fire.

Examples: Human Torch or Firebrand

Plant manipulation

Ability to accelerate the growth of, control or animate plant life.

Examples: Plantman or Swamp Thing

Water manipulation

Ability to control, generate, or absorb water.

Examples: Hydro-Man or Aspen Matthews

Weather manipulation

Ability to control or mentally affect the weather.

Examples: Storm or Rainmaker

Energy manipulation

These powers deal with energy generation, conversion and manipulation. In addition to generic energy, versions of these powers exist that deal with such things as light, sound, electricity, nuclear energy, and "darkforce".

Examples: Silver Surfer or Captain Atom

Concussion beams

The ability to generate or transform various forms of energy into a "solid" or concussive beam of energy.

Examples: Cyclops or Gunfire

Energy blasts

Various forms of energy that are expelled from the body.

Examples: Havok or Wildfire

Energy constructs

Similar to Force Fields, but far more intricate; the ability to create complex shapes (such as giant boxing gloves or cages) or even functional machinery (such as fire extinguishers or laser rifles) out of solid energy.

Examples: Cerise or Ray

Energy conversion

Ability to absorb one form of energy and convert it into another form of energy.

Examples: Dazzler or Bishop

Force fields

Energy shields, often invisible or translucent, produced as a form of protection.

Examples: Radius or Argent

Transportation or travel

Dimensional transportation

Ability to create wormholes, portation "discs", or other spatial portals for transport between two non-adjacent locations

Examples: Blink or Spot

Electrical transportation

Ability to travel through electrical conduits (such as power lines, or telephone lines), often entering through devices such as televisions, electrical poles, or computers.

Examples: Atom or Air Wave

Omnipresence

Ability to be present anywhere.

Examples: Eternity or The Source

Summoning

Ability to summon objects or beings for their assistance.

Examples: Magik or Kid Eternity

Superhuman speed

Ability to move faster than usual. Often times approaching light speed.

Examples: Quicksilver or Flash

Teleportation

Ability to move from one place to another without occupying the space in between.

Examples: Nightcrawler or Warp

Time travel

Ability to travel through time.

Examples: Trevor Fitzroy or Hourman

Miscellaneous

The following powers could be manifested in any number of ways.

Flight

Ability to lift off the ground, to ride air currents or to fly self-propelled through the air. Different forms of flight include:

Avian (feathered wings)
- Examples: Angel or Northwind
Bat-winged
- Examples: Fallen
Cosmic energy control
- Examples: Ms. Marvel
Energy aura projection
- Examples: Aero or Looker
Gravitational manipulation
- Examples: Gravity
Insectoid form
- Examples: Wasp or Insect Queen
Magnetic levitation
- Examples: Magneto
Solar flare
- Examples: Sunfire
Sonic repulsion field
- Examples: Siryn
Telekinetic power
- Examples: Justice
Thermo-chemical reaction control
- Examples: Cannonball
Wind current control
- Examples: Storm

Illusion

Ability to alter or deceive the perceptions of another. Usually visual, it may be a light-based effect, a sound-based effect, a mind-affecting effect, or any other effect that causes one to perceive things that are not necessarily real.

Examples: Mastermind or Brainwave

Shapeshifting

Ability to change appearance or body structure.

Examples: Mystique or Madame Rouge

Other types of shapeshifting include:

Animal morphing: Ability to take on animal forms. May be able to take on the abilities of the altered form.
- Examples: Beast Boy
Elasticity: Ability to stretch, deform, expand and contract one's body into any form they can imagine.
- Examples: Mister Fantastic or Plastic Man
Liquification: Ability to turn partially or completely into a liquid.
- Examples: Aspen Matthews or Hydro-Man
Size shifting: Ability to increase or decrease one's size.
- Examples: Hank Pym or Doll Man
Sublimation: Ability to transform into a gaseous or mist form.
- Examples Amelia Voght or Vapor
Transformation: Ability to transform into substance touched.
- Examples: Absorbing Man or Amazing Man