Don't sell the bike shop just yet, Orville

emnmnme

One thing I kinda enjoy about comic books is figuring out how super powers work. And what power is better than flying?

Think about traditional comic book characters flying like the Silver Surfer or Superman. Considering he can hover, Superman doesn't use lift from traveling through the air to soar. He uses some kind of gravity manipulation to push himself away from the ground. But does that mean if he flies overhead a pedestrian, that pedestrian feels all of Superman's weight pushing down on him? There'd be plenty of grease spots on the sidewalks of Metropolis if that were true.

There are also characters who glide on the wind, who levitate with telekinesis, and some have wings. Thor just kind of winds up and throws his hammer in the air and then goes along for the ride. From the movies, Tony Stark has his rocket boots and Batman's cape doubles as a hang glider-y contraption. And the Human Torch ... what? Is he a hot air balloon? If he's burning air around him, can he breathe while flying?

Something that always bugged me about the Peter Pan story was how they handled flying. The children used some of Tinkerbell's fairy dust, rubbed it over themselves, remembered a happy thought, and then they could fly. But when you start to dwell on it, all kinds of crazy notions pop into one's head. The dust clung to their clothes and skin so wouldn't it hurt like a sonuvabitch when the powder lifted their weight off the ground? If happy thoughts made them rise, did the kids need to think up some depressing thoughts in order to land?

So discuss flying and the many ways it's accomplished in comic books.

Garlic Bread

Comic book physics

Unco-ordinated

They already kinda tried to explain Superman's ability to fly, with comic book physics of course:

Superman's ability to fly under his own power was explained with the pseudo-scientific concept of "tactile telekinesis", an invisible telekinetic field that allows him to lift himself off the ground. Any objects that Superman touches are also enveloped by the field and this allows him to move them with the force of his will. In addition, the idea that of a supercharged bioelectric "aura" which acts as an invisible "force field" around his body within his body was introduced to provide an explanation for his invulnerability.

A duck!

How do they fly through space, though? I mean, they have nothing to act on...

psycojester

Something that always bugged me about the Peter Pan story was how they handled flying. The children used some of Tinkerbell's fairy dust, rubbed it over themselves, remembered a happy thought, and then they could fly. But when you start to dwell on it, all kinds of crazy notions pop into one's head. The dust clung to their clothes and skin so wouldn't it hurt like a sonuvabitch when the powder lifted their weight off the ground? If happy thoughts made them rise, did the kids need to think up some depressing thoughts in order to land?

Congratulations you've just found the point where you're officially too much of a nerd.

MolotovCockatoo

My favorite mode of flight was Guardian from Alpha Flight.

Guardian could cause the battle-suit computers to trigger and release gravitons, canceling the Earth's rotation relative to himself, propelling himself forwards at up to about 1000 miles per hour (at the equator). This effect will suspend his positioning relative to the Earth's electromagnetic field while the planet rotated, allowing him to travel West at high speed depending on his latitude positioning.

ManonvonSuperock

Scientist: "That's amazing... scientifically implausible! How can you just... fly like that?

Superman: "I dunno. How can you not?"

JoeUser

Well magic flying is due to ... magic, so there's not much to say there.

But for Superman, in Superman: Birthright, Lex Luthor theorizes that Superman has an organ that can be used to manipulate gravitons, which seems to be a popular opinion.

There was a show on either the History Channel or Discovery about Superman's evolution over the years, and they spoke to various scientists about Superman's various abilities, and flying is the one they had the toughest time rationalizing.

But really, I don't mind if super powers themselves are vague, as long as writers get actual science right! Anyone remember that magnetism scene from (I think) Black Panther?

CoJoeTheLawyer

Unco-ordinated wrote: »

They already kinda tried to explain Superman's ability to fly, with comic book physics of course:

Superman's ability to fly under his own power was explained with the pseudo-scientific concept of "tactile telekinesis", an invisible telekinetic field that allows him to lift himself off the ground. Any objects that Superman touches are also enveloped by the field and this allows him to move them with the force of his will. In addition, the idea that of a supercharged bioelectric "aura" which acts as an invisible "force field" around his body within his body was introduced to provide an explanation for his invulnerability.

I find even the thought of trying to explain how Superman flies absolutely absurd. He's Superman, for Christ sake!

The only time it a comic book explanation for powers bugs me is not when it's vague or just non-existent, but when they just get the actual science completely wrong. I can live with not knowing exactly how someone's powers work, but if the answer you give me goes against everything I know about Science, I'm going to be pissed.

SalmonOfDoubt

ManonvonSuperock wrote: »

Scientist: "That's amazing... scientifically implausible! How can you just... fly like that?

Superman: "I dunno. How can you not?"

"How do you fly?"
"How do you walk?"
"Well, I put one foot in front of the other and then step forwards."
"I fly by putting one foot in front of the other and then stepping upwards."

Or however Hyperion described it in Supreme Power.

MolotovCockatoo wrote: »

My favorite mode of flight was Guardian from Alpha Flight.

Guardian could cause the battle-suit computers to trigger and release gravitons, canceling the Earth's rotation relative to himself, propelling himself forwards at up to about 1000 miles per hour (at the equator). This effect will suspend his positioning relative to the Earth's electromagnetic field while the planet rotated, allowing him to travel West at high speed depending on his latitude positioning.

That doesn't even begin to make sense.

emnmnme

Cannonball has a neat ability of exploding energy from his skin. Neat for flying but if the explosion is as loud as a jet engine, wouldn't he go deaf?

Servo

MolotovCockatoo wrote: »

My favorite mode of flight was Guardian from Alpha Flight.

Guardian could cause the battle-suit computers to trigger and release gravitons, canceling the Earth's rotation relative to himself, propelling himself forwards at up to about 1000 miles per hour (at the equator). This effect will suspend his positioning relative to the Earth's electromagnetic field while the planet rotated, allowing him to travel West at high speed depending on his latitude positioning.

so wait, is that saying he can only fly west? that's kind of cool, i guess.

Dreamon

Servo wrote: »

MolotovCockatoo wrote: »

My favorite mode of flight was Guardian from Alpha Flight.

Guardian could cause the battle-suit computers to trigger and release gravitons, canceling the Earth's rotation relative to himself, propelling himself forwards at up to about 1000 miles per hour (at the equator). This effect will suspend his positioning relative to the Earth's electromagnetic field while the planet rotated, allowing him to travel West at high speed depending on his latitude positioning.

so wait, is that saying he can only fly west? that's kind of cool, i guess.

Unless.. He needs flying to the east! *shock effect*

Unco-ordinated

Servo wrote: »

MolotovCockatoo wrote: »

My favorite mode of flight was Guardian from Alpha Flight.

Guardian could cause the battle-suit computers to trigger and release gravitons, canceling the Earth's rotation relative to himself, propelling himself forwards at up to about 1000 miles per hour (at the equator). This effect will suspend his positioning relative to the Earth's electromagnetic field while the planet rotated, allowing him to travel West at high speed depending on his latitude positioning.

so wait, is that saying he can only fly west? that's kind of cool, i guess.

He's the Marvel Universe's version of Zoolander.