Creating godlike super heroes who still feel human
Every writer wants to create sympathetic characters, but when you’re writing a super hero with godlike powers, the wrong origin story can make them unrelatable. Unstoppable Man may have witty dialogue and original powers, but if he doesn’t feel like a real person, readers just won’t care.
One of the foundational super hero tropes is the dramatic origin story explaining the source of the hero’s awesome abilities and how they began battling evil. Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee introduced mutants as a way to cut down on the number of origins he would have to write. Instead of dozens of lab accidents, alien species, and magical artifacts, he could simply say, “They were born that way.” What a time-saver!
While this is a handy shortcut for writers, it does have some risks. Unearned powers can make for an unsympathetic character. If writers aren’t careful, being born special can make a character seem overly privileged, the super hero equivalent of a nepo baby or a spoiled trust fund kid. It can also make the character difficult to relate to. Readers who have spent years developing a skill or learning a trade might feel like they have nothing in common with a character who was simply born gifted.
So, what is a writer to do? How do you make someone more than human while keeping them a sympathetic character?
Even if a character is born with powers, that doesn’t mean they have to be born an expert at using them. They might spend years unaware that they even have special abilities. After all, when was the last time you tried to make ice with your mind? Once they discover their powers, they could need years of practice to become an expert.
Characters can need training, the guidance of a mentor figure, and hard work to master their abilities. Powers like telekinesis could work like an extra set of hands, with characters needing time to develop their coordination. Fire manipulation or controlling nightmares could require psychological training to master their fears before they even think about using their abilities. If powers take work to master, this can reduce the feeling of their abilities being unearned or an unfair privilege, and make them a more sympathetic character.
(On a side note, power-stealing characters should always be clumsy and inaccurate with their borrowed abilities, at least at first, as they’ve had no time to practice with it. When people drive a rental car, it always takes a moment to adjust to the sensitivity of the accelerator, the size of the vehicle, and the layout of the stereo system. It seems unlikely that people could adjust to super speed faster than a Toyota.)
The character can be disadvantaged in other ways, such as struggling with money, suffering the loss of their family or loved ones, or being rejected by their community for being different. These disadvantages can help create a sense of balance and fairness. If a character is born with super powers, but they’re also an orphan who can’t afford a bus pass, their powers will seem less like a special privilege and more like the one good thing in an otherwise difficult life.
Their powers could come with side effects, like their bulletproof skin being made of jagged rocks, or their force field power keeping them from ever touching another person. The side effects might be how they are treated by society. A hero with healing powers might be expected to work constantly, healing an endless line of sick and injured people, and never having a moment to themselves. A hero with super speed might face attacks in the media from the families of people he wasn’t fast enough to save. Adding enough of a downside can turn even the strongest power into a curse.
Vulnerability can make a hero more relatable, and I’m not talking about kryptonite. Emotional vulnerability, like crying after a breakup, can show that Captain Face Puncher still has human problems, even if he does have supersonic fists. Even the most powerful character will seem more human when they have to admit a mistake or struggle with a broken relationship.
Characters who love and admire the hero can help convince readers to feel the same way. Showing the hero interacting with their best friend or a love interest can show off their human qualities and make them more of a sympathetic character. Even just giving them a pet can help. Antiheroes like John Wick can murder hundreds of humans, but fans still find them sympathetic just because they love animals.
A super hero will be more of a sympathetic character when their gifts are balanced with hard work or hardship. Showing a vulnerable moment with their friends can also help win over readers. But if you’d rather avoid the “born powerful” angle altogether, there are plenty of ways for a character to earn their abilities.
Ways for sympathetic characters to earn their powers:
- Studying secret knowledge
- Learning magic from a birthday party magician who turns out to be an actual wizard
- Discovering a forgotten library book on how to defend yourself against psychic attacks
- Studying a forbidden martial arts technique that allow them to battle opponents in their dreams
- Getting abducted by aliens who train them in an otherworldly hand-to-hand (or tentacle-to-tentacle) combat system
- A museum curator discovers stone tablets written by an ancient animal trainer that explain how to summon mythical monsters
- Developing new techniques from existing knowledge
- A talented engineer spends years turning a used asteroid mining robot into a mech suit, and their best friend
- A grad student develops the mathematical formula for predicting the future
- A medical doctor develops a gene editing technique to give his body incredible strength, speed, and healing abilities
- A spirit medium develops a way to contact the ghosts of ancient warriors and invite them into her body
- A fencing master develops a technique to pierce his opponents’ souls
- A hypnotherapist creates a mass hypnosis technique so powerful that she can convince crowds she is a wizard with unearthly powers
- Working to uncover long-lost mysteries
- A dimension-jumping archeologist spends years searching other worlds for the magical artifacts from local legends
- An interstellar diplomat works his way up the ranks until he has access to top secret alien technology
- A monster hunter captures vampires, werewolves, and ghosts to learn the source of their powers
- Unearthing lost technology from the sunken city of Atlantis
- Literally fighting for their powers
- An alien gladiator steals the equipment of his fallen foes
- A martial arts student battles undead masters to prove himself worthy of their special training
- A knight’s vampiric sword drains the life force and abilities of every dragon he slays
- A surgeon goes after a group of psychics, hoping to steal their highly-evolved frontal lobes and add them to his own brain
- Developing a normal skill to a supernatural level
- A tattoo artist’s body art has a life of its own
- A fantasy author’s imaginative writing and magical notebook bends reality itself
- A yoga teacher is flexible enough to escape any trap and even slide under doors
- A meditation student becomes so skilled that she can leave her body and wander other worlds
- A comic book artist working to improve the power of her imagination discovers that, with enough concentration, she can bring her fictional super hero into the real world
Did I miss anything? What other ways can characters earn their powers? Leave a comment below!
For more story ideas, see my collection of super hero writing prompts here.
