In almost all superhero stories, genetic mutations are responsible for their unusual abilities. But most of us don’t have a single clue how many people with unusual abilities, ripped straight from the pages of comics, exist out there. Sure, maybe they can’t control the wind and don’t shoot lasers from their ears, but their superpowers are certainly worthy of our attention.
1. People who don’t feel pain
Throughout its existence, humanity has been looking for ways to deal with pain by inventing drugs and other means. But there are gifted individuals among us who do not need any sedatives because they never feel pain. At first, this mutation may seem like a superpower everyone would want, but in fact, feeling pain is vital. People with such disabilities often injure or maim themselves without realizing it.
2. Superboy Liam
Not so long ago, a very unusual child was born in the USA. Liam Hoekstra from Grand Rapids was born with a lack of myostatin, which means that it is easier for his body to produce muscle tissue. By the time he was eight months, he could already do pull-ups. There are not many examples of such mutations known in the whole world. So far, doctors and scientists cannot tell for certain what caused such phenomena.
3. Megamind
There was a man in Utah whose mental capacities exceeded anything we’ve ever seen before. Regular guy Kim Peek was born with a brain defect. He wasn’t good at even the most basic tasks, and it was very difficult for him to interact with other people since he could only understand the simplest human speech. Despite that, Kim could read two pages of the book simultaneously and never forgot anything of what he read. He remembered every word of Shakespeare’s numerous plays and corrected the actors if they were wrong. During his life, Peek managed to read 12,000 books and was a walking Wikipedia. His mental abilities were so fascinating that they even made a movie about him called “Rain Man.”
4. Extreme flexibility
Many of us have met people who love bending their joints so weirdly that only an exorcist would be able to help them. One of such mutants is the Spanish actor Javier Botet. Javier is about two meters tall, and his limbs are disproportionately long. Moreover, his body is so flexible that it can be twisted and contorted like a rug. Botet became famous by playing a monster in the movie “Mama,” where he was able to turn the peculiarity of his body into an advantage.
5. Real Daredevil
Daniel Kish, being blind, developed the ability to “see” using echolocation. Daniel lost his sight at the age of one and was forced to live in the darkness until he figured out a way to navigate in space. Daniel clicks his tongue and interprets the sound reflected from the objects around him to “see” where everything is. He is so proficient in echolocation that he can go hiking without being scared of getting lost and even rides a bike.
6. The All-devouring Goatman
Michael Lotito, aka Monsieur Mangetout, built his career around eating things that would send a mere mortal straight to the ER. Here’s a shortlist of his favorite dishes: TVs, bicycles, a coffin, and even airplane parts. Michael stuck to his strange diet for 48 years and even made it into the Guinness Book of Records. No one has been able to unravel the secret of this man’s unbreakable stomach.
7. Seeing 100 Million Colors
If you are a normal regular human, you should have three types of cones in your eyes. These cones let you see around 7 million colors. But we know for certain our vision is not perfect, and some animals have way more cone types than us. That is unless you’re a woman with four types of fully functional light-sensitive cones, allowing you to distinguish up to 100 million colors! Just imagine seeing a rainbow with those special eyes. Oh, that’s right, you can’t even imagine it, because 99.9% of humans will never see such colors in their life.
