Ask the Dean is a weekly column by MTU’s Dean of Students, Dr. Wallace Southerland III, where students can submit questions for him to answer. To submit a question, email lodesubmit@mtu.edu
Q: “What superpower would you want, and why?”
Now this is a really fun question. I confess that I have always been a superhero fanboy! Some of my best memories as a child (and teenager) are waking up on a Saturday morning to watch X-Men, Avengers, Super Friends, The Amazing Spider-Man and Friends, The Justice League, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Batman, Shazaam!, Thundercats, the Hulk, and many others. Growing up I wanted the powers of Ice Man in Spider-Man. As a teenager, I wanted the powers of Superman. As a young adult, I wanted the powers of Professor X.
But now, as a full-size adult, I prefer Thor’s superpowers. I think Thor’s powers are cool for a few reasons:
- He’s basically invincible. If the Hulk couldn’t beat Thor, who can? Watch “Hulk vs Thor” and you’ll see what I mean.
- He commands lightning and thunder which can destroy almost anything.
- He always arrives on the scene with a flair for the dramatics. Remember his grand arrival in “Infinity War” – “Bring…me…Thanos!” C’mon, who else has a grander entrance? (Maybe Spider-Man in “End Game.”)
- He can fly.
- He has a cool costume.
- He loves planet earth (a/k/a Midgard) and guards us with his life.
- He has a really awesome sledge hammer – Mjolnir – that no one can steal except maybe Captain America.
But I would want Black Panther’s intellect (I know, not a superpower). And if I were a villain, I would want Apocalypse’s superpowers – the one in the cartoon, not the one in the mediocre “X-Men: Apocalypse” movie! Apocalypse had some of the best one-liners.
Dr. S.
Dean of Midgard
