At some stage as a kid, odds are you’ve daydreamed about having superpowers.
Whether it’s being able to fly, having super strength or being able to shoot laser beams
out of your hands – why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary?
What if I told you that superpowers weren’t just for the comics?
Ready to meet these gifted people with superhuman abilities?
Let’s get it on!
SLAVISA PAJKIC Those familiar with the Spiderman comics would
know one of his arch nemeses – Electro, the master of electricity.
Well Serbian Slavisa Pajkic isn’t called The Battery Man for nothing, and sure gives
Electro a run for his money.
This is a man who makes a living manipulating current, whether it be conducting it or storing
the charge in his unusual body.
Let’s take a little look at some of his accomplishments, and you be the judge.
He has the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to heat a cup of water – getting it
up to boiling point by channeling 20,000 volts for a remarkable 1 minute 37 seconds.
Not only that, but he’s also more than capable of powering light bulbs and cooking sausages
with his bare hands.
He can even light a fuel-soaked cotton wool ball from his scalp by sparking electricity
from his scalp.
But this is where it gets really crazy.
His next record will involve charging up on a million-volt generator and shooting sparks
out of his hands – shake his hand at your own risk.
JYOTI RAJ In the movies, often the hero’s superpowers
are revealed to them during a time of turmoil or need.
Jyoti Raj was no different, initially climbing up a large rock to end his life before feeling
a jolt of inspiration – climbing wouldn’t be how he took his life, climbing would be
how he lived it.
In his native India, Jyoti is known as the indian Spiderman.
He originally learned to climb from watching monkeys, and on that fateful day that almost
proved his doom, he realized another thing – he had no fear of heights whatsoever.
There are many daredevils in the world that perform death-defying stunts climbing up buildings
and monuments, but Jyoti is different.
What sets him apart from his peers is that he refuses to wear a protective harness, he’s
so confident he won’t fall that he says he just doesn’t need one.
The only thing he needs to scale up the wall of a building is his $200 specialist climbing
shoes, and a bag of chalk for gripping smooth surfaces with his hands.
ASIAN HULK Hulk smash… a bowl full of noodles.
Often referred to as the Asian Hulk, martial artist Zhang Shizu has a rare condition known
as CIP, or Congenital Insensitivity to Pain.
In short, he’s able to do some pretty remarkable things without feeling the pain afterwards.
Normally karate chopping a rock in two would be something 99% of the world’s population
wouldn’t consider – but not this guy.
Heck, he’ll even pass you a slice of Durian after he’s cracked open its extremely spiky
outer shell.
Likewise, busting open metal pipes with his shin in brutal kicks, even able to bend a
thick wrench under the sheer force and ferocity of his blows.
Push Ups using just two fingers?
Too easy.
Doing pushups while balancing his entire body on 3 beer bottles?
Much harder!
Popping cable ties with just a flex of his muscles?
Now we’re getting into true Hulk territory.
Whether it’s food, tools, or the human body – you name it, he’ll break it.
NORMAN GARY Antman and The Wasp can control insects thanks
to some clever telepathic gadgetry in their helmets, but Norman Gary doesn’t need gimmicks
or technology – he’s the real deal.
He’s regarded as the foremost expert on bees, by other bee experts.
There’s nothing he doesn’t know about his pollinator pals, and has made it his life’s
work.
He wows audiences by gently ushering over 100,000 bees onto his body, without suffering
a single sting.
More amazingly, is his ability to somehow communicate with the swarm and get them to
bend to his will.
His greatest achievement was to direct a single bee to follow a precise path, making several
90 degree turns before moving under the collar of Agent Scully during the filming of an X
Files episode.
Norman was able to do this with a bit of bee psychology, as well as a queen bee pheromone
formula of his own creation.
CRISTINA ZENATO Poor Aquaman.
As far as superpowers go, the ability to talk to fish is about as useful as only being able
to fly 2 seconds at a time.
Despite this, Cristina Zenato is showing us that having a connection with sharks is a
pretty handy superpower to have.
She’s been diving in the Bahamas for over a quarter of a century, and knows the resident
Caribbean Reef Sharks like the back of her hand.
A hand mind you, that’s yet to be bitten.
She thinks of them as her babies, and just like any mother, she’s fiercely protective
when her children are in pain.
She’s removed hundreds of hooks from the mouths of her beloved maneaters over the years,
not baulking once to reach her hand deep within their multi-rowed, serrated toothed mouths.
Amazingly, the sharks remain super calm and relaxed while Cristina goes about her unorthodox
dental work.
If this isn’t proof she can talk to fish, then I don't know what is?
MASTER ENG HUI HO They say the pen is mightier than the sword
– but what about the finger?
Kung Fu master Ho Eng Hui has spent his entire life training his entire being – his body,
his breath, and his mind – to concentrate into a single, awesomely powerful finger.
Iron Fist needed iron fists, but Hui only required one digit.
The unit of measurement for finger strength seems to be the humble coconut.
Hui has the Guinness World Record for cracking 4 in just 12 seconds, and is even able to
pierce a much harder green coconut and drink the juice – it’s like having your own
built-in cocktail maker.
He performs on the streets of Malaysia, where tourists exchange a coin in order to see how
a man can feed his family using just one finger.
He began training his fearsome appendage at the age of 17, where he would jab his finger
into palm trees for hours on end.
Best to say on his good side though, as this mangled, gnarly looking finger could quite
possibly go through the bone of a human skull.
STEELMAN OF INDIA Strength isn’t just a measure of how much
weight you can lift in the gym – there’s no point being strong if you’re not durable
at the same time.
Amandeep Singh is a bit like an Indian Superman – he has the muscles, and the toughness
to match.
His lifelong dream is to become the world’s strongest man, except he’s going about it
a little differently than other people.
Sure, there’s the obligatory lifting up of a motorcycle above his head, pulling cars
packed full of people, that kind of thing.
But that’s boring.
This is a guy who can lift a fully grown man with just his teeth.
A day’s training for this real-life man of steel involves being hit with planks of
wood, lengths of steel, and sledgehammers by his closest buddies.
Then for a warm down, having them drive their cars over his body over and over again.
Amandeep claims that he doesn’t feel any pain, thanks to a lifetime practicing Sikh
martial arts, which condition both the body and the mind.
Whatever he’s doing – it’s obviously working.
DIMITRY POLITOV It’s easy to draw similarities between Dimitry
Politov and a Daredevil when you see exactly what kind of acrobatic stunts this guy is
capable of.
He’s a performer in the Cirque Du Soleil, who knows all too well the stunts he gets
up to when he’s bored or in front of a camera.
Recently while travelling, they expressly forbid him from doing anything crazy and luckily
for us – he didn’t listen.
Amazingly, he’s able to reach over a railing 100 feet off the ground into a one-armed handstand,
just by gripping the railing with his other hand and extending his entire body over the
sheer drop below – making a mockery of what we think the human body is capable of, as
well as gravity.
Once you see this Russian powerhouse on a pole – it’s a different story.
He’s able to perch himself on top with just a single hand and foot, before sliding down
and lifting his entire body parallel to the ground.
Now that's something I didn’t see coming.
LUKAS NOVOTNY The Marvel Cinematic Universe may have Hawkeye
– but in the real world, we have Lukas Novotny.
It’s hard enough to hit the bullseye on a target, but almost impossible to nail accurate
shots over and over as you ride past galloping on horseback at speed.
This is his superpower.
Whether it’s keen eyesight, incredible reflexes, or some sort of immeasurable talent and affinity
for archery – we’re pretty sure this guy has it.
Over history, most armies had riders on horseback to support their ground troops but it’s
a bit of a lost art form these days.
Seeing Lukas hit a moving target coming from the opposite direction is proof that he gets
top honors as the world’s best at what he does.
He may not have bulging muscular arms, or chiseled abs, but one thing’s for sure – this
man has the skills to earn himself that matching purple mask and lycra leotard.
LEANDRO GRANATO Cyclops may be able to blast lasers from his
eyes, but can he paint a picture?
No, but he sure can destroy walls and vaporize bad guys.
Leandro Granato is proof that beauty isn’t in the eye of the beholder, but what gets
squirted out of it.
To create these truly one-of-a-kind masterpieces, he inhales a mixture of ink paint diluted
with saline solution up his nose, and uses some pretty insane pressure blasted through
his eustachian tube to spray a canvas in true style.
When he was a kid, he realized his freakish ability and used it to entertain his schoolmates.
Now he makes a living from his rather unique ability.
Remember, art doesn’t have to be good for it to be appreciated, or better yet valuable.
Still, it would be better if Leandro could squirt something cooler like acid or venom,
or maybe webs like Spiderman.