This week, Bill Nye the Science Guy weighs in on the reality of the timeless superhero wish, how not to break your legs while trying comic book moves, and the human virtues of Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker.
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Transcript - Jordan: My name is Jordan and my question is: can I have superpowers? Thank you.
Bill Nye: Jordan, Jordan, Jordan. Can you have superpowers? You’re asking an excellent question. I think it depends what you mean. So for me as a guy of your age, I very much wanted to be able to fly like Superman. But I tried several experiments. I was completely unable to do so even if I put on a cape. And I look at your video, I see you’re wearing a super-guy outfit and you look super. But without a cape I don’t know how well that’s going to work. The cape seems to be key for Superman. But even so we had a lot of stories when I was a kid that so-and-so thought he had superpowers and he jumped off the roof and he got killed. He jumped off the roof and he broke his leg. And so don’t jump off the roof. You probably don’t have superpowers. But then when you think about the Justice League of America, think about Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and in there is Batman. Now Batman doesn’t have superpowers. He’s a human. Yet he made it into the Justice League as a superhero because he’s so smart. He took care of himself. He’s quite a gymnast, quite an athlete and he made all these cool devices.
The bat boomerang. The batarang. The utility belt which is full of all his super clever bat stuff. So I believe that Batman was as close as you’re going to get to having superpowers. Really smart. Trained himself athletically. Really good athlete. He is a complete guy as humans go. So strive for that. And if you can find a way to fly for real just jumping off your feet and flying without jumping off the roof, let us know. By the way I’ve met the Swiss skydiver who kind of is the guy who developed the wing suit. He jumps out of planes just wearing a wing, like wearing a cape like Batman has or Superman has. And he’s had some success. But a lot of people that have tried that, they haven’t had success. So careful. Read Full Transcript Here: http://goo.gl/zFfoCO.
