Unknown: Music.
Jane: This is But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids from Vermont
Public. I'm Jane Lindholm
Melody: And I'm Melody Bodette. All year long, you send us
questions about things you are curious about, and we find
interesting people with answers. But at least once per year, we
ask you a question.
Jane: This year for our end-of-year episode, we asked
you: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
And what would you call yourself if you could have any superhero
name?
Melody: And you all delivered! You've been sending us so many
responses, and today we're going to hear all of them. Superheroes
are kind of having a moment, so it's no wonder we've also gotten
some questions from you about superheroes recently.
Asher: I am seven years old, and I live in Berrien Springs,
Michigan. How did superheroes in books get started?
Jane: There have always been stories of people with special
powers. The themes popular in superhero stories, like battles
between good and evil, characters needing to learn
about who they are and use their power wisely, those kinds of
stories have been around for as long as humans. Have been
telling stories.
Melody: The word superhero is really only about 100 years old.
Superheroes got their start with the creation of comic books in
the 1930s with the Phantom, Superman and Batman, and they've
been popular ever since. Superhero movies have been
around, really, since the creation of comic books, because
both became popular at the same time.
Noah: I'm Noah, and I am seven, and I live in Marlborough,
Connecticut. Are superheroes real?
Jay: I am Jay. I am five years old, and I live at Texas. And
how do superheroes fly?
Liam: My name is Liam. I'm six years old. I live in Iowa Falls.
How do superheroes get superpowers?
Melody: Superheroes are, unfortunately, not real. They
are works of fiction. That means they are an art form that
explores imaginary people and stories. At least as far as we
know, no humans can fly on their own or see through buildings or
pause time.
Jane: But the good thing about that is that you can imagine
your own superhero stories, and you aren't limited by what can
actually happen in real life.
Melody: You can create whatever powers you want to give your
superhero. And many superheroes have a pretty cool origin story
about how they went from being a normal human to getting their
superpowers. Superhero stories are really fun to read.
Jane: And it can be even more fun to imagine ourselves with
superpowers. So we asked you what superhero power and
superhero name you would have if you could invent--or be--a new
superhero?
Calen: Hi, my name is Calen, and I'm six years old, and I'm from
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and if I had a superpower, it would
be to bring stuff to me.
Dusty: My name is Dusty. I'm 25, still a kid. I live in America,
and I love But Why. If I had a superpower, it would be to
duplicate objects, like toys. The name would be DupliGooey. I
could share things that I love, and there'd be a little less
fighting over stuff, people like,
Millie: Hi, my name is Millie. My super power name would be
Pinky, and my super power would would be Pink Blast. And it
would knock over criminals. It would even text a few things,
and it would knock off buildings, knock off trees,
knock off really strong things like that. And my outfit would
be a pink cape, red boots and a pink skirt with a red star on it
and a pink shirt.
Hannah: Hello. My name is Hannah. I am six years old. I
live in Istanbul. I want to be superhero. Lift the things that
are so heavy.
Jane: Ooh, wow, lifting things that are really heavy. I love
that idea, because it's both a superpower and super practical.
But Melody, I really liked all of them. Like, if we could make
things duplicate so nobody could fight. Or I like Calen's, where
you could zip things right to you. So if I'm sitting on the
couch, I could just zip a glass of water right to me without
having to get up.
Melody: Oh my gosh, that would be so useful. I'm sure so many
people would love that one.
Jane: Especially adults.
Melody: Yes. All right, let's hear a few more of you.
Superpowers. Hello.
Jordan: My name is Jordan. I'm 10 years old, nearly 11. I'm
Charlie: My name is Charlie, and I'm five years old, and I live
from Saint Michael, Barbados, and if I had a superpower, it
would be to control the elements. And my superhero name
would be Anita Arrow Spark.
in New Hampshire. My superhero name is Sparko, and my power is,
I wish my power was, um, flying and being invisible.
Jason: My name is Jason. I'm six years old. I live in Los
Angeles, California. My superhero name is Scorpion. His
power is to use the electricity to slash things in half. [Hums a
theme song for Scorpion.]
Ava: My name is Ava. I live in, Syosset, New York. I'm eight
years old. My superpowers would be flight, invisibility and
X-ray vision, and my superhero name would be Amazing Ava.
Jane: Amazing Ava. And Amazing Ava mentioned invisibility. That
was a really popular power that a lot of you wanted, starting
with Benjamin.
Benjamin: My superhero name is Invisible Man, and I'm going to
be invisible for my superpower.
Ashur: My name is Ashur. I'm eight years old. I live in New
York City, and my superpower, that I wish would be a thing, is
sussness, which is you can blend in with your surroundings and
become a material so that you can be the best at hide and
Dashel: Hi. My name is Dashel. If I had a superpower, it would
seek.
be invisibility, and his name would be Dashel.
Ryan: Hi, But Why! My name is Ryan. I'm nine years old. I live
in Wilmington, Pennsylvania. My superhero name would be
Invisigirl and my superpower would be invisibility.
Alice: Hi, my name is Alice. My superpower would be invisibility
and my name would be Invisigirl.
Matilda: My name's Matilda. I live in Croydon, England, and my
super name would be the Fast Girl that can turn invisible. I
can run so fast no one can see me, and I'm invisible.
Miles: My name's Miles, and I live in Indianapolis, and I'm
six years old, and if I were a superhero and had a superpower,
I would be Batman and be invisible.
Holden: My name is Holden. I'm nine years old. I live in Salem,
Oregon, and my superhero name would be Sir Invisibility, and
my superpower would be invisibility.
Kendra: Hi, I am Kendra. I am almost seven. I live in
Vancouver, BC, Canada. My superhero name would be
Chameleon Kendra, and my superpower will be blending into
my surroundings.
Melody: I was having a hard time deciding if invisibility and
blending into your surroundings, kind of like camouflage, were
the same thing. But either way, it seems like a lot of us want
to find a way to disappear, but to also be able to know what's
going on. I likes that.
Jane: And a lot of you wanted to be called Invisigirl. Want to
know another superpower a lot of kids would love to have?
Melody: Is it flying?
Jane: It's flying.
Emmitt: My name is Emmitt and I'm five and a half years old.
My superhero name is Super Baby, and I would get flying in
seconds!
Zelda: My name is Zelda. I'm seven years old. I live in
Norwalk, Connecticut. If I had a superpower, it would be flying
with the birds in the clouds, and my super name would be
Supergirl.
Liam: My name is Liam. I'm five years old. My super name is
Leaping Liam, because my superpower is flying.
Hi, my name is Borena, and I'm from Iran. My superpower name is
Karen, and my superpower is flying.
Dax: My name is Dax. I'm six years old. I live in Fitchburg,
Wisconsin. In my special ability, I want to fly with
wings.
Jane: I used to have daydreams about being able to fly. Well,
it was actually kind of like sort of flying. I could leap
into the air and then float high above for a really long distance
before coming down and then leaping right up back again. I
would love to be able to fly. Melody.
Melody: I mean, that would be cool, but that definitely isn't
the superpower that I would wish for, but some of you had
superpowers I'd never even thought of.
Asher: My name is Asher, and I'm nine years old, and I live in
Michigan, and if I had a superpower, my power would be to
draw anything I wanted perfectly the first time, and my superhero
name would be The Drawer.
Emmaus: My name is Emmaus. I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and
my superhero name would be Super Boy, and my super power would be
lovest, kindest and strongest.
Sophie: Hi. My name is Sophie, and I live in Arlington,
Virginia. I'm eight years old, and if I was a superhero, my
name would be Agent Red, and my power would be that I can shoot
lasers.
Matthew: My name is Matthew, and my super name would be Blazer,
and my super power would be I would be the best soldier.
Sid: My name would be Cobalt and my car would be supersonic
speed.
Melody: That last one was Sid, who lives in the United Kingdom.
So many of you wanted to be able to either turn into animals or
be able to talk to animals, and that's one that I would want,
Jane.
Jane: Me too! Can you imagine, Melody, just being able to talk
to animals and understand everything they're saying, or
turn into one when you wanted to? It would be so cool.
Remy: Kia ora. My name is Remy. I am from Auckland, New Zealand,
and I am seven years old, and my superpower would be talking to
animals, and my super name would be Pink Girl.
Emma: My name is Emma. I'm 12 years old, and I'm from
Burlington, North Carolina, and if I could have any superpower I
wanted, I think I would like to be able to turn into an animal,
whenever I wanted to.
Santi: My name is Santi, and I'm from Columbia, and I live In
Oregon. Here's borrow and my superhero name would be
Crayskell, and my power would be turning into a ginormous
crayfish.
Janetta: Hello. I'm Janetta. I'm from Mexico City. I'm seven
years old. My super power would be that I could talk with the
stingrays. And my superhero name would be Stingray.
Nicole: My name's Nicole. I'm seven years old. I live in
Berumuda, and if I had any superpower, it would be to
communicate with animals, to turn into animals, and to ride
on animals.
Nelli: Hi, my name is Nelli, and I'm seven years old, and I'm
from Melbourne, Australia, and if I was a superhero, my name
would be The Rainbow, and my superpower would be to turn into
any animal I want.
Charlotte: Hi, my name is Charlotte. I'm eight years old.
I live in Westchester, Pennsylvania. My superpower name
is Lily, and my superpower is to turn into animals and to talk to
animals.
William: Hi, my name is William. I'm five and 11/12ths. I am from
Martinez, California, and if I had a superpower, I would want
it to be talking to animals.
Henley: Hi, my name is Henley, and I'm six years old, and my
superpower would be talking to animals. And why I'd be talking
to animals is because so I can know what they want because,
like, basically dogs, they're begging. I don't know what they
want, so then, like, I could talk to them, so then I know
what they want.
Zinny: My name is Zinny. I live in Stevenson, Washington. My
superpower would be to turn people into animals. And my
super name would be Chicken Fingers, and my age is four.
Jane: I love the name Chicken Fingers as a superhero name,
Melody.
Melody: So, so cool.
Jane: For all of you who want to communicate with animals, did
you hear our recent interview and episode about how animals
talk to each other and how researchers are working on
understanding what they're saying so that we know more
about animal communication? I know you can't magically turn
into an animal or magically understand what they're saying,
but maybe you can, in real life, become a scientist who studies
them someday.
Melody: Here are a few more superpowers that didn't really
fit in a category.
Lyra: My name is Lyra. I'm 8 years old. I live in Ithaca, New
York, and my superhero name would be Lyra, and then my
superhero power would be I can speak any language that is spoke
to me.
Zoya: Hi. My name is Zoya, and I live in California, Los Angeles,
and my superpower is gonna be transforming into Wonder Woman,
Ellie: Hi, my name is Ellie, and I'm five years old. I live in
Columbus, Ohio. If I had a superpower, it would be
shrinking and my name would be Shrinker Girl.
Memo: Hi. My name is Memo. I'm from Oakland, California. My
superhero would be called Nutcracker, and its power would
be nutcrackers!
Arav: My name is Arav and my superpower name is Q, and I like
building things tall, up to the sky.
Sigri: Hi. My name is Sigri. I am six years old. I live in
Minneapolis, St Paul. If I had a superpower, my superpower would
be knowing everything. And if I had a superhero name, my name
would be Sigri.
Jane: Knowing everything. Isn't that what your adults already
do, they know everything?
Melody: No.
Jane: Yeah, that's absolutely not a superpower of most adults.
I think we actually feel like we know less now than we did when
we were kids. So that might be a good one for a lot of the adults
listening.
Melody: But if you knew everything, would you still be
curious? There wouldn't be anything to learn.
Jane: Yeah, I guess that's true. Okay, maybe I'm okay with not
knowing everything.
Melody: Coming up, more of you superheroes.
BREAK: BREAK
Jane: This is But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids. I'm Jane
Lindholm.
Melody: And I'm Melody Bodette. Usually you ask the questions.
Today, you're answering the question. We asked what your
superhero powers would be, and we're loving hearing your
creative ideas.
William: My name is William. I'm four years old. I live in Cape
Town. My superpower is magnetic. Super Magnet. It takes things
that are magnetic.
DanNing: Hello. My name is DanNing. I'm six years old. I
live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My superpower will be
to invent anything that people with good intention want. My
superpower name is Serena.
Finnigan: My superpower is gonna be, uh, being stretchy. It's
been sticky. And there's a super power that makes villains be
destroyed.
Jane: Ooh, lots of superpowers in comic books and movies are
designed to destroy villains. That's a good one. But sometimes
we're just looking for powers that are super cool or just
otherwise useful. Like a surprising number of you want a
super ability to do math.
Sally June: My name is Sally June. I'm six years old, and I'm
from West Texas, and my superhero name would be
Mathemeta, and my power would be solving numbers really fast in
my head,
Luca: My name is Luca. I'm from Ashley, Canada. I'm five and a
half years old. My superhero name would be Math Master, and
he could solve math problems in his head in seconds.
Micah: My name is Micah. I'm 11 years old, and I live in
Hudsonville, Michigan. My superhero name is Super Math
Solver. I can solve any math problems in an instant.
Emerson: I'm Emerson. I'm eight years old. My superpower would
be solving math equations in seconds, because I really like
math, and I got an A+ in math.
Melody: Congrats on that. A+ Emerson. Some of you wanted
powers relating to your eyes.
Ula: My name is Ula. I'm six years old. I live in Perth,
Australia. My superhero name is Glowy, and my superhero power is
I can see in the dark.
Lyra: My name's Lyra I apply two years old. I live in Monsbury,
the UK. My superhero's name is Blazer. He can shoot lasers from
his eyes.
Jane: That's a good one, but always use your laser-shooting
powers for good, not evil. Some of you wanted the ability to
mess with time.
Adrien: Hello. My name is Adrien. I live in Colorado. I'm
11 years old. My superhero name would be Time Stop. I have the
ability to stop time, do whatever I want while time is
frozen, and when I snap my fingers, I would time would go
back to normal. Bye.
Mythili: My name is Mythili. I live in Redmond, Washington. I'm
six years old, and I want to be able to time travel with the
characters and Magic Tree House.
Carys: My name is Carys. I live in Monkton Vermont. I'm eight
years old, and my superhero power would be that I could go
back in time and talk to myself.
Katrina and Harold: Hi, I'm Katrina, and I'm 10 years old.
Hi, I'm Harold and I'm eight years old. We live in South
Carolina. If I had a superpower, it would be telekinesis, to move
things with my mind without touching it. Also I would be
called Blaze. If I had superpower, it would be to
rewind and fast forward time. And my superhero name would be
the Time Rocket.
Melody: What about moving yourself with just your mind?
Teleporting is when you disappear in one place and
immediately appear in another.
Taarun: Hello. My name is Taarun. I am nearly seven years
old. I live in Brisbane, Australia, and my superpower
would be teleporting through space and time. And if I had
held someone's hand, they would be teleported too. My super hero
name would be Teleport.
The Bullen sisters: Hi. We are the Bullen sisters. My hero name
is Luna, and my powers are to fly and teleport. My superhero
name is Lounder, and my powers are to fly and shape shift.
Zoe: My superhero name is Bubble Blaze, and my super powers
teleporting. My real name is Zoe, and I'm seven years old,
and from Orange, Kansas.
Jade: My name is Jade. I'm eight years old. I live in Maraga,
California, and if I would have a superpower, I would like to
teleport.
Jane: From teleportation to telepathy, the ability to read
minds.
Fade: Hi, my name is Fade. I'm seven years old, and I live in
Dallas, Texas. I would like my superhero name to be Sasha, and
I like my superhero power to be telepathy.
Ruby: My name is Ruby. I'm six years old. I live in Moraga,
California, and I want my superpower to be to read
people's minds.
Melody: Jane, can you read my mind?
Jane: Only when you're annoyed with me!
Melody: That would never happen. Some of you want to control
elements like water and fire or to control the weather.
Cecilia: Hi, my name is Cecilia. I'm nine years old, and I'm from
Fall City, Washington, and if I were to have a superpower, it
would be to control water.
Alexis: Hi, my name is Alexis, and I'm five years old. I live
in California. My super name will be Super Rainbow. My super
power will be freezing people that are bad and fire.
Unknown: How super power is frozen.
Ben: Hi. My name is Ben, and I'm eight years old, and I live in
Jakarta, Indonesia, and my superhero name name is Moon
Slayer, and his power is shooting thunderstorms and be
invincible.
Claire: My name is Claire. I live in Gross Ille, Michigan,
and I am seven years old. My superpower would be to control
the weather so I could make it snow, so I can make snowmen all
the time.
Freya: My name is Freya. I'm seven. I live in England, and my
superhero name will be Turtle Girl, and my power will be to
change the weather. Bye.
Jane: Controlling the weather would be so useful, Melody. I
think if that was a real power, it would be very much in demand
if we were all picking our super powers.
Melody: Yeah, but don't you think a lot of kids and you
know, maybe some adults might use that to get some snow days
so they don't have to go to school?
Jane: Well, that's true. All right, we have a few more that
didn't fit into any specific categories, but we still love
them. Here we go.
Tom: Hi. My name is Tom. I'm nine years old. I live in
Melbourne, Australia, and if I was a superhero, my name would
be The Changer, and my power would be shape shifting.
Melody: You know, I thought shape shifting would be much
more popular.
Kai: My name is Kai. I'm six years old, and I live in
Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and my superpower is I can eat
marshmallows all day long.
Melody: I'd really love that power. I suppose I could eat
marshmallows all day long, but that would definitely give you a
stomach ache.
Elizabeth: My name is Elizabeth. I live in St Albans, Vermont.
I'm four years old, and my superpower is to fly and freeze
everything into ice and turn everything into ice cream.
Megha: My name is Megha. i two years old and my superpower is
to zip-zap to Disneyland.
Elliot: My name is Elliot. I live in Seaton, and I am now 10,
and if I had a superpower, it would be rapping really fast,
because then I could have lots of money and be successful. Oh,
and my name would be Rapping Robin.
Jane: A lot of people have had a lot of success at rapping, and
that's one that you could maybe do with some extra practice. You
don't need a superpower at all.
Carina: My name is Carina. I am seven years old, and I live in
Newton, Massachusetts. My superpower would be what I think
of, it would appear right in front of me, and my name would
be The Wishmaker.
Georgia: My name is Georgia. I am six years old. I live in
McLean, Virginia, and my superhero name and power would
be breathing underwater. And my name would be Merlinda.
Neomi: My name is Neomi. I'm eight years old. I live in
Everett, Washington. And if I could have any superpower, I
would want to be able to climb on walls and ceilings. And then
when I came back down, people would be like, "Where were you?"
And my superhero name would probably be Super Neomi.
Rafael: Hi, I'm Rafael. I am seven years old. I live in West
Reading, Pennsylvania, and my superhero is named Gilbert, and
he can breathe on the water, and he can fly and and he could
travel through stuff that humans can't travel through.
Nia: My name is Nia. I am five and a half years old. I live in
Redwood City, California. My super hero name is Magical Lion
Wolf. My superpower would be to make wishes.
Amiri: Hello. My name is Amiri, and I'm eight years old. I live
in Limerick, Ireland and and my superhero name would be The
Imaginator. And my superpower would would be to turn things
that aren't real to reality.
Melody: I love that one, turning things that aren't real into
reality, things that come into your imagination. That's an
opportunity I think we all have to create something new. Sure,
we're limited by technology and things like that. You know, we
can't fly on our own, but we can get into a plane and travel all
around the world. It's amazing to think that flying for humans
wasn't even possible back when superheroes as we know them
today were invented. And now humans have not only flown all
over the world, we've been to the moon. That's pretty cool.
Jane: It is pretty cool. And I guess it's like, you have to
imagine it as a superpower that's almost unbelievable
before you can create the reality of it. So some
superpowers were magical back when people invented them, and
now we've found ways to make them real, even if it's not
exactly what we imagined in the comic books and movies. I really
wonder what the next century is going to bring. Are we going to
be living in houses filled with robots? Or maybe someday humans
will be living on Mars? I guess there's no way to know, but we
can imagine anything, and here's something else to chew on before
we end the episode, it's true that a lot of the superpowers
we've talked about today aren't really possible. They're just
fun to imagine. But when we expand our definition of what a
superhero is, there are lots of ways to be a superhero for real.
Jane: guess that's a good way to end the episode, Melody. Our
instruction to you as we end the year and end the episode is to
think about a way that you could be a real superhero in your own
community, family or life.
Melody: That's a great idea, Jane. That's it for this
episode. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a
superpower. If you have a question about anything, have an
adult record you asking it. It's easy to do on a smartphone using
an app like voice memos. Then email the file to
questions@butwhykids.org
Jane: But Why is produced by Melody Bodette and me, Jane
Lindholm, at Vermont Public. Joey Palumbo produces our video
series for YouTube. Our theme music is by Luke Reynolds, and
we're distributed by PRX. We'll be back in two weeks with an all
new episode. Until then, stay super!!