With superheroes being a big thing, we sometimes forget that real superhuman actually exist. Here are 7 super-humans that exist/have existed:
1. The Godhand
Choi Yeong-eui, later known as Masutatsu Oyama, has the power of super karate! He was born in Korea in 1927 and moved to Japan years later where he studied the martial art. He used to have live public demonstrations where he would fight and kill a bull with his bare hands. In fact, he has fought and killed 52 bulls, 3 of which were killed instantly with one blow. The other 49 had their horns chopped off with karate blows. We don’t know what bulls ever did to him, but you have to admit, it’s pretty badass.
He gained the nickname ‘The Godhand’ because he was considered the living manifestation of the Japanese warrior’s maxim “one strike, certain death”. If you think he only has it out for bulls, you should also know he once tested himself in a ‘kumite’ – a series of 2-minute fights against different opponents, each of which you need to beat to continue. He took on 300 men over the course of 3 days and the only reason why he didn’t hit 400 was because – this claimed by some – his opponents were just done with getting punched in the face.
There have also been 3 movies based on his life; Champion of Death, Karate Bearfighter, and Karate for Life. If you’re wondering why ‘bearfighter’ and not ‘bullfighter’, it’s because he actually fought a bear once, and well, you really don’t need to guess what happened to it.
2. Captain Sonar
Ben Underwood has the power of Super Echolocation, which is just a fancy way of saying he can ‘see’ with sounds. If we had to compare him with a superhero, he would basically be the Daredevil. But definitely way cooler than Ben Affleck though. This super-human power isn’t really that new actually if you ask James ‘the blind traveler’ Holman and there’s even an organisation for the blind that teaches them how to use echolocation called World Access. But few have been able to take echolocation as far as Underwood.
Underwood had retinal cancer at the age of 2 and had to remove his eyes at the age of 3, but his life took a turn when he started learning how to detect things around him by making quick clicking noises with his tongue at the age of 5. In fact, he’s gotten so good at it that he can now rollerblade, skateboard, play basketball, foosball and even video games. Reminds me of a movie… And also a really cool game he’s totally be into.
3. MONKFORCE!
If you did not know, experts have been studying Buddhist monks for more than 20 years now, just trying to figure out how they do what they do. They use a meditation technique called Tum-mo and can lower their metabolism by 64%. To give you some perspective, your metabolism only drops 10% to 15% when you sleep. More interestingly, they’re also capable of increasing the temperatures of their fingers and toes by 17 degrees – and no one knows how. This control over their body temperature allows them to survive comfortably in really cold climates. It is also believed that these techniques can maybe be taught to astronauts one day during one of their space travels, since during meditation, they consume far less resources.
4. Zamora the Torture King
Ever watched torture gore movies and cringe? Well, Tim Cridland probably doesn’t understand the cringing since his superpower is super pain tolerance. Cridland isan entertainer and a former member of the Jim Rose Circus – that creepy circus from that episode on X-Files with the murderous conjoined-twin-fetus-thing.
Tim also specializes in sword-swallowing, fire-walking, sleeping on beds of nails (sometimes with a Toyota on him), body-skewering and even self-electrocution. He claims that he can do all these because he as mastered the whole ‘mind over matter’ thing. However, researchers call bullshit, and states that h was born with a mutation that stops him from feeling pain the way normal people do. He simply can’t register pain thanks to malfunctioning receptors in the nerve cells that tells your brain to get your hands off the stove.
5. Mister Eat Everything (aka The Human Goat)
If you think you’re the human embodiment of the hungry caterpillar, you really aren’t. Michel Lotito’s superpower is super-eating. And we’re not talking about being able to eat a whole buffet… unless that buffet consists of metal, glass, and even toxic materials. This guy can eat and digest anything due to his stomach lining being twice as thick as normal, a rare condition that many doctors agree developed in the womb, though they just don’t know how. At the age of 9, he started eating a television set, and I personally don’t want to know what drove him to do so, but as years passed, he got himself a career in entertainment eating bicycles, supermarket trolleys and even a coffin.
He even entered the Guinness book of records when he ate a freaking aeroplane! It took him 2 years but he ate about 2 pounds of metal per day. The X-ray after he ate it all showed that he still has pieces of metal in his stomach and even a chain still stuck in there. I’m personally more interested in how he shat everything out.
6. Jet-Man
Looking for Iron Man? Well Yves Rossy is as close as you can get to a Tony Stark. His ‘superpower’, if Iron Man is considered a superhuman, is flight… via a rocket pack strapped onto his back. This Swiss professional pilot and aeronautical engineer was actually inspired by Batman – even though Batman doesn’t really fly at all – but we’re not going to say that to a man who basically jumps out of a plane wearing nothing but a flammable death trap strapped to his ass.
He doesn’t even lift from the ground but throws himself out of a freaking plane, knowing either his jetpack will work or he’ll be dragged off in a body bag – several body bags. If you’re wondering what trust looks like, it’s Rossy and his invention. If you’re screaming “But that’s not a superpower!”, well then you really haven’t considered the size of his balls.
7. Das Uberboy
His real name is not known and as it is being kept a secret, but this superhuman with bona fide super-strength was actually a little baby boy born in Germany in 1999. Even though he seemed normal at first, nurses noticed that the baby’s muscles were twitching and called the doctors to check him out. Methinks Uberbaby was just showing off his guns to the pretty nurses. When doctors examined the kid, they realised he was ripped af.
They realised that it’s an actual X-Men-style genetic mutation that changes the way his body controls muscle growth. In fact, cattle farmers have been using it for years to breed massively ripped cows. Not much is known about Uberboy after that point, but if you ever see a German guy with super-human strength, you’ve probably found Das Uberboy.
Header image source from here.
