Highlights
- Flight, super strength, and control of technology are just a few of the exciting superpowers featured in Extraordinary.
- Self-duplication, super speed, and time manipulation are other powers explored in this inventive superpowered comedy series.
- The show offers a fresh take on traditional superhero powers, showcasing unique abilities like conduit of the dead and control of technology.
In what is easily one of the more inventive shows of the 2020s, Extraordinary, the superpowered comedy show is set in modern-day London, with one key difference. That being once someone hits 18 (or somewhere around that), they unlock a superpower.
The show focuses on Jen, a powerless 25-year-old, living with her best friend and her best friend’s boyfriend in a flat. The show focuses on her living in a world surrounded by powers, hoping that she will finally get her own soon, especially having been without powers for most of her twenties. Meanwhile, whilst Jen tries to unlock her power, the world around her is littered with incredible and obscure ones. But just what powers in the Extraordinary universe are the best to have?
7 Flight
Luke
- Luke leaves through the window following his hook-up with Jen (Season 1: Episode 1).
- Luke catches Jen on a roof whilst taking a flight to a bar (Season 1: Episode 6).
Although this superpowered comedy features a wide range of powers, the staples are bound to make an appearance, with the power of flight being one of them. In Extraordinary, it’s possessed by a fair few people, notably Uber drivers offering Piggybacks, and Luke, Jen’s somewhat love interest for season one.
It’s fair to say that flight is one of the more useful powers to have, allowing those with said power to glide above the city, bypass traffic, and take in those beautiful sights. It allows for no travel costs and one heck of an escape route if things go south. Luke even uses this ability to bow out of a one-night stand through a window. It’s a fun and useful power, but it’s not the best the show offers.
6 Super Strength
Andy
- Andy throws away a car trunk lid to rescue her trapped sister (Season 1: Episode 2).
- Andy informs Jen she injured her ex-girlfriend after causing a hairline fracture in her hip (Season 1: Episode 5).
Another staple power but also one that so many superhero fans would love to have. In Extraordinary, the power is possessed primarily by Andy, as she discovers it on her 18th birthday by accidentally ripping off a fridge door.
People looking to bulk up won’t have a need, and the ability to carry and move about anything would be great. Just think about how captivating wrestling, boxing, or UFC matches would be with super-strength-infused individuals in the ring. Plus, there’s the main perk of being able to carry all the shopping bags in one trip. It’s the true superpowered dream.
5 Control Of Technology
Mary
- Mary accidentally casts Jen’s phone to the car speaker so that everyone in the car can hear her embarrassing voicemail (Season 1: Episode 2).
- Mary sets up Carrie’s phone as a live webcam, so she can spy on Kash and Clark during Bro’s night (Season 2: Episode 5).
Jen’s mum, Mary, possesses the power to control technology. Though the limit of that power has not truly been revealed, the show certainly makes a joke out of the fact that parents don’t mix with technology all too well, with Mary being totally clueless on the subject, flicking her wrists about and hoping to eventually get any piece of technology to do what she wants.
It’s a great gag for the show to have, and it does lead to a fair few laugh-out-loud moments, but there’s a huge appeal to being able to control technology in a world where it’s pretty much everywhere. Being able to turn on and play any console with your body over a controller is a huge appeal, plus not having to move from a comfortable sofa spot to reach a remote that players may have left on a table. The power could also be used for more noble things, like preventing a machine uprising, but the comfort aspects that come with it are too great to ignore.
4 Conduit Of The Dead
Carrie
- Acts as a conduit for Adolf Hitler so Kash and Jen can make fun of him (Season 1: Episode 1).
- Acts as a conduit for Princess Diana to get advice on her relationship status (Season 2: Episode 1).
Jen’s best friend and romantic partner to Kash has one of the more unique but still impressive powers, as she’s able to channel the dead. She works at a law firm and is often seen as a conduit to help solve legal cases, but the show does hint at the higher potential the power has.
In episode 3 of season one, Carrie is asked to channel a famous deceased Western singer to finish an incomplete album for a sizable amount of money, making it a power capable of setting up a comfortable lifestyle. Acting as the conduit, Carrie is also seen conversing with the dead in ways to help them learn and grow. Still, as a conduit, the dead channeling through Carrie can also enact their skills through her, meaning that the power would grant the user limitless options of talents to call on. It may not be the most flashy power, but it certainly is one of the most versatile.
3 Self-Duplication
Clark
- Clark duplicates himself, so he can remain chatting to Carrie and attend his meeting (Season 2: Episode 2).
- Clark duplicates multiple times to fill out a backing band for Kash (Season 2: Episode 4).
A new recurring character introduced in Season 2 is Clark, a coworker at the law firm alongside Carrie and Kash. Clark is someone who possesses the power to duplicate and send off other versions of himself and have his other bodies carry out additional tasks.
The show often depicts Clark using his power the same way many people would in sending copies of himself to attend meetings, creating versions to fill out an entire band, or even helping to tidy. It’s easy to imagine the possibilities. Gamers could send a copy to work and another to pick up pizza while they stay at home gaming the day away. Ah, utter bliss.
2 Super Speed
Gregor
- Gregor visits the Tate Modern Art Gallery in seconds in an audition for Kash’s Vigilante team (Season 1: Episode 3).
- Gregor dodges punches in a fight (Season 1: Episode 6).
Kash’s frenemy and key member of his vigilante group, Gregor, possesses the power of super speed. Although the character is often depicted as cocky and sometimes cowardly in the face of real danger, fans of Flash and the CW’s The Flash series will be aware of the true potential this power could bestow on them.
Super Speed has always been a staple superhero power, and for good reason. The potential it unlocks is near limitless, as depicted by The Flash. There are also plenty of useful day-by-day uses the power would grant in the modern world; getting around would be a breeze, getting into fights or running away from them would be a great deal easier, and giving the owner the vital extra few minutes in bed before dashing to work would be a huge bonus.
1 Time Manipulation
Kash
- Kash uses his time manipulation powers to try and save the musical (Season 2: Episode 8).
- Kash is pulled through time and sees how Bro’s night pans out and tries his best to prevent that future from happening (Season 2: Episode 5)
Carrie’s romantic partner and friend to Jen and Jizzlord, Kash, possesses the power of time manipulation. Though the first sees him only able to rewind time ever so slightly, season two shows viewers that Kash is suddenly being pulled forward through time.
The power to manipulate time is one of the best powers someone could want, even if the show rightfully limits his power to control time to a very small margin. Being able to rewind time and push forward has always been a top-tier power for any superhero; predicting the future, altering huge events, or rewinding and redoing things to result in a better outcome can have huge benefits, as Kash tries to do in his Vigilante musical episode.
Extraordinary is available to stream on Disney+.
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