Warning: contains spoilers for Iron Man #4!
Every fan of Marvel Comics has, at some point or another, considered the power they'd most want to have if they were born a mutant. But sadly - as the comics have proved time and again - there are always drawbacks. The telepathy of Jean Grey would just mean you knew what everybody thought of you, Wolverine's healing factor would make you the ideal candidate for endless medical experimentation, and even flight would probably mean taking a flock of migrating birds to the face.
Thankfully, Iron Man #4 - from writer Christopher Cantwell and artist Cafu - offers fans a power that would truly be advantageous in real life. Faced by the returned villain Korvac - a wildly powerful being who Tony Stark identifies as one of the Master Intellects of the Universe - Tony is putting a team together, but because of Korvac's huge reach, he needs to avoid the usual suspects.
Searching out an underground racer known as 'Halcyon,' Tony is looking for help assembling a team who exist outside the law, but after what happens next, Halcyon isn't just the guy who knows where they are; he's an essential member of the team. As Korvac flexes his power, Hellcat is suddenly possessed by the messianic foe, sparking with electricity as she advances on Tony.
Completely unflustered, Halcyon uses a hubcap to bust open a fire hydrant, spraying Hellcat and shorting out Korvac's control. As Tony asks how he reacted so quickly, Halcyon signs that it was thanks to his mutant power: his heart rate doesn't go over 70 BPM, prompting Tony to add the stress-free hero to his new roster.
Halcyon's power isn't as dramatic as Cyclops' optic blasts or Magneto's control of magnetic fields, but it's the kind of power that would be a huge advantage whether in the real world or that of Marvel's heroes. Halcyon is a street racer, a math major at Columbia, and what Tony euphemistically calls, "an operator. You skirt the... main avenues," and it's no surprise. Halcyon can't panic or become flustered - he's always in control of his reactions, clearly at an advantage in every situation from competitive driving to super-villain attack to even high-pressure academic performance.
Most superheroes offer readers power fantasies or sci-fi explorations of what it would be like to possess unprecedented power, but Halcyon is the rare character who possesses a power that seems almost entirely positive. Ambitious and confident, there's no suggestion that Halcyon can't feel pleasure, and Korvac's attack makes it clear how he's managed to live such a successful but dangerous life: as soon as danger rears its head, Halcyon reacts in a clear-headed, logical way.
So, the next time you're imaging what you'd do with Honey Badger's inability to feel pain (which makes her reckless) or Nightcrawler's teleportation (which connects him to the hellish Brimstone Dimension), consider instead what a regular person could do with Halcyon's power to stay cool under duress. Hopefully, it's a power Iron Man can use to stop Korvac achieving godhood - although if he can't, Halcyon is sure to take it all in stride.