Metahuman

Metahuman is a term, coined by the fictitious alien Dominators (in DC Comics' Invasion! miniseries), used to describe any human being with what are commonly described as "super powers". The justification for this alternate phrase is that "super" implies a value judgement – is super-strength somehow "better" than normal strength? Moreover, it implies that the ability is an enhanced version of a normal human ability – by which definition, telekinesis (for example), which is not possessed by normal humans, is not a superpower. These powers are referred to as metahuman abilities. The more common term for metahuman is superhuman.

A common rule in some fandom is that Marvel has mutants, while DC has metahumans.

The prefix "meta", in this context, simply means "beyond" – as in "metastable", which is beyond regular stability and ready to collapse at the slightest disruption, or "metamorphosis", which is the state of going beyond a single shape.

In Marvel Comics, metahuman is a term used in the Marvel Universe to describe an attribute of a character that is highly superhuman. Enhanced human refers to a range that is on the low end of superhuman. For instance, an enhanced regenerative healing factor would enable a character to heal at a rate far greater than an ordinary human by a factor of 3 to 5. A superhuman regenerative healing factor would enable a character to recover by a factor greater than 20, and would allow the character to regrow tissue such as eyes and brain matter, but not organs or limbs. A metahuman regenerative healing factor would allow a character to recover from disease or injuries at a rate of 40 to 60 times greater than an ordinary human, and such a character could regrow organs and limbs.

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