As Scott explains, Hancock and the Power Rangers pale in comparison to the longevity and adaptive nature of Water Bears.
The adaptable Water Bear.
If I had to choose the next model superhero, I’d pick tardigrades, microscopic animals that go where few animals have gone before. Tardigrades are tiny, but they’re tough. They exist nearly everywhere there is water, or where they can retain some moisture. In fact, right now there are probably some within a few yards of you on mosses and lichens or in the leaf litter. Their damp homes and water-filled bodies give them their common name, water bears.
They look a bit like pudgy gummy bears with four pairs of legs, each tipped with four to eight claws or toes. They can even be red or orange, but they are smaller than a grain of salt, so you really need a microscope to get a good look.
Water bears use their straw-like mouthparts to suck the juices out of algae, bacteria, and sometimes even each other. But the cool thing is that they can withstand some really extreme conditions, including temperatures nearing absolute zero and as high as 304 degrees. They also endure pressures as high as six times that of the deepest ocean trench, and even the vacuum of space.
Although they need water to stay active, they can survive very long periods of drought. They do this by curling into a ball and bringing their metabolisms to a death-like standstill. Just add water and poof! They become active again. One specimen was revived after being found in dried moss stored in a library for 120 years.
I’d say that’s the stuff superheroes are made of, wouldn’t you?
