Batman is a unique superhero in that he has no actual ‘powers’ to speak of. Unlike Superman or Spider-Man, Batman can’t lift cars over his head, dodge bullets or run faster than a speeding locomotive. Instead, Batman relies on both his skills as a martial artist and detective and his array of gadgets, weapons, tools and devices. Batman’s Deus-Ex Machina of a utility belt has gotten him out of countless scrapes and make many of us wonder if we could perhaps pull off some feats of super-heroics ourselves.

And in today’s high-tech world of exciting new devices and gizmos it might just be more possible than you previously thought. We finally live in a time when superhero gadgets are close to being real. Here are five of the most deadly and amazing…

Grapple Gun

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyle_slushey_is_awesome/4634456534/

One of the coolest superhero gadgets of all has surely got to be the grapple gun which will allow the user to fire at a wall and then climb their way up. Such a device exists and is called the T-PLS (Tactical Pneumatic Launch System). That’s a pneumatically powered ‘tactical line’ launcher that was developed for the US army and that’s capable of attaching lines to all kinds of surfaces for your to rappel across. This thing is also mighty dangerous as you might imagine.

Robotic Attack Dog

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreywarren/2594850421/

Speaking of the military, how do you like the sounds of your own robotic attack dog? While there’s nothing that quite fits that bill yet, the ‘BigDog’ cargo carrier shows that it’s certainly possible. What is it? A robot that walks on all fours like a dog and is capable of carrying heavy loads of cargo through a range of terrain. In fact the algorithms that control the legs are so clever that you can even kick the BigDog in the side and it will stumble to catch its balance again. Seeing as this thing is also generally stacked to the brim with weapons generally, it wouldn’t take much extra coding to turn it into a seriously deadly device.

Jetpack

The ending of Kick-Ass shows us just how deadly a jetpack can be when in the right (wrong?) hands, and prior to that we had already seen Sean Connery flying around in one as James Bond. But are they real?

Well the answer is yes and no. Yes jetpacks are real, but no they won’t turn you into much of a superhero. The reason for this is that the jetpacks we have today are only capable of letting you fly for up to a few minutes at a time before they run out of fuel and you plummet back down to Earth. That said though, various militaries have been researching the use of jetpacks as a way to enable ‘super jumping’. With a quick burst of power a ‘jump belt’ could help to launch you off the ground and then slow your decent – and you’d get hundreds of jumps before you potentially ran out of juice too.

Tramp-It Jump Shoes

Head on over to Firebox and you can land yourself a pair of ‘Tramp-It Jump Shoes’ which will give you the ability to run up to 30% faster than normal. That won’t quite turn you into the Flash, but it’s still a big speed boost and could certainly be useful in a bind…

Taser Phone

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In Bond films and superhero comics alike, there is a fascination with weapons disguised as everyday objects. If that floats your boat, then you’ll love the idea of a taser disguised as a mobile phone. In fact you can even get additional hardware that will turn your phone into a dangerous weapon – as demoed at CES this year in the form of an attachment that can turn your phone into a taser! That ought to help you settle those Android vs iPhone debates once and for all…

So there you go: using technology that already exists you can run super-fast, jump over buildings, fire grappling hooks, command robotic attack dogs and then take out the bad guys with your smartphone. I recommend however, that you do not…

Author Bio:

Shruti Vaghe, the author of this post, is a freelance blogger who is currently writing for Yucaipa Trailers, well-known dealers of motorcycle trailers. She is passionate about cycling and is always looking to help amateur riders. You can follow her on Twitter @ShrutiVaghe.