From Schlub to Superhero in only 5 gadget purchases

Photo: source. Tell us if it's yours.

Wired's Charlie Sorrel transforms from chairbound technology writer to enterprising hero in just a few hundred (or thousand) dollars.

Some super heroes are born with special powers (Superman), some are transformed by a tragic and improbable scientific accidents (Spiderman, Hulk) and some just kick butt with their amazing gadget hacking skills (Batman, MacGyver). You'll need precisely one guess to know which we prefer.

The piece says it will offer five gadgets, but only four are forthcoming. Suggestions for fifth gadget: high-tech lair, belt of many pouches, and one of those 3.5" floppy disks that lets you hack into any 1990s movie computer.

Brooklyn has a store that can help.

Five Gadgets That Will Make You a Superhero [Wired: Gadget Lab]

[#1 posted by gadfly , May 23, 2008 8:08 AM]

saw this last night and chuckled repeatedly... then got confused because i only counted 4 gadgets too. i think he's counting the grappling hook as 2, since it apparently takes the combination of 2 real-world gadgets to get the capabilities of a standard superhero grappling hook.

[#2 posted by Halloween Jack , May 23, 2008 11:41 AM]

Nice hose there, fella.

[#3 posted by Shazbot , May 23, 2008 3:17 PM]

That picture is of Jack Black's character, portraying Robocop, in the Michel Gondry film "Be Kind, Rewind."

There's your source ;)

[#4 posted by mistercharlie , May 24, 2008 12:11 PM]

OK, I admit it. I miscounted. But the official line is that the fifth gadget was invisibility. OK?