The Unbelieveable with Dan Aykroyd (2023-…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Superhumans - full transcript

what you are about to
see is not just unbelievable,

It's also dangerous.

Do not try this at home.

Imagine a suburban mom
with super strength,

More formidable than the
world's strongest man.

- She starts lifting the car.

- It's something you see in a
comic book, it's superhuman.

- Or a man who is
immune to lightning.

- It burns through his shoe,

But twice is
apparently not enough.

Roy struck again.



- How about a mere
mortal who's faster

Than a speeding bullet?

- It's too small and too fast
for the naked eye to see.

- These are the
humans so surprising.

They are truly unbelievable.

It's April, 1942 in shenandoah
national park, virginia

And a violent thunderstorm
has park ranger roy sullivan

Taking refuge in a fire
tower when suddenly

The tower is struck
by lightning.

- After eight lightning
strikes on that tower,

It's now ablaze and
roy has to escape.

Well, on his way down
the tower he's struck.

It burns through his shoe,
yanks off his toenail,

But he lives through it.



- When you are
struck by lightning,

An extremely large amount
of electrical current flows

Through your body to the ground.

This is potentially
lethal, for most people.

the odds of
being struck by lightning

Are just one in
15,300, pretty low.

But ranger roy is about
to defy those odds again.

- He is driving his pickup
truck during an electrical storm

And a tree adjoining
his truck is struck.

The lightning rebounds
into the cab of his truck,

Setting his eyebrows
and hair afire.

- But twice is apparently
not enough for roy.

The third time lightning
bounces off of a transformer

And strikes him, but this
time it leaves its mark.

It's a lichtenberg figure,
so called, across his back,

In the shape of
a lightning bolt.

roy is now tied with
a man named walter summerford

As the only known people
who have been struck

By lightning three times,

For at least two
years that is until-

- Roy struck again.

Fourth time, this time
it sets his hair on fire

And he's got to put that out.

He takes a wet cloth,
pats it on his head,

Puts his hair out.

- So now roy, the most struck
by lightning man on earth,

Travels everywhere with a
can of water at the ready,

Just in case he's struck
and set upon fire again.

unfortunately,
that can of water

Is going to come in handy.

- He's driving down
a mountain road.

He sees evidence of a
lightning storm on the horizon.

He flees in the other direction.

- He starts driving away
as quickly as possible,

A can of water at the ready,

Appearing to be at a safe
distance from the ominous cloud

That he feels is following.

He emerges from his pickup
truck only to be struck again.

Hair on fire, eyebrows on fire,
can of water over the head.

Roy was prepared this time.

- It's the same show
all over and over again.

incredibly, roy
has struck two more times,

The last after he leaves
what already was for him,

A dangerous job.

- When roy finally retires
from the park service,

His seventh and final time
happens while he is at leisure.

He gets struck while fishing.

- Roy, in short,
is a miracle man.

The chance of being
struck by lightning

Seven different times is one
out of 10 to the 28th power.

The chances of being struck
and surviving seven times

Put the odds even

Further off the margins

And it would be
considered impossible,

But for the fact that it
happens to roy sullivan.

- So of course people
want to investigate.

They want to understand if
there's something special

About roy's body or
study the effects

Of all these lightning strikes.

But when a doctor
goes to examine him,

Lightning strikes happen nearby

And the doctor is no
longer interested.

even his own wife
isn't safe around him.

- It's no surprise that
his wife would be dismayed

Because when she's
hanging clothes one day

When he's a hundred
some feet away,

She herself gets
struck by lightning.

surprisingly, she
doesn't file for divorce.

- The way roy chooses to
deal with this attraction

That he has for things
that kill anybody else

Is he decides to own it.

He becomes the guinness
world's record holder

For the number of
lightning strikes

That someone can live through.

He gives lectures,
he has the artifacts

From when he's been struck.

He essentially becomes the
human lightning rod, for real.

- His superhuman ability
is that he shows us

That the word impossible
should be used

Very sparingly, if at all

- Maybe roy's most
superhuman feat after all

Is that he was able
to stay married.

Must be his electric
personality.

But perhaps that
phrase should belong

To a guy in india
known as current mohan.

Kollam, india.

A 7-year-old boy
named rajmohan niar

Is reeling from a
terrible tragedy.

- His mother dies
when he's a child

And he simply can't bear it.

So he attempts to kill himself.

He climbs a utility pole
and grabs a transformer.

but something
surprising happens,

Or should I say doesn't happen.

- He's not electrocuted,
he's not killed.

even more unbelievable,

Mohan's survival
isn't just good luck.

He seems able to absorb
any amount of electricity.

- He can take electrical wire
that's plugged into a wall,

Grab the open end of the wire

And he serves sort of as a

Conduit for the electricity

To run through his body
and to power an appliance.

- Blenders, toasters,
lighting light bulbs.

He runs all of those
things by driving power

Through his body.

- Raj becomes a local celebrity

And he basically spends
his life displaying

These electrical shocks
and running appliances.

but how
is this possible?

- Some tests have been run on
him, including hooking him up

To a multimeter,

Which is going to
measure the amount

Of current going through him

And the amount of electricity

That he can handle is
on average 10 times

What a normal human
being could handle.

- Raj is sort of a mystery.

No one knows if his organs
are wired differently.

If for some reason biologically
he just is resistant

To electricity, we really
cannot ever actually know.

or can mohan's
gift be traced back

To that fateful childhood
day as just another

To that fateful childhood
day as just another

Superhero's origin story.

- In 2020, icelandic strongman,

Hafthor julius bjornsson
sets the world record

For a deadlift when
he hoists 1,105 pounds

Clear off the ground.

Impressive, yes,

Until a suburban mom does
something unbelievable.

April 11th, 1982 starts off
like any other spring day

For angela cavallo inside
her suburban georgia home.

- Angela is in her kitchen

Doing mom stuff

And her son, who's a teenager,

Is out in the garage
working on his chevy impala,

And she hears a crash.

- Angela rushes into the garage,

She sees the impala
on top of her son.

He is lying there,

Pinned under the car, immobile.

Like any mother, she's terrified
and she starts to scream

For help.

that's when
11-year-old johnny edwards,

Shows up, not exactly the
muscle she was looking for.

- Bless this kid's heart.

He recognizes he's probably
not gonna be much help.

He starts running the
neighborhood, knocking on doors,

Trying to get another
adult or two to help,

And then she tries
to move the car.

This is a 3000 pound vehicle.

This is not something
you can easily lift up.

is it possible
that tiny angela,

Can really best a strong man

And lift a 3,300 pound car?

- She starts lifting the car.

- Angela is there alone
holding up this car.

If she lets it go, her
son could be killed.

she holds on for
an agonizing five minutes

And then-

- The kid shows back
up with two adults.

Angela has been holding
the car this whole time.

They managed to get tony
out from under the car.

He is taken to the hospital.

He's released a week
later on easter Sunday.

- Powerlifters in gyms
who train for competition,

Who put themselves
through arduous routines

Are able to lift maybe
a thousand pounds.

What allows a everyday
woman to not only lift

But to hold a 3000 pound
automobile for five minutes?

angela has just
experienced a phenomenon

Called hysterical strength.

Could this superhuman trait
lie dormant within us all?

- Everybody has the experience

Of a trigger of adrenaline

And we know that it rushes

Oxygen and blood to the muscles

And it can improve
physical performance.

But at moments of
life-threatening crisis,

These biochemicals
may actually give us

A spurt of superhuman strength.

- To lift up a vehicle is
something way more superhuman

Than just your regular
adrenaline dump.

That's motherly love
mixed into that.

- Lifting a nearly two-ton car

And holding it for five
minutes, incredible.

It's also a feat so far
beyond the normal limits

Of human strength that a few
doubt angela's story is true.

Luckily, this next strange
event was captured on film.

- It is 1988 and the
television show magnum, p.I.

Is immensely popular
and one of the icons

Of magnum, p.I. Alongside
magnum's ferrari

Is the mcdonnell douglas
little ball helicopter.

- When the helicopter
isn't featured on the show,

It is sometimes used for
commercial tourist flights.

Other times it's used to
help out the local utilities.

So on this day of
Friday the 13th,

The helicopter is flying,
hauling some equipment.

There is an electrical
problem with the flight system

And the helicopter begins
to lilt to one side

And the pilot immediately
decides to land.

but just before
touching down disaster strikes.

- The pilot after the crash
landing is trapped under

This 3000 plus pound copter,

- His leg is stuck,
his leg is stuck.

Which is now taking on water
from the drainage ditch

And is leaking highly
flammable fuel.

- And as it slowly, slowly
starts falling to its side,

The water starts rising.

It's getting pretty dire as
the water fills the cabin.

- The situation might
be fatal were it not

For the appearance on the scene

Of a local vietnam vet
named warren amaral,

Or as he's better known

By his nickname, tiny.

The trapped pilot is
a friend of tiny's,

A fellow vietnam veteran.

Tiny runs up to help.

He witnesses a scene that
is out of a nightmare.

- Initially, tiny goes to
pull the helicopter pilot

From underneath the wreckage
and his leg is stuck.

- Get help. Get help.

- So, he decides to take
another course of action,

Which is lift up this
3000 pound helicopter

And save the pilot, steve.

- Come on.

Come on, steve!

Come on, steve!

Come on, come on.

Help me get his leg
out of underneath the chopper.

Okay, watch your hand.

Get his leg out.

Okay, two legs.

Okay

- They're both vietnam buddies.

They've both been
to combat together.

They share a bond
that your average

Civilian couldn't fathom.

- Alright, it's okay, my man.

Just relax, chill.

- But to be able to lift up
that 3000 pound helicopter

To save steve, it's
absolutely superhuman.

while scientists
understand the concept

Of hysterical strength, they
still don't know exactly how

It's triggered.

- It would be very difficult

To recreate the
situation in a lab

Or to find drugs that
induce that situation

That don't have
catastrophic side effects.

So far we haven't
found a trigger

Other than life
threatening crisis.

- Sounds like something
out of incredible hulk,

Capable of lifting
thousands of pounds.

Capable of lifting
thousands of pounds.

It is something seriously
straight out of a comic book.

- Tales of great warriors
defeating countless enemies

With their razor-sharp
swords are often thought

To be exactly
that, just stories.

But what if there were a
modern samurai so skilled

He'd give those legends
a run for their money.

- Machii is not only
deadly with a sword,

But he demonstrates super
human speed with a sword.

among his
most impressive feats,

Slicing a baseball
flying towards him

At a hundred miles
an hour with ease.

- Now if you ask anybody

Who covers sports,

Hitting a baseball

Is the single most

Difficult thing to do in sports.

- Isao machii was able to
hit it with a samurai sword,

Not a baseball bat
with a big fat barrel,

A piece of steel that
is millimeters thick.

- So how does machii
become the ultimate

21st century samurai?

- Isao machii grows
up in kawanishi,

A part of japan that
has a long, rich history

Of swords fighting, dating
back to the 10th century.

- The samurai tradition no
longer continues in japan,

But there is a
tradition called kendo,

Which is basically the inheritor
of the samurai tradition.

kendo is
the art of fighting

With bamboo swords
developed as a non-lethal

Form of training.

- And this is the practice
in which he trains

And excels starting
at the age of six.

- Then he gives the ancient
practice of tsujigiri a whirl.

- So tsujigiri basically the
idea is you take a tatami mat

And you place it vertically
and you slice through it.

And the reason you
take the tatami mat

Is because it mimics the
texture and the hardness

And the resistance
of a human limb.

- You can imagine these

Tatami mats rolled up

And as soon as you slice it,

You impart a force on it

That's going to
destabilize the tatami mat

And make it fall over.

The quickness and the
precision and the accuracy

Required to do that
is mind blowing.

- So machii sets his first
world record by slicing cleanly

Through the tatami mat
seven times before a tips over.

then in 2007,
machii adds another record.

1000 mat cuts in
just over 36 minutes,

Slicing a full hour
off his previous record

Like a human cuisinart.

- Imagine this master
swordsman makes 1000 cuts,

Effectively severing
1000 limbs in 36 minutes.

It's the stuff of legend
and it's playing out

In the 21st century.

over the next decade,

He goes on to break
six more records,

But they're nothing compared
to what he does in 2013.

- He's going to slice a
pea-sized, a six millimeter

Size pellet in two.

He's going to stand 70
feet away from a bb gun

And slice this tiny little
thing, not just hit it,

But slice completely through it

As it's coming at him
at 200 miles per hour.

at that
speed, a normal human

Wouldn't even be able
to see the pellet

Much less slice it in two.

- I watched this
about five times

'cause I could not believe it.

- It's too small and too fast
for the naked eye to see,

But when you slow down the
footage you see that he does it.

how is this possible?

Well, according to math
and all logic, it's not.

- The normal human reaction time

Is around a quarter of a second,

Which means if you
receive a visual stimuli,

It takes you about a
quarter of a second

Before you're able to
physically respond to it.

In less time than that, the
pellet travels from the gun

To him and it's not just
speed, it's also precision

- Crazier still, he closes
his eyes at the moment,

He cuts the bb out of the air.

That man is not of this earth.

- In machii, we're seeing
a being who surpasses

What we as human beings are
understood to be capable of.

He possesses
superpowers, in fact.

isao machii might be
faster than a speeding bullet,

But there's another
superhuman whose superpowers

Might be even more impressive.

No wonder they call
him the batman.

- Daniel kish may
very well be one

Of the most remarkable
human beings

I've ever come
across in my life.

- Every superhero or every
superhuman has an origin story.

At 13 months old, daniel
is diagnosed with cancer

Of the retina in both
eyes and daniel's eyes

Have to be removed.

- With blind infants,
very often they will clap

Or stomp their feet
or make a noise

And it will elicit a response
from the world around them.

- Very quickly, daniel
develops a very specific sound,

A click that you can make
by pulling your tongue

Off the roof of your mouth.

Just like that.

Thankfully his parents
encourage him to keep doing this

Because they can see that
he's using it as a tool.

it's more
than just a tool.

Daniel is cultivating what
will become his superpower.

- Daniel developed, on
his own, a technique

Known as echolocation,
where you emit a sound

And the sound wave bounces
off of all the objects

In the room and comes
back to your ears.

And different objects
in different rooms

Will have different
sound characteristics

That you can learn.

it's a technique
not often seen in humans.

- So bats use echolocation.

They constantly emit sound waves

And allow those sound waves
to bounce off of trees

And insects, and then they
listen for those reflections

And they use that to
navigate in the night.

Daniel is doing the
exact same thing.

but how exactly does
a human develop this gift?

- The visual cortex is a
big part of our brains.

Without having visual
input that cortex

Is looking for a job.

So in essence,
that visual cortex

Is now gonna be rewired and
his ears become his eyes.

- He is able to not only
tell spatial distance,

He's able to tell what
material something is made of.

If it's concrete, if it's wood.

He can tell if someone
is clothed or not.

the batman
channels his gift

To accomplish something
even more unbelievable.

- He takes his bike and
goes against a brick wall

And first trains himself
to ride in a straight line.

- And then he bikes
to his friend's house

And then a little bit further.

And now he's able to
confidently ride his bike

Through busy streets and
unknown intersections.

- I have two working eyes
and I don't want to ride

A bike around traffic.

He is the modern batman and
he is amazing, inspirational,

He is the modern batman and
he is amazing, inspirational,

And, without
question, superhuman.

When people turn 30,
they often take stock

And try to make
significant life changes.

But how far do most
of us actually go?

In the case of this
next superhuman,

A lot further than
you'd believe,

- Dean karnazes is
out celebrating his

30th birthday with some friends.

Now he's a little bit
bummed about turning 30,

So he gets out of the bar
and he starts running.

I don't know about
you, but when I've done

A ton of tequila shots,
my first instinct

Isn't to start running,
but 10 miles later

The tequila wears off
and he's sober again.

Most of us would've stopped
by now, but he keeps going.

- He ends up running over
30 miles in one night.

30 miles is longer
than a full marathon.

- And the remarkable
thing here is

That dean karnazes was not
a trained marathon runner.

He was not a trained
distance runner.

He had run in high school
but hadn't run in 15 years.

- And he begins to wonder,

What do I have here

That I've been neglecting?

then this real
life energizer bunny

Takes an incredible
leap of faith.

- He decides to quit his
job in corporate marketing

And become a distance runner,
to make this his life.

within three years,

Dean isn't just
running marathons,

He's running a hundred mile
ultra marathons

And winning.

- We can't overstate how
difficult on the body

Ultra distance running is
and the idea that he's able

To withstand these beatings
only having been training

For a few years is
really quite remarkable.

in 2005, dean tests
the limits of human stamina

And endurance, running distances
that sound impossible.

- He runs 350 miles in 81 hours.

- 81 hours straight
without sleep.

That's more than three days.

- The thing is he
didn't stop running

Because he couldn't
keep running physically.

He stopped running because
he couldn't stay awake

For more than three days.

He got sleepy.

and dean's
record setting runs

Are just getting started.

- In 2006 dean runs

50 marathons

In 50 different states

In 50 days,

Culminating in

The new york city marathon.

- He ends up finishing in
three and a half hours,

Which is about an hour faster
than the average finish time.

- 50 marathons, 50 days,
50 states right here.

- Well, one, I wanted to
see if it could be done.

Two. I wanted to see is
this bad for the body,

Good for the body,
neutral for the body.

so how does dean keep on

Going and going and going?

- Lactic acid is a
byproduct of our normal

Metabolic functions.

If you exert yourself too much,

The lactic acid can
build up in your muscles

And this is what
makes them feel sore

After a serious workout.

But dean doesn't feel sore.

- His ability to
essentially metabolize

Lactic acid is better than most.

- Dean estimates that he's
run more than 100,000 miles

Enough to circle the
earth four times,

Almost enough to get
him halfway to the moon.

But while he might be
the ultra marathon man,

Even dean would probably admit
that he's not quite as cool

As the iceman.

- Wim hof is a dutch madman.

He can hold himself
submerged in an ice bath

For hours upon hours.

- Wim hof can hold his
breath for 10 minutes.

For reference, the
average navy seal

Can hold their breath
for three minutes.

- He had the guinness
worlds record

For swimming 188 feet under ice.

he even holds
the guinness world record

For running the fastest half
marathon in ice or snow,

While barefoot.

His time, two hours
and 16 minutes,

Fast enough to make
dean karnazes jealous.

- Taking it to
the other extreme,

He runs a marathon in
namibia in the desert

Without drinking any water.

so is the
iceman truly superhuman?

- Wim hof credits all of this
to trauma suffered at birth.

He was the second
of identical twins

And after his sibling came out,

They found that he
was still in there.

He almost suffocated to death.

By the time he was actually
born, he was purple.

his near
death experience

Puts him on a strange path.

- Later on as a young man,
he sees ice on the river

And he decides I should jump in

And instead of freezing to death

Or even feeling cold, what he
claims is that he feels power.

but how is wim
tapping into this superpower

At will in ways that
defy logic and science?

- Our brains like to
keep us comfortable,

And so anytime we have
exposure to an unpleasant

Or a very painful stimulus,
our brain will release

Its own pleasure
giving chemicals.

Some of these compounds are
known as endocannabinoids,

Which basically make you
feel high and euphoric.

his incredible
ability to unlock

These chemicals allows him
to barely even feel the cold.

- Experts find that his
extremities have more heat

Than they naturally should.

So is he willing his regulatory
system to create heat

Where there isn't or is
he just built differently?

We can't tell.

- The ultimate irony
may be that wim hof

Actually doesn't enjoy
what made him famous.

In a 2022 interview,
he said quote,

In a 2022 interview,
he said quote,

"please don't tell anyone,
but I hate the cold."

- If I asked you how many
windows your house has,

Could you tell me?

Maybe.

How about the house
across the street?

Probably not.

What about that office
building on the way to work?

Not a chance, but what if
I told you there's a man

Who can tell you every
single intricate detail

Of a skyscraper he
has seen only once?

They call him the living camera.

- One day artist steven
wilshire boards a helicopter

And flies around the city of
new york for about 20 minutes.

- After his 20 minute flyover,

He goes into a studio

In brooklyn for five
days with nothing

But a pack of pencils,
an 18-foot-long canvas,

And his memory of the
vision of the city.

when steven emerges,

He's achieved
something that friends

And acquaintances
just can't explain.

He's drawn an exact replica of
the most complicated skyline

On the planet from memory.

- It's not like he
draws just shapes.

It is exactly what
he saw from the air

Down to the number of cables
on the manhattan bridge.

- It is as if he has
taken a photograph,

But it is all lodged
in his memory.

but how does he do it?

His story begins in
london, in the late 1970s.

- Steven wiltshire
was mute as a kid

And when he was three years old,

He was diagnosed with autism.

One of the first
ways he was able

To express himself
was through drawing.

- Steven's parents sent
him to a special school

That is designed for
the learning experience

Of children with autism.

- And this is a place where

His proclivity for drawing

Just flourishes.

- And more and more he's
able to recreate things

That he's only seen
once on a field trip

Or on tv or in a magazine.

He clearly has this incredible
ability to recall things

That he's seen and put
it on paper perfectly.

- So I've got lots
of detail drawings

On the st. Paul's
cathedral there.

- And that was all
just from memory?

- Yeah.

you've probably
heard of photographic memory,

But what steven has
is far more rare.

- One of the consequences
of autism is that areas

Of the brain don't
develop properly.

Yet these are very sophisticated

And computationally
intense parts of the brain.

As a result, certain
people with autism

Develop a type of
neuroplasticity

Where these areas

Of the brain are used in
other and more unique ways.

- And again, it presents
us with the prospect

Of life's power of compensation.

Our neuro systems will
compensate for a difficulty

Or a challenge in one area
by creating exceptional

Ability and capacity in another.

- The new york taxis
are from the memory

Just had in my head.

- On any given day,
I can't find my keys

And steven is able to
recreate an entire city.

while steven
was born with this gift

For 39-year-old derek amato,

All it took was a good
whack to the head.

- It's a normal summer day.

Derek and some friends
are playing football

Around the pool.

Derek dives for a pass.

He lands in the shallow
end of the pool.

His head strikes the bottom.

He suffers a severe concussion.

- He's floating in and
out of consciousness

For the next four
days in a semi-coma.

When he comes out of it, he's
lost a significant amount

Of his hair, a significant
amount of his memories.

But while derek's recovering,
he's at a friend's house

And he's suddenly,
inexorably drawn to a piano.

- Now derek has
played a little guitar,

But he's never
trained on the piano.

- And out of nowhere

He just starts playing

And it's not bad.

In fact, it's quite good.

- He describes actually
seeing black and white bars

In his head, announcing
to him the notes to play.

soon derek surrenders

To this strange new gift.

- If he starts humming a tune,

Derek immediately sees
the sheet music in his head,

Not just for the
main instrument,

But for a whole orchestra,
for percussion and horns

And everything else to
fill out that melody

And overnight becomes a
fully fledged composer.

but what
exactly happened

That fateful day to turn derek

Into an overnight beethoven?

- So one of the hypotheses

Is where the head injury

Inhibits the left hand
side of the brain,

Which is the logical
side of the brain,

Thereby allowing the right
hand side of the brain,

Which is the more
creative side to take over

And to function without
any limitations.

- There's another theory
that says the injury

Can release new
neurotransmitters

That create completely
new pathways in the brain

That allow you to
develop these new skills.

- It's also possible that he
has an extremely rare condition

Called acquired savant syndrome.

There are no more than 30
cases reported in the world.

- In most instances, the new

Ability is something numeric.

Some people have a

Sudden ability to say

What day of the week it

Was on July 15th, 1972.

Other people become really,
really good at math.

whatever
happened in that instant

One thing is certain derek's
life changed forever.

- To this day, he is traveling
the world performing music

For audiences on a global scale.

I don't know if there's a
superhero called savant,

But if there was,
it'd be this guy.

- It's the biggest mystery
we could ever imagine.

I cannot wait to
see what the science

On this learns in the
coming 10, 20, 50 years.

I hope I am around when we
figure the whole puzzle out.

I hope I am around when we
figure the whole puzzle out.

Stral music)
I hope I am around when we
figure the whole puzzle out.

- We have seen humans
with superior reflexes,

Extreme mental fortitude,
unparalleled strength,

Incredible memory, and just
plain, unbelievable talent.

What happens if you combine all
these gifts into one person,

Meet the birdman.

- Wingsuit flying is
about mimicking flight,

But also pushing it to the edge.

- People call it
wingsuit flying,

But let's just be honest.

It's a controlled drop,
that's what it is.

- It's not like a
thing where, like,

On the weekend I'm gonna go

Wingsuit flying or
something like that.

It's like, no,
you either do this

To absolute perfection

Or you die.

in fact, roughly

One in 500 wingsuit jumps

Ends in death.

- Wingsuit flying is no joke.

It is a dangerous sport.

There's been some years where
dozens of people have died.

- Jokke sommer, aka,
the birdman is perhaps

The most talented
wingsuit pilot alive

And the fact that he is still
alive is superhuman in itself.

- Jokke is an adrenaline
junkie from birth.

As a child, jokke loved
snowboarding and launching off

Of big cliffs and jumps just
to get that feeling of air

And that sensation.

- Snowboarding isn't
enough for him.

So now he takes up motocross.

And he's taking
off into the air.

Still not enough.

So now he graduates from
motocross into skydiving.

He's an obsessed skydiver.

- Jokke does 250 skydives
in his first two months.

Two months? It's crazy.

but again, not enough.

Apparently jumping out
of a plane is too tame.

- It is not long before he
is attempting wingsuit flying

And a very specific genre of
that which is proximity flying.

It's an incredibly
dangerous activity

Where you're actually
testing yourself,

How close can I get
to these surfaces?

- Just jumping and
jumping safely is kind

Of considered being
a bit of a wussy.

You have to fly as close
as you can to the rocks,

The cliffs and the
trees of the terrain.

I like watching it from the
safe distance of my couch.

- In 2010, he has his

Closest brush with death

When a wind gust
sends him too close

To the surface he's flying near

And he just barely
adjusts his trajectory

To escape crashing into
these jagged rocks.

at speeds of more
than 120 miles an hour,

Jokke has just
milliseconds to make

Life and death decisions.

- There is a high fatality
rate in this sport.

Jokke has thousands and
thousands of proximity flights

Without incident.

It's as if he's a
bird. He is superhuman.

and when
we thought humans

Couldn't get any more daring,
someone ups the birdman.

- Despite the fact that jokke
sommer is our closest thing

To superman that we
have, somebody is gunning

For his extreme sport throne.

And that guy is luke aikins.

- Luke aikins is nuts.

I mean, what he
pulls off in 2016

Is the ultimate
skydiving commitment.

on July 30th, 2016,

Luke prepares to jump out

Of a plane flying 25,000 feet
above simi valley, california

And land in a net, all
without a parachute.

- My whole life's been
dedicated to skydiving

And pushing the boundaries.

- It's a square net that
stands 200 feet off the ground.

It's a hundred foot
by a hundred feet.

- From five miles
above the earth,

You can't see a 100-by-100 net.

So you literally are
taking a leap of faith.

This is a one and done.

at 5:45 pm luke
jumps, beginning his descent

Towards superhuman
glory or a tragic death.

- There is zero room for
error in a stunt like this.

- By straightening his body
or moving his arm slightly,

He can adjust his trajectory,
but he is hurtling

Through space, which means
that the smallest correction

Can send him miles off course.

- The two companions
that are diving with him

Pull their rip cords,
and now it's just him.

as he nears his
target at 120 miles an hour,

There's one final thing
that he must pull off.

- Just before he hits the net
he has to flip himself over

In order to land
properly so that his back

Doesn't bend the wrong way.

- If he comes straight into it,

The impact will snap
his spine in half.

- For me, it was terrifying
and I still have trouble

Watching it.

That's the new bar.
You can never go back.

- This is a
superhuman achievement

Accomplished by a
normal human being.

And yet you could almost
tear this from a comic book.

It's that incredible.

- Some amongst us push the
limits of what's possible,

Whether it's through
strength, power of the mind,

Pure talent or
unshakeable courage,

All of these super humans
are truly unbelievable.