Superman's laser vision, Cyclops' optic blasts, and the basilisk's killer gaze, all of these may be fictional powers where they emit light, heat, or some other type of energy through their eyes. But there was a theory that dates way back saying our eyes actually do emit "eye beams".
According to the extramission theory, which was developed by such thinkers as Plato, Galen, Euclid, and Ptolemy, our eyes are more than the passive recipients of images. Rather, they send out eye-beams—feelers made of elemental fire that spread, nerve-like, to create our field of vision. These luminous tendrils stream out from our eyes into the world, apprehending objects in their path and relaying back to us their qualities.
(Image credit: Wenceslaus Hollar/Wikimedia Commons)