Learn Spanish (Latin America): Esa emboscada en el túnel es superdevastadora.

In Spanish, intensifying prefixes like super-, re-, and hiper- are generally attached directly to the word they modify without a space or a hyphen. You only use a space if the prefix modifies a multi-word phrase (like super de moda), and a hyphen if the base word is capitalized or an acronym (like super-OTAN).

Could I use re- or hiper- instead of super- here?

Yes! You could say redevastadora or hiperdevastadora. Super- and re- are extremely common in everyday Latin American Spanish to mean "very" or "extremely." Hiper- works well too, but it sounds slightly more exaggerated, much like saying "hyper-devastating" in English.

Does the prefix super- change if the noun is masculine or plural?

The prefix super- itself never changes, but the adjective it attaches to still must agree with the noun. Because emboscada is feminine and singular, the base adjective is devastadora. If we were talking about masculine plural attacks (ataques), the word would become superdevastadores.

Why do we use es instead of está when describing an event like an ambush?

We use es (from ser) because we are describing an inherent, defining characteristic of the ambush. Even though an ambush is an event that only lasts a short time, being "devastating" is its true nature in this context, not a temporary physical state or a mood.