Just for fun, what would be the least useful super power you could have? It could be one possessed by several superheroes and villains, or one that's not been used.
To start, I'll suggest pre-cognition. While it seems as if it might be nifty to be able to predict the future, the reality--particularly when it comes to comics--is that it's not so great. Either your predictions are 100^& accurate and things are extremely boring, or they aren't and your predictions are unreliable at best.
The only time I've seen pre-cognition used in a way that was effective was with the mutant Negasonic Teenage Warhead, who seems to be able to see a few seconds into the future and thus could use her knowledge to escape an attack.
Outside of Negasonic Teenage Warhead, the only other characters I can think of that possessed this power were Dream Girl and Destiny, one of whom was a walking plot device almost as bad as red kryptonite (of all the Legionnaires, I consider her the most useless), the other of whom's predictions sometimes came true, but frequently in ways that weren't particularly useful to whomever she was working with. Sio that's why I'm suggesting pre-cognition.
What does everyone else think?
Replies
Jeff beat me to it. DAMN YOU JEFF PLACKMEIERRRRR! (Old man shakes fist at sky)
There are lot of options for second place. Maybe Stone Boy, who could become stone -- and immobile. Useless in a fight, and fair game for somebody with a drill or sledge hammer. And I always wondered how he knew when to wake up. Was he conscious throughout?
The Silver Age Angel always seemed useless to me. His power didn't allow him to successfully come to grips with the enemy.
I used to refer to Hawkman and Angel as "flying targets." Angel, especially, seemed to have no purpose outside of skeet shooting.
Still, useless in combat doesn't mean entirely useless. He could deliver packages or mail really well. He'd be an awesome outfielder. He could fan you really well.
I always thought Angel would be great at search and rescue.
Some superheroes have powers like that: not very useful for a supervillain fighter, but potentially useful in some line of work. Being immune to fire wouldn't help you fight the Sandman, but you'd make a great fireman.
Medusa's power wouldn't be useful for much. The comics get around it by ignoring the point that whenever she lifts something she's supporting it through her neck. Also, unless she can extend her hair at will, she shouldn't have much reach.
The stories contrived to make Triplicate Girl's/Duo Damsel's power seem useful, but it's not really for a superhero. I imagine Carggians are in great demand as soldiers.
Hawkman, at least, always had a collection of weapons and gadgets, so he had some sort of offensive capability, plus the occasional new usage of his anti-gravity metal. Poor Angel had nothing.
Captain Comics said:
Also, Hawkman had the Absorbascon, which is actually the most powerful weapon I can imagine (although it wasn't used that way). Later in the Silver Age they established that Katar and Shayera could live in a vacuum for 15 minutes or so, due to some sort of skin coating, which is a pretty awesome super-power, too.
Dave Elyea said: