On the "not useless but amusing" side, here's one I built enough of an actual superhero around that I might consider playing him if I ever get into that kind of RPG.
His basic powerset is your standard speedster, Flash-level and below. The things that make it amusing are the activation conditions and the side effects.
For the activation condition: in order to be able to use his speed, he has to be cursing, swearing, et cetera - the more and worse, the faster he can go. It doesn't deactivate immediately when he stops, but his available speed will fall steadily until he's back to human-normal, unless he charges it back up again by resuming cursing.
I'm not clear whether it activates immediately - including side effects - on a single swear word and ramps up from there (producing a fellow who has to be scrupulously careful to keep his language clean in his ordinary secret-identity life, but has to be able to keep up a constant stream of foul language in his heroic identity), or whether there's no effect until he builds up to a certain minimum level of "charge" (allowing dramatic transformation scenes).
There are two main side effects.
The first is that, when his speed is enhanced above human-normal, he turns a distinct, vivid blue - skin, hair, nails, eyes, teeth, even blood if that becomes applicable.
The second is that, when his available speed rises above human-normal, his clothes fall off - and clothes won't stay on him until he reverts back.
As for his superhero name - let's just say that in the "no effect until it reaches a certain level" activation scenario, his dramatic transformations are referred to as "cursing up a Blue Streak".
His basic powerset is your standard speedster, Flash-level and below. The things that make it amusing are the activation conditions and the side effects.
For the activation condition: in order to be able to use his speed, he has to be cursing, swearing, et cetera - the more and worse, the faster he can go. It doesn't deactivate immediately when he stops, but his available speed will fall steadily until he's back to human-normal, unless he charges it back up again by resuming cursing.
I'm not clear whether it activates immediately - including side effects - on a single swear word and ramps up from there (producing a fellow who has to be scrupulously careful to keep his language clean in his ordinary secret-identity life, but has to be able to keep up a constant stream of foul language in his heroic identity), or whether there's no effect until he builds up to a certain minimum level of "charge" (allowing dramatic transformation scenes).
There are two main side effects.
The first is that, when his speed is enhanced above human-normal, he turns a distinct, vivid blue - skin, hair, nails, eyes, teeth, even blood if that becomes applicable.
The second is that, when his available speed rises above human-normal, his clothes fall off - and clothes won't stay on him until he reverts back.
As for his superhero name - let's just say that in the "no effect until it reaches a certain level" activation scenario, his dramatic transformations are referred to as "cursing up a Blue Streak".