I'm trying to come up with a power to give my new story's hero. It needs to be something incredibly dangerous and destructive, something that he can do good things with but still carries the inherent risk of causing incredible destruction if used carelessly. Preferably something colorful and flashy so that the public (who aren't aware of the threat he poses) can idolize him kind of like Superman. The best idea I have now is that he can split atoms, causing nuclear explosions. He can control how big the explosions are, but if his concentration lapses even once he could reduce an entire city to ashes. What do you guys think?
Almost any ability can be destructive. Look at what A-Train of The Boys did with his super speed (runs through the girlfriend of the protagonist). Super speed is a serious problem when you think of the environmental effects of something moving at hyper or super sonic speed at ground level. In comics, the character Aurora of Alpha Flight only has normal human strength BUT because of her super speed she was able to punch her victim 1,000 times in less than a minute. The character Juggernaut is indestructible and can not be stopped except by his only will once he starts moving. Imagine him falling asleep on a hill and rolling down, picking up speed before he wakes up, toward a city! Elemental powers are another dangerous set of abilities. Lost of control of fire, cold, wind, water, or earth controlling abilities could wreck havoc on the environment. And then there’s time. Erasing, increasing, or stopping the concept of time is perhaps the most underrated ability. Seeing this happen would amaze anyone. Losing control of it could destroy a planet or a universe.
If you want to destroy a city, a nuclear bomb might be the best tool for the job. If you want to destroy a country, what you need are stupid ideas (which sounds plausible) and the power to persuade people they're true. Just think of conspiracy theories unsupported ideas handed down from parents, as government policies. Your protagonist can have the power to persuade but also the weakness of persuading himself too. He could embark of a political career since anyone who hears him speak will support him. Once he discovers he has this power and is subject to it himself, he realises anything he believes may have been the result of his super-persuasion ability. His task then is to determine fact from fiction so he can use his power responsibly.
The ability to deviate from double-entry accounting. I jest; I would say the most destructive is someone capable of controlling electricity and electric currents. Lightning strikes, ball lightnings, magnetic strikes - these are all derived from the same power. It allows him to fry people alive, set stuff ablaze and cast aside armoured tank formations if so he wishes. To align with your nuclear idea, an electromancer could theoretically unleash an EMP attack. Also, a note on splitting atoms, doing that doesn't necessarily create a nuclear explosion. You'd need a supercritical reaction chain ignited, which requires appropriate fuel and circumstances /as well as/ the initial splitting.
I've always thought the ability to fart any gas at will, complex or simple, could be incredibly powerful. Just think of a few examples; Put out any fire with nitrogen or carbon dioxide, ripen fields of crops with ethylene (to feed starving villages), liven up any party with nitrous oxide (laughing gas). Give the barbecue a boost with a propane/oxygen mix. But what if our hero went rogue and started pumping out mustard gas, hydrogen cyanide or even napalm? What if he covered a city in acetylene and somebody lit a cigarette?... Not so much of a hero now, Mr Trump.
Along the lines of what someone else said, but the art of persuasion feels like it'd be one of the most powerful abilities. The example I have is from Doctor Who. The tenth doctor kind of ruins Harriet Jones as prime minister when she shoots the alien invaders down after they'd resolved the issue peacefully. The doctor says to her assistant, "don't you think she looks tired?" And that is all it took to bring about her downfall. With the power of persuasion, your character could get others to do a majority of the work for him, convincing then it's for the greater good of the world and so on. Other than that, being indestructible is pretty solid, too. Creative ways to contain the problem could be something like they encase the hero in concrete and only feed him the bare minimum to keep him alive.
That’s a pretty deep story concept. Not your typical action comic but more along the lines of a sci-fi thriller. I could read that.
Electro-magnetic powers can also play havoc with all electronic systems. In several early stories, X-Men’s Storm would unconsciously change the weather around her because of her emotions. Imagine the character thinking about something that intensely changed their emotions and they caused a localized EMP or magnetized/demagnetized nearby objectives. Imagine pacemakers and hearing aids shutting off or exploding, trains stopping, planes dropping from the air, and cars on the highway losing poster built not momentum.
First, I’ll say that characters like this usually turn me off. Not a fan of the slapstick humor in my comics or anime, but I’m always up for a well-written story. Like Aled’s idea, this could play well as a sci-fi suspense with a very dramatic ending.
One of the main characters of one of my WIPs can control water, and she'd be the biggest threat within the power system if she ever went bad. Her ability lets her control the water in the ocean, the sewers, and even the more mundane things, like all of the blood in any living creature, or the water in any plant life around her. Also, the ability to control darkness can really be stretched if you think about it. There's pretty much minuscule holes in almost everything, yeah? I think if someone could control darkness, and was powerful enough, they might be able to destroy a planet from within.
I think any person with elemental powers can be dangerous, and the more control they gain or more their power increases, the more dangerous they become. I think the ability to manipulate shadows/darkness is underrated. I’m trying to appreciate Naruto (but anyway), they have a character/clan that can control people by merging with their shadows. Expanding that ability to be able to merge with shadows (like the X-Men’s Nightcrawler), or eliminate/increase shadows can be a very powerful ability. I can imaging someone being chased and then either hide themselves in the shadows or cover their attacker in darkness and they run into something (like traffic or a wall).
I don't think it matters so much what the power is so much as the degree of omnipotence they have with the power. Elsa from Frozen is kind of a reverse of what you're looking for, in that the populace are first introduced to the destructive side of her power, so they fear her. Once they see her in control and the beauty she can make they accept her. Her power is just ice magic, but she has no apparent limit. She can create giant ice palaces from nothing, alongside permanent magical blizzards. It is this lack of limits that really create the potential for uncontrollable destruction. So think about how bad something could become when taken to the extreme. For example the ability to turn objects into gold becomes a personal curse if it's anything one touches. But what if it was by will instead, anything they want to become gold, does so. If this is confined to things like pond stones that can lead to increased wealth (though they'll have to be careful not to flood the market, else gold will lose its value). But if they turn vengeful or lose control suddenly whole towns are turned to solid gold including all the people who live in them.
Something that is a curse such as Cyclops of the X-Men's destructive eye beams. Everytime he opens his eyes without his visor on, ZAP! Whatever he's looking at is gone. That would be hellva scary. Can't do anything that requires sight like stare at a beautiful woman, enjoy a sunrise/sunset because his eyes will destroy whatever is in the path of his sight and behind it. Also in the X-Men universe, there was a character that was spreading disease, uncontrollably.....so people around him were getting the plague, chorlea, German mealses, small pox.....whatever. He had no control over it at all. Looking at the covid-19 situation, that would be a hellva scary power. I guess if it could be controlled, it does have defensive applications for him....attack him? Drop dead! Maybe if he worked for the Space Force, he could be the first line of defense against aliens if they were hostile?
You could try something similar to The Butterfly effect movie. You can give the character the ability summon random items and/or people from the past to help him/her in the current situation. However by taking a specific item they can also risk changing the present.
In terms of destructive villains/heroes out there in the comics universe there are: (Not mentioning people already mentioned above) Magneto - controls metal, X-Men, Marvel Universe Havok - nuclear blasts, X-Men, Marvel Universe Captain Atom - DC Universe Firestorm - DC Universe For purely physical power there would be creatures like Solomon Grundy (DC Universe) or The Hulk (Marvel Universe) There are people like The Micmic (X-Men, Marvel Universe) and the Parasite (DC Universe) that could leech the heroes powers away....this could be a problem because they wouldn't necessary have the ability to control the powers. Don't know if there is an equalivant in the DC universe but Marvel comics did have the "New Universe" titles which did play with giving ordinary people abilities, especially in the D.P. 7 series (displaced paranormal 7) and I remember one guy that was basically the iceman - he was walking around in the comic in the USA south in a winter parka because he was always cold. There was a bit of a story line where he wanted to flirt with a girl but she couldn't bear to be near him because he would freeze anyone that got close. There was another guy that had exploding blisters/pimples which he could use to hurt people, possibly kill them but then he would collapse in pain after making his blisters explode. I saw the slapstick humour there but the writer(s) didn't go in that direction. It was a very well developed world and the powers were dealt with in realistic terms but the series died out from lack of sales. Sigh. I enjoyed it.
I read a book recently where the guy could absorb all forms of energy, then deal whatever he'd absorbed back out. Electric, kinetic, fire, even sound. He could absorb other superheros powers if they were energy-based. He once absorbed an entire forest fire and used it to deal damage. He could also absorb nuclear explosions and other types of blasts. He was a pretty cool character, because he always had to be careful that he didn't go too far.
Hm. Tricky part is that he's supposed to be a well-respected hero. Those usually have "heroic" power sets, with abilities that tend to be straightforward, physical, dramatic and at least not entirely offensive. More iconic heroes also tend to have fairly balanced powers. So, superhuman strength, speed, invulnerability, flight and some more esoteric or niché complimentary powers. Villains will tend to have more offensive, destructive and - at least superficially - dangerous powers. In this case, creating explosions seems more like a villain type ability: You basically can't use that for much more than destroying stuff. That doesn't mean your guy couldn't be a hero, but I'd imagine he'd struggle to maintain a wholesome public image as a defender of good is the same way, say, Wolverine might. (To paraphrase a commentator whose name I have forgotten: "Wolverine's powers are carrying knives wherever he goes and being impossible to kill. That's not a super hero, that's a slasher movie villain.") Your best bet is probably going for a very general, versatile power that can manifest as sub-abilities suiting the general perception of a superhero, but also has the potential to affect his surroundings in a disastrous way. Options include but are not limited to: -Psychic powers that are difficult to control and/or have dangerous side-effects. -Elemental powers, dito. -Energy manipulation, dito. -Messing with gravity while not fully realizing the risks of doing so. -Messing with space-time, dito. -Messing with reality, dito. -Just giving him Superman-type powers but with some hidden catch. Say, perhaps he generates too much energy and might suddenly explode? -He seems to have normal super powers but they're actually something else. Like, I dunno, maybe he draws power from hell and it's turning him into a demon or something. If you're going for a Superman-style heroic icon, I would avoid overly specialized powers a la X-men or the Fantastic Four. Those generally work best for characters who were intended to be part of a team from the beginning, making up for individual specialization. I am actually reminded of Mob Psycho 100, which you might want to check out if you're not familiar. It's about a kid with unimaginable psychic powers which he is very reluctant to ever use since he fears losing control and hurting others. However, this has made him repress his emotions and once they reach a breaking point he manifests his powers is very dramatic ways. It's sorta like the opposite of what you are trying to set up. Notably, psychics in this setting tend to simulate superhuman strength, speed and durability with telekinesis, so the battles are very superhero-esque. (This becomes especially pronounced in the second season.) It's sort of a sister series to One Punch Man by the same creator, and deals with somewhat similar themes and motifs. Though I think Mob Psycho 100 has better (if still rather slow burn) character development.
I think time travelling might be the meanest of them all if used incorrectly even with good intentions. But this is a genre on its' own. Might not be what you are looking for.
I think that as a general rule of thumb, the subject of time travel should probably be avoided unless you actually plan on writing a story about time travel.
Mind-reading/mind control. Akin to the power of persuasion, as mentioned by others. Okay, it's not flashy, but it certainly would stop any criminal in his/her tracks, if the superhero wanted to. (Could also make things a lot worse, unless consequences are dealt with as well.) To make it more difficult (and to create a better story, where things aren't too easy for the superhero) maybe set up conditions that must exist before the superhero can use this power. Maybe he/she needs to be face-to-face with the person whose mind he/she is taking over. This might make it difficult ...especially if that's the only superpower this person has. The criminal figures this out, and finds ways to physically prevent this superhero from facing him. It would be too easy if the superhero was able to change 'everybody's' mind at one time. So maybe make it possible only as a one-on-one. This would mean the superhero would need to get to the bottom of any situation, and correctly target the one responsible for it.
Compulsion. He could compel people to be good, to do good. Except when he's asleep. Maybe the things he dreams of are violent, and he isn't aware it's happening. He could easily show off the skill during negotiations with a volatile person. You could even explore his psyche, how he becomes more and more self-absorbed because he can have anything he wants. Until he uses compulsion to do the worst thing imaginably possible.
There are a few energy absorbing characters in comics. The X-Men’s Bishop can absorb energy’s and fire it back at someone. One of their villains, Sebastian Shaw, can absorb energy (including kinetic), which makes him physically stronger. DC’s Captain Atom is another character who can absorb energy.
Not sure who made the ‘Wolverine’ comment about carrying knives and impossible to kills but back off! (Just kidding). I hadn’t thought about it before but that might be a great story to put Wolverine in a dark story. Mob Psycho 100 is typical of many manga/anime characters. Like Akira, the powers are an uncanny telekinetic ability that gives the character immense physical powers as well. After seeing the clip of MP100, I’ll definitely check it out.
The best thinking outside the box superpower I ever saw was the ability to control bugs. It's not flashy but a smart/creative character can do quite a bit with it. This isn't my story(I wish I was this good a writer). https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ Think insects are a lame power? How many black widow spiders/brown recluse spiders are in an average city? Think what a swarm of those could do. Or a swarm of bees/hornets/killer bees/bullet ants. Can use a swarm to move/fly/create doppleganger/look and listen through their eyes and ears/use insects to track others within limited radius of her/ect.
Fair warning, that clip may be a bit misleading in retrospect. The fights are sorta like that, but the rest is... kinda weird. Like, don't go into it expecting your standard hot-blooded shonen adventure, at least not until the later story arcs get going. Also, the opening sequence is a damn acid trip. So, be prepared for that.
