Since the success of the firstX-Menmovie at the turn of the century, interest insuperherofilms has exploded. We’ve since seen the creation of multi-billion dollar franchises like the MCU and the DCU, with films likeThe Dark Knighttrilogyand series likeThe Flashalso receiving tons of critical acclaim amid all the commercial success.
This massive boost in the interest and commercialization of the superhero genre has led to major networks and studios trying to get practically every superhero (and villain) they could onto screens everywhere. While there’s an endless list of characters with super cool powers to choose from, many tend to be a little less inspiring since their powers, or lack of them, are pretty weak or just plain useless.
In homage of some of these characters whose powers are a little dull, or rendered useless for other reasons, here’s a list of the most useless superpowers in film and TV. While there are also a ton of pretty nonsensical and straight-up parody characters out there with silly gifts or abilities (think Meatwad, a wad of meat which can turn into either an igloo or a hot dog), this list will focus on serious and mainstream characters whose abilities are directly useless when you stop to think about them, or rendered useless by other factors.
15Looking Glass
TheWatchmenTV series follows a group of mostly ordinary heroes with varying degrees of special abilities. The show is highly rated since it deals with a complex, layered story that also tackles themes like racism. It’s a member of the DC Universe and is based on a 1980s comic book series from them. While the characters are very popular and cool, its arguable they’re also a little vapid in comparison to the likes of other big name heroes, which is partially the point;Watchmendeconstructs the superhero genre.
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Regardless, Looking Glass is one of these characters. While he has some cool and nuanced traits, his main ability is pretty much the fact that he’s a strong interrogator of suspects. Other than the fact that he uses this skill effectively, there’s nothing that could really set him that far apart from a highly trained detective, or even a lawyer who’s great at breaking down witnesses on the stand.
As a member ofGuardians of the Galaxy, Mantis' popularity, like her teammates', soared off the back of the successful MCU movies that featured them. However, as a superhero, it has to be said, she’s a little lame.
Mantis is an empath, so she can sense peoples' feelings or emotions. She can also induce sleep and disrupt or disorientate her foes by messing with their emotional states. As far as cool superhero powers go, hers has proved pretty toothless since she’s basically just a glorified a sleeping pill.
This one has a long explanation for good reason. Everyone’s favorite southern gal from the X-men, Rogue, probably doesn’t deserve to be on this list for her charm, gorgeous looks, and personality alone. In the comics she’s pretty powerful and has other abilities too. However, inthe X-men filmsshe had a role in, she was depicted as pretty tame and ineffectual in comparison to her comic book counterpart. However, theX-men Animated Seriesdoes capture her true depth perfectly.
Rogue has the ability to absorb a person’s life force (and powers in the case of other mutants) just by touching them - the transference being permanent if she holds on long enough. This left her cutting a pretty bereft figure on film since she longs for human contact, but can’t touch anyone skin-to-skin without killing them. This also made her resent her own powers so much that inX-Men: The Last Stand,she volunteered to cure herself of them. This trope sadly rendered Rogue’s powers effectively useless.
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It’s all a shame really, since, in her classical depictions in comic books, she’s immensely powerful, pretty much invulnerable, and can fly too. She’s also tougher than nails and never one to back down from a fight - no matter how strong the opponent is (as opposed to Anna Paquin’s simpering portrayal of her in the X-men films). In the comic, she once also touched and held onto Carol Danvers (A.K.A Captain Marvel) for so long, she permanently absorbed her strength and ability to fly. So yeah, Rogue is pretty much as strong and powerful asBrie Larson’s characterfrom the MCU, although you’d never know that from how tamely she was depicted in the X-men films.
12Mysterio
Mysterio is a supervillain from the Spiderverse and was brought to the masses via his role inSpider-Man: Far From Home, where he wasplayed by Jake Gyllenhaal. While Mysterio appears to be an immensely powerful adversary (who masquerades as a hero), in truth, he has no real powers and is just a brilliant scientist turned illusionist.
Once his mystique is broken, we find that he’s an ordinary man named Quentin Beck with no super strength or any other abilities. As cool as he might seem, Mysterio is nothing more than a disgruntled former Stark employee
11Callisto
As a fringe member of the X-Universe, Callisto seems cool and edgy but is kind of boring overall. She’s a member of the infamous Morlocks from the comic books and played a minor role inX-men: The Last Standwhere Magneto used her to locate Jean Grey.
The reason she could do this was because her main mutant ability is enhanced senses. While she does also possess enhanced speed, strength, reflexes, and something of a healing factor, let’s face it, most superheroes have those abilities by default, and Callisto’s aren’t that powerful anyway.
He’sthe Avenger everyone loves to hateand likely gets a pretty raw deal most times. That’s probably because of the company he keeps. As a member ofthe original Avengers teamfrom the films, Hawkeye was always likely to be overshadowed by his more illustrious and powerful teammates.
He is a master assassin with some deadly fighting skill and is pretty lethal with his bow and custom arrows. However, when the going gets tough and villains like Thanos turn up, Hawkeye is probably the last Avenger you’d resort to for protection, since his abilities render him practically useless against such formidable foes. He’s so dwarfed by his other teammates' strength and abilities that, inThe Avengers, even his own wife subtly calls him out for not being in their league - ouch!
Another member of the X-Men, Banshee is a mutant that can produce high-pitched supersonic sound waves and psionic vibrations. Since he can control and direct the waves, he can also use their power to fly.
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Sounds pretty cool so far, right? They are cool in a way. However, considering that nothing more than a pair of noise-canceling ear plugs are needed to render his powers ineffectual, suddenly they seem pretty useless.
8Green Arrow
Arrowis an acclaimed show based on a character, also known as Green Arrow, from the DC Universe. As far as comparisons with Marvel go, he’s the closest thing to their version of Hawkeye. He’s pretty much also not much more than a skillful martial artist with a few other cool gadgets, and deadly aim with a bow and arrow. Like Hawkeye, he’s probably the last guy you’d call whenvillains like Darkseidor Doomsday show up.
He is also asuper wealthy superhero, which arguably should put him in the same league as Batman. However, he certainly lacks the iconic status and supercool aura that he has. At least Batman’s shown on many occasions that you don’t need superpowers to cut it with the most powerful heroes and villains around. Since he was even able to put a beat down on the Man of Steel himself, let’s leave The Dark Knight out of this on principle alone.
So this villain from the Spider-Man and Blade Universes is pretty cool and powerful. He’s a vampire, can fly, shape-shift, has super strength and speed, and can be quite a handful. However, despite all this,Morbiushas one weakness that renders all his other abilities useless - super thirst.
Since he’s a vampire, Morbius is always thirsting for blood, which makes him super needy too. He’s also weakened by sunlight and kind of hates himself all the time - not a good look when your universe is filled with super jocks with big energy that make them all pretty confident and full of self-esteem in comparison.
Also a former Morlock, like Callisto, Caliban can sense and track other mutants. In the highly acclaimed filmLoganhe also displayed a penchant for being able to smell illnesses and diseases in people. That’s about it though and since Caliban is also outrageously sensitive to sunlight because of his heightened albinism, he’s pretty easily defeated.
He may have been lower on the list, but he did prove himself pretty useful as a housekeeper inLogan, sohe gets some credit for that. However, since all it takes to defeat him is a lack of sunscreen, his powers are pretty useless and there’s only so much we can defend him.
