History Main / Superzeroes

** Then there's the Legion of Substitute Heroes Auxiliary, made of those "not yet ready for membership in the Substitute Legion". So far, the only members of this group have been Antennae Lad (who picks up radio signals, not all of them from this universe or time period) and Double Header (whose power is that he has two heads and will eventually split into two full people. [[MultipleHeadCase His heads hate each other]]).

** In the comics, Color Kid becomes useful when Brainiac 5 realizes he can also add color temporarily to translucent or invisible things, and he disables an entire army just by temporarily turning the lens of their eyes black, blinding them for the moment. He is also able to control light frequencies, thereby creating darkness and somehow negate Kryptonite rays back when continuity sometimes treated them as a frequency of light (hence green and red and blue kryptonite) rather than as a form of radioactivity.

* ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2006'' has an episode featuring the Legion of Substitute Heroes, mentioned above. Includes Chlorophyll Kid ([[GreenThumb who can make plants grow to an enormous size]], but cannot control them), Porcupine Pete (who can generate and fire sharp growths from his body, but they're not very strong), Infectious Lass (who can manipulate diseases, but cannot inflict anything worse than a cold), Stone Boy (who can turn into NighInvulnerable stone, but cannot move in this form), and Color Kid (who can make anything change color, and nothing else).

* ''Series/CaptainNice'' was an attempt to cash in on the camp superhero craze of the late 60s. Carter Nash was a mild-mannered mama's boy who discovered a secret formula that, when taken, transformed him in an explosive burst of smoke into Captain Nice. His superpowers included superhuman strength, invulnerability and the ability to fly, but he was nervous about doing the latter as he was afraid of heights, and his natural clumsiness was increased exponentially whenever he drank his super serum.

* The Trapster, despite being a recurring member of the Frightful Four, is considered a laughing stock by everyone. It all started when he first named himself Paste-Pot-Pete. Breaking in Four Freedoms Plaza in the absence of the ComicBook/FantasticFour, he got easily captured by their ''receptionist''.
* ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'' introduced Butterball, a character who is physically invulnerable and has unlimited stamina, but is stuck with the body of an overweight teenager. This meant that he can never grow stronger or faster no matter how much he trains. As insult to injury, his powers also means he has no sense of touch, something he revealed when a teammate offered to have sex with him after she realized that his invulnerability meant that her [[PowerIncontinence limited control]] of her fire powers wouldn't present a risk to him in the middle of a passionate encounter.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[AltText Hi! Someone called for me?]] I'm a superhero who specializes in the study of God's creation of Man in the Book of Genesi-- [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny HOLY SHIT A GIANT BUG!]]-]]]

* UsefulNotes/{{The Golden Age|of Comic Books}} ComicBook/RedTornado can be considered a subversion. While her costume design (long underwear "tights", [[BucketHelmet saucepan "helmet"]] and blanket "cape") are obviously intended as a joke, within the context of her original appearances in Sheldon Meyer's ''Scribbly'', she was a very competent BadassNormal hero(ine), highly effective against the street-level racketeers and hoodlums that were her usual opponents. Indeed, a latter-day ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica adventure has none less than ComicBook/WonderWoman declaring her "a true Amazon."

* Rainbow Raider is a member of ComicBook/TheFlash's RoguesGallery who dates back to the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks. His gimmick? He's a color-blind would-be artist who uses goggles that, somehow, let him shoot colored beams of light with a variety of effects. When originally he introduced he was actually very effective, but he was so ridiculous that even Creator/GeoffJohns, a self-professed Silver Age AscendedFanboy (note: Despite his silver-age silliness he was from the Bronze Age) who brought back and revamped many of the Flash's other rogues from that era (like The Turtle), couldn't think of anything better to do with him than have him be killed off by a new villain for "being so obnoxious".

** Some people who miraculously drew the "Ace" from the Wild Card virus and gained superpowers without being physically mutated are "deuces", who only got weak or useless powers. In universe, the term was coined by Timothy Wiggins, a.k.a. the Catskills resort novelty singer "Mr. Rainbow", who could change his skin color while singing songs like "Yellow Rose of Texas" on a ukelele. [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee While testifying before]] UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy, he answers the question "Are you an Ace?" with "If I'm an Ace, [[{{Pun}} I'd hate to see a deuce]]." [[note]]This doesn't stop Tailgunner Joe's SuperRegistrationAct from putting Wiggins on UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist, and driving him to suicide.[[/note]]

* Seriously, Series/Batman1966 from the '60s TV show, which has become a sort of non-canon AudienceAlienatingEra for the deadly-serious comic books and movies of today. He may be just a BadassNormal, but in truth, Batman's superpower is to have the single greatest example of {{Camp}} ''ever'' and still be taken seriously enough to help [[ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns kick off]] UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.

* Likewise, the Toilenator from ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' is a Super Zero Villain. Subverted a few times, when he snaps and makes it apparent that he can stomp colons just as well as wiping them.

** [=LeBlanc=] lasted all of five seconds. Which should come as no surprise given that he's an ordinary jewel thief being thwarted by competent superheroes. That certainly didn't stop his boasting in prison.
** In the same episode, Control Freak is angry at "not being on the list" of villains to watch out for (even the Puppet King got on it!). But he's most certainly not a super zero!
** The Other Heroes Beast Boy managed to find in "Titans Together" seem to be these, but they manage to win anyway.
** The spin-off ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' turns the main cast into this.

* ''Manga/DoctorSlump'': Suppaman, a pudgy, dumb, incompetent, violent, mean and revengeful version of Franchise/{{Superman}} and also a DirtyCoward with no real superpowers. He claims to be the Defender of Justice but he's just a nuisance at best and outright villainous at worst. In the village there are also other superhero-wannabe like Bubibinman and [[Franchise/{{Tarzan}} Parzan]] who are just as lame as him.

* The ComicBook/{{Great Lakes|Avengers}} Initiative from Franchise/MarvelUniverse. Most of the members have incredibly lame powers, like Mr. Immortal (immortal but has no other superpowers or any real combat training or even invulnerability, he 'dies' easily then comes back), Big Bertha (supermodel who can turn into a [[StoutStrength super-strong but incredibly obese]] version of herself), Doorman (can teleport people... to the other side of a wall he's standing next to, effectively making himself a door), and ComicBook/SquirrelGirl (talks to squirrels). Mind you, Squirrel Girl is either [[KillerRabbit the most dangerous character]] in TheVerse [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation or]] a RunningGag [[MemeticBadass taken too far]]. Or both. To be fair to the team, Big Bertha's power isn't useless, just not a conventional look (and comes with a disturbing side effect in how she has to get rid of the excess weight when she wants to go back to civilian form)-- she is actually really quite strong (at least strong enough to stop a speeding truck with ease), and ImmuneToBullets. And they did genuinely save the universe once, although they did it by convincing the villain to commit suicide.

* UsefulNotes/{{The Golden Age|of Comic Books}} ComicBook/RedTornado can be considered a subversion. While her costume design (long underwear "tights", [[BucketHelmet saucepan "helmet"]] and blanket "cape") are obviously intended as a joke, within the context of her original appearances in Sheldon Meyer's ''Scribbly'', she was a very competent BadassNormal hero(ine), highly effective against the street-level racketeers and hoodlums that were her usual opponents. Indeed, a latter-day ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica adventure has none less than Franchise/WonderWoman declaring her "a true Amazon."

* When Creator/GarthEnnis is the writer, ''all'' superheroes are like this due to his unending dislike of superhero comics. Even Franchise/{{Superman}}, the one superhero he likes, isn't completely immune.

* The Trapster, despite being a recurring member of the Frightful Four, is considered a laughing stock by everyone. It all started when he first named himself Paste-Pot-Pete. Breaking in Four Freedoms Plaza in the absence of the Comicbook/FantasticFour, he got easily captured by their ''receptionist''.

* Rainbow Raider is a member of Franchise/TheFlash's RoguesGallery who dates back to the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks. His gimmick? He's a color-blind would-be artist who uses goggles that, somehow, let him shoot colored beams of light with a variety of effects. When originally he introduced he was actually very effective, but he was so ridiculous that even Creator/GeoffJohns, a self-professed Silver Age AscendedFanboy (note: Despite his silver-age silliness he was from the Bronze Age) who brought back and revamped many of the Flash's other rogues from that era (like The Turtle), couldn't think of anything better to do with him than have him be killed off by a new villain for "being so obnoxious".

* From ''WebAnimation/LesKassos'', The I-Men are trying to audition to be accepted by the Franchise/XMen, but they all have lame costumes, names, and especially powers. Polystiro is a mutant of class 0.5 with control over Styrofoam. Brise can create small gusts of wind (strong enough to close a window). Graviton experiences 25 times Earth's gravity (which makes him barely able to move). Irrito is a ManChild with the most irritating voice in the world. And finally Pr. Genealogio can read in your family tree. The Professor X and Wolverine parodies aren't impressed, although not-Storm gives them points for trying.

* ''Webcomic/KongTower'' features several of these, being about an apartment building specifically for super-powered individuals. PlayedWith in that while there are a few active heroes with generally useless interpretations of common powers (such as a speedster [[RequiredSecondaryPowers who can never get traction]]), the central cast consists of supers who either failed miserably or never even tried being actual heroes, realizing that very [[PsychicPowers low-level telekinesis]], just [[WingedHumanoid having wings]], or [[{{Animesque}} being an Anime character]] do not a superhero make in a world with criminals expecting a Franchise/{{Superman}} {{Expy}}.

** [[https://www.xkcd.com/1394/ This strip]] is about a version of Franchise/{{Superman}} where the adjective "super" is intended to be just as impressive as it is in the astronomical term "supermoon", [[TakeThat meaning not very.]]