Mundane Utility / Comic Books

Redefining "razor burn".

Several superheroes have figured out that cleaning under large items of furniture is easier when you can pick them up with one hand.

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The DCU

• Animal Man: In Animal Man (2011), Animal Man often uses his power to channel animal abilities for mundane things. In the first issue, he comes home late, so he takes on the weight of a bumblebee so his footsteps won't wake his kids up, then the napping ability of a cat to get to sleep quickly. He also uses it to make a good living as a movie stuntman (although he doesn't usually get too showy with it, because that would put the special effects people out of work and their union would refuse to work on any film that Baker was involved with.)
• Batman:
  • Batgirl (2000): Cassandra Cain befriends an Indian superhero named Aruna who uses her shapeshifting and martial arts abilities to make a living as a stunt double.
  • In The Attack of the Annihilator, Supergirl uses her super-strength, super-speed and heat vision to build a secret garage for Batgirl's Batcycle.
  • Robin (1993): In issue 163, Tim Drake thinks; "I wonder if any flying superheroes ever thought to moonlight as sky traffic reporters. Be a good way to make some extra dough."
• The Flash:
  • An issue had Wally West musing on a particular superspeed move that his uncle Barry Allen would do... spinning his hand at high speed to create a little wind tunnel. Wally noted that this was weak enough that Barry primarily used it to catch falling curtain rods from across the room. Wally himself was once shown using this maneuver to catch a bee that was flying near his girlfriend.
  • Both Wally and Superman also like to pull the "Honey, I brought home Chinese takeout! From China!" thing.
  • After getting married and moving to a new house he got impatient and unpacked everything in an instant. His wife Linda was not pleased with the results: "Books do not go under the sink!"
  • There was also that one comic where he was using it to do his Christmas shopping.
  • Yet another issue had Wally doing the dishes in seconds. Again, Linda was displeased because she wanted to spend the time actually having a conversation with him while they did chores.
  • When Jay Garrick, the first Flash, got his powers, nearly the first thing he used them for was to save his girlfriend a trip to the library.
  • The Chunk, one of the Flash's supporting cast in the '90s, was a large man whose internal organs had been replaced by a portal to another dimension. He needed to send things through the portal to "feed" himself, but he could also use it as a storage facility; when the Flash moved into a large house he'd inherited, Chunk helped him move by sucking up all his furniture and spitting it back out at the new place.
  • Bart Allen uses his powers to get away with just about anything possible (e.g. multitasking video gaming, eating and/or chores); part of the reason he was sent to live with Max Mercury is so that he could be trained not to do this as a reflexive reaction. At one point, he dealt with a library research assignment on France by running to Paris.
• Green Lantern:
  • One of the (many) things that pissed Hal Jordan off about Guy Gardner was Guy's habit of using his ring (a weapon limited only by the will and creativity of the user) to do utterly mundane things like open beers and change the TV channel.
  • A story arc with Kyle Rayner showed that when he first became Ion, he not only used his power to help stop civil wars on separate planets and cure world hunger, but also unlock creative portions of his brain so he could work faster on his comic strip (Kyle otherwise never uses his ring to help his art).
  • Kyle did however outright abuse the power of his ring several times, like using it to take out the trash while he was busy working on something else, or making a spare key when he forgot his.
  • Soranik Natu only accepted the Green Lantern Ring — thanks to Sinestro's tenure as planetary dictator, the rings were considered evil weapons of terror on Korugar at the time — because she was desperately trying to save someone's life, and she lacked the medical equipment needed for treatment. She used the ring to construct the sophisticated equipment needed to save her patient's life.
  • Green Lanterns: Issue #7 features Simon and Jessica using their Power Rings to help speed up the process of making ma'amoul for Halloween.
• One-Star Squadron: The series is about an agency made up of low-powered superheroes seeking to use their abilities to survive in a gig economy. In the series, Heckler has managed to carve out a niche for himself by using his ability to provoke and annoy people to become a successful telemarketer.
• Shazam!:
  • Billy Batson turned into Captain Marvel (with casual clothing) and posed as his own father to get an apartment. Captain Marvel can also use his lightning bolt to power up machinery, act as a defibrillator, etc.
  • In a subversion, Billy turned into Captain Marvel to use the Wisdom of Solomon to cheat on a test. As Captain Marvel, he was too moral to go through with it.
  • After gaining his powers in the New 52 reboot, one of the very first things that Billy does as Captain Marvel is buy beer for himself and Freddy. They didn't like how it tastes.
  • Freddy himself often averts this, particularly in the original Fawcett run, by walking considerable distances on his crutch, sometimes for hours, when he could just transform and fly the same distance in seconds.
• Superman:
  • Superman is sometimes seen using his heat-vision to shave. Then again a single one of his hairs can hold a ton of weight comfortably, so it's not like he could just use a razor.
  • Forgetting that he had lost his heat-vision, he accidentally tried using his short-lived electrical powers to shave, with...unexpected results.
  • In Superboy (1949), the Teen of Steel constantly used his powers to help his parents around the house, the farm and the store. In #10 he holds up a piano so Martha can sweep under it.
  • In Superboy 1980 #6, Clark scrubs, washes and dries his family's dinner plates at super-speed.
  • In the epilogue to the graphic novel Kingdom Come, there's a nice bit with Superman using his heat vision to "fix" Bruce Wayne's underdone steak.
  • Just after Lois and Clark got married in the comics they were moving into their new apartment and Lois was taking advantage of hubby's ability to pick up the sofa with one hand. "How about against that wall, no that wall, maybe there?"
  • The flip side appeared in another issue soon after Lois and Clark married: Lois is inconvenienced when making dinner because Clark has no oven mitts— he's never needed them. Becomes a Brick Joke a couple of years later, when during a storyline that had him lose his powers when not in costume, he burned his hands taking something out of the oven, due to forgetting the earlier conversation with Lois. Also, having to shave with a razor for the first time, he nicked himself at several places and had to show up at work with bits of toilet paper on the wounds.
  • The Silver Age of Comic Books basically turned him into a full-bore doormat with this; flying dinosaur skeletons into the Metropolis Museum (with a specially-designed removable roof, no less!), smoothing out a ship's transport for Lois Lane by lifting it over his head...
  • In a Silver Age crossover story with Batman, he cleaned up a spill of syrup caused by Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite by hovering upside-down and spinning to "use his steel-strong hair as a mop". He does at least acknowledge that it looks silly.
  • In Batman: No Man's Land, Superman lands in Gotham as Clark Kent and uses his powers in a mundane way to help people. He uses his X-Ray vision to look inside seeds and see how they're progressing (he uses his pocket knife to split the seed open and give the sprout some help) and moves clouds over Gotham to get some water on the plants.
  • In Nightwing: Year One, Clark uses his heat vision to heat up tea.
  • In Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, Superman uses his photographic memory to reassemble a computer at Super-Speed, and Spider-Man makes a sling using his webbing.
  • The Jungle Line: After overcoming his illness and getting his powers back, Superman shaves his stubble by bouncing his heat vision off a rearview mirror.
  • The Supergirl From Krypton (1959): After being dumped in the Midvale Orphanage, Linda Lee is assigned one single bedroom. Unfortunately, it is a messy, dusty room. Fortunately, she can tidy it up quickly thanks to her powers: She bends her cot's twisted iron leg straight, blows the dust bunnies out of her window and even fixes her broken mirror by using her heat vision to fuse the cracks into a smooth surface.
    Linda Lee: "Super-Breath is handy, too, to dust out my room in one big blow!"
  • A Mind-Switch in Time:
    • When one girder gets loose and falls, Superboy catches it, tosses it back, and uses his super-breath and heat vision to weld it in place.
    • Later he stops one car, X-Rays the vehicle and angrily suggests the driver to visit a mechanic and get the brakes repaired.
  • Supergirl has sometimes used her heat vision to roast marshmallows and her Super-Speed to tidy an apartment (as seen in a flashback during the storyline Red Daughter of Krypton).
  • Subverted in Supergirl (Rebirth). Kara wants to use her Super-Speed to rebuild the wrecked base of the DEO, but her foster mother suggests that she first needs to learn how non-powered people deal with disasters, so she helps out without using her powers for a bit.
  • In Supergirl (1972) #7, Linda stumbles upon Zatanna's frozen body. She wraps her cape around the magician girl and uses her heat beams to warm up her cape like an electric blanket and revive Zatanna.
  • In Supergirl (1982) issue #13, Supergirl's adoptive father has trouble lighting his pipe, so his daughter helps him out with a burst of heat vision.
  • In Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, Linda uses her powers to such things like reheat her lunch (sadly she got it burned) and to keep a tub of ice cream cold.
  • In Bizarrogirl, Kara floats up◊ to her bedroom's damaged ceiling to paint it white.
  • Power Girl has been seen using her heat vision to shave her legs. Since she is nigh invulnerable, her options are limited.
  • She has also used her Eye Beams to tease her cat as one would use a laser pointer.
  • At the start of The Unknown Supergirl, Linda uses her super-speed to fix a carnival display made by the Orphanage's kids which had been ruined by a windstorm. Later, As cleaning her home, Linda ponders it would be easier and quicker if her parents were aware of her secret identity, since she would use her heat vision to dry dishes instantly or would literally blow the dust out of the place.
    Linda Danvers: It's maddening to have to wipe these dishes so slowly! Actually, I could dry them in an instant, with my heat vision!
  • In Strangers at the Heart's Core, Linda Danvers uses her Super-Speed to clean out her office and catch up on her work within seconds before taking her leave of absence.
  • The Untold Story of Argo City: When Edna Danvers loses her wedding ring, her daughter Linda's X-Ray vision finds it stuck into the drain of the kitchen sink. Then Linda uses her heat vision to cut the pipe and welding it back together after retrieving the ring.
    Linda: My X-Ray vision has located the wedding ring you lost, mother! It must have slipped from your finger into the drain of the kitchen sink!
  • In How Luthor Met Superboy, Superboy uses his powers to build an experimental laboratory for his new friend using rubbish from a junk yard.
  • In The Girl with the X-Ray Mind:
    • When Supergirl sees a bridge about to collapse, she flies beneath the archway, holds it upwards to stop it from falling down, and uses her heat vision to repair the broken beams.
      Supergirl: Relax, folks! I'll have this bridge fixed in a super-jiffy! I'll use my heat-vision to re-weld and strengthen the old steel beams!
    • Since Lena's application for a job is rejected by the FBI on grounds of her having no past, Supergirl decides to find out the truth about Lena's family by going back in time.
  • The Last Days of Superman: One of the items on Superman's "Things to Do Before My Quickly-Approaching Death" list is to dig a system of canals for irrigating desert lands. However, he becomes too weakened to overtake the task, so it is Supergirl who carries out the project.
  • The Strange Revenge of Lena Luthor: When a saboteur blows up a railway, the Girl of Steel fills up the hole with Super-Breath and then melts and squeezes the rails back into shape.
  • In Must There Be a Superman?, Kal-El uses his powers to rebuild a village destroyed by an earthquake.
    Superman: How can I tell them now that they must be self-sufficient when I have to rebuild their homes for them?
  • In Supergirl (1984), the witch Selena uses her fire-summoning power to light up her ex-partner Nigel's cigarette.
  • The Death of Luthor: Linda uses her Super-Breath to prevent a soup pot from boling over.
    Linda Danvers: (thinking) Oh-Oh! The soup pot's boiling over and will scald mother! I'll use my frigid super-breath...! There! My super-cold breath frove the overflowing soup before it could make a mess!
  • The Condemned Legionnaires: Lightning Lass uses her lightning bolts to power up a machine as the generator is getting repaired.
    Technician: "By radiating lightning into the high-tension wires, [Lightning Lass]'s providing powerful electric current until we repair the generator that broke down."
  • "Supergirl's Big Brother": At the beginning, Linda Danvers is cleaning her house at super-speed, lifting easily a piano with one hand to vacuum the floor below the furniture.
  • "The Super-Steed of Steel": In gratitude for looking after Comet when he was amnesiac, Supergirl and her Super-horse plough Bonnie's family's entire farmland within seconds thanks to their super-speed.
  • DC Retroactive Superman: In "The 70s" issue, Superman uses his strength, speed and heat vision to repair a wall which was blown up by the Master Jailer.
  • "The Super Dog from Krypton": Superboy fixes a door with some old boards and nails, using his fist to hammer the latters into the formers.
  • "The Phantom Superboy": Jonathan Kent has too much milk and is lacking in butter, so Clark whips his father's milk in three cans at super-speed, transforming it into butter within a few seconds.
  • "Fate Is The Killer": When a shipping line's container breaks up offshore, Superman flies the goods to Metropolis Bay personally.
  • Superboy (1994): Kon uses his telekinesis to open his locker and fly to school, it helps that he has no secret identity so he's free to show off without worrying about revealing one.
• Super Young Team: Well Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash has been known to use his super speed to tear up the dance floor.
• Watchmen: Doctor Manhattan constantly uses his god-like powers in the laboratory, and he creates duplicates so he can *ahem* lavish attention on Laurie while working on an experiment. She actually gets pissed about that, both because he didn't ask (it's implied they've done this before) and because he was working while they were making love.
• Wonder Woman Vol. 1: In the Golden Age Paula invented a Do-Anything Robot she terms a Space Transformer which can create Hard Light constructs, teleport people throughout the solar system, time travel and which she also uses to make new outfits.
• Zatanna: Zatanna and her cousin Zachary Zatara often use their awesome magical powers for utterly mundane tasks, such as giving their magic shows that extra bit of dazzle. Zatarra also uses his powers to summon free pizza. In one scene he used his magic to levitate a slice of pizza to his hand even though the box was all of five feet away.
  • If your audience knows that your stage magic is powered by real magic, does that count as revealing the secret of how it's done?
    • In one episode of Justice League and in several comic books, it's stated that her act is all regular stage magic, except for the last trick, which she throws in to give them their money's worth.

Marvel Universe

• The Avengers: The villain Taskmaster has photographic reflexes and can mimic any motion he sees. He uses this to copy his opponents' fighting styles, learn martial arts by watching movies, and also improve his golf swing and learn to ski from the winter Olympics. In high school, he became a star quarterback after watching one pro football game. And thanks to being an Iron Chef fan, he's also an excellent cook.
• Avengers: The Initiative: Professor Erskine, the scientist who created the Super Serum that empowered Steve Rogers, had also created an exercise and diet regimen that could allow a human to become a Super-Soldier naturally, though the military rejected it because it would take a lifetime of dedication and they wanted a quick fix. Erskine's grandson would use the research to start his own organic food business. He also put his own son Michael through the diet and exercise regimen.
• Captain Britain: Mad Jim Jaspers once lit his ever-present cigarette with a fireball during his reign of terror.
  • In an earlier issue, he used his reality-warping powers to liven up a particularly dull party by changing the wine from white to red.
• Loki: Young Loki repeatedly used their magic to move their Manhattan apartment in Loki: Agent of Asgard. Why go through all the trouble of moving if you can bring the whole thing, walls and all?
• Spider-Man: Spider-Man's'' webbing. Used for his civilian career AND a bit of kink with the wife!
  • He's also used his super strength to move furniture while helping MJ redecorate.
  • Don't forget him using his powers to deliver pizzas.
  • One issue of Spider-Girl has him climbing on the ceiling to fix a banner that MJ had put up for their daughter's party. May herself has used her wall-crawling powers to vacuum hard-to-reach places while doing housework.
  • His use of his wall-crawling and webbing in taking photos for the Daily Bugle is occasionally lampshaded by comments that his photos look like they were "taken while hanging upside down" or that it looks like he "just put the camera down and walked away."
  • He's also fond of using his powers so he can pull stupid pranks (such as making a web-bat to freak out Johnny Storm, and then ruin his suit). Johnny himself uses his powers to pull pranks on his fellow Ben Grimm or on Spidey.
  • He got so accustomed to using his Spider-Sense he just uses it instead of looking for danger with eyes. When he temporarily loses it he is almost hit by a car because he hasn't bothered looking both ways before crossing the street in years.
  • He has a Masters Degree in Biophysics. He is smart enough to get it on his own, but since this is the scientific area that his own powers would fall under, it is safe to say that he had an unusually intimate understanding of the subject.
  • Used against Spidey in one Ultimate Spider-Man comic where the web-head learns of a movie being made about him without his consent. He goes down to taunt Sam Raimi by pointing out how lame the actor playing him is and how he can't do all the tricks Spidey can (and proceeds to do). Sam than thanks Spidey... for saving him a fortune on special effects. Spidey spends the rest of the shoot sitting on a wall in full view of the crew and doing nothing but glaring.
• X-Men: The X-Men are known for their members using their powers for mundane reasons.
  • The movie X2: X-Men United has Iceman using his freezing powers to chill a bottle of soda that's been left out of the fridge for Wolverine.
    • He also created an ice rose to impress Rogue in the first one. Awwwww.
    • He does this in the comics as well, when in college.
    • Similarly, he creates a dancing ballerina figure to flirt with Jubilee in Evolution.
    • And in X-Men: The Last Stand he freezes the fountain in front of the school to make a mini ice-skating rink.
    • He also makes himself a makeshift pair of ice skates in that same scene by freezing a layer of ice over the soles of his normal tennis shoes.
  • This◊ set of panels is the epitome of this trope (also Talking Is a Free Action): why bother walk around a hole or, you know, stop walking when you can use your telekinesis?
  • Wolverine himself (depending on medium and writer) tends to do this as well, using his sensitive nose to scout out hidden food (in the 90's toon, he was quite aggravated about smelling salami but not finding it), or using his claws to slice open a beer bottle.
    • This is parodied in a Mini Marvels strip where Wolverine cuts bread with his claws...and nobody wants to eat it because of where those claws had been.
    • In the five-part Todd McFarlaine Spider-Man story "Perceptions", Wolvie uses one claw like a scalpel to surgically remove a bullet from the wounded Wendigo.
    • In an old Marvel Comics cartoon (Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends) the X-Men made a guest appearance. Wolverine's intro moment: crooking a finger, he extends one of his those bonded-to-his-skeleton claws and spears several items from a fruit tray, asking casually, "Wanna piece of fruit?"
    • One very... homoerotic cover has Wolverine barbecuing a sausage on his claws. Some very thick, juicy sausage.
    • Wolverine's Healing Factor was also a justification for his being a Cigar Chomper in older comics. His lungs would always recover from any damage his smoking caused.
  • In X-Men: Evolution, Rogue used her ability-absorbing touch to copy Kitty's dancing ability for a school play.
    • And mutant baseball anyone?
    • It was something of a running gag that they could never get through gym class with the "no powers" rule intact, usually because some of the students have inherently superhuman strength or agility that they can't just turn off, and someone with more overt gifts would attempt to compensate.
  • Cyclops picked the lock of the team van when Storm locked the keys inside...with Eye Beams.
    • He's done the same thing in the comics. It's something Professor X oddly enough trained him to do.
  • Do not ever, ever try to beat Cyclops at shooting pool. You will be bitterly disappointed. His powers include an instinctive knowledge of geometry.
  • Professor X himself gets in on the act. He reads the minds of authors because he can't read books fast enough. He's also calmed people down during arguments so they could think rationally.
    • It was shown early on that, although Charles is genuinely gifted, he used his powers in school to read the mind of his teachers and thus get better grades.
  • In the comics based on Evolution Nightcrawler used his teleporting powers to take shortcuts to school so he could sleep in later. He's also done it to sneak out of school and to the local burger joint for a quick snack. The show itself showed him using his prehensile feet to steer the Blackbird and hold popcorn bowls, use his 'porting abilities to do awesome cannonballs in the pool, bypass stairs by leaping over them or crawling on walls, and abusing the settings on his image inducer to make himself look buff and hunky.
    • In an interview with Toyfare, the writers of Evolution said that Scott occasionally forgets himself and uses his eye beams on, say, an uncooperative soda machine to get it to work.
    • Lance aka Avalanche was introduced by doing the same thing. He touched a soda machine, used a bit of his seismic powers on it, and got a free can.
  • The movies did a good job showing Magneto using his powers casually, to pull up chairs for people or keep some steel balls bouncing back-and-forth in midair without strings suspending them.
  • Storm has used her powers to alter the climate to water her plants. Also to shower inside living rooms.
  • In the first movie, Wolverine gives Cyclops "the finger" with his claws.
  • He does the same to Sabretooth in X-Men Legends II.
  • The issue of the comic in which Scott proposed to Jean featured an argument over whether "no powers" was assumed or not for a game of football after Archangel (as he was then known) picked up the ball and simply flew towards the endzone. (Note that Archangel wasn't even on either team at that moment.)
    Person 1: We called "no powers"!
    Person 2: Did not!
    Person 3: Did too!
    Person 4: It was implied!
    Person 5: He scored—he's on our team!
    Person 6: Do over! Do over!
  • The team frequently uses the resident telepath (usually Jean Grey or Emma Frost) to coordinate plans silently... and to hold school staff meetings so that the kids can't overhear them.
  • Early in The Dark Phoenix Saga, Jean Grey uses her powers to change her Phoenix costume into normal clothing at the molecular level. Seeing her use such incredible power so casually unnerves Cyclops quite a bit.
  • Gambit will occasionally charge an object without causing it to explode for these purposes. Most commonly, he'll use it as a light source or to light a cigarette.
  • And while Northstar's super speed can be super awesome, it's also useful when unpacking in a new apartment. Granted, his fiancé coaxed him into it, so there were some slightly more complex themes like 'desire to snuggle'.
  • The post-M-Day mutant Kenji Uedo has the ability to warp his body into a techno-organic nightmare, similar to what happened to Tetsuo in AKIRA. While he usually attacks people with it, he can also use it for more mundane uses such as cooking burgers made of himself. See here.◊
  • In the first X-Factor series, Jean lost her winter coat, and after she and Scott bought a white fur coat to replace it, they go walking through the park, where Jean decides to use her telekinesis to make snowballs and toss them at Scott, who used his beams to blast at them.
  • During Gambit and Rogues wedding in Mr. and Mrs. X #1, Laura uses her adamantium claws to trim Gambit's hair.
  • Ultimate X Men: Xavier and Jean are not surgeons, but thanks to their telepathy they can "borrow" the expertise of nearby surgeons and treat Beast by themselves.
  • The obscure mutant Rusty Collins once used his Playing with Fire powers to cook some popcorn.
• Fantastic Four:
  • Mr. Fantastic, useless though he may be, almost uses his powers more for this than superheroing. Any given appearance of him in a comic, including his own, will have him in his lab, stretching his arms and neck so that he can be doing things at three different workstations at once; he's also been shown using his powers to make the world's greatest shadow animals for his son during bedtime stories (and it comes in handy in other places). All of the Fantastic Four do stuff like this to some level or another, considering the "domestic" flavor of the comic.
  • One alternate universe version of Sue is shown to be a doctor: she uses her invisibility powers to turn a person's skin and muscle invisible so that she can check to see if they've broken a bone directly instead of bothering to take an expensive x-ray.
  • This◊ (improved) Civil War panel shows what happens when it's raining, and Sue and Johnny don't have umbrellas.
    • Also, if you take a closer look, it appears that she is levitating the bags.
  • For a brief period Ben used his super-strength and durability to work construction...and was promptly fired for being too efficient (his work crew were paid by the hour rather than by the job). He'll occasionally use his strength to help Reed in the lab by carrying and lifting heavy machinery.
  • Issue 532 in 2005 features Sue using her abilities to slam cabinet doors out of anger while putting away the dishes. In the same issue, Reed comes home from an It's a Wonderful Plot storyline, and some time later, Sue sleepily comments on what a wonderful set of abilities he has.
  • One early comic had Johnny use his powers to illuminate a girl dancing at a house party with a harmless glow.
  • The last issue of the Thing's 2008 solo series saw a bunch of heroes get together for a poker tournament. When it's pointed out that no one's seen Sue in a bit, Reed denies having her use her invisibility powers to look at his opponents' hands; meanwhile, Yellowjacket is having Wasp use her Sizeshifter and flight powers to do exactly that.
• X-Factor: Jamie Madrox is greatly upset when he discovers that his duplicates are living beings and develop independent identities the longer they stay separate from him. Once he comes to grips with the metaphysical ramifications, he decides to use his power as a super-learning tool, sending his duplicates off to study different walks of life and learn a variety of skills to rival Batman. Another story shows him using his power as a super-babysitter.

Other

• Astro City:
  • Samaritan has access to an interdimension Phantom Zone. He uses it to store his various awards and change clothes.
  • "On the Sidelines" focuses on a community of superpowered people who use their powers for mundane jobs, like construction and special effects, rather than heroics or villainy. Examples include a telekinetic who controls things for stunt work, a fire-manipulator who's a glassblower, an empath who's a club deejay, and a man with Super-Strength who works in construction.
  • Steeljack ends up using his ability to walk underwater to do salvage runs in the river for the city.
  • The lead vocalist of the band "Powerchord" is a woman with the ability to focus her voice; she uses her power to enhance her singing.
  • The Silver Adept uses a magic-powered internet to respond to emails, track appointments, and get navigational updates.
  • On hot days, Handgun and his wife would escape the heat in his secret underground lab and watch baseball games on TV.
  • Disputed wills on Shadow Hill are quickly resolved by contacting the deceased directly to clarify matters.
• Bamse: Bamse's super-ursine strength is probably more often used to help people with mundane tasks (the ur-example comes from the very first comic, where a kid lost some money under a truck, and Bamse casually moved it). At least for a while his day-to-day job was lumberjack, where superstrength comes in handy.
• The Darkness: Jackie once sent the Darklings, (foul-mouthed lesser demons that he creates and controls, typically used to kill at will) to pick up his dry cleaning.
• Dark Times: Former Jedi Master Kai Hudorra uses his force powers to earn a small fortune as a gambler, then set up a casino. As a Jedi living during The Purge, he has good reason to not use it in any flashier way.
• Death Vigil: Clara can draw magical portals in the air which can cause a monster charging at her to suddenly find itself a hundred meters in the air and falling to its destruction. Or, she can use them to scratch her own back.
• Empowered: One advantage of shacking up with a girl with a super-strength granting alien battlesuit? Darned easy to rotate the tires on your SUV. It's also been shown once that, since she can't carry tissues (no pockets), she has to wipe her "tears and snot" away with her hands and then "mini-vorpp" them dry.
• Ex Machina: The comic gets a lot of use out of this. As the main character is a retired superhero who isn't legally allowed to fight crime any more, he's as likely to use his Technopathy to change TV channels as to defend himself.
• Groo the Wanderer: Groo once used his sword to cut a pear from a tree. Not much of a mundane utility in itself, but it was worth it to see how his dog Rufferto chased after him, expecting a vicious battle, only to be disappointed by the outcome.
  • In one early issue Groo is asked to demonstrate his swordsmanship while he's face-deep in a seafood feast. In the time it takes to finish the question, he draws his sword, coats it with brandy by slashing through a bottle, flips one of the fish into the air, slices it into six fish-steaks, kebabs all six on the point of his blade, and thrusts the brandy-soaked fish slices through a nearby torch to set them all aflame. He then slides the still-smoking fish fragments onto the king's plate with his other sword.
  Advisor: Did you not see that, Your Majesty? Are you not impressed?!
  King: Not really. He forgot the salt.
• Harbinger: Livewire is a technopath who can text and tweet at once. She's used this skill to save her team before, albeit a different one.
• Hellboy: Liz Sherman uses her pyrokinesis to light her cigarettes on occasion.
• Irredeemable: The Plutonian is seen using heat vision to warm up a cup of coffee.
• Lori Lovecraft: After her apartment is trashed by an earthquake in Into the Past, Lori uses her spare crystal ball to watch the basketball game she had been taping.
• Mega Man (Archie Comics): The second issue's Short Circuits had Cut Man being used as a ribbon cutter, hedge trimmer, and to give Dr. Wily's hair a trim. Needless to say, he's unhappy.
  • Another issue had Quake Woman, Centaur Man, Elec Man, and—surprisingly—Time Man using their abilities to save lives during a global blackout.^note Respectively: drilling holes in doors/walls to let trapped people escape, running through floodwaters to rescue people from drowning, acting as a generator, and using Time Slow to assist in surgery.
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (Boom! Studios): One comic had Kimberly use her Power Morpher as a cup coaster. It bit her in the butt when she forgot it and she was needed.
• The Pro: The title character uses her Super-Speed to give 1,000 blowjobs in a single night.
• Witchblade: Sara Pezzini has used the Witchblade, a cosmic artifact of nigh limitless power, to move furniture while moving, make toys for her daughter and to hold up her towel while she answered the phone.
• Vanya the Lost Warrior: Humanity has perfected the art of time travel. They mainly use it to send humans into the prehistoric past for wilderness and survival training.

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