[Rolaoi]

I've been thinking about superheroes quite a bit lately. Especially their powers. Take spiderman for instance. Spiderman is about responsibility with his powers, but, come on, he has good guy powers. That's why I'd like to see a hero that has powers so vile that the point isn't what they do with their powers, but what they don't do with it. Imagine a hero that kills anyone they touch. No superstrength or speed or telekenetics here. Just death. How can they be a superhero? How could they possibly live a normal life when touching their loved ones would kill them. Sorry Mary Jane, we really can't be together and I can't say why.(Imagine how betrayed they might feel)

I've been rolling that around in my head. What if the hero had powers, but chose not to use them because they knew it was wrong? I mean, at first it seems great. Bad guy dies right? What if the bad guy is the good guy? Who decides who's bad? That bad guy could have saved a million lives once or maybe he's just a kid that made a few wrong choices or maybe he needs help.

How long has superman been protecting Metropolis? Over half a century now? That's great in his static world, but what if he went bad? Would anyone know? I mean, he's superman. What would this hero that could kill superman just by touching him do? Would it be better to extingush an entire citie's hope or let the cancer stay? Think about the kids that look up to Superman. Could they handle that? Superman: The Corrupted.
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[TheBritishInvasion]

Have you seen Pushing Daisies? If you haven't I'd suggest watching the first episode, might help answer some of your questions.
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[thespaceinvader]

Rogue, in some instances of the character, has pretty much exactly what you describe.
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[Tenshi]

Rogue, Gambit, and Jubilee all have relatively destructive powers that they channel for "positive" uses. Gambit charges anything he touches, eventually leading it to explode. Jubilee instantly fries any nearby electronic devices. And, well, Rogue drains life essence if she touches biological matter.

Marvel tends to have a lot more "grey area" in superpower "alignment" than DC does. DC's heroes tend to have much more "classic good" powers, and then be mentally tormented. Although it could be said that all of them are mentally tormented, at least the DC heroes tend to play that aspect a lot more readily. I mean, the most tormented of any and all of them has to be Batman... although some soul searching down DC's main roster will show a lot of skeletons in everyone's closet.
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[sunshine]

If you pause to consider it, most superheroes have destructive powers. Superman may seem like a squeaky clean guy who only does good, but the movie Hancock showed how even powers like flight and being indestructible can cause more harm than good if not moderated.

Alternately, most superheroes face villains of equal powers to their own, which begs the question of what makes one a hero, and the other a villain?
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[theBSDude]

Dudes, Dual/Duel. That is all.
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TheBSDude, dubbed 'BS' by Asa and nicknamed 'Thebes.'
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[firefly]

Oh, I had lost Dual. Thanks

About the topic: I agree, it's not the power, it is the one who has it. A destructive power may not be used, even at cost of self sacrifice (I don't mean it has to be death, mind you).
Of course if one had been born with a destructive power and mistreated by society, the changes of using the power in vengeance would increase, but that is another issue.
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[Virturealm]

I'm not sure I understand the concept of "bad powers". If bad powers are just powers that can't be practically applied to the cause of justice, they only do bad things, then the reason there aren't any superheroes using them is just that, they can't be practically applied to the cause of justice.

That said there are plenty of heroes that fit this kind of description, but they're either part of an ensemble (New X-Men has one), or in some dark gritty independent title (Of which I don't read any, so the best example might be Death Note from overseas)
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[theBSDude]

*shrug* Some of the more specific ones, like pain or instant death, don't lend themselves well to heroic application. Just read the trope.
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TheBSDude, dubbed 'BS' by Asa and nicknamed 'Thebes.'
Keeper of the Tristam, The Amazing Non-Emo Vampire!(tm) and a Massive List of Webcomics.

"I'm like a ninja with no hopes or dreams." --Wally of Dilbert