Tired of Op heroes

[Leonotis]

I’m going to say it: I am so tired of the Overpowered (OP) Hero trope. The character who gets a shiny, world-breaking ability that makes every challenge feel like a minor inconvenience. Where’s the tension? Where’s the fun?

I'm just bored of it.

What truly gets my creative engine running is a hero who has to outthink their limitations instead of simply overpowering them. Because the best abilities, the most memorable ones, sound absolutely terrible on paper.

Think about it:

Luffy(One Piece): Made of rubber

Ueki (The Law of Ueki): Can turn trash into trees

Mirio (My Hero Academia): Can phase through solid objects... but is blind, can't breathe, and falls through the floor while doing it. What a drawback!

On paper, these are C-tier, "stupid" powers. Yet, in the story, they are absolutely incredible.

What makes them so good isn’t raw strength it’s creativity.

These characters take a seemingly weak or deeply limited ability and turn it into a devastating, completely unique fighting style. They rely on strategy, experience, and sheer grit to innovate and find a weakness their opponent never saw coming. They train not just their power, but their minds, to maximize an imperfect tool.

That's the kind of hero I want to write. The underdog who wins because they understand their power better than anyone else. The genius who uses the environment, who sacrifices to get the upper hand, and whose victory feels earned.

It's not about the ability but about how they use it.

So, writers, I beg you: give your heroes a handicap. Give them an ability that makes me scratch my head. Give them a reason to be clever. Let's make our readers gasp not because of a bigger number, but because of a better idea.

Who’s your favorite hero who uses a “dumb” power in a brilliant way? Let me know in the comments!

[Oriflamme]

Op abilities aren’t inherently bad, it’s the context in which they are used. Earlier, you said , “It's not about the ability but about how they use it.” I would say, it is not about what your character can do, but about the challenge they face and how they overcome it. Conflict does not have to be about who is the strongest.

The best stories featuring OP characters, the conflict is often not about something that can be resolved by force. Lex Luthor is the best superman antagonist because he is not a problem you can solve by punching.

What is the problem is when people create an overpowered character but not an adequate challenge.

Also weird and specific abilities are not a perfect solution, and might not be a fit for all stories. In a way they can be a form of spectacle, just like good character design. Jojo’s bizarre adventure is a good example because all the weird stands are part of the appeal and work in context. Transplanting stands to a gritty drama would not work because having a guy shoot his fingernails like bullets would be a distraction.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

The opinion in the OP is definitely one I agree with, especially this line

Let's make our readers gasp not because of a bigger number, but because of a better idea.

Not bad; not bad at all.

But to be perfectly honest, it's an opinion that most people tend to agree with and one I've heard a lot already, so I was gonna play devil's advocate...but @Oriflamme already got that covered. ^^; They even used the Superman example I was gonna use (btw, I think Superman is a great example of a hero who's both OP and extremely moral, yet still manages to be interesting).

So I suppose now all I have left is Option 3: the analytical approach.

I think the issue of boring OP protagonists comes down to a mismatch of storytelling styles, similar to what @Oriflamme explained. Overpowered characters work well in stories centered on philosophical arguments and big sociopolitical questions...they don't work well in the basic anime-hero journey of beating a series of difficult opponents until you make it to the "final boss". Like you said, there are no stakes...because the only stake in a story about fights is the risk of defeat, and if there is no risk of defeat because Protag-kun is unbeatable-- oops, there go the stakes. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

All that's left for the story is either (a) comedic/likeable characters, or (b) a pure unfettered power fantasy for those who are into that. A compelling narrative is pretty much out of the question, unless you change the storytelling style and priorities. So why don't people just do that...? ^^;

My guess is that it's difficult, particularly for amateurs who don't see beyond the surface level of the traditional 'anime-hero' tale. They'll watch something like Chainsaw Man and only see the sakuga and blood and gore, not the biting social commentary underneath the character concepts...and then they'll go to write their own stories and focus on the same things: the cool visuals, the cool powers, the cool protagonist who they always want to see win (so naturally they'll assume the audience wants the same thing)...and before you know it, you have a story that's all tropes and no substance.

Which fundamentally doesn't work...unless you happen to be a person who doesn't care much about substance to begin with. Unfortunately, I think a lot of anime fans are. :T
It's infuriating, fascinating, and confusing all at the same time, and I really want to be wrong...but I truly feel like anime gets uncompromisingly glazed in a way that most other media doesn't. Fans tend to focus on spectacle and nice-looking visuals, and give everything else a pass.

So in an environment like that, naturally a lot of style-over-substance is gonna proliferate; this is just one of the prominent flavors of it. 'Brilliant' strategy just isn't that important when 90% of the audience is satisfied with pretty characters and flashy fight scenes.

With all that said though,

Who’s your favorite hero who uses a “dumb” power in a brilliant way? Let me know in the comments!

I gotta say my favorite is Spider-Man. ^^ If you think about it, he has a really weird concept...I mean, you're really gonna use the bug that sits in a web all day as superhero inspiration? ^^; And his 'spider sense' is the only spider-related superpower he actually gets; for everything else he has to rely on his supernatural strength and his natural brain.
And this strange, oddly-limited character concept gave rise to one of the most inventive, enjoyable characters I've ever seen; the one and only mainstream superhero who actually managed to capture my heart as a kid. ^^ Just watching him use his webs in creative ways, and take down frightening, intelligent, wealthy adult villains despite being a broke teenager that no one cares about-- he's the quintessential underdog, a character people can't help but root for, because he has to work for everything he achieves. A Spider-Man who is just good at everything and/or gets opportunities handed to him isn't really Spider-Man; the struggle is an essential part of the character, and it's what makes him so relatable.

[BoomerZ]

I agree with @Oriflamme. It's not being OP that is the problem, it's that those abilities can actually solve the problem. A good Superman story involves him not being able to punch his way out of it. My one comics, Little Ball of Hate, has a stupidly over-power character. Think of the most OP character in fiction and she is more powerful. But that really doesn't have anything to do with the story being told. It's an ability that she does use, but the story resolves around relationships. You have to have a story that takes more than what the character can do to have conflict, and your OP character has OP powers, they can't be the main part of the story.

[DualDragons]

Joseph from jojo part 2 (and by extension, part 3) comes to mind.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Naruto went downhill when the power creep happened and things in the power system get out of hand, but some of the ninja abilities in it was pretty creative (and how they were utilized in especially earlier battles too.

From shadow, murder insects, papers, bubbles, sand, drawing, to your own puppy. I particularly like the puppeteering one.

I personally think, it is mainly depends on how the author craft the power system and ultimately choose to write the story. You can start with an interesting and unique take of an "useless" ability, only to have changes in your story that makes it the most broken ability or the character secretly awaken new shiny ability something something, or that the ability become obsolete because to hell with that character.

[Lensing]

I was born tired of the hero trope in general.
Having some flaws makes it a little bit better but the struggling
hero is also a trope since, I don´t know, Spiderman in the early
60s or earlier.

Give me those antiheroes

[kyupol]

Lol I have an OP Mary sue MC who can bare minimum give Ichigo and Naruto a run for their money in a 1v1 fight.

But I know that's boring so this time around, her enemy has the ability called the "Maya field". It traps you in an artificial reality where spirit power / chi / chakra is severely restricted and you have to rely on pure physical ability alone.

No chi = no superhuman strength, speed, healing, etc.

So it's 5'6, 125 pounds vs 5'5, 120 pounds. Obviously even a slight range and weight advantage means a big deal when it's between skilled fighters on the lower weight classes. Now the MC has to rely on smarts to beat the advantage of the opponent.

[MelancholicOtaku]

I don’t mind Op hero’s but they have to have some form of weakness. The weakness should be something emotional or mental.
Take for example a op hero who has a life outside of being a hero, they have friends and family that they deeply care about.
What would happen if their loved ones were in danger.