Super-Strength and Super Stretching: Great for crimefighting. Even better for housecleaning.
Scott: Here, Jean, allow me to cut you a piece of cake in my own way. [cuts the cake with his Eye Beams]
Jean: Why, thank you, Cyclops, but that's a bit like using an elephant gun to kill a house fly.
Jean: Why, thank you, Cyclops, but that's a bit like using an elephant gun to kill a house fly.
— X-Men #4
Awesomeness put to mundane use. Just let loose your fire-conjuring hands and... cook, or strap on your pair of rocket boots to reach the top cupboard shelf, or something. Hey, sometimes With Great Power Comes Great Perks.
When you really get down to it, this is actually quite sensible — it's not like superheroes and superheroines are saving the world/fighting for their lives 24/7, and in most cases, it's not like they can simply "shut off" their powers. If it's more convenient, then why not make your life a little simpler? Call it "practice" if you have to justify it (or just ask them "What do you mean, it's not awesome?"). Similarly, if Everyone Is a Super, not everybody will be keen on fighting or committing crime. That doesn't mean they won't find some way to make use of their abilities.
Failure to see possible uses other than this one is a form of Misapplied Phlebotinum. Overpowered characters with a job description like this become Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids. Characters who are outright omnipotent who fall to this trope are All Powerful Bystanders. Martial Arts for Mundane Purposes is a subset of this trope, for when martial arts abilities are used for reasons other than fighting. Swords to Plowshares also overlaps with this trope, for when combat weapons are intentionally repurposed for more utilitarian functions. Also, an opposite of sorts to Cut Lex Luthor a Check, Inverse Law of Utility and Lethality, Reed Richards Is Useless, Useless Superpowers. If this is applied to killing someone (such as, say, a gigantic nuke against a feeble human), it may become There Is No Kill Like Overkill.
Diametric opposite to Just Think of the Potential!. For an adult variation, see Power Perversion Potential. For a sister trope which takes this up to eleven, see Boxing Lessons for Superman. When done with wishes and boons, this might be a Mundane Wish. If the mundane utility would make for a career in its own right, then These Look Like Jobs for the Superman. And if the mundane utility is used for sports, then it's Muggle Sports, Super Athletes (usually defied).
Also compare Utility Magic, for when the primary purpose of something which is awesome (magic, in this case) is something mundane, and Utility Weapon, for when something is designed to function as both a weapon and a tool. Compare Priceless Paperweight, which is using a priceless or important item for a mundane task, and Chores Without Powers, which consciously defies this trope. See also Prop. See also Balking Summoned Spirit.
Subpages:
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- Comic Books
- Fan Works
- Film
- Literature
- Live-Action TV
- Tabletop Games
- Video Games
- Webcomics
- Web Original
- Western Animation
- Real Life
Examples:
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Advertisement
- In Supergirl: The Fastest Women Alive, a 2017 promotional Snickers comic where Supergirl and speedster Jesse Quick compete in a charity race around the world, both girls use their super-speed to build a well in an Ethiopian village.
- Series of ads for the Swedish beer brand Falcon had a series of guys arguing about something, be it who had the thickest beard or who was the coldest, only for a fourth guy to show up and use whatever thing they were arguing about with one of the titular beers. Be it to keep the beers in his beard or to use his frozen arm as a bottle-opener.
Now that's thick.
Really thick. - The Princess of Darkness uses her powers creatively in this
Tia Maria advert.
- One Tombstone Pizza commercial has the French Revolution executioners bring in the condemed prisoner to the scaffold before asking him, "What do you want on your tombstone?" When the prisoner orders the pepperoni and cheese pizza, they become ecstatic and use a guillotine (which had been used to cut off heads) to cut off a slice of the Tombstone Pizza.
Comic Strips
- The Far Side cartoon "Moses parting his hair" illustrates this. Well, if Moses had a sea of red hair...
- Garfield:
- "The computer is a wonderful thing◊. For instance, if I turn it off I can see an excellent reflection of myself."
- Jon claims that, if he had Super-Strength, he'd use it to open pickle jars.
Garfield: Captain Underwhelming - "The computer is a wonderful thing
- A Liō comic has Lio making his giant robot clean the gutters.
- Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes invents (or imagines) all kinds of amazing devices, such as a cloning box. He makes a clone of himself and tells it to do his homework. Unfortunately, since it's a clone of Calvin, this doesn't go over well...
- Scary Gary: Once Leopold’s lab is fully equipped, he happily exclaims to Gary that he will soon bring the world " - to it’s trembling knees!" - and the first thing he does with said equipment is make himself and Gary some hot chocolate.
- A double dose in a Bill Mauldin Up Front cartoon from World War II that depicts his GI characters Willie and Joe draining water from their jeep's radiator into a helmet and deciding they'd better "run it up the mountain again" to make the water hot enough for shaving.
- Willie and Joe ran into this a lot. Joe once met a squadmate who had fixed his bayonet to his Garand and was looking at it in astonishment. He exclaimed to Joe, "did you know this can opener fits on a rifle?" Another comic illustrated the danger of letting a creative soul like Willie handle the squad machine gun. Willie is manning a smoking 30-caliber MG and summons Joe: "I coulda swore a couple Krauts was using that cow for cover, Joe. Go wake up the cooks."
- Superman:
- In "Who Is Miss Whisper", millionaire Jonathan Dexter needs to undergo a life-saving surgery, but it is such a delicate procedure that it can render him blind. However, Lois comes up with an idea to minimize the risk: Superman can spend one week being instructed by the chief surgeon to perform one step of the surgery at super-human speed.
- In "The Reporter of Steel", after Lex Luthor's ray "gives" Clark Kent powers, Perry White has him un-jamming the Daily Planet's presses.
Eastern Animation
- Kalo of Happy Friends has Voluntary Shapeshifting that he often uses when battling monsters. In Season 5 episode 22, he morphs his arm into a blade to... cut a watermelon he somehow has. This gets him confiscated by Headmaster Tele, who had mentioned literally a second or two before that he'd confiscate weapons he finds in the school.
- Lamput: In "Super Docs", the first things the docs do after they find superhero costumes is to use their respective abilities to do household things like use the one outfit's magnet shoes to collect and throw away some pieces of paper and use the other costume's laser vision to toast a piece of bread.
Magazines
- Dragon: Orlow's inventions in issue #30, page #35 are a set of magical items used to liven up your life. Magical items include a Spoon of Eating, Broom of Sweeping, et cetera.
Music
- The ABBA song "Cassandra" is about the mythological figure who predicted the Trojan war. She also (according to the song) predicted when her ship would leave, so she could take her time packing.
- David Bowie: "Did You Ever Have a Dream" treats astral travel not as a tool for spiritual growth (as various spiritual movements claim), but as a cool way to travel around the world, instantly speak foreign languages, and date people anywhere from the convenience of your own bed.
- In "Who Wants to Join Our Superhero Team? (Right Now, It's Just Me & Jim)" by The Gothsicles, the leader can shoot energy beams from his finger, which he used to remove tattoos.
- In Paul Shapera's song "Eli Miller and the Black Rock", the titular black rock is a Clingy MacGuffin that's been in Eli's family for centuries. Every night, whoever currently possesses the rock is whisked away to a faerie party where they dance and revel, but the strain of doing so night after night causes most owners to die by the age of twenty-five. Eli, though, figures out that while he can't permanently get rid of the rock, he can loan it out for the night, and there are people who are willing to pay good money for the experience.
- According to the music video for "Mr. Mischief Night" by They Might Be Giants, the eponymous character has uncanny abilities of camouflage... which he uses to pull off Toilet Paper Pranks (hence the name "Mr. Mischief Night").
- The song "Boss Death" by Valshe features a Sword and Sorcerer pair who have grown apathetic toward their status as heroes. At one point, the lyrics mention them using a sword that can cut mountains to peel apples and a spell that can boil away the world's oceans to light a furnace.
- In "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Everything You Know is Wrong", the narrator is offered the chance to travel through time to any point in history...and chooses the previous Thursday night, in order to pay his phone bill on time.
Radio
- That Mitchell and Webb Sound has a skit in which two people consider inviting Sally Vader and her husband to their party. Apparently he plays football and is an incredible goalkeeper, to the point that it seems like he only has to stretch out his hand and the ball goes veering away from the goal. He also has "the most incredible electric carving knife I've ever seen".
Religion
- The Bible:
- The Four Gospels: Jesus' very first miracle? Turning water into wine during a wedding party as a private favor for his host, and upon a request from his mom Mary. However, tempted by Satan to use His God-like powers either for His own convenience or as a publicity stunt, Jesus says no thanks.
- In apocryphal Gospels, a young Jesus also experimented with his powers by animating a clay bird and raising a kid from the dead when he accidentally smote the guy for being stupid.
Roleplay
- In A Tinker's Way, When Alec (Regent) wonders what profit he could get from his powers (basically giving people twitches by affecting their nerves) you suggest assisting with physical therapy.
Theatre
- Westeros: An American Musical: Promptly resurrecting a dead body saves other people the trouble of moving it.
Visual Novels
- Anonymous;Code: Some "Saving and Loading" moments are completely optional and low-stakes, like redoing the conversation with Momo when Pollon doesn't compliment her new clothes, ordering different food at a café, and trying to win a gacha for Nonoka.
- Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp:
- The Neo World Program, a super-advanced VR system indistinguishable from reality, is used as a cheap alternative to school field trips. On top of saving money, the virtual field trips act as beta tests, preparing the Program to serve its original purpose — the safe and humane rehabilitation of criminals.
- Himiko uses Izuru Kamukura to help carry things for her magic show. She even lampshades that she never expected to have him of all people carry stuff for her.
- Fate Series:
- Fate/stay night:
- Shirou's first act of magic is used to fix a broken air conditioner. He uses Structural Analysis to create an image of what the air conditioner should be, and compare it to how it is in reality, finding the damaged part that way. We learn later on that SA is a facet of Unlimited Blade Works, and that he's been using reality-warping for home repairs. But then, at that point he doesn't know how to do anything else.
- Rin's first order to Archer after he's summoned? "Clean up this mess". The next morning, the first thing Archer does is make tea. Damn good tea according to Rin, but still...
- Fate/hollow ataraxia:
- Lancer's spear Gae Bolg is a holy artifact that reverses causality to ensure a fatal blow; he actually managed to kill Shirou with it in Fate/Stay Night. Here, he uses it in his job as a florist.
- Archer and Lancer have a fishing competition. Archer uses Projection to recreate a cutting-edge, expensive fishing rod, which he uses to beat Lancer. Shirou, having observed this, hopes Archer doesn't change his name to Angler. In the background, Gilgamesh can be seen with several solid gold fishing rods, presumably pulled from the Gate of Babylon.
- Gilgamesh uses the Gate of Babylon as a top-notch wine cellar as well as an armory. He also uses Sha Naqba Imuru, normally used for Combat Clairvoyance, to cheat at cards and board games. In Grand Order, his child counterpart is using it as a toy box.
- Bazett uses her legendary weapon Fragarach's special ability to cheat at Rock–Paper–Scissors.
- Rin suggests that Shirou, who can reproduce objects from nothing, make money by forging paintings for the black market.
- In a flashback to when she was alive, it's shown that Medusa used to use petrified people to hang laundry from.
- Fate/stay night:
- Mion of Higurashi: When They Cry is a yakuza heiress who's extremely wealthy. We see her using this money for two things: making a reward for the winner of a gaming competition and getting pizzas for her friends when they stay out late. (She offers to buy her disowned sister Shion furniture at one point, but Shion turns her down.)
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations, Maya uses her abilities to channel her deceased older sister Mia... in order to have significant enough cleavage to convince a witness to cooperate with them (And an upset Mia says she can't believe Maya would do that, though she plays along). She also does it to pass messages to Phoenix in desperate situations by writing a note, channeling her sister who then reads said note, and having Mia go to be channeled by Pearl and pass the message along.
- Tavern Talk:
- Andu can breathe fire, but he's too lazy to use it, although he sometimes does it to roast marshmallows.
- According to the Lorebook, Melli uses her "Butter" Knife of Feline Grace, which she got from Zephir as a gift, as to spread marmalade on bread.
- Evelynn is mentioned to use her life-draining dagger, the Vampire's Kiss, to peel oranges.
- Shiki in Tsukihime tends to use his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to quietly open locked doors more than kill vampires, poison, brick walls, evil hair or weird things like that. In fact, it's why Satsuki has a crush on him: He used his eyes to cut the lock on the door of a shed she was trapped in. Also vaporized the arm of a national monument statue after accidentally breaking it.
Web Animation
- Marvel Super Heroes: What The—?!:
- In the "50th Episode Extravaganza", Doctor Strange creates an interdimensional portal that allows him to spy on other universes. He uses it as a makeshift television, simply because he refuses to pay for a cable subscription.
- In "Galactus Almost Rage Quits", Mysterio uses his illusions to enhance the immersion of the villains' TTRPG session, making them all look like the characters they're playing.
Others
- Ross Noble once joked about using laser Eye Beams to heat soup.