Are you kidding? Super powers require an enormous amount of energy. Remember how much the Flash had to eat in that live-action Flash TV series? Super Starving Ethiopian Man would only starve to death that much faster.
I agree with the point that not having a super-powerful villain in the picture makes the whole thing that much harder. Creates an imbalance of power if you will. Any moral flaws in the superhero are going to be violently magnified.
But this idea of taking on the problems of the world, that’s just scary. I think if I were a superhero that came to real life and somehow escaped the urge for absolute power I’d spend all day crying over all the horrible stuff that I still couldn’t do anything about.
(Sorry to mention something that’s not an American comic but I must confess that here I am specifically thinking of Vash the Stampede from Trigun. Some friends of mine on a board concluded that the real world would kill that man when nothing else could.)
If I had super powers, the first thing I’d do is pay off my mortgage by doing that trick where you can squeeze a lump of coal into a diamond.