The Return of Electro-boy

A man wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket built up so much static energy from his clothes rubbing together that he ignited the carpet of his office building. The co-workers, smelling something burning, called the firefighters, which then turned off electricity to the building thinking it was a power surge. In fact, the man, Frank Clewer, actually noticed when he saw that he had melted a plastic part inside his car. When the firefighters measured the jacket, a current of 40,000 volts registered. It happens to be awfully close to the point where spontaneous combustion can occur.

From the article: "'There were several scorch marks in the carpet, and we could hear a cracking noise -- a bit like a whip -- both inside and outside the building,' said fire official Henry Barton."

I think that many so-called 'superheros' are just iterations of situations like this one. This guy could have painted his jacket bright green and his pants yellow and gone around 'fighting crime and evil guys' by discharging 40,000 volts at them.