BoloOfEarth

Ah, yes, my former employer.  No huge surprise - the attitude there about employees (well, those below management level) is that they're easily replaceable cogs, so why pay them more than the bare minimum?  Even after 15 years working there, I was barely living above paycheck to paycheck.
 
When I left JP Morgan Chase to work at the hospital, I started at a lower salary, but within 5 years I was making considerably more than I ever made at Chase.  With much better benefits, I might add.
 
I now tell people that I went from working for evil to working for good. 

If you don't mind Fifth Edition stats, Digital Hero, Hero Games' electronic magazine, published quite a few Champions adventures. They're mostly intended as one- or two-session introductory adventures, like convention games. All have fully-statted villains, most have maps, and some even include pre-generated heroes. They're also very reasonably priced for 64 pages: https://www.herogames.com/forums/store/category/31-digital-hero-magazine/
 
My personal recommendation has long been Infectious Enthusiasm, from DH #9. It contains a good balance of combat and non-combat scenarios, and both complete villain and hero teams are provided. But most of these adventures could suit your purpose.
 
I'm Attaching a list of all the adventures in DH, categorized according to genre, for easy reference. (Thanks to our forum colleague JmOz for creating the list.)
DH Adventures .doc

Go ahead, reporter boy, laugh it up.  That's what they all do.  Frankly, that's kinda why I chose this ridiculous get-up.  You're a supervillain and you see some guy in an armored battlesuit?  You hit him with everything you got.  Facing off against your local dark avenger of the night?  You use your most lethal attacks, because you know he's not gonna give you an inch.  Guy in a flower costume?  You yuk it up and toss him aside like yesterday's newspaper.
 
Yeah, laugh all you want, but you're looking at one of the few individuals to take down Grond.  I mean, who knew he had such terrible allergies?  Still, it counts as a major win in my book, even if his sneezes did keep blowing me across the room.
 
The name?  Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that.  I'm Flower Child.  No, I wasn't bitten by a radioactive venus flytrap.  Har dee har har.  I'm a botanist who found a way to weaponize flower aromas.  Even ordinary floral scents can leave you mildly dizzy, fatigued, or cause nausea.  Concentrate it up the wazoo and spray it into someone's nasal passages, and you can take someone down.  Doesn't matter to me whether they're sneezing up a storm, hacking up a lung, or are lulled into taking a quick snooze.  Down is down.
 
The only problem is, no superhero team will take me seriously enough to let me join.  Still, I can take down muggers, bank robbers, and minor-league supervillains - which is why I'm here in Toledo instead of a big city like Chicago or New York City.

I wish to ask for a bit of tolerance up front:  While I generally try to put in as little set-up as possible (believing that if it was really noteworthy, it shouldn't need much help), but this time there will be some set-up.  Forgive me, please.
 
I had my youth group game today, though it didn't look like I would be doing much of anything ever again.  I spent the bulk of Friday in the ER and was eventually stabilized and admitted for observation.  Enough on that.
 
I have a ceremony for calling the game to order.  It started as a joke way back in the 70s, back when Bullwinkle would still pop-up in re-runs.  It also started as a joke: the group (game was D&D) had been left in an intentional cliff-hanger as the majority of us were looking at finals, cram sessions, etc, and we figured at least four weeks before we got back to the game.  Not only was it a cliffhanger, but the PCs were in far worse shape than I had anticipated them to be, in spite of copious fudging to keep them from being slaughtered.  
 
The day came that we re-convened.  Before I developed my genuine old man voice, I was a fair mimic-- not great, but fair.  However, I could _nail_ the narrator from Bullwinkle (and a few others).  The chit-chat and catching up was slowing down, and I decided to call the game to order with a bit of humor, considering as how we were all in great spirits and about to dive into a dire situation.  I broke out the Narrator voice and launched into a quote I remember from _childhood_, and don't know why:
 
"When we left our story last time, things were in _terrible_ shape!  Some of the nation's smartest geniuses were being turned into _complete_ idiots!  It was all the result of a mean little man from a _mean_ little country--"
 
[Boris voice]: Go on, say de name!"
 
[Narrator]: Boris  Badenuf.  In desperation the government sent for Bullwinkle J. Moose
 
I went on a bit further, while they were taking their seats, and trailed off while the came to order.
 
Eventually, this went on to become a recurring gag, particularly when they were taking too long to settle themselves or if, when we left our story last time, things really _were_ in terrible shape.  Over the next decade, it became first a tradition, then an inescapable ceremony.
Adults appreciate ceremony and group culture, no matter how odd it is:  "Hey, that's our thing!  It's what we do!"
 
Kids....   well, you know how those pre- and early teen years were: everything was awful; everything is uncool and corny (or whatever they call it now.  Is "corny" still a thing?)  About the third time I did it with the youth group, they began to groan and complain, and every week there's one or two "not this again!"  and "why do you have to do this?!"  nothing really malicious; they're just intent on letting their peers now that they are too cool to accept this crackpot ceremony. (and it doesn't matter that I can't do the voices anymore; they've never even heard of the characters. )
 
 
Flash forward forty years.  I am in a hospital bed, awaiting transfer to an observation room, with a doctor telling me "Well, Mr. Oliver, you're not dead, but we have no idea why not.  You've been stable for the last two hours, but we'd like to keep you under observation for the next 24 hours."
Well, Doc; that won't work.  My spine is busted up bad, and I have had about all of this bed it can handle.
"Can you give us twelve hours?"
[wife]: He will give you twelve hours.
[me]: Apparently I'm going to, either way.
 
skip ahead a few more hours.  My wife has called my bi-weekly group to tell them there will be no Friday night game; she has called the Youth Ministries director to let the kids know there will be no Youth Game Sunday.  (though we did have one, thanks to the miracle that left me alive).  Some hours later, I am wheeled into an observation room.  In the observation room are four of my youth group players, with a card.  I'm awake enough to appreciate this by now, and I grin and make happy noises and tell them Mr. Duke is going to be fine in a few days.
 
Well, _good_, says Colleen (Kinetica's player).
Yeah, says Everette (Magnus's player)
Yeah, Mr. Duke, I'm glad!  says Eric (Red Cloak's player).  Because when we left our story last time, things were in _terrible_ shape!
Yeah, says Everette.  Some of the nation's smartest geniuses ---
 
then all four, like they were reciting a poem-- were being turned into _complete_ idiots!  It was all the result of a mean little man---
 
 
and so on.
 
 
I'm fifty nine years old, and despite what I've thought for several decades now, I'm not done crying.
 
 
That's my quote of the week from my gaming group, and quite possibly the best one I've ever had, posted or otherwise.  I apologize for the lengthy set-up.
 
 
 
Duke
 

Transparent government would be even better.  But that's a theme for another thread.

A friend of mine has a shrinking hero, who had a hunted for a long time: "Hunted by Small Animals 8 or less".  He eventually bought it off but I can't count the number of times it popped up. Examples: birds thought he was a big bug; when he was blinded near an ocean battle, he started to get carried away by a crab. The little dog next door is still his worst enemy...

you're missing a super-soap

Flower Power
 
This is what happens when you are bitten by a radioactive flower, you become imbued with the proportional power of plants !
[what ? Since when do flowers bite and surely if a flower is radioactive it withers and dies - Ed]
Able to withstand the weather in all its guises and cling on to any surface 
[that makes sense. Are you back on your medication ? -Ed]
Flower Power soars through the air delivering punches harder than steel !
[obviously not - Ed]
Here he comes to save the day !
[copyright infringement ! - Ed]
So who are you going to call ?
[copyright infringement 2 ! - Ed]

"Behold, the power of... Marvolo the Strange!"
 
Micah Stevens shook his head as he took the stage.  A man of his intelligence and schooling, reduced to doing tricks as a stage magician!  Sure, he had always had a knack for sleight of hand and a flair for the dramatic, but he really wished he could have turned his PhD in Sociology into a teaching position, or indeed any paying job at all, instead of being reduced to... this.  Performing legerdemain for drunk, bored gamblers at a second-string casino outside Providence.  It was enough to drive a man to drink.
 
He was halfway through his mind-reading trick when the door burst open and a half dozen VIPER agents rushed in followed by... oh, my God, is that Rhode Island Red?!  People were already scrambling for cover as the man-rooster did his famous Crow of Justice, causing one VIPER agent to run screaming to escape through the stage door.  Unfortunately, he tripped on the stage stairs and face-planted, causing his blaster rifle to go off while pointed at the stage magician.  Stevens was sure he was going to die, but his hands moved instinctively, creating a magical shield that deflected the photonic energy.  "What the..."  Stevens said as he stumbled backward.  As the agent got to his feet and moved toward the stage magician, Stevens' hands again seemed to move of their own accord, casting another spell that caused mystic bands to encircle the Goon in Green, wrapping him tight.
 
Once all the VIPER agents were dealt with and the police were called, Rhode Island Red walked up to shake Stevens' hand.  "Marvolo, is it?  Good work taking on that agent.  It's always good to have another superhero on the job."  Stevens pondered his situation.  Somehow, he was able to cast honest-to-God magic (though damned if he knew how he had done it).  Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth (and reasoning that several dozen people had seen him cast magic), he told the press that he was Marvolo, the newest superhero to protect Providence, RI.  (He was sure there had to be some way he could turn this into a profitable venture.)
 
Through trial and error (mostly error), Marvolo has learned he can cast a handful of spells.  Most of his successes are instinctive (borne of desperation) rather than the result of practice, though he's trying to replicate some of his "oh-shit" spells (with varying degrees of success).  A mis-cast levitation spell caused his cape to animate, giving him an ally of sorts (though Marvolo isn't sure the cape is always on his side).  The wands and staff he carries and the "mystic amulet" at his neck are mostly props, though one of his wands is secretly a high-tech taser.   He supplements his spells with smoke bombs, flash bombs, and other covert tech trinkets.  And hopes desperately that he can pull off this "junior superhero" gig without losing his head... literally.

Why not just use the Universal Scholar (and Universal Scientist) perks mentioned in APG:49-50?  Given Dr. D's high INT, that gives him a really good roll on practically everything.  You could impose -0 Limitations on them or just hand-wave to cut out inappropriate stuff (e.g. saying that Dr. D has no real knowledge of popular culture / TV / movie references -- "Who is this Kim Kardashian person you mentioned?")

It would be funnier if he was hanging in front of the billboard Superman's eyes with huge holes cut in his cape to make it look like glasses.

Territan, you mentioned that they're an extremely passive-aggressive group.  What if you acted passive-aggressively to change their behavior?
 
For instance, introduce another hero group.  (Maybe something akin to the Flashmen from the 4E Allies book.)  Have another pseudo-mystery - some minimal clues left around, maybe spoon-feed the players some info.  When the PCs (not surprisingly) don't follow up on those clues (with you giving them enough opportunity)... the other hero team does.  They finish off the bad guy and get all the media attention.  Maybe the other hero team begins bad-mouthing the PC hero team all over town.  As this continues, the public takes up the question:  "Who needs the MurderHobos when we've got NPCTeamX?"
 
Heck, you can even turn that into a simple mystery for the PCs to solve:  the other hero team is a tool of VIPER, and none of the criminals they stop is related to VIPER.  Even a minimal effort by the PCs can catch one of the NPC heroes meeting with a known VIPER associate.  Now they need to prove it. 

Territan, you mentioned that they're an extremely passive-aggressive group.  What if you acted passive-aggressively to change their behavior?
 
For instance, introduce another hero group.  (Maybe something akin to the Flashmen from the 4E Allies book.)  Have another pseudo-mystery - some minimal clues left around, maybe spoon-feed the players some info.  When the PCs (not surprisingly) don't follow up on those clues (with you giving them enough opportunity)... the other hero team does.  They finish off the bad guy and get all the media attention.  Maybe the other hero team begins bad-mouthing the PC hero team all over town.  As this continues, the public takes up the question:  "Who needs the MurderHobos when we've got NPCTeamX?"
 
Heck, you can even turn that into a simple mystery for the PCs to solve:  the other hero team is a tool of VIPER, and none of the criminals they stop is related to VIPER.  Even a minimal effort by the PCs can catch one of the NPC heroes meeting with a known VIPER associate.  Now they need to prove it. 

My Champions Universe ran for 20 years with a gradually cycling series of players.  Its mostly inspired by a mix of Marvel Comics and the published Champions 4th and 5th edition universes with some homebrew hero and villain teams.  In retrospect it was pretty optimistic without being a parody.  Primus was a valued ally and while there were tons of rotten government secret programs and anti-mutant Generals in charge of R&D projects, they were always shut down when the PCs exposed them.
The players saved the world several times, and played many of the published adventures.  (They never forgave Black Harlequin for Omega World from "Champions Battlegrounds".
Some of the highlights:
- We did a big summer crossover with the Despoiler actually damaging the Keystone of Reality.  When the dust settled we had the 5th edition universe.  
- Captain Future's backstory from 4th Edition Golden Age Champions was expanded into a super-heroy time police, with a Captain Future in every heroic age.  The PCs said good by to their buddy the Star Trek TNG themed Captain Future and said Hello to his Matrix Themed replacement at the turn of the Millennium.
- A PC who was a member of the royal family of Cotopia, his vaguely Monaco like homeland, had to take back his country after Brother Bone launched a new inquisition against their decadent ways.
- Foxbat stole a time machine & led the PCs (and the Captain Future Corps) on a bewildering cross-time adventure before he succeeded in his master plan.  When they returned to the present they discovered that he had altered history so that the Star Wars Prequals were different and the fandom agreed they had surpassed the originals in every way.  Lucasfilm was making plans to buy Disney.  The PCs decided to look the other way and just keep living in "FoxBat's Future"
- An Angelic PC who escaped from the war between Heaven & Hell during the Despoiler incident used a favor with the Powers that Be to end Mechanon's threat.  She expected them to kill or banish him.  Instead  he ended up becoming a heroic protector of Organic Beings & Is now up there with Tetsuronin as one of the most powerful heroes in the world.

We retired the old game a number of years ago, but are about to start up a new Ravenswood academy game set in 2019 in the same game universe.  I plan to let the characters the Players remember from the old game to still be around, aged 10 years.  New characters, or characters they never encountered will match the 6th edition versions.  This should make it easier to express that time has passed & new heros and villains have stepped up.  One PC is the heroic Mechanon's "Son".  He is the result of The Engineer's interference in one of Mechanon's projects, making her the PC's "Mother"

The shop cat's latest cosplay...
 

Go ahead, reporter boy, laugh it up.  That's what they all do.  Frankly, that's kinda why I chose this ridiculous get-up.  You're a supervillain and you see some guy in an armored battlesuit?  You hit him with everything you got.  Facing off against your local dark avenger of the night?  You use your most lethal attacks, because you know he's not gonna give you an inch.  Guy in a flower costume?  You yuk it up and toss him aside like yesterday's newspaper.
 
Yeah, laugh all you want, but you're looking at one of the few individuals to take down Grond.  I mean, who knew he had such terrible allergies?  Still, it counts as a major win in my book, even if his sneezes did keep blowing me across the room.
 
The name?  Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that.  I'm Flower Child.  No, I wasn't bitten by a radioactive venus flytrap.  Har dee har har.  I'm a botanist who found a way to weaponize flower aromas.  Even ordinary floral scents can leave you mildly dizzy, fatigued, or cause nausea.  Concentrate it up the wazoo and spray it into someone's nasal passages, and you can take someone down.  Doesn't matter to me whether they're sneezing up a storm, hacking up a lung, or are lulled into taking a quick snooze.  Down is down.
 
The only problem is, no superhero team will take me seriously enough to let me join.  Still, I can take down muggers, bank robbers, and minor-league supervillains - which is why I'm here in Toledo instead of a big city like Chicago or New York City.

Go ahead, reporter boy, laugh it up.  That's what they all do.  Frankly, that's kinda why I chose this ridiculous get-up.  You're a supervillain and you see some guy in an armored battlesuit?  You hit him with everything you got.  Facing off against your local dark avenger of the night?  You use your most lethal attacks, because you know he's not gonna give you an inch.  Guy in a flower costume?  You yuk it up and toss him aside like yesterday's newspaper.
 
Yeah, laugh all you want, but you're looking at one of the few individuals to take down Grond.  I mean, who knew he had such terrible allergies?  Still, it counts as a major win in my book, even if his sneezes did keep blowing me across the room.
 
The name?  Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that.  I'm Flower Child.  No, I wasn't bitten by a radioactive venus flytrap.  Har dee har har.  I'm a botanist who found a way to weaponize flower aromas.  Even ordinary floral scents can leave you mildly dizzy, fatigued, or cause nausea.  Concentrate it up the wazoo and spray it into someone's nasal passages, and you can take someone down.  Doesn't matter to me whether they're sneezing up a storm, hacking up a lung, or are lulled into taking a quick snooze.  Down is down.
 
The only problem is, no superhero team will take me seriously enough to let me join.  Still, I can take down muggers, bank robbers, and minor-league supervillains - which is why I'm here in Toledo instead of a big city like Chicago or New York City.

Ray Scofield was once known as The Daring Daisy a member of the 60s superteam Flower Power. However while attempting to bring a peaceful resolution to a campus protest he
ended up injuring several National Guardsmen and was arrested and sent to prison. Feeling abandoned and forgotten by his teammates and the public he emerged a free and very bitter man. He seeks revenge against his former allies and the entire world as The Daisy of Doom!!

Kreman Seamore is a flower shop employee who at night becomes The Pansy, flower guardian of Skid Row. He uses flower and plant-based gadgets against the crime lord known only as Audry The Second, who's greed needs constant feeding.

Dave Frankenship as Daisy Fresh started his superhero life as a product spokesperson in a series of popular commercials in which he defeated fictional bad-smelling villains primarily by using gadgets which squirted fabric softener at them.
 
The real villain Piledriver, who surprisingly doesn't watch much TV, mistook him for a real superhero who was battling real villains when one of the commercials was filming. Daisy Fresh ended up defeating Piledriver by desperately shooting fabric softener into his eyes then dropping a camera crane onto his head.
 
The company was pleased by the publicity from Daisy Fresh's battle and upgraded Dave's gadgets and costume so that he could function as a low-level super. Mostly Daisy Fresh does commercials and public appearances. But whenever a pushover villain strikes, Daisy Fresh just might be the superhero who shows up to save the day!

Get It?  It's his PEN name!
Because he's in the Pen!
That's funny, right?  Right?