Superman is one of the most powerful, if not THE most powerful DC hero. Armed with super-strength, flight, heat vision, cold breath, super-speed and X-Ray vision among his many powers, Superman has an ability for practically every situation. However, one of his powers that didn't stick from his comics is probably his weirdest: An ability to spawn a powerful mini-Superman from his fingers.
Back in the late 50s, Superman was an extremely popular character but his powers were still developing. He didn't have the set powers of the current modern Superman and was constantly getting tinkered with. The Man of Steel was teased as having a new power in Superman #125 and it's not at all surprising the ability didn't continue on to modern times or is remembered as one of Superman's coolest powers.
In the short story "Superman's New Power" in Superman #125 by Jerry Coleman, Stan Kaye, Al Plastino and Kurt Schaffenberger, the Last Son of Krypton loses his powers after an alien spaceship explodes near him. While he loses his superstrength, Superman gains the ability to shoot rainbows out of his fingers causing a mini replica version of himself to shoot out of his hands. The tiny Superman gained all of his old powers. It's as strange as it sounds.
The mini Superman assumes his bigger hero's responsibilities, taking down bad guys and saving the day. But, Superman's enemies obtain kryptonite after a meteorite shower strikes and falls to Metropolis. They use a trebuchet to launch a ball of kryptonite at Superman. The ball comes incredibly close to Superman before mini Superman appears and guides the kryptonite away from his bigger counterpart. Unfortunately, the ball proves deadly. Mini-Superman steers the object out of the way before fading away into oblivion, sacrificing itself to save Superman. Funny enough, when Mini-Superman disappears, the original Superman gains his powers back.
Superman has had decades of great comics, but this particular story is inspired, to say the least. Stripping Superman of his powers is a big deal, but transferring them to a mini-Superman that comes out of his fingertips is nonsense. It just sort of happens and is accepted. Does Mini-Superman have a conscious of his own? Where does he stay when he's inside of Superman? How did an alien spaceship blowing up strip one of the universe's most powerful beings of their powers and transfer them over to a mini version of himself? It's best you don't think too hard about it.
Mini-Superman was a bizarre creative decision from the get-go. Superman being powerless and relying on a mini version of himself is so strange it's hard to fathom how it made it onto the page. But, we're glad it happened. Mini Superman is an odd footnote on one of the most iconic superheroes of all time.