I have no idea what the point of this is, of course anything can go on three miles away, but it is entirely irrelevant to this picture
Pretty simple. You seem to not like this picture because it isn't gritty enough, something which is caused in part by the design goals of the artists who made it. However, this art does not depict the entire world. Just like a Superman story does not depict the entire world of DC, or a story about Susanoo-no-Mikoto does not depict the entirety of mythical japan.
we disagree on that, there is nothing in the picture to indicate that it is not exactly what she is doing...
And there is nothing in the picture to indicate she is doing that. In the world of the fantasy of this art.... why would she?! Like you have said, it is completely nonsensical. Maybe she is demonstrating a spell for students, maybe she is divining for a group of scraggly adventurers, but she is outputting a lot of magical power to just be posing for the lolz. Applying a tiny bit of logic, therefore, she isn't posing just to pose.
it could be both, but it isn't... I could also have aspirational art that is not superhero art
Well, congrats. This isn't superhero art. That nameless wizard is not a superhero. Being in a power pose surrounded by energy is not all it takes to be a superhero, or to make superhero art.
for all I know this is not the case, I just cannot rule it out entirely. It's a one page art piece and as far as I can tell I found the entire picture online, so I am not expecting the other half of the picture to appear on the opposite page
It could, or it could not. I'm just pointing out that claiming the piece "lacks story" when we have not seen it in its complete context within the book, might be a bit premature.
You find it odd that a pose pretty much every human can assume without any effort whatsoever does not qualify as superheroic?
I find it odd that pose I can take without any effort (sans floating but there are ways to make that appear like what is happening) is superheroic because those familiar with the pose forget or do not know it has been used in fantasy and mythological art for an incredibly long time. But another pose, which has been equally used by superheroes, and is consistently used to represent superheroes in commercials and branding is not superheroic enough for you, because anyone can take it.
It is a double standard, especially considering how trivially easy it is to find other fantasy art using that exact same floating energy pose. None of it depicting a superhero.