I Believe I Can Fly: Difference between revisions
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Although Superman was likely the ur-example of the flying hero, he could ''not'' fly in his earliest appearances. He ''could'' leap several city blocks in one jump, however. (This is where the phrase "leap tall buildings in a single bound" originally came from.) It was the ''[[Fleischer Superman]]'' cartoons that gave him the power of flight, after the first few cartoons in the series depicted him leaping and the production team decided it looked silly.
* Among the big names of the [[DCU]], you pretty much only have [[Batman]], [[Aquaman]], and [[The Flash]] ([[Superfriends|usually]]) incapable of flight. Which makes [[Hawkman]] and Hawkgirl pretty lame, considering it's their featured ability.
* All of the [[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]; all members are issued a "flight ring",
** This is eventually retconned into a plot point. As a kid Clark was one of very few people on Earth that could fly, since all of the Legionnaires could fly it made him feel like less of an outcast.* When Angel was introduced as a member of the [[X-Men]], it was alongside the very flightless Cyclops and Beast, while Iceman's ice slides didn't offer the same level of maneuverability and Jean Grey couldn't levitate herself very far. But as the roster has expanded with characters who have flight as a side effect of their powers - Storm, Magneto, Rogue (after absorbing the right abilities), Mystique, Cannonball, Apocalypse, and so on - being stuck with huge feathered wings as a mutation must be annoying.
** In fairness, Angel has gained (and lost) a lot of powers over the years, such as vision on par with a hawk's, being ''physically'' capable of flight i.e. being both lighter and stronger than normal humans, [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|and recently universal donor blood with mild regenerative properties]]. And even when his power of flight was more exclusive, he always made it look like a lot of ''fun'', like every childhood daydream you've had but better.
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* In the ''[[W.I.T.C.H.]]'' comic book, only Hay Lin, the air guardian, could fly. However, all of them could in the cartoon. This was compensated for in the second season when Hay Lin was the only to gain invisibility (which all of guardians could do in the comics).
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'' Rayek learns the power of levitation, which is also shared by all of the Glider elves {{spoiler|except, to her eternal chagrin, Winnowill}}.
* Subverted with [[Spider-Man]]. During the ''Acts of Vengeance'' storyline, when he became [[Captain Universe]], he was able to fly, and didn't like it at all. He almost got airsick when he did it, and wondered how folks like Iron Man managed it. Of course, had the powers lasted, he may very well have mastered them and gotten used to it.
** He seemed to adapt better during the ''Identity Crisis'' storyline. When he was a fugitive for assaulting Norman Osborn, he briefly abandoned his Spider-Man identity, and took on four others, including the Hornet, where he flew using a jetpack. He was much better at it, but neither it nor the other three identities lasted long. He felt they simply weren't him, and no-one could argue.
== [[Film]] ==
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* Characters from the ''[[Touhou]]'' series have abilities ranging from [[Super Strength]] to controlling insects to "[[Green Lantern Ring|manipulating boundaries]]," but without fail every single one of them can also fly. A footnote in [http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento_in_Strict_Sense/Flandre_Scarlet an article] from ''[[All There in the Manual|Perfect Memento in Strict Sense]]'' could imply that ''everyone'' in Gensokyo can fly, even the "normal" humans.
** Special mention must be made of main protagonist Reimu Hakurei. In the PC-98 games she was incapable of flight and rode into battle on the back of her [[Turtle Power|flying, bearded turtle Genji]], but since the Windows game she's evidently learned to fly on her own while Genji is "[[Put on a Bus|probably living in the lake at the back of the shrine]]." Not only that, but Reimu is also able to [[Game Breaker|exploit her power of flight]] to literally [[Intangible Man|fly out of reach of your attacks in a spatial sense]] with her "Fantasy Heaven" spellcard, making her effectively invincible for its duration. The only reason she's beatable is that she's sporting enough to impose a time limit on her own ability.
* This is approximately of the [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]] ''FlyFF'', in which everyone gains the ability to fly.
* ''In [[City of Heroes]]'', the most commonly taken travel power is flight. Sure it's slow and uses a lot of Endurance, and sure Super Jump and Teleport and [[Super Speed]] do a similar job, but it's simple to use, unaffected by topography, and highly thematic. Plus non-melee characters can float twenty feet in the air and rain death on their opponents with impunity.
* Comes and goes in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''. On the one hand, many [[Super Robot]]s can fly just for cool and [[Real Robot]]s, especially [[Gundam]]s, are inherently aerospace weaponry. On the other, there are just as many "lower-tech" adventure stories where the robot is grounded, as well as the tendency to have [[Transforming Mecha]] with a plane mode and ground mode. (Variation: [[Mazinger Z]] and descendants can always fly provided they have a Scrander, but their performance is often better when standing than in the air.)
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In the original ''[[Transformers]]'' cartoon, all Decepticons could fly in robot mode, whether they turn into jets, cement mixers, tanks or cassette players. Compared to the Autobots, where flight in robot mode is mainly seen only from the Dinobots and Aerialbots (though this was inconsistent early on), this looks really weird.
** Indeed, one episode showed that when Megatron was first building his army, he managed to gain the trust of Cybertronian commoners because everyone saw flying as so cool. Among those he decieved was a dock worker named Orion Pax, whom Megatron used as an [[Unwitting Pawn]], turning on him and leaving him for dead when Pax was no longer useful. {{spoiler| [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|This proved a mistake]], as Pax would be repaired and upgraded into [[Came Back Strong|none other than Optimus Prime]].}}
** ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' seems to follow the rule that if their alt-mode can fly, their robot mode can fly, except for Soundwave and Shockwave, who fly even though their alt-modes are a car and a tank (Shockwave has a jet booster, while Soundwave seems to just levitate like the 'Cons of old). Also notable in that most Decepticons can fly, while no Autobots can't. {{spoiler|That is until the Autobots reverse-engineered technology from Starscream to create Jetstorm and Jetfire}}. Oh, and {{spoiler|Optimus Prime's wings and jetpack.}} [[Word of God]] is that the lack of flying Autobots has more to do with them regarding flight as a Decepticon trait rather than technological difficulties.
* In ''[[Perfect World]]'', every character eventually gains the ability to fly. Humans use giant magical swords, Elves use their wings [[Fridge Logic|(and they can replace them somehow)]], Untamed use flying beasts, Tideborn use wings made of [[Pure Energy]], and the new Earthguard use kites.
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* Three of the five core ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' can fly, either by superpowers or transforming into something with wings. To compensate for [[Badass Normal|Robin]] and [[Hollywood Cyborg|Cyborg's]] little "handicap" is the [[If It Swims, It Flies|T-ship]] and the "glider-thing". Cyborg was once outfitted with rockets, but was unfortunately unable to control his flight.
{{quote|"Maybe we should call me ''Flyborg''!"}}
* In ''[[ReBoot]]'' Hexadecimal and Glitchbob could fly. Despite having this power, Bob preferred to use his [[Flying Car]] or a [[Sky Surfing|zipboard]] whenever he could. The reason for this was that using any of his Glitch-based powers, including flight, would eventually cause a [[Heroic Red Ring of Death]].
== Other ==
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