Super-Hero Speciation: Difference between revisions

* This [[Older Than They Think|actually predates superheroes]]: it can be seen in [[Fairy Tale|Fairy Tales]]s such as ''The Six Soldiers of Fortune'' and ''The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship'' (or whatever they call the version of the story you might have read), as well as the book ''The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen''. In these stories, a prince, a dim but lovable lad seeking his fortune, or a soldier who has no occupation now that peace has come, is on a journey and picks up a series of companions or servants, each of whom has one amazing talent. Using all their talents as a team, they enable their leader to make good, marry a princess, con a wicked king out of his fortune, or whatever.

* Used to a certain point in ''Jason and the Argonauts''. Hercules -- godHercules—god-like strength; Nestor -- superhumanNestor—superhuman vision; Orpheus -- [[Magic Music]]; etc. The other 39 varied in individual skills and abilities.

* [[Tabletop RPG|Tabletop RPGs]]s frequently dip into this trope for "niche protection" -- that—that is, to try and ensure that no player's character gets overshadowed by another. Thus, duplication of classes/powers/skill sets is often deliberately avoided in a 'balanced' group and an effort may be made to make sure that similar characters are still mechanically different in some meaningful fashion. (This is not so much part of the ''rules'' of a given game as common practice in actual play.)

** While Team Kimba has a fairly diverse lineup more or less by "chance," most of the teams in the Whateleyverse--bothWhateleyverse—both the school training teams and the professional super teams--areteams—are constructed this way intentionally. The philosophy seems to be that you want enough members to have a wide range of powers, but not so many that the group can't be fairly close-knit. Team Kimba is actually the biggest team in Team Tactics, with eight members counting Shroud. Whateleyverse policy on team lineup seems to be at least a brick, a blaster, and a gadgeteer or devisor, with maybe a speedster and a PDP to round things out, plus a couple more. And the more [[Flight|flyers]], the better, of course.

** For that matter, this show's version of the [[Justice League]] includes Hawkman ''and'' Hawkwoman, plus two [[Green Lantern|Green Lanterns]]s (Hal and John)! Guy also made a cameo in one episode, though he's not in the League. They also have ''four'' [[Flying Brick|Flying Bricks]]s (Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Icon- five if you count Martian Manhunter, whose shapeshifting and telepathic abilities are emphasized in this 'verse while his other powers are downplayed).