History Main / SuperHeroSpeciation

* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' has this get pointed out, when Waller claims that the team was chosen for their unique, diverse skillsets, right before introducing Peacemaker, who has an essentially identical skillset to current team leader Bloodsport (she even uses nigh-identical terms to describe them). Peacemaker boasts that he's on the team because he does all the same things as Bloodsport but better. [[spoiler:This is, as it turns out, foreshadowing: Peacemaker does indeed have a major trait that Bloodsport doesn't, which is extreme loyalty to his country. He's on the team so he can kill anyone who tries to go rogue with the sensitive information they find.]]

* ''Series/MoonKnight'' provides a rare example for a single character. In the comics, Moon Knight possesses crescent moon-shaped throwing darts and a pair of truncheons as his primary weapons, but in the show, he mostly uses the darts, while his [[SplitPersonality Mr. Knight personality]] instead wields the truncheons.

** The team in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' is fairly diverse. Captain America is a SuperSoldier and TheLeader, Iron Man has a suit of PoweredArmor, The Hulk is TheBigGuy and DumbMuscle, Thor is a FlyingBrick with [[ShockAndAwe lightning powers]], Black Widow is an espionage expert and martial artist, and Hawkeye has ImprobableAimingSkills with his [[TheStraightAndArrowPath bow and arrow]]. There is arguably some overlap amongst the three {{Badass Normal}}s, but each use their fighting styles in different ways throughout the finale. This was of course S.H.I.E.L.D.'s plan, since they handpicked The Avengers for their specific skills.

* Myth/LusitanianMythology: Averted, unlike in most polytheistic religions. Of the known gods several were essentially water gods, a few were dedicated to war and two were related to light.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' averts this quite a few times:
** In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', War Machine joins the battle at the end, alongside Iron Man. They both have suits of armor that do more or less the same thing. By the end of the movie, however, [[spoiler: Iron Man has left the team, leaving War Machine as the only guy in armor on the team.]]
** And In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', this is simultaneously averted powerwise, as both teams have doubles on powers (Iron Man and Warmachine, Cap and Bucky), and played straight role wise, with each team consisting of the leader, their TokenBlackFriend who is better armed, a morally ambiguous superhuman dressed all in black, a former [=SHIELD=] agent, a wild card with fantastic superpowers, and [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing a bug themed late comer]] who spends the battle [[AscendedFanboy fanboying]].
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' features Iron Man and War Machine but they are on separate planets, fighting in separate groups and never interact with one another. However, Bruce Banner suits up with the Hulkbuster armor in the climax alongside War Machine, so there's at least one battle with two armored guys present.
** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', both Iron Man and War Machine are on the same roster of Avengers for most of the movie. In the climax, Pepper Potts also shows up in her own suit of armor, making this a triple threat. Additionally, it should be noted that at the start of the movie, War Machine and Bruce Banner go after Thanos with Bruce once again in the Hulkbuster armor. Tony is not present for that particular mission, however.
*** Speaking of Endgame, the climax features Wong, Dr. Strange, and a whole army of RedShirt wizards. Justified as Strange specifically asked Wong to get everyone they can, which means they would get their fellow wizards to help out.
** In both ''Film/IronMan2'' and ''Film/IronMan3'', War Machine is featured prominently even though Iron Man is the main hero. This trope is zig-zagged as Tony and Rhodey are often involved in their own missions or only one of them is in a suit of armor for a fight scene. Averted in the climax of ''Iron Man 2'', however, as both armored heroes fight side-by-side.
** ''Film/DoctorStrange'' features multiple heroes and villains who have the same powers as the main character. Justified in that the movie revolves around wizards who all studied the same mystic arts, including Dr. Strange himself.

* Played straight with the newborn [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica Justice League]] in ''Fanfic/SupermanOf2499TheGreatConfrontation''. There's a slight overlap due to the presence of [[Franchise/{{Superman}} two]] [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kryptonians]], but the remaining members are a [[Franchise/{{Batman}} detective]], a [[Franchise/WonderWoman warrior]] and a Franchise/GreenLantern.

* Team Kimba, in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. They're a pack of high schoolers, rather than an established super-team, but they fit this model. Like the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}, they also have a wide range of power levels, ranging from Tennyo (so powerful there's a school rule against attacking her) down to Generator (can animate stuff, and now has regeneration too) and Bladedancer (BadassNormal with magic sword). The team has blasters, a PK superboy, a powerful mage, a [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Vision-like]] density-changer, healers, martial artists, and a fake deviser. And there's only seven of them.

* Just about every character in the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' series has a special ability, almost universally summarized in their Character Profiles as "Manipulation of X", yet out of all the games ([[ContinuityReboot since the move to Windows, at least]]), the value of X has yet to repeat.

* Averted in ''Videogame/SuperheroLeagueOfHoboken'': Both Treader Man and Captain Cod have the power of Really Good At Treading Water, and many powers can be gained by drinking isotopes, including combat-related ones that are the "mains" for some of your team members. Besides allowing for more combat options, having several water treaders is required for entering flooded areas.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Nuthin' Special" examines and parodies this. To defeat (or rather aid) a flaming Spanish-speaking monster squirrel, Blossom uses her ice breath to extinguish the flames, and Bubbles uses her bilingual talents to communicate with it. Buttercup feels left out as she had no special power to offer in the situation. She spends most of the episode trying to find her own power but Blossom and Bubbles duplicate her time and again. Having had enough, she defiantly sticks her tongue out, curling it as she does. This throws her sisters, as they attempt to curl their tongues (as do everyone else in the city) with no success. Buttercup is overjoyed at this, in spite of everyone--even the narrator--thinking it's stupid.
* {{Subverted}} in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': [[RageAgainstTheMentor Red Arrow]] is annoyed that he's been "replaced" with [[ActionGirl Artemis]] on the Team, even though he turned down their invitation to join. [[TheLeader Aqualad]] points out that they "have no quota on archers," however, and he's still free to join whenever he wants.

* {{Subverted}} in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': [[RageAgainstTheMentor Red Arrow]] is annoyed that he's been "replaced" with [[ActionGirl Artemis]] on the Team, even though he turned down their invitation to join. {{Aqualad}} points out that they "have no quota on archers," however, and he's still free to join whenever he wants.

* This [[OlderThanTheyThink actually predates superheroes]]: it can be seen in {{Fairy Tale}}s such as "Literature/HowTheSixMadeTheirWayInTheWorld" and "Literature/TheFoolOfTheWorldAndTheFlyingShip", as well as the book ''Literature/TheSurprisingAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen''. 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.

[[quoteright:325:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fantastic_fourhead.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:325:One team, four very different powersets.[[note]]From back to front, [[FlyingFirepower the Human Torch]], [[RubberMan Mr. Fantastic]], [[BarrierWarrior the Invisible Woman]], [[SuperStrength the Thing]].[[/note]]]]

** The second season has Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl (SmartGuy {{Badass Normal}}s with gadgets) all on the team, plus Superboy and Wonder Girl in the FlyingBrick category. By this point, however, the team has gotten so big that most missions involve smaller groups, usually with a variety of powers / archetypes.

** Sailor Moon, Chibimoon, Venus and Mars have all purification abilities, that work in different ways: Moon and Chibimoon have healing powers that, as a side effect, also purify people from corruption and DemonicPossession, Venus has purification abilities that have limited healing abilities (in that they restore stolen life energy and partially heal damage caused by magical sources), and Mars is a {{Miko}} who can use PaperTalismans for exorcisms. Mars' ability is not innate but can be learned, as demonstrated by Venus when Mars got possessed and she felt appropriate to use her own technique to break the possession..

* Every major Toa team in ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'' had only one Toa per element, though some minor [[Toyless Toyline Character]]s were on teams with more than one. Also, except for the Toa Mata/Nuva, each Toa had only one MaskOfPower, different from all the other ones on the team (and usually previously unseen in the story).

* There can be a few common powers everyone has, in addition to their character-specific powers. Most of the ''{{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}}'' can fly, for example, and while a team will probably only have one FlyingBrick, many NighInvulnerable characters at once can be useful.

* In some teams, the whole point is that every member has exactly the same power (e.g., the ComicBook/GreenLantern [[TheChosenMany Corps]] in Franchise/TheDCU). Power speciation obviously doesn't apply in such cases; the focus is instead on personality differences. (Although this can still result in power speciation of kind, as different personality types apply the same powers differently.)

A SixthRanger is generally exempt. Contrast IdenticallyPoweredTeam and CastSpeciation.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' may be a special case. Each character has a rather unique special ability, (except [[BadassNormal Rock Lee]]) but all are trained in advanced level martial arts, and many of the lead cast (particularly Naruto and Sasuke) focus more on their martial arts powers than their special ability, so there's not much of a "only character X has the power to succeed here" issues. Also, most powers are passed down through families to make sure that the art isn't lost. In case that's not enough, it's a pretty safe bet that Kakashi (Copycat Ninja) or the Hokage knows the technique as well. Some of them are even inherited as a specific bloodline trait.\\
To put it a bit more simply: it's not a case of "everyone only has one power," but "except for a few inherited traits, there's nothing stopping anyone from learning everything but time, effort, and knowing how." Clans/schools/teams that seem to have a "specialty" is usually due to traditions teaching a particular style.

* Bloodsport complains that ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' were chosen for their unique abilities yet he and Peacemaker have the same skills. Peacemaker argues that his ImprobableAimingSkills are better but [[spoiler:is later proven wrong when they go up against eachother.]]

* This [[OlderThanTheyThink actually predates superheroes]]: it can be seen in {{Fairy Tale}}s such as ''The Six Soldiers of Fortune'' and ''Literature/TheFoolOfTheWorldAndTheFlyingShip'', 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.

[[folder:Fairy Tales and Mythology]]

* Used to a certain point in ''Jason and the Argonauts''. Hercules -- god-like strength; Nestor -- superhuman vision; Orpheus -- MagicMusic; etc. The other 39 varied in individual skills and abilities.
* In polytheistic religions, gods actually fit this idea:
** In Myth/ClassicalMythology each of the gods, goddesses, spirits, etc have their own sphere of power-Demeter is the goddess of the harvest and has Earth-related powers; Hermes is the patron of anyone who uses the roads[[note]] eg doctors, travelers, thieves, messengers [[/note]], Poseidon is the god of the sea, storms, and horses, and so on. While there is some overlap, such as Demeter and Dionysus both having plant-related powers and Zeus and Poseidon both being able to cause storms, they essentially stick to this.
** Myth/LusitanianMythology: Averted, unlike in most polytheistic religions. Of the known gods several were essentially water gods, a few were dedicated to war and two were related to light.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse averts this quite a few times:

* In ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', towards the end, several characters possessed the powers of telekinesis and teleportation.

* ''Series/BirdsOfPrey'': We are explicitly told that no two metahumans ever have the same power. Despite the fact that Huntress inherits the same ones her mother had.

* This [[OlderThanTheyThink actually predates superheroes]]: it can be seen in {{Fairy Tale}}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.

* MarvelCinematicUniverse:

* In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', War Machine joins the battle at the end, alongside Iron Man. They both have suits of armor that do more or less the same thing. By the end of the movie, however, [[spoiler: Iron Man has left the team, leaving War Machine as the only guy in armor on the team.]]
* And In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', this is simultaneously averted powerwise, as both teams have doubles on powers (Iron Man and Warmachine, Cap and Bucky), and played straight role wise, with each team consisting of the leader, their TokenBlackFriend who is better armed, a morally ambiguous superhuman dressed all in black, a former [=SHIELD=] agent, a wild card with fantastic superpowers, and [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing a bug themed late comer]] who spends the battle [[AscendedFanboy fanboying]].