Flying Brick - Television Tropes & Idioms

Superman is the Trope Maker here, along with the rest of the Superman Family. Varied for taste, though: Superman, Supergirl, and Power Girl also get supersenses, heat vision, and super breath (including freezing breath). Superboy's powers were actually rooted in "tactile telekinesis", and it was shown that eventually, he'd develop the ability to use full-on telekinetic powers. Twist: Everyone knows 'em, but hey, why not?
- The writers made Superboy's tactile telekinesis very clear by mentioning it every 5 minutes in the Young Justice comic, presumably because anyone who didn't know about it would just assume he had the same powers as Superman, being Superboy and all. Lampshaded by Impulse complaining about it every time he mentions it.
- Silver Age Superman is even worse... Able to move planets with ease, fly to other universes with ease, go back in time, throw his voice, super hypnotism, mind wiping kiss, and essentially New Powers As The Plot Demands.
  - Don't forget his greatest power - the ability to create a tiny doppelgänger of himself! (albiet temporarily, and losing his other powers in the process)
  - Either way, he's absurdly powerful, so much so that Kryptonite, his one weakness, rarely poses a serious threat to him; If he doesn't figuure out some way to get rid of it, someone will luckily come alonge to do it for him.
Wonder Woman. Twist: While very tough, is (usually) not bulletproof, but has bracelets that deflect bullets, as well as the ability to make bad guys aim all their shots directly at them (or to anticipate where they'll go and react at super-speed). Then again, if you can take punches from Superman... Occasionally, she is explicitly bulletproof and deflects bullets solely as an intimidation thing.
- Some interpretations use this to lampshade her costume and figure. Where else are the bad guys gonna look?
  - Her tiara, of course.
- A further twist is that she is thoroughly embedded in a combination high fantasy/romanticized Greek myth background — even more than is Superman in his cosmic Space Opera origin story.
The Shazam Captain Marvel (who is not himself named Shazam) and the rest of the Marvel Family. Twist: His secret identity is actually powerless, he must transform into Captain Marvel by speaking a word of power, and he can use magic lightning as an offensive weapon.
- Later versions added a second twist: Captain Marvel's power is diluted among active Marvel Family members;The more members of the Marvel Family that use their powers at once, the weaker each of them become. Presumably, this was added when the producers realized multiple Captain Marvels running around would be too strong.
In addition to members Superman and Supergirl, the Legion Of Super Heroes has a few:
- Mon-El, a Captain Ersatz of Superman with the exact same powers, though his weakness is lead, not kryptonite.
- Ultra Boy, with the caveat that he can only use one power at a time.
- Andromeda, a Captain Ersatz for Supergirl, who is also vulnerable to lead.
- Because every Legionnaire can fly because of their flight rings, Blok, the rock-man, is a literal flying brick. His postboot equivalent, Monstress, also qualifies.
- Star Boy also had the "basic package" in the postboot continuity, plus gravity-altering powers.
Martian Manhunter. Twist: An alien (not unlike Superman), whose other powers include shapeshifting (which also confers on him density control, invisibility (every now and then) and intangibility) and telepathy. The other twist: he's afraid of fire. Though he has a heat-vision.
Sodam Yat, currently Ion of the Green Lantern Corps. Prophesied to be the "ultimate Green Lantern", he is possessed by the spirit called Ion, meaning he doesn't need a power ring. However, what makes him so dangerous - and a flying brick - is the fact that his people are evolutionary cousins of the Kryptonians... meaning that even without the power of Ion, when he's exposed to yellow sun energy, he's pretty much Superman. The difference? Like Mon-El and Andromeda (who came from the same planet), his weakness is lead, not kryptonite, and it's even deadlier to him than kryptonite is to Supes. How powerful is he? During the Sinestro Corps war he went toe-to-toe with Superboy-Prime (who has Silver Age level powers) and actually kept him busy for more than like three seconds.
- Added Twist: during said fight, Superboy-prime stabs Sodam Yat with lead rods. His Power Ring now keeps the weakness in check: if the ring is ever removed he will die a slow, painful, death.
The Afterburner, one of the heroes generated by the HERO dial. The twist? He isn't invulnerable at all, which the person who had turned into him found out the hard way.
- For that matter, the world's first superhero, a caveman who discovered the HERO Dial, who killed mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers before eventually flying to the moon.
Starfire from the Teen Titans, though her super-strength is downplayed in favor of her energy blasts and babe status.
Kate Spencer, Manhunter. Her supersuit gives her the strength and near-invulnerability, and her staff allows her to fly.
- She is also the granddaughter of Iron Monro (a Ret Con Captain Ersatz of the Golden Age Superman, though he couldn't fly) which helps with the near invulnerability part.
The third Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes. With his armor, he can fly, is near invulnerable, he can locate almost anyone in the world, his senses are enhanced, and he can carry a large amount of weight. (His practical limits in this capacity haven't really been demonstrated yet.)
- For that matter, Dan Garret, the original Blue Beetle in his Silver Age post-scarab power set.
Captain Atom, along with his loosely-defined "atomic" powers.
Thundermind of the Great Ten. He's even referred to as "China's Superman". Though he himself notes that "while some of my siddhas are obvious — flight, strength, invulnerability...", going on to list his ability to be in two places at once, invisibility, and telepathy.

The Sentry. Twist: Has an opposite number, The Void, who kills one person for every person he saves.
- Also has a lot of subconscious Psychic Powers such as giving the entire world Laser Guided Amnesia about himself, and turning his headquarters— a tower on top of a Manhattan skyscraper— Invisible To Normals.
Captain Marvel. Twist: Um...see Captain Marvel, sort of. Except via aliens and super-science rather than gods and magic.
Ms. Marvel, before her powers were permanently leeched by Rogue. But then she got a different set of powers and became Binary after being experimented on by aliens. And then got her old powers back with some new energy powers. Or something. I'm a bit fuzzy on the whole Carol Danvers deal. But she has flight, super-strength, resistance to injury, and the Most Common Superpower. Twist: She can absorb ambient and directed energy, and project energy blasts from her fists (though she also had a sort of "seventh sense"/luck power for a while), but despite her impressive power level she has always been something of a second-stringer. This was played with in the House of M event, where in that Alternate Universe she was the greatest non-mutant superhero in the world. And since people kept their memories of the House of M reality, her knowledge that she could be that good has spurred her to new heights, her own monthly title, and leadership of The Avengers.
Gladiator, from the Shi'ar empire. Twist: His actual level of power depends on his confidence. It's implied (though the specific term isn't used) that his powers come from "tactile telekinesis" like the later version of Superboy, and he may or may not actually be aware of how his powers work.
The Captain in Nextwave not only has these standard powers, which he refers to as his "generic set of super-hero abilities" at one point, but he also mentions the addition of telescopic sight. Twists: the first thing he did with his superpowers was beat the crap out of the aliens who gave them to him. Once called himself "Captain ☠☠☠☠" for lack of a better name; got seven kinds of it beat out of him by Captain America for using that language.
For a time, Rogue of the X-Men was a Flying Brick, drained from Ms. Marvel as mentioned above. The only time her other power got used during this period tended to be when she literally took off the kid gloves. Twist: Rogue has only one natural power—that of being to temporarily drain the powers (and memories, and Life Energy) of others. If she holds on too long, though, it can become permanent...
Thor, the God of Thunder. Though rarely presented as being super-fast, he can keep up with anyone whose sole power isn't speed. Twist: Can't actually fly. Instead, he throws his hammer, which he can do with unerring accuracy for almost any distance...but doesn't let go. (His hammer, if you're wondering, can also float.) Also extraordinarily long-lived and has all the powers one would expect of a God of Thunder.
- A further twist is that, in many ways, his background combines those of Superman and Wonder Woman. Like Superman, he is from a scientifically magnificent alien realm (Another Dimension instead of another planet) that also plays like a classic cosmic Space Opera. Like Wonder Woman, he is from a mythological realm filled with mythological monsters, with living incarnations of destiny, and with the plottings of a major villainess schooled in witchcraft (The Enchantress for Thor, Circe for Wonder Woman).
  - Of course, Wonder Woman looks better than Thor does, at least to most of the intended audience.
Iron Man. Twist: Stark himself is powerless (aside from being really really smart); all his superhuman powers are, naturally, in his hi-tech Powered Armor. Second twist: His armor needed to be periodically recharged, and the chest plate is the only thing stopping shrapnel in his chest from killing him.
- Third twist: He can modify his suit (or build a new one) to incorporate a vast variety of powers and weapons, or simply emphasise a different aspect.
Silver Surfer. Granted but a portion of the Power Cosmic that is Galactus's to wield, he is incredibly strong, fast, and tough. Twist: Can fly himself, but also has a hi-tech "surfboard" that allows him to do so without expending his own energy, enhances his maneuverability, and seems to increase his potential top speed; can produce energy blasts of immense power, alter his molecular being...in short, one of the few superheroes who could—theoretically, at least—beat Superman handily.
M, of Generation X and now X-Factor. Twist: In addition to those powers, possesses telepathy, arrogance, and fashion sense. And she's a fusion of two, or at times three, sisters.
- And only M could have "arrogance" as a fully-fledged superpower.
Captain Britain. Twist: Only while in Britain or in costume.
- More recently, he's lost the geographical/costume based weaknesses, and his strength is now dependant on his self-belief, much like Gladiator. The impact is that he's now potentially stronger than ever, but the minute his self-belief fails, he becomes powerless.
Centennial, from Alpha Flight. Twist: He's 97 years old, and shows his age. He's also got the other powers that sometimes come with the package, like heat vision.
The Eternals are an entire race with this power set, in addition to Immortality and other assorted individual powers that each develops through millenia of practice and training.
This trope was lampshaded in volume 1 of Astonishing X-Men, where a young mutant with flight describes how he broke his legs the first time he landed because he assumed he was invulnerable too.
Nova (the male one from the New Warriors) got his powers from an entire Nova Corps of Human Aliens with Flying Brick powers.
Hyperion of the Squadron Supreme, as an atomic-powered Captain Ersatz of Superman.
Cannonball from the X-men. His mutant power literally IS flying bricktitude. (He's invulnerable, but only when flying.)
Namor the Sub-Mariner, the real Trope Maker, being a Flying Brick about a year and a half before Superman could fly. Twist: Atlantean heritage makes him an underwater flying brick as well.

Invincible himself, as well as all Viltrumites (including Omni-Man and Anissa), his brother Oliver, the Immortal, Black Samson, Martian Man, the Shapesmith (and basically every Martian), Bolt of Capes, Inc., Bulletproof, Allen the Alien, later versions of D.A. Sinclair's Re-Animen, and briefly, Monster Girl.
- Later whole army of Alternate Invincibles, and Conquest
PS238 deconstructs this power in the form of identifying metahumans with this power as having the F.I.S.S (Flying, Invulnerability, Strength, Speed) package — it is the most common power by far (and yes, in fact more common than the Most Common Superpower in that 'verse). Julie, one of the PS 238 students, is the 84th person to be identified as possessing this combination, and the lack of uniqueness — combined with the fact that most people with F.I.S.S end up being C List Fodder at best or just get civilian jobs because it's hard for them to catch a break due to this — does not help her self-esteem.
- She's feeling a bit better about that after a couple of adventures, to the point that she now refers to herself as "84", with an appropriate symbol on her new costume. Of course, she still has to deal with other people who look down on her power set because it's so common.
- There's also Captain Clarinet, who manages to be distinctive, partly because he's the son of Atlas (who as the 'verse's Captain Ersatz Superman is the Flying Brick) but mostly because he'd rather play music than fight crime.
Referred to as a "Powerhouse" in Magellan.
Apollo, of the Wildstorm universe, is the powerhouse of The Authority. He's a semi-Affectionate Parody of Superman. Twist: He literally gets his power from the sun—his body is a solar battery. He can run out of juice if he over-taxes himself, at which point he needs to recharge.
- A further twist is that he is openly gay in the historically homophobic (or more accurately, homo-avoidant) medium of comic books (a medium which has been slowly improving on that regard, fortunately).
- Also from The Authority, The Engineer. Twist: see Iron Man, but sexier, and she's never really without the suit.
  - At times Iron Man has had his armor partly built in too.
- And Swift, who while not as strong or fast or tough as Apollo, can survive a small explosion to the face with nothing worse than a bloody nose, has razor-sharp talons, wings, and is the world's greatest huntress.
- The Authority's first storyline had them fighting a clone army of Flying Brick terrorist Mooks.
- Also from Wildstorm: the WildC.A.T.s' Mr. Majestic, a Flying Brick with Eye Beams, microscopic vision, ice breath, superintelligence, telekinesis, and a limitless lifespan. Much like Superman is the standard against which DCU characters' power levels are measured, Majestic is the standard for Wildstorm. (In fact, the first Story Arc with The Authority features Jenny Sparks citing a superhero ranking system in reference to how powerful a forcefield is. Apollo, for example, is a "Majestic-class" superhero.
Supreme, particularly when written by Alan Moore as homage to the Silver Age Superman.
Samaritan from Astro City, who is routinely depressed due to the fact that he spends too much time saving people to even bother living a normal life. In particular, he never gets a chance to do what he most loves to do- fly just for the sensation of flying.
- A further twist is that Samaritan is not from a distant planet, hidden island, or obscured other dimension — he is from a lost possible future, and got his powers during Time Travel. He can also extend a forcefield to catch things like falling buildings and tidal waves.
- Beautie, the life-sized doll, as well.
- The generic nature of these powers is lampshaded when a character describes another flying brick, Roustabout, as having "real vanilla powers".
Prime of Ultraforce is a classic Flying Brick whose twist is that he's really a skinny thirteen year old who generates a mass of pseudo-organic tissue around himself to appear as a muscular adult.
- Basically, he's Captain Marvel, but Darker And Edgier.
Agent M/Miracle of Fred Perry's Gold Digger, the Superman-equivelent of that universe. A flying brick who, in addition to flight and strength, also has the ability to briefly freeze time around him in a twist on superspeed.
Marvelman/Miracleman and family. A Captain Ersatz of the DC Captain Marvel, with the twist that he and his family and his enemies were Ret Conned as deliberately created this way after his creator was inspired by a discarded Captain Marvel comic. He's very much the Flying Brick with speed, flight, strength and invulnerability, but the series indicates that his powers are mentally based, and he could develop new powers. At the time he was revamped into his modern form, for him to be so far along the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism was also an innovative twist.
Zenith, a British Grant Morrison series, has a spoiled popstar named Zenith who has these powers, most of the time— they fade on a regular basis based on his body's biocycles. All the Cloud Nine "heroes" including his parents have this power set, although all of them can also develop Psychic Powers up through Godhood with training and discipline, sort of like Marvel's Eternals turned Up To Eleven.
Deconstructed in the Alternate Company Equivalent loaded Supreme Power, which is an Ultimate Universe Version of the Squardron Supreme, who are themselves a Justice League homage.
- Mark's arch-nemesis, Redstone, a human modified with DNA from Hyperion, is a subversion to flying bricks in that, well, he can't fly. But he can still go toe to toe with Hyperion and anyone else he has a problem with.
  - Is that a subversion, or just a non-example? If somone can't fly, he's not a flying brick. We already have a trope for that called Lightning Bruiser.
Matthew Bright and Patriot of J Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars.
The Ultimates had the Liberators invade the United States with thousands of Flying Bricks. The twist? Their super-suits had to be bonded to their bodies, and shortened their lifespan to mere months. The European heroes the Liberators presumably stole the designs from have nonlethal removable suits that give them similar powers.

The Otome in Mai-Otome. In fact, that's the only powers they have, if we don't count the Elements (their summonable melee weapon).
Ai To Yuuki No Pig Girl Tonde Buurin... except she also turns into a talking pig.
Most of the cast of Dragon Ball.
Akio's cyborg powers in Koi Koi 7 boil down to this set. However, she's a Sentai fan, and thus even the most basic power set stands as reason for over-the-top superheroism.
Princess Nene in Kirameki Project has power of flight, super strength, and near invulnerability when she wears the powered suit created for her by her Wrench Wench sister Princess Kana. Strangely enough, Nene's suit also serves to make her a Fan Service object.
Technically Zelgadiss in The Slayers, though his Flying Brick power set does not come from a single source: Nigh Invulnerability (being headshot from a cannon only knocks him out) and strength from him being a chimera of human, demon and golem, and flying from his mastery of magics (he also knows offensive magic spells, so that's close enough to the eye beams/breath mold). He is also a literal flying brick, having a body of living stone.
Naruto in Sage Mode. The twist: when he punches it ties in with the energy around him. Even if he misses — if your in 3 or so feet of his fist — you still get it. The Achilles Heel: you have to be perfectly still to absorb the energy for Sage Mode. Since that's not practical when super freaks are trying to kill you, he has to start a fight ready. There's ways around it, of course, but only if you're crazy prepared.

The title character of My Super Ex Girlfriend.
Neo, in The Matrix, whose other powers within the Matrix include, oh, godhood.
The title character of Hancock.
Will Stronghold in Sky High. (Which hardly needs to be spoilered since they used it in the ad campaign, but let's leave it anyway.)

CoreFire, Damsel and Galatea from Soon I Will Be Invincible.
Justice and Uberman from Perry Moore's Hero. The main character, Thom, also develops these powers near the end.
Every one of the heroes in the Maximum Ride series
Wild Cards' Starshine, in addition to his vast light-based powers. The later incarnation of The Radical has this among his array of powers. Modular Man had these powers to start with; he's since lost his flight module.
Magnus, in addition to immortality, heightened senses, super speed, has Flight, Super Strength, Nigh Invulnerability, and a sonic voice.
Captain Underpants, after he is given some Extra-Strength Super Power Juice to save his life.
Lestat de Lioncourt in The Vampire Chronicles series eventually gains most powers available to only the oldest vampires by drinking the blood of Akasha, the first vampire. Besides his original power of telepathy (the Mind Gift) and the usual physical strength and speed of all vampires, this includes flight (the Cloud Gift), spirit walking, incineration (the Fire Gift), and the ability to kill humans with a thought (possibly, a variation of the Fire Gift). Besides this, he also becomes as close to immune to sunlight as a vampire can get (i.e. his skin burns off, but he does not die).

The Greatest American Hero. When he's not a falling brick.
Heroes. Peter Petrelli and Sylar/Gabriel Gray.

By the end of season one, Peter had acquired Super Strength from Niki, Flight from Nathan, and, while not Neigh Invulnerable, absorbed a Healing Factor from Claire. Sylar also can now fly, has a Healing Factor, and can use his Telekinesis to enhance his strength. Both are basically unstoppable. Although in Season 3 they decided it would be funny to completely nerf Peter by leaving him powerless while Sylar goes on a killing spree and becomes one of the most broken villains ever created, especially when you look at the rest of the cast of this show.

My Secret Identity. The main character gets the super powers of super speed, invunerability and flight (sort of, more like weightlessness as he uses aerosol cans to propell himself as he floats). In later seasons he gets super strength, making him a floating brick.
True Blood. Eric Northman
Mutant X has Gabriel Ashlock (AKA Patient Zero), one of the only two New Mutants (the other being the Child) who combines all four categories: Elemental (fires energy balls), Feral (catlike speed and strength), Molecular (regeneration), and Psionic (empath). This turns out to be a case of Blessed With Suck, as he eventually explodes from the sheer energy of these combined powers.
In Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers it is argued that humans design their ships like this: no sense of creativity to their work, just bricks with engines attached.

Post-Dracula, vampires tend to embody this trope, often by means of a Healing Factor. When they can fly, that is.
Dragons almost universally qualify, the occasional non-flying or thin-scaled dragon aside.

One of the nicknames of the F-4 Phantom II is "Flying Brick". Although it has enough "powers" to qualify, the nickname in this case was because of its shape and the belief that this thing surely should not be able to fly.
The Space Shuttle is also sometimes called a "Flying Brick", because its return-to-Earth "glider" configuration is so heavy. It doesn't so much as glide as it "falls out of the sky, gently". Indeed, this is more like an inversion: Without the giant External Tank to provide fuel, the Shuttle engines are powerless; and as events have sadly shown, it is always quite vulnerable.
Many military planes are far more durable than they would seem. An Israeli pilot once managed to safely land an F-15 whose entire right wing had been torn off by a mid-air collision, and the infamous A-10 is darn near as close to a tank with wings as could actually fly.

In the Freedom City setting of Mutants And Masterminds, Centurion, his Evil Counterpart Superior, and Captain Thunder (with a side order of Shock And Awe). The core M&M book calls a character with this power grouping a "Paragon" archetype.
This template is appropriately called The Archetype in GURPS: Supers and is the only sample template that is built on the D-scale (able to destroy a modern tank).

City Of Heroes lets you build toward this model—start with the Tanker (hero) or Brute (villain) archetype, and the Super Strength and Invulnerability powersets. At level six, add the Flight power pool (and don't forget to take Flight itself at level 14). To really come dangerously close to Superman, take the Body Mastery epic power pool when your security level gets into the 40s, and you'll get your eye beams and a few other goodies. But really any powersets taken by those two archetypes work about the same, with different quirks and special effects. Of course the game's signature hero, Statesman, has the typical Flying Brick powers. (His twist? Lightning powers, since he's the Incarnate of Zeus.)
- You'll learn this the hard way during the Recluse Strike Force when you fight him.
- There's also the Stone Armor set. If you take flight, you can literally become a flying brick.
Champions Online actually makes it easier to create this powerset - simply cherry pick between Might and other power sets, and choose Flight when it's time to pick your travel power after the intro.
Freedom Force has plenty of 'em. ManBot definitely.

In Pastel Defender Heliotrope, Heliotrope is a sex doll brought to life by Imported Alien Phlebotinum; in addition to animation and sentience, she gains Flying Brick powers.
in Fellowship of Heroes, the lead hero, Crusader, is a christian-themed Flying Brick who regards his powers as both a natural mutation and a god-given gift (Lord works in Mysterious ways and such), and the comic itself takes the time to explain the (pseudo)science behind his super-strength aura and it's relation to his flight powers. In short, his aura lets him fly through the air by working like an inside-out jet engine. Without the plane attached.
Energize is flying brick, plus he has energy-based powers Subverted, when it's revealed it's only a part of his true power, omnipotence-sorta thing
The Crossoverlord lampshaded it with it's two female flying bricks, The Green Avenger and Dasien - both found similarities in her powers interesting.
Many charcters from the Heroes Unite universe fits this trope. Not only Energize and Dasien, as mentioned above, but also The Blonde Marvel, who combines it with a parody of Most Common Superpower, SHELL, who's just a Japanese Iron Man equivalent in a term of powers, and Relik, who has this set plus many other abilities, as long, as his armor is activated.
- Other flying bricks include Titan (green skinned time traveller from the future), Tazer (also has energy powers) and Nebulon (also has energy blasts from hands)
A popular power combo in Ps238, to the point where one of the characters, when describing her superhero abilities, gains the superhero nickname "eighty-four" — the eighty-fourth bearer of such abilities so far.

Not an uncommon power set in the Whateley Universe. For example, Lancer of Team Kimba plays this completely straight, being a 'telekinetic brick' with super-strength, flight, and a forcefield that he's learned to extend a bit to cover weapons he uses, but no ranged powers other than picking things up and throwing them thus far. And Tennyo arguably has this as a subset of her powers, though it's easy to overlook underneath her flashy energy blasts/sword and reality-rending 'death blow'.
Captain Hammer's powers seem to be along these lines.
- It's never shown that he can fly, though, so he's really more of a jumping brick.

The Powerpuff Girls, who are some of the most powerful heroes in their world, and they're all about five years old.
- Each has a unique, personal power: Bubbles can talk to animals -and God help you if you press her Berserk Button- and she had her Super Sonic Screech; Blossom has ice breath; and Buttercup ~~can roll her tongue like a taco. What? No one ever said it was gameplay balanced~~. That, and she's the Toughest Fighter.
Several Transformers doubtlessly qualify, and being giant, transforming, living robots, they also tend to boast incredible firepower and other skills and abilities. In G1, every Decepticon could fly in robot mode, whether they turned into a jet or a gun or a casette player.
- This goes for Gobots as well.
Word Girl's powers are like this, aside from her ~~powers of literacy~~ immense vocabulary.
Darkwing Duck once met up with Comet Guy, a Flying Brick who wanted to train with the universe's greatest hero. Twist? Comet Guy is as smart as a brick. Oh, and the sound of a whistle causes him to dance uncontrollably, injuring friend and foe. He also shoots little comet bolts and has to hide in his hat to travel between planets.
- Later Comet Guy takes Darkwing to his homeworld, a Planet of Flying Bricks!
Danny Phantom fits this trope to a T. Almost as dumb as a brick, too (His grades are constantly said to be atrocious...he gets better). The fact that he can sense most other Flying Bricks is kinda moot when he can't sense Vlad.
Hawkgirl, as portrayed in Justice League. (The comicbook versions of the Hawkfamily are a case of Clothes Make The Superman.) Her edge is that she fights with an Energy Mace, which, in addition to smashing things, is very useful for deflecting lasers, disrupting energy fields, and negating magic.
Captain Planet, along with his Elemental Powers.
Perhaps the oldest example in Western Animation, aside from Superman himself, is the great Mighty Mouse; who apparently got his powers from some sort of magic cheese, and as a result, has strength, speed, invulnerability. flight, and in at least one cartoon, magnetic/telekinetic powers as well.
The classic TV Superhero Underdog also deserves a mention here.

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