History RequiredSecondaryPowers / TheDCU

** Bart also discovers that he can't have a tattoo because of this. After [[IncrediblyLamePun impulsively]] getting a ComicBook/GreenLantern logo tattoo (because who would suspect a guy with Green Lantern's logo tattooed on him being Kid Flash?) he finds that it quickly fades away, as if decades of epidermal rejuvenation were taking place in a few seconds. One wonders why he doesn't [[{{squick}} leave piles of skin cells everywhere he goes]].

* Commander Steel from ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron'' is super-strong and invulnerable to harm but has an extremely stunted sense of touch as a side-effect of the treatment that gave him his powers. It's to the point that he gets really happy when he faces a foe strong enough to cause him pain, because it's a feeling. Another problem he suffers is holding back; a metal suit has to be cast around him to bring him down to a level of super-strength where he can actually function without destroying everything.

* In a BadFuture issue of ''ComicBook/JLA1997'', [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Connor Hawke]] and ComicBook/TheAtom were able to penetrate Darkseid's supposedly impenetrable [[DeflectorShields force field]] by exploiting the fact that light waves could pass through it. The Atom reasoned that if the field actually shut out light, Darkseid would be blind.
* In Issue 75 of ''[[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]]'', Atom Smasher explicitly mentions breaking and regrowing his bones and muscles as he grows. While it has never been done, this would theoretically allow him to heal bone and muscle damage by simply shifting height again. He also has a specific height (around 50 feet) wherein his powers start to malfunction and the SquareCubeLaw starts paying attention to him again.
** Subverted in a ''JLA'' story where Superman encounters a new superhero while rescuing some firemen from a collapsing building. The newbie has super strength and is able to hold up the falling ceiling long enough for Superman to evacuate the firemen. Unfortunately he discovers that he does not possess invulnerability and is killed when a gas main blows up in his face.

* ComicBook/CommanderSteel from ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron'' is super-strong and invulnerable to harm but has an extremely stunted sense of touch as a side-effect of the treatment that gave him his powers. It's to the point that he gets really happy when he faces a foe strong enough to cause him pain, because it's a feeling. Another problem he suffers is holding back; a metal suit has to be cast around him to bring him down to a level of super-strength where he can actually function without destroying everything.

* Comicbook/{{Aquaman}} owes his recent transformation from [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman oft-mocked third stringer]] to something of a MemeticBadass to people giving this trope some thought...

* ComicBook/CommanderSteel is super strong and invulnerable to harm but has an extremely stunted sense of touch as a side-effect of the treatment that gave him his powers. It's to the point that he gets really happy when he faces a foe strong enough to cause him pain, because it's a feeling. Another problem he suffers is holding back; a metal suit had to be cast around him to bring him down to a level of super strength where he could actually function without destroying everything.

* The young teleporter Misfit introduced in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' astounds Oracle because she defies the usual TeleportationWithDrawbacks. She can "bounce" (her term for it) ''anywhere'', no matter how far away, without even having to visit the place beforehand. She instinctively avoids [[TeleFrag teleporting into objects]]. And she can "bounce" any number of times without exhausting herself. She actually ''[[HealingFactor heals]]'' herself each time she does this, and recovered from a gunshot wound this way in her debut. The only limitation of her ability is that she can't take other living things along for the ride -- they die when they reappear. Misfit discovered this when [[spoiler:she tried to bounce herself, her mother, and her little brother out of their burning home and accidentally killed them this way]]. A later storyline revealed that her powers are magical in nature, [[AWizardDidIt explaining this somewhat]].

* [[TouchOfDeath Wanderer]], the leader of the Council of Spiders group that tries to kill ''Comicbook/RedRobin'', is immune to her own poison.

*** In "ComicBook/SupergirlsBigBrother", a crook tries to make a super-pill to give himself Kryptonian powers by making a pill; however, he uses the wrong mix of chemicals, and his invulnerability wears off when he is swimming through the ocean, leaving his body unable to bear the water pressure.

** Strangely both averted and used in Legion of Super-Heroes'' volume 2. ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} is trying to move a planet. She has the strength, but attempting to do so just ends up digging a hole through the planet because she can't move it as a single object by touching a small part of it. However, the "solution" used is to have her bounce into the planet, which really should fail for the same reason.

** Superman and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'s heat vision started out as a seeming Required Secondary Power of their X-ray vision. It was originally assumed that power worked by projecting X-rays and that they could focus this to generate heat. Now it seems that they are separate powers.

** According to some accounts, Kryptonians have a forcefield that extends a few millimeters past their skins. Which explains why Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, Comicbook/PowerGirl... costumes stay intact while their capes get ripped. But not why the cape is fine at superspeed. Depending on the version, the cape is the blanket Superman was sent to Earth with, meaning it's more or less indestructible. In some versions, the entire costume is made from it.
*** Also would explain why they crack the ground in a circular fashion when they're holding something heavy up or landing hard ,under their own will, instead of sinking directly into the ground or cracking in a more logical fashion.

** Even Kryptonite has a Required Secondary Power: it causes Kryptonians to be severely weakened in its vicinity. This prevents them from simply hurling the rock away before they take too much damage. Notably averted through HeroicWillpower in ''Film/SupermanReturns.''

** Silver Banshee has MakeMeWannaShout abilities. She is immune to her own scream, as well as sonic attacks from others, like ComicBook/BlackCanary's Canary Cry.

** During the buildup to ''ComicBook/Armageddon2001'', Waverider sees a potential future for Wally West whose son has his speed, but not his protective aura. He seriously injures himself saving a young girl from a speeding truck. It's hinted that heroine Fire had an even worse tragedy when her offspring didn't inherit her protection from her own flames. This future is actually averted because Flash sensed Waverider just enough to distract him from speaking to a whistleblower who set the whole thing in motion.
%% ** In an "{{Elseworlds}}" story set in the future, Flash's son inherited his speed, but not his friction resistance, with the tragic potential being explored. %%Is this the ''Armageddon 2001'' story mentioned below, or another story with the same concept?

** During the "Justice League Detroit" days, he was shown being able to influence people's actions through the same "fish portion of the brain" excuse. How little sense this makes is the least part of why many people [[FanonDisContinuity deny the JLD ever happened]].

** In ''Aquaman: Rebirth'', ComicBook/{{Mera}} complains about fielding endless questions how she keeps her hair so [[BeautyIsNeverTarnished full and lustrous]] despite spending so much time in salt water. Although some artists will draw Atlanteans with their hair looking realistically wet and flattened down when they surface, or with long hair floating around their head when submerged, they are more often drawn with their hair looking perfect on land or underwater. This must mean that Atlanteans have natural oils which protect their hair from undersea conditions.

* The young teleporter Misfit introduced in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' astounds Oracle because she defies the usual TeleportationWithDrawbacks. She can "bounce" (her term for it) ''anywhere'', no matter how far away, without even having to visit the place beforehand. She instinctively avoids [[TeleFrag teleporting into objects]]. And she can "bounce" any number of times without exhausting herself. She actually ''[[HealingFactor heals]]'' herself each time she does this, and recovered from a gunshot wound this way in her debut. The only limitation of her ability is that she can't take other living things along for the ride - they die when they reappear. Misfit discovered this when [[spoiler:she tried to bounce herself, her mother, and her little brother out of their burning home and accidentally killed them this way]]. A later storyline revealed that her powers are magical in nature, [[AWizardDidIt explaining this somewhat]].
** Another character originating in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' is Black Alice, [[spoiler: Misfit's cousin]], who can steal anyone's magic powers and use them as her own. Unfortunately, she doesn't get their control, as she discovered when she tried to use magic to fix her father's near-sightedness -- and ended up giving him cancer instead.
* Silver Banshee has MakeMeWannaShout abilities. She is immune to her own scream, as well as sonic attacks from others, like ComicBook/BlackCanary's Canary Cry.
* ''ComicBook/TheButton'': ComicBook/EobardThawne / Professor Zoom breaks into the Batcave and beats Franchise/{{Batman}} up. When Batman tries to fight back, Thawne turns himself intangible and gloats that Batman can't hurt him. He is proven wrong when Batman stabs him in the foot. Batman points out his feet would have to be solid or else he would sink into the ground.
* Durlans, a shape-shifting species in the DCU, were eventually revealed to have an extra sense that allows them to scan all the cellular and anatomic details of a new being they encounter, as well as perfect memory for same. For which their antennae are the sensory organs.
* Franchise/TheFlash's powers are an all inclusive package called [[AWizardDidIt the Speed Force]] but parts of it come and go for the purposes of a given story. For example, his seeming ability to slow down his required super-perception has been pointed out a few times. In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Only a Dream", for instance, the villain Doctor Destiny tormented superheroes with various nightmares; the Flash dreamt that he was unable to slow down, and perceived everything around him as motionless. The idea of a Flash unable to slow down his perception was also eloquently expanded upon by Jim's Big Ego in [[http://www.bigego.com/index.php?page=video&category=02--Video_Remixes&display=863 this song]].
** AlternateCompanyEquivalent ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} explicitly ''doesn't'' have this: while he can slow down his perception as he speeds up, his default is still faster than human normal. It's described as the reason that he's so aggressive: everyone else to him "is like standing behind someone who doesn't know how to use an ATM" every single moment of the day.

** Bart also discovers that he can't have a tattoo because of this. After [[IncrediblyLamePun impulsively]] getting a Franchise/GreenLantern logo tattoo (because who would suspect a guy with Franchise/GreenLantern's logo tattooed on him being Kid Flash?) he finds that it quickly fades away, as if decades of epidermal rejuvenation were taking place in a few seconds. One wonders why he doesn't [[{{squick}} leave piles of skin cells everywhere he goes]].
%% ** In an "{{Elseworlds}}" story set in the future, Flash's son inherited his speed, but not his friction resistance, with the tragic potential being explored. %%Is this the ''Armageddon 2001'' story mentioned below, or another story with the same concept?

** In one of the Impulse comics where he's fighting against his evil twin/arch rival, the narration [[LampshadeHanging goes into a loving description of all the Required Secondary Powers that speedsters must apply to keep from destroying the landscape everywhere they go.]] Of course, the evil twin in question is taking no such precautions, so their super-sonic battle is marked by a trail of broke pavement, shattered buildings, and general total devastation.
** During the build up to ''Comicbook/Armageddon2001'', Waverider sees a potential future for Wally West whose son has his speed, but not his protective aura. He seriously injures himself saving a young girl from a speeding truck. It's hinted that heroine Fire had an even worse tragedy when her offspring didn't inherit her protection from her own flames. This future is actually averted because Flash sensed Waverider just enough to distract him from speaking to a whistleblower who set the whole thing in motion.
* In the first issue of [[ComicBook/DialHForHero H-E-R-O]], a man uses the HERO Dial to turn into Afterburner, a FlyingBrick who, as it turns out, is not nearly as NighInvulnerable as he looks; the guy ends up nearly killing himself saving a little kid from a drunk driver in a semi.
* In a post crisis story, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen [[SuperpowersForADay gains stretching superpowers much like Elongated or Plastic Man.]] The problem is he lacks any ability to control said stretching nor the required secondary power to deaden the pain that such stretching would naturally cause like the aforementioned superheroes do. He's nearly driven insane from the ever increasing pain as a result during the ordeal.
* In a BadFuture issue of Creator/GrantMorrison's ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'', [[Comicbook/GreenArrow Connor Hawke]] and ComicBook/TheAtom were able to penetrate Darkseid's supposedly impenetrable [[DeflectorShields force field]] by exploiting the fact that light waves could pass through it. The Atom reasoned that if the field actually shut out light, Darkseid would be blind.

** Brainiac Five has a force field belt that (before ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths, at least) was explicitly noted to have the ability to automatically generate breathable air whenever creating a closed shield. Even before he invented the [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace transuits]], it was stated that he didn't need a conventional space suit for this reason.
** Night Girl (super strength and durability, but only in the dark) and Shadow Lass (generate and control darkness) who both had the secondary ability to see in the dark.
** Fellow Legion member Ultra Boy was a twist on the standard FlyingBrick powerset- he had Kryptonian level abilities (including equivalents of heat and x-ray vision), but he could only use them one at a time. This meant he would often be seen using Superman-level strength, whilst still being as fragile as a normal human (well, Rimborian, but [[HumanAliens same diff]]), meaning that the slightest movement should have ripped him apart, not to mention that every time he tried to lift something heavy he should have been completely crushed, and punching anyone or anything particularly durable should have shattered every bone in his arm.

* Strangely both averted and used in ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes V2''. Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} is trying to move a planet. She has the strength, but attempting to do so just ends up digging a hole through the planet because she can't move it as a single object by touching a small part of it. However, the "solution" used is to have her bounce into the planet, which really should fail for the same reason.
* It's arguable that most flying heroes possess an innate sense of direction that seems to keep them on course no matter how far they are flying. ComicBook/{{Superman}} is explainable via his vision powers, but most don't have that. However, the Will Payton version of Starman would actually follow highways and later carried a map when he got a suit with pockets.
* Franchise/{{Superman}}:
** In one of the ''Superman'' annuals (as part of the "Legends of the Dead Earth" motif), there was a team of heroes, each of which having one of Superman's powers, but the powers were either [[PowerIncontinence stuck "on"]] or coupled with potentially-hazardous side effects, even when those were powers granted by a "supersuit" rather than bio-modification. The speedster's suit had to keep her blood sugar levels up and the super-breath guy's collar worked both ways, so he could have ruptured his lungs if he breathed in too suddenly. Of the bio-modified heroes the super-strong one couldn't even feed himself because he would crush the spoon and the food, the X-ray eyes hero saw everything in X-ray eyes and had to wear special lead glasses, the flier had to be tethered to something because if he wasn't deliberately moving towards something he could drift away, the heat-vision guy had to discharge the energy from his eyes every so often to prevent a fatal buildup, and the invulnerable one had no sense of touch.
* After the 1986 revamp, Superman was assumed to have some version of touch-based telekinesis, as there's no other explanation for why he can lift up giant objects without the part that he's holding simply overbalancing and ripping free, or how he can catch falling objects (and people!) without doing them harm [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou from the sudden stop]]. On at least one occasion Superman did comment that things felt different when he was carrying them while flying than they did if he lifted something similar when not flying.
** This was tacitly acknowledged to be true when he was cloned, resulting in Comicbook/{{Superboy}}. Superboy's ''only'' power was tactile telekinesis, which he used to "fake" stuff like flight, invulnerability, and super strength, until [[RetCon eventually]] his Kryptonian genetics kicked in and he got them for real.

** The 2003 miniseries "Trinity" explicitly acknowledged the physical difficulties Superman should have when moving objects with a large momentum, e.g. when a runaway train hurtles owards a turn he first tries to force it into the turn by pulling it, and only succeeds in ripping the wall off; he needs to deflect a nuclear missile fired at a satellite, he can't hope to deflect the whole thing in time, so he cuts off the warhead and deflects it by itself, and needs to grab onto an asteroid to stop inertia carrying him past the asteroid belt; he can't simply pull two drone planes hurtling towards a skyscraper out of the air, but he can take advantage of the fact their wing structures make them steerable and force them on a collision course with each other and send them crashing into the sea.
** In ''Comicbook/KryptoniteNevermore'', a villain removes Superman's powers one at a time. At one point, he is about to land, but loses his strength at that very moment, and as a result plows into the ground (he was still invulnerable). He points out that even though he still has the ability to fly, he needs the super-strength to coordinate his flying and landing.
** According to some accounts, Kryptonians have a forcefield that extends a few milimeters past their skins. Which explains why Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, Comicbook/PowerGirl... costumes stay intact while their capes get ripped. But not why the cape is fine at superspeed. Depending on the version, the cape is the blanket Superman was sent to Earth with, meaning it's more or less indestructible. In some versions, the entire costume is made from it.

** One comic from "''Smallville: Season 11''" explains that when Superman makes himself immovable, it's not only his invulnerability: he's also using the same control over his personal gravity that he uses to fly.

** In ''ComicBook/TwoForTheDeathOfOne'': ''Action Comics'' 535 - 541 Lord Satanus and his sister Blaze are playing magical tug of war with Superman - and accidentally split him into two people, each with only some of Superman's powers. One has flight and super strength. The other has invulnerability. Their magic spell would flood him with enough magical energy to kill him, so they need the invulnerability to process it. They didn't need the other one so they leave him in the present and go back into the past. Now vulnerable, this superman can't fly supersonic or lift anything as heavy as a car without extreme pain.

* [[TouchOfDeath Wanderer]], the leader of the Council of Spiders group that tried to kill Comicbook/RedRobin, is immune to her own poison.
* Franchise/WonderWoman, ComicBook/WonderGirl, and Donna Troy (and ComicBook/{{Artemis}} back when [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 she was Wonder Woman]]), share the powers of SuperStrength and flight, but a finicky take on NighInvulnerability. Sometimes but not always ImmuneToBullets, and not all that hard to cut, they are usually depicted as being [[MadeOfIron quite a bit tougher]] than the average human being. Tough enough to withstand direct punches from Superman without having every bone in their body shattered, for example. Any other issues with their powers can be [[HandWave Handwaved]] by their divine origin - [[AWizardDidIt Greek gods or their artifacts did it]].

** Early in volume 2 of ''The Flash,'' Wally discovered a new trick with the aura that protects him from air friction. He can ''consciously remove it'' from objects he's carrying, thus exposing them to extreme heat. (This was of limited use against the robotic Kilg%re, but still.) He hasn't used this much since, but it's a fine, rare example of a ''weaponized'' RequiredSecondaryPower.

** Technically, Aquaman always ''had'' superstrength and durability, at least in his first [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] appearances, that were forgotten during the [[DorkAge Superfriends era]]. On the splash page of his very first appearance, ''More Fun Comics'' #73, he's shown deflecting an artillery shell with his hand.

** In an "{{Elseworlds}}" story set in the future, Flash's son inherited his speed, but not his friction resistance, with the tragic potential being explored.
** Another ''Elseworlds'' (''Comicbook/BatmanHolyTerror'') had a villain who'd worked out how to ''switch off'' Barry's friction aura. He does this when the Flash is moving at full speed. (Further FridgeLogic, however, suggests this ''should'' result in Barry's flaming corpse slamming into the guy at hundreds of miles per hour.)

** Another ''Elseworlds'' had a villain who'd worked out how to ''switch off'' Barry's friction aura. He does this when the Flash is moving at full speed. (Further FridgeLogic, however, suggests this ''should'' result in Barry's flaming corpse slamming into the guy at hundreds of miles per hour.)

** During the build up to Armegeddon2000, Waverider sees a potential future for Wally West whose son has his speed, but not his protective aura. He seriously injures himself saving a young girl from a speeding truck. It's hinted that heroine Fire had an even worse tragedy when her offspring didn't inherit her protection from her own flames. This future is actually averted because Flash sensed Waverider just enough to distract him from speaking to a whistleblower who set the whole thing in motion.

* The young teleporter Misfit introduced in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' astounds Oracle because she effortlessly avoids nearly ''every'' complication associated with {{teleportation}}. She can "bounce" (her term for it) ''anywhere'', no matter how far away, without even having to visit the place beforehand. She instinctively avoids [[TeleFrag teleporting into objects]]. And she can "bounce" any number of times without exhausting herself. She actually ''[[HealingFactor heals]]'' herself each time she does this, and recovered from a gunshot wound this way in her debut. The only limitation of her ability is that she can't take other living things along for the ride - they die when they reappear. Misfit discovered this when [[spoiler:she tried to bounce herself, her mother, and her little brother out of their burning home and accidentally killed them this way]]. A later storyline revealed that her powers are magical in nature, [[AWizardDidIt explaining this somewhat]].