I'm not entirely sure what kind of discussion you are trying to foster. Are you trying to ask about stock superpowers in relation to more creative but less obviously useful powers or are you trying to talk about powers in relation to the multiverse?
"War without fire is like sausages without mustard." - Jean Juvénal des UrsinsWell, to be fair, at least two of those stock powers you mentioned might actually seem pretty lame from an outsider perspective. Super speed allows you to run away, and durability just makes you the ultimate punching bag. However, we've seen such effective uses of those powers such as Flash's running tornadoes around bad guys and bullets bouncing off Superman than we know the physics and the implacable man tropes involved in making them look cool.
By contrast, the Power of Heart has not been used as effectively in fiction. It is one of the warning signs of the Mary Sue, and the power may be given to people on the basis of some stereotype such as "Girls Don't Fight." The more effective uses of the power often depend on knowledge of the real world and its animals, which may be faked, and when it isn't faked the writers may be so busy Showing Their Research they may forget that Reality Is Unrealistic and do not do the work of forshadowing their Deus ex Machina. Ultimately Heart is a dumb power because the ultimate application of it is to "change the hearts" of criminals or whatever acts as the villain of the show...
If the Big Bad is changed from a bad person to a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, the story is essentially over because "the villain is the plot." Also using the power this way has unfortunate implications of mind control. Not only can the heroes go too far, the associated tropes of mind control such as "Snap Out Of It, Man!" allow the villain to do a Face–Heel Turn. Whether it is the power breaking the plot or the plot breaking the power, Heart is actually one of the more difficult powers to write for. Whether the most effective use has not been written or whether the negative examples are outweighing the positives, it will not been seen as a "Shining Example" of power the way the more easily referenced "stock" are.
In other news,
I CAME FROM THE SKY!!!
THROUGH THE WALL!!!
BENDING YOUR WEAPONS INTO PRETZELS!!!
WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?!?!
edited 31st Dec '12 1:24:44 AM by AnimeGIF
T pity the fool what don't know the TheoryThe problem with Heart specifically is that it has always been rather poorly defined and too susceptible to Depending on the Writer. Can it be used as mind control? Okay then why not just have every episode end when the kids find the villain and force them to punch themselves into unconsciousness? Oh it isn't mind control for people but it works on Animals? Well then its time for a good ol' Tiger Maulin! Oh it can only be used to make animals do nice things and communicate with them? You still are wearing the most effective intelligence network known to man on your finger but you are rather useless in a straight fight. But thats okay because if Captain Planet hadn't been handicapped by its status as a saturday morning cartoon any one of the other kids could have easily solved the episode within two minutes via violent use of their powers.
I would actually like to see an Adult Swim version of Captain Planet where the protagonists can use their rings to do more than inconvenience the villains and the good captain is an unstable and unstoppable force of nature rather than a poor mans Superman with an even stupider Kryptonite Factor who shows up Once an Episode regardless of how useful he actually is. Also Green Aesops that don't suck.
edited 29th Dec '12 3:45:50 PM by Canid117
"War without fire is like sausages without mustard." - Jean Juvénal des Ursins@ Canid 117 - When you said Green Aesop s that don't suck, I had the oddest urge to somehow combine Wall-E with your Adult Swim Captain Planet.
edited 31st Dec '12 1:30:35 AM by AnimeGIF
T pity the fool what don't know the TheoryHonestly? Any power is as lame or as awesome as a good writer can make it. I mean, Cyclops basically has an occasionally slightly-physics-defying gun strapped to his face as his 'superpower', but there aren't too many that'd argue that he was useless in a fight. The second Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) didn't even have Ollie's New Powers as the Plot Demands-on-a-stick quiver- he was fighting crime with an obsolete weapon and some pointy sticks. And he was still fairly awesome simply because of Improbable Aiming Skills and martial arts.
The other 'classic' example, of course, is Aquaman. Even if he wasn't in a universe where his abilities made summoning Cthulhu a triviality, he would still hold 3/4ths of the Earth's surface as his sovereign territory, be stunningly wealthy due to being able to locate sunken treasure more easily than most people can find their socks... and for that matter, if the mineral rights thing actually got explored legally (does Atlantis have representation at the UN?), then he could cripple most of the industrialized nations on the planet as casually as saying 'piss off'. Even discounting the 'king' bit, the sunken treasure thing would still apply, plus the applicability of aquatic search and rescue... or terrorism, for that matter... would make him an incredibly potent force for or against anyone that dared even contemplate traversing any water deeper than a puddle. Trust me on this one, the ocean is more than bad enough when it's not full of things that are actively trying to murder you and guided by an intelligent mind.
Objectively, probably not. However, they do provide some opportunity in the area of "didn't see that one coming" and sometimes it does turn out genuinely superior, which hadn't been realized before (at which point, it's no longer really "Heart"). Of course, from a narrative point of view, it's extremely superior. Which is more exciting, the random NFL player who's naturally big and beefy, or the dog playing football? Or the scrawny kid. Or... well, I'm out of direct examples, but you see what I mean. A Stock Superpower runs the risk of the audience going meh. Creative use of said superpower or good characterization makes a huge difference of course (Invincible for example).
I think we should get more specific on which powers we are talking about. Maybe categorize them under tropes such as Difficult, but Awesome, Boring, but Practical, etc.
"War without fire is like sausages without mustard." - Jean Juvénal des UrsinsHonestly, the Stock Superpowers are really only that because of Superman. Myth does have some serious strongmen, but they didn't tend towards vast superhuman speed or durability- sure, they could be tougher than average, but they weren't bouncing arrows off their eyeballs. And flight? Thaaaat tended to be the province of gods and madmen. Or just not enter the picture at all.
But the [[Ps238 FISS]] powerset (Flight, Invulnerability, Speed, Strength)... eh. A power/ability or set thereof is as interesting as the writer makes it. I mean, taking each of the individual powers- Flash for the Speed, Brit (same 'verse as Invincible) for Invulnerability, the Hulk for Strength, and Angel for Flight- each can be a lot of fun to read about, and hold their own, as long as the writing is kept to a decent level. Combine 'em all, and you've got the standard Flying Brick- everybody from Superman to Rogue to Captain Marvel (either company) to Captain Britain, to any of Superman's innumerable knockoffs (Hyperion, Gladiator... yeah, I know he's technically Superboy, but whatever... Supreme... yeah, losing track here)- most of whom have managed to at least temporarily carry a title.
The powerset isn't really all that relevant. The writing and characterization is what makes any character worth reading about, whether they can fly while juggling buses or shoot bees out their ears. Haven't read it yet myself, but Law Of Ueki seems to be kind of a case in point.

You know I read the trope page for Heart is an awesome power and while I do see the brokenness of some superpowers, it also causes me to wonder about the stock superpowers we have in question. Super Strength, Super Speed, Durability, Flight, etc. don't seem all that special when you have someone who knows to use a seemingly lame power in creative ways. If that is so, what exactly is the point of those stock superpowers? What if Heart really wasn't as awesome we make sound? There are many universes with different rules even our own universe has 'rules' but it isn't as though we can all of sudden turn things into nothing and negate death entirely.
Most works have varying power levels, Superman get fare well in one universe but can get stomped in another. Even seemingly broken powers in one universe can really prove to be useless in another. In our universe, we all these theories, laws and philosophies on how powers can work in our world but then we also know the logical weaknesses of those abilities. Sometimes Heart can really be a lame power if you don't how it works on even how to use it. With that said is Heart really an awesome power?
"Fan, a Mega Man character."