| rdfs:comment | - In a Five-Man Band, Power Trio or other ensemble, the characters have to complement each other. One side effect of this is that, in any group of superheroes, no two of them will have the same power. When done well, this can be at best unobtrusive. But if the heroes got their powers from a common origin, or if their powers are granted by technology, it may seem very strange or even like a really dumb design decision. After all, The Power of Friendship is nice and all, but it'd be a real shame if the world was destroyed by a fire demon because the hero with the power of Water was out sick that day.
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| abstract | - In a Five-Man Band, Power Trio or other ensemble, the characters have to complement each other. One side effect of this is that, in any group of superheroes, no two of them will have the same power. When done well, this can be at best unobtrusive. But if the heroes got their powers from a common origin, or if their powers are granted by technology, it may seem very strange or even like a really dumb design decision. After all, The Power of Friendship is nice and all, but it'd be a real shame if the world was destroyed by a fire demon because the hero with the power of Water was out sick that day. An unfortunate side effect is that if the ensemble is big enough, one of the heroes is going to get shafted, because What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?? Another unfortunate side effect is that if you have to replace someone with a Suspiciously Similar Substitute, unlikely as it may seem, he may have to have the exact same powers as the character he replaces. This might go no farther than each hero having a unique "special attack" or melee weapon. We aren't meant to worry about the fact that this is a kind of inefficient way to arm your heroes, or about the guy whose weapon sucks. Not many writers can come up with a set of five melee weapons which are all really different from each other, and which are all useful against an equal range of adversaries, after all. Often results in a Plot Tailored to the Party or a Thematic Rogues Gallery so that everyone has something to do.
* There can be a few common powers everyone has, in addition to their character-specific powers. Most of the Superfriends can fly, for example, and while a team will probably only have one Flying Brick, many Nigh Invulnerable characters at once can be useful.
* You are allowed to have "paired" heroes within the group with the same powers. They can be thought of as a single person for the purposes of speciation (e.g., the Wonder Twins).
* In some teams, the whole point is that every member has exactly the same power (e.g., the Green Lantern Corps in The DCU). 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 big part of the reason that Superman did not work well in an ensemble for most of his history. (However, the new comic book title Trinity has managed to turn Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman into a combination Power Trio and Three Amigos.) A Sixth Ranger is generally exempt. Examples of Super-Hero Speciation include:
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