History Main / SinglePowerSuperheroes

** The series also goes into the possibility of someone gaining multiple powers, [[spoiler:primarily thanks to All For One, which has the power to steal other powers and bestow them upon others. He used this to create the Noumu, individuals with multiple powers whose brains atrophied from the strain, turning them into mindless monsters. On the other side of the coin, All For One created his own arch-nemesis by bestowing a Quirk that stocks power to his supposedly powerless brother...who actually had a useless Quirk that he could pass on to other people. The two abilities combined into a single Quirk that gets stronger with time and can be passed on to others, creating One For All, the Quirk used by the hero All Might...and by Izuku.]]

* Witches from ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' are usually born with a single unique "active" power along with their basic witch abilities. The Charmed Ones start this way (telekinesis, time-stopping and premonition), but subsequently develop new powers as advancements of their original powers. It's subverted with Paige. The prophecy dictates that she would gain the power of telekinesis, but also discovers that she possesses a whole set of other powers due to her Whitelighter lineage. Piper's children also continue this trend (also being half-Whitelighters) and possess even more powers than her aunt.

* Similarly, ComicBook/TheHulk was originally just a [[TheBigGuy very big, very strong]] behemoth. Soon, he gained an assortment of powers, some which were logical in relation to increased muscle ability, such as [[InASingleBound super-leaping]], NighInvulnerability, SuperSpeed and SuperReflexes. Then, over time, things just got crazy, and he gained other abilities such as [[ImmuneToMindControl immunity to mind control]], [[ISeeDeadPeople ability to see supernatural creatures]], [[EnergyAbsorption ability to absorb radiation]], a HealingFactor that rivals ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s, [[SuperNotDrowningSkills a gland that lets him breathe underwater]], and sometimes the ability to create new personalities as needed (each with their own power set).

* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'': {{Telepathy}} is [[Characters/XMenFilmSeriesProfessorCharlesXavier Professor X]]'s sole mutant gift, but it's a very handy one.

* Replace "Superheroes" with "Anti-Heroes" and Cassie Hack now qualifies thanks to the recent arcs of her comic book series, because she gained a healing factor (literally her only genuine super-power at this point) since then.

* This is how superheros work in ''Manga/BokuNoHeroAcademia''. Heroes are born with only one power (called Quirks), and this is a medical fact. Heroes with more than one facet to their powers (like Todoroki, who has [[AnIcePerson ice]] and [[PlayingWithFire fire]] powers) are considered unusual. The concept of humans gaining more than one quirk, and the medical consequences of this, is a running plot point.

* At the time he was created, Franchise/TheFlash's sole superpower was super-speed. However, he's since gotten a host of... very vaguely speed-related powers, turning the Speed Force into a SwissArmySuperpower. For example, he has a healing factor (i.e. healing very fast), can time travel (albeit only with special equipment), can phase through walls and projectiles (vibrating himself down to the atomic level), drag someone into the Speed Force to kill/imprison them, and also perform an Infinite Mass Punch (basically hitting someone so fast it'd be as if he had Superman levels of SuperStrength behind his blows).

* At the time he was created, Franchise/TheFlash's sole superpower was super-speed. However, he's since gotten a host of... very vaguely speed-related powers, turning the Speed Force into a SwissArmySuperpower.

* All superpowered characters in ''Film/SkyHigh2005'' are like this outside of Will, who inherited one power from each of his parents ({{Flight}} from his mother, SuperStrength from his father).

* The pre-reboot ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' had the "No Duplicate Powers". They accept only one member with a prticular power..with some exceptions like Superboy and Supergirl.

* This is how superheros work in ''Manga/BokuNoHeroAcademia''. Heroes are born with only one power (called Quirks), and this is a medical fact. Heroes with more than one facet to their powers (like Todoroki, who has [[AnIcePerson ice]] and [[KillItWithFire fire]] powers) are considered unusual. The concept of humans gaining more than one quirk, and the medical consequences of this, is a running plot point.

* This is how superheros work in ''manga/BokuNoHeroAcademia''. Heroes are born with only one power (called Quirks), and this is a medical fact. Heroes with more than one facet to their powers (like Todoroki, who has [[AnIcePerson ice]] and [[KillItWithFire fire]] powers) are considered unusual. The concept of humans gaining more than one quirk, and the medical consequences of this, is a running plot point.

* This is how superheros work in ''manga/BokuNoHeroAcadema''. Heroes are born with only one power (called Quirks), and this is a medical fact. Heroes with more than one facet to their powers (like Todoroki, who has [[AnIcePerson ice]] and [[KillItWithFire fire]] powers) are considered unusual. The concept of humans gaining more than one quirk, and the medical consequences of this, is a running plot point.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' gives us Stands, most of which have one ability (healing, stopping time, turning things into paper). The majority of a Stand user's strength comes from how flexible they are with these powers (for example, the Stand with "healing" as its ability can heal human wounds... and rebuild broken objects, and reconstitute meals into their component ingredients, and...).

* A lot of the supers in the WhateleyUniverse. Chaka can control ki. That's it. Except she can control her ki, your ki, pull extra ki out of the ground, read ki in other people, learn tricks by watching people use their ki... Blot can absorb electromagnetic energy. Kamuro can shoot sparks out of her hands.

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* The espers in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' and ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'' generally seem to operate like this. They have ''one'' very specific power that they can use in all sorts of ways (eg. Misaka has control over electricity, which she can use to stick to walls, shoot lightning, create railguns...). The one esper who breaks this rule is Gunha Sogiita, who [[ComboPlatterPowers has several powers that don't seem to have anything to do with each other]], frustrating researchers to no end, especially since [[ApathyKilledTheCat he has no interest in learning how his powers work]]. Mages tend to be a bit more complicated.
* Devil Fruit from ''Manga/OnePiece'' gives a person one super human ability. [[WorldOfBadass What regular humans can do in that universe would be super powers pretty much anywhere else though.]]
** Although many of the Devil's Fruit [[SemanticSuperpower have multiple powers that all fall under one name]]. For example the Desert Desert Fruit lets you control sand, turn into sand, and drain water out of other people's bodies.
* Most of the Wizards of ''Manga/FairyTail'' are only proficient in one type of magic, but can use that magic in many different ways. Erza has a full arsenal of magical weapons and armors she can summon, and [[TheLancer Gray]] can make ''anything'' out of ice.
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' gives us Stands, most of which have one ability (healing, stopping time, turning things into paper). The majority of a Stand user's strength comes from how flexible they are with these powers (for example, the Stand with "healing" as its ability can heal human wounds... and rebuild broken objects, and reconstitute meals into their component ingredients, and...).

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* {{Comicbook/Daredevil}}. His only power is enhanced senses.

** To elaborate, the Hero System defines powers in terms of game-mechanical ''effects'', not so much in ones of ''concept''. So instead of giving your character the explicit power of "plant control" the way you might in some other superhero systems, you'd look at what you wanted them to be able to mechanically ''do'' and then pick appropriate pre-defined "stock" powers (say, things like Change Environment, Entangle, and Telekinesis), tweak them to suit the concept, and unite them all under the same "special effect"...which would just so happen to be "plant control". (''[[MutantsAndMasterminds Mutants & Masterminds]]'' works the same way.)

* A significant number of characters from {{ComicBook/X-Men}}. Cyclops, Quicksilver, Magneto, Polaris, Rogue (even though she uses her one power to get many), Mystique, Shadowcat, and almost too many others to mention. In theory, all Mutants are supposed to have one and only one power, but this is not really the case.

* Most of the Wizards of ''Manga/FairyTail'' are only proficient in one type of magic, but can use that magic in many different ways. [[BadAss Erza]] has a full arsenal of magical weapons and armors she can summon, and [[TheLancer Gray]] can make ''anything'' out of ice.

* Replace "Superheroes" with "Anti-Heroes" and Cassie Hack now qualifies thanks to the recent arcs of her comic book series, because she gained a healing factor since then.

* Replace "Superheroes" with "Anti-Heroes" and Cassie Hack now qualifies the recent arcs of her comic book series, since she gained a healing factor since then.

* Replace "Superhero" with "Anti-Hero" and Cassie Hack now qualifies, since she recently gained a healing factor.

* In the ''WearingTheCape'' setting, a significant percentage of breakthroughs are single-power types, loosely or tightly defined. Blackstone practices "stage magic" (illusions, levitation, teleportation), The Harlequin is bouncy to the point of physical invulnerability, Rush is "fast", etc.
* In ''{{Literature/Worm}}'', most superpowered individuals have one superpower and its RequiredSecondarySuperpowers. That said, there are exceptions. A few, notably [[SuperpowerLottery Scion]], have multiple unrelated supwerpowers. Many others find uses for their secondary powers; notably the protagonist, who can control bugs; her ability to ''sense'' bugs in her range of control makes her an almost perfect scout.

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* All superpowered characters in ''Film/SkyHigh2005'' are like this outside of Will, who inherited one power from each of his parents ({{Flight}} from his mother, SuperStrength from his father).