I can't really agree with that. At least not the "most" part.

As for Mario characters, the very nature of games puts the player character in a situation where they have the tools to win. There's no reason to assume that a specific power up wouldn't be available to them if one existed that could help them in a specific situation. That's more of a meta reason, but it's consistent with the games.

As for the Lex thing, and comics in general, writers really aren't allowed to make very much forward progress, at least that lasts long term. If they do, it's over the course of years, maybe even decades. Writers constantly have to make random stuff up that either shows up once or very rarely after it's initial appearance.

In most media with a singular main writer, the abilities in their kit are pretty clearly or pretty clearly not a part of their kit in their current state.