Neither were Alien Nation or Star-Crossed. Those were shows about alien refugee populations living openly among humans and trying to assimilate (or resist assimilation) while contending with everyday bigotry and marginalization, as allegories for the immigrant/minority experience. (Although Alien Nation handled it far more richly and intelligently. Star-Crossed got too caught up in its plot arcs and shocking twists at the expense of its racial and political allegories, because it ultimately turned out that the bigoted rednecks spewing wild conspiracy theories about the aliens' plans of conquest were absolutely right about everything they claimed. I still find it amazing that the showrunners didn't realize the accidental implications of that. At least, I hope it was accidental.)
And The 4400 was like that for superpowered people to an extent as well. The people with powers weren't a secret, but were publicly known and trying to adjust, and the ramifications of their existence and its cause brought real, ongoing change to the world they occupied. It was a refreshing departure from the usual TV cliche of keeping the aliens/superpowers/supernatural forces secret so that the status quo of the world at large could be preserved. To me, that's missing out on the whole value of science fiction, which is to explore how new advances or discoveries would change human society and existence. The 4400 is one of the few shows that really tried to tackle that where superpowers were concerned. Alphas made attempts in that direction as well, but too tentatively; the existence of Alphas was "outed" to the world at the end of season 1, but season 2 backtracked and had the revelation largely disbelieved and treated as an urban legend. The events of the season 2 cliffhanger might've changed that in season 3, but the show never got a season 3. Anyway, neither show put its superpowered people in costumes or gave them nicknames. They both went for the "ordinary people trying to deal with their extraordinary abilities" approach.
I'm sure there are things about Wild Cards that are distinctly its own, and that could probably make a show based on it stand apart from others in the genre. I'm just saying that other shows have used some of the same elements before, so it wouldn't be as strikingly new for TV audiences as it was for novel audiences 30 years ago. There may not be a single thing you can point to and say "This makes Wild Cards unlike anything else." Its distinctiveness would come more from how it executes its ideas, how all the pieces come together to form a whole. (I suppose I'd better say "like cards in a deck" before someone else does...)
