Tropescilloscope: Superhero

Stories where the hero has superhuman abilities. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Offscreen Moment of Awesome Cain and Abel Beauty Is Never Tarnished Bring My Brown Pants Double-Meaning Title Superhero Hero of Another Story Documentary Gender Flip Self-Deprecation Despair Event Horizon Artistic License – Military Action Prologue Flipping the Bird Shirtless Scene The Cameo Unspoken Plan Guarantee Men Are the Expendable Gender Anachronism Stew Scenery Gorn Even Evil Has Standards Disguised in Drag Fanservice Extra Darker and Edgier Affectionate Parody Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Celebrity Paradox Yandere Reality Is Unrealistic Anguished Declaration of Love The Atoner Ax-Crazy A God Am I Dark Action Girl Needs Wiki Magic Love Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Crazy Jealous Guy Sacrificial Lion Red Shirt Domestic Abuse Take a Third Option The Smurfette Principle Epic Movie Villain Song The Dreaded Real Life Writes the Plot Villainous Breakdown I Did What I Had to Do Improbable Weapon User You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Groin Attack Get Out! Together in Death Corrupt Corporate Executive Gone Horribly Right The X of Y Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Rape as Drama Training Montage Wretched Hive Combat Pragmatist Bond Villain Stupidity Agony of the Feet Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Television Movie Index Sole Survivor Index of Film Westerns Adaptation Dye-Job Eureka Moment The Faceless Earn Your Happy Ending Does Not Like Shoes Undying Loyalty Dying Moment of Awesome Politically Incorrect Villain Eye Scream Off with His Head! The Ace Decoy Protagonist MacGuffin Blatant Lies Catch-Phrase Guns Akimbo Defiant to the End Freudian Excuse Stuff Blowing Up Fingore Affably Evil I Need a Freaking Drink Worthy Opponent Bland-Name Product Extreme Doormat Accidental Misnaming Manic Pixie Dream Girl Blackmail Black Dude Dies First Captain Obvious Our Vampires Are Different Big Brother Instinct Rule of Three Jerkass Your Cheating Heart Bury Your Gays Kick the Son of a Bitch Contrived Coincidence Token Minority Eyepatch of Power Made of Iron Parental Substitute And Starring Wrong Genre Savvy Well-Intentioned Extremist Those Two Guys Sinister Minister Amusing Injuries Cloudcuckoolander The Quiet One Canadian Movies Ambiguous Disorder Almost Kiss Running Gag Up to Eleven Word of God Artistic License – Law Creative Closing Credits Soft Glass Award-Bait Song Logo Joke N-Word Privileges Overprotective Dad Fatal Family Photo Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Cool Guns Have a Gay Old Time Pet the Dog Antagonist Title All There in the Script Genre Throwback Authority Equals Asskicking Eiffel Tower Effect Unusually Uninteresting Sight Villain with Good Publicity Anyone Can Die Epic Fail Mystery and Detective Films Totally Radical Berserk Button Police Brutality Ms. Fanservice Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Love at First Sight Red Right Hand The Film of the Book Heel Realization Rasputinian Death Rated M for Manly Slasher Smile Dies Wide Open Bait-and-Switch The Alleged Car Moment Killer Fantasy Films Large Ham Evil Counterpart And the Adventure Continues What Happened to the Mouse? Oh, Crap! Real Life Obviously Evil Leitmotif Cat Fight Intrepid Reporter Distracted by the Sexy Fiery Redhead Sci-Fi Horror Red Oni, Blue Oni Sequel Escalation You Have Failed Me Left the Background Music On Stealth Hi/Bye Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Artistic License – Geography The '50s Breaking the Fourth Wall Historical-Domain Character Sanity Slippage Badass in a Nice Suit Accidental Murder Alas, Poor Villain Failed a Spot Check As You Know Black Comedy Beard of Evil Mugging the Monster Grey and Gray Morality Parental Abandonment The Hero Film Series In Name Only Everyone Has Standards The Power of Love Suspiciously Similar Substitute Aluminum Christmas Trees Chekhov's Gun How We Got Here Off-into-the-Distance Ending Red Herring Bloody Hilarious The Chessmaster Recycled IN SPACE! Pre-Mortem One-Liner Flashback Kids Are Cruel Foregone Conclusion Not Even Bothering with the Accent Break the Cutie Important Haircut Continuity Nod Driven to Suicide Heroic BSoD Never My Fault Reasonable Authority Figure Outrun the Fireball The Great Depression Drives Like Crazy Once More, with Clarity! Meet Cute Handicapped Badass Grievous Bottley Harm Shipper on Deck Camp Gay Faux Affably Evil Shut Up, Hannibal! Christmas Movies Index Depraved Bisexual Ship Tease Foil Meaningful Echo Anti-Villain Naked People Are Funny Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Artistic License – Biology Fainting Fat Bastard Dull Surprise Deliberately Monochrome Informed Ability Insult Backfire Early-Bird Cameo Gold Digger No Good Deed Goes Unpunished La Résistance Immune to Bullets Big "NO!" Throwing Your Sword Always Works Genre Savvy Improbable Aiming Skills Lampshade Hanging Stalker with a Crush In the Back Insane Troll Logic Brainless Beauty Kick the Dog All There in the Manual Becoming the Mask Unreliable Narrator Brutal Honesty Evil Sounds Deep As Long as It Sounds Foreign Not So Stoic May–December Romance Evil Is Petty You Killed My Father Action Survivor Black and Gray Morality Mythology Gag Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane No OSHA Compliance I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Killed Mid-Sentence Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Kubrick Stare Disproportionate Retribution Took a Level in Badass Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Evil-Detecting Dog Lock and Load Montage Drill Sergeant Nasty Advertised Extra Card-Carrying Villain Karma Houdini Horror Comedy Cool Old Lady It's All About Me Parental Neglect Straight Gay Conspicuous CG Frame-Up Laughing Mad Didn't Think This Through Stepford Smiler Crapsack World Historical Villain Upgrade Cool Old Guy Smug Snake Bad Boss Character Development Evil Brit Adult Fear Hell Is That Noise Interrupted Suicide Belligerent Sexual Tension Every Car Is a Pinto Only in It for the Money German Films Bare Your Midriff Nothing Is Scarier The Starscream My God, What Have I Done? This Is Gonna Suck The Ghost Blood from the Mouth Bloodless Carnage Determinator Slap-Slap-Kiss Black Comedy Rape Irony Protagonist Title Adaptational Heroism Final Girl Friend to All Children Badass Boast Comically Missing the Point Slasher Movie Hooker with a Heart of Gold O.O.C. Is Serious Business Double Entendre Not Using the "Z" Word Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Ungrateful Bastard Evil vs. Evil Science Fiction Films Taking You with Me It's Personal Author Appeal Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Mood Whiplash Badass Normal Demoted to Extra Punch-Clock Villain Spanner in the Works Hair-Trigger Temper Motor Mouth Composite Character Adaptational Badass My Beloved Smother Destination Defenestration The Cavalry Nice Hat Meaningful Name There Is No Kill Like Overkill Body Horror Bowdlerise Instant Death Bullet Toplessness from the Back Dressing as the Enemy Camera Abuse Married to the Job Femme Fatale A Date with Rosie Palms Manly Tears Translation Convention Hypocrite Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Fate Worse than Death Smoking Is Cool Dark Reprise In Medias Res Plot Hole The Bad Guy Wins Those Wacky Nazis Green-Eyed Monster She's Got Legs Bound and Gagged All Men Are Perverts Death by Irony Monumental Damage Shout-Out Hate Sink Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Adaptation Name Change Fun with Acronyms Central Theme Italian Films Trailers Always Spoil Adaptation Distillation The Brute Mr. Fanservice Famous Last Words Fourth Date Marriage '80s Hair The Stoner Mundane Made Awesome Unwitting Instigator of Doom Brick Joke Historical In-Joke Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Curb-Stomp Battle The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Villain Ball The Place Hoist by His Own Petard Crucified Hero Shot Bilingual Bonus Deconstruction "Well Done, Son!" Guy Jump Scare And I Must Scream Woman Scorned Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience No Name Given Narrator Romantic Comedy Vomit Indiscretion Shot Plucky Comic Relief Those Two Bad Guys Product Placement Darkest Hour Actor Allusion Aside Glance Wounded Gazelle Gambit Australian Movies folderlabel Break the Haughty Adapted Out Unresolved Sexual Tension Gory Discretion Shot Alliterative Name Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Reckless Gun Usage Canon Foreigner Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Back from the Dead Badass Longcoat Small Name, Big Ego Gilligan Cut Evil Laugh Obfuscating Stupidity Amoral Attorney Corpsing Make It Look Like an Accident Black Best Friend Broken Pedestal Sports Stories Hope Spot Your Head A-Splode Mind Screw Animal Motifs Let's Get Dangerous! Race Against the Clock The Stoic "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Took a Level in Jerkass Heel–Face Turn "The Reason You Suck" Speech Only a Flesh Wound Stock Footage Mr. Exposition Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Call-Forward Bottomless Magazines Dark and Troubled Past Pyrrhic Victory No-Sell Russian Films Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? From Nobody to Nightmare Knife Nut Alpha Bitch Even Evil Has Loved Ones Naïve Newcomer Deal with the Devil Psychopathic Manchild Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! The Musical Deus ex Machina Jitter Cam Bitch in Sheep's Clothing For Want of a Nail Artistic License – Physics Henpecked Husband Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Costume Porn Ghost Fiction Storming the Castle Non-Indicative Name Fanservice Manchild Redshirt Army BFG I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Car Fu Adaptation Expansion Room Full of Crazy Armor-Piercing Question Silence Is Golden Roaring Rampage of Revenge Maybe Ever After As the Good Book Says... The End... Or Is It? Broken Bird Drugs Are Bad Neck Snap Stealth Pun Daylight Horror Heroic Sacrifice Bunny-Ears Lawyer Action Genre One-Man Army The Hero Dies The Oner Precision F-Strike The Sociopath Bavarian Fire Drill Serial Killer Our Zombies Are Different Villain Opening Scene It Will Never Catch On The Ditz Chiaroscuro Suddenly SHOUTING! Nice Guy Works Set in World War II Spiritual Successor The Lost Lenore Vomit Discretion Shot Here We Go Again! Actually Pretty Funny Ambiguously Gay Dramatic Irony Sir Swears-a-Lot Only One Name Manipulative Bastard Loads and Loads of Characters Hong Kong Films The Dog Bites Back Implacable Man Man on Fire Pay Evil unto Evil The Un-Reveal Re-Cut More Dakka Not So Above It All Chase Scene A Minor Kidroduction Would Hit a Girl I'm a Humanitarian Time Skip Male Gaze Easily Forgiven Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Ripped from the Headlines Rousing Speech Older Than They Look Fantastic Racism Eldritch Abomination Deliberate Values Dissonance Biopic Casting Gag Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Shower Scene Soundtrack Dissonance An Arm and a Leg Better to Die than Be Killed Scary Black Man Good Is Not Nice Big Bad True Companions Disney Villain Death Adaptational Villainy Calling the Old Man Out Cool Shades What the Hell, Hero? Damsel in Distress The Mole Dramedy Arranged Marriage Dogged Nice Guy Posthumous Character Abusive Parents No Celebrities Were Harmed Reality Ensues Only Sane Man Empathic Environment French Films Due to the Dead Framing Device Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Covers Always Lie Bar Brawl Serious Business Very Loosely Based on a True Story Catapult Nightmare 20 Minutes into the Future Properly Paranoid The '90s Dirty Coward Funny Foreigner Sassy Black Woman Hero Antagonist Spared by the Adaptation Adorkable The Mafia Expy Captain Ersatz No Ending Japanese Films The Alcoholic The Big Guy Race Lift Honor Before Reason Tranquil Fury Credits Gag Author Avatar Whole Plot Reference Mighty Whitey Chewing the Scenery Expository Hairstyle Change Public Domain Feature Films Line-of-Sight Name Artistic License – Gun Safety Chekhov's Gunman Rule of Funny Arc Words Film Noir Index Video Credits Air-Vent Passageway Bloodier and Gorier Tagline Made of Explodium Faking the Dead Heterosexual Life-Partners Cruel and Unusual Death You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Major Injury Underreaction Five-Man Band Big Eater Punny Name Fire-Forged Friends An Axe to Grind An Aesop Mexican Standoff Psychological Thriller Film Noir The Load The Bully Bolivian Army Ending Exact Words Batman Gambit Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Sequel Hook She Cleans Up Nicely Animated Credits Opening Department of Redundancy Department Heroes Want Redheads Ironic Echo A.I. Is a Crapshoot Vacation Films Horror Films What You Are in the Dark Death by Adaptation Cool Car Improvised Weapon It Can Think Sealed Evil in a Can I Have Your Wife Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Mad Scientist Badass Grandpa Children Are Innocent Coming-of-Age Story Extremely Short Timespan Four-Temperament Ensemble Rewatch Bonus Laser-Guided Karma Pragmatic Villainy Attempted Rape Wham Shot Creator Cameo Did Not Get the Girl Male Frontal Nudity Roger Ebert: Great Movies List A Father to His Men Annoying Younger Sibling Vampire Fiction Redemption Equals Death Imagine Spot Random Events Plot Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Determinator aka: The Determinator Historical Hero Upgrade Enemy Mine Karmic Death No Antagonist Book-Ends Military and Warfare Films Fan Disservice Pimped-Out Dress Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Early Installment Weirdness Super Strength Only Known by Their Nickname Developing Doomed Characters Riddle for the Ages Wicked Cultured World of Ham Daddy's Girl Visual Pun Kill 'em All Betty and Veronica One-Word Title Truth in Television Morality Pet Cluster F-Bomb The '80s The '70s Homage Call-Back Death Seeker Disney Death No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Death Glare Dirty Old Man Country Matters Love Triangle Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Vitriolic Best Buds Madness Mantra Arch-Enemy Insistent Terminology Exactly What It Says on the Tin Not Quite Dead Ambiguous Ending The Remake Papa Wolf Face–Heel Turn Sadistic Choice Dutch Angle Half the Man He Used to Be Cowboy Cop Drowning My Sorrows Police are Useless Dumb Blonde Dropped a Bridge on Him The Smart Guy Hollywood Law Badass Bookworm Say My Name Defrosting Ice Queen Spell My Name with an "S" Intergenerational Friendship "Awesome McCool" Name Animal Title Index Neck Lift Leave the Camera Running Shoot the Shaggy Dog Unusual Euphemism Paper-Thin Disguise Woman in White Bullying a Dragon Funny Background Event Boom, Headshot! Freeze-Frame Bonus Creepy Child Action Girl Same Language Dub Fake Shemp Diabolus ex Machina Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Light Is Not Good Playing Gertrude Mooks Setting Update Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Evil Plan Dissonant Serenity Ascended Extra Suspiciously Specific Denial Evil Is Hammy Abhorrent Admirer Noodle Incident Facial Horror Dramatic Gun Cock Hidden Depths Malevolent Masked Men Big Applesauce Bald of Evil Big-Bad Ensemble Dark Is Not Evil Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Humans Are Bastards Artistic License – History Victoria's Secret Compartment NO INDOOR VOICE Last-Name Basis Really Gets Around Fish out of Water Scare Chord Not So Different Tempting Fate Twist Ending Retired Badass He Who Fights Monsters Face Death with Dignity Genre Shift Brother–Sister Incest The Dragon Death by Sex Missing Mom Foreshadowing Revenge Sexy Discretion Shot Cassandra Truth Based on a True Story Getting Crap Past the Radar Establishing Character Moment Mama Bear Jerkass Has a Point Stylistic Suck Poor Communication Kills Ominous Latin Chanting Auto Erotica Star-Crossed Lovers Ass Shove Reality Has No Subtitles Rich Bitch Mercy Kill Would Hurt a Child Death of a Child As Himself Apocalypse How Retcon Anti-Hero Demonic Possession Names to Run Away from Really Fast Adults Are Useless Skewed Priorities The '60s Age Lift Bi the Way Refuge in Audacity Jerk with a Heart of Gold He Knows Too Much Cold-Blooded Torture Hypocritical Humor Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Pragmatic Adaptation Big Damn Heroes Pretty Little Headshots Jerk Jock The Chick Market-Based Title Big Fancy House Wham Line Blood Knight Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Shell-Shocked Veteran Never Trust a Trailer Humiliation Conga Butt-Monkey Tap on the Head The Voiceless The Stinger Romantic False Lead Dwindling Party After the End Taking the Bullet Red Eyes, Take Warning Peek-a-Boo Corpse Adaptational Attractiveness Girl-on-Girl Is Hot All for Nothing Shown Their Work Curse Cut Short Too Dumb to Live Happily Married B-Movie Music Stories Asshole Victim Mistaken for Gay Babies Ever After Novelization British Films Gratuitous English Rule of Cool The Reveal Cat Scare Anachronic Order Martial Arts Movie Match Cut Meaningful Background Event Downer Ending Parental Incest Scenery Porn The Casanova Zombie Stories Obstructive Bureaucrat Gainax Ending For the Evulz Closed Circle Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Deadpan Snarker Villain Protagonist Chekhov's Skill Take That! Never Found the Body Greater-Scope Villain Kill It with Fire Slashed Throat Silent Movie From Bad to Worse My Greatest Failure Leaning on the Fourth Wall Lighter and Softer Put on a Bus Guile Hero Knight Templar Fatal Flaw Gorn Idiot Ball Pretty in Mink Dual Wielding Broken Aesop All Girls Want Bad Boys Rule of Symbolism Beta Couple Bond One-Liner The Lancer All Just a Dream Overly Long Gag Thriller Danny Peary Cult Movies List Beware the Nice Ones Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Big Bad Duumvirate Bittersweet Ending Spiteful Spit Retirony Hollywood Darkness Not What It Looks Like One Steve Limit Title Drop Disappeared Dad timeperiod Bad "Bad Acting" The Vamp Psycho for Hire Show Within a Show Eagleland Offscreen Teleportation Be Careful What You Wish For War Is Hell Crazy-Prepared Dirty Cop "Shaggy Dog" Story Does This Remind You of Anything? Loophole Abuse Awesome, but Impractical