Tropescilloscope: Superhero

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

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