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Mass Super-Empowering Event: Difference between revisions
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In [[Superhero]] stories, there are [[How to Give A Character Super Powers|many, many ways to give the lead super powers]]. However, sometimes it becomes cost efficient in terms of descriptive effort or setting construction to give every character the same super hero/villain origin story in a Mass [[Super Empowering]] Event.
The Mass Empowering Event serves to kick start the series (The Event usually happens in act 1 or 2 of the pilot) and provide a handy reason for the entire cast to get [[Stock Super Powers|super powers]]. The Event<ref>(For some reason, it's usually called "The Event" or some capitalized version thereof and the superheroes [[Differently
So why do authors use this trope? After all, one valid criticism of this trope is that it takes the "inventiveness" and diversity out of a [[Super Hero Origin]] story by repeating it across several characters. Well, it turns out that having fifty ways a [[Freak Lab Accident]] can give you super powers got old, fast, forcing quite a few [[Meta Origin|Meta Origins]] to be applied to tidy up the place. Another is that it frees the author from having to give exposition on the source of the powers to focus on the characters themselves and the way that they use their new powers, effectively giving more [[Character Development]] and characterization by showing how they react to getting great power -- be it [[Transhuman Treachery|betrayal]], [[Smug Super|smugness]] or [[With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility|responsibility]]. Lastly, the cause for The Event can be a major plot hook for the hero(es) to unravel throughout the season.
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A subtrope of [[Meta Origin]]. Compare [[Bizarre Baby Boom]]. Contrast [[Randomly Gifted]].
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[In Famous (Video Game)|In Famous]]'' starts this way, turning the hero and anyone with a specific gene into a [[Differently
* The main characters of ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', minus two (who get their powers before the story starts), are branded l'Cie at the same time, after [[How to Gather Characters|meeting up as strangers in the wrong place at the wrong time]].
* In the ''[[Freedom Force]]'' games, when Mentor's ship is destroyed in Earth's orbit by Lord Dominion's forces, his supply of Energy X (the most powerful substance in the universe!), rains down all over Earth, empowering many heroes and villains.
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"Wait, no, start over. I was always bad at math." }}
** For those interested, approx. 6.85 billion people in the world (as of July 2010 estimates), that would be roughly 430,265,625 individuals with amazing superpowers or about 1-in-11 people (granted that's after 1-in-3 people have died).
* A much smaller-scale version than usual happened in ''Knowledge Is Power''; a [[Negative Space Wedgie]] opened up in a [[Buffy
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