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Puberty Superpower: Difference between revisions
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The acquisition of superpowers or abilities at the onset of becoming a teenager, usually not below 14 or 15. This is probably to avoid the inherent danger of a child or baby casually using powers in a potentially destructive manner or, if there is one, blowing the [[Masquerade]]. However, more often, it works as a rather transparent metaphor for puberty.
Curiously, few such teens have trouble figuring out [[How Do I Shot Web?]]; apparently, the powers are just instinctive. This doesn't stop [[Professor X Likes Watching Teenagers Sweat|mentor figures]] from putting them through [[Training From Hell]] to master those abilities, however.
Nearly all current "dramatic" superheroes with "natural" superpowers (such as [[Marvel Universe|Marvel's]] mutants) receive them as teenagers. In fact, the trope originated with the creation of ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|the X-Men]]'' in the 1960s.
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Most later versions of [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]], e.g. ''[[Smallville]]'', although original [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] continuity (including the 1978 movie) has him lifting cars as a baby. Read any Pre-Crisis ''Superboy'' comic featuring "Superbaby" to see [[Goo
* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]''
** The X-Men spin-off '[[New Mutants]]' is explicitly this trope; all team members have powers that appeared with puberty, a varying number of years in the past (Xian's the longest ago (she's 19), Rahne's only a month or two before (at 13)).
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* In [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s novel series, the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' gain their Gifts, and their Companions, in their teen years. It can be traumatic when this happens much earlier or much later than 13 or so.
** Played with in her ''Five Hundred Kingdoms'' novels, in which those likely to be magic users feel magic growing around them at the point when a fairytale would usually begin in their case, which is usually mid-teens.
* Almost every superpower in ''[[Women of the Otherworld]]'' is a puberty superpower. Werewolves first begin to change at the end of puberty; the average age of their first change is 18, although it can happen anytime between 15 and 21. Witches can begin practicing minor spells at a young age, but after their first [[No Periods, Period|period]] can perform a ritual that greatly increases their magical strength. Half-demon powers also start showing up at the beginning of puberty, and increase in strength until their late twenties. In fact, the parallel young adult series focuses on adolescents just coming into their powers.
* The ''[[Firestarter]]'' refers to this. The child protagonist already has the titular powers... but scientists are afraid puberty will make them spike to nuclear levels.
* The twin sisters in ''[[Twitches]]'' discover they have magical powers at age 14. In the the movie, it was curiously changed to 21.
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* Firestarters on ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]''.
* The special children in ''[[Supernatural (TV)|Supernatural]]'' develop their powers at the age of 22 years and six months. Past puberty, but still valid as a metaphor for emerging into adulthood.
* Notable exception: Characters in ''[[The 4400]]'' were granted superpowers by {{spoiler|people from the future}} at various ages, from childhood to old age. The one in-show exception is Isabelle, who was conceived and implanted into Lily's body during her abduction, and shows extremely powerful abilities as an infant and even some powers while still in the womb. Indeed, the character of Isabelle never really goes through puberty at all, as she is [[Plot
* Betazoids (a naturally telepathic race) in ''[[Star Trek]]'' gain their mind-reading powers at puberty, except for a few rare exceptions who tend to be mentally unstable from not being able to "tune out" the mental noise around them.
* Averted in ''[[Bewitched (TV)|Bewitched]]'', where the [[Witch Species|witch-children]] are shown using magic even as infants. Of course they're [[Half-Human Hybrid|half-mortal]], so their abilities may be atypical.
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* The adult fiction series ''Tim, the Teenage MC'' both plays this straight and averts it. Tim is born with his telepathic powers switched on, but "grows out of them" shortly after learning to talk. He forgets about them until they reactivate around puberty.
* Mutants in the [[Whateley Universe]] usually manifest around age fourteen. It's a good thing there's a [[Super
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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[[Category:Superhero Tropes]]
[[Category:Puberty Superpower]]
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