Heroes (TV series)/Tropes A-E: Difference between revisions

* [[Aborted Arc]]: We had a list up (see the Discussion page), but Heroes has had quite a few of these since Volume 3.

** [[Vaporware]]: Mention must also be made of the abandoned, potentially fascinating ''Origins'' spin-off anthology series.

** Arthur Petrelli takes this to new levels, [[Offing the Offspring|as he attempts to MURDER his sons]]. And has his granddaughter attacked by two thugs, one of whom is a psychotic rapist.

** Claire is arguably an aversion, though, as Sylar implies that he was incapable of killing her even when he desired it after copying her regeneration into himself, which means that not even decapitation would actually kill her.

* [[Adults Are Useless]]: HRG suffers from this, especially in the first Volume. He repeatedly [[Forbidden Fruit|forbids]] Claire from doing something important to her, guaranteeing she will do exactly that. He is [[Genre Blind|genuinely shocked and upset]] that his teenage daughter does the opposite of what he has ordered her on multiple occasions. It's generally because he's seen one of Isaac's paintings, but if he'd only ''[[Cannot Spit It Out|tell]]'' her that, things would be smoother.

** Also, Adam Monroe. I mean, he wants to wipe out humanity with a super virus - all for the greater good, mind you - but he seems like he'd be a fun guy to go out drinking with.

** In fact, this seems to be a recurring theme throughout the series: that, despite the name, nobody is purely good or purely evil. Even the permanent villain of the series, Sylar ( {{spoiler|well, permanent only until the end of volume 5}}), he's shown signs of affability throughout recent volumes. Same goes with former Company boss Bob Bishop, crazy puppeteer Eric Doyle, and power hungry carnival owner Samuel Sullivan.

* [[Affectionate Pickpocket]]: Peter and Arthur Petrelli, though with powers instead of wallets.

* [[All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks]]: Mr. Linderman

* [[All There in the Manual]]: There is quite a lot of supplemental material, and one of the best things about this series is the way it has happily adopted using online content as a storytelling medium. There was an ARG mentioned below, several online-exclusive miniseries, and an ongoing series of [http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/novels_library.shtml comics]. The latter introduce new characters, establish the (usually sad) backstories of existing characters, set up new subplots, and, most importantly, enable you to actually [[Coconut Superpowers|see the characters use their special abilities]]. Many fans have argued that the writing in these comics is consistently better than that in the series proper!

* [[All Your Powers Combined]]: Peter Petrelli, Sylar, Linda Tavara from the graphic novels, {{spoiler|Arthur Petrelli, and Samson Gray.}}

** Variation: Samuel Sullivan's earth-manipulating powers grow stronger while more supers are near him.

* [[Alpha Bitch]]: Jackie, Debbie, Annie.

* [[Alternate Reality Game]]: The Heroes 360 experience. ''[http://heroesarg.blogspot.com/ Player blog]''.

* [[Always Save the Girl]]: Hiro trying to save Charlie {{spoiler|twice}} despite warnings about his disrupting history.

** In "Pass/Fail" this gets thrown back in Hiro's face, as Sylar rattles off a very shortened list of the people he's murdered since Hiro made a deal with him to save Charlie.

** They seem to tolerate each other well enough for the sake of Claire in the episode "Thanksgiving", but are generally not on speaking terms after their divorce.

* [[Amnesiacs Are Innocent]]: The result of above

* [[Anal Probing]]: In the seventh episode of Volume One, when Lyle discovers Claire's [[Healing Factor|ability to heal herself]] after stumbling upon a tape that she and her friend Zach made to demonstrate her ability, this forces Claire and Zach to chase after him to retrieve the tape. A freaked out Lyle questions if they're both actually aliens to which Zach, in full-on [[Sarcasm Mode]], responds, "Yeah, and we're gonna anal probe you."

* [[And I Must Scream]]: Happens to Adam Monroe between Seasons 2 and 3 and {{spoiler|Angela Petrelli}} at the end of "Angels and Monsters"

** Samuel is basically Magneto only without the Holocaust backstory. All he really wants is to make sure that Evolved Humans are no longer seen as freaks by humans. It's just that he's willing to kill every one who gets in his way and the fact that he seems perfectly happy to slaughter large numbers of people to get his way that makes him a villain.

** And let us not forget Mr. Linderman, who calls himself a "humanitarian" (not [[I'm a Humanitarian|that way]]) and whose stated goal is to "heal the world."

* [[Apologetic Attacker]]: Samuel is genuinely upset after he kills both {{spoiler|Mohinder and Joseph}}.

** However he seems to get over it by the point we meet im in the series as he's happy to kill hundreds if not thousands to achieve his ends.

* [[Attending Your Own Funeral]]: Volume 4 ends with all the Heroes gathering together for the first time in the show's history to witness {{spoiler|[[Burn, Baby, Burn|the destruction of Sylar's body.]] What most of them don't know is that "Nathan" is really Sylar after he was brainwashed into believing he's Nathan and assuming his appearance permanently by Ma Petrelli and Matt Parkman. The body being burned is a fake, a dead shapeshifter who [[No Ontological Inertia|died while mimicking Sylar's appearance]].}}

* [[Attempted Rape]]: Brody to Claire. Subverted, though, in that rather than being stopped by the [[Big Damn Heroes]] or even the girl herself, the attempt fails because he accidentally ''kills'' the girl, and apparently he's not a necrophiliac.

** Also, check the heights of the majority of the main women. One would think [[Masi Oka]] had a line in his contract stating that all women who appear on screen with him must still be shorter even when wearing heels.

*** Making it surprising that he and [[Hayden Panettiere]] took so long to appear together.

** Notably the Petrellis are clearly ''supposed to be'' this kind of family but too many of them are [[Invincible Hero|Invincible Heroes]] and [[Invincible Villain|villains]] who hold the [[Idiot Ball]] for far too long.

** Micah's family was short-lived, but they had potential to be a really effective super-hero family like Micah wanted. In the ''Rebellion'' comic arc, ''they do'' become that family.

** In Volume Five, [[Big Bad]] Samuel wears a grunge version of one. Edgar wears one too, in the Season Finale.

** Danko? I mean he throws a knife into Sylar's head. Pretty badass.

* [[Badass Adorable]]: Hiro, while still retaining an almost childlike innocence. Claire and Molly have the adorable part down cold, just not the badass part.

* [[Bad Powers, Bad People]] Both subverted and played straight -- with [[Walking Wasteland|Walking Wastelands]] Ted (and those that copied his power) and Maya, the blackhole-producing Stephen Canfield, and Sylar, whose power comes prepackaged with a compulsion to take things (and people) apart to see how they work.

** A few episodes of volume 4 and the webisode "Nowhereman" indicate the same is true of creepy puppetmaster Eric Doyle.

*** With Volume 5 he's back to being evil and working for Samuel in a plan to kill god knows how many innocent people

* [[Bait the Dog]]: Sylar ''thrives'' on this trope. Cake?

* [[Barehanded Blade Block]]: Sylar does this when Hiro takes a swing at him in "The Hard Part."

{{quote|Claire: "What is this? Kung fu?"

Noah: "No, It's baseball." }}

* [[Beard of Sorrow]]: Nathan Petrelli in Volume Two. General fandom reaction was [[Kill It with Fire]] - thankfully, it vanished after a couple of episodes.

** It was so infamous it earned its own [[Fan Nickname]]: the Pasbeard.

* [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy]]: According to the online graphic novels, Benjamin Franklin had the ability to absorb electricity, which is how he survived his famed kite experiment.

* [[Berserk Button]]: If someone you had never met in your life that has no impact on your life and that might have only had one thing even slightly in common with you were to be killed, would you make a big deal out of it? Maybe not, but Samuel sure would. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Oh yes, he sure would.]]

* [[Big Applesauce]]

** In Volume Two, it is revealed that Adam Monroe, aka Takezo Kensei, is behind the deaths of the original members of the Company, and had a lot more than that in the works.

** In Volume Three, it was Papa Petrelli pulling the strings, although (appropriate to the title, "Villains") everyone and their mother tried to get in on the act at first.

* [[Big Brother Instinct]]: Peter Petrelli towards Claire Bennet (even before learning she is {{spoiler|his niece}}).

** Nathan also behaves this way as Peter's literal big brother. They don't always get along, but when [[Idiot Hero|Peter]] gets into trouble, [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Nathan]] is always there to get him out again.

* [[Big Good]]: {{spoiler|Angela Petrelli}} in Volume 3; Rebel in Volume 4.

** Richard Drucker, an opponent of the Company, served this role in the Season 2 graphic novels plotline, but had no role in the main show's plot and appeared to be killed by the Company after a couple of appearances. The Volume 4 graphic novels show that Rebel was inspired partially by Drucker's legacy, though.

* [[Big No]]: Several times, but most notably HRG in Volume One {{spoiler|after Sylar locks him up in a cell and sets on his way to Claire.}} Also {{spoiler|Angela Petrelli after seeing Nathan dead}} in the Volume 4 finale.

* [[Big Ol' Eyebrows]]: Nathan Petrelli, whose signature thick brows have been affectionately named 'Pasbrows' by the fandom.

*** [[Evil Eyebrows]]: Sylar.

* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: Several examples exists in Heroes.

*** Nathan will do whatever Angela tells him {{spoiler|such as allowing New York to blow up}}, no matter what his personal feelings.

*** Not to forget fringe members of the Petrelli family, Alice Shaw {{spoiler|or more correctly the crazy aunt who spent 50 years hiding in desert soley because her sister (Angela) told her to wait for her.}}

** The Bennets. Sandra seems better able to cope, but it's a miracle Lyle isn't in therapy with all the weird crap going on around him.

* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: Tends to be [[Family-Unfriendly Violence|subverted like woah.]]

* [[Blood on These Hands]]

** Elle does this to Sylar by unleashing a powerful blast of electricity when he attempted to cut her head open.

* [[Book Ends]]: Claire's [[Establishing Character Moment]] of her being filmed jumping off a large height in the pilot also closes out the series as she reveals her regeneration to the world by jumping off a Ferris Wheel on live television.

* [[Boomerang Bigot]]: A [[Fantastic Racism]] variant occurs in Volume 4, with Nathan and {{spoiler|Mohinder. Mohinder, of course, had [[Psycho Serum|personal]] [[My God, What Have I Done?|reasons]] for feeling that way. . .}}

* [[Brain Food]]: In the first season it is heavily implied (and even stated outright by Molly) that Sylar does this. Debunked in a later season.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: The reason Elle is a sociopath is because her father decided to take his little girl and see just how much torture it would take to break her.

** The ''entire series'' can be considered this for Claire. The season 4 villain outright states this is his plan for her.

* [[Brought Down to Normal]]: In Volume Three, {{spoiler|Peter, of all people. But it seems to have done a lot for his [[God Mode Sue]] problems.}} And {{spoiler|''everyone'' during "The Eclipse" episodes.}} And {{spoiler|Hiro, temporarily as well, in Volume One and at the end of Volume 3.}}

* [[Bullet Catch]] - Sylar has on multiple occasions shown the ability to freeze incoming bullets in the air [[The Matrix|Neo style]]. Although after he gained Claire's superpowered [[Healing Factor]], he generally [[The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort|stopped bothering and just took the hits]].

* [[Butterfly of Doom]]: Overused as an analogy in Volume Three. It's even worse in Volume Five - so much so that the [[Big Bad]] is ''named after it.''

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Numerous Examples.

*** He uses his powers to find a little girl who was the sole survivor of an attack by Sylar...and is immediately arrested on suspicion of ''being'' Sylar.

*** Said soul mate then got killed before she and Matt could get married.

*** He lost his job at least once in every single volume.

*** He's the only character to defeat Sylar for good (twice!) only to have [[Idiot Hero]] Peter undo it (twice!!!)

*** The later of her personalities indirectly caused the death of her husband, D.L.

*** She finally died in a fairly pointless [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

** Maya, who killed her entire village save for her brother and countless other innocents also qualifies. Ironically, she's one of the few supporting characters that gets a relatively happy ending as she lost her power and is given the opportunity to lead a normal life.

* [[Cain and Abel]]: Peter and Nathan in the Volume Three season finale.

* [[Cliffhanger Copout]]: A number of cliffhangers would pique viewers' interest that one thing would happen and then would give them something entirely different at the start of the next episode. The episode "Truth & Consequences" from Volume 2, for example, ends with Hiro charging at Peter, who refuses to believe Hiro's claims that Adam Monroe is dangerous and is even willing to protect him, suggesting that the two characters were going to fight each other. The beginning of the following episode, "Powerless," shows Hiro, after his charge, deciding to just teleport around Peter and try and talk to him some more to convince him that Adam is evil.

* [[Coconut Superpowers]]: The show that inspired the trope. Fortunately, the budget seems to finally allow for more "showboating" beginning in Volume Three.

* [[Colour Wash]]: Most notable in the Texas and New York sequences. The former have a warm golden glow, while the latter favour [[Unnaturally Blue Lighting]].

* [[Combined Energy Attack]]: An interesting inversion in Volume 5. It's been revealed that {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] Samuel Sullivan's [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Earth Bending]] ability is powered by the presence of evolved humans. It's strongly hinted that if he gathers enough followers at the Carnival, he'd gain [[Earthshattering Kaboom|the power to split the Earth in half]].}}

** Which suggests {{spoiler|that the Volume 3 [[Bad Future]] has not been averted...}}

*** Or at least heavily implies that Samuel may have been the cause since {{spoiler|his power in amplified by the presence of other Specials and the Volume 3 future had powers readily available to the public via the induction serum.}}

* [[Comatose Canary]]

* [[Comic Book Time]]: Bizarrely inverted. By the third Volume a lot of time seems to have been ''added'' to the timeline!

* [[Comic Books Are Real]]: The clairvoyant comic series that characters are big fans of.

** Happens to {{spoiler|Nathan/Sylar}} twice in a single episode. Sorta.

* [[Cult]]: The Sullivan Bros. Carnival is run like one, complete with references to "the family," religious trappings, isolation, physical labor for no pay, and, of course, a charismatic leader with self-proclaimed prophetic abilities (which, unlike in real life, happen to be real).

** When Claire wakes up on the autopsy table... ("Holy sh-").

** Hiro... YOU SON OF A BI...

* [[Cut Short]]: The final scene sets up a Season 5 (Volume 6). But the low ratings made NBC think otherwise.

* [[Cymbal-Banging Monkey]]: One of Baby Touch-n-Go's toys.

* [[Daydream Surprise]]: A few in Volume 5 (season 4).

* [[Dead Little Sister]]: Revealed to be Angela Petrelli's [[Start of Darkness]] motivation. Mohinder also had one in Season 1, although he didn't even know she existed until halfway through the season.

* [[Dead Man Writing]]: Hiro's father leaves him one at the beginning of Season 3.

* [[Dead Star Walking]]: Scott, the Pinehearst Marine played by Chad Faust.

** It seems to be genetic, with Ma Petrelli also being more than able to cut someone down to about an inch tall with a poison look [http://i49.tinypic.com/2aethud.jpg when she deems it necessary].

* [[Destination Defenestration]]: Jessica throws Matt out a window in Volume 1. Sylar does this to Peter in Volume 3. And Danko to Nathan in Vol 4.

* [[Diabolus Ex Machina]]

* [[Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?]]: A favorite of Sylar's.

** Also, with the story happening at various points of the globe, the eclipse was apparently visible ''everywhere around the world''.

* [[Die or Fly]]

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Volume Four.

* [[Dork Age]]: Actually seen ''in-universe''. Several characters who were last seen attempting to kill each other in Volume 3 meet again in the first episode of Volume 4 and act quite civil towards each other, with the apparent unspoken agreement to pretend that [[Canon Discontinuity|Volume 3 never happened]].

* [[Dramatic Curtain Toss]]: Isaac's paintings

* [[Dressing as the Enemy]]: Peter is all set to try this after knocking out one of the Black Ops agents, until Tracy points out to him what a stupid idea it is (he still puts on the guy's uniform, though, because why say no to free Kevlar?). In a later episode, Sylar does the exact same thing, with much more success, although he has [[Paper-Thin Disguise|much more experience in performing that particular trick]]. Hiro also does this when he and Ando try to shut down building 26.

* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: Simone, DL, Caitlin, {{spoiler|Adam Monroe, Bob, Usutu -- though he got better, maybe -- Scott, Knox, Nathan...}}

** {{spoiler|Danko}}. He survives the entirety of Volume 4, despite the fact that every single person wants him dead. He is back for Volume 5, and he is building up to retaining his recurring character status. He even narrowly avoided death at the hands of Tracy. Not even a minute later, Knife Guy comes in and slices him up, killing him before he even knows whats going on.

** Both Hiro (unsurprisingly) ''and'' Peter Petrelli (even more unsurprisingly given his carriage of the [[Idiot Ball]] throughout Volume Two) fall under this effect.

** In Volume Three, Matt is fawning over a thief with [[Super Speed]] he just met ''yesterday'', all because he had a psychic vision of them being married in the future.

** Hilariously subverted by Hiro during his introduction to Daphne. Rather than assume she's a complex human being with a complex motivations, he likens Ando and he to Batman and Robin and then refuses to refer to her as anything but "Nemesis" or "Catwoman" afterwards. He quite literally gets too caught up in assuming she's evil to make any sort of judgement call on her.

* [[Dye or Die]]: Claire in "Five Years Gone"

* [[Dysfunction Junction]]

* [[Earth-Shattering Poster]]

* [[Easy Amnesia]]: Peter Petrelli at the start of Volume Two. (Actually more of a [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]], but that fits too.)

** Part of Volume Three had Noah Bennet and Sylar teaming up. It didn't work out so well.

** The Volume Three finale, where Bennet frees all the Level 5 supervillains to help fight Sylar. They all last about 3 minutes, tops.

** Used in the Volume 5 opener, when {{spoiler|Bennet and Tracy quasi-team up to get Danko off her case - resulting in Danko being swiss-cheesed by Edgar five seconds later.}}

** In a twist, as of Volume 5, {{spoiler|Sylar and Peter seem to have teamed up, though Sylar is trying to be good again. It seems like it might take.}}

*** {{spoiler|Being trapped for five years in your own mind to wallow in your guilt will drastically change one's outlook on life, especially if you're only company is your more compassionate and moral archnemesis.}}

* [[Equal Opportunity Evil]]: The gang that forms out of the Level 5 escapees.

* [[Everybody Owns a Ford|Everyone Is Driving A Nissan]]

* [[Everyone Is Related]]: The number of major characters who have been revealed to be related to each other is getting a little silly at this point. For example, Claire is Noah's adopted daughter; she's also {{spoiler|Nathan's biological daughter}} and therefore, {{spoiler|Peter's niece and Ma Petrelli's granddaughter}}. Oh, and it was revealed that Sylar (maybe) and Flint (yes, cause why the hell not?) are {{spoiler|her [[Evil Uncle|uncles]]}} [[Tangled Family Tree|We half expect the writers to say, "What the hell, Adam "Kensei" Monroe is '''everyone's''' great-great-great-great-ect.-grandfather."]] He ''does'' have a [[Meaningful Name]]. [[All There in the Manual|At one point he took the last name Sanders. Also he had two sons in Italy in the 17th century]] and his heraldic crest ([[Arc Words|the symbol]]) is also the symbol of the Petrelli family law firm. And, of course, [[Justified Trope|superpowers are genetic.]]

* [[Evil Is Not a Toy]]: Whenever some erstwhile [[Chessmaster]] keeps Sylar alive or even ''feeds him powers'' while plotting to use him to further their own evil schemes, you ''know'' the main man is going to eventually turn around and make things end badly for them. Bennet even Lampshades this when confronting Danko.

{{quote|'''Bennet:''' Just how dumb are you? Who did you think would be left standing the moment Sylar got bored? ''You?''}}

* [[Evil Overlooker]]: Both covers to the first graphic novel collection show Sylar looming over the Heroes. As does the Season 2 DVD cover. And the second graphic novel collection.

* [[Evil Overlord]]: Arthur Petrelli fits pretty much every item in the checklist.

* [[Expecting Someone Taller]]: After meeting him in Volume 5, Samuel and Lydia discuss their disappoint that the long feared, [[Shrouded in Myth]] figure of "Sylar, the most powerful one of all" turns out to be a confused amnesiac with a rather mild-mannered disposition.

** There's a reason for his nicer attitude - the memories he's retained are still Nathan's.

* [[Extra-Strength Masquerade]]: Oh, so much. From nuclear explosions over New York City to people using their powers to [[Mundane Utility|cheat in Vegas casinos]], from a [[Serial Killer]] who freezes his victims and cuts their heads open without a blade to a concentration camp for metahumans constructed in [[The Sixties]], and from former employees of the [[Mutant Draft Board]] putting their experience on their résumés and being hired by the [[CIA]] to an effort to abduct American citizens with superpowers being discussed (albeit in vague terms) on a [[Captain Ersatz]] for the Larry King show, there should be no way that [[The Masquerade]] can endure...and yet it does.

* [[Eye Scream]]: Inflicted on Sylar by Claire in "Pass/Fail".