Heroes (TV series)/Tropes R-U: Difference between revisions

* [[Retcon]]: In Volume One, Chandra Suresh's theory about the existence of "specials" is just that: a theory. He has no firsthand experience with metahumans and he is as giddy as a schoolboy to discover Sylar. Fast-forward to Volume Four, in which we are informed that {{spoiler|he was the chief medical officer at Coyote Sands, a concentration camp for metahumans built in the American Southwest in the early 1960s}}.

** Sylar's reason for being a a serial killer: Complexes thanks to his (adoptive) mother, being a victim to his own power, being manipulated by the Company, having it [[In the Blood]], having lost himself because of his many powers (Clair's theory)...

* [[The Reveal]]: Warning, SPOILERS ahead. Swipe at your own risk.

** Volume 1:

* [[Revealing Hug]]: HRG (Noah Bennet) has done it to members of his family more than once, and it happens with the Petrellis fairly often too. Even Sylar has done it at least once.

* [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]]: Hiro now owns Yamagato. The Petrellis have money. Otherwise it's pretty much a mystery how most Heroes off chasing their destiny [[Friends Rent Control|have money for groceries.]]

* [[Rival Turned Evil]]: {{spoiler|Takezo Kensei/Adam Monroe.}}

* [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]]: What Claire and Gretchen seem headed for.

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: Consider Noah's following comment about the events of ''An Invisible Thread''; was it an apology by the writers for the utter absurdity that was the volume 4 finale?

{{quote| '''Noah''': I'm sorry about the Sylar thing. We all admit it was a terrible idea. }}

* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: Pretty much everything Peter does in Season 1 leads him ''closer to'', rather than further away from, becoming a nuclear bomb and blowing up New York.

* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: Or ''will'' go wrong, as it were.

** Hiro uses this exact phrase and then some in his mental trial of himself. It might have worked... if David Anders hadn't called him out on simply "...saying the opening to Quantum Leap!".

* [[Shapeshifting Seducer]]

* [[Shapeshifting Squick]]: Why are we so surprised that {{spoiler|Sylar}} would immediately use his newly acquired [[Master of Disguise|"Turn Into Anyone You've Met"]] powers to ''deeply'' [[Mind Screw|freak people out]]?

* [[Ship Sinking]]: Volume Three crushed Matt/<s>Mohinder</s> Audrey shippers with a forced romance between Matt and {{spoiler|new character Daphne Millbrook}}, and Sylar/Elle shippers {{spoiler|could not have been happy when Sylar kills off Elle in a painfully transparent attempt to get rid of Kristen Bell's character.}}

* [[Shipper On Deck]]: You wouldn't believe me even if I told you: In "Pass/Fail", {{spoiler|'''Sylar'''. For '''Claire''' and '''Gretchen'''. "Subtext" indeed.}}

{{quote| '''Isaac Mendez''': How am I supposed to pretend this didn't happen?<br />

'''Candice Wilmer''': Maybe you should have thought about that before you shot her. Twice. }}

** Although Hiro correctly cites Kitty Pryde in Days of Future Past from the [[X-Men]] comic book, he is a couple of issue numbers off.

*** When he meets Charlie the waitress with an [[Eidetic Memory]], he discusses the same storyline, and she corrects the issue number for him.

** The license plate on the limousine belonging to Kaito Nakamura is '''NCC-1701''', the call sign for the original Enterprise starship from ''[[Star Trek]]''. It's probably worth mentioning that Kaito Nakamura is played by [[George Takei]], the actor who played Hikaru Sulu from the original Star Trek.

*** Similarly, the catalogue number for Kensei's katana in the private collection is CRM-114, the cipher for plane communications in [[Doctor Strangelove]]

** It's also no accident that the climax of the first Volume winds up taking place at Kirby Plaza (as in, famed comic artist Jack Kirby.)

*** And Kirby is also the name of a video game character that devours his enemies and copies their abilities. Sound familiar?

** Simone may be named after comics writer Gail Simone.

** Hiro has now shouted "[[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|MUDAMUDAMUDA!]]" twice. First while fighting samurai in "Lizards" (S2, E2), then while teleporting around Daphne the speedster thief in "The Butterfly Effect" (S3, E2).

*** Not to mention his constant exclamations of "[[Street Fighter|YATTA!!!]]"

** Hiro, {{spoiler|after getting mindwiped}}, is in shock at then-recent [[Marvel Comics]] plots: "[[Captain America]] is dead!? [[Spider Man]] [[Civil War (Comic Book)|revealed his secret identity]]!? And [[The Hulk]] is [[Red Hulk|RED]]!?"

** Apparently, Ando is now capable of using the [[Dragonball Z|Kamehameha]].

** [[Mind Over Matter|Telekinetic]] [[Big Bad]] [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Sylar is searching for his father]] with a semi-apprentice figure with daddy issues... called ''[[Star Wars|Luke]]''.

** Everyone loves Waffles... just like on that [[Dead Like Me|other show Brian Fuller worked on.]]

** Claude Rains is [[The Invisible Man (Film)|The Invisible Man]].

** Hiro ''Nakamura'' might have been named after Hiro ''Okamura'', the Japanese Toyman, most recently seen in ''[[Superman Batman Public Enemies]]''. Both are [[Ascended Fanboy|Ascended Fanboys]] who ''want'' to be heroes, as opposed to most people in Nakamura's mileu, who can't seem to do anything but complain about it.

** "Objection, your honour! He's reciting the opening to [[Quantum Leap]]!"

** [[Rain Man (Film)|Hiro and Ando in Vegas, descending an escalator in expensive suits they won by using Hiro's superpowers to gamble.]]

** In Volume Four, Matt and Peter storm Building 26, armed only with the power to control minds.

* [[Story Arc]]

* [[The Straight Man]]: Nathan in any scene he shares with Peter or Hiro.

* [[Strapped to An Operating Table]] - Bennet does this to Matt and later to Sylar at Primatech in Volume 1. {{spoiler|Mohinder does this to Nathan and Tracy and Arthur does this to Peter at Pinehearst in Volume 3.}}

* [[Superhuman Transfusion]]: The effects of Claire and Adam's blood when donated.

* [[Super Weight]]:

** Type 0: Sandra, Kyle, Caitlin, [[Unfazed Everyman|Ando (pre-volume 4)]], early-series [[The Professor|Mohinder]]

** Type 1: [[Badass Normal|Noah]], [[The Hunter|Danko]]

* [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself]]: Kirby Plaza, Peter ([[Lady of War|to Niki]]): [[Honor Before Reason|Thanks, I've got this. Go back to your family.]]

* [[The Three Faces of Eve]] / [[The Hecate Sisters]]: They don't form a [[Power Trio]], but the three main female characters all have elements of these tropes. Claire is the [[The Three Faces of Eve|Child]], Niki is the [[The Three Faces of Eve|Seductress]]/[[The Hecate Sisters|Mother]], and Angela is the [[The Hecate Sisters|Crone]].

* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]: the "[[Fantastic Aesop]]" entry above pretty much covers it

* [[Title Drop]]: Ted Sprague in Volume 1: "If we can help ourselves, we could save others. We could be... heroes."