Super Zeroes: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

Many people feel that the [[Superhero]] is an inherently silly concept. And certainly, many of the genre's conventions -- such as the use of strange, skintight costumes -- might look silly in [[Real Life]]. However, within their own setting, superheroes are usually accepted and admired.

Not to be confused with [[My Hero Zero]].

 

{{examples}}

 

* The Fabulous Frog-Man, sometime-ally of Spider-Man. A pudgy, idealistic young man wearing the super frog suit that originally belonged to his father (the villainous Leap-Frog), he has yet to succeed in his mission to stop crime... on purpose, at least.

** In the same vein, there was the Spectacular Spider-Kid (now the Steel Spider), a pudgy preteen genius who wears a Spider-Man costume under his (functional) Dr. Octopus work-a-like tentacles.

* The Killer Moth was defeated by Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) on her first outing.

* The First American, a notably useless and stupid costumed hero created by [[Alan Moore]] for his America's Best Comics imprint. As [[The Other Wiki]] [[wikipedia:First American (comics)|says]], "Given his incompetence, he demonstrates below average physical abilities."

** Which is to say, he can perform multiple backflips in rapid succession and knows how to pop a bad guy in the face -- he's just really ''bad'' at it.

* The bumbling idiot Bob Phantom from DC's short lived Impact Comics line.

** Dogwelder deserves special mention. Garth Ennis and his friends were in a bar one night and decided to come up with the worst possible superhero. Dogwelder was the first suggestion, and nobody could top it.

** Well, Bueno Excellente (whose name was inspired by the Spanish subtitles in a PORN FILM, I kid you not) and who owns the "power of perversion" can be pretty scary in fact. [[Noodle Incident|Given]] [[Lobo|The Main Man]] himself once was the victim of his indignities, and chose to leave rather than kill him...

* Most of the "Hero Support" students in ''[[Sky High]]''.

* ''[[Defendor]]''

* Rod Rescueman, the bungling novice superhero from the animated film ''[[Twice Upon a Time]]''.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* The old Mexican series ''[[El Chapulin Colorado]]''. With his honking horn of justice.

* Many of the characters on ''[[No Heroics]]'', but especially Alex.

 

== [[New Media]] ==

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** And now the top example of this on the page, in DIY Showcase, he has to open jammed toilet doors for people and fly about an inch off the ground. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOIRExwW9dU see here]

** Though somewhat subverted/averted in [[Super Smash Bros]] Brawl where he is a legitimate [[Limit Break|Final]] [[One-Winged Angel|Smash]] for Wario, with massively increased power and speed, invulnerability, [[Elemental Powers]] and what have you.

* ''[[Superhero League of Hoboken]]'' uses this as a premise, featuring the likes of The Crimson Tape (power to create org charts), Tropical Oil Man (raises cholesterol of his opponents), Captain Excitement (puts enemies to sleep) and Mademoiselle Pepperoni (clairvoyance into closed pizza boxes).

** Subverted in that they actually put those powers to good use: several can be used in combat (putting enemies to sleep or raising their cholesterol levels into the health hazard range, for example) or have beneficial uses outside of combat (Mademoiselle Pepperoni can easily determine of the pizza box contains anything of value or if it's a trap, and Treader Man's ability to tread water really well will open up additional areas). Several quests can [[This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman|only be dealt with by a particular hero.]] ("A warehouse full of genetically engineered super-spicy jalapeño peppers? This looks like a job for The Iron Tummy!") In fact, there's only one hero whose power is completely useless. And that is {{spoiler|Crimson Tape, the main character.}}

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* Illumina of ''[[Sidekick Girl]]''. She can float and glow, but she looks the part and in her [[The Verse|Verse]], that's what matters. Her boyfriend, Malestrom, is just as bad.

** But when Val takes over her body via [[Freaky Friday Flip]], she shows what Illumina's powers can do in the hands of someone competent. (i.e. Use her floating powers as a "feather fall" spell and glow bright enough to stun a crowd of mooks into helplessness.)

** A possible case of this trope being played straight appeared in an early strip, when a mother was trying to pick out a costume for her superpowered son, who turned out to have the ability to animate balloon animals.

* Literally, the ''[http://www.amazingsuperzeroes.com/index.php Amazing Super Zeroes]'' (unfortunately, no longer updating). A new team of second-rate superheroes is selected on a reality TV show.

* Powdered Toast Man from ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]''

* Captain Hero from ''[[Drawn Together]]''

* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'': [[Adam West|Catman]]

* ''[[Darkwing Duck]]''. Both underpowered and underbrained ([[Let's Get Dangerous|most of the time)]]. Justified in that the cartoon is a parody of the superhero genre.

* Syndrome, the villain in ''[[The Incredibles]]'' started as one, but [[Took a Level In Badass|became a]] [[Not So Harmless|dangerous villain]] later on.

* Voltar, Doktor Frogg and the Red Menace from The [[League of Super Evil]] are all villainous Super Zeroes.

** Subverted a few times, when he snaps and makes it apparent that he can stomp colons just as well as wiping them.

** In the same episode, Control Freak is angry at "not being on the list" of villains to watch out for (even the Puppet King got on it!) But he's most certainly not a super zero!

*** The Other Heroes Beast Boy managed to find in "Titans Together" seemed to be these, but they managed to win anyway.

* ''[[The Mighty Heroes]]'' all seem to fit this bill, always winding up tangled up in a big mess.

* Arthur from ''[[The Tick]]'' seems to fit this trope, although this is more evident in the Live Action, as noted above. Also, there was a super team called the "Civic-Minded Five", who definitely fit, particularly The Carpeted Man, and another the "Decency Squad", especially Johnny Polite. Also: Caped Chameleon; Fishbor, Lost Prince of Atlantis; Human Bullet; Captain Lemming, and a number of others.

** The Decency Squad was apparently formidable...back in the 1940's. Now they're a bunch of mostly washed up [[Old Superhero|Old Superheroes]] stuck in a retirement home. It's a good thing their [[Arch Enemy]] has aged just as badly as them and is only ''slightly'' more effective.

* On ''[[South Park]],'' [[Token Evil Teammate|Cartman]] as "the Coon." He is quickly showed up by [[Badass Abnormal|Mysterion]], and eventually becomes a much more effective villain, even though he still calls himself a hero as he does it.

** [[Making a Splash|Seaman]] is treated this way by the rest of the [[Crossover Cosmology|Super Best Friends]], though really his only flaw is an [[Unfortunate Names|Unfortunate Name]].

 

{{reflist}}