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A character who is mostly a blank slate stand in for the audience, made to be empathetic to all. They won't be exceptional; in fact, they will be decidedly average. If you try to pin down the character traits of any one of them, you'll probably come up blank. They are usually popular by association, in that they tend to interact and be friends with a large group of more interesting supporting characters.
If a leader, then they're a [[Standardized Leader]]. The videogame version of this is a [[Heroic Mime]] in terms of plot, [[Jack of All Stats]] in terms of ability, and a [[Featureless Protagonist]] when taken to its extreme. May 'evolve' into an [[Extreme Doormat]].
In [[Dom Com
Not every character created with the intention of being
Despite the name, everymen aren't [[Always Male]]. But they usually are, because [[Most Writers Are Male]].
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** Diethard even points out how this makes Ougi important to the Black Knights because they can't live on "stars alone" and need an average person for the common people to relate with.
*** Played a bit straighter with Shinichirou Tamaki, though.
*** Nah, Tamaki is there to be a loser, and not at all the lead or intended to identify with. Rivals is his school counterpart, though less
* Everyman leads occur more than you'd think in romantic/[[Ecchi]] anime and/or arcs, letting the audience project themselves upon him. In [[Hentai]], they're legion.
** Sasahara from ''[[Genshiken]]'' is a general [[Otaku]] who falls for {{spoiler|Ogiue}}.
** His (unintentional?) [[Expy]] Kosuda in ''[[B Gata H Kei]]'' is an ordinary schoolboy trying to make sense of [[Lovable Sex Maniac|Yamada]]'s WANT/DO NOT WANT/WANT/DO NOT WANT behaviour.
* The Producer in the anime version of ''[[The Idolmaster (
==
* Fone Bone from ''[[Bone]]''.
* [[Tintin
* [[Spider
* [[Captain America (comics)]], in his Steve Rogers not-so [[Secret Identity]] anyway. Interestingly, he was originally a washed-up art student, to deliberately draw parallels to [[Adolf Hitler]].
* Billy Batson, [[Captain Marvel]]'s secret identity.
* Kyle Rayner in ''[[Green Lantern]]''.
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* Gabe and Tucker from ''[[
* Joe, the main character of ''[[Idiocracy]]'' is described as the most average man in existence. The speaker then shows a series of graphs, all of which have Joe at the exact middle of the bell curve, a trend which he describes as "remarkable." It is unclear if he sees the irony.
* Wikus, the "protagonist" of ''[[District 9]]'' is a deconstruction of this trope. Whether he's a [[Punch Clock Villain]], [[Idiot Hero]], or [[Jerkass Woobie]] is entirely up to interpretation. Ultimately, he reacts to extreme circumstances (that demand heroism) just as you'd expect an average nerdy professional bureaucrat thrust into a dangerous and unpredictable environment: [[Truth in Television|poorly]].
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== Literature ==
* Dante (the character, not the poet) in ''[[
* Nearly all [[Fairy Tale]] heroes and heroines (e.g., [[Cinderella (
* The hero of ''[[Literature/A Pilgrims Progress|A Pilgrims Progress]]'' is actually named 'Everyman'; ''Christian'' Everyman.
* ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'' has George, largely made distinctive by his relation to Lenny.
* Dr. Watson fills this role in the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' stories. He does have certain distinct personality traits, such as his eye for attractive women ([[Sarcasm Mode|how unusual]]), but in many other ways he reflects the typical Victorian citizen who read Arthur Conan Doyle's stories when they were first published, bridging the gap between the readers and the otherwise eccentric Holmes.
** See [[The Watson|his trope]].
* The titular character of ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'' is an "everygirl".
** Well, she would be, if the books didn't take place in ''Wonderland'' where she should be considered exceptional ''because'' she is a normal, if curious, human.
* Ralph from ''[[Lord of the Flies]]''
* Bella Swan in ''[[Twilight (
* Winston Smith in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', whose sympathetic human characterization is said by {{spoiler|O'Brien}} to be "the last man."
* [[Harry Potter]].
== Live-Action TV ==
* Many of the Doctor's companions from ''[[
** Mickey Smith and Rory Williams are both very deliberately ordinary people whose girlfriends become the Doctor's companions and end up crushing on him. A great deal is made of the contrast between the ordinary, happy life they could offer, and the adventurous, extraordinary one the Doctor provides. In Mickey's case, {{spoiler|he is somewhat unceremoniously dumped in favour of the Doctor}}, with Rory, the episode "Amy's Choice" makes it clear that, despite her zigzagging feelings for both of them, if it came down to a choice between the two {{spoiler|she choose an ordinary life with Rory.}}
* Earl Sinclair in ''[[Dinosaurs]]''.
* [[The Muppets|Kermit the Frog.]]
* [[Lizzie
* ''[[Malcolm in
** Malcolm's test actually showed he was equally suited to any career because he was an all-round ''genius'', not because he was "average". YMMV, but it seemed that Malcolm did develop quite a distinct personality as the series progressed - he grew to be notably cynical, sarcastic, neurotic, self-pitying and moody. Whether this was a [[Character Development|good]] or a [[Flanderization|bad]] thing is open for debate, but he certainly wasn't bland and unremarkable by the time he reached his teens (except ''maybe'' in contrast to his family).
* Joe Miller of [[The Lost Room]].
* [[The Big Bang Theory|Leonard Hofstadter]] is the [[Hollywood Nerd]] variation.
** Penny is more of a straight example, being an ordinary [[Girl Next Door]] who's well-rounded in her knowledge and hobbies.
* Two words: Godai Yuusuke of [[Kamen Rider Kuuga]].
* [[The Danza|Jerry]] [[Seinfeld]] has strikingly average interests such as cereal, sneakers, and [[Superman]] comics, but [[Flanderization|ends up]] a [[Subverted Trope|subversion]], becoming one of the most [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist
* Kevin Arnold from [[The Wonder Years]] is supposed to represent the life of an average teenage boy growing up in the 1960's.
* [[Boy Meets World|Cory Matthews.]]
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== Theater ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] is a late 15th century English morality play called [
* The usual [[Cirque Du Soleil]] protagonist (if the show has a protagonist) is a version of this: see ''Quidam'', ''"O"'', ''La Nouba'', ''Corteo'', ''KOOZA'', even the ''Delirium'' concert tour. Often they are pulled into the plot by a [[Trickster]]. In ''"O"'', it's set up that he appears to be an audience member.
** The headless titular character in ''Quidam'' is ''literally'' an Everyman (the word 'Quidam' means 'nameless passerby', and the song 'Quidam' explicitly states "I'm everyman"), but the main character Zoe is ''also'' a, less literal, Everygirl. With an Everyfamily made up of an Everyman and an Everywoman. It... gets a little bit confusing.
* The play ''Everyman'' is about an [[Every Man]] going on an adventure to [[Death]].
* Mark from ''[[Rent]]''. Via [[Supporting Protagonist]] and [[You Have to Have Jews]].
* [[Older Than Print]]: These were often the protagonists of medieval everyman plays.
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== Videogames ==
* Claude of ''[[
* Main characters of [[Nintendo]] games are often this, usually with [[Heroic Mime]] for good measure:
** [[Super Mario
** [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]]. [[Meaningful Name|This is the reason why he is named that]].
** [[
** [[Pikmin|Captain Olimar]]
** [[Chibi-Robo!]]
** [[Game and Watch|Mr. Game and Watch]] is probably Nintendo's first everyman.
* Jimmy Hopkins of ''[[Bully (
** His personality gets very distinct by the time you finish the game though.
* In ''[[
* Dave in ''[[Maniac Mansion]]''. He's Sandy's boyfriend, but other than that, he's pretty much just an Everyman. And while the other six characters can play an instrument (Syd/Razor), fix radios and/or telephones (Bernard/Jeff, although Jeff can only fix telephones), develop rolls of film (Michael), and proofread manuscripts (Wendy), Dave has no abilities or talents at all. Sadly, since he's the also the lead character, he's also the only one you can't NOT choose.
== Webcomics ==
* Bob in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' is frequently touted as "the world's most average man," despite the fact that he has in fact developed a pretty clear personality.
* Reg, the title character of ''[[Regular Guy]]''.
* The protagonist of ''[[A
{{quote|
** {{spoiler|As it turns out, he is literally a godlike anthropomorphic personification of humankind as a whole.}}
== Western Animation ==
*
** Most early animation characters fit into this trope, for that matter - such as Bosko, Felix the Cat, [[Looney Tunes|Porky Pig]], etc.
*** Oddly enough, at first Mickey did have a personality. He was a total [[Jerkass]].
** Goofy became this in the Fifties, starring as George Geef, with a son, a wife, and increased intellegence (though not much). He's mostly went back to his more famous personality since.
* The titular character from ''[[Doug]]''.
* Hank Hill in ''[[King of the Hill]]'', although he [[Flanderization|gradually grew into]] an uptight [[Straw Vulcan]] who served as [[Sitcom Character Archetypes|the stick]] for everyone else.
** In later seasons, if the authors were feeling particularly conservative that week, he started giving lengthy [[Author Fillibusters]] on the evils of [[Mc Mansions]], gratuitous lawsuits, gentrification, [[Hipster
* Arguably, Arnold from ''[[Hey Arnold!]]''- or if you're listening to [[That Guy With
* Phineas from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. He's so friendly, gets along with everyone, and so cheerful you'll likely catch diabetes just from watching. Almost nothing gets him riled up, and barely anything makes him mildly annoyed. He's so one dimensional, even his mute brother has more personality. [[Tropes Are Not Bad|Not that this is a bad thing]].
** While still staying an extreme case of
** Phineas also gets a similar case of character development in "[[Christmas Episode|Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!]]". Special-length episodes bring out his depths.
* Stan in later episodes of ''[[South Park]]''.
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* Horace in ''[[The Problem Solverz]]''.
* Nitz in ''[[Undergrads]]''. He's lazy and sarcastic, but far less "out there" than any of his friends, and is known for having few extreme interests or opinions.
* Rufus and Amberley in ''[[The Dreamstone]]'' for the line of work they had, were portrayed as rather normal acting kids who usually handle their jobs in a rather uneventful and conflictless manner until the Urpneys break the normality of things. Less
* Tommy Pickles in Seasons 4 and later on in
* Mac from ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]''. He's pretty much a normal kid whom the viewers use like a lens to view a setting that is about as ''un-normal'' as a setting can get.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Stock Characters]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Normal People]]
[[Category:Older Than Print]]
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