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* AnIcePerson: DJ Chill his cold powers and can reduce the temperature of his targets. As Slipstream finds out, force fields don't stop him from manipulating the temperature inside them.
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* AnIcePerson: DJ Chill his has cold powers and can reduce the temperature of his targets. As Slipstream finds out, force fields don't stop him from manipulating the temperature inside them.
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FlyingBrick: Lux and Zenith are two of the clearest examples. While there are other superhumans with the strength, toughness and flight to qualify (including some of the Lloigor hosts on alternate worlds), most prefer to rely on some sort of energy attack.
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* FlyingBrick: Lux and Zenith are two of the clearest examples. While there are other superhumans with the strength, toughness and flight to qualify (including some of the Lloigor hosts on alternate worlds), most prefer to rely on some sort of energy attack.
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Some ZC Es resolved
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* AnIcePerson: DJ Chill.
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* AnIcePerson: DJ Chill.Chill his cold powers and can reduce the temperature of his targets. As Slipstream finds out, force fields don't stop him from manipulating the temperature inside them.
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * BritishRockstar
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * EyeBeams: The Lloigor.
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%%* FlyingBrick: Lux and Zenith.
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%%* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Tammy, Vertex.]]
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%%* HumanPopsicle: Masterman's twin.
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%%* MerlinSickness: [[spoiler: Chimera!Peyne's fate.]]
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* FlyingBrick: Lux and Zenith.
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* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Tammy, Vertex.]]
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* HumanPopsicle: Masterman's twin.
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* IncestIsRelative: Sort of. Zenith is "bred" with a clone of his mother but takes it surprisingly well.
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* KissingCousins: Tiger Tom and Tammy.
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* MerlinSickness: [[spoiler: Chimera!Peyne's fate.]]
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* PhysicalGod: All the superhumans have this potential.
* PlayingWithFire: Red Dragon, Blaze, White Heat. Later Zenith himself.
* PlayingWithFire: Red Dragon, Blaze, White Heat. Later Zenith himself.
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* ParentalIncest: Sort of. Zenith is "bred" with a clone of his mother but takes it surprisingly well.
%%* PhysicalGod: All the superhumans have this potential.
* %%* PlayingWithFire: Red Dragon, Blaze, White Heat. Later Zenith himself.
%%* PhysicalGod: All the superhumans have this potential.
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* RiddleMeThis: Scott Wallace challenges Zenith with one.
* RobotBuddy: Archie.
* RobotBuddy: Archie.
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* ShameIfSomethingHappened: Spoken by Margaret Thatcher.
* ShockAndAwe: Voltage, Shockwave.
* ShockAndAwe: Voltage, Shockwave.
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * AfterTheEnd: Phase IV. [[spoiler:Subverted.]]
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* BreakThemByTalking: How Zenith convinces [[spoiler:Wallace to stop his missile strike]] and without his telepathy no less.
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* BreakThemByTalking: How Zenith convinces [[spoiler:Wallace to stop his missile strike]] and strike]]. And without his telepathy telepathy, no less.
* BroughtDownToNormal: Zenith's powers are tied to his [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorhythm_(pseudoscience) biorhythms]], meaning they wax and wane on a roughly monthly schedule. At certain times, he's essentially powerless.
** Peyne and Wallace attempt to weaponize this against Zenith, by working out his biorhythm chart according to his birthdate and kidnapping him when he's at his weakest. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for them, that isn't Zenith's actual birthdate. He told the press he was born on January 8th because it's Creator/ElvisPresley's birthday.]]
** Peyne and Wallace attempt to weaponize this against Zenith, by working out his biorhythm chart according to his birthdate and kidnapping him when he's at his weakest. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for them, that isn't Zenith's actual birthdate. He told the press he was born on January 8th because it's Creator/ElvisPresley's birthday.]]
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* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: The miniature universe of Chimera.]]
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* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: The [[spoiler:The miniature universe of Chimera.]]
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* DeathByDeaging: The ultimate fate of Dr Michael Payne's MerlinSickness-deaging until he's reduced to a baby, then fetus, then embryo, then nothing.
* DePower: Cloud 9 claim to have lost their powers. They're lying, though they are a bit rusty.
* DePower: Cloud 9 claim to have lost their powers. They're lying, though they are a bit rusty.
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* DeathByDeaging: The ultimate fate of Dr Michael Dr. Payne's MerlinSickness-deaging MerlinSickness: deaging until he's reduced to a baby, then fetus, then embryo, then nothing.
* DePower: Cloud 9 claim to have lost their powers.They're [[spoiler:They're lying, though they are a bit rusty.]]
* DePower: Cloud 9 claim to have lost their powers.
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* DominoMask
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* DominoMaskDominoMask: Part of Zenith's costume. He doesn't actually have a secret identity; it's just for the aesthetics.
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* OldShame: InUniverse -- Peter St John seems genuinely ashamed of having been the super-hippy Mandala in the '60s; Being such a prominent anti-establishment figure would indeed have been a very unusual history for a Conservative minister in the UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher era of RealLife, but given that ''absolutely everybody'' knows he was Mandala, and that the press never seem to mention him without pointing it out, it goes far beyond fear of public embarrassment, becoming something much more personal, as if he can't quite believe he ever behaved that way.
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* OldShame: InUniverse -- InUniverse: Peter St John seems genuinely ashamed of having been the super-hippy Mandala in the '60s; Being such a prominent anti-establishment figure would indeed have been a very unusual history for a Conservative minister in the UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher era of RealLife, but given that ''absolutely everybody'' knows he was Mandala, and that the press never seem to mention him without pointing it out, it goes far beyond fear of public embarrassment, becoming something much more personal, as if he can't quite believe he ever behaved that way.
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* UnsettlingGenderReveal: TNT Tom and pre-op transsexual Metamaid. Tom doesn't seem to mind.
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* UnsettlingGenderReveal: Surprisingly for a Creator/GrantMorrison comic. In volume 3, Zenith is propositioned by Metamaid, an attractive superheroine. After Zenith finds out, he passes the buck to the naive young superhero TNT Tom by suggesting that he and pre-op transsexual Metamaid. Metamaid might like to get acquainted. At least it apparently ends happily for both parties.
-->'''Zenith:''' TNT Tomdoesn't seem to mind.left with a smile on his face, mind...
-->'''Zenith:''' TNT Tom
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* DangerousDrowsiness: Dr Michael Peyne is cursed with an accelerating case of MerlinSickness by the victorious [[EldritchAbomination Lloigor]], and though he initially feels energized by his newfound youth, his ApocalypticLog soon mentions how tired he's started to feel as he re-enters his childhood. Eventually reduced to scrawling badly-spelled notes in a barely-legible scrawl, a very young Peyne admits that he's too tired to write anymore and needs to lie down. When [[HumanoidAbomination Ruby]] finally arrives to say goodbye, he's little more than a baby sleeping [[ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing under his adult-sized shirt]], and soon succumbs to DeathByDeaging.
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* DangerousDrowsiness: Dr Michael Peyne is cursed with an accelerating case of MerlinSickness by the victorious [[EldritchAbomination Lloigor]], and though he initially feels energized by his newfound youth, his ApocalypticLog soon mentions how tired he's started to feel as he re-enters his childhood. Eventually reduced to scrawling badly-spelled notes in a barely-legible scrawl, a very young Peyne admits that he's too tired to write anymore and needs to lie down. When [[HumanoidAbomination [[spoiler: Ruby]] finally arrives to say goodbye, he's little more than a baby sleeping [[ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing under his adult-sized shirt]], and soon succumbs to DeathByDeaging.
* PosthumanNudism: Phase IV belatedly reveals that the Lloigor were once human, more specifically, [[spoiler: the superhero team Cloud 9]]. When the newly-ascended Lloigor are first witnessed emerging from the Black Sun, they the form of stark naked, glowing, angelic recreations of their human selves, albeit with no hair, no pupils, no nipples and no genitals; however, they soon take on their Lovecraftian forms. In the aftermath, their representative [[spoiler: Ruby Fox]] will occasionally revert to humanoid form in order to give the doomed Michael Peyne a comprehensible face to talk to in his final days - but even then, that doesn't extend to wearing clothes.
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* UnnervinglyHeartwarming: In his final moments before his DeathByDeAging, Dr Peyne visited by Ruby Fox; she apparently wanted to say goodbye, and even appears to comfort the baby that he's become. This might seem heartwarming at first... but even if this moment wasn't delivered by a stark-naked HumanoidAbomination, it swiftly becomes clear that Ruby is just gloating over a dying victim, her tone swinging from condescendingly soothing to smugly sadistic. The scene ends with Ruby throwing baby Payne into the air, where he shrinks into a fetus and vanishes.
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* UnnervinglyHeartwarming: In his final moments before his DeathByDeAging, Dr Peyne visited by [[spoiler: Ruby Fox; Fox]], MouthOfSauron to the Lloigor; she apparently wanted to say goodbye, and even appears to comfort the baby that he's become. This might seem heartwarming at first... but even if this moment wasn't delivered by a stark-naked HumanoidAbomination, it swiftly becomes clear that Ruby is she's just gloating over a dying victim, her tone swinging from condescendingly soothing to smugly sadistic. The scene ends with Ruby [[spoiler: Ruby]] throwing baby Payne into the air, where he shrinks into a fetus and vanishes.
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* DangerousDrowsiness: Dr Michael Peyne is cursed with an accelerating case of MerlinSickness by the victorious [[EldritchAbomination Lloigor]], and though he initially feels energized by his newfound youth, his ApocalypticLog soon mentions how tired he's started to feel as he re-enters his childhood. Eventually reduced to scrawling badly-spelled notes in a barely-legible scrawl, a very young Peyne admits that he's too tired to write anymore and needs to lie down. When [[HumanoidAbomination Ruby]] finally arrives to say goodbye, he's little more than a baby sleeping [[ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing under his adult-sized shirt]], and soon succumbs to DeathByDeaging.
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* WanderingWalkOfMadness: During Phase IV, Dr Michael Peyne is left as the last survivor of the Lloigors' conquest of Earth, condemned to live out the rest of his days stranded in their hellish capital city with an accelerating case of MerlinSickness. With nothing else to do but wait to die, Peyne fills his days with meaningless obsessions: apart from writing an ApocalypticLog that he knows that nobody will ever read, he also begins compulsively walking through the city, a nightmarish experience - but one that he can't bear to stop because it's all he has left. The younger he gets, the walks get progressively easier, but he draws progressively closer to losing his adult mind.
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* UnnervinglyHeartwarming: In his final moments before his DeathByDeAging, Dr Peyne visited by Ruby Fox; she apparently wanted to say goodbye, and even appears to comfort the baby that he's become. This might seem heartwarming at first... but even if this moment wasn't delivered by a stark-naked HumanoidAbomination, it swiftly becomes clear that Ruby is just gloating over a dying victim, her tone swinging from condescendingly soothing to smugly sadistic. The scene ends with Ruby throwing baby Payne into the air, where he shrinks into a fetus and vanishes.
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* BrilliantButLazy: Zenith. He's pound for pound one of the strongest superhuman in the series in terms of raw power and his mental faculties aren't wanting either; Peter St John, the comic's master manipulator, outright praises Zenith for more or less foreseeing the social media scene and expresses some disquiet that he sees through his illusions and schemes that manage to fool people "smarter" than him.
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* BrilliantButLazy: Zenith. He's pound for pound one of the strongest superhuman superhumans in the series in terms of raw power and his mental faculties aren't wanting either; Peter St John, the comic's master manipulator, outright praises Zenith for more or less foreseeing the social media scene and expresses some disquiet that he sees through his illusions and schemes that manage to fool people "smarter" than him.
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* StiffUpperLip: While he does go through a truly staggering amount of superhuman abuse over the course of his series, besieged by troubles that would send a typical superhero (both his contemporaries and those who would come after him) into an existential crisis, Zenith manages to walk away with his sanity, principles, and life intact.
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* WrongGenreSavvy: Peyne ''thinks'' that Zenith is secretly [[BewareTheSuperman an inhuman superpowered sociopath]], but in spite of all he goes through across the various "Phases", Robert remains a fairly shallow and harmless (if intelligent and superpowered) musician with a basic moral compass.
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* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: The epilogue to Phase II is punctuated by Zenith silently visiting the corpses of [[spoiler:Phaedra and his parents]] before flying off back to London.
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* BewareTheSuperman: A major theme. Zenith himself, while reviled by high-minded music critics for his shallow style and creative output, elicits no fear in the public and a CIA agent who originally hated him by virtue of being superhuman gradually forgets he is one because of how normal and personable he acts.
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* BewareTheSuperman: A major theme. Zenith himself, while reviled by high-minded music critics for his shallow style and creative output, elicits no fear in the public and a CIA agent Phaedra who originally hated him by virtue of being superhuman gradually forgets he is one because of how normal and personable he acts.
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* BrainsAndBrawn: Zenith and St. John.
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* WeakButSkilled: All of St. John's fellow superhuman had telepathic powers like he did, but he worked the hardest to master it best.
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* WeakButSkilled: All of St. John's fellow superhuman had telepathic powers like he did, but he worked the hardest to master it them best.
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** Scott Wallace and the Lloigor are fairly transparent thematic stand-ins for Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan from [[ComicBook/Watchmen]]. [[spoiler:Zenith manages to find a way to beat them both.]]
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** Scott Wallace and the Lloigor are fairly transparent thematic stand-ins for Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan from [[ComicBook/Watchmen]].{{ComicBook/Watchmen}}. [[spoiler:Zenith manages to find a way to beat them both.]]
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** Scott Wallace and the Lloigor are fairly transparent thematic stand-ins for Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan from [[ComicBook/Watchmen.]] [[spoiler:Zenith manages to find a way to beat them both.]]
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** Scott Wallace and the Lloigor are fairly transparent thematic stand-ins for Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan from [[ComicBook/Watchmen.]] [[ComicBook/Watchmen]]. [[spoiler:Zenith manages to find a way to beat them both.]]
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* BewareTheSuperman: A major theme.
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* BewareTheSuperman: A major theme. Zenith himself, while reviled by high-minded music critics for his shallow style and creative output, elicits no fear in the public and a CIA agent who originally hated him by virtue of being superhuman gradually forgets he is one because of how normal and personable he acts.
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* CivvieSpandex: Zenith's ensemble.
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* CivvieSpandex: Zenith's ensemble. St. John doesn't even bother with a mask or logo, preferring a flight suit and combat boots combo.
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* IncestIsRelative: Sort of. Zenith is "bred" with a clone of his mother.
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* ImprobableWeaponUser: Zenith can pluck the metal studs from his jacket and flick them at enemies at high speeds.
* IncestIsRelative: Sort of. Zenith is "bred" with a clone of hismother.mother but takes it surprisingly well.
* IncestIsRelative: Sort of. Zenith is "bred" with a clone of his
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** Scott Wallace and the Lloigor are fairly transparent thematic stand-ins for Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan from [[ComicBook/Watchmen.]] [[spoiler:Zenith manages to find a way to beat them both.]]
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* WeakButSkilled: All of St. John's fellow superhuman had telepathic powers like he did, but he worked the hardest to master it best.
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* DreadfulMusician: Much of Zenith's music has been described as "cynically marketed, mass-market pap without an ounce of credibility or invention" by his detractors.
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* IntergenerationalFriendship: Many of Zenith's most notable companions are of a much older pedigree than his including Acid Archie, Peter St. John, Eddie Mcphail, and Big Ben. On his part, St. John liked Zenith enough to speak warmly about him in [[spoiler:his posthumously published memories, even going so far as to declassify that it was Zenith who prevented nuclear armageddon in Phase Two.]]
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* OlderAndWiser: Zenith circa [[spoiler:2017]] in the ''Permission to Land'' epilogue. Although his interviewer (read: writer) is skeptical as to how authentic this is as he's feigned maturity and introspection before.
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* SigilSpam: Robert blitzes many of his clothes and furnishings with his trademark lighting bolt "Z".
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* AfterTheEnd: Phase IV. [[spoiler:Subverted.]]
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * AfterTheEnd: Phase IV. [[spoiler:Subverted.]]
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* BritishRockstar
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * BritishRockstar
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* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs
* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: As the story moved from the 80s to the 90s, and 2000AD introduced colour printing, Steve Yowell's evocative monochrome artwork of Phases I-III suddenly became colour in Phase IV.
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* PubertySuperpower
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * PubertySuperpower
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* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: Tammy]]
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: Tammy]]
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* WhenThePlanetsAlign
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * WhenThePlanetsAlign
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-->''I'm nineteen, I can fly, I can flatten ballbearings between my fingers and I'm practically invulnerable to damage. I mean, let's face it... [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong what can possibly go wrong?]]''
--->Zenith, [[TemptingFate tempting fate]]
--->Zenith, [[TemptingFate tempting fate]]
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->''"I'm nineteen, I can fly, I can flatten ballbearings between my fingers and I'm practically invulnerable to damage. I mean, let's face it...
--->Zenith,
-->-- '''Zenith''', [[TemptingFate tempting fate]]
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* GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave: When [[spoiler:Ruby's youth is restored early in Book III]], Zenith takes a moment to tastefully admire the change.
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* SilverVixen: When [[spoiler:Ruby's youth is restored early in Book III]], Zenith takes a moment to tastefully admire the change.
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Link for new trope
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* DeathByDeaging: The ultimate fate of Dr Michael Payne's MerlinSickness-deaging until he's reduced to a baby, then fetus, then embryo, then nothing.
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* InternalReformist: It is hinted at times that Peter St. John hasn't renounced his former 1960s hippy ideals as much as he might protest, but has simply decided that the best way to truly implement them is to become the establishment and make it work better from within.
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Not a trope. And not used like that anyway.
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* EyeBeams: [[StockSuperpower Standard superpower]] of the Lloigor.
* FaceFramedInShadow: [[spoiler: Maximan 23]].
* FaceFramedInShadow: [[spoiler: Maximan 23]].
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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * EyeBeams: [[StockSuperpower Standard superpower]] of the The Lloigor.
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * FaceFramedInShadow:[[spoiler: Maximan [[spoiler:Maximan 23]].
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * FaceFramedInShadow:
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* FateWorseThanDeath: This happened to [[spoiler: Dr Beat, Zenith's father. He barely survived an assassination attempt but was left critically injured, and was turned into the nearly mindless cyborg Warhead]]
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* SuperpowerfulGenetics: How Zenith gets his powers.
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* SuperpowerfulGenetics: How This is what makes Zenith gets unique compared to other superhumans, he was born with his powers.powers rather than being given them through the Maximan serum.
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* OldShame: Peter St John seems genuinely ashamed of having been the super-hippy Mandala in the 60's; Being such a prominent anti-establishment figure would indeed have been a very unusual history for a Conservative minister in the UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher era of RealLife, but given that ''absolutely everybody'' knows he was Mandala, and that the press never seem to mention him without pointing it out, it goes far beyond fear of public embarrassment, becoming something much more personal, as if he can't quite believe he ever behaved that way.
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* OldShame: InUniverse -- Peter St John seems genuinely ashamed of having been the super-hippy Mandala in the 60's; '60s; Being such a prominent anti-establishment figure would indeed have been a very unusual history for a Conservative minister in the UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher era of RealLife, but given that ''absolutely everybody'' knows he was Mandala, and that the press never seem to mention him without pointing it out, it goes far beyond fear of public embarrassment, becoming something much more personal, as if he can't quite believe he ever behaved that way.
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Recreating page in properly capitalized namespace.
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[[quoteright:294:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zenith-1.jpg]]
-->''I'm nineteen, I can fly, I can flatten ballbearings between my fingers and I'm practically invulnerable to damage. I mean, let's face it... [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong what can possibly go wrong?]]''
--->Zenith, [[TemptingFate tempting fate]]
A SuperHero {{Deconstruction}} comic created by Creator/GrantMorrison and Steve Yeowell. ''Zenith'' follows teen superhuman turned pop star Robert [=MacDowell=], more popularly known as his stage name "Zenith" or "Superbrat" to the press. Superficial and spoilt rotten, Zenith is recruited by the previous generation of superhumans to fight against the [[EldritchAbomination Lloigor]]. Unfortunately, as cowardly and inept as he is, Zenith is mostly reduced to being a supporting character in his own comic.
The series was initially published in ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'', spanning four "phases" between 1987 and 1992. Phase III is particularly notable, since it takes place across TheMultiverse and featured a multitude of classic British superheroes, both named and [[CaptainErsatz ersatz]]. An incomplete list can be found [[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/scorcard.htm here]].
----
!!''Zenith'' provides examples of:
* AfterTheEnd: Phase IV. [[spoiler:Subverted.]]
* AirVentPassageway: Used twice. First breaking into Wallace International and again into the Antarctic base.
* AlliterativeName: William Whitlock a.k.a. Maximan.
* AlternateHistory: World War II ends when the atomic bomb is dropped on Berlin.
* AndThisIsFor: "The name's Zenith. And this is for [[spoiler: Siadwel Rhys]]."
* AnIcePerson: DJ Chill.
* BewareTheSuperman: A major theme.
* BittersweetEnding: Phase III.
* BlindSeer: Maximan of Alternative 23. He even has a [[Myth/NorseMythology raven perched on his shoulder]].
* BreakThemByTalking: How Zenith convinces [[spoiler:Wallace to stop his missile strike]] and without his telepathy no less.
* BrilliantButLazy: Zenith. He's pound for pound one of the strongest superhuman in the series in terms of raw power and his mental faculties aren't wanting either; Peter St John, the comic's master manipulator, outright praises Zenith for more or less foreseeing the social media scene and expresses some disquiet that he sees through his illusions and schemes that manage to fool people "smarter" than him.
* BritishRockstar
* {{Callback}}: The two scenes of Masterman about to kill Maximan/Zenith are nearly identical. Even Masterman's dialogue is similar.
* CarFu: Creator/GrantMorrison superheroes love chucking vehicles at each other. A bus, a Weetabix van and even an aeroplane get this treatment.
* CivvieSpandex: Zenith's ensemble.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: The miniature universe of Chimera.]]
* ChestInsignia: Zenith's [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS lighting-bolt "Z"]]. Vertex has a "V" in a similar style.
* TheCracker: Scott Wallace leaves a back door in software he wrote for a nuclear submarine.
* CurseCutShort: The Wyvern's last words.
* DemonicPossession: Superhumans possessed by the Lloigor.
* DePower: Cloud 9 claim to have lost their powers. They're lying, though they are a bit rusty.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Peter St John refuses to abandon London like [[spoiler:the royal family and the rest of the government to avoid the coming nuclear strike they've condemned the rest of the city to]], opting to stay behind on the slimmest of chances that he'll be powerful enough [[spoiler:to stop the missiles.]]
* DifferentlyPoweredIndividual: Always "superhumans", never "superheroes".
* DominoMask
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Peter St John's prophetic dream of the black sun.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: The Chaostructor. A bomb powerful enough to annihilate a world, yet small enough to fit in your pocket. The timer mechanism [[SomeoneHasToDie breaks easily]], though.
* EldritchAbomination: The Lloigor.
* EldritchLocation: Four-dimensional space.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Zenith's first feat of superhuman might? [[spoiler:Protecting his grandmother from a brutish CIA operative when he was just a lad.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Peter St John is a manipulative, pragmatic scoundrel, but no matter the era or incarnation, he is most definitely not on board with the plan his Cloud 9 colleagues cooked up despite how advantageous it would be for him personally.
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: Hotspur, paralysed by the Lloigor, blinks in Morse Code to communicate with Big Ben.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs
* EvilTwin: Zenith's counterpart Vertex from Alternative 300. Of course, since Zenith is shallow and unpleasant while Vertex is amicable and well-mannered, this means Vertex is the ''good'' twin.
* EyeBeams: [[StockSuperpower Standard superpower]] of the Lloigor.
* FaceFramedInShadow: [[spoiler: Maximan 23]].
* FetusTerrible:
-->'''Dr. Peyne:''' I was forced to shoot the sixth baby. It was an appalling, skinless creature with a dozen mouths that whimpered and bit the midwives.
* FlyingBrick: Lux and Zenith.
* GhostPlanet: Any of the Lloigor's alternative worlds.
* GoingCommando: Maximan 23 isn't wearing anything under that robe of his, flashing everyone below him as he addresses the room, but Zenith seems to be the only one that cares.
* GovernmentConspiracy: Peter St John is one of these all by himself.
* GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave: When [[spoiler:Ruby's youth is restored early in Book III]], Zenith takes a moment to tastefully admire the change.
* GuileHero: Zenith and Peter St John. They're more about the guile than the hero aspect of this trope though.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Tammy, Vertex.]]
* HowWeGotHere: Phase IV as narrated by Dr. Peyne.
* HumanPopsicle: Masterman's twin.
* IdiotSavant: Zenith may have the attention span of a sparrow but he demonstrates good business sense.
* IncestIsRelative: Sort of. Zenith is "bred" with a clone of his mother.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Zenith might be a jerk, but he's not a bad guy and has been known to comfort people in distress in his own rough way.
* KissingCousins: Tiger Tom and Tammy.
* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: Phase III, populated with classic British superheroes.
* MerlinSickness: [[spoiler: Chimera!Peyne's fate.]]
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Peyne. Zenith [[LampshadeHanging likens the name]] to a Film/JamesBond villain.
* NewEraSpeech: Several, all by villains. Zenith lampshades the latest one to occur in Phase IV.
* TheNightThatNeverEnds: The black sun.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Evil hippie millionaire Scott Wallace is a blatant caricature of Richard Branson.
* NumberOfTheBeast: Alternative 666 is the first world to fall to the Lloigor.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Zenith. WordOfGod says that he masks his actual intelligence level so people won't demand so much of him and on the off chance he'll have to outfox those people sometime down the line. Case in point, when Peyne catches him reading a book, he flippantly throws it away and acts like nothing had happened.
* OffingTheOffspring: What's left of Zenith's father tries to kill him as Warhead in Phase II. [[spoiler: Zenith unknowingly helps defeat his son Iok Sotot in Phase I.]]
* OldShame: Peter St John seems genuinely ashamed of having been the super-hippy Mandala in the 60's; Being such a prominent anti-establishment figure would indeed have been a very unusual history for a Conservative minister in the UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher era of RealLife, but given that ''absolutely everybody'' knows he was Mandala, and that the press never seem to mention him without pointing it out, it goes far beyond fear of public embarrassment, becoming something much more personal, as if he can't quite believe he ever behaved that way.
* OneWingedAngel: Iok Sotot.
* OnlyTheWorthyMayPass: Thunderbolt Jaxon's belt only works "for the purposes of right and justice". [[spoiler: It doesn't work because of the UnwittingPawn plan.]]
* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Zenith doesn't care much for the polite and friendly Vertex, describing the experience of their first meeting as "horrible."
* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: Prime Minister Peter St John is definitely a President Action willing to get his hands dirty, with a bit of PresidentEvil mixed in.
* PhysicalGod: All the superhumans have this potential.
* PlayingWithFire: Red Dragon, Blaze, White Heat. Later Zenith himself.
* PsychicPowers: Peter St John at first. By Phase IV, all the superhumans have them as well as some humans.
* PubertySuperpower
* RiddleMeThis: Scott Wallace challenges Zenith with one.
* RobotBuddy: Archie.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Zenith is forced to kill [[spoiler:what's left of his braindead father to protect himself at the end of Book II.]]
* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: Tammy]]
* ShameIfSomethingHappened: Spoken by Margaret Thatcher.
* ShockAndAwe: Voltage, Shockwave.
* ShootingSuperman: A man driven insane by grief shoots Zenith at point-blank range with a bazooka. It doesn't even muss his hair.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: Zenith flies Red Dragon above the clouds and drops him in the hope that he will remember how to fly before he hits the ground.
* SistineSteal: Dr. Peyne and Zenith. From the shape of the hands, Peyne is the Creator, but the panel is flipped horizontally, [[{{Foreshadowing}} putting Zenith in God's position]].
* TheSixties: Referenced often and contrasted with TheEighties and TheNineties.
* SomethingPerson: Masterman, Maximan, Cat Girl, Fishboy, Tri-man, Oakman and Electroman.
* TheStoner: Archie. ''Robot'' Archie.
* StraightGay: Eddie, Zenith's agent.
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: How Zenith gets his powers.
* SuperSerum: The Maximan serum.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Scott Wallace's plan. He relents when asked the [[AndThenWhat obvious question]]. This was also the original plan of [[spoiler: Cloud 9]] before they decided to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt take it even further]].
* TakeThat: Morisson loves to take jabs at the British Conservative Party.
* TellMeAboutMyFather: Zenith's only motivation in Phase I. He gets an answer in Phase II.
* TrainingMontage: Red Dragon's rehabilitation.
* {{Troll}}: Zenith lives up to his moniker of "Superbrat", but most of his gross acts of flippant rudeness are meant to either throw people off balance or make them think less of him so they'll lower their guard.
* {{Ubermensch}}: Masterman, the Nazi superhuman.
* UnsettlingGenderReveal: TNT Tom and pre-op transsexual Metamaid. Tom doesn't seem to mind.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Phase III, where the Lloigor pose as Maximan to trick the superhumans into doing their dirty work.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Peter St John, who abuses his powers to gain - and keep - the position of Prime Minister.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Chimera.
* WhenThePlanetsAlign
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Peter St John doesn't. The other surviving members of Cloud 9 would like to very much.
* YouAreTooLate: [[spoiler: Phase IV has the fourth kind. The Lloigor unwittingly take over the Chimera universe after Peter St John traps them there.]]
* YouHaveFailedMe: Greta Haas.
----
-->''I'm nineteen, I can fly, I can flatten ballbearings between my fingers and I'm practically invulnerable to damage. I mean, let's face it... [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong what can possibly go wrong?]]''
--->Zenith, [[TemptingFate tempting fate]]
A SuperHero {{Deconstruction}} comic created by Creator/GrantMorrison and Steve Yeowell. ''Zenith'' follows teen superhuman turned pop star Robert [=MacDowell=], more popularly known as his stage name "Zenith" or "Superbrat" to the press. Superficial and spoilt rotten, Zenith is recruited by the previous generation of superhumans to fight against the [[EldritchAbomination Lloigor]]. Unfortunately, as cowardly and inept as he is, Zenith is mostly reduced to being a supporting character in his own comic.
The series was initially published in ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'', spanning four "phases" between 1987 and 1992. Phase III is particularly notable, since it takes place across TheMultiverse and featured a multitude of classic British superheroes, both named and [[CaptainErsatz ersatz]]. An incomplete list can be found [[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/scorcard.htm here]].
----
!!''Zenith'' provides examples of:
* AfterTheEnd: Phase IV. [[spoiler:Subverted.]]
* AirVentPassageway: Used twice. First breaking into Wallace International and again into the Antarctic base.
* AlliterativeName: William Whitlock a.k.a. Maximan.
* AlternateHistory: World War II ends when the atomic bomb is dropped on Berlin.
* AndThisIsFor: "The name's Zenith. And this is for [[spoiler: Siadwel Rhys]]."
* AnIcePerson: DJ Chill.
* BewareTheSuperman: A major theme.
* BittersweetEnding: Phase III.
* BlindSeer: Maximan of Alternative 23. He even has a [[Myth/NorseMythology raven perched on his shoulder]].
* BreakThemByTalking: How Zenith convinces [[spoiler:Wallace to stop his missile strike]] and without his telepathy no less.
* BrilliantButLazy: Zenith. He's pound for pound one of the strongest superhuman in the series in terms of raw power and his mental faculties aren't wanting either; Peter St John, the comic's master manipulator, outright praises Zenith for more or less foreseeing the social media scene and expresses some disquiet that he sees through his illusions and schemes that manage to fool people "smarter" than him.
* BritishRockstar
* {{Callback}}: The two scenes of Masterman about to kill Maximan/Zenith are nearly identical. Even Masterman's dialogue is similar.
* CarFu: Creator/GrantMorrison superheroes love chucking vehicles at each other. A bus, a Weetabix van and even an aeroplane get this treatment.
* CivvieSpandex: Zenith's ensemble.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: The miniature universe of Chimera.]]
* ChestInsignia: Zenith's [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS lighting-bolt "Z"]]. Vertex has a "V" in a similar style.
* TheCracker: Scott Wallace leaves a back door in software he wrote for a nuclear submarine.
* CurseCutShort: The Wyvern's last words.
* DemonicPossession: Superhumans possessed by the Lloigor.
* DePower: Cloud 9 claim to have lost their powers. They're lying, though they are a bit rusty.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Peter St John refuses to abandon London like [[spoiler:the royal family and the rest of the government to avoid the coming nuclear strike they've condemned the rest of the city to]], opting to stay behind on the slimmest of chances that he'll be powerful enough [[spoiler:to stop the missiles.]]
* DifferentlyPoweredIndividual: Always "superhumans", never "superheroes".
* DominoMask
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Peter St John's prophetic dream of the black sun.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: The Chaostructor. A bomb powerful enough to annihilate a world, yet small enough to fit in your pocket. The timer mechanism [[SomeoneHasToDie breaks easily]], though.
* EldritchAbomination: The Lloigor.
* EldritchLocation: Four-dimensional space.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Zenith's first feat of superhuman might? [[spoiler:Protecting his grandmother from a brutish CIA operative when he was just a lad.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Peter St John is a manipulative, pragmatic scoundrel, but no matter the era or incarnation, he is most definitely not on board with the plan his Cloud 9 colleagues cooked up despite how advantageous it would be for him personally.
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: Hotspur, paralysed by the Lloigor, blinks in Morse Code to communicate with Big Ben.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs
* EvilTwin: Zenith's counterpart Vertex from Alternative 300. Of course, since Zenith is shallow and unpleasant while Vertex is amicable and well-mannered, this means Vertex is the ''good'' twin.
* EyeBeams: [[StockSuperpower Standard superpower]] of the Lloigor.
* FaceFramedInShadow: [[spoiler: Maximan 23]].
* FetusTerrible:
-->'''Dr. Peyne:''' I was forced to shoot the sixth baby. It was an appalling, skinless creature with a dozen mouths that whimpered and bit the midwives.
* FlyingBrick: Lux and Zenith.
* GhostPlanet: Any of the Lloigor's alternative worlds.
* GoingCommando: Maximan 23 isn't wearing anything under that robe of his, flashing everyone below him as he addresses the room, but Zenith seems to be the only one that cares.
* GovernmentConspiracy: Peter St John is one of these all by himself.
* GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave: When [[spoiler:Ruby's youth is restored early in Book III]], Zenith takes a moment to tastefully admire the change.
* GuileHero: Zenith and Peter St John. They're more about the guile than the hero aspect of this trope though.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Tammy, Vertex.]]
* HowWeGotHere: Phase IV as narrated by Dr. Peyne.
* HumanPopsicle: Masterman's twin.
* IdiotSavant: Zenith may have the attention span of a sparrow but he demonstrates good business sense.
* IncestIsRelative: Sort of. Zenith is "bred" with a clone of his mother.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Zenith might be a jerk, but he's not a bad guy and has been known to comfort people in distress in his own rough way.
* KissingCousins: Tiger Tom and Tammy.
* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: Phase III, populated with classic British superheroes.
* MerlinSickness: [[spoiler: Chimera!Peyne's fate.]]
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Peyne. Zenith [[LampshadeHanging likens the name]] to a Film/JamesBond villain.
* NewEraSpeech: Several, all by villains. Zenith lampshades the latest one to occur in Phase IV.
* TheNightThatNeverEnds: The black sun.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Evil hippie millionaire Scott Wallace is a blatant caricature of Richard Branson.
* NumberOfTheBeast: Alternative 666 is the first world to fall to the Lloigor.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Zenith. WordOfGod says that he masks his actual intelligence level so people won't demand so much of him and on the off chance he'll have to outfox those people sometime down the line. Case in point, when Peyne catches him reading a book, he flippantly throws it away and acts like nothing had happened.
* OffingTheOffspring: What's left of Zenith's father tries to kill him as Warhead in Phase II. [[spoiler: Zenith unknowingly helps defeat his son Iok Sotot in Phase I.]]
* OldShame: Peter St John seems genuinely ashamed of having been the super-hippy Mandala in the 60's; Being such a prominent anti-establishment figure would indeed have been a very unusual history for a Conservative minister in the UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher era of RealLife, but given that ''absolutely everybody'' knows he was Mandala, and that the press never seem to mention him without pointing it out, it goes far beyond fear of public embarrassment, becoming something much more personal, as if he can't quite believe he ever behaved that way.
* OneWingedAngel: Iok Sotot.
* OnlyTheWorthyMayPass: Thunderbolt Jaxon's belt only works "for the purposes of right and justice". [[spoiler: It doesn't work because of the UnwittingPawn plan.]]
* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Zenith doesn't care much for the polite and friendly Vertex, describing the experience of their first meeting as "horrible."
* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: Prime Minister Peter St John is definitely a President Action willing to get his hands dirty, with a bit of PresidentEvil mixed in.
* PhysicalGod: All the superhumans have this potential.
* PlayingWithFire: Red Dragon, Blaze, White Heat. Later Zenith himself.
* PsychicPowers: Peter St John at first. By Phase IV, all the superhumans have them as well as some humans.
* PubertySuperpower
* RiddleMeThis: Scott Wallace challenges Zenith with one.
* RobotBuddy: Archie.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Zenith is forced to kill [[spoiler:what's left of his braindead father to protect himself at the end of Book II.]]
* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: Tammy]]
* ShameIfSomethingHappened: Spoken by Margaret Thatcher.
* ShockAndAwe: Voltage, Shockwave.
* ShootingSuperman: A man driven insane by grief shoots Zenith at point-blank range with a bazooka. It doesn't even muss his hair.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: Zenith flies Red Dragon above the clouds and drops him in the hope that he will remember how to fly before he hits the ground.
* SistineSteal: Dr. Peyne and Zenith. From the shape of the hands, Peyne is the Creator, but the panel is flipped horizontally, [[{{Foreshadowing}} putting Zenith in God's position]].
* TheSixties: Referenced often and contrasted with TheEighties and TheNineties.
* SomethingPerson: Masterman, Maximan, Cat Girl, Fishboy, Tri-man, Oakman and Electroman.
* TheStoner: Archie. ''Robot'' Archie.
* StraightGay: Eddie, Zenith's agent.
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: How Zenith gets his powers.
* SuperSerum: The Maximan serum.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Scott Wallace's plan. He relents when asked the [[AndThenWhat obvious question]]. This was also the original plan of [[spoiler: Cloud 9]] before they decided to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt take it even further]].
* TakeThat: Morisson loves to take jabs at the British Conservative Party.
* TellMeAboutMyFather: Zenith's only motivation in Phase I. He gets an answer in Phase II.
* TrainingMontage: Red Dragon's rehabilitation.
* {{Troll}}: Zenith lives up to his moniker of "Superbrat", but most of his gross acts of flippant rudeness are meant to either throw people off balance or make them think less of him so they'll lower their guard.
* {{Ubermensch}}: Masterman, the Nazi superhuman.
* UnsettlingGenderReveal: TNT Tom and pre-op transsexual Metamaid. Tom doesn't seem to mind.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Phase III, where the Lloigor pose as Maximan to trick the superhumans into doing their dirty work.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Peter St John, who abuses his powers to gain - and keep - the position of Prime Minister.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Chimera.
* WhenThePlanetsAlign
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Peter St John doesn't. The other surviving members of Cloud 9 would like to very much.
* YouAreTooLate: [[spoiler: Phase IV has the fourth kind. The Lloigor unwittingly take over the Chimera universe after Peter St John traps them there.]]
* YouHaveFailedMe: Greta Haas.
----
