History Main / AHeroIsBorn

* ''Film/{{Superman}}: The Movie'', as above.

* James Kirk in the ''Film/StarTrek'' reboot movie. A deleted scene would also have done this with Spock. The prior version of James Kirk had barely anything about his life pre-captaincy.

!!Examples of type 1:

!!Examples of type 2:

* ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' - 15 of the main characters are shown being born. Of course, the puppies are not so much the heroes of the tale as their parents are.

* ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'' begins with assorted wildlife coming to view the just-born Bambi and his mother. Seeing his adorable first steps is particularly endearing.

* ''Literature/{{Firebringer}}'' opens with the birth of [[TheHero Rannoch]]... [[spoiler: And the death of his father. The book also ends with the opposite, with [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence with Rannoch, now old and on his last legs, being called by Herne to join the herd of the afterlife.]]]]
** ''Literature/{{The Sight}} follows the above formula with [[TheHero Larka]]. Justified in that the book is set in the same universe as Firebringer and are both written by the same author.

* Aladar the Iguanodon in ''Disney/{{Dinosaur}}'' is taken from his mother's nest as an egg by a Pteranodon and winds up hatching in the presence of a family of lemurs.

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* A slightly strange example: Although the [[Franchise/IndianaJones movies]] already introduced us to him as an adult, the ReCut home video release of [[Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles's]] first episode's opening scene is of baby Indy being handed to his parents shortly after his birth; complete with voice-over narration from a teenage-ish Indy.
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* ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' has our hero (well, AntiHero) being born (well, ripped from the womb of his mother's hanged corpse) at the start (well, after a two-volume long prologue), and the story proceeds to follows his journey until it catches up with where it was at the start. A pretty straight example, really.

What better way to introduce the protagonist of the story than start at his/her birth? This device is used to have the audience fall in love with the character, because who can't love a baby? A protagonist may be born in extraordinary or supernatural circumstances which portend that they will grow up to be a hero. A lot of expectation may be placed on them from birth depending on if their parents are royalty needing an heir or suchlike. On the other hand, they may be born to poor parents or a mother abandoned by her partner, indicating that their early years will be full of hardship.

* ''Manga/RoseOfVersailles'' begins just a moment before the birth of Oscar.

What better way to introduce the protagonist of the story than start at his/her birth? This device is used often and is used to have the audience fall in love with the character, because who can't love a baby?

* A slightly strange example: Although the [[Franchise/IndianaJones movies]] already introduced us to him as an adult, the ReCut home video release of [[LiveActionTv/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles']] first episode opening scene is of baby Indy being handed to his parents shortly after his birth; complete with voice-over narration from a teenage-ish Indy.

* A slightly strange example: Although the [[Franchise/IndianaJones movies]] already introduced us to him as an adult, on the ReCut home video release version of ''LiveActionTv/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'', the first scene of the first episode is baby Indy being handed to his parents shortly after his birth; complete with VoiceOver from a teenage-ish Indy.

* ''{{Drowtales}}'': [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=63 here]].

* ''TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton'' This one has elements of both types because in the movie, it shows Benjamin's birth and then him being delivered as a doorstop baby to Queenie. In the original story, it only has his birth as he is raised by his actual parents. It's kind of a weird inversion anyway since in his "infancy" he's an adult.

* Stories of KingArthur tend to begin with the retelling of his conception, a rather convoluted event involving adultery, war and magic, following in the tradition of Celtic heroes having unusual affairs.

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* The manga adaptation of ''[[Manga/TheLegendOfZelda The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons]]'' opens with Link's birth, showing his Triforce mark from those games as a birthmark.

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** By the time of Malory it's even more nuanced as he has to keep the story of the strange conception, but also needs to make sure that Arthur isn't a bastard. Hard to make that work. The story then goes on to his birth and how Merlin christens him and whisks him away to Sir Ector.
** Tennyson has a very different account of Arthur's arrival, having him wash up on shore in a manner similar to Schyld Schefing, on the night Uther dies. All part of setting him up to be a truly pure hero.

** Averted with Beowulf, oddly enough for an epic, who enters the story from a foreign land, long grown up, and little about his childhood is ever revealed, save that he was weak as a child. This seems a small subversion of the typical hero story when they are born under unusual circumstances and have remarkable childhoods, but the unassuming child has become a recognizable trope in itself.
* ''Literature/WhiteFang'' It starts a little before the birth of White Fang, actually.
* ''Literature/TristramShandy'' by Laurence Sterne, which begins with the hero's ''conception''. And his troubled birth sets up much of the humor that follows. It's kind of a parody of this trope, considering the rest of the book(s).
* In RASalvatore's ''[[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt Do'Urden]]'' series, one of the prequel books starts off with Drizzt's birth, and the consternation surrounding it. His mother nearly sacrificed him to Loth.

** Many people are more aware of the story of Jesus's birth than anything else he did. The story is considered pretty important since Jesus conceived divinely.
** Taken to the extreme in the geneology sections where you get long, long family history of who was begat by who, leading up to the people who are more familiar.
* ''Literature/TarzanOfTheApes'' starts with the adventures of his parents and is already well into its third chapter before Alice Clayton saves her husband's life, kills a bull ape, becomes insane and bears Tarzan in less than a day.

* The first memory in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' is of Ezio's birth. The sequence is fittingly titled "Birth of an Assassin".

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* ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' - 15 of the main characters were shown being born. Of course, the puppies are not so much the heroes of the tale as their parents are.
* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' - Nemo was shown as an egg.
* ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' - Hercules was not only once a baby, he was once a god.
* Littlefoot in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' is introduced in a similar way to Bambi. This also helps to develope his attachment to his mother to make her death all the more tragic.
* Simba in the ''Disney/TheLionKing'', with definite heroic overtones as all the animals in the kingdom come to see him.
* After the opening [[TheOner Oner]], ''WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron'' begins with Spirit's mother in labour. It's also interesting to note that unlike the Bambi or Little Foot who's mother's perish in the movie, Spirit's mother survives the movie.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' began with the details of what happened to him as an infant.

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* ''[[Film/{{Superman}} Superman: The Movie]]'', as above.

* ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' - Yes, Quasimodo was a baby. Even as a baby he was ugly enough that Frollo had to be talked out of throwing him down a well.

* ''Film/ManOfSteel'' begins with ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s birth on Krypton.

* The standard OriginStory for Comicbook/{{Superman}} shows him as a baby when he is sent to Earth in a spaceship.

* The second story arc in ''Webcomics/{{Fatebound}}'' begins with the birth of Hadral "under a mourning moon" before jumping ahead to his mid/late teens.

* The first memory in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' is of Ezio's birth.

* In ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedII'', we are introduced to Ezio as his mother is finished giving birth to him. The sequence is fittingly titled "Birth of an Assassin".

* ''{{Basara}}'' begins with the birth of the main character, Sarasa, and her twin brother Tatara.

* In RASalvatore's ''[[TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt Do'Urden]]'' series, one of the prequel books starts off with Drizzt's birth, and the consternation surrounding it. His mother nearly sacrificed him to Loth.