History Main / PowersInTheFirstEpisode

* ''Series/BirdsOfPrey'': Helena and Dinah both show off their metahuman powers in the first episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': Yugo first activates his [[ThinkingUpPortals portal-creation]] powers in the first episode, which comes in handy since not long after he gets into a fight with the [[DemonicPossession Rubilax-possessed Sadlygrove]]. However, he doesn't realize the [[AuraVision true]] [[FrickingLaserBeams scope]] of his abilities until after the halfway point of the first season where he receives proper training and guidance, and he still has much more to learn even then.

* ''Manga/FlameOfRecca''

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollz}}'', Amethyst's powers manifest after her friends' already have, and the first episode has spells cast by a single Troll. In the second episode they cast their first spell together, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero turning Coal into ice and opening the rift to unleash the Big Bad]].

The plot of this introductory episode has a strong tendency to be one of the coping-with-new-powers or power-manifestation scenarios like HowDoIShotWeb, DieOrFly, or FallingIntoTheCockpit. May overlap with FirstEpisodeSpoiler if the powers are revealed toward the end of the episode. Compare / contrast SecondHourSuperpower, EleventhHourSuperpower, InMediasRes. If the power is immediately stripped away afterward, this is ATasteOfPower.

* The first chapter of ''Manga/YuGiOh'' features Yugi Muto solving the millennium puzzle, and thus being introduced to his super powered alter ego.

* ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'': In the series premiere "Metamorphosis", the girls discover Mako Island and the Moon Pool where they receive their mermaid powers and they transform into mermaids for the first time.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Several characters discover their abilities in the first episode, including Nathan, Hiro, and Niki. Matt, who wasn't in the first episode, discovered his abilities in the second.
* ''Series/OutOfThisWorld'': in the first episode, Evie is introduced to her powers on her 13th birthday.
* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' where she learns of her powers in the first episode.
* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'': Shawn and Maia (as well as the [[MonsterOfTheWeek "freak of the week"]] played by Michael Moriarty) discover their new abilities in the first episode.
* Helena and Dinah both show off their metahuman powers in the first episode of ''Series/BirdsOfPrey''.
* Subversion: ''Series/{{Lost}}'' put solid proof of the island's unnatural properties into the first episode (Locke's standing up and walking), but didn't actually reveal there was anything odd about it until a later episode ("Walkabout", where we learn he was wheelchair-bound).
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
** When the characters have super powers in their civilian forms, they always showcase them using their powers just to show that they have them. The trope name is particularly apt here, since the out-of-costume powers tend to be used heavily in the first few episodes and then pretty much vanish thereafter.
** It probably doesn't help that in ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' (what ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' is based on; costumed fight sequences are frequently dubbed over), the main characters rarely have additional powers, leading to the civilian-superhero power divide.

* Happens in the first 15 minutes of ''Series/{{Misfits}}''. Everyone but Nathan gets supernatural powers. [[spoiler: It's revealed in the season finale that Nathan's power is being immortal.]]
* Alex gets hit with chemicals before long in ''Series/TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack''.
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'': The sisters all gain their magic powers on the night the youngest, Phoebe, returns home and finds the Book of Shadows. [[spoiler:Averted when we learn in a later episode that they had them as children, but their grandmother bound them and they forgot as they grew up]]. Leads to several episodes' worth of HowDoIShootWeb for Prue and especially Piper.

[[folder:Anime]]

* All superhero debut comics that don't follow a BadassNormal or somebody who is already supernatural, by definition, employ this trope. Probably the most iconic is ''Amazing Fantasy #15'', the first appearance of Spider-Man.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' :

* Usagi/Serena becomes ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' in the first episode of the 1990s anime after being given the power to do so by Luna, because TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive.

* ''Fanfic/GodsAngelsAndKings'': In the first chapter Shinji bonds with an alien and becomes the super-hero ''Series/ZoneFighter'' (Franchise/{{Ultraman}} in the second version).

* ''Series/H20JustAddWater'': In the series premiere "Metamorphosis", the girls discover Mako Island and the Moon Pool where they receive their mermaid powers and they transform into mermaids for the first time.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'': The sisters all gain their magic powers on the night the youngest, Phoebe, returns home and finds the Book of Shadows. [[spoiler:Averted when we learn in a later episode that they had them as children, but their grandmother bound them and they forgot as they grew up]]. Leads to several episodes' worth of HowDoIShootWeb for Prue and especially Piper.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' animated series, the Guardians receive their powers in the very first episode... save for Will, who, in a serious [[InvertedTrope inversion]], [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway has to wait until episode 30]] to receive hers.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' plays with this trope. The first episode has Twilight meet her new friends and their individual powers manifest alongside the [[MacGuffin Elements of Harmony]] which they use to take down [[BigBad Nightmare Moon]], setting up a MagicalGirl format for the show. However, the majority of episodes are a SliceOfLife show about ponies, and things like flight and magic are commonplace and have mainly [[UtilityMagic mundane uses]].

** There were two pilot chapters even before that which showed Luffy with his rubber powers.
* ''Manga/DeathNote'': The title Death Note falls outside Light's school within the first five minutes/few pages of the series. Justice ensues.

* ''StreetSharks'': The four protagonists are turned into sharks in the pilot.

The plot of this introductory episode has a strong tendency to be one of the coping-with-new-powers or power-manifestation scenarios like HowDoIShotWeb, DieOrFly, or FallingIntoTheCockpit. May overlap with FirstEpisodeSpoiler if the powers are revealed toward the end of the episode. Compare / contrast SecondHourSuperpower, InMediasRes. If the power is immediately stripped away afterward, this is ATasteOfPower.

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': The first episode is mainly about Danny trying to keep his powers under control and figuring out how to use them and what they were for.
* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'': The first episode shows Virgil and all of the various super powered cast getting their powers.

* For that matter, every single MagicalGirl show in existance (except those with {{Cute Witch}}es, since the heroines of those shows already ''had'' powers.)

* ''FlameOfRecca''

* ''ZatchBell'': They introduce the lightning shooting beforehand, but Kiyo only figures out how they work when they need it.
* ''BlueDragon'' (the anime, anyway): Shu's village gets attacked by an evil army, and then, just as the nastiness is about to start, his shadow appears.

* ''CodeGeass'' has Lelouch meet the MysteriousWaif about three-quarters of the way through the first episode, then receive his Geass and use it within the last couple of minutes.

* {{Naruto}} discovers that he is the vessel for the Kyuubi and learns the [[SignatureMove Shadow]] [[DoppelgangerAttack Clone]] ability in the first episode.

* ''GurrenLagann'': Simon finds a drill bit in the very first episode, then finds a not-so-humongous mecha to which the bit just happens to be the key. Oh, and he can pilot it.