History Main / SuperheroPrevalenceStages

* ''Film/TheBatman'' falls here. It is set in a grounded universe with no superpowers. Batman's tech is ''very'' realistic and low-key (instead of the glider-cape of previous continuities, he has a wing-suit used by real-life mountaineers). Batman spends most of his time fighting street criminals and Mob bosses, and investigating corruption. Even the film's main antagonist, the Riddler, is less the classic colorful "super-villain" and more a politically motivated serial-killer and terrorist who radicalizes his online supporters. The cops, for the most part, don't trust Batman and barely tolerate his presence, with Jim Gordon being the sole exception. The ending of the film however hints at this setting starting to move towards the Middle Stage with [[spoiler: Batman becoming a more public figure and being viewed as a hero by the city, and the reveal that the Joker is around and might make his presence felt in Gotham someday soon]].

Any setting that persists for any length of time will find itself naturally sliding toward the Later end of the spectrum as more characters and plot elements are added. Almost nothing short of a CosmicRetcon can shift a setting the other way. On the other hand, individual works set in an established setting may very well display earlier stages, if the author chooses not to borrow too many superhuman elements from the overall setting ''for that particular work''. Case in point: ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', while set in the Late Stage Franchise/{{DCAU}}, falls squarely into the Middle Stage itself.

* In the original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy, there are a grand total of five active Force users (TheHero, his two mentors, and his two Sith archnemeses), of whom no more than three appear prominently in any given movie. This is justified by the movies being set in the aftermath of ThePurge that nearly destroyed the Jedi Order and the Sith operating on the Rule of Two where there are only two Sith at any given time.
* ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', the first installment in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequel trilogy, follows suit by having the only prominent Force user be Kylo Ren, given Luke Skywalker's disappearance prior to the film's events. [[spoiler: That is until TheReveal that Rey is also Force sensitive and Luke Skywalker's cameo at the very end of the film.]] That still leaves only three active Force users (counting Supreme Leader Snoke), which is actually one less than the original trilogy.

** Starting in 2019, the X-Men franchise officialy becomes this with the ''[[ComicBook/{{XMenTheKrakoanAge}} Krakoan Age]]'' mega arc: Xavier, Magneto and [[spoiler: Moira]] assemble the many mutant factions (X-Men and adjacent teams, Hellfire Club, Morlocks, Acolytes, etc.) on the mutant island of Krakoa to form a single nation. Some X-Men even act as members of the ruling government body, the Quiet Council.

** In the 1980s, authors Chris Claremont and John Byrne introduced ''[[ComicBook/{{AlphaFlight}} Alpha Flight'', a team of Canadian superheroes (including Canadian mutants) that works for the mysterious Department H, a branch of the Canadian government. In their on panel debut (''Uncanny X-Men'' #120-121), the then Canadian Prime Minister orders them to go after the X-Men and reinstate Wolverine as their agent.

** The Rangers are a known quantity now, and with the format changing to have new teams every year there's room for occasional team-ups. As for relationships with the government, ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' (season 7) hints that the local authorities are {{Secret Secret Keeper}}s and ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'' (season 8) sees the military field their own Ranger team. [[Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive Private businessmen]], [[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder independent scientists]] and [[Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm secret martial]] [[Series/PowerRangersJungleFury arts orders]] have since replicated this, and multi-season team-ups tend to occur around franchise anniversaries.

** In the 1980s, authors Chris Claremont and John Byrne introduced ''[[ComicBook/{{AlphaFlight}} Alpha Flight'', a team of Canadian superheroes that works for the mysterious Department H, a branch of the Canadian government. In their on panel debut (''Uncanny X-Men'' #120-121), the then Canadian Prime Minister orders them to go after the X-Men and reinstate Wolverine as their agent.

** In the 1980s, authors Chris Claremont and John Byrne introduced ''[[ComicBook/AlphaFlight}} Alpha Flight'', a team of Canadian superheroes that works for the mysterious Department H, a branch of the Canadian government. In their on panel debut (''Uncanny X-Men'' #120-121), the then Canadian Prime Minister orders them to go after the X-Men and reinstate Wolverine as their agent.

* [[Creator/{{MarvelComics}} Marvel Comics]]: The mutant corner of the Marvel Universe flirted with this for a time:

* The mutant corner of the Marvel Universe flirted with this for a time: after the failure and dismantling of Freedom Force in the 1991 crossover ''The Killing Stroke'', government mutant liaison (human) Valerie Cooper suggests they form a second government-sanctioned mutant team, ''[[ComicBook/{{XFactor}} X-Factor]]'', this time with heroic mutants. The original lineup consisted of former X-Men Havok (Cyclops's brother) and Polaris (Magneto's daughter), Quicksilver (Magneto's son and former Avenger), and X-franchise C-Listers Wolfsbane, Strong Guy and Multiple Man.

* The mutant corner of the Marvel Universe flirted with this for a time: after the failure and dismantling of Freedom Force in the 1991 crossover ''The Killing Stroke'', government mutant liaison (human) Valerie Cooper suggests they form a second government-sanctioned mutant team, ''[[ComicBook/{{XFactor}} X-Factor]]'', this time with heroic mutants. The original lineup consisted of former X-Men Havok (Cyclops's brother) and Polaris (Magneto's daughter), Quicksilver (Magneto's son and former Avenger), and X-franchise C-Lists Wolfsbane, Strong Guy and Multiple Man.

* Creator [[Creator/{{ImageComics}} Image Comics]]'s ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}'', debuting in 1992, firmly starts as the Late Stage: the titular Youngblood is a government sanctioned group, with an A-team and a B-team. Their first issue's flipside story involves the B-team going to the Middle East to oust a Saddam Hussein stand-in. The A-team's story in the next issues deal with typical action-y superhero stuff, as well as PR/merchandising issues, and White House interference.

** Starting in 2019, the X-Men franchise officialy becomes this with the ''[[ComicBook/{{XMenTheKrakoanAge}} Krakoan Age]]'' mega arc: Xavier, Magneto and [[spoiler: Moira]] assemble the many mutant factions on the mutant island of Krakoa to form a single nation. Some X-Men even act as members of the ruling government body, the Quiet Council.

** Starting in 2019, the X-Men franchise officialy becomes this with the ''[[ComicBook/{{XMenTheKrakoanAge}} Krakoan Age'' mega arc: Xavier, Magneto and [[spoiler: Moira]] assemble the many mutant factions on the mutant island of Krakoa to form a single nation. Some X-Men even act as members of the ruling government body, the Quiet Council.

** With the 2011 DC relaunch, several titles are focusing on a hard year one (as opposed to in the previous universe where there had been a "Year One" for the current age of superheroes but there had been superheroes in prior eras.) The rest are focused on year five which seems to be middle stage. Lots of secret organizations alongside several heroes acting publicly but only beginning to meet each other and organize.

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* ''The Avengers'' may have still qualified as a middle stage work, but it looks like future Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse works will make the transition into late stage. The series ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' deals with the resurgence in appearances of technologies used to make superheroes and follow the way SHIELD and the world copes with this. ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' firmly sets the series in this, with the governments of the world finally moving (and failing) to take control of the Avengers. By the finale of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', there's a veritable ''army'' of superheroes and their allies assembled to oppose the forces of Thanos.

* ''ComicBook/TopTen'' turns this UpToEleven by being set in a city where literally every person is a DifferentlyPoweredIndividual.

* ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', the first installment in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequel trilogy, follows suit by having the only prominent Force user be Kylo Ren, given Luke Skywalker's disappearance prior to the film's events. [[spoiler: That is until TheReveal that Rey is also Force sensitive and Luke Skywalker's cameo at the very end of the film.]] That still leaves only three active Force users (four if Supreme Leader Snoke counts), which is actually two (or one) less than the original trilogy.

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* While ''WebComic/ElGoonishShive'' has had aliens, magic and anime-style martial arts since the beginning, the series officially entered this category when Elliot adopted the superhero identity of "Cheerleadra". While Elliot is far from the world's only super-powered being, since [[GenderBender he/she]] is the world's only known superhero, as far as most people are concerned, the world is an Early Stage superhero world.

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* The Bruce Timm ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' fall pretty squarely here. The existence of the heroes is well known, they fight powered villains, work directly with the police, team up frequently but are not yet part of an organized team, and the sci-fi is pretty soft.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' brings the DCAU setting back to the Middle after ''Justice League Unlimited'' took it far to the Later extreme. The League does show up again in a limited capacity in the third season, but it seems nowhere near as large or organized as it was in ''Unlimited''. While this is itself unexplained, the episode gives an explanation for why ''Beyond'' remains in the Middle Stage: Terry never goes beyond part-time, and takes responsibility for protecting Gotham City rather than going national, just like B:TAS. [[WatsonianVersusDoylist The Doylist explanation]] may simply be that ''Beyond'' was created before ''Justice League'', let alone ''Unlimited'', and that the third season interactions were a way to establish common continuity with the then-new ''JL'' show.

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* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse began in the Early Stage with the first five movies (''Film/IronMan1'', ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', ''Film/IronMan2'', ''Film/{{Thor}}'', and ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'') and progressed to the Middle Stage with ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.

** A late case is ''Film/CaptainMarvel'', set in the nineties, between Cap's disappearance and Tony Stark becoming Iron Man. At most there is the MacGuffin from Cap's movie being used by an alien scientist disguised as human to run advanced space tech.

* Early settings tend to contain as few as one or no powered superheroes. In a work centered on a superhero team, there may be five or six. Technological superpowers and gadgets will tend toward the hard side of [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Mohs' Scale]].

* Middle settings may include more than one major superhero, most with superpowers and each with a rogue's gallery of villains both powered and unpowered. Technological superpowers and gadgets will begin to trend toward the softer side of [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Mohs' Scale]].

* Late settings tend to include dozens if not hundreds of superpowered individuals. They may be considered a minority group (likely if they are mutants or aliens) or even form one or more small nations. Technological powers and gadgets will represent the entire spectrum of [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Mohs' Scale]].

When it comes to settings that contain superheroes (or [[StockSuperpowers superpowered]] individuals by [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual any other name]]), each setting or work can be ranked according to how common and well-known superpowers and superpowered beings are in it. For ease of categorization, we can divide this spectrum into three categories: Early, Middle, and Late stage. This refers not to the date of publication-- an Early setting could be published very recently or a Late setting very long ago-- but to the setting's progression from "relatively down-to-Earth with a few AcceptableBreaksFromReality" to "[[FantasyKitchenSink wacky crazy crossover land where anything goes]]."

* In ''Franchise/PrettyCure'''s eleventh season, ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'', there are Precures operating worldwide. However, since each ''Pretty Cure'' series is basically an AlternateContinuity outside of {{Crossover}}s, it snaps back to an Early/Middle Stage in the next season, ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure''.