History Main / SuperheroPrevalenceStages

** Being derived from a radioactive accident that gave him powers, most of Spider-Man's RoguesGallery from this period involve people acquiring their powers similarly (like the Lizard and the Scorpion), using technological gadgets to commit crimes (like the Vulture, the Shocker and Mysterio).

** Major team-ups are reserved for the annuals, such as with Doctor Strange (in #2) and the Avengers (in #3, also their first meeting).
** Some of his major enemies at this time are mobsters like the Enforcers, the Crime Master and the Kingpin (who outr of the three had lasting impact and relevance to the larger Marvel Universe). Another criminal is the Sandman, a small time crook that gains sand powers in a freak accident.

** Major team-ups are reserved for the annuals, such as with Doctor Strange (in #2) and the Avengers (in #3,also their first meeting).

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Spidey's early storylines can roughly fall under the Early Stage (his solo title "The Amazing Spider-Man" (1963-1970)), with ''ComicBook/MarvelTeamUp'' (1972-1985) making a good watershed moment, since the latter had Spider-Man team up with other Marvel heroes ''monthly'', instead of sporadically.

** Many Spider-Men operate/have operated in the main Marvel Universe (so-called "Spider-Person"): Peter Parker in New York, Kaine (Parker's clone) in the West Coast, Miles Morales (a refugee from an AlternateUniverse) in Brooklyn. Other creations of the period are Silk (Korean Cindy Moon) and [[spoiler:Spider-Boy (Bailey Briggs)]]. The enormous quantity of Spider-People culminated in the ''Spider-Verse'' crossover cycle.

** Many Spider-Men operate/have operated in the main Marvel Universe (so-called "Spider-Person"): Peter Parker in New York, Kaine (Parker's clone) in West Coast, Miles Morales (a refugee from an AlternateUniverse) in Brooklyn. Other creations of the period were Silk (Korean Cindy Moon) and [[spoiler:Spider-Boy (Bailey Briggs)]]. The enormous quantity of Spider-People culminated in the ''Spider-Verse'' crossover cycle.
** Even the many Spider-Women, who were at first separate characters, began to be increasingly attached to Spider-Man.

** Spider-Man's RogueGallery has become enormous, the many villains eventually join forces with each other in a repeat of the infamous ''Sinister Six''. In one specific storyline, ''ComicBook/SinisterWar'', there have been at least ''three'' groups operating like it: the "Savage Six", the "Sinister Syndicate", and Dr. Octopus's "Sinister Six".

** The ''ComicBook/SecretService'' and ''King Of Spies'' are spy stories inspired by ''Franchise/JamesBond'' where yet another ExtraStrengthMasquerade keeps villain threats from reaching the newspapers.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' is an odd duck, roughly Middle stage crossed with WorldOfWeirdness. Strange creatures and martial-arts-based superpowers aren't exactly ''common'', but they're not unknown to the general public either, and there's no real {{Masquerade}} to keep them from finding out. There's not much organization more formal than a few loosely-affiliated martial arts schools. In the ''Z'' era, the characters travel to space where they find that the galaxy at large tends more toward a Late era setting, but Earth stays more or less Middle thanks to an implied WeirdnessCensor that has all but a handful of characters perpetually acting like they somehow forgot about the ''last'' time the Earth was invaded by aliens. A low-key {{Masquerade}} is introduced, not to keep Earth in the dark about superpowers ''per se'', but to tone them down enough that the non-powered Mr. Satan can take credit for defeating Cell and leave the populace believing he's strong enough to save the planet from any superpowered threat. (Some of the non-canon movies feel more Late, such as ''Bojack Unbound'', in which Earth apparently has friendly enough relations with other planets to be able to [[GoKartingWithBowser invite a bunch of aliens over]] for a [[TournamentArc martial arts tournament]].

*** On the human side of things, a data page shows that human members of several antagonistic groups of the Marvel Universe (e.g., SHIELD, A.I.M, [[ComicBook/{{DarkReign}} HAMMER]] and HYDRA) [[EnemyMine joined forces]] to found ORCHIS, an organization dedicated to ensure mankind's survival against the mutant threat. They are also the main antagonists through the "Krakoan Saga".

* ''ComicBook/TheUltraverse'': The line begins in the early- to mid-1990s, in "modern times". By this time, superpowered people named Ultras start to appear in the United States. Some of the more well- known Ultras work with private companies (like Hardcase for a Los Angeles film studio and Prototype for a technology company). In time, as more begin to appear in the public eye, an Ultra named Contrary finds students for a secret private school she operates, and an impromptu interview with Hardcase on television gives Prime (the strongest of them) the idea to have Ultras deal with their own kind.

* ''ComicBook/TheUltraverse'': The line begins in the early- to mid-1990s, in "modern times". By this time, superpowered people named Ultras start to appear in the United States. Some of the more well- known Ultras work with private companies (like Hardcase for a Los Angeles film studio and Prototype for a technology company). In time, as more begin to appear in the public eye, an Ultra named Contrary finds students for a secret private school she operates, and an impromptu interview with Hardcase on television gives Prime (the strongest of them) the idea to have Ultras deal with themselves.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' started off like this. In the Showa era there were at most two heroes operating at the same time, and the villains were [[TheConspiracy secret societies]] that tried to conquer the world from the shadows. The only {{Muggles}} aware of this were typically the Riders' civilian allies, though it does stretch suspension of disbelief at times (nobody seems to report on Japan's best and brightest getting kidnapped). The Heisei era also started off like this, with a few minor tweaks and justifications, but moved towards the Middle Stage around ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz''.

* Starting around 2003's ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'', the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchise hit this stage. Rather than evil human organizations, the villains tend to be monsters (of either the ancient or alien varieties) who generally don't care about operating in secret, and certain events are public knowledge because of how big they were[[note]]''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' starts off with an incident where the entire planet was [[TimeStandsStill frozen in time]] for several minutes, and ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' has Japan split into three separate nations because of mysterious walls that erupted from the Earth in 2007[[/note]]. In some series (like ''[[Series/KamenRiderBlade Blade]]'', ''[[Series/KamenRiderFourze Fourze]]'', and ''[[Series/KamenRiderWizard Wizard]]'') the Kamen Riders are regarded as an urban legend, but in others (''[[Series/KamenRiderDouble Double]]'', ''Drive'', and ''[[Series/KamenRiderExAid Ex-Aid]]'') their existence is well-known and they're officially authorized agents of the police and/or government.

** Starting in 2019, the X-Men franchise officially 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.

** Marvel Comics's 2006 crossover ''[[ComicBook/{{CivilWar2006}} Civil War]]'' and its direct sequel series ''[[ComicBook/{{AvengersTheInitiative}} Avengers: The Initiative]]'' delved into the need for a government-regulated body of superheroes, with the latter focusing on the recruitment and training of rookie superheroes. The event also led to the creation of the 50-State Initiative: an official superhero team for every state of the country.

*** The "mutants as minority" metaphor is more pronounced: mutants live in their own New York neighbourhood, referred to as "District X".

*** During its second year (2002-2003), Xavier founds the X-Corporation, basically a global NGO operated by mutants and for mutants, bringing under the same umbrella the main X-Men team of the period (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast, Wolverine and Jean Grey), former New Mutants/X-Force members (e.g., Syrin, Monet, Cannonball), a few former enemies (Feral and Thornn) and independent mutants (like Japanese Sunfire and Russian Darkstar).

** A case could be made for Grant Morrison's run on ''New X-Men'':
*** During its first year (2001-2002, )Xavier assumes publicly he is a mutant, and the Xavier Institute welcomes a whole generation of teenage mutants.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', post- "Zordon era":

** Starting in 2019, the X-Men franchise officially 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.

** Most of their adversaries were recurring: either Magneto alone or his original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, or individual mutants like Vanisher, Blob, Unus, Banshee, Mesmero and the Living Monolith (instead of the mutant overload the franchise would later become). Non-mutant enemies included the magic-powered Juggernaut and the technological Sentinels. Apart from those characters that will become recurring and/or an important part of the X-mythos, aliens and alien invasions were also one-shot enemies, as usual for the period.

** Most of their adversaries were recurring: either Magneto alone or his original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, or mutants like Vanisher, Blob, Unus, Banshee, Mesmero and the Living Monolith. Non-mutant enemies included the magic-powered Juggernaut and the technological Sentinels. Apart from those characters that will become recurring and/or an important part of the X-mythos, aliens and alien invasions were also one-shot enemies, as usual for the period.

** Most of their adversaries were recurring: either Magneto alone or his original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, or mutants like Vanisher, Blob, Unus and Banshee. Non-mutant enemies included the magic-powered Juggernaut and the technological Sentinels. Apart from those characters that will become recurring and/or an important part of the X-mythos, aliens and alien invasions were also one-shot enemies, as usual for the period.

** The original team had team members and their mentor, and expanded to 6 (Mimic or Morph) and 7 (Havok and Polaris) later in the run;