Line #1 ComicBook/HeroSquared


1	[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hero_squared.png]]
2	SuperHero ComicBook series running from 2007-2009, created by Keith Giffen and J.M [=DeMatteis=] and published by Boom!Studios.
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4	In one universe, Milo Stone is a lazy, immature and irresponsible slacker. In another, he is Captain Valor, a [[TheCape whiter-than-white-bread superhero]]. When Valor's universe is destroyed after a calamitous battle with Valor's arch-nemesis, Caliginous, Valor finds himself on Milo's doorstop trying to adapt to a universe without any kind of superheroes at all.
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6	Forced to live with each other, the two versions of Milo discover a warm, reciprocal loathing for each other; Valor is less-than-impressed with Milo's selfishness and complete failure to make anything of his life, whilst Milo resents Valor's smug self-righteousness and over-simplified view of the world and how it works. Romantic tensions also arise between the two; Valor has taken a shine to Milo's long-suffering girlfriend Stephie, whilst Caliginous -- an alternate version of Stephie, whose relationship with Captain Valor ended very, ''very'' badly -- has followed Valor into the real world, and has taken a shine to Milo...
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8	----
9	!Provides examples of:
10	* TenMinuteRetirement: [[spoiler:After a particularly destructive battle and a bout of HeroicBSOD, Valor resolves to change his ways and quit being a superhero. Curiously, he sticks to it.]]
11	* AllianceOfAlternates: Valor attempts this at the start. Sadly, the alternate version he goes to for help never got superpowers and is just an immature slacker.
12	* AndCallHimGeorge: Happens on a cosmic scale. After their petty super-squabbles destroy their own universe, Captain Valor and Caliginous find themselves stranded in a more mundane universe. Valor quickly realizes that in this universe, his "protection" doesn't come without a price like it did where he came from, and that superheroics and physics don't go so well together.
13	* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Captain Valor's view of the world is based largely on this. It's gradually subverted throughout the series, however.
14	* TheCape: Captain Valor.
15	* {{Deconstruction}}: Of Valor's BlackAndWhiteMorality and the concept of TheCape; Valor means well, but his actions outside of a comic book are in many ways just as destructive and irresponsible as the super-villains he battles. [[spoiler:Furthermore, for all his fine talk and self-righteousness, he proves to have feet of clay and similar issues to Milo -- which is not entirely unexpected, seeing as they are essentially the same man.]]
16	* GreyAndGrayMorality: All of the characters are ultimately flawed-but-decent people. Even the supervillain, strangely enough.
17	* HeroicBSOD: Valor experiences one of these. [[spoiler:He ends up re-evaluating his entire outlook of life based on it.]]
18	* HolierThanThou: Captain Valor. His self-righteous condemnation of Milo's various shortcomings, including his previous adultery on Stephie, are somewhat undermined by revelations about his conduct in the alternate universe; [[spoiler:broke up with her and then slept with a superheroine, the fallout of which was partially responsible for the alternate Stephie becoming Caliginous. He's also quite quick to move in on Stephie when she breaks up with Milo which, his assertion that he didn't intend for it to happen aside, is a little low of him.]]
19	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Valor]] willingly allows [[spoiler:Caliginous]] to kill him, hoping that it will [[spoiler:shock Caliginous into ending her universe-destructing rampage. It works]].
20	* IdenticalPanelGag: One page is a nine-panel grid of Milo in the exact same pose.
21	* NeverMyFault: Caliginous insists that Captain Valor is the one who set off her universe-destroying superweapon with his carelessness - but even if her version of the story is accurate, she's still the one who created a universe-destroying superweapon with an easily-pressed button.
22	* OddCouple: Valor and Milo.
23	* OffingTheAnnoyance: Caliginous has one very obsequious henchbeing. Whenever he annoys her too much, she kills him and [[ExpendableClone activates another clone]].
24	* OnlySaneMan: Stephie's probably the most down-to-earth character in the book.
25	* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Milo finds Valor annoying, while Valor thinks Milo is wasting his life away.
26	* PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery: Captain Valor hurt his girlfriend, so she became a supervillain and destroyed the ''entire universe''.
27	* QuestionableConsent: Although everyone, including Milo himself, treats it as cheating, Caliginous threatens Milo's life should he say no before sleeping with him.
28	* RashomonStyle: One issue deals with the destruction of Valor's universe in flashback, from both Valor and Caliginous' perspectives; both, naturally, vary significantly, and we never really find out whose was closer to the truth. [[spoiler:Given her conduct, we suspect that Caliginous' version, where she comes off as being whiter than white, isn't entirely accurate; however, Valor's BlackAndWhiteMorality blinkering doesn't make him an entirely reliable witness.]]
29	* SmugSuper: Captain Valor, in some ways.
30	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Subverted; the penultimate issue pretty much involves forcing Captain Valor and Caliginous to meet Milo's therapist and work through their respective issues together, with Milo and Stephie getting some pointers while they're at it. [[spoiler:It almost works. Almost.]]
31	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Caliginous has decided that life is nothing but pain, misery, cruelty, and death, and should be ended in preferably the most all-encompassing fashion possible. Valor just sees her as an evil megalomaniac, but his alternative self Milo manages to recognize that beneath it all she's a broken, lonely, psychologically tormented and suffering woman.

Context ComicBook / HeroSquared