Line #28 Literature/Hero


1	[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hero_comparison.jpg]]
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3	''Hero'' is a 2007 novel by Creator/PerryMoore. It deals with Thom Creed, the son of retired-in-disgrace hero Major Might.
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5	Major Might, also known as Hal Creed, has two strong beliefs. One is that homosexuality will directly lead to the collapse of society as we know it. The other is his grudge against superpowered heroes. Guess what two attributes define Thom?
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7	The novel won awards.
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9	Perry Moore and Stan Lee were in the process of making it into a TV movie pilot on Starz, but it fell into DevelopmentHell. Some sequels were also planned, until [[DiedDuringProduction Perry Moore's death]] got in the way.
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11	Not to be confused with the Jet Li movie, ''Film/Hero2002'', or the ''Literature/HeroSeries'' of books.
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13	----
14
15	!!Examples
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17	* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:Thom conveniently develops FlyingBrick powers as a consequence of absorbing pain while healing people.]]
18	* AmbiguouslyBrown: Golden Boy. This is actually a point of contention for him, since he grew up a ward of the state and nobody wanted to adopt him because they couldn't figure out his race.
19	* AnachronisticOrphanage: Golden Boy and Major Might both grew up in an orphanage, except that the US abolished the orphanage system in the 1950s in favor of foster care and group homes.
20	* AssimilationPlot: [[spoiler:Justice's plans involve {{Brainwashing}} all of the heroes with their membership rings; those he killed [[HeKnowsTooMuch Knew Too Much]].]]
21	* TheAtoner: Ruth became a superhero to make up for her life of crime.
22	* BabiesEverAfter: Not explicit, but [[spoiler: Scarlett does miss a period at the end of the book.]]
23	* BadassNormal: Major Might and the Man In Black.
24	* BaraGenre: Thom likes this. Specifically hairy chests.
25	* BringMyBrownPants;
26	** Thom wets himself while having a fit playing basketball near the beginning.
27	** One of the burglars that breaks into Thom's house, pisses himself when he realises he's in the house of a retired superhero.
28	* CaptainErsatz: Justice couldn't be more a Franchise/{{Superman}} clone if his name were Clark Kent, [[spoiler: Not counting the evil, obviously]] but with a few elements of the ComicBook/MartianManhunter (phasing through matter, psychic powers). However, retired hero Captain Victory plays the ClarkKenting aspect of the Superman mythos completely straight. Thom's dad even lampshades it.
29	-->'''Hal Creed''':''"Can you believe that? All that stood between him and every Dr. Ice, Mr. Metal, or Nazi Ned figuring out his real identity was [[PaperThinDisguise a pair of eyeglasses]]."''
30	** The Man In Black/Dark Hero - Franchise/{{Batman}}
31	** Warrior Woman - Franchise/WonderWoman
32	** The Spectrum - ComicBook/GreenLantern
33	** Silver Bullet - ComicBook/TheFlash
34	** King of the Sea - ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}.
35	** Uberman - Again, Franchise/{{Superman}} at first glance, what with the multiple powers and his seemingly perfect nature.
36	** The school Scarlett attended to hone her powers was an obvious reference to the ComicBook/XMen.
37	* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Justice is able to mind-control all the other heroes through their rings, but Thom's team placed theirs on Ruth's hand before burying her, hence why they weren't affected and were able to save the day]].
38	* ComingOutStory: Thom is forced to do this [[spoiler:to clear Sssnake of suspicion for the murder of King of the Sea]].
39	* CoolOldLady: Ruth, without a doubt.
40	* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler:Scarlett plans on naming her baby "Ruth" if it's a girl.]]
41	* ExplosionPropulsion: Justice's spaceship was launched to Earth from his exploding home planet this way. At the end of the book, [[spoiler:he tries to destroy Earth to launch himself back there.]]
42	* EmpathicHealer: How Thom's powers work. [[spoiler:In a twist, he can absorb that pain and turn it into strength if he can survive it]].
43	* {{Expy}}: Every single hero in the League.
44	* EyeBeams: Transvision Vamp has them.
45	* FantasticRecruitmentDrive: When the League holds tryouts for new superheroes.
46	* FiveManBand: The team led by Golden Boy consists of Thom, Scarlett, Larry, and Ruth.
47	* FlyingBrick: Uberman is. [[spoiler: By the end of the book, Thom is too.]]
48	* FragileSpeedster: Golden Boy is very fast and that's all he is. He even gets tripped up at one point.
49	* GoodThingYouCanHeal: [[spoiler: Thom]] manages to get his hands on a bit of [[AppliedPhlebotinum Phlebotinum]] by being able to survive being repeatedly stabbed.
50	* GoryDiscretionShot: While the murders are not shown, the descriptions are very [[{{Squick}} lurid]]. [[spoiler: Averted when the team is targeted and Ruth is impaled on a tree branch.]]
51	* HandshakeRefusal: The only parent at Thom's school willing to talk to Hal is a known wife-beater whom Hal ignores.
52	* HealingHands: Really, though, Thom can heal through any skin contact. Hands are just easiest.
53	* IBelieveICanFly: A couple of scenes refer to the main League group flying, implying that even The Flash and Aquaman expies can fly.
54	** Near the end when [[spoiler:Justice mind controls all the League members]], dozens of heroes are flying overhead. It's not mentioned if the ones who can't fly are running along the ground somewhere below.
55	* {{Intangibility}}: Justice can phase through walls.
56	* KidSidekick: Silver Bullet has Golden Boy.
57	* KryptoniteFactor: [[spoiler:The mineral in Hal Creed's wedding ring is from Justice's home planet. Since Justice is a Franchise/{{Superman}} {{Expy}}...]]
58	* LadyLand: Warrior Woman is implied to come from one.
59	* TheMedic: Thom serves as this during nearly all of Golden Boy's battle plans. He's not too happy with it.
60	* NoEndorHolocaust: WordOfGod confirmed on his website that Thom succeeded in bringing Larry back to life.
61	* NoodlePeople: Sssnake's ability allows him to do this.
62	* {{Plaguemaster}}: Typhoid Larry, a rare heroic version of this.
63	* PlanetEater: one that's literally called the planet eater attacked Earth in the backstory.
64	* PlayingWithFire: Miss Scarlett's powers.
65	* PowerIncontinence: At the beginning of the book, Thom experiences epileptic seizures (and, often, literal incontinence) whenever he uses his powers. Apparently all that injury has to go somewhere and that somewhere is him.
66	* ThePowerOfTheSun: When he was first starting out as a solo superhero, Justice would fly into space once a day to charge his powers from the sun.
67	* PreserveYourGays: The novel was written as a response to the use of the BuryYourGays trope in superhero comics. There are several gay characters and several characters who die, but no overlap. The most prominent is obviously Thom, who also faces hatred from his homophobic and superhero-phobic father.
68	* RadiationInducedSuperpowers: Scarlett got her powers from radiation, [[spoiler:but it also gave her cancer]].
69	* RideTheRainbow: The Spectrum can create rainbow bridges that can be walked across.
70	* {{Seer\|s}}: Ruth's power.
71	* SnakeTalk: Sssnake. It's in his name.
72	* StarCrossedLovers: Ruth and her black boyfriend from her younger days.
73	* StarfishAliens: Major Might got an award for defending Earth from some telepathic starfish aliens.
74	* StevenUlyssesPerhero: The Spectrum has rainbow-themed powers and his real name is Roy G. Biv [[note]] Roy G Biv is a common mnemonic for the colors of the spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.[[/note]].
75	* StraightGay: Thom, [[spoiler: Sssnake, Goran]].
76	* SuperheroSchool: Scarlett briefly attended a private school for children with powers.
77	** The League is run a bit like one with dozens of young heroes being put through training sessions.
78	* SuperheroSpeciation: Weird aversion where The League is basically the Justice League with two Supermen and no Batman.
79	* SupermanSubstitute: Justice and Uberman.
80	* TelepathicSpacemen: Major Mite once got an award for defending Earth from telepathic StarfishAliens.
81	* {{Tsundere}}: Scarlett. Very, very much Type A for the majority of the book, however, the ending hints that she's become more of a Type B after [[spoiler: Thom's HealingHands put her cancer into remission.]]
82	* WellDoneSonGuy: Thom.
83	* WonderWomanWannabe: Warrior Woman is a pretty straight example being this story's ''ComicBook/WonderWoman''.
84	* YouWillKnowWhatToDo: Thom gets this from [[spoiler: his invisible mother in the form of her engagement ring]].

Context Literature / Hero