Line #55 Main/PowersInTheFirstEpisode


1	Unusual capabilities manifest in the pilot episode. This lets the audience know right away that the series is about unusually enabled characters. It is very hard to pull off the introduction later on in a series without throwing your viewers for a loop, unless you are a ''master'' of foreshadowing.
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3	This is very common in superhero shows aimed at kids and teenagers in general.
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5	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. Compare / contrast SecondHourSuperpower, EleventhHourSuperpower, InMediasRes. If the power is immediately stripped away afterward, this is ATasteOfPower.
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7	----
8	!!Examples:
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10	[[foldercontrol]]
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12	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
13	* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' reveals its {{Immortality}} premise within the first third of the introductory episode when, after Firo's fingers are severed, the bloody digits slowly pick themselves off the ground and reattach to his hand. The effect is both unnerving and extremely cool.
14	* In ''Anime/BackArrow'', while [[HumongousMecha Briheights]] were always present in the setting, the eponymous protagonist's use of one without Conviction and being able to defeat other Briheights without killing their users marks him as highly unique.
15	* In ''Manga/BlackClover'', Asta is chosen by the [[SpellBook five-leaf grimoire]] containing an AntiMagic {{BFS}} in the first chapter. The anime waits until the second episode before he uses it to [[CurbStompBattle mop the floor]] with [[StarterVillain Revchi]].
16	* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Ichigo gains his Shinigami powers at the very end of the first chapter/episode, after which he quickly kills the Hollow attacking his home.
17	* ''VideoGame/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.
18	* ''Anime/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.
19	* ''Manga/DeathNote'': The title Death Note falls outside Light's school within the first five minutes/few pages of the series. [[KnightTemplar Justice]] ensues.
20	* Just about any ''[[Franchise/{{Digimon}} Digimon]]'' series so far has had the main characters get their partners in the first episode. Frontier is the exception, in that the humans ''became'' the Digimon after receiving their Digimon Spirits. ''Fusion'' has Taiki gain powers both in the beginning of the first story arc and the ''end'' of that same story arc (AKA episode 30). First he learns how to make Shoutmon [=DigiXros,=] then in the end he learns how to make Shoutmon Super-Digivolve, which is abused thoroughly in the next story arc, whenever the plot calls for it (that is, once in every battle against the Death Generals).
21	* In ''Anime/{{Endride}}'', no sooner does Shun get [[TrappedInAnotherWorld sucked into Endora]] by a crystal then he discovers he can summon a [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation Warp Relic]], which not even everybody from that world can do.
22	%%* ''Manga/FlameOfRecca''
23	* ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'': Shu finds the object that gives him his powers (the Void Genome) halfway through the episode, but he doesnt get implanted with it until the last two or three minutes of episode one. When it does happen, there's a massive AnimationBump and a ThemeMusicPowerUp to boot. Did we mention that the music was composed by the wildly popular J-pop band, Supercell?
24	* ''Anime/{{Kamichu}}'' opens right off with Yurie saying that she woke up that morning as a god.
25	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'': In the first chapter, Jolyne Cujoh is cut by a Stand Arrow fragment given indirectly by her father, which gives her her Stand right when she arrives to Green Dolphin Street Prison.
26	* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'': Similarly, while the main character first realizes her powers as a mage by activating [[EmpathicWeapon Raising Heart's]] [[MagicStaff staff form]] and creating a full [[DeflectorShields Barrier Jacket]] on the first episode, she only casts her first spell on the second episode, and unlocks her oft-used [[SmallGirlBigGun Shooting Mode]] on the third.
27	** For that matter, most every single MagicalGirl show in existance (except those with {{Cute Witch}}es, since the heroines of those shows already ''had'' powers.)
28	* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': In the first episode Kouji finds a HumongousMecha in his grandfather's underground lab and is told it will be his power from that day on, and he can become a god or a devil with it.
29	* ''Franchise/MyHeroAcademia'': Powerless Izuku Midoriya meets his idol, All Might, and the hero sees something in Midoriya that leads him to pass on his power to the kid after a TrainingFromHell montage.
30	* ''Anime/MyHime'' has a variation: Mai's [=HiME=] powers manifest for the first time in the first episode when she [[DieOrFly involuntarily]] creates a shield of flame to protect herself and Mikoto, but she only receives her Element in the second episode and her Child in the third.
31	* Franchise/{{Naruto}} discovers that he is the vessel for the Kyuubi and learns the [[SignatureMove Shadow]] [[DoppelgangerAttack Clone]] ability in the first episode.
32	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': The first few episodes quickly have Shinji in an [=EVA=] confronting an angel. He gets his ass kicked around a bit, and then he enters his [[UnstoppableRage berserker mode]] for the first time...
33	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': [[RubberMan Monkey D. Luffy]] ate his [[SuperPowerLottery Devil Fruit]] in the first chapter.
34	** Averted in the anime, where the first few episodes had Luffy already as a RubberMan. He gets his powers in a fourth episode flashback instead.
35	* In ''Literature/OthersidePicnic'', Sorawo and Toriko encounter an otherworldly monster in the first volume/episode, which leaves Sorawo's eye and Toriko's hand supernaturally altered, giving them their powers.
36	* ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'': Pikachu proved it was much more powerful than it appeared even before Team Rocket ever made their appearance when it defended Ash from the Spearow flock.
37	* In ''Anime/PowerpuffGirlsZ'', every episode is made up of two parts. The very first episode's first part is a story about the PPGZ defeating Mojo Jojo. The second part goes back to the beginning and shows how the girls got their powers. The next 2 or 3 episodes show how they came to meet up and form the titular Powerpuff Girls Z.
38	* In the first episode of every incarnation of the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise, the main Cure of each season will transform for the first time. It won’t be until later episodes that other Cures join, but the full team is usually assembled by the sixth episode- to say nothing of the many cases of the SixthRanger.
39	* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', on the other hand, is one of the few exceptions to this rule. While a ''mahou shoujo'' does show up and clean house in the first episode, the main character doesn't gain her powers [[spoiler:until the very last episode]].
40	* Usagi becomes ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' in the first episode of the 1990s anime after being given the power to do so by Luna, because TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive.
41	* In ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}! Yume Kira Dream'' episode 1, Yumemitchi and Kiraritchi receive the Yume Kira bags they use to transform and save the day throughout that portion of the series.
42	* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': 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.
43	* The first chapter of ''Manga/YuGiOh'' features Yugi Muto solving the millennium puzzle, and thus being introduced to his SuperpoweredEvilSide.
44	** The first episode of ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' has main protagonist Yuya Sakaki inventing the new Pendulum Summoning method.
45	* ''Manga/ZatchBell'': They introduce the lightning shooting beforehand, but Kiyo only figures out how they work when they need it.
46	[[/folder]]
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48	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
49	* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': The titular protagonist gains ElementalPowers in the first episode. His friends [[note]](except for Fang, who debuts in season 2)[[/note]] are also granted their own respective powers in the following episode.
50	* Happens several times in ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf''. For example, in the first episode of ''The Little Detective'', Weslie gets his detective gear and learns how to use his new abilities to solve mysteries.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Comic Books]]
54	* 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 ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15'', the first appearance of ComicBook/SpiderMan.
55	* ''ComicBook/AllFallDown'': In the first issue Sophie's stolen every power on Earth, with no idea at first how to use them.
56	* ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'': In the first issue, Mark, having been promised he would one day inherit his [[SupermanSubstitute father]]'s powers, finally has them kick in when he's taking out the trash and accidentally flings a garbage bag into orbit.
57	-->'''Mark:''' It's about time.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Fan Works]]
61	* ''Fanfic/{{Atonement}}'': In the first episode Madison feels so guilty about Taylor's death that she triggers and gains the power to connect any two non-living objects and then pull them together or push them apart.
62	* ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod'': In the first chapter Shinji gets a giant robot and fights his first {{Robeast}}. When he kills Matarael, he feels ''something'' entering his body. That ''something'' was the power of the monster he had just slain.
63	* ''Fanfic/CindersAndAshesTheChroniclesOfKamenRiderDante'' follows the tradition that Kamen Rider had, in which the first chapter has the main character taking the belt and becoming a Kamen Rider.
64	* ''Fanfic/HailToTheKingThuktunFlishithy'': In the first chapter Shinji bonds with an alien and becomes the super-hero Series/ZoneFighter (Series/{{Ultraman}} in the second version).
65	* ''Fanfic/{{Intrepid}}'': When one of their pranks ends with Taylor in a comatose state, Emma and Madison feel guilty enough to trigger and develop powers. In the first episode Emma freezes time, and Madison absorbs objects and knowledge.
66	* ''Fanfic/LastChildOfKrypton'': In the redux, Shinji's Kryptonian powers start manifesting in the first episode.
67	* ''Fanfic/PokemonMaster'': In the first chapter Ash and his Pikachu master the Shadow element.
68	* ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': In the first episode Asuka gains SuperStrength, accidentally ripping off her giant robot's control yokes.
69	* In the first episode of ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'', Shinji gets PsychicPowers, electrokinesis and a giant robot.
70	[[/folder]]
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72	[[folder:Literature]]
73	* The first arc of ''Literature/HereticalEdge'' involves Flick being recruited to a magical AcademyOfAdventure and receiving [[VictorGainsLosersPowers the power to gain powers by killing monsters]].
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76	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
77	* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'': Shawn and Maia (as well as the [[MonsterOfTheWeek "freak of the week"]] played by Creator/MichaelMoriarty) discover their new abilities in the first episode.
78	* ''Series/BirdsOfPrey2002'': Helena and Dinah both show off their metahuman powers in the first episode.
79	* ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'': The sisters all gain magic powers on the night the youngest, Phoebe, returns home and finds the Book of Shadows. [[spoiler:{{Subverted\|Trope}} 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]]. The first season is mostly about the sisters [[HowDoIShootWeb learning to control these powers]], especially for Piper.
80	* ''Series/DangerForce'': While Miles, Chapa and Bose received their powers in the GrandFinale of ''Series/HenryDanger'', Mika receives her power in the first episode of the spinoff.
81	* The pilot episode of ''{{Series/Grimm}}'' is when protagonist Nick Burkhardt first becomes aware of TheMasquerade, because he starts seeing people turn into monsters that no one else notices. As his aunt is dying of cancer, his abilities start to show up.
82	* ''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.
83	* ''{{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.
84	* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' does this as a traditional standard for its Riders, as often they gain their powers within the first episode. The occasional exceptions[[note]][[Series/KamenRiderStronger Stronger]], [[Series/KamenRiderAgito Agito]], [[Series/KamenRiderBlade Blade]], [[Series/KamenRiderHibiki Hibiki]], [[Series/KamenRiderKabuto Kabuto]], [[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kiva]], [[Series/KamenRiderWizard Wizard]], [[Series/KamenRiderBuild Build]], and [[Series/KamenRiderGeats Geats]].[[/note]] are when the Rider is instead an ExperiencedProtagonist who already has their powers and has been fighting for some time already, or the story begins InMediasRes.
85	* 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).
86	* ''Series/{{Manifest}}'': After an airplane lands five years later than expected, its passengers begin to experience strange premonitions and compulsions. These "callings" (and more) are explored throughout the rest of the series.
87	* ''{{Series/Misfits}}'': Everyone but Nathan gets supernatural powers during the MassEmpoweringEvent in the first fifteen minutes, an exclusion which miffs him greatly. [[spoiler:It's revealed in the season finale that Nathan's power is ResurrectiveImmortality.]]
88	* ''Series/OutOfThisWorld1987'': In the first episode, Evie is introduced to her powers on her 13th birthday.
89	* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
90	** 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.
91	** 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.
92	* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' where she learns of her powers in the first episode.
93	* ''Series/TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack'': Alex gets hit with chemicals in the first episode, leading to the decision to keep her new powers secret.
94	* On ''Series/SupermanAndLois,'' Clark and Lois's son Jordan kicks off the series by manifesting SuperStrength and SuperToughness when some metal irrigation pipes come crashing down on him and his brother. This sets off the storyline of him inheriting his father's Kryptonian powers (and his fraternal twin brother not doing so).
95	[[/folder]]
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97	[[folder:Western Animation]]
98	* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': Although the [[ExpositoryThemeTune intro]] details how Danny got his powers, the first episode is mainly about him trying to figure out out how to use his powers and keep them under control.
99	* ''WesternAnimation/HamsterAndGretel'': The unseen space aliens bestow Hamster and Gretel their superpowers in the first episode.
100	* In ''WesternAnimation/LoliRock'', Iris discovers her magical powers and that she's the lost princess of Ephedia in the first episode.
101	* ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' begins with Blythe moving into her new Downtown City apartment above the pet shop, and she unintentionally is bestowed the ability to talk to animals and understand them after using the dumbwaiter to enter the pet shop for the first time.
102	* ''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]].
103	* ''WesternAnimation/RegalAcademy'' begins with Rose Cinderella learning she's the granddaughter of the titular school's headmistress Cinderella and receiving her Pumpkin Magic powers.
104	* The ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' PilotMovie "Once Upon a Princess" has Sofia receive the Amulet of Avalor, unlock her first power to talk to animals, and summon her first Franchise/DisneyPrincess guide, Cinderella.
105	* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Star Butterfly receives the Royal Magic Wand in the first episode.
106	* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'': The first episode shows Virgil and all of the various super-powered cast getting their powers.
107	* ''WesternAnimation/StreetSharks'': The four protagonists are turned into sharks in the pilot.
108	* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'': Rapunzel's hair is regrown and became indestructible by the Black Rocks in the PilotMovie, "Before Ever After".
109	* 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]] BigBad.
110	* ''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]] [[EnergyWeapon 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.
111	* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': In [[Recap/WinxClubS1E1AnUnexpectedEvent "An Unexpected Event"]], Bloom discovers her fairy powers by accident when threatened by the monsters that were attacking Stella.
112	* 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.
113	[[/folder]]

Context Main / PowersInTheFirstEpisode