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Child Of The Storm / Tropes Q to Z

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Tropes from Child of the Storm.

Tropes A To H can be found here and Tropes I To P can be found here.



  • The Quiet One:
    • Zemo, who doesn't speak all that much, though more than most examples of this trope. He's also by far one of the most dangerous characters, as he demonstrates in chapter 70 when he kills T'Chaka and then curbstomps a young T'Challa, merely remarking that the latter made life interesting for him. On their rematch in chapter 75, Wolverine remarks that while T'Challa did a lot better, Zemo was playing with him.
    • Zemo's protégé, Jason Todd, barely says anything at all, speaking a grand total of once until his Heel–Face Turn.
  • Quirky Household: The Avengers, to the general bafflement of just about everyone else on Earth. In Asgard, they've Seen It All.
  • Rage Breaking Point: in chapter 74, Thor being shot serves as this to Harry, who comes very close to snapping completely and going full Magneto.
  • Rags to Royalty: Almost literally, in Harry's case and is patently obvious that he's having trouble adjusting.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Love Potions are seen as this. In the Author's note, the author says that he doesn't view love potions as romantic, but instead legalized tools of rape and manipulation. After learning of their existence, Tony purchases the potions' store and goes on a campaign to get rid of them.
  • Razor Wings: Warren. And he's miserable about it.
  • Really 700 Years Old:
    • Asgardians, Olympians, Gravemoss, the Flamels and, on a smaller scale, Natasha and the Winter Soldier.
    • Steve also sorta counts. Sure, he may have been stuck frozen in a block of ice for seventy years, but he is, technically speaking, over ninety years old.
  • Really Gets Around:
    • Fandral. Thor says he practically invented the adage, 'love them and leave them.'
    • Betsy is said to treat men like hats – she tries them out, maybe a few times, then discards them. Naturally she and Fandral end up in bed in no time.
  • Really Royalty Reveal: For Harry. It's the basic premise of the fic.
  • Real Men Hate Affection: The story goes out of its way to discuss and reject this trope, with Thor early on gently telling Harry that there is no shame in tears, and they don't make you weaker or more childish - indeed, he is known to shed them himself. Asgardians as a whole are much less uptight about such things, while human men tend to be a little more awkward about it. In any case, Harry takes this lesson onboard when coming out of his emotional repression, and becomes notably more openly affectionate, welcoming hugs and gestures of affection, becoming considerably better adjusted as a result. However, as is noted in chapter 48 of the sequel, Harry is distinctly unusual among his peers in this respect, with Sean Cassidy noting that the kind of shoulder clasp or hug that Harry would appreciate would be firmly rejected by Ron, and most other teenage boys, precisely because of this mentality.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure:
    • Nick Fury, being willing to trust in heroes, and bank on the plans of the Avengers rather than take more conventional measures.
    • Dumbledore, who remains the patient and wise teacher of canon - though, as he admits, not without his flaws.
    • Odin, who takes significantly more lip from his grandson (admittedly justified by the circumstances and behind closed doors) than one would expect from an ancient and powerful God-King.
    • General O'Neill, who reluctantly backs his niece (Carol) and covers for her with her parents.
    • Sean Cassidy, who's patiently amused by Harry's attitude, while also counselling him about how not everyone will be so understanding.
  • "Reason You Suck" Speech: Several.
    • Thor, of all people, gives one to Snape in a way that reminds us that he really is Loki's brother.
      Thor: It must just kill you to see Lily’s eyes staring out of my face, mustn’t it. She was your friend. I think you loved her, which is why you hate him all the more, seeing a living reminder that when it came down to it, she chose me. Not you. Me.
    • When Hera obliquely threatens Harry an entity heavily implied to be the Phoenix and/or his mother briefly possesses him to deliver a vicious speech.
      I see your soul, Lady Hera. It’s not a very nice sight. All dark and twisted. See? I know you, Hera Argeia. I know what you are. You think you’re special, but you really aren’t. There are uncounted billions like you all through the universe. I’ve seen your kind at close quarters. And none of you are that complicated. The only difference is that you have just a bit more power than most. You’re upset and you just want to lash out. You want to make other people suffer because, just for a moment, it distracts you from your own pain. And you don’t care what happens when you do. You don’t care when parents lose children, children lose parents, sisters lose brothers and brothers lose sisters. No. In your mind, you’re the only person that matters. Or you were. I’ve shown you how much you don’t matter. You turned your own children into your pawn, the agents of your vengeance. You never paid them attention for very long. You loved them, but only so long as they did want you wanted, they were who you wanted them to be. And that’s not love. Queen? Goddess? Mother? You’re not even fit to be a person. And now you know it.
    • M gives a brief one to an utterly broken Petunia after interrogating her about something in Harry's past.
      M: I knew your parents, you know.
      Petunia: You did?
      M: Yes, if only in a professional capacity. But from what I did know of them, I can state this with confidence: they would be utterly ashamed of you. Good day to you.
  • Recruit Teenagers with Attitude:
    • Subverts it - Harry and his friends are a group of young teens who end up in phenomenally dangerous situations, but they tend to be either caught up in them entirely by accident or pretty much recruit themselves. Notably, their parents/parental figures are decidedly unhappy about this - and it has to be said that the kids aren't always that happy about it either.
    • This is also averted (until the end of Child of the Storm) by Xavier, who refuses to tell Jean just how powerful she is until he's forced to, in order to protect her.
    • Doctor Strange plays it straight as an arrow in chapter 75 when he recruits them to use the cover of the New Avengers' assault on HYDRA's base to sneak in and rescue Steve, Tony and Bruce.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Gravemoss, as part of his albino aesthetic.
  • Red Baron: Being a world of emerging superheroes, it has a few.
    • The Winter Soldier is the most notable example, with a whole list of other nicknames: The Ice Warrior, the Sleeping Death, the Shield Breaker, Europe's Terror. He earned them.
    • Similarly, the Black Widow.
    • Tony is referred to in Asgard as 'Lord Stark' something which, as fan of Game of Thrones and an egomaniac, he absolutely revels in. This is done on the grounds that he's richer and more powerful than most of the Lords, Princes, Kings, and even Emperors, in Earth's history, and he's earned such honour in battle.
      • He's also, naturally, known as Iron Man.
    • Sirius is referred to, briefly, as 'the Marauder', with the context stating that he earned it on the battlefield as well as by being part of the Marauders.
    • Thor is known as 'The Thunderer' and the 'Lord of Storms'.
    • Wanda Maximoff's nom de guerre, the Scarlet Witch, is known and respected.
    • Magneto.
    • The Banshee earned his name the hard way.
    • In a more meta sense, Archangel a.k.a. Warren Worthington III, considering the name's history in comics canon.
      • And chapter 70 demonstrates that he more than lives up to it. Which, considering the canon origins of the name, may not be a very good thing...
  • Red Is Heroic:
    • Tony (his armour) and Thor (his cape).
    • Harry's first Asgardian outfit is largely a dark red.
    • And so is his outfit when aged up in chapter 60.
    • His Phoenix outfit is also red, but the heroism of that one is a bit dubious.
  • Reformed, but Not Tamed: Repeatedly quoted in reference to Loki. He's a hero, a kind and indulgent uncle and a patient teacher. He is, however, perfectly willing to kill in cold blood, torture to extract information and do any number of morally dodgy things to protect Thor, Harry and the Nine Realms as a whole.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Harry with the Disir, ancient monsters who abducted him and his friends, snarking about their 'hospitality', mocking their looks, stating that they aren't scary and actually hushing them and telling them that he's getting to good bit: the Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.
  • Related in the Adaptation: Agent 13 (Sharon Carter), Captain America's love interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is here his great-granddaughter.
  • Ridiculously Human Robot: Fury's LMD, which is admittedly the whole point.
  • Right Hand Versus Left Hand: The evil alliance is slowly turning into this - Von Strucker has commandeered the Winter Soldier and Gravemoss does whatever he likes.
    • As of Chapter 51, it's now all under Lucius Malfoy's control (except Gravemoss, who still does whatever he likes, but is willing to work with Lucius).
    • As of Chapter 62, it's hinted that Malfoy and Alexander Pierce are only working together for as long as it suits them, working alongside each other rather than together.
    • And as of chapter 77, Pierce stabs Malfoy in the back.
  • Ring of Power: Alan Scott is mentioned as a former SHIELD Special Agent, who wielded his ring in direct opposition to Magneto. Unfortunately, he retired in the nineties and handed his ring in, then was killed during the Battle of New York. He makes a posthumous appearance at the end of chapter 75. As for the ring itself, no one's quite sure where it is now.
    • Doctor Strange took it, and handed it to Carol Danvers for use during the teens' infiltration of HYDRA's base. Without mentioning what it was. He later takes it back, though it's possible she'll get it back at some point.
  • Rising Conflict: A constant theme across the series is the increase in scale of conflict inspired by move and counter-move by heroes and villains.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something:
    • The Asgardian royal family - Frigga is Asgard's chief healer, Thor and Loki are Avengers, protecting Earth (and the rest of the Nine Realms), while Loki is also Asgard's chief diplomat and head of its secret service (in fact, he basically is its secret service). Odin, meanwhile, is a Frontline General when necessary.
    • Prince T'Challa, who's both the Black Panther, going after HYDRA personally for attacking Wakanda, stealing Vibranium, and killing his father, but also leading negotiations to get as much Vibranium back as possible after Wisdom swipes most of it from HYDRA's London base as reparations.
  • Running Gag:
    • Thor's arch enemy: the microwave.
    • The narration periodically deconstructing metaphors and playing with Metaphorgotten before concluding something along the lines of 'but there is such thing as taking a metaphor too far'.
    • When in doubt, blame Tony. It helps that it's likely that, whatever it was, it was his fault anyway. This gets to the point where Bucky, Nat, and Clint consider the Starks less of a family and more of an infectious disease.
    • Steve's Nice Guy status is offhandedly and amusingly referenced in the narration on a regular basis.
    • Thor being the God of Thunder and Lightning, not Reason and Understanding.
    • Tony's Robin Hood jokes, both In-Universe and Out.
    • Harry trying to figure out who to swear by.
    • Darcy being warped to strange places by Jane's machines. This includes Death's domain, the Upper Jurassic and New Jersey. Apparently, she liked New Jersey the least.
    • A character who is significantly older than they look will, when called on it, likely snark, "I moisturise."
  • Sacrificial Lion: Poor Arthur Weasley.
  • Sanity Slippage: According to Jane, this happens to any scientist that works for the Pentagon, swiftly descending into Mad Scientist territory.
  • Scars are Forever:
    • Harry's lightning bolt scar.
    • Sif's scars around her left wrist, where Fenris bit her hand off and it was reattached.
  • Scary Black Man:
    • T'Challa, if you piss him off, albeit in a Tranquil Fury sort of way.
    • Nick Fury, who makes just about everyone wary through his mere demeanour, also with good reason - he almost entirely destroys HYDRA halfway through the first book, leading to a leadership struggle and cornering them. While they remain a major threat, they're also vulnerable to a decapitating strike - one which he arranges.
  • Science Fantasy: the story falls very much into this, with greater emphasis on the fantasy.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After his ass handed to him during the Final Battle, first by Harry and his friends and then by Dresden, Gravemoss then feels Strange's presence on the battlefield. Realizing he's in no condition to take on the Sorcerer Supreme, quickly decides to flee.
    • Lucius Malfoy, upon seeing the Avengers reconstituted and coming for him, scuttles off to find a rock to hide under.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Chthon, via the Darkhold.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: This is an ever present risk with prophecies and Time Travel, as explained in chapter 67, though it is possible to make changes if you know how, as Doctor Strange routinely demonstrates.
  • Semantic Superpower: The source of a lot of the Adaptational Badass nature of certain characters, such as Banshee.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: The author sometimes makes passing reference to going/having gone to a British private school, and boy does it show in the narration and in the character dialogue, sometimes. It doesn't help that he likes the sound of his own voice.
  • Sex God:
    • Fandral, being The Casanova a millennium before Casanova existed. Betsy is thoroughly sated after sleeping with him and finds the claim as well as his arrogance to be utterly justified.
      Betsy: Good god, the guy had played her like a Stradivarius! She hadn't even needed to give him hints.
    • Betsy is a Sex Goddess herself according to Fandral saying she may have ruined other woman for him and greatly appreciating her use of Telepathy in the bedroom.
      Fandral: After such a woman, I am spoiled for all others [he breathed, near reverentially.] She is a mind-walker, and... she knew exactly what I liked best.
  • Sexy Mentor
    • Wanda Maximoff, Sorceress Supreme In Waiting, become this to Harry Dresden in the Chaos Reigns side story, set just before chapter 60, and the two even start dating - though Wanda explicitly states when she makes her double offer (become her apprentice and/or her boyfriend), after giving Dresden The Big Damn Kiss to get through his denial, that it's not an all or nothing offer, once Dresden notes the potential problems with this. She'd be happy if he chose either. He chooses both.
    • Betsy Braddock becomes this to Harry Potter while giving him a crash course in how to use his Psychic Powers. Since he's 13 and she's in her early 20s, this, the crush on her that he develops, and the accompanying epic scale embarrassment (especially since Betsy - who's rather fond of him - is prone to gently teasing him) are Played for Laughs. It is later noted that as a direct result, Harry has unusually good passive psychic shields, to prevent embarrassing thoughts from leaking out.
      • Additionally, while absolutely nothing comes of it, or even looks like coming of it, it's worth noting that in the sequel, Rita Skeeter floats Betsy as one of Harry's potential dates to the Yule Ball. Mindful of this, Betsy stops her prior gentle teasing of Harry, explaining that when he was younger, it was very clear to all concerned that that was all it was. Now, he's older and he looks closer to 18, and is looking at girls as romantic partners in earnest, even harmless teasing could quite easily be interpreted as something more serious (including, by implication, by Harry himself).
  • Shameless Fanservice Girl: Betsy, when she decides to drop her robe and then her towel in front of Peter Wisdom, to gauge his reaction (since she couldn't get a psychic read off him). He was Not Distracted by the Sexy, so the dropped towel was simply to annoy him.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran:
    • Tony, though it's not immediately obvious.
    • Carol has hints of this in Chapter 61.
    • Harry from chapter 71 onwards.
  • Shipper on Deck:
    • Fandral and Thor for Sif/Loki.
    • Sif and Athena for Diana/Harry. Both are just teasing Harry, however.
    • Harry eventually becomes this for Thor/Jane.
    • Thor for Harry/Carol - though again, he is (mostly) just teasing Harry.
  • Ship Sinking:
    • The author rapidly sinks any notion of Harry/Hermione, and it proceeds to stay damn well sunk. He doesn't hate the ship — even enjoys it on occasion — but in this 'verse, it is not happening. Harry loves Hermione dearly, but is, in Loki's words, "about as sexually attracted to [her] as he is to mould," and likewise Hermione only sees Harry as a brother figure.
    • Harry/Ginny, as well-Ginny still has, or at least had, her crush on Harry from canon, but there's been absolutely no Ship Tease, and Word of God again has it that Harry will end up with someone else. As he notes in the sequel when the possibility comes up, she does have a lot of personality traits that attract him, he's just not interested and she has way too much baggage where he's concerned thanks to his Psychic Powers (and the unfortunate resemblance to Tom Riddle doesn't help).
  • Ship Tease: Lots of it.
    • Most prominently, Clint/Natasha and Loki/Sif. In the latter case, though Everyone Can See It and despite numerous shippy moments, even sharing a New Year's Eve kiss, haven't got together. In the former, Natasha's been gently encouraged by an old mentor to risk getting close to Clint.
    • Harry/Gwen Stacy is teased slightly, after they chat and when she gives him a kiss on the cheek in thanks for being nice to Peter Parker, who'd twisted his ankle. This elicits a Luminescent Blush, which Thor teases him for. However, this is about as far as it's likely to go.
    • Harry Dresden/Gemma Simmons was repeatedly teased in chapters 43 through 45. Even Bob remarks on it.
    • From chapter 60 onwards, it's subsumed by Dresden/Wanda Maximoff, the latter of whom slyly notes that he 'wears the hell out of a leather duster' and has a history of dating Deadpan Snarker members of the Trenchcoat Brigade. The two-shot spinoff takes the flirting (and ship teasing) up a notch. By the end of it, they're an official couple.
      • Though she does agree with Carol (and most of the fandom) that Clint her ex has amazing arms.
    • Despite repeated insistences by the author that they're Just Friends and generally seeking to Avert this trope, the idea of a Harry/Carol ship is constantly lurking. This is probably because he's the first straight guy her age to treat her like an actual person for years - like, after she hit puberty - if not ever and she's the first girl his age to treat him like an actual person rather than a freak/saviour.
    • Recent chapters have teased Uhtred/Jean-Paul, more strongly every time they share a screen — a development which the author says he never saw coming.
  • Shock and Awe:
    • Take a wild guess. Thor is the God of Thunder and Lightning, which are part of him in the same way that magic is part of Loki.
    • Wanda's also been known to dabble.
    • Harry Dresden uses this and a little bit of physics to finish off the Mabdhara in chapter 2 of Chaos Reigns.
    • Remus is mentioned as using small lightning bolts in his fight with Greyback.
    • Magneto's first major usage of his power creates a geo-magnetic storm as a side effect.
  • Shout-Out: Has its own page.
  • Shown Their Work: Multiple:
    • In chapter 46, Hermione correctly notes that her name means earthly. It Makes Sense In Context.
    • Also, the sheer amounts of comics, historical and political trivia that are woven into the narrative.
    • The story correctly notes the potential of Sean Cassidy's powers through resonant frequencies. They are a thing and if you can hit the right frequency, you can shatter diamond and bone. This is easier said than done, but...
    • For the Final Battle in chapter 75 and 76, it is noted by more than one reviewer that the geography of London was pretty spot on (it helps that the author is a Londoner himself).
  • Shrouded in Myth:
    • The Winter Soldier is considered to be more of a ghost story than an actual person. When he first appears in person almost nobody in the room recognizes him.
    • Doctor Strange, as he is practically omniscient, insanely powerful, and a Time Abyss with a Mysterious Past.
    • Gods in general, such as the Asgardians and the Olympians, who are quite literally myths in this world.
    • The Red Room, being mentioned as a mysterious organisation that produced Natasha and the Winter Soldier, one which even HYDRA fears.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Multiple:
    • Thor and Loki are still like this, but now their differences complement each other and Thor tends to be wiser in matters of the heart than Loki is, while Loki is more willing to take charge and can be a bit more irascible (as a result, and partly because he used to be James Potter, Thor tends to wind him up every now and then).
    • It's repeatedly noted that Lily and Petunia were nothing alike.
    • It's also suggested that Jack O'Neill and his sister, Mrs Danvers (mother of Carol Danvers), are nothing alike - he's the Military Maverick Deadpan Snarker he's always been, something he apparently gets from his mother and his aunt, actually grandmother, Peggy Carter. She, by contrast, is apparently something of an Extreme Doormat, at least according to her Hot-Blooded and absurdly stubborn teenage daughter, who is not likely to appreciate nuance. When we finally meet Marie Danvers, it's clear that she has significant Hidden Depths. She is also a bit of a Troll, and has the Deadpan Snarker tendency that runs in the rest of her family.
  • Significant Double Casting: Fan-casting in this case - Harry, James!Thor and Clark Kent all look the same because when Odin banished Thor for the first time, he tweaked his look as James Potter as a homage to the House of El, giving him their classic 'look'.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot:
    • Has Nick Fury and Peter Wisdom, both grumpy Good Is Not Nice spymasters (and in the latter case really Regulus Black, reformed Death Eater), who frequently swear.
    • Sean Cassidy's cuss words aren't usually elaborated upon, but they tend to make people's hair stand on end - and on one occasion, after he's narrowly escaped being sucked into a tornado (It Makes Sense in Context), Thor remarks that he's never heard so much inventive swearing in his life. Sirius and Tony take it as a challenge. Pepper informs them that they won't, and will present a good example to Harry, won't they?
    • When aggravated, Wanda apparently has 'a vast repertoire of obscenities'. Having previously dated John Constantine, it is not hard to imagine where she learned many of them.
    • Carol's pretty free with dropping f-bombs, probably mostly to annoy her father. As it turns out, her uncle Jack and her grandmother Alison taught her most of them specifically for that purpose. This is rendered Hilarious in Hindsight by the reveal that she's the great-granddaughter of Captain Steve 'Language!' Rogers.
  • Situational Sword: the Green Lantern Ring, which only activates when Carol suffers what should be a fatal injury.
  • Sleep Cute: Several instances, possibly down to Author Appeal
    • Harry and Thor after their first meeting.
    • Harry, Thor and Loki on the sofa at Avengers Tower - Steve actually puts a blanket over them and sketches a picture.
    • Harry and Thor on the plane back to Hogwarts.
    • A picture from Thor's photo album of him (as James) and a sleeping baby Harry. It is a reference to a work on DeviantArt, used with the creator's permission.
    • Harry and Jane - in essence, they both got up early, Harry was still half asleep, and went back to sleep while leaning into Jane and hugging her. It is generally considered to be absolutely adorable.
    • In chapter 60, Pepper gets an exhausted Harry to sleep by plonking him down in between Carol & Diana and Uhtred & Jean-Paul. He spends a few minutes acting as a sentinel, then sleep gets the better of him. But not before he hugs both pairs close, morphing it into a giant cuddle pile.
  • Sliding Scale of Beauty: The Beautiful Elite very much applies, but the trope is more often deconstructed than not, and realistically too.
    • Carol falls at Level II on the scale, being an Amazonian Beauty. Unfortunately for her, she's also Younger than She Looks, which causes her a fair bit of grief.
    • Wanda Maximoff clocks in around this point, though an argument could be made for her being a Level I.
    • Ditto Natasha, Sif and Lily.
    • Diana, in a brief age up sequence, is a Hot God and a solid Level I, with the narration noting that she's the niece of Helen of Troy and it shows.
    • Jean-Paul and Warren are both explicitly described as beautiful, with no other adjective really being suitable, putting them up towards Level I.
    • Harry, being already fairly Tall, Dark, and Handsome (he had a growth spurt, and it hasn't really clicked with him yet) is/will be a Level II, as is his father, in both forms.
    • Jane is a Level III.
    • Uhtred, when all grown up, is fancast as Sean Bean. It shows in his size and rugged good looks and puts him at Level IV.
    • Gravemoss is solidly Level VIII - on paper, he's got classically elven good looks, albinism aside. Lucius Malfoy explicitly notes, however, that once you realise it's there, there's a sense of fundamental wrongness about him. It doesn't help that he's a Soft-Spoken Sadist and an Omnicidal Maniac.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Starts off firmly on the Idealistic side, then, after a bout of Cerebus Syndrome and the odd Knight of Cerebus, is leaning towards the Cynical side, before tilting back towards Idealistic.
  • Sliding Scale of Parent-Shaming in Fiction: Variable, but usually a mix of Type 0 and Type 1, as most of it's a case of Parents as People - or, in Odin's case, chronic emotional constipation caused by his own abusive father.
  • The Slow Path: The Lady Knight had a variant of this - she got hopped through time against her will, at random. In between, she had to live her life as best she could.
  • Smarter Than You Look:
    • Darcy explicitly relies on this. No one expects a curvy pop culture obsessed brunette to be smart, let alone carry a taser. She is in fact very smart and far more on the ball than most people realise.
    • Thor also has a little of this going for him, casually coming out with insightful observations and bits of Magi Babble when people least expect it.
  • Smug Snake: Von Strucker. Competent, yes, but he's not playing in Malfoy's and Fury's league, no matter what he thinks. This gets him killed by Malfoy in chapter 50, who's annoyed by his incompetence and infuriated by how the other man attacked his wife.
  • Soviet Super Science: Natasha and the Winter Soldier are products of this. The Red Room specialised in it.
  • Spirit Advisor:
    • Draco Malfoy has one of unknown provenance.
    • At the end of chapter 75, Alan Scott briefly becomes this to Carol, giving her a primer on how to use the Green Lantern Ring.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Loki is the grandmaster of this. It has been Lampshaded. Extensively.
  • So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Cleverly done with Carol Danvers. Looking like a gorgeous High Schooler/College Student at age 14 is portrayed as very difficult for the girl in question.
  • Social Darwinist:
    • Lucius steadily morphs into this.
    • Baron Zemo claims to be this.
  • Sociopathic Soldier: The Red Room has two shining examples, in the Ax-Crazy Agent Yelena Belova and the psychotic Arkady Rossovich a.k.a. Omega Red, who apparently 'got off' on killing children. The former will kill at the drop of a hat, just because someone's annoyed her, while the latter kills/drains the life out of people because it's fun.
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist:
    • Gravemoss. He has a soft voice that is usually described as sounding the rustling of dead leaves in a tomb that lulls you into a half sleep. It's possible that it's intentional as, according to Lucius, Gravemoss has noted that it's much easier to kill/experiment on people if they aren't running away.
    • Zemo's less sadistic than most examples of this trope, but he's a definite example - he never, ever raises his voice, and at most, he just tends to sound a bit annoyed.
  • The Spook:
    • The Winter Soldier. A played with example. People know that he exists all right... but beyond that, nothing. One or two characters know more about him, but they don't reveal many of the details. He is, until he resurfaces, also believed to have been dead for nearly twenty years, having disappeared during the fall of the Soviet Union.
    • Doctor Strange is a well, strange example. Until chapter 47, we don't see more than glimpses of him. We know very little about his actions, and, where they are shown, his motivations for them. He appears and disappears at will, with those who know him indicating that he routinely drops off the face of the Earth for a decade or three.
  • The Spymaster:
    • Loki has built a gigantic network of spies and informants across many countries. Those informants are usually people such as beggars and other lower-class citizens, and Loki pays them indirectly through donations at various charities. Many of those people don't even know that they're working for someone. As a very annoyed Nick Fury notes, it is nigh impossible to spot and weed out Loki's spies without completely destroying your reputation.
    • Lucius Malfoy is outright called to be Voldemort's spymaster, and has connections to just about every currently active morally ambiguous group out there. This is on top of all his connections in the Ministry of Magic.
    • Nick Fury, in his capacity as head of SHIELD.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Carol Danvers and Sif are both tall Amazonian Beauties.
  • The Starscream:
    • The alliance of Malfoy, Von Strucker and Gravemoss being what it is, it's quite hard to tell who's in charge at times. However, Von Strucker was (until Chapter 42) looking to eclipse and backstab Malfoy, who is unlikely to take this lying down and is, at the same time, backstabbing his fellow Death Eaters, and Gravemoss is an Omnicidal Maniac, so his betrayal is inevitable.
    • As it turns out Lucius was this from the beginning. The alliance was simply a chance for him to gather finances (from the Death Eaters), control of a powerful organisation with global reach (HYDRA) to go with his nominal control of Gravemoss - though he himself admits that you don't control Gravemoss, you just make sure that he's pointed in the right direction.
  • Stepford Smiler: Harry, to an extent. He seems to have taken everything very well, when, in fact, he's headed for a crash of epic proportions.
    • He crashes. It is spectacular. Though he's bounced back, apparently, and has mostly progressed into becoming something of a Stepford Snarker.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: Stupid Sexy Lady Loki.
  • Stable Time Loop: Time travel seems to broadly function on this principle (unless you're Doctor Strange), to the displeasure of certain characters who have to do things they don't like thanks to a version of Because Destiny Says So.
  • Stationary Wings: Warren has an unusual variant. They aren't usually stationary, but if he's hovering and not paying attention, they can be.
  • The Stations of the Canon: Mostly averts this, with Sirius being found and given both somewhere to live and psychological treatment. However, Remus is still ultimately asked to leave his position as DADA teacher because of Snape blurting his secret out. Thor gets annoyed and ensures that Snape is thereafter followed around by a small cloud that constantly rains, snows, and hails on him, occasionally hitting him with a small lightning bolt.
  • A Storm Is Coming: Several characters name-drop this trope.
  • Storming the Castle:
    • Chapters 42/43, while entirely offscreen, have SHIELD enacting Operation Overlord to wipe out most of HYDRA's bases.
    • The following chapter has Dresden and Ward, later joined by Sif, attacking Gravemoss's lair in the Paris catacombs.
    • HYDRA pull a villainous variant on a literal castle, Hogwarts in chapters 70 and 71. It ends badly.
    • In Chapter 75, Excalibur, the few Avengers not incapacitated, and several other heroes gathered by Fury, launch a full scale attack on HYDRA's main base. Meanwhile, Doctor Strange sends Harry and his friends in to rescue Steve, Tony, and Bruce.
  • Straight Gay: Uhtred, though he's technically bisexual. When he responds to Jean-Paul's flirting, everyone is surprised, because he shows none of the stereotypical camp mannerisms. Then again, he's not human, either.
  • Strawman Political: In chapter 17 of CotS, Loki has a discussion with a communist, which ends up crying and Loki getting a standing ovation.
  • Stupid Sexy Friend: While Carol and Harry are pretty firm about being Just Friends, there are persistently mild shippy undertones to their friendship, and it's implied that while Harry's fairly new to the whole sexual attraction thing (he's 13 when the story starts), he wouldn't mind if they got a Relationship Upgrade. As it is, however, he seems equally happy with being friends, since Carol has about two actual guy friends who aren't trying to get in her pants and very few friends full stop.
  • Superhero Gods:
    • Thor and Loki as they're both Asgardian Gods.
    • Implied to be the future for Harry and Diana - the former is obvious, and the latter, well, she is, after all Wonder Woman.
  • Superhero Prevalence Stages: Solidly in the Middle Stage, though there are elements of Late Stage already present.
  • Superior Species: Asgardians. They're all Really 700 Years Old (or on course to get that way) and are Nigh Invulnerable Physical Gods, an ancient civilisation that was ancient when proto-humans were figuring out that rocks weren't edible. They're also recognised as the Heavyweight Champion of the Universe, the pre-eminent superpower in intergalactic and interdimensional politics. Oh, and with their incredibly advanced Technology From Magic, they're the most advanced race in the universe, with their only peer being the Kryptonians before their planet went boom. That said, Fantastic Racism is (mostly) averted. While they seem to consider mortals in general as weak and primitive, which they were when Asgardians were last regularly knocking around the Earth, they admire and respect the Avengers, in particular Clint for his marksmanship - he's widely considered to be joint best in the Nine Realms — and Tony for his armour. And Steve. Everyone likes Steve.
    • In other words, they're like a version of The Ace that knows they're the best and doesn't feel the need to rub it in everyone's faces. Though, judging by what we've heard about Bor, Odin's father and predecessor, this is probably a relatively recent development. And this same niceness doesn't really apply to Frost Giants.
    • And as Thor notes in The Avengers, being more advanced doesn't make them better.
  • Superhero Speciation: Harry's friends have this vibe. Harry himself has growing physical capabilities, but usually uses his magic (albeit as Full-Contact Magic, with a specialisation in Playing with Fire that borders on Firebending) and his Psychic Powers, being far more effective from range than up close. Carol starts out as The Strategist and a Badass Normal before it's revealed that she's the great-granddaughter of Captain America and the events of chapter 60 gave the Super-Soldier genes the required kick in the pants. Diana's also got Super-Strength, but more emphasis is placed on her Flight and empathic abilities. Jean-Paul's a straight up Fragile Speedster prior to a Speed Force upgrade and Uhtred is a classic Brick and the most physically powerful of the kids (the jury's still out on exactly how strong Diana is, and she'll be Thor class one day, but he's probably stronger than her for the moment).
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: Harry's eyes flash gold or become flecked with it when he gets angry. Whether this is his slowly emerging Asgardian powers or a mark of the Phoenix is up for debate.
  • Supernaturally Young Parent: Thor's about 1500 years old, but he's still in his late twenties by Asgardian standards, and looks it, and will continue doing so for the next thousand years or two. Harry, by contrast, is thirteen, growing up fast, and for Asgardians, Immortality Begins at Twenty.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: Harry. Any and all mutants and wizards. Possibly Tony. And definitely Carol Danvers.
  • Super-Persistent Predator: The Winter Soldier. It's kind of his hallmark - or one of them, anyway.
  • Super Serum:
    • Erskine's original serum in Steve and his descendants, as it turns out - as Carol Danvers demonstrates, it just requires a sufficient kick in the genetic pants to do more than slow aging and give a very slightly enhanced condition. On more than one occasion, it is observed that almost every attempt to replicate it has failed, however, there have been a few successes.
    • Bruce turning into the Hulk, if you want to call that a success. Ditto the Abomination.
    • The Russian Infinity Formula, given to Natasha, Ivan Petrovitch and the Winter Soldier, in the latter case to stabilise his enhancements by Zola.
      • SHIELD also has the Infinity Formula, implied to have been used by Nick Fury, who offers it to Coulson (who turned it down) and to the Flamels in exchange for them working for him, a primary inducement being that the formula repairs everything... including reproductive systems.
    • Maya Hansen's Extremis formula, the basic version being the one seen in the film, though refined by Arnim Zola it becomes its infinitely more terrifying comic book variant - it allows you to reprogram someone's genetics to, essentially, do whatever the hell you want them to, within certain ill-defined power limitations. Zola being Zola, immediate uses include Elite Mooks and a strange human... griffin... thing that mostly seems to want to be put out of its misery.
  • Super-Strength: It crops up a lot to varying degrees, with examples including:
    • The Hulk.
    • Thor.
    • Loki.
    • Harry - temporarily granted by Loki for staying in Asgard and after chapter 44, recurring whenever he gets angry.
    • Diana.
    • Asgardians and beings from the rest of the Nine Realms in general.
    • The Iron Man and War Machine armours.
    • Beast.
    • Steve.
    • The Winter Soldier.
  • Swallowed Whole: Happened to Sif when she was young and hunted down Fenris - though her had a taste first, in the form of her hand (it got reattached, but Scars are Forever). She cut her way out from the inside. And made her way to safety. While holding her bitten off hand. And covered in digestive fluids.
  • Switching P.O.V.: Does this frequently, which is largely why the story is so long.
  • Take That!: Several, usually aimed at fanfiction conventions:
    • The Harem concept is repeatedly mocked.
    • As is Harry immediately developing powers.
    • And so are the large Remus/Sirius and Tony/Steve slash fandoms.
      Fury snorted. Like that was ever going to happen.
    • On Harry/Hermione:
      Tony: His best friend is a brunette brain box.
      Loki: Who he is about as sexually attracted to as he is to mould.
    • The author coldly deconstructs Harry Potter And The Invincible Technomage in a reply to an anonymous review, describing it as 'how not to write a crossover'.
    • There's a small one towards Twilight and its author: Dresden mentions that Stephenie Meyer might have been in the payroll of the White Court when she wrote the books.
    • When the narration describes the Tate Modern being destroyed by HYDRA, it is also said that Dumbledore would have allowed them to continue (considering said action an invaluable service to art and British culture) if it weren't for the innocents hiding within.
    • The Draco in Leather Pants trope is referenced, averted, and thoroughly mocked. In chapter 37, Tony notes that Loki 'has thirty six fansites, seven of which are solely dedicated to working out what he'd look like in tight leather pants'.
  • Taking You with Me: Harry Dresden's intention when he unleashes his Death Curse on Gravemoss. Gravemoss survives, though is quite clearly severely rattled by it (and floating in the North Sea), and Harry gets better.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Thor (as James) is described as such, with notes that Harry's going the same way.
    • Sirius, with Darcy noting that he will (and does) look like this once food and medical care take care of the worst of Azkaban.
    • Jean-Paul Beaubier is described as a Pretty Boy, with these kind of looks.
    • Loki's looks are also commented on approvingly, though he crosses over with Tall, Dark, and Snarky.
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Loki and Snape, who are both moderately tall, dark-haired, and communicate primarily in snark.
  • Talking Is a Free Action: Averted. Turns out that it's a bad idea to monologue at Nick Fury or rather, his LMD while he's holding a pistol.
  • Talking to Themself: The Winter Soldier as his programming starts breaking down. At first, it's a bit of a Tear Jerker, but as Bucky's personality starts gaining strength, it drifts into funny territory.
  • Tangled Family Tree: Due to the sheer complexity and containing spoilers from both books, we put that in its own section.
  • Tarot Troubles: In chapter 66, Trelawney gives Harry a ten card Tarot reading with accurate meanings beyond the obvious. She also references the historical background of Tarot cards. She uses a magical deck - which differs from an ordinary deck by the faces of the Major Arcana changing slightly based on who's being read. Five of the cards are Minor Arcana, and three of them are explicable as well-informed guesses, though the two are fairly the nose - Five of Cups' 'an emotional reunion' may refer to Harry reuniting with his mother, as happens twelve chapters later, or with Jean, the chapter after that, and the Knight of Swords' warning that if Harry rushes into a situation without warning he will be punished comes true in chapter 70 when he attacks HYDRA head on in a blind rage and winds up being stabbed through the heart by Daken. The Major Arcana are double Foreshadowing, in both their faces (which shift a lot more than Trelawney was expecting, taking forms that she doesn't recognise) and their meanings:
    • Death takes the form of Death of the Endless, ankh, friendly smile and all, who pops up in chapter 72. Trelawney accurately notes that it's a harbinger of metamorphosis and regeneration. This might not have come about yet, though an argument could be made for Harry's resurrection, being 'reborn', by the Phoenix in chapter 71 qualifying.
    • The Magician takes the form of Doctor Strange and is probably the most on the nose, saying that Harry should embrace his potential; which Strange says, all but word for word, in chapter 75, and most pertinently, warns of manipulation, webs being woven and strings being pulled. Which, as it happens, is exactly what Strange does.
    • The Star is more obscure, taking the form of two bright lights, a red one in a cornfield, the other icy blue up in the heavens. This is later hinted to refer, in part, to Clark Kent, especially since the meaning is 'hope, fortune and joy.'
    • Justice is also obscure, taking the form of a sword embedded in black stone, later identified as obsidian, with a meaning of coming judgement, the truth being laid bare, the just being separated from the unjust and Harry being tested. The finale seems to fulfil this one... but then again, it wasn't like there was any sign of the sword.
    • Judgement accurately predicts that everything is coming to a head, with good and evil going toe to toe and Harry being at the heart of it. The form, though is the most interesting part: Harry, depicted as the Dark Phoenix, ready to destroy the Earth. Unsurprisingly, this freaks Harry out spectacularly and leads to the disaster in the Pensieve.
  • Team Mom: Sif to the Warriors Three, who all regard her as something of a big sister.
    • Pepper.
    • Steve.
    • Sue Storm.
  • Technically a Smile: Lex's when talking about teaching a few of Carol's suitors manners. Harry notes that most people on the receiving end of that smile would do whatever its owner said, so long as the smile went away and left them intact.
  • Technician Versus Performer: This applies to the rivalry between Harry and Uhtred, where Uhtred is the Technician and Harry is the Performer.
    • Also applies to the brewing problems between Harry and Hermione. He may not have the head for theory that she does, but he can do most of the things she has to work her arse off to do with equal skill and minimal effort, when he actually puts his mind to it. The two are explicitly compared to Tony Stark (Harry) and Reed Richards (Hermione), one relying on intuition and inspiration, the other on logic and reason. Trouble is, Hermione's good, but not good enough to keep up with Harry's natural talent.
  • Teleport Cloak: Not exactly, but Strange disappears in Chapter 45 with a swirl of his cloak.
    • Loki does the same in chapter 3. As Dumbledore notes, amused, it was entirely for dramatic effect.
  • Teen Pregnancy: As with canon, Lily Potter. Since she was 21 and a half when she was murdered (based on her birthday being at the end of March), while Harry was 15 months old. Add 9 months onto this, and you get 24 months, exactly 2 years, making Lily 19 and a half when she got pregnant. James was the same age (technically speaking).
    • The Longbottoms also count, being contemporaries of the Potters and Neville being the exact same age as Harry, down to the day.
  • Theory of Narrative Causality: The story seems to run on copious amounts of this... maybe. Harry, for instance, has a ta'veren like effect on those around him, drawing in allies of all sorts, implied to be an inherent quality. Then, chapter 48 reveals that it was a probability warping blessing put on him by his godmother, Wanda Maximoff, at the behest of Doctor Stephen Strange, who's pretty much behind everything, including the vast and intricate number of connections in the nascent superhero community. That's right, he's artificially creating a Theory of Narrative Causality. Of course, since Word of God has tacitly admitted that he's the closest thing to an Author Avatar in the fic, it all gets horribly and confusingly meta.
  • There Are No Therapists: Averted when Charles Xavier gives Harry a little telepathic therapy by giving Harry a friendly ear and helping him work through a few of his issues.
    • Harry Dresden is also mentioned as having been put into contact with Xavier to get over his pyrophobia (stemming from an incident involving a vampire thrall and homemade napalm).
  • There Are No Global Consequences: plays with this trope, as it is quite clear that the events of the story have a significant effect on the real world, but Harry is largely insulated from it by his father and the other Avengers. However, this insulation only goes so far with a number of factions looking to use Harry and other newly emerging superhumans as part of the renewed Lensman Arms Race, spurred on by the fact that HYDRA - until chapter 75 - largely manage to evade the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. and strike with impunity, doing so with pinpoint precision owing to how deep the HYDRA infiltration of SHIELD goes (once they're found, however, they are monumentally screwed). Vague mention is also made of some people's renewed worship of Norse Gods, despite both Thor and Loki saying, 'no, really, we're not interested', while at least one atheist (Carol Danvers) has shifted to Nay-Theist. So the consequences aren't so much non-existent as... deferred.
  • There Was a Door: Harry and his friends tend not to so much open doors as remove them.
  • Those Two Guys:
    • Huginn and Muninn.
    • The Weasley Twins.
    • Sean and Warren have this vibe.
    • Jane and Darcy are a female variant.
  • The Three Faces of Adam: Odin, Thor and Harry.
  • Three Successful Generations: Again, Odin, Thor, Harry.
  • Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Played straight with Harry. That said, he had to sharpen his sword by magic (something that turned out to be a Chekhov's Skill) to do it, is noted as having an unusually good eye and happens to be a latent psychic of considerable power.
  • Time Abyss: Odin. He's at least a thousand years older than Stonehenge.
  • Time Dissonance: Odin again. When explaining to Harry why he couldn't interfere in his raising, or let Loki or Frigga do it, among his other reasons, he points out that for him ten years is about equivalent to a month. At most.
  • Tired of Running: Harry all but quotes the trope word for word in chapter 60 in a fairly epic Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.
    No. No more running.
  • Tonight, Someone Dies: Invoked at the end of Chapter 43 and followed through. As Word of God cheerfully states 'I never said it would stick'.
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • Lucius Malfoy is infinitely more dangerous than he is in canon, cast as Voldemort's spymaster who crossed swords with Nick Fury and not only lived to tell the tale, but was technically winning. He was holding all the aces when Godric's Hollow happened and Fury admits it.
    • The Winter Soldier is even more terrifying than in canon. This version never, ever speaks (though Black Widow implies that this is something of a recent development). And according to Narcissa Malfoy, he just looks at you as if figuring out the quickest and most efficient way to kill you.
      • His status as The Dreaded has elevated significantly — even now, in the modern age of superheroes, where you have everything from wizards, mutants, aliens, even gods, he is still considered to be the most dangerous man on the planet, even by Nick Fury. Loki states that he may even be the most dangerous assassin in all of the Nine Realms.
    • Gravemoss, an Ax-Crazy Omnicidal Maniac necromancer from Alfheim who can punch through granite, create nightmares that terrify gods and has gone toe to toe with Loki and Doctor Strange, as compared to his canon counterpart, a mortal necromancer who was swiftly dispatched by Excalibur and never heard of again.
    • Loki - from insane villain to a remorseful but untamed Anti-Hero who has become The Spymaster and is the power behind Thor's future throne, as well as being truly terrifyingly powerful in his own right.
    • Harry himself. On being kidnapped with two friends, both of whom are younger than him and swiftly formulate a plan that plays to all their strengths. He faces down his kidnappers, the Disir, beings that have slaughtered entire armies, who took Bor himself to stop - stop, not kill - bluffs them into giving back his wand, gets in a few choice insults, then takes a serious gamble that comes off. All of them get out without a scratch.
      • Then, later on, he takes out one of the Slendermen by himself in chapter 59, and when artificially aged up in chapter 60 he curbstomps giant werewolves, hits a Baron Zemo controlled Destroyer knock-off with a blast that is mistaken for a nuke by NASA and launches said robot from Colorado to a potato field eighty miles East of Moscow. By chapter 70 he's a bona fide Person of Mass Destruction and he uses his Psychic Powers and Unstoppable Rage to tear through a HYDRA assault team and goes toe to toe with Daken. While he loses specifically, Daken kills him, the rematch in chapter 75 features him bouncing Daken around the room like a tennis ball, and chapter 74 has him treating a hail of bullets as a mere annoyance and the trigger for a "No More Holding Back" Speech.
    • Nick Fury. During the First War, he was a young, cheerful, friendly Agent who is mentioned as having been drinking buddies with Constantine and Sirius, Lily's Big Brother Mentor, while her parents were his mentors - being former Agents of SHIELD - and they're the closest thing he ever had to family, being good with Harry (who, hilariously, referred to him as 'Unca Nick') and second placed candidate for godfatherhood (if Lily and James had had any more children, and Lily was pregnant when she died - James/Thor never knew, as she was planning to tell him after Halloween. Sirius also knew, though how is not elaborated, suggesting that Fury also knew).

      By the time of the story, he's become the Four-Star Badass of the films and comics, having risen to the Directorship in less than twelve years, after losing an eye to Lucius Malfoy and leaving him to die in his burning home (which Fury set alight with napalm) with a broken wand and a permanently damaged leg, and losing the closest thing to family he'd ever had. He's clever enough to play mind games with Lucius Malfoy and manipulate Albus Dumbledore, Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker and Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel into doing/saying things they otherwise wouldn't wish to, leaving people who once knew him (McGonagall, for example) stunned at the change. He's trained Peter Wisdom a.k.a. Regulus Black, Agent, then Director, of MI13 (SHIELD's British equivalent), who has 'a carefully cultivated and well earned reputation for being extremely dangerous to cross' who clearly learned all about being a Manipulative Bastard from his mentor. note 
    • Harry, Carol, Jean-Paul, Uhtred, Diana and Bobby Drake get several thanks to a mountain spirit, in order to escape The Winter Soldier. They retain many of those levels afterwards.
      • In particular, Jean-Paul gains access to the full power of the Speed Force and Carol keeps the strength. In chapter 75, it is revealed that she's the great-granddaughter of Steve Rogers himself.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Uhtred.
    • Draco Malfoy as well, thanks to the voice in his head advising him.
  • Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Fenris tried to eat a teenage Sif. She cut her way out. From the inside. With one hand. The other one had been been bitten off.
  • Torture Technician: Loki is implied to be this.
    • Gravemoss, though more in pursuit of his experiments than anything else.
  • Touched by Vorlons:
    • The Celestials are implied to have meddled in Earth's genetic development, and both Asgardians and Kryptonians have frequently interfered at one point or another. More recently, Mar-Vell, after taking a shine to Peggy Carter, gave her a massive amount of data that is later referred to as 'the Mar-Vell Files'. After an unfortunate Noodle Incident in the '70's, they were mothballed (though, as Alexander Pierce observes, if they were used after that, it would explain what happened to Project Pegasus).
    • In chapter 76, Harry Dresden is revealed to have been given Soulfire ahead of schedule. He and everyone else find this out when an attempt to combine fire and force spells results in a lightsabre. Dresden being a Pop-Cultured Badass, he repeatedly quotes Star Wars as he uses it to curbstomp a very surprised Gravemoss.
  • Trapped in the Past:
  • Training the Gift of Magic:
    • All magical humans - while they can, theoretically, get it working on their own, it takes serious training to control.
    • Mutants. Especially psychics.
    • All Asgardians have the inborn potential to use magic, but with very few exceptions, it needs to be coaxed into life.
  • Trenchcoat Brigade: John Constantine, Harry Dresden and Agent Wisdom.
  • Troll:
    • Dumbledore. He contemplates Harry Dresden as DADA teacher just to see how badly Fudge would freak out.
    • Thor occasionally plays on/exaggerates his Fish out of Water tendencies just to screw with people.
    • Doctor Strange is the reigning grand master of this trope - notable examples include telling the complaining decapitated head of Loki 'be glad I didn't use you as a prop for Hamlet jokes', then later swiping said head from the middle of Asgard, leaving behind a note saying 'I.O.U one Loki', then swiping the wooden leg of Alastor Moody as a focus for the ritual to repair Loki. Shortly after this, he enlists Coulson's aid by teleporting his car - while he's in it - and when the heroes of the future come through the cracks left by Chthon and a certain big blue boy scout zooms overhead, eliciting the 'is it a bird? Is it a plane?' riff, he finishes with 'Spoilers.' And those are within the space of three chapters.
    • Loki is basically the God of Trolling (well, Mischief and Lies if you want to be precise).
  • Truer to the Text: As compared to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • Truth Twister: Doctor Strange and pretty much every Faerie ever.
  • Ultimate Universe: Is this, with a crossover flavour.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: An ideal shared by Lucius Malfoy and Alexander Pierce, albeit in a Social Darwinist sort of way, with the former possibly leaning into Despotism Justifies the Means.
  • Uncle Pennybags:
    • Tony. Everyone lives in his house, technically speaking, and he's completely cool with guests.
    • Thor. The Potter vaults make him a billionaire. He's not going to use them, so opts to doctor his will and give the Weasleys 100,000 galleons. Which they try to refuse to accept. Thor is having none of it.
  • Underestimating Badassery: While most of the audience realises that Diana the Olympian Ward is actually a pre-teen Wonder Woman, most people do not realise this, seeing only an adorable girl in early adolescence. They regret it.
    • Harry himself, especially prior to chapter 50 or so. Short, still a bit thin from the Dursleys mistreatment, a little shy, surely he's no problem. Guess again!
  • Undying Loyalty: Sworn by Uhtred to Harry.
  • Unfazed Everyman: Harry. Particularly has shades of this in how quickly he adjusts, though it is implied that his general freak out is merely postponed.
    • This is confirmed by Steve as of chapter 26.
    • And revealed by his spectacular meltdown in chapter 30. He's got better since.
  • The Unfettered: Doctor Strange. His cause is benevolent, but he answers to no one and will manipulate anyone. He's so good at it that no one really picks up on it until quite a long way into the plot when the various coincidences begin to pile up and it becomes clear that everyone is Strange's pawn. Even then, they can't go against what he says because, as previously noted, it tends to go badly when that happens.
  • Unreliable Narrator: The story is from multiple points of view, so this crops up every now and then, crossing over with Unreliable Expositor.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Loki and Sif. Everyone Can See It, but Loki's density and Sif's temper are in part why they're not together.
  • Unskilled, but Strong:
    • Steve as compared to the Winter Soldier who in Chapter 60 promptly hands him his dislocated ass.
    • Also in Chapter 60, the aged up kids all have this in spades. Even those who are more practised in combat and can thus use their powers more effectively get caught out by inexperience. Sure, Harry and Diana could probably tear apart half the planet between them, and Uhtred could tear through anything short of that, while Carol was running around as a supersoldier and Jean-Paul had his abilities jacked up, but when they faced a skilled opponent that could stand up to their raw power (specifically Baron Zemo remotely controlling a flying bastard child of the Destroyer and the T-1000), they were ripped apart nearly all killed in about ten seconds flat, in a very harsh lesson about how far from ready they were.
    • Harry himself is a Zig-Zagged example. He starts out as a Squishy Wizard and a Guile Hero, relying on his wits and a good Indy Ploy to get himself and his friends out of trouble. As he starts to win the Superpower Lottery and gets some training in his powers and hand-to-hand combat, he goes through your average Mook and Elite Mook like a hot knife through butter, even once his Berserk Button is pressed and strategy goes out the window, such as, say, closing to close quarters when his powers and abilities mean that it's not advantageous to do so. If the person pressing the Berserk Button is Weak, but Skilled and has a Healing Factor capable of shrugging off most close range stuff, such as, say, Daken, it is not going to end well for Harry.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Harry uses this in chapter 34 to escape from the Disir.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Deconstructed. As Harry and later Nimue in Unfinished Business discover the hard way, going into a blind rage when you're a Glass Cannon is a really bad idea if you're up against an opponent who's Weak, but Skilled, especially if they have a Healing Factor to tank your hits. Unless you're disciplined enough to channel your anger, you'll just trade in all of your advantages for vulnerabilities someone skilled can exploit. Harry learns discipline. Nimue just enhances herself and hopes it's enough (it isn't).
  • Unstuck in Time: The Lady Knight, who is mentioned as occasionally zipping a few centuries forward at a time without choice or warning, and apparently hasn't been seen for over two hundred years.
  • Use Your Head: Sif. Knocks out Fandral - who had been in the middle of embarrassing her - this way. In one go. From a seated position.
  • UST:
    • Merrily bubbling away between Sif and Loki.
    • Peter Wisdom A.K.A. Regulus Black has feelings for Agent Jessica Drew a.k.a. Arachne, probably reciprocated, but they were put to one side for practical reasons - i.e. he's her commanding officer.
    • There is definite chemistry between Harry and Carol, though Carol's firm on it staying as Just Friends and Harry's happy enough with that, making it an Anchored Ship.
  • The Vamp: Amora the Enchantress and Maeve, the Winter Lady. Amora's perpetually after Thor and Mar-Vell makes reference to barely escaping from Maeve with his virtue intact. Naturally, Loki deals with them by teleporting Amora in front of Maeve and watching the fun.
  • Villain Override: During the Final Battle, Gravemoss is briefly possessed by Cthon, only for the Phoenix, acting through Harry, to cut the link.
  • Villain Respect:
    • Lucius Malfoy, Magnificent Bastard extraordinaire, expresses this - albeit rather reluctantly because he utterly despises the man - towards Director Nick Fury.
    • Baron Zemo is genuinely impressed by Harry's improvisation, noting it twice, before complimenting him to his face.
      • He also remarks on T'Challa's speed and in chapter 75, notes approvingly the improvements in his strategy.
    • While he's made a Heel–Face Turn, Magneto reveals that he genuinely respected Alan Scott.
  • Villainous Valour:
    • While more Jerkass than out and out villain, Bor was no coward. Not by a long shot.
    • Zemo is many things, but he's not a coward. He is, however, a pragmatist.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds:
    • Tony to everyone.
    • Loki, also to everyone.
    • The Warriors Three to each other.
    • Carol and Jean-Paul work this angle.
    • Carol and Harry tend to swap snark, though of a gentler variety and directed at everyone else.
  • The Voiceless: The Winter Soldier. It serves to terrify everyone nearby. He finally speaks in chapter 68 and once again in chapter 71. Even then, then he doesn't say much.
  • Voice of the Legion: After the events of chapter 44 seem to give his powers a kick in the pants, Harry develops 'a dangerous double harmonic' along with the previously appearing flash of gold in his eyes when he gets angry. It even manages to shut the Weasley Twins up. Hermione notes the rarity of this (they don't even sneak in a quip, as they do with teachers, they just shut up), and says that the second part of the harmonic sounds older, powerful and authoritative. Harry himself is unnerved by it and suggests that he doesn't have any conscious control over it. By chapter 59, he seems to have developed some degree of control over it.
  • Walking Armoury:
    • Moody suggests this about Sif, noting that the last time he saw that much weaponry on someone was when it was in them: a member of the Thule society that he'd been tracking. A man called Lehnsherr beat him to the man.
    • The Winter Soldier combines this with a Hyperspace Arsenal.
  • War God:
    • Sif. Her viewpoint section in chapter 29 suggests that she has a fair few abilities to go with it.
    • Ares is mentioned. Apparently Sif kicked his arse several centuries back. He's still sulking.
    • Athena.
  • War Is Glorious/War Is Hell: Odin expresses both opinions, noting that there is 'a satisfaction in fighting a war for the right reasons, in protecting those who cannot protect themselves' and the camaraderie, which he misses, but ultimately, the latter opinion wins out.
  • Warrior Poet: Captain Mar-Vell is this, as he's noted to converse both with Jane regarding her scientific advances and Thor regarding military exploits.
  • Warrior Prince:
    • Thor and Loki as princes of Asgard.
    • Prince Faradei of Alfheim.
    • Prince Hrimhari.
  • Was Once a Man: The Winter Soldier. Natasha has indicated that, once upon a time, he actually spoke and had a personality beyond a soulless murder machine. Dramatic Irony being what it is, the audience knows that he was once Bucky Barnes.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: chapter 60 shows that, as a grown man, Harry will be capable of pulling this off and it is absolutely colossal, causing ripples on the Astral Plane, being comfortably sensed in Berlin and knocking a very surprised Clark Kent out of bed in Kansas.
    • Harry Dresden's Death Curse manifests as one of these.
    • Carol Danvers, wielding the Green Lantern Ring pulls this off twice in chapter 76, first combining it with Harry's raw telekinetic power to blast Gravemoss through Battersea Power Station and out through Battersea Bridge, the second time going solo to punch a tube tunnel sized hole through a colossal zombie giant.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist:
    • Harry has latent tendencies along these lines, and is regularly compared to Magneto. As of chapter 61, he's aware of them, and they worry him (and with good reason). As of chapter 70 and 74, everyone else is aware of them and worried by them (for very good reason).
    • Magneto. While mostly reformed from his more extreme days, he's still willing to be the more aggressive of mutant kind's protectors.
    • Arguably, Nick Fury, who is willing to do damn near anything to protect the world. His protege Peter Wisdom is even more ruthless, with the same aims.
  • Weirdness Magnet: Harry, even more than canon, which makes the Magnetic Hero thing very useful. He even lampshades it to Hank McCoy:
    The more powerful I get, actually or just potentially - and mostly just potentially - the more people try and kill me in new and interesting ways. Don't get me wrong, I love having a family and the Avengers. I love being a wizard too. But I could do without the near-death experience every few months.
  • Western Terrorists:
    • HYDRA.
    • The Provisional IRA are also mentioned.
  • Wham Episode: Chapters 9 and 21, which up the stakes, first by forming the HYDRA-Death Eater-Gravemoss alliance, then by showing just what Gravemoss is capable of.
    • And Chapter 60, which puts the kids in a serious fight for the first time and reveals the Hidden Depths of the Winter Soldier.
    • Chapter 70, which kicks off the finale and ups the stakes again by putting Harry through the wringer.
    • Chapter 74, which is literally titled 'The Darkest Hour', with the Avengers down and HYDRA ascendant.
    • Chapter 78 beats them all, with Chthon's ascendancy and the reveal of Strange's scheming.
  • Wham Line:
    • The internal dialogue of the Winter Soldier gives us this gem.
    • In Chapter 80, when asked why he does what he does, Doctor Strange responds with just three words: "Thanos is coming."
  • What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: the narrative and the author seem to hold this attitude towards The Troubles, the subject is presented neutrally when it comes up.
  • What Beautiful Eyes!: Harry, who got them from his mother. They're even more of a Chekhov's Gun than usual because he shares them with his cousin, Jean Grey and this little fact may explain a few things about Harry's mother...
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Harry start as a Guile Hero, but fall into this towards end of the first book, when he gets enough raw power to demolish most opponents outright, he doesn't really develop his offensive repertoire beyond his Playing with Fire abilities, energy blasts in general, and some martial arts. Then he goes up against Daken, who has a powerful Healing Factor and the smarts to goad him into attacking head on. After a very painful Near-Death Experience ( or rather, Actual Death Experience, but the Phoenix/his mother resurrected him and went on a rampage) in chapter 70, he starts engaging his brain again, broadens his magical and psychic repertoire (and becomes a fully fledged Magic Knight in the sequel). That said, he still tends to develop to fire magic or telekinesis, because those two abilities come mostly naturally to him.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Gravemoss, the insane albino necromancer who is on a quest to kill everything that has ever breathed in horrific ways.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?:
    • Harry has brought this up, being vaguely and horribly aware that he's going to outlive all his human friends.
    • Coulson points out - when offered the Infinity Formula - that he's already done so many amazing things and he's still got forty or so years to go. One life, as he says, is enough.
  • Wild Card: Strange seems to be a mixture of The Chessmaster and The Unfettered in that, as Fury accurately notes and Strange doesn't actually deny, he's definitely playing his own game. Unfortunately, he hasn't appeared much as of yet, so what his intentions and aims are, other than broadly good, no one knows.
  • Winged Humanoid:
    • Biblical angels are referenced, including Aziraphale and Crowley.
    • Warren. Since said wings are razor sharp, this is something of a problem for him.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years:
  • Wish-Fulfillment: Zig-Zags this trope. The premise is textbook Wish-Fulfillment, but the execution is not. Harry has numerous issues coming to terms with his sudden elevation from Boy-Who-Lived to a demigod Prince in direct line to the throne of Asgard, along with his growing abilities and the responses to both of the above. The ante of the antagonists is swiftly upped, causing problems that weren't there before. Pettigrew bugs out of Hogwarts as soon as he hears about the presence of Loki and Thor and their interest in Harry (Word of God has indicated that he doesn't actually know that James Potter was really Thor, since he got out of Hogwarts too quickly) and what appears to be a fairly ramshackle (but still dangerous, mainly due to control of The Winter Soldier) alliance of HYDRA, Lucius Malfoy (and some of the remaining Death Eaters) and Gravemoss. In chapter 50, it morphs into a lean, mean and excessively well financed terror machine under the sole command of Lucius Malfoy who had been manoeuvring towards this point from the beginning, having chopped out some of the dead wood in the form of Baron Von Strucker, former head of HYDRA, and a number of Death Eaters, whose finances Malfoy now controls. Oh, and not only is the Darkhold is on the loose, its author is taking an interest...
  • Wizards Live Longer: Wanded wizards live longer than humans, wandless wizards live even longer than that and Sorcerers Supreme, actual or prospective, don't seem to age at all.
  • Writer on Board: Occasionally present in the text but not to the point where it is noticeably out of character. Much of it stems from the fact that the author is a self-admitted Insufferable Genius, and every now and then, it shows.
  • Worf Effect: All over the place. For starters, in his first appearance, the Winter Soldier kills a nundu and a chimera, without breaking a step. As in, a creature that can only be taken down by a hundred trained wizards and a creature that was only successfully slain once, by Bellerephon. In the next, he kills what the author admitted to be that universe's analogue of James Bond... Pre-Mortem One-Liners are a bad idea when facing an enemy too pragmatic for Talking Is a Free Action (partly because he doesn't actually talk).
  • Working with the Ex: Wanda and Clint do this just fine. However, Wanda is significantly less enthusiastic about working with John Constantine, her first serious boyfriend and father of her daughter, Hermione.
  • World of Badass: It's a crossover between Harry Potter, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Dresden Files with elements from The DCU. What did you expect?
  • World of Snark: Most of the aforementioned series are also incredibly snarky.
  • Worthy Opponent: Malfoy considers Fury to be this, respecting, even admiring, his capabilities. He still hates him, though.
  • Would Hurt a Child: At one point, Gravemoss attacks a children's hospital and makes a show of letting his zombies devour an infant. Lucious is extremely disturbed.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child:
    • A defining trait of the Winter Soldier, strangely enough.
    • So much that, when having to choose between obeying orders (to kill Carol) or not, it proves the tipping point in his internal conflict. To be precise, he thinks "Well, fuck the Mission, then" and spares her, then later saves her life. This is what really starts his Heel–Face Turn.
  • You Are a Credit to Your Race: Lucius holds this view towards Baron Zemo, Doctor Zola and Nick Fury - though he still hates the latter. Baron Von Strucker, not so much.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Quoth Athena, 'the path is always decided'. Loki disputes this.
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Wolverine's reaction when the Winter Soldier ends their fight by pulling out a thermite-tipped RPG.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Lucius Malfoy loves this trope.
    • His fellow Death Eaters, those that answered his call, are quickly disposed of by being used as decoys for SHIELD's strike teams to deal with, while he takes control of their assets.
    • In chapter 50 he spends his POV section musing over how useless Baron Von Strucker has become and, really, he's only got one more thing to do in life: be enslaved and explain how to control the Winter Soldier.
    • Then, hilariously, Alexander Pierce pulls it on him in chapter 76.
  • Young Conqueror: a recurring theme is how Harry has all the hallmarks of this trope and could either be the next Captain America or the next Magneto. It scares most people including, once he realises it, Harry himself.
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Lucius to Gravemoss. Lucius has standards. Gravemoss doesn't.


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