Comic Book / Season One

What's old is new again... again...

All-new original graphic novel, modernizing the seminal origin and formative first days of this super-hero icon that defined pop culture!

— The description on the first page of every issue.

Season One is a series of graphic novel retellings of the first days of various superheroes of the Marvel Universe, lasting from February 2012 to October 2013.

The titles in order of release are:

• Fantastic Four (February 2012) — Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Marvel Knight 4, Afterlife with Archie) with art by David Marquez (Avengers A.I., Civil War II)
• X-Men (March 2012) — Written by Dennis Hopeless (All-New X-Men (2016), Avengers Arena) with art by Jamie McKelvie (Young Avengers Vol. 2, The Wicked + The Divine)
• Daredevil (April 2012) — Written by Anthony Johnston (Wasteland) with art by Wellinton Alves (Nova Vol. 4)
• Spider-Man (May 2012) — Written by Cullen Bunn (X-Men: Blue, Agent Venom) with art by Neil Edwards (Hook Jaw (2016))
• Ant-Man (July 2012) — Written by Tom DeFalco with art by Horacio Domingues (Welcome to Tranquility)
• Hulk (August 2012) — Written by Fred Van Lente (Archer & Armstrong, The Incredible Hercules) with art by Tom Fowler (Books of Magic (2018), Quantum and Woody)
• Doctor Strange (September 2012) — Written by Greg Pak with art by Emma Rios (Pretty Deadly)
• Avengers (March 2013) — Written by Peter David, with art provided by Andrea De Vito (Annihilation), Jon Duran and Mike Bowden (World of Warcraft (Comic)), and Nigel Raynor (Battlestar Galactica).
• Iron Man (April 2013) — Written by Howard Chaykin with art by Gerald Parel (Marvel Illustrated)
• Wolverine (June 2013) — Written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker (Deadpool v Gambit) with art by Salvador Espin (Deadpool)
• Thor (October 2013) — Written by Lilah Sturges (Jack of Fables) with art by Pepe Larraz (Star Wars: Kanan)

Compare/Contrast DC Comics' Earth One series, which takes more liberty with the source materials.

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Tropes included in the various Season One books:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Bruce Banner's father, as is often depicted.
  • Warren Pym is also dismissive of Hank's needs, insisting that he doesn't need treatment after the murder of his wife, and Hank's subsequent mental collapse.
• Achilles in His Tent: Hank McCoy quits the X-Men after becoming disillusioned with the Professor, but returns later on.
• Action Prologue: Wolverine: Season One starts with his battle with the Wendigo, after which he's taken in by a helpful couple.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Wong in Doctor Strange: Season One looks like a dark-haired pretty boy. His regular version is, uh... bald. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, but how can 616!Wong ever hope to match Season One!Wong's beautiful flowing locks of black hair? (He cuts it to almost-bald in the epilogue.)
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • Instead of becoming a hero immediately after finding Uncle Ben's killer, Peter decides that the weight of that responsibility is too much for him and retires from being Spider-Man temporarily, in what might be an homage to the "Spider-Man No More" story.
  • Daredevil is distraught to have accidentally caused the Fixer's fatal heart attack, whereas his original self only mused that it saved them the hassle of trying him.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Wong dislikes Stephen Strange quite a bit here, like a more extreme version of his movie self. Strange didn't do himself any favors by attempting to summon Dormammu without knowing what that meant. He's also kind of an arrogant creep.
• Adaptational Job Change: Betty Ross is a member of the army in this continuity, as it wouldn't make sense for her to be barred from entering due to her gender in a story set in modern times.
• Adaptation Origin Connection:
  • It turns out the repulsor technology used in Iron Man's suit is also what the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier uses to float.
  • Mr. Fear's modus operandi inspires Daredevil to make a new, more intimidating costume.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Farbauti and Laufey go from husband and wife to siblings.
• Age Lift: Wong looks to be fairly young in Doctor Strange: Season One. He even dresses in comtemporary clothing on occasion, though it might be just to blend in.
• Alliterative Name: The usual suspects, along with Ahmad Amin in Doctor Strange and news reporter Jillian Jones in Thor.
• Alternate Continuity: Season One is set in a continuity that is not the mainline Marvel Universe.
• The All-Solving Hammer: MJOLNIR.
  Jane Foster: Shouldn't we—wait to figure out what's happening first? Make a plan, or—
  Thor: Do you see the hammer?
  Jane: Yeah...?
  Thor: The hammer IS the plan.
• And the Adventure Continues: Daredevil: Season One ends with daredevil wondering what kind of new enemies he might face in the future with ghostly images of Bullseye, Kingpin and Elektra in the sky, and telling them to Bring It.
• Apologetic Attacker: The Guardian and his wife act like this to each other. Neither of them gets mad about the attacks, funnily enough.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Thor muses on the humans' ludicrous belief that the sun moves because Apollo is moving it with his chariot. Everyone knows that the sun actually moves because it's running away from a giant, invisible wolf, obviously!
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Wong.
  Sofia: Wong! You're amazing!
  Wong: Why, thank you.
• Artificial Human: The seedlings created by THEM to serve as drug factories AND drug mules. Bruce finds a good foster home for them all.
• As You Know: Loki recaps the events of Avengers #1 in the beginning of Avengers: Season One to one of his underlings, because he's moping about it.
• Atrocious Alias:
  • Johnny calls the foursome "The Fearsome Four" without thinking. Thank god he didn't go with Frightful.
  • Hogun dislikes the name "The Mighty Thor" for Thor, but he's hardly in the majority.
  • Unus the Untouchable likes his name just fine. Everyone else however...
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Twice in Fantastic Four: Season One, first by Korgu, then by Namor's Leviathan.
• Avenging the Villain: Farbauti wants to revenge himself on Odin for the murder of his brother Laufey.
• Backported Development: So as to avert Early-Installment Weirdness.
  • Tony starts out as an alcoholic in his book.
  • Banner's anger issues are established as the origin of the Hulk, and Hank's problems with mental illness also feature in his story.
  • Alyssa Moy being present from the beginning in Fantastic Four: Season One. Ditto for Bill Foster in Ant-Man: Season One, and Katy Kiernan in Spider-Man: Season One.
  • Surprisingly Averted with the Hulk's personality. You could be forgiven for thinking you were reading an issue of Immortal Hulk before its time with the way he talks.
• Badass Boast: Thor when he reappears.
  Who Am I? I am the voice of the rain and the will of the wind! I am called Thunder-Bringer! Lightning-Skald! I am the crown prince of the Aesir and son of Odin the all-father! I am THOR!
  • He also talks up his hammer in Avengers: Season One:
  I'll match the power of Mjolnir against any weapon forged by man... and ne'er will the outcome be in doubt.
• Badass Family:
  • The Fantastic Four, natch!
  • The X-Men as well, though more of a family of circumstance.
• Bash Brothers: Over the course of their adventure, Strange and Wong become this, as is the case in canon.
• Battle Discretion Shot: Loki gets this from Odin, though it's less a battle and more beating on a misbehaving child.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: The Hulk and Bruce Banner have one of these.
• Beard of Evil: Namor still has his beard from his hobo days until the 'Torch burns it off. He called it 'ridonkulous'.
• Becoming the Mask: Thor accepts his role as Donald Blake on Jane's urging.
• Berserk Button/Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: The Hulk: DON'T - CALL - ME - BRUCE!
• Beta Outfit: Daredevil and Iron Man both spend nearly their entire stories in their original outfits.
• Big Bad:
  • Daredevil: Season One: Bill Doyle.
  • Fantastic Four: Season One: Namor, though only by virtue of being the villain for the latter half of the story.
  • Ant-Man: Season One: Egghead.
  • Wolverine: Season One: Sabretooth.
  • Iron Man: Season One: Imam Khouri.
  • Thor: Season One: Loki, who just barely manages to Klingon Promote himself up from his Big Bad Duumvirate with Farbauti.
  • Doctor Strange: Season One: Baron Mordo.
  • Spider-Man: Season One: The Vulture.
  • X-Men: Season One: Magneto.
  • Hulk: Season One: THEM, who later give way to Biocide.
  • Avengers: Season One: Loki (again).
• Big Bad Friend:
  • Magneto, as per usual.
  • Monica Rappaccini, just like in main continuity.
• Big Damn Heroes: Cyclops and Beast arrive just in the nick of time to rescue Marvel Girl and Angel from a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the Savage Land.
  • Iceman, by virtue of not being in the mansion when Magneto attacks, is the only one able to save the rest of the X-Men, and he pulls it off.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Zoltan Drago (Mr. Fear) and Councilman Bill Doyle in Daredevil: Season One, Derek Halperin and Monica Rapacinni in Hulk: Season One.
• Blatant Lies: Strange lies like a dog to get the senator to give up his ring. It works.
• Book Ends: X-Men: Season One begins and ends with Jean's thoughts on calculus while fighting Magneto:
  Jean: A.P. Calculus. That's what I was worried about this summer. Headed into senior year with college already on lock and I didn't like the idea of calc homework every night. Do you have any idea what I'd give to be doing calculus right now?!
  Jean: So, I'm a mutant. I'm an X-Man. And my life's never gonna be exactly normal. But I gotta say, punching bad guys in the teeth and changing the world — beats the hell out of calculus.
• Boomerang Bigot: Blob hates normal-looking mutants because they can hide in plain sight.
• Born Lucky: Senator Richard White, who because of a magical family heirloom, never had anything bad happen to him in his life, not even tripping and falling.
  Stephen: But as he stood to say goodbye, the senator banged his shin on the table. Probably the first time in his life he's had an accident of any kind. He looked... Utterly confused.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Rare serious example: in Thor: Season One, the Fates address the reader directly, telling them that if they want to change their fate as Thor did, they cannot do it alone.
• Broken Pedestal: Professor X to Hank McCoy, once the latter sees him being chummy with evil mutant terrorist Magneto.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Byleister talks a big game about how 'the time for his revenge has come at last' and 'I am become the engine of your destruction', etc. Thor shuts him up by informing him he lacks any memory whatsoever of their previous encounter.
  Thor: I have been the inspiration for more vows of revenge than I can count, friend. You must needs be a bit more specific.
• Cain and Abel: Thor and Loki (duh), as well as Father Mullen and Bill Doyle.
• Call-Forward:
  • The ending of Daredevil: Season One shows images of Daredevil's future (more well-known) villains.
  • Magneto mentions that some day, the world will take Jean Grey very seriously, but that day is not today. Might double as Reality Subtext considering how much of a Base-Breaking Character Jean is.
• Canon Foreigner: Khouri in Iron Man, Biocide in Hulk, and Ahmad Amin in Doctor Strange.
• Cassandra Truth: Tony considers the idea of Thor actually being a god preposterous, calling it akin to saying that Wrestling is real.
• Cast Speciation: In Doctor Strange: Season One, Strange knows his spells, Wong can do martial arts, and Sofia is a Badass Normal with a lot of relevant lore knowledge.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Guardian and his wife have a little exchange involving bullets and lightning bolts. But they barely act like there's any fighting going on at all. Hell, it doesn't even sound like a marital spat, so this is some very Casual Danger Dialogue.
• Combat Pragmatist: Strange is not above kicking Wong between the legs and throwing dirt in Mordo's face.
• Corrupt Politician: Richard White could be this, but in the story he's mostly a Dirty Old Man. Bill Doyle, on the other hand...
• Crash-Into Hello: Scott and Jean meet like this. Jean tries to joke about it being a Meet Cute, but Scott is too focused on finding his ruby quartz glasses to notice her flirting.
• Crazy-Prepared: Scott spends so much time running Danger Room simulations, Warren is convinced that he'll easily rescue him and Jean from atop the mountain in the Savage Land, dinosaurs or no dinosaurs.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Magneto does this to Xavier, suspending him over his own fireplace with the metal from his wheelchair, and with Magneto's helmet on his head to prevent him from using his powers for good measure.
• Culture Clash: In-universe, Thor doesn't understand why Cap is still moping about Bucky's death because to him, dying honorably in combat is the greatest honor to a warrior.
• Danger Room Cold Open: This is how we first see Iron Man in Avengers: Season One.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor... Daredevil tried it out, but it didn't work.
  • The Ancient One takes his imprisonment on the chin, as is to be expected from an Old Master.
    Mordo: ANCIENT ONE! TEN THOUSAND CURSES UPON YOU!
    Ancient One: That's quite a lot to promise, Mordo. Perhaps you'd be better off spending your time dealing with that bloody nose?
    Mordo: May Dread Dormammmu pick his teeth with the shattered bones of your disciples for all eternity!
    Ancient One: Tilt your head back. And pinch right at the bridge—
    Mordo: Shut Up! Unless you wish me to bind your mouth as well as your body!
    Ancient One: Heh.
• Deceptive Disciple: Mordo shows his true colors pretty quickly, but just like in the original, The Ancient One is well aware of his treachery.
• Defeat Means Friendship: For a given value of defeat, Mole Man turns face after Sue sees the person underneath his exterior and convinces him to stop his attack.
• Did Not Think This Through: Sue traps Namor in a bubble while he's holding Johnny by the collar, and then tells Johnny to go supernova. Johnny nearly suffocates from the lack of oxygen after this.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Mole Man is defeated and befriended in the first half of Fantastic Four: Season One. Namor serves as the antagonist for the latter half.
• Divide and Conquer:
  • Loki's plan in Avengers: Season One.
  • Thor does this to the Hulks working for Zarrko, telling them he's just so sad to see two of the most powerful beings on the planet gooning it up for a puny human.
• Doing in the Scientist: A version contained in-story: Captain America wasn't trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine, he was being controlled by the Enchantress. And Iron Man was not fighting Stone Men from Saturn, but Ulik and his Rock Trolls.
• Doing In the Wizard: Canon at the time was that Bruce inherited some kind of "Gamma gene" from his father, and this allowed him to survive the Gamma bomb, which is the same explanation used here.
• Dragon Ascendant: Loki becomes this to Farbauti when he realizes he killed Odin, which wasn't in the plan.
  Loki: You made a mistake, Farbauti. In your attempt to puff me up, to turn me against my people, you made me strong. You taught me how to use the magic I possess. Powerful, dark magic. You taught me well!
• Dramatic Irony: None of the Avengers know each others' secret identities or even that they have secret identities, creating suspicion. At one point Thor speculates that The Hulk has a human identity, but Iron Man dismisses it as unlikely. Thor awkwardly replies that it's not unthinkable...
• Dr. Jerk: Stephen Strange, natch. He gets better.
• The End of the Beginning: Several of the stories end with a "The Beginning!"
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Dr. Doom shows up for one panel to comment on the events of Fantastic Four: Season One.
  • Alyssa Moy, Sofia Di Cosimo, Bill Foster and Katy Kiernan all show up before their time. And also a little kid with "Morales" on his jacket gets saved by Spider-Man.
  • In Fantastic Four: Season One, Reed and Alyssa use what is clearly a Cosmic Cube to cure Ben.
• Enemy Mine: The two gangs Captain America attempts to pacify gang up on him. Cap then snatches An Aesop from the jaws of their cynicism and points out the only reason there's a fight at all is because they teamed up against him.
• Everyone Went to School Together: This was already in effect in the regular Marvel Universe, but Iron Man: Season One adds another example: Imam Khouri, the Big Bad of that book.
• Everytown, America: "Somerville, America's best little town". It's not real.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • Imam Khouri is an original one, created for Iron Man. Iron Man is a well-meaning superhero trying to help others in a suit of Powered Armor. Khouri is a terrorist who Majored in Western Hypocrisy and wears a suit of armor reverse-engineered from Iron Man's.
  • Inverted with Ahmad Amin. He admired Strange for his skillful surgeries, but unlike him, Ahmad is selfless, kind and always willing to save people in need of help without worrying about payment. When Strange asks him where he got his ring, Ahmad replies he got it from "an old man in the himalayas" during his embarrassing, soul searching days. According to him, an old monk said he had dropped it, but when he said it wasn't his, the monk told him he was sure it was. Keep in mind Strange is unable to hold the rings due to his selfishness at this point. They turn out to be even more similar when Ahmad loses his ring and his hands stop working right.
• Evil Former Friend: Khouri was an acquaintance of Tony Stark in high school, having since become an unrecognizable terrorist. Tony feels responsible somehow for his turn to evil.
• Evil Old Folks: Imogen Tuttle is a racist who thinks she's protecting the world from the evil foreign spirits in her museum. In reality, they're just reacting to her. Also, the Vulture.
• Evil vs. Evil: The Gargoyle and THEM are engaged in a fight for territory in Hulk: Season One.
• Fantastic Racism: Namor calling humans "monkeys".
• The Fates: Or Norns, in Thor: Season One.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • In X-Men: Season One, the kids get through their issues and work together to stop Magneto.
  • Wong and Strange learn to tolerate each other over several battles with the supernatural.
• Fish out of Water: Thor is initially this in the human world. He thinks the internet is "A great box filled with kittens".
• Flashback B-Plot: X-Men: Season One switches between past missions and the present quite frequently.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: Strange is this even as he summons dead gods to fight for him. He just can't bring himself to put his faith in them. But he can put his faith in something greater than himself.
• Foregone Conclusion: There was no way Director Birch would stay director of S.H.I.E.L.D. for long.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Derek Halperin went from drug-addicted G.I. to gamma-addicted giant monster.
• Gender Flip: Farbauti is male here. Laufey doesn't count because his being male is already a part of Thor comics canon.
• Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Averted almost entirely. The comics are faithful to the original stories they are based on. Bruce does mention possibly having inherited a gene that allowed him to survive lethal levels of radiation, but he's still powered by gamma energy. About the closest thing to this trope is an offhand mention of Captain America's Super Serum altering his DNA, but that might just be a case of Lamarck Was Right.
• Gilligan Cut: Dr. Haddock claims Weapon X was shut down because of budget cuts, but the panel behind that narration bubble tells a different story.
• Glad I Thought of It: Variation when Wong takes credit for the magic of the talismans he bought.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: Strange and Wong awaken the gods of old to defend them by doing this.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Charles Xavier and Magneto playing chess. Hank (McCoy, that is) doesn't take it well when he finds out.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: After surprising him with the Vishanti's fire, Strange punches Mordo in the face several times.
• Groin Attack: Strange does this to Wong in their first meeting.
• Handwave: Bruce wonders if the drop in atmospheric Compton scattering during the night could possibly be the trigger for his Nighttime Transformations, but even he is unsure if that would be enough.
• Heel Realization: Katy Kiernan was fine with smearing Spider-Man when he was just a celebrity, not so much when she sees his heroism firsthand. So she quits the Daily Bugle, presumably to go work for the Daily Inquisitor.
• Hiding in Plain Sight: The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants' headquarters is a totally random and unremarkable building.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Loki kills Farbauti with the magics Farbauti had taught him to use to overthrow Odin.
• How Dare You Die on Me!: Loki commands Odin to heal himself because he knows being blamed for Odin's death will make it that much harder to rule Asgard. Odin refuses.
• I Didn't Mean to Kill Him: Loki backstabs Odin and allows the Frost Giants to invade Asgard, believing all the while that Odin will become a prisoner, as he is immortal, not knowing that Farbauti has Reginbanir, a sword that can kill even gods.
• Imagine Spot: Peter has one about being adored by the world and getting a hot girl.
• Immoral Journalist: Katy Kiernan, and she's quite proud of it. At first.
• Implausible Deniability: Loki tries to pretend he didn't conspire with the Frost Giants for all of one panel before giving up.
• It Will Never Catch On: Hogun says this about calling Thor "The Mighty Thor". Judging by the color of that Pot Hole, methinks he was wrong.
• Jerkass Has a Point: The Hulk gives the Avengers a "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how easily they let themselves be misled by Loki (again). This is what makes them realize what's really going on.
• Karma Houdini: THEM's unseen imperator has not yet been identified or punished, but avid Marvelites know his true identity: Baron Strucker.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: Wong would be this, were he not so inept with spells. He still knows enough to use some cheap paper seals.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Thor and Cap.
• Laser-Guided Broadcast: Peter's TV magically turns on to show him Crusher Hogan's match.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Iron Man crashes into his own... boss' casino.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: The Avengers split up to look for the Hulk. This in spite of Iron Man's Virtual Training Simulation showing they could only defeat him as a group.
• Likes Clark Kent, Hates Superman: Jane Foster likes Donald Blake more than Thor because she knew Donald first. She thinks Thor is creepy. She gets over it by the end of the story.
• Loophole Abuse: THEM creates artificial humans that produce drugs inside their body, counting on the authorities not being able to decide whether they count as drug factories or drug mules under the law. And these are one kind of drug factory you'd feel real guilty for "shutting down".
• Loose Canon: The stories don't follow a particular order, and aren't necessarily canon to each other. For instance, Hulk: Season One isn't canon to Avengers: Season One because the Hulk is shown as having started out gray in the latter. Unless Zarrko was lying.
• The Lost Lenore: Maria Pym is this to Hank.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: Captain America is trapped in one that makes him believe he's in a Everytown, America and people actually appreciate and remember him. It's actually a product of the Enchantress' magic.
• Love Triangle:
  • Jean, Scott and Warren in X-Men: Season One, and Bruce, Betty and Monica in Hulk: Season One.
  • A posthumous one in Ant-Man: Season One: Hank, Maria and Egghead.
• Mad Scientist:
  • Bruce speaks this way of himself in Hulk: Season One.
    Bruce: But I am not a sane man. I am a scientist. I have to— I need to know—— why.
  • Of course, there are straighter examples abound, like THEM, and Egghead.
• The Mafiya: The Gargoyle is part of it.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Wong has spent his training learning martial combat techniques and very little with actual spells. Meanwhile, Stephen has learned a whole bunch of spells.
• Magic Feather: Strange discusses this with Ahmad, telling him to have confidence because he was already a skilled surgeon even without the ring.
• Majored in Western Hypocrisy: Imam Khouri went to the same high school as Tony Stark. Then he went back home and became a terrorist.
• Mathematician's Answer: When Donald Blake asks Jane whether she was kissing him or Thor she replies "I kissed the one that's really you".
• Memory-Wiping Crew: Xavier erases Blob's memory of how the X-Men ruined his show.
• Mirror Monologue: Loki does this to a pool of reflective water in Avengers: Season One.
• Mistaken for Granite: Bobby tricks Magneto with an ice duplicate of himself. Then he disses him by commenting the real Iceman wears yellow boots.
• Motor Mouth: Johnny talks like this when he sees Ben fighting the Leviathan.
• Mundane Solution:
  • Strange, in lieu of any Magical Incantation, kicks sand in Mordo's face and uses the opportunity to hit him with a kick to the face. Even he's surprised.
  • Jane Foster heals Odin with plain human surgery, albeit with a scalpel made of god-flesh-cutting material.
• My Greatest Failure: Loki is still reeling from the effects of his in Avengers: Season One.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The Helicarrier is introduced for the express purpose of being brought down, as is its wont.
  • Iron Man fights the Stone Men from Saturn, Thor's first foes. They're not real.
  • Rick Jones is part of the Gargoyle's gang. Gargoyle was Hulk's first villain.
  • Trying to get a giant monster's attention, Johnny Storm settles on calling him Grottu, after going through various Toho monsters. The real Grottu actually doesn't resemble said monster at all, and in fact looks like a giant ant. The monster's actually called Korgu.
  • The news-site in Thor: Season One shows a bunch of pages of Thor's Offscreen exploits, and they're all references to early Thor stories such as the Carbon Copy Men.
  • When Sabretooth tells Logan he's disappointed in him, Logan snarkily retorts with "Who are you, my dad?", which is something Sabretooth actually tried to fool him into believing at one point.
  • Literal variation with Loki's punishment in Avengers: Season One. When the other Avengers wonder where Loki is, Thor replies he is sure he's being taken care of because he heard a faint tremor. In Norse Mythology, earthquakes were explained as being because of Loki convulsing in agony beneath the earth.
• The Needs of the Many: Wong tells Stephen that there's no time to save the patients in the hospital because they need to get the rings as fast as possible. Strange refuses, and in a minor Heartwarming Moment, he manages to save everyone.
• Nerves of Steel: The Ancient One keeps his calm demeanor even when imprisoned by Mordo.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If Professor X hadn't erased Blob's memories, Magneto wouldn't have had a way to convince him to join the brotherhood.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Discussed in X-Men: Season One.
    Jean Grey: Magneto came here to teach us a lesson. And the professor's smiling away up there because that's exactly what happened.
  • As You Know, Loki's attempt to destroy Thor by making him fight the Hulk led to the creation of The Avengers.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Magneto neutralizes Xavier first thing by beating him over the head with his helmet and then making him wear it to prevent him from calling for help telepathically.
• Not Me This Time: Egghead tells Hank - honestly - that he did not cause Maria's death.
• Obliviously Evil: Imogen Tuttle, like all proper racists.
• One-Man Army: Fandral describes Thor as this, in the process coining the epithet 'The Mighty Thor'.
• Only the Pure of Heart: May hold the rings without getting their asses kicked by spirits in Doctor Strange's book. Only Sofia is able to do it, Stephen and Wong are too self-absorbed.
• Origin Story: If one of the issues isn't this, it'll at least recap it for you.
• Painting the Medium:
  • Ben doesn't show visible transformation signs in the panels showing the FF being bombarded with cosmic rays. That is, unless you count his panel being covered in irregular hexagons that look like the pattern of his rocky skin.
  • Killgrave the Purple Man's Compelling Voice commands make the people obeying them think in purple text.
  • The borders of Spider-Man's final battle with the Vulture are made of webbing, and you can see tiny photos in the middle of the webbing that are the photos Spidey is taking of the battle.
• Politically Correct History: Captain America remembers his America as nation united by a common goal and says that everything - and everyone - is splintered now. He's forgetting the amount of support Nazi ideology had in america and the influence of the Ku Klux Klan before and after the war. But sure, Cap, pretend everything was fine in the good old days.
• Posthumous Character: We never actually see Laufey, who was killed offscreen.
• Non P.O.V. Protagonist: The Guardian's wife Heather narrates Wolverine: Season One.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: THEM and their "seedlings".
• The Power of Friendship:
  • The fates give a speech about this to the reader, saying that one cannot change one's destiny by themselves.
  • Cap tries to convince two rival gangs not to fight with a speech about this, saying that they're all americans. The gangs then team up to fight him. Cap is pleased that they're still doing it, regardless.
• The Power of Love: Just like with The Power of Friendship above, the fates address the reader to say it's what you choose to love that changes your destiny.
• Pragmatic Hero:
  • Strange lies to a politician and tells him he has cancer, breaking his hippocratic oath in the process, so he can get the first of the three rings.
  • Wong buys some shoddy talismans to protect the trio from the birds, since he can't do magic himself.
• Properly Paranoid: Hank Pym is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. Sometimes he's this, sometimes he's the opposite.
• Pun: Iron Man's armor gets hijacked by Loki and he accidentally damages a dam. Oh... Dam.
• Put on a Bus: Ant-Man and the Wasp are on vacation in Avengers: Season One, explaining their absence from the story.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Derek Halperin gives one to General Ross, calling him a "Powerpoint Commando" who doesn't know what real battle is like anymore.
  • Jean Grey gives a less-meanspirited one to Hank in X-Men: Season One.
    Jean Grey: This is an argument between two people way smarter than me. It'd be silly to jump in the middle. But one of those guys told me today that, no matter what, he'll never give up on his friend. The other one said his best friend can do without him. That it's time to focus on being selfish. And he's pretty much given up on the whole world.
    I can hardly believe it, Hank. But I think you just made me proud to be an X-Man.
• Reimagining the Artifact:
  • Wong is reimagined from a case of Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow into a competent fighter who is a peer of Strange's.
  • The rock-aliens from Thor's first appearance become Rock Monsters of mystical origin to fit in better with the rest of the story. Some Negative Continuity is in application here, as Avengers: Season One has Iron Man fighting the Stone Men of Saturn, noting that their thwarted invasion is the first documented appearance of Thor.
• Related in the Adaptation: Not the comic books, but Norse Mythology. Farbauti is Laufey's brother here. In the original myths, they are husband and wife.
• Remember the New Guy?: Captain America and The Wasp, the former never having gotten his own book in this series, and Janet having not been introduced in Ant-Man's book.
• Ret-Canon: The appearance of the Bifrost in Thor: Season One is modeled after the movie's depiction.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: When Cap tells a group of kids he fought Hitler, one of them replies with "Who?" Cue Cap going on a one-panel tangent attempting to explain Hitler's life story.
• Rhymes on a Dime: All the spells rhyme in Doctor Strange: Season One.
• Running Gag: Bruce losing his glasses in the Hulk book. It happens pretty much every transformation no matter what he does.
• Save the Villain: Daredevil expresses his wish that he could have saved The Fixer so he could be tried properly.
• Shame If Something Happened: Variation; Magneto surprises Jean and Hank in the basement and mentions that someone is bound to get hurt with all this metal lying around.
• Shapeshifting Seducer: The enchantress takes a human form that looks like very much like a girl from Cap's past. Her name isn't said, but it's implied to be Peggy Carter.
• Shout-Out:
  • Johnny tries calling Mole Man's monster various Toho names, like Mothra, Gigan and Megalon.
  • Tony wonders if the Stone Men are off to fight Ming the Merciless.
• Shown Their Work: Hulk: Season One takes care to name the nefarious organization who serve as the Disc One Final Bosses as THEM, not AIM. AIM and HYDRA are both branches of THEM in main continuity, and THEM rocked the beekeeper look first. In general, the stories have a slavish devotion to accuracy.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!:
  • Bruce gets one over on Hulk in their Battle in the Center of the Mind after Hulk blames him for letting their mother die. He tells Hulk, "You sound just like him". Hulk is horrified.
  • Tony gets an absolutely magnificent one: When Khouri realizes Tony came to the Final Battle drunk, this conversation ensues:
  Khouri: My god in his heaven — You're intoxicated! I couldn't find a more perfect symbol of western decaden—
  Tony: Shut the #*&< up.
• Significant Haircut: In the epilogue to Doctor Strange: Season One, Wong has cut his hair very short, and if he's anything like his canon incarnation, he'll go completely bald before long.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Johnny's mind wanders to worriedly asking if the museum's whale sculpture is fine after being told Namor invaded the place. Keep in mind he's staring down Namor who's about to summon a giant sea monster while he asks this.
  • Tony worries that Thor might be an evil villain bent on world destruction, or worse... making Tony look bad.
• Smoke Out: Loki magics up some smoke to try and run away from Thor.
• Snake Oil Salesman: Wong has to buy some paper seals to protect himself from the spirit birds. They work for all of forty-five seconds, and Wong grouses that the shaman told him it would be two hours. The fact that they work at all makes this a Downplayed Trope.
• Soviet Superscience: The Gargoyle made Karl Marx-quoting Automata to fight for him.
• Split-Personality Takeover: The Hulk wants to subsume Banner's personality for good.
  Hulk: We'll only transform if I want to. And I won't.
• Starter Villain: The Fixer for Daredevil and Mole Man for the FF.
• Status Quo Is God: This may be an out-of-continuity Ultimate Universe, but that doesn't mean Ben Grimm gets to avoid being The Thing forever!
• Sword and Sorcerer: Wong and Stephen, though in this case it's more "Karate Chop and sorcerer".
• Symbol Swearing: Tony when he's drunk - see above.
• Talking to the Dead: Peter with Uncle Ben's grave.
• Talk to the Fist: Byleister tries to do things by the book but Thor has none of it.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Wong and Strange, at first.
• Thanatos Gambit: Odin allows himself to die and disowns Loki in the process, knowing that Asgard will never accept an usurper and kingslayer as their ruler. Loki had wanted to spare Odin so he could torture him for eternity.
• This Cannot Be!: One of Loki's rock golems says this as Thor fast approaches.
• Trash Talk: Thor does this a lot.
  (to Zarrko the Tomorrow Man) Did you awaken one morning in the future and say, "I am in need of a good thrashing. I shall travel to the past and pick a fight with the god of thunder"? Did you desire a second defeat in order to have a matching set?
• Treacherous Advisor: Implied with Farbauti, who didn't tell Loki that he was going to kill Odin.
• True Companions: The X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
  Ben: The Fantastic Four don't work if it ain't four, meathead!
• Tuckerization: Father Romita In Spider-Man: Season One.
• Ultimate Universe: Condenses the early days of famous Marvel superheroes into a grounded, modernized series of graphic novels.
• Understatement: Wolverine tells Hulk and Wendigo: "You guys are really big."
• Ungrateful Bastard: So many civilians. This is the Marvel universe, after all...
• Unusual Euphemism: Richard White calls Sofia "Accomplished" in such a way as to imply he means something else.
• Unwanted Assistance: Hank and Bobby try to help a mutant who's being pelted with bottles and such in a sideshow. Blob, who works there, doesn't take it well because they're scaring away costumers. The mutants' show does well because people think they're freaks.
• Victim-Blaming: Loki does this to Odin when he explains why he betrayed him, and in a more-sincere case, Hulk blames Banner for letting their mother die.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Loki tries to do this. Sif stops him in his tracks.
• Villainous Breakdown: Loki swears to make all the Asgardians pay for all eternity until the end of days seems preferable by comparison - as he's being dragged away to prison.
  • Magneto has one as he destroys the X-Mansion, holding Xavier in the air above the X-Men.
  Magneto: How many ways must I prove that YOU! CANNOT! DEFEAT ME?!
• Villains Never Lie: Zarrko wastes a perfect opportunity to sow discord and honestly tells Thor he had no part in Cap's revival. Thor still doesn't listen, because Loki had planted images of Cap in Zarrko's monitors.
• Virtual Training Simulation: The Danger Room in the X-Mansion, of course. Iron Man also does one to see how he would fare against the Hulk alone. It doesn't go well.
• We ARE Struggling Together: The Two Hulks working for Zarrko. They eventually turn on one another. Also, the Avengers themselves almost become this, thanks to the machinations of Loki, and the X-Men are the X-Men.
• What You Are in the Dark:
  • Ben Grimm, Tony Stark, Hank McCoy and Peter Parker all had chances to run away from it all, but the people had need of them, so they manned up.
  • Strange, until previously only concerned with salvaging his career, is inspired the selflessness Ahmad demonstrates. When given the chance to leave to continue his quests, he refuses so he can help Ahmad save everyone in the hospital.
    Ahmad: But you know, I saw your eyes when those monsters attacked us. You have no earthly idea how magic REALLY works, do you?
    Strange: No. But I know a doctor when I see one.
    Ahmad: So do I.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Weird variation - some of the comics end with a recent issue of the hero's current exploits.
• White Man's Burden: Imogen Tuttle discusses the idea in Doctor Strange: Season One, mentioning its creator.
• Wolverine Publicity: Inverted: Captain America, longtime member of the Avengers, lacks his own book, despite getting a movie only some time before the start of the line. This is made all the more glaring by his appearance in Avengers: Season One. Meanwhile, Daredevil got a book of his own, despite his comparative lack of importance in the grand scheme of things. We're not complaining, mind you, it's just kind of weird.
• Woman Bites Woman: Sofia does this to Imogen.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Jean tells this to Cyclops near the end.
• You Are Too Late: Inverted by Tony, when talking to Director Birch. As in, hero doing it to a bad guy.