- The "normal" life. So that's what I was living; subsisting on Doritos, self-hatred and a keg-can of Heineken. That's the normal life. Blasting cops with level threes while they're just trying to help people is the normal life. Knowing I'll never really get anywhere, be anybody, do anything - That's the normal life.
The Shocker: Legit is a fanfic by Max Landis (son of director John Landis), and is about C-List Spider-Man villain the Shocker (Herman Schultz) trying to go legit. Big surprise, huh? There's also a lot of Marvel references, appearances by a handful of other superheroes and supervillains, an expansive conspiracy theory, the Shocker's interactions with his best friend, The Rhino, who is a bit of a ditz, and the superb narration told in the voice of The Shocker. It also fleshes out both The Shocker and the Rhino as friends (in some pretty heartwarming scenes).
Examples:
- Abusive Parents: Shocker's dad put him in a box inside a box inside a box (ad nauseam for about 20 times), and was in general a jerk to him. Which is a great way to make the reader hate him before he's revealed as the Big Bad
- Brains and Brawn: Shocker is a Gadgeteer Genius safecracking expert, Rhino is huge, superhumanly strong, and somewhere between The Brute and the Gentle Giant.
- Deal with the Devil: In the epilogue, it's mentioned that after Felicia died she made a deal with Mephisto.
- Gorn: Several scenes like this, such as the Grizzly being electrocuted inside his suit and when Shocker gibs the Griffin by firing a vibration down his throat.
- Groin Attack: Shocker explodes Bullseye's testicles via vibration.
- Police Are Useless: Lampshaded. Herman suggest they get better weapons (that is, some Doc Ock tentacles or some Shocker Gauntlets). He then changes his mind when offered the opportunity by Tony Stark because he's afraid that low-level punks will start getting a hold of it and spread mayhem.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Herman goes into this when he learns that Peter Parker, the friendly nerd that's accompanied him is actually none other than Spider-Man.
- Rule of Cool: Acknowledged.This gets another cheer, and again, I understand; seeing a six-foot-tall guy knocking back an nine-foot-tall guy with an uppercut is just goddamn cool.
- Shout-Out: When facing off against Bullseye, Shocker muses about how he heard his foe had once killed someone with only a paper clip.
- Song Fic: There's a radio playing "Saturday Night's Alright" by Elton John in one chapter and the lyrics are interspersed throughout the chapter.
- You Bastard!: At multiple points, Shocker takes shots at the audience for their (he assumes) dismissive attitudes towards various supervillains.
