For explanation purposes:
- Talon-3 is the superhero-virgin planet.
- Adam will be the first superhero.
- Becky, Charles and Daniel will be Adam's future sidekicks.
- Eleanor will be the first Big Bad.
- Frank will be the first Big Good.
- Gabriel will be Eleanor's sidekick, AKA The Dragon.
- Heracles will be Frank's advisor.
- The superhero team is eventually named Team ABCD.
Basic Trope: The story is told In a World… where abnormal beings have never existed... Until now.
Typical forms
- Played Straight: Talon-3 doesn't have superheroes. Then Eleanor and Gabriel's experiment goes wrong and Adam gains superpowers, trashing the lab and freeing Becky, Charles and Daniel. They form Team ABCD and are guided and backed up by Frank and Heracles.
- Justified: Eleanor and Gabriel hoped to achieve superpowers for themselves and/or get an army. Adam, Becky, Charles and Daniel become Phlebotinum Rebels as a result.
- Inverted:
- Eleanor and Gabriel gain superpowers instead of Adam, Becky, Charles and Daniel, becoming the first supervillains of the setting. It's up to Team ABCD, who are now Badass Normal heroes, to stop their madness.
- Alternatively, Eleanor and Gabriel don't become supervillains, but Adam, Becky, Charles and Daniel do, prompting Frank and Heracles to create their own team of Badass Normal heroes to oppose them.
- Subverted: Talon-3 doesn't have superheroes. Then Eleanor and Gabriel's experiment goes wrong but Adam doesn't gain superpowers, and neither do Becky, Charles nor Daniel. They're freed, however, and Frank and Heracles still have an interest on them.
- Double Subverted: Talon-3 doesn't have superheroes. Then Eleanor and Gabriel's experiment goes wrong but Adam doesn't gain superpowers, and neither do Becky, Charles nor Daniel. They're freed, however, and Frank and Heracles still have an interest on them. Turns out, none of the future Team ABCD's key members are aware of their dormant superpowers until Eleanor and Gabriel send their mooks against them. Traumatic Superpower Awakening ensues.
- Parodied:
- Deconstructed: Adam, Becky, Charles and Daniel undergo Traumatic Superpower Awakening during the whole process, with Eleanor and Gabriel discussing the nuances about the powers they expect them to have. The future Team ABCD's bodies can't handle much power and are left for dead, only to be rescued by Frank and Heracles, who give them the medical assistance and training required to handle them, with them promising to protect the world in exchange. Team ABCD begins to grasp the problems with juggling heroics and personal life.
- Reconstructed:
- Zigzagged: Talon-3 doesn't have superheroes. Then Eleanor and Gabriel's experiment goes wrong but Adam doesn't gain superpowers, and neither do Becky, Charles nor Daniel. They're freed, however, and Frank and Heracles still have an interest on them. Turns out, none of the future Team ABCD's key members are aware of their dormant superpowers until Eleanor and Gabriel send their mooks against them. Traumatic Superpower Awakening ensues, but the heroes still have to learn how to use their superpowers, and under which condition they can use them.
- Averted: Neither Team ABCD are subjected to experiments, nor Frank and Heracles have any interest in them.
- Enforced:
- Implied:
- Logical Extreme:
Tone and Style
- Exaggerated:
- Downplayed:
- Played for Laughs: Team ABCD's superpowers are quite lame.
- Played for Drama:
- Played for Horror: The enemies Team ABCD are forced to deal with have no problem with murdering in gruesome ways, so they have to resort to the same methods or worse in order to survive and save the day.
Specific characters
- Lampshaded:
- Invoked: "Hey, Eleanor, you created us, but don't expect us to fight for your vile cause!" - Adam
- Defied:
- Exploited:
- Discussed: "Eleanor, do you think this experiment we do will give these people superpowers? The chance of such a thing happening are quite low." - Gabriel
- Conversed:
- While on a mission, Team ABCD talk about how their favorite superhero teams were formed, eventually reaching all the way out to the beginning.
- "Eleanor, do you think this experiment we do will give these people superpowers? The experiment may work, but the results can still be unpredictable." - Gabriel
Back to The First Superheroes.
